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The MINISTRY of OCIA SPONSORS
OCIA sponsors represent the Catholic Church as friends and companions in faith.
A number of people are ready to begin the OCIA journey. They need sponsors to accompany them!St. Thomas More Catholic Church needs sponsors for adults who are on the journey to becoming Catholic through our Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) program. Sponsors become a “bridge” between the Church and the person who is moving closer to becoming a member of it. A sponsor represents the Church to a Catechumen (an unbaptized person) or a Candidate for full communion (a person baptized in another Church, but uncatechized in the Catholic faith) on their journey of faith. Sponsors also represent the Catechumens and Candidates to the parish community, bearing witness to their progress in the faith and their readiness for initiation.
Sponsors offer a welcoming presence and a familiar companionship that assists and encourages the Catechumens or Candidates through the various steps of the OCIA experience. They participate with the person they are sponsoring in some of the catechetical sessions, and they stand with the person they are sponsoring at the various liturgical rites. Most importantly, they provide a listening ear, an encouraging heart, spiritual support and a prayerful presence.
Being an OCIA sponsor is both an opportunity to share your faith with others and an opportunity to deepen your own experience of faith. Sponsors do not have to be “teachers” of the Catholic faith. They do have to be fully-initiated Catholics (received the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist) who would like to be a companion to someone who is becoming Catholic.
Please prayerfully consider this invitation to become an OCIA sponsor. The experience may prove to be as inspiring and fulfilling to you as it will undoubtedly be to the Catechumen or Candidate you sponsor! Please contact Tina Howell for more information.
A person who wishes to be a Sponsor must: