inFINity
Photo by Jasper Angelo Aton (SJB SocCom)
MAR2024
By Ms Annie Punzalan
The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults or RCIA in St. John Bosco Parish Makati started in 2015. Since then, we have had a British citizen, an Australian, Indonesians, and, of course, Filipinos who are Iglesia ni Cristo, Muslims, Protestants, or have no religion at all. These are just people drawn to how Catholics worship or searching for something they cannot yet describe—people who are interested in belonging to a religion. This year, we had eight candidates. Five are for full Christian Initiation, and three are completing their Initiation Sacraments (Confirmation and First Communion). According to their mothers, these three were baptized Catholic when they were infants but were never catechized. Two of the fathers are Buddhist, and one is Christian; hence, there was not full support in raising these children as Catholics.
Since these three are already teenagers, they chose to belong to the Catholic religion, as influenced by their mothers and friends. One is Indonesian, who was formerly a Buddhist. His wife, who is also an Indonesian, is Catholic, and they had a mixed marriage. He said he has always been curious about how Catholics express their faith and felt that he was drawn to it. He finally decided to convert and came to SJB to inquire. Eventually, he went through the RCIA. Two are siblings who do not practice any religion. Their biological father belongs to INC and did not allow them to be baptized catholic. The mother is Catholic and is now separated from her husband, making her free to have her children receive the Initiation sacraments. continue reading on page 2
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