Becoming Catholic

Parishes welcome new members into the Catholic Church through a process of education, faith sharing, and rituals known as the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA). Click here to learn more about that process.

Have you ever thought about becoming Catholic? Or would you simply like to learn more about the Catholic faith?

The Catholic Church is unlike any other organization on earth. In fact, it is more accurate to call the Church an “organism” – a living body. Jesus taught that the Church is like branches that are grafted onto a vine: without Jesus (the vine), we (the branches) can do nothing. (John 15) St. Paul the Apostle taught that the Church is rightly called the Body of Christ: we, the body's members, are joined to Jesus Christ the head and cooperate together to do the work of Jesus. That work is to know, love, and serve God and His Son Jesus and so attain the blessedness of eternal life. Despite all of its human flaws, the Church has its origin in Jesus and is the primary instrument of God's saving grace. What God offers through the Church cannot be obtained any other way.

To be Catholic isn't just to believe certain things about God and about human life. It's to become part of a family. The institutions of the Church, which include your local parish churches, the diocese which they belong to, the Vatican (the Holy See), and more, all exist to support the Church's unity throughout the world. God has demonstrated that He is a unity of three Divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God loves us and made us for Himself: He fills the Church on earth with His living presence so that the Church, though human and imperfect, can share in the very mystery of Jesus' Incarnation:  the joining together of humanity and divinity as one. While we will only know this unity perfectly in heaven, we are already being brought into that unity here on earth through Jesus and the Church.

To learn more, please contact our office to speak with our pastor and staff. You may also explore the topics listed on this page. May the Lord bless you!