The Scrutinies
They're not as scary as they sound
There are 4 official stages of the Catholic conversion process, referred to as the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults; RCIA [note: the church is changing this to the ORDER of Christian Initiation for Adults, to be called OCIA].
1. Period of Inquiry: this is unique to everyone, and is whatever God does in your life that might lead you to enter into a formal conversion process. For me, this stage was from my Jesus vision on January 2, 2021 until November 2022 (although my Mom likes to remind me that I’ve been curious about the Catholic Church since high school, and she’s right).
2. Rite of Acceptance and Catechumate: we didn’t do the Rite of Acceptance during my process, but this was mostly due to staffing changes and things getting lost in the shuffle. I officially entered into the Catechumenate (period of instruction into the doctrines, teachings and beliefs of the church) when I attended my first class in November.
3. Rite of Election and the Period of Purification and Enlightenment: Our Rite of Election was the day after Ash Wednesday. After this you are no longer referred to as a Catechumate (unbaptized person) or Candidate (baptized in a non-Catholic Christian tradition), but the Elect.
There are a few ceremonies that occur during Lent, including three ‘Scrutinies’, which I will discuss in this post. We also attended daily mass during the Triduum, had our feet washed on Maundy Thursday, and of course were confirmed at Easter during the…
4. Initiation and Mystagogia: More about all of that later, as it just happened or is currently happening.
So… the Scrutinies! WHAT a name. The first time I heard it I felt quite unsettled, as I think other folks in my class did as well. We joked about everyone sitting down and grilling us about our sexual history, tattoos, and every single point of doctrine in the catechism. And in the early church… I think that’s exactly what happened.
In a piece titled “Scrutinies Scrutinized” on paulturner.org, he describes the early church process. The scrutinies began with a series of exorcisms. After going through the catechumanate and “turning from former belief to acceptance of Christ as the core of one's being”, you would need to be prayed over, exorcised and purified in order to “ameliorate someone's spiritual and physical well-being.” After this the catechumate would be scrutized by the congregation to see if the process had ‘taken’; “entrance into the final stage required an examination of [the candidate’s] behaviors and testimony from the community.”
As the centuries rolled on the process changed, solidifed, simplified, and became more ritualistic. Now, there are three Scrutinies on the third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Easter. While officially only intended for the unbaptized, at my parish all four of us undergoing RCIA were included in the Scrutinies, even though only one of us was unbaptized. We did two of the three Sundays.
On doing the research for this post, I have realized how little I knew about the Scrutinies, their purpose, history and content before they were performed. I didn’t know what was happening or why. I was really just trusting the process, which worked out fine. And perhaps coincidentally or perhaps by divine process, I did end up going through a deep change in my spiritual life between the Rite of Election and our Confirmations.
Here is the full text from our first Scrutiny:
Today the church calls the Elect, these men and women, to conversion; a lifelong call that is meant for us all by our baptism. A call to deepen their resolve to hold fast to Christ, and to carry out the decision to love God above all. Let us pray at this time in silence for them to be given a spirit of Repentance, a sense of sin, and strength of will to live in true freedom as the children of God.
My dear elect: Justin, Joshua, Garrett, and Kirsten. I invite you to join your prayers to this community of faith and to kneel as we intercede to God on your behalf. May all of us stand as we open our hearts in prayers of petition.
Let us pray for these Elect whom God has called, that they may remain faithful to Christ and boldly give witness to the words of everlasting life.
Let us pray for these Elect that, trusting in the truth of Christ, they may find freedom of mind and heart and preserve it always. Let us pray to the lord…
That preferring the folly of the Cross to the wisdom of the world, they may glory in God alone…
That freed by the power of the Spirit they may put all fear behind them and press forward with confidence…
That transformed in the Spirit, they may seek those things that are holy and just…
That all who suffer persecution for Christ’s name may find their strength in Him…
That those families and nations prevented from embracing the faith may be granted freedom to embrace the gospel…
That we who are faced with the values of the world may remain faithful to the spirit of the gospel…
For those who are disproportionately affected by climate change, that those in positions of power may hear their voices and work alongside them to promote environmental justice…
That the whole world, which the Father so loved, may attain in the church complete spiritual freedom…
I invite the sponsors now to place your hand on the shoulder of the elect.
God of Mercy, you led the man blind from birth into the Light of your Kingdom through the gift of faith in your beloved Son. Free these Elect from the false values that surround us and blind us too easily. Set them free, draw them into the Mystery of your Truth that they may become children of the Light and witnesses to the Gospel. We ask this through Christ our Lord, amen.
I invite you to pray with me for the overshadowing of God’s spirit in their lives and awakening to the light that is Christ, the One Who Lives.
(Laying on of hands)
I invite you now to extend your hand as I pray this prayer:
Lord Jesus, you are the true Light that enlightens the world. Through your spirit of truth, free all of us enslaved by the father of lies. Stir up the desire for good in these Elect whom you have chosen for your sacramental life, living a life of conversion and mercy. Let them rejoice in your light, that they might see and, like the man blind from birth whose sight you restored, let them be willing and fearless witness to the faith, for you are Lord forever and ever. Amen.
I was in rough shape during the first Scrutiny. I’ve been having a fairly severe recurrence of my longhaul covid symptoms… intense fatigue, brain fog, migraines, and anxiety over my ability to support myself financially. I also went through a period of doubt and fear over this conversion process. It is such a dramatic change in my life and I am taking it very seriously. It is not a lark or a fluke or just some new weird thing I’m doing. And so I wondered over those weeks of Lent… is this insane?
As I knelt that Sunday morning, with my fellow converts in front of the whole congregation, to have the above words said over me I felt shaky and vulnerable. I began to cry almost immediately, feeling the hand of one of the RCIA volunteers on my shoulder (she was standing in for my sponsor who couldn’t attend that day). The words “strength of will to live in true freedom as the children of God” stood out, as did “find freedom of mind and heart” but it was this line that really got me:
“That preferring the folly of the Cross to the wisdom of the world, they may glory in God alone.”
For some reason this phrase felt so powerful and important on that day when I was struggling so with fear and anxiety and doubt. The folly of the cross is to trust in something greater than yourself. To put your obedience to God first over your own compulsions, desires and addictions. Over your own comfort maybe, or even security, but to trust in something greater than those things. The wisdom of the world… the world here being not the natural world but the world of human culture. It is screaming at us all the time, from all sides, with such seductive promises but those promises have gotten me very little in my 41 years and I am ready to turn to a new guide.
After this ceremony I felt better, clear and calm. Like something had been lifted from my shoulders. Maybe the exorcism really did work.