Thinking of becoming a Catholic?

Journey in Faith  (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults)

This process prepares adults who are seeking to be received into the Catholic Church.  It invites people to deepen their knowledge of Jesus and their relationship with Him. Weekly sessions take people through the key teachings of the Catholic faith and the issues facing Catholics in today’s world.  We look in detail at the sacramental life and prepare those who decide to become Catholics to receive the sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation and holy communion) in due course.

Other parishioners who would like to join us and perhaps refresh their own faith are also very welcome.

JOURNEY IN FAITH 2026-27…

Adults considering becoming Catholic… Journey in Faith 2026-27
Are you, or is someone you know, interested in finding out more about the Catholic faith and the process for being received into the Church? Were you baptised Catholic, but now seeking confirmation? You are warmly invited to an introductory evening to find out more on Thursday 10th September, 7:30pm in the hall. (This is a repeat of the session from the 11th June, so no need to come again if you attended
that one.) Refreshments will be served.
Weekly sessions will then continue from the 18th of September, 7:30pm.
Please contact Kathy Ball: mailto:kathyball@rcaos.org.uk

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New Catholics received Easter 2026

I hope these brief words about my conversion from Anglicanism will do some justice to my love for the Catholic Church. I was firm in my Christian faith before the RCIA course. I attended church almost every Sunday, sometimes during the week as well. I read the Bible fairly regularly. I believed in God and was certain that Jesus was God. But it was as if I was looking at Him through a thick wall of rough-cut glass. There was light making its way through and no mistaking someone was there on the other side, but the vision was blurred and indistinct, and worst of all He felt distant. I felt separate from Him. I knew Him in the sense of recognition, but not in a personal way. Importantly, most crucially – it felt impossible to centre Him in my life. So many aspects of the world around me – our contemporary culture and society – ran contrary to His teaching and it seemed I was doomed to be forever aware of the truth and yet at the same time continually distracted and removed from it. I felt stuck in a half-way house without the tools to change. I also had almost a sense of abandonment. Sometimes my prayers were along of the lines of ‘I believe you, but where are you??’ Well, my prayers were answered when I started feeling strongly called to leave the CoE and start on my road to Rome. I came to Holy Cross one Sunday last May and never looked back. He’s here. And He’s always been here. Jesus’s answer to my call of ‘where are you?’ was ‘Right there in the Tabernacle, right there in the Eucharist’. The Catholic Church’s recognition of the last supper and the sacrifice at Calvary not as historic events to be remembered, but as miracles that take place at every Mass is everything. This real presence of Christ and the wider sacramental life of the Catholic Church manifest God’s perfect plan to reconcile us to Himself and sustain us in our exile. It is wholly necessary and I was lost without it. It’s difficult to do justice to the impact of this revelation and the already myriad changes and insights that have taken place in my heart and in my life since my reception into the Catholic Church. Emmanuel – God with us – has taken on new meaning. I feel part of something real and dynamic, and on a path full of resource and coherence. I have much still to learn and, I hope, so much more capacity for self-improvement. But as a member of the Catholic Church, I am in a place where that full armour of God we are called to put on is accessible, and where the possibility of full communion with Him feels vivid and within reach. Christ’s goodness can of course be found in aspects of other Christian denominations and different faiths. Catholicism is, however, the only religion where full and perfect provision is made, and freely given, for the fallen human condition. I look back with such gratitude for the depth of my own need without which I might have been satisfied by something less and learned to live without the blessing of being Roman Catholic. I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the RCIA team and my other RCIA enquirers for sharing this journey with me and parishioners for coming along for the ride and sharing their insights; And of course, Fathers Luke, Vincent, Philip and Deacon Sandy for their inspiring sermons and nurturing of the wonderful Holy Cross community. As my nine-year-old said after his first confession – ‘Grace to the max!’ Candidate received Easter 2026 —————————————————————————————————- I am 54 years old, have been with my wife for nearly 20 years, I have a 23 year old daughter and have lived in Hackbridge for 21 years. Up until last year, I lived a wholly secular life since birth. My wife is Italian and was, for want of a better expression, a lapsed Catholic. My nature, for as long as I can remember, has been intellectually curious, but at the same time highly sceptical and critical on most subjects including religion. This has slowly been changing over the last couple of years, and my father-in-law’s passing last October acted as a catalyst for me to explore faith and the Roman Catholic church for the 1st time, and with an open mind and heart. After a false start trying to enquire at another church in the borough, I was very fortunate to bump into the RCIA coordinator in the lobby at Holy Cross (maybe divine power was involved). I asked what the process was if I wanted to discover more about the Catholic faith and was possibly interested in being baptised. I was welcomed into the group, despite starting a couple of months later than the other enquirers, with whom it has been an absolute pleasure sharing the whole catechumen/candidate experience. The support, teachings, and guidance of the RCIA team has been magnificent throughout. We have all been truly blessed. The whole experience has been a joy, and a gift, but if I had to pick two stand out moments they would be the Rite of Election at St George’s Cathedral, and my Easter Vigil baptism, when Father Vincent, seemingly sensing there were more sins to be washed away from me than the others, used a very generous amount of holy water on my head! Throughout the journey in faith process, I felt light and at ease, my questioning mind was always tranquil and satisfied with the explanation that when things are beyond my comprehension, belief is all that matters, and logic cannot help. I believe I was truly blessed. I feel both grateful and humbled by the warm welcome I have received from all of the friends in Christ at the Holy Cross, and see this as the start of my journey in a wonderful new community. Catechumen received Easter 2025