Archive for June, 2011

We get a lot of questions at TeamRCIA, but one question we never get is, “How can our team be better at evangelization?” If you think about it though, shouldn’t this be the burning question for every RCIA team? The first stage of the catechumenate is named the “Period of Evangelization.” Everything else we do [...]

When you think about the children’s RCIA process in your parish, are you fairly satisfied with the way it works? Or, are there aspects of children’s RCIA that are weak and need improvement? Do you wish parents were more involved? Do you wish the liturgical component was stronger? Whether you are satisfied with your children’s [...]

My friend and I were laughing the other day remembering how our kids loved to put on “shows.” In fact, on Erin’s daughter’s eighth birthday she received a special gift which she had specifically requested: a huge roll of red tickets – the kind you get at a school carnival or raffle. These tickets were [...]

I am the proud owner of a series of four catechumenate books in Swahili. They were given to me by a religious Sister from Congo who attended a workshop I gave a couple of years ago in the Bronx. My Swahili is basically non-existent, yet I love these books. Part of what attracts me are [...]

My secret strategy for involving parents in the children’s RCIA process is fourfold.  I promise that if you follow these four steps, you will improve the level of parent involvement in children’s RCIA. 1. Talk to parents in person. The very first step is to sit down, face to face, and talk with at least [...]

In a previous post, I said that reevangelization might be easier for us than evangelization because when we are evangelizing, we have to spend more time and energy talking about why we believe in Jesus as opposed to what we believe about Jesus. We have to say more about how Jesus answers our deepest longings [...]

In a previous post, I laid out a challenge for well-established RCIA teams to look at what it is they are spending most of their time and energy on. I suggested that if they are not already doing so, they should shift their efforts to be primarily focused on evangelization and conversion. Good news: a [...]