The OCIA process has several distinct stages. These Catholic OCIA stages are a good model of faith development for a person.

Inquiry: the initial period before someone decides to enter the Catholic Church. It involves asking questions and checking it out, but that person isn’t yet ready to commit.

Catechumenate: those who decide to enter the Church and are being trained for a life in Christ are called catechumens, an ancient name from the early Church. In this stage, you’re developing your faith and are being “catechized”—learning catechism, or the basic points about Catholic faith and life.

Purification and preparation: The Church will help a person focus and intensify their faith as they prepare themselves to commit their life to Christ and be received into the Church at Easter. When following the OCIA process, a candidate will go through a beautiful series of Gospel-based meditations during Lent, which is the time frame of this period. Initiation itself is the culmination of the whole process! A person is received into the Church during the Easter Vigil Mass, where they will receive the sacraments of initiation: baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist. (If someone is already baptized, they won’t be baptized again.)

Mystagogy: after reception into the Church at Easter, this period lets an individual reflect and learn more about the mysteries of the Mass and the Sacraments.