The Newman Center at the Pittsburgh Oratory

The Newman Center is happy to coordinate with St. Paul’s Cathedral parish in hosting the RCIA for the people in the Oakland area. Students interested in becoming Catholic or learning more about the Church’s teachings and life of faith are welcome to contact St. Paul’s office, or any of the campus ministry staff to find out how to get involved. Those with more curiosity than interest may be more inclined to join us for our Catholic Action, which is more geared to answer questions and difficulties. For information on upcoming meetings and sessions for the RCIA, please check our Campus Ministry Notes, our bulletin, or call the Oratory.

“RCIA” – which stands for Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults – has come to mean much more than a few rites and sprinkles of holy water. It is arranged to be a preparation for a person’s full reception into the Catholic Church, the universal sacrament of God’s saving work. As such, it is meant gradually to immerse the initiate into the living tradition of Christian teaching, worship, life, and prayer as manifested in the Church’s structures and members – the mystical Body of Christ. Interest in the Catholic Church is not the same as a commitment to enter, and no one is ever pressured to do so. All who wish to come to Christ do so because the Father draws them, because they have discovered, to whatever extent necessary, that the truth of Christ really does make them free. The RCIA is meant to function as this introductory school of the freedom of Christ.