Adult-RCIA

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is the rite of initiating adults and children of catechetical age through a gradual process into full communion in the Catholic Church. This process takes place within the parish community and is comprised of various periods of instruction and formation. 

Each person is asked to have an initial interview with the RCIA Director. For more information call Anne Swinburn at 832-746-3107 or the office at 713-864-2653. Beginning August 17,2010 we meet weekly on Tuesday at 7 PM. in TALC 5.  All are welcome.

Parents who request baptism for children over the age of 6 enroll their children as part of the religious education program. The children will prepare for Baptism and First Communion with special emphasis on these two sacraments in the course of the religious instruction. Youth of 13 years of age will also prepare for Confirmation. See Religious Education for schedules and more details. For more information call Dan Schwieterman 713-864-2653 ext. 205 email dans@allsaints.ws or Irene Chavez ext. 202 for email irene@allsaints.ws

Formation for Adults: Throughout the year various programs are offered to enrich the adult members of the community. These are in scripture, theology, and themes of interest to our members. See below for weblinks.

The Third Age Learning Center (TALC) has many programs for adults over 50 years of age both religious and other adult learning and hobby electives.  This group is in session from September to May (c.f. Seniors).

There are also programs at the church site. These are announced in the Bulletin, Calendar and various pages in this website.

Spirituality: Charla Macicek leads a reflection on the great Spiritual Thinkers and Saints through the ages. It is held from 8 to 9 AM each Saturday except holiday seasons. You may call the office or check the bulletin for the current theme.

Lighthouse Media offers a selection of CDs and brochures for purchase in the foyer of the church.  The cost is $3 for the CDs and 50 cents for the brochures.  The titles are changed quarterly.

Adult Summer Bible Study: The Book of Exodus study group meets each Monday from 7 to 8:15 PM in the administration conference room. We seek to read three chapters a week and discuss and reflect on these together.  Bring your bible and join the excitement. 

There are links below for home study via internet. Call or email dans@allsaints.ws for more information.

One such link - Faith Formation through internet - is a series of 38 talks given at All Saints with video live-streamng.  Each session is a two hour presentation.  Topics and a brief description is on this site. An updated version of this Faith Formation program is offered at All Saints in the fall of 2009 and winter of 2010.  One can view this 2000-01 presentation at home, during office breaks, or here at the church computer center. One can request the use of TALC computers when TALC is in session or when the Faith Formation programs are in session for the children on Sunday AM and Wednesday evening.

There is another link below to St. Martha parish's site to down load Adult presentations on a significant number of topics of interest to understanding our Faith Life.  These are mostly in English but there is a Spanish link on the left column of the page for those with this language desire. All presentations are by persons well informed and accredited in the Catholic Faith Tradition.  More links are given on St. Martha web site to other similar audio and visual Catholic formation programs. The user is encouraged to down load to a MP3, burn a CD or listen directly to these talks at his/her own computer.  Passing these CD's on to others is a form of evangelization that one can understake with family and friends. 

A link to St. Martha Catholic Church in Kingwood at www.stmarthaaff.com gives almost an unlimited number of audio presentations on themes of our Catholic Faith presented by outstanding Catholic leaders from the Houston area beginning with Cardinal Archbishop Daniel DiNardo. Most talks are 60 to 75 minutes. Mr. Jeff Crandall, the Director of Faith Formation for the parish, directs this out reach and long distance learning effort. Copy permission for personal use and sharing is given.

Significant information and many documents on the Vatican webstie can give almost unlimited insight into our Catholic Faith. An example: How the church understands the relationship of Christians to the Jewish People and our sacred scriptures in this article at the Vatican website. If you wished to see what we are doing here in the Heights area of Houston to better serve our Catholics, one can find an article on the Vatican site in "People on the Move" by Daniel Schwieterman.

With some patience and time at the computer a person can gain a greater and better understanding of our faith directly at home.  The Vatican offers this in most of the key European languages - English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Polish, etc.  The offerings are most frequent in the languages of Italian, English, French and Latin.