I’m preparing to give a day-long workshop on mystagogy for the Archdiocese of Newark in February. Just out of curiosity, I thought I’d Google mystagogy and see what comes up. After all, many people today use search engines when they want to get information. If someone new to the RCIA wants to find out what is mystagogy what would they discover on the internet?

What’s Out There

Well, surprisingly, the results weren’t bad at all. The first was a blog, so I skipped it. Then an article by Father Paul Turner—his work is always very fine. The Free Dictionary came up next. OK. This was followed by a website by a retired Methodist clergy couple who are very active in liturgy. Clear information and helpful. Seeds were planted in the ecumenical institute at Collegeville. Our ecumenical partners are at work!

Next was a Faith Update from St. Anthony Messenger Press, followed by a good essay on the FDLC website by Sister Sandy DiMasi, longtime friend of the catechumenate. Then we had an article by our own Miriam Malone, SNJM at RPInet, entitled Six Steps to Effective Mystagogy. Go, Miriam!

Catholic.com offered us an article entitled Life Beyond Confirmation, and finally—drum roll, please—TEAM RCIA!  At that point, I felt I had an adequate sample.

Models for Mystagogy

Aside from Google, however, I’ve been watching as certain trends develop.

Today in our pastoral practice, I think we are seeing several different models for mystagogy taking shape. A fairly common model is the mystagogy of reflection on the experience of the Easter Vigil. Many parishes will do this in some form. I call this the reflection / insight model.

Another model was offered in Father Ron Oakham’s recent Forum webinar on mystagogy. He offered a model of catechizing on the sacraments throughout the fifty days of the Easter season, based on the lectionary. I call this the sacramental / catechetical model.

Yet another model has surfaced through the RCL resource, Foundations in Faith, produced in the 1990s. It focuses on the neophyte Masses and especially that part of the Mass that the newly initiated now take part in: the Eucharistic Prayer and Communion rite. (Full disclosure: I was on the writing team for that resource.) I call this the Eucharistic model.

(N.B. The Foundations in Faith mystagogy manual also includes resources for experiences of a shared meal and shared social justice activity, as well as lectionary-based session plans.)

Over the past few years I’ve been writing RCIA guidelines for the Archdiocese of New York. Their advisory council suggested to me that we think in terms of models. In this context I began working on my own model. I call it the discipleship model.

The Discipleship Model

This model is governed by the question: what skills, experiences, relationships and understandings do the neophytes need in their lives now that they are initiated, in order to live as disciples? Discipleship is the measure.

Please note that what I am calling models are not mutually exclusive, as you already may have guessed. And, true to this insight, the discipleship model draws from several others. The distinction is found in the organizing principle. It begins and ends with discipleship.

Reflection on the experience of the Easter Vigil fits into the discipleship model. The experience of the sacraments of initiation, after all, is key to living as a disciple. Exploring this experience with others is an essential element.

But that’s not all. It is also important, as disciples, to get the most we can out of the second half of Sunday Mass. Sharing the Liturgy of the Eucharist with the same enthusiasm and receptivity that we’ve brought to the Liturgy of the Word is a discipleship skill.

Strengthening community bonds as full participants is part of the discipleship model too, as is mission. The rite firmly supports this. The foundation for community and mission was laid well in the catechumenate. Time to affirm it and take it a step further.

Another part of the discipleship model is intimacy with our Lord. Closeness to him. The image of the Good Shepherd is an icon of this important aspect of discipleship. It belongs in mystagogy. Jesus says in John’s gospel that he knows his sheep and they know him. The mystagogy period is a precious time to discover and enjoy that intimacy that will sustain the neophytes for the rest of their lives.

Finally, there is a golden opportunity during the Easter season to see the life of the early Church as the inspiration for our community of faith today. We hear every week from the Acts of the Apostles. I think there is a great (and largely untapped) resource here for mystagogy.

Future Posts

In another post, I will share an actual schema for this model unfolded across the seven weeks of the Easter season. It’s pretty simple, actually. Anybody can do it. I would also like to discuss the methodology of this model with anyone who is interested, because I am excited about the possibilities and I know you will help to get at what is most important and practical.

In a third post, I will share some ideas about ongoing mystagogy. You may have noticed that I did NOT suggest the fifty days as a time to catechize on the Sacrament of Penance. Many people fear that Penance is left dangling, because the newly baptized have not yet celebrated this sacrament. My own view is that an experiential catechesis on the Sacrament of Penance belongs in the year-long mystagogy that follows initiation. It needs and deserves more focus than the fifty days allow. I’ve never felt it natural to try and blend it in with the Easter season. Others may see this differently.

What About You?

I welcome your comments and suggestions about mystagogy. Do you have a model? What has worked well in your own experience?

Asking you is better than asking Google!

In the June 2009 issue of This Sunday’s Scripture, Paul Bernier, SSS, writes in his commentary for the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ that the body is the “what” and the blood is the “how”:

It might be pointed out that the now common practice of offering the chalice to the faithful in Communion embodies a powerful symbolism. If it can be said that receiving Christ’s body is intended to make us true members of Christ’s body here on earth, receiving his blood tells us how we are going to achieve that. It is only by pouring out our blood, our lives for others in the same way that Jesus did, that we can be true to our calling. Receiving from the cup is more than a reduplication of Communion under the form of bread, and far more than an empty ritual. It reminds us that Jesus’ own self-offering, his shedding his blood on the cross, is what brought about our salvation. Only the same gift of self to God will make us pleasing to him, and enable us to be instruments of God’s life to others.

What do you think about Communion from the cup? Is it necessary or just a duplication?

When do you introduce your introduce your inquirers to Scripture? I think for most folks, it’s pretty early on. I try to at least connect the inquirers’ stories with a story from Scripture, even if I don’t pull out a Bible and read the story exactly. Certainly by the time they are showing signs of readiness for the Rite of Acceptance, they should have a rudimentary understanding of the Bible.

That’s why I’ve never liked the optional “Presentation of a Bible” in the Rite of Acceptance. I try to make sure the inquirers have their own Bible and are reading it regularly well before they become catechumens.

It’s easiest for the inquirers if the parish has a supply of Bibles on hand. If you have the budget for it, you can give them away. If budget money is scarce, you could ask the inquirers for a donation or ask the sponsors to buy a Bible as a gift for the inquirers. A paperback version of The New American Bible for Catholics: With Revised New Testament and Revised Book of Psalms is $7.00 on Amazon. And if you order four or more at a time (more than $25.00 worth), shipping is free.

I also think it is important to put an actual Bible in their hands and not a missallette or other lectionary-like resources.

How to read the Bible

To get inquirers started on reading Scripture, first teach them how to navigate. They can always look in the table of contents if they get lost. But here are a couple tricks for finding your way around more quickly.

• If you open the Bible to the very middle, it will usually open to the Psalms or Proverbs.
• If you then open the second half to the middle (so now you have ¾ of the pages in your left hand and ¼ in your right) you will be in the New Testament, probably looking at one of the gospels.
• The four gospels always appear in this order: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
• Acts always follows John, although it is the “second half” of the Gospel of Luke.
• Following Acts, we get the major letters of Paul: Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians
• Then, you can remember next letters with this mnemonic: General Electric Power Company (Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians)
• After that, you’re on your own. Those are all the tricks I know.

Give the inquirers a list of the upcoming Sunday Gospels and have them read along with the church’s lectionary. Teach them how to read the chapter and verse numbers so they can look up the readings later on their own. Point out to them that the lectionary skips some portions of the Gospel and encourage them to read the missing portions as well.

Have them read the Psalms the same way. Give them a list of the daily or Sunday Psalms from the lectionary, and ask them to read along as the church year progresses. Have them read the entire psalm and not just what’s printed in the lectionary.

How to pray with the Bible

There are probably as many ways to pray with the Bible as there are people who are reading it. Here is a simple process you might use or adapt.

1. Ask God to open your ears and heart.
2. Open the Bible to the reading you want to reflect on.
3. Read the reading through, perhaps even speaking it out loud.
4. Go back and read it a second time, more slowly, and stop when you get to a phrase that moves your heart. Dwell on that phrase.
5. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to better understand the meaning of the phrase. Imagine what it means for your life right now. Stay in that moment for as long as you feel comfortable.
6. Read the entire passage again, perhaps speaking it out loud.
7. Conclude by praying the Lord’s Prayer. Or, if the inquirers do not yet know the Lord’s Prayer, have them pray: “Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us your Word. May I learn to follow you more faithfully.”

What have I left out? Do you have any other tips for teaching the inquirers how to read and pray with the Bible?

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.

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?

During the Triduum, the question arises about when to dismiss the Elect and the catechumens. (If you are engaged in a year-round process, you will likely have both.) If parish leaders understand the liturgical role that the unbaptized have in worship, it will be clear that the Elect and the catechumens are dismissed before the priestly action of the liturgy begins.

Holy Thursday

In the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the first action restricted to the baptized priesthood is the prayer of the faithful. So the Elect and the catechumens would be dismissed before the general intercessions. They would ordinarily be present for and participate in the washing of the feet if your parish chooses to celebrate that option.

Good Friday

Likewise during the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion, the first act exclusively performed by the baptized priesthood is the offering of the General Intercessions. So, just as on Sunday and at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the Elect and the catechumens would be kindly dismissed before this prayer.

Who leads them?

In many (all?) communities, it would be a hardship to ask a catechist to leave the worshiping assembly on these days to lead the Elect and catechumens in the dismissal reflection. And, in fact, there is no need to. The Elect will have been participating in dismissal reflections for a year or more by this point. One or more of them should have no difficulty leading the reflection sessions.

Easter

If you are practicing a year-round initiation process, you will have catechumens who will not be baptized at this year’s Easter Vigil. Should they participate in the Easter Vigil? Two pastoral difficulties present themselves in this case. The first is that the powerful symbols and ritual actions of the Vigil may have less impact the second (or third) time around, in the year the catechumens will be celebrating their own initiation. Wouldn’t it be more pastorally effective for them to experience the great Paschal fire, the Exsultet, the extensive readings and prayers of this night, and so on, for the first time on the night of their own baptism?

The second pastoral issue is who would lead them in their dismissal reflection? Unlike the Elect, the catechumens are unlikely to have a great deal of experience with this process, and it would be a great hardship to ask a catechist to be absent for the first time in which the neophytes participate in the Eucharist.

The best solution, perhaps, is to have the catechumens present at the Easter Sunday liturgy—along with the neophytes in their white robes—and to ask a catechist to lead the dismissal at that liturgy.

Let’s suppose you want to honor the baptized by celebrating their reception into the Catholic Church at the first Sunday Eucharist after they are ready. How do you deal with the pastoral issue that they will feel like they are missing something in comparison with the Elect who will be baptized at the Great Easter Vigil? The key is, from the beginning of their relationship with the parish, to identify them much more closely with the Order of the Faithful than with the Order of the Catechumens. Here are several strategies.

1. Remember the Rite of Welcome is optional. As presented in the RCIA, there are a great many similarities to the Rite of Acceptance. It would help the baptized candidates for reception identify more closely with the faithful if you skipped the Rite of Welcome altogether. Instead, use an adaptation of the very simple Order for the Welcoming of New Parishioners from the Book of Blessings.
2. Separate the candidates for reception and the candidates for baptism into different catechetical groups. Every parish is supposed to have ongoing formation for its members. The baptized candidates can be integrated into that formation process while the catechumens remain in the catechumante. If your parish does not yet have ongoing adult faith formation, use the arrival of the candidates for reception as a spur to start.
3. Set up separate sponsor training. The needs of the baptized will be different than the needs of the unbaptized, and the sponsors for each group will require different skills. The ideal sponsors for the candidates for reception will be Catholics who were baptized as infants and cannot imagine any greater joy than to have been Christian all their lives. Their very being should communicate what a great gift the candidates for reception have had all these many years.
4. Do not delay their reception. Baptized candidates may be, and should be, received at any Sunday liturgy. Some will require relatively little catechesis and others significantly more. However, whenever the community discerns a candidate is in fact ready, he or she may be received. If some of the other candidates are not yet ready, their reception would take place after more formation has better prepared them.
5. Be sure to receive all those who are ready before Ash Wednesday so the candidates for reception can participate fully in the initiation of the Elect. They should understand their mission as disciples is to “go and baptize,” and not to wish they could get themselves re-baptized.
6. Give these brand new Catholics a major role at the Easter Vigil. They should be right up at the font, helping the Elect into the water, handing them towels as they emerge, escorting them to their changing rooms, assisting the presider with holding the oils or books during the chrismation, serving as communion ministers, and so on. Yes, there has to also be room for the regular ministers of the parish to serve in these roles, but they could do so as mentors and guides to the new Catholics.
7. Ask the newly received Catholics to help serve as hosts and planners for the reception for the Elect. With the help of their sponsors, the newly received Catholics should project an attitude that says to the neophytes: “We’re overjoyed that you are now one of us.”

1. Honoring the Baptized
2. Is my pastor right about dismissal?
3. Eucharist and communion—what’s the difference?
4. Five things your RCIA team may not know about the dismissal
5. Time to recover the prophetic power of the RCIA dismissal
6. A powerful conversion process for baptized candidates in the RCIA
7. What happens during dismissal?

When should baptized candidates be received into the Catholic Church?

Paul Turner in When Other Christians become Catholic, says, “Whenever they are ready” (p. 161).

The National Statues for the Catechumenate say, not “at the Easter Vigil lest there be any confusion of such baptized Christians with the candidates for baptism ” (33).

We all need conversion, don’t we?

As I talk to folks about this issue, it seems there are several rationales in play. There are those who think of everyone as somewhat equally on a conversion journey. Believing that, there would seem to be little difference between the faith of a catechumen, a baptized candidate seeking reception into the Catholic Church, and the average Catholic who celebrates Mass every Sunday. There is something to be said for this point of view. After all, if a thousand years is as a single day to God (2 Peter 3:8), what can the meager differences in our faith lives seem like?

Converts to Catholicism

Another group of folks would tend to see the catechumens and the candidates for reception as people who have had a religious awakening. They have been led by the Holy Spirit to the Roman Catholic Church because they understand Roman Catholicism to the fullest expression of their newly awakened faith. The catchechumens and the baptized candidates for reception are both groups of seekers joining the Catholic Church.

Beginners in faith

And there might be a third kind of initiation team that would see the catechumens and the uncatechized baptized candidates for reception as beginners on the faith journey. Those who have been baptized and somewhat catechized (or maybe even well catechized) are different from the beginners in faith and more like the weekly-Mass Catholics.

All of the parishes that would hold any of these views would be accepting baptized Christians into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, although the third group might receive only the previously uncatechized Christians.

The difficulty with each of these rationales or descriptions of particular journeys of faith is that they each assume some level of accomplishment on the part of the individual. Each position presumes the individual has come to some level (or not) of faith that would determine the ritual celebration of his or her movement from one level of status to another.

Faith as free gift

What is misunderstood in each instance is that faith is a gift—a total, free, and undeserved gift from God. Baptism is the ritual celebration of that gift, and the sacrament of baptism forever and completely changes a person into one of the chosen, a child of God.

Afterward, one can then become a heretic, an apostate, a backslider, or the next Mother Teresa, but one can never undo God’s choice. There is an actual and real difference between the baptized and the unbaptized. There is no comparable difference between two baptized people of different denominations. Both are heirs to the kingdom and disciples of Christ. Both are bestowed with the full rights, responsibilities, duties, and privileges of those who belong to Christ.

The entire lenten process, which has its culmination in the Great Easter Vigil, is about marking and celebrating the miracle that God has chosen yet again to name another of us as son or daughter. We should not attempt to diminish the mighty act of God by seeming to ignore the fact that the baptized candidates for reception have already been chosen, “lest there be any confusion of such baptized Christians with the candidates for baptism.”