RCIA - My first class

This past Sunday MJ and I attend a Catholic mass at the Newman Center in Sacramento. Most colleges and universities have Newman Centers, they are mostly aimed at young people and they hold all kinds of events and activities for students who want to be Catholic or are already Catholic. The reason that I am doing my RCIA classes through the Newman Center instead of at a traditional church is because I can complete all of the sacraments in one school year (or two semesters) instead of the standard 18 months that it would usually take at a traditional church. The result is that I will be Catholic by our wedding, meaning that I can accept communion during our ceremony, yay!



So how was it? Okay I guess. Being that I was raised mostly without religion in my life, singing songs and praying with other people around me feels a little awkward (read: dorky, hey, I'm being honest). Thankfully, MJ is going to be my sponsor (anyone who wants to be Catholic needs to have a Catholic sponsor to have discussions with and talk about any questions or concerns regarding conversion) which means he has to attend all of my RCIA classes with me. (I can make comments about Christ Chex and now someone will know what I'm talking about!)

This cracks me up!


I feel like the RCIA classes, and mass in general, will be more fulfilling the further along I get, but the best part actually happened afterwards; MJ and I had a lengthy discussion about what we want from our marriage and the values we want to raise our family with (you know, our future 2.5 children :)). I like to believe that most people get married because they love each other, but I want our marriage to share more than just our love, I want to share common beliefs and find know that our core values are the same. (That said, we have differing views on political things that are often said to be religious views too, such as abortion and gay marriage; we don't see eye to eye on those two things but we think they're more political than anything else.)

Anyway, I will receive all of my sacraments that will make me Catholic on the Saturday night before Easter. It's kind of like a wham, bam operation. I will be baptized and confirmed all at the same time. That means I will have been Catholic for about two months before we're married and everyone I love will watch me receive communion.

Have you had any "big" conversation with your honey about what you want out of your marriage?