QWe have a catechumen who would have been initiated at the Easter Vigil last month, except her husband’s annulment had not come through in time. Now it has come through. She has been in the catechumenate for almost two years now. Can we celebrate initiation outside of the Easter Vigil? What about the Rite of Sending and the Rite of Election? Would we do the Scrutinies within class? Is there a format to follow?

AYour catechumen’s case falls under “unusual circumstances,” which are described in paragraphs 26-30 in the RCIA. See especially paragraph 29, which says Election is to be celebrated six weeks before baptism, and there should be sufficient time for the Scrutinies and Presentations.

If you follow these guidelines, you should be able to celebrate all the rites to the greatest extent possible, knowing some compromises will have to be made.
For example:

• Celebrate the Rite of Election at a Sunday Mass six weeks before you plan to celebrate the Initiation sacraments. You need to get the bishop to delegate authority to the pastor to do this. (Or maybe the bishop would come to the parish to preside himself! See paragraph 29.)
• You would not do a Rite of Sending because you aren’t sending your catechumen anywhere. However, you can adapt this rehearsal outline for the Rite of Sending for the celebration of the Rite of Election in your parish.
• Click here for a handout here on the Rite of Election that you might want to adapt to give out to your parish assembly.
• It might be pastorally best for your Sunday assembly if you move the Scrutinies and Presentations to “convenient weekdays” (see paragraph 20), with as many people from the parish as care to come, and this may include the team and the other participants in the process. Click here for a rehearsal outline for the scrutinies.
• You would then want to celebrate the Initiation sacraments on a Sunday (see paragraph 27).

It is important to strive to give your catechumen the fullest experience of the rites possible. These rites have value even if they are done on a modest scale, with a small assembly. She will only be baptized once in her life (we hope!). She deserves to experience everything the rites have to offer.

Has anyone else had experience with celebrating the Initiation Rites outside of the Easter Vigil? Click on the comments button below and tell us about it.

What do I wear?! That’s a question I get often when I’m planning liturgies. Whether it’s the confirmation candidate, the newly-ordained, or even the bishop, himself, we have a natural concern over what to wear.

The baptismal rite in the RCIA gives us at least one answer: Put on Christ. Therefore we physically clothe the newly baptized with a white garment. As we do so, we say them:

You have become a new creation
and have clothed yourselves in Christ.
Receive this baptismal garment
and bring it unstained to the judgment seat
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
so that you may have everlasting life. (RCIA, #229)

This white garment should then be:

• white (although another color may be used according to local custom, cf. RCIA, #229)
• unstained
• dignified
• fitting to the person’s height and size
• preferably new
• preferably theirs to keep.

It should not be:

• stained
• dingy or ragged
• wrinkled
• flimsy or small
• a dalmatic (vestment worn by a deacon)
• a chasuble (vestment worn by a priest).

Nor should you add a stole to the garment. This and the last two items above are reserved for the ordained. (Read what the United States bishops say about the baptismal garment.)

One option is to sew your own garments for your elect. This can be a ministry of the parish and a creative way to involve more people in the ministry of initiation. Invite especially the homebound who have sewing skills and those who prefer to serve “behind the scenes.”

A simple and elegant pattern for a baptismal garment can be found in the appendix of The Three Days: Parish Prayer in the Paschal Triduum, by Gabe Huck (Liturgy Training Publications, 1992). You can also purchase a pattern from the Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Syracuse here.

Other options can be to gift each neophyte with an alb, the common ritual garment used by any baptized minister. (“Alb” comes from the Latin word, alba, which means “white.” The alb is worn by any liturgical minister, from the altar servers all the way up to the bishop, and serves as a reminder of baptism.) This would be an appropriate gift from the godparents, parish, and catechumenate team. A white choir robe can also work. An alternative to a full-length alb or choir robe, and a less expensive option, would be a surplice (without the cassock), such as this example.

If you sew your own baptismal garments or purchase special garments for your neophytes, send us your best pictures and we’ll post them up here.

The Easter Vigil is coming—that most amazing liturgical celebration at the center of our faith that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. We who have been working, praying, planning, collaborating, and sacrificing for the good of our catechumens and candidates are now focused on how to plan for the great liturgy of the year. We want it to go well. We want it to be “right.” And we want it to speak powerfully of the very mysteries we celebrate.

And so, many of us turn to rehearsal as the key to success. Our catechumens in particular are nervous, excited and filled with anticipation of their immersion into the waters of baptism and their first feast at the Table of the Lord. If they know just what to do, when to do it, what to say, and how to participate in the various aspects of the Vigil liturgy, surely everything will go well. Right?

Read the rest of this entry »

I recently conducted a catechetical session for a parish that is planning to build a new baptismal font. To begin, I asked those who came—a rather large group of about ninety adults and teenagers—to recall a memorable experience of baptism they either took part in or witnessed. Everybody had one! They shared warm, enthusiastic memories with each other, and some of the stories were shared with the large group too. This was clearly a group of people who loved their parish and had a high regard for the sacraments and for the church.

Their response to the next exercise, however, was telling. I asked for a show of hands in answer to the following questions: What stood out in their memory? The people? The action? The words? The emotions? The water? Hands went up for each and every item—except the water. The water did not stand out for anybody in that room, among all the good memories they cherished.

Clearly, they needed a new font.

But their response to the exercise got me thinking. Where are our powerful memories of baptismal water—that primary “sign” of the foundational sacrament of the whole Christian life? If our sacramental system is going to survive in this century as a living organism and not just a museum piece, there has to be a core of real-life experience at the center of it. Are we etching the sacraments in the deep places of the soul, in today’s church?

Water has been for me the centerpiece of a whole liturgical experience that qualifies as “awe-inspiring” or “spine-tingling” as Edward Yarnold, SJ, once called it. I can still see the light shimmering on the water of the glorious font at St. Paul the Apostle church in New York as we gathered around it for Easter Vigil baptisms. The completely drenched appearance of the newly-baptized at St. John Cathedral in Milwaukee comes to my mind; I can see them dripping, smiling, triumphant. I remember the astonishing depths of the water in which my husband-to-be was baptized at St. Ignatius Loyola church in New York—he was immersed in the water three times, each time diving in deeper than the last, until finally the pastor and sponsor thought they’d lost him! These are powerful memories. For me, the stories of creation and crossing the Red sea found a touchstone in the waters of these fonts—waters that were breathtakingly beautiful, dangerous, and a place where miracles happen.

You don’t get the same effect standing around a punch bowl. Yet I’m afraid that something the size of a punchbowl, or even smaller, is what most Catholics call the font.

What do you remember of baptism at this year’s Easter Vigil?

Are you getting ready to initiate the Elect in your parish at the Easter Vigil? Make sure they (and you) know what they are signing up for. In his book, The People’s Work, Frank Senn says:

The purpose of proclaiming the word and celebrating baptism and the Lord’s Supper is to form a community of priests who will offer a sacrifice of praise and prayer for the life of the world.

He notes that the worship of God is the purpose for which all other things are done in the church and that the mission of the church is to go find more worshipers who will perform true worship.

Is that message getting across to the Elect? Well, yes and no. According to the U.S. bishops’ report on the implementation of the the RCIA, Journey to the Fullness of Life, 54 percent of those who are initiated through the catechumenate process continue to regularly participate in Mass and in parish life after Easter. The good news is that is much higher than the participation rate for the average Catholic. The bad news is almost half of those who go through the process stop participating. While we are doing well, there is lots of room for improvement.

So how is your parish doing?