Below you will find text and notes for the various rites in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults.
Dates for the 2023-2024 OCIA / RCIA cycle are included below in each of the drop downs.
Rites and Prayer Resources from the Office of Worship
The Rite of Entrance to the Catechumenate is a parish-based liturgy that welcomes inquirers into the catechumenate and ushers them into the beginnings of being Catholic. It is offered three times a year (Christ the King, Most Holy Trinity and another time in the year at the pastor’s discretion.) and is celebrated when there are inquirers ready to take this step
Video: Six Signs of Readiness for the Rite of Entrance (Team RCIA)
The Rite of Welcoming happens at the parish and is typically celebrated along with the Rite of Entrance to the Catechumenate. It is to be offered three times a year in each parish in the Diocese of Phoenix. It is designed to welcome the baptized members of the OCIA into the community and prepare them for formation and entrance into the Catholic Church. It is celebrated for all those who are baptized but not catechized and is optionally open to those who are baptized and catechized in a different Christian community.
In the first two weeks of Lent, prior to the Rite of Election
The Rite of Sending the Catechumens for Election and the Candidates to the Call to Continuing Conversion typically takes place within a Mass on the First Sunday of Lent. At the Mass, or after the dismissal of the Catechumens, all the catechumens sign the book of the Elect.
Join Bishop Dolan in the celebration of a combined Rite of Election and the Call to Continuing Conversion. All participants in OCIA (baptized and unbaptized) are invited to participate in this Rite.
The Rites will be celebrated at:
St. Thomas Aquinas (Avondale) on March 9, 2025 at 3:30pm.
Immaculate Conception (Cottonwood) on March 15, 2025 at 11am.
SS. Simon and Jude Cathedral (Phoenix) on March 16, 2025 at 3:30m.
St. Mary’s (Kingman) on March 22, 2025 at 11am.
First Scrutiny – March 22, 2025
Each parish with a catechumen must devote at least one Mass of the Third Sunday of Lent to the First Scrutiny. The Readings at that Mass must be from Year A. A parish may opt to have other Masses also read from Year A, but doing so deprives the larger congregation of the full scope of the Lenten readings.
Second Scrutiny – March 29, 2025
Each parish with a catechumen must devote at least one Mass of the Fourth Sunday of Lent to the Second Scrutiny. The Readings at that Mass must be from Year A. A parish may opt to have other Masses also read from Year A, but doing so deprives the larger congregation of the full scope of the Lenten readings
Third Scrutiny – April 5, 2025
Each parish with a catechumen must devote at least one Mass of the Fifth Sunday ) of Lent to the Third Scrutiny. The Readings at that Mass must be from Year A. A parish may opt to have other Masses also read from Year A, but doing so deprives the larger congregation of the full scope of the Lenten readings.)
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Saturday, April 19th, 2025 – 7:45 PM
The Elect (unbaptized who have gone through the Rite of Election) are baptized during the parish Easter Vigil. They receive all their sacraments at once – Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion in the same Mass.
Sunday, April 20, 2025
Typically those who have been baptized in other Christian faith traditions are received into the church and receive the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion during a morning Mass on Easter Sunday. Candidates for Confirmation should make their first confession in the week before their Confirmation and First Holy Communion.