Is this the year to go year-round?
Here is an easy way to take the first step toward a year-round catechumenate.
Many parishes have recently celebrated their annual Rite of Acceptance. If that is your situation, you now have a brand new group of catechumens, and you will not be ready for more until next fall.
So here’s your challenge. If someone shows up in the next week or the next month or anytime before next fall asking questions about becoming Catholic, invite them to meet with your ambassador of welcome. Set up a meeting within a few days of your initial encounter. Make sure your ambassador of welcome has a significant contact with the inquirer at least once a month until it is time for your next Rite of Acceptance. (Significant is at least 45 minutes.)
The monthly meeting doesn’t have to be “catechesis.” In fact, it’s not supposed to be. It can just be conversation. When another person shows up asking questions a few weeks later, simply invite her to join the conversation. (But be sure the initial meeting takes place within a few days of the first inquiry.)
If you make that the normal practice in your parish, you will have moved to a year-round inquiry process without hardly lifting a finger.
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It is so wonderful to have found your site. We have transitioned into a year round process over the past 7 years and have been blessed in so many ways.
One of our first steps to moving into this process was not to combine any of the Rites. We chose not to do any Profession of Faiths at the Easter Vigil. Instead we do them 3 or 4 times throughout the year. They are so moving every time we do them. One of the most rewarding parts of this is knowing that people may be received into the Church at anytime throughout the year. We try to do the Profession of Faith on significant Sundays, such as the Baptism of the Lord, Christ the King and the Sundays of Easter.
People in the parish are beginning to see and understand the difference between a Catechumen and a Candidate for full communion within the Catholic Church.