I write a column in this newspaper every month, and most of the people who read my articles are Catholics. However, this one is addressed to our brothers and sisters who are not Catholic. I encourage anyone reading this article to pass it along to someone who might be interested.

Are you exploring spiritually? Are you searching for meaning in life? God made you. God knows you better than you know yourself. He has placed in every human heart an inner desire for union with him. As St. Augustine said in The Confessions, our hearts are restless until they rest in God.

God makes himself known to human beings in a variety of ways. He has revealed himself most fully in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is the eternal Son of God who became a human being at a certain point in history, about 2,000 years ago. He spoke with wisdom unmatched by any human being. He worked miracles that showed the power of God uniquely at work in him. He lived, died, and rose from the dead.

Jesus did all this to draw close to us, to teach us, to be an example for us, to reveal what God is like, to love us, to save us from sin, to heal us, and to lead us through the struggles of this world to eternal life with God in heaven.

When Jesus Christ lived on this earth, he called together a group of followers and gave them special training as his apostles. After he rose from the dead, he endowed them with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and commissioned them to lead others according to his teaching and example. Jesus established our church in A.D. 33, and he entrusted the leadership of his church to these apostles. As the church grew in numbers, the apostles trained and commissioned assistants and successors through prayer and the laying on of hands, thus sharing their spiritual leadership through the ordained ministries of deacons, priests, and bishops.

Through almost 2,000 years of history, the Holy Spirit has continued to guide people in the true Christian faith through the Catholic Church. Jesus continues to guide our church today. I have found the fullness of truth, beauty, and goodness in Jesus Christ through the active practice of the Catholic faith. I am happy to invite you to consider joining this same community of faith, so that you may be nourished and sustained by Jesus in the church that he founded.

God is all knowing, all powerful, and all loving. However, our church is filled with human beings. As human beings, we are not perfect. Therefore, our experience in the church includes our share of human limitations, imperfections, and sins. Nevertheless, we trust in the promises of Jesus that he will be with us until the end of time (Mt 28:20), and that he will guide us to all truth (Jn 16:13) through the action of the Holy Spirit.

If you would like to explore the beautiful spirituality, teachings, worship, and way of life of our Catholic faith community, I invite you to take part in a process that is called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, or RCIA. (Since a new edition of the official document for this process will be published soon, we can also call it the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, or OCIA. By either name, it is the same process.) This process is based upon the ancient method of faith instruction, discernment, and formation that was practiced in the early years of our church and now takes place in a local parish.

This process is more than just attending classes for intellectual learning. It is also a journey of personal growth and conversion, seeking to follow God’s will in all aspects of our lives. This includes exploring, searching, questioning, conversing with informed Catholics, praying, turning away from sin, seeking to live virtuously, joining with the community in Mass and other shared prayer, and attending group meetings, all in a process of formation for Christian discipleship in a journey of faith.

You do not have to make a decision to become Catholic in order to join the RCIA. You join the RCIA in order to discern whether you feel called to become a Catholic. I invite you to come and check it out. You will not be pressured into anything, and you are welcome to attend the instructional meetings even if you are not yet ready to embrace the Catholic faith. If you participate in the RCIA process and then decide not to become a Catholic, at least you will have learned something about the beliefs and practices of a growing faith community that encompasses more than a billion people around the world.

There are many different reasons why people look into the Catholic faith. Some become interested by the example of people that they know. Some are curious about something they heard on Catholic radio, television, podcasts, or social media. Some are attracted by the beauty of the liturgy. Some read their way into Catholicism, particularly when they encounter the writings of the early Christian Patristic writers of the first centuries. Some are drawn by our ethical teachings on the sanctity of life and the theology of the body. Some are intrigued by our understanding of the harmony between faith and science. Some are fascinated by a particular saint or Catholic writer. Some are invited by a relative, co-worker, or friend. No matter what might be the spark that gets you started, you will find that the mystery of Christ is an endless, overflowing treasure.

The church provides different stages for the RCIA journey into the Catholic faith. You begin with a stage of inquiry for initial exploration. Then, after you are committed to discipleship and you believe you would like to enter the Catholic Church, there is a period of instruction called the “catechumenate.” You enter this stage either through a ceremony called the “rite of acceptance” for those who are not yet baptized Christians, or through the “rite of welcoming” for those who are already baptized but not yet Catholic. These rites take place at the Catholic parish where you are receiving instruction. From this point on, those seeking baptism are called “catechumens,” while those already baptized but not yet Catholic are called “candidates.”

Then, after the period of the catechumenate, there is a large ceremony called the “rite of election and call to continuing conversion.” This usually takes place in two locations in our diocese at the beginning of the season of Lent in the springtime. As the local bishop of the diocese, I preside at these ceremonies. All those in the RCIA throughout our Diocese of San Angelo are invited to gather for one of these ceremonies with me. Beginning with this rite, the catechumens are called the “elect.”

After the special time of purification and enlightenment during the season of Lent, those in the RCIA process have the opportunity to become Catholics on the night before Easter Sunday in an unforgettable Mass called the Easter Vigil. Those who are not yet baptized receive baptism, confirmation, and first communion. Those who are already validly baptized in other Christian churches make a profession of faith, are officially received into the Catholic Church, and receive confirmation and first Communion. In the weeks after the Easter Vigil, there is usually a further period of instruction called “mystagogy,” designed to help new Catholics get a good start as active members of the local parish.

Those are the stages of the journey of the RCIA process. It is a period of formation and preparation designed to help someone decide whether to become a Catholic and to learn, grow, and flourish in their newfound Catholic faith for the rest of their life.

This is the time of year when many of our parishes are getting started with a new inquiry phase in the RCIA process. There are also some parishes that offer a yearround process that you can start at any time. I encourage you to contact any Catholic church in your area and give it a try. In our love for Jesus Christ, we are happy to share our faith with you.