When we engage in the art of catechesis, we can group people into three broad categories. First, there are those who know little or nothing about Jesus. Then there are those who recognize Jesus as the source of true peace and joy, but they do not know much more than that. Finally, there are those who have received a basic catechesis in the faith and have been initiated into Christian life. While these are not hard-and-fast distinctions, we can say that there are three levels of catechesis and that people move successively from one level to the next:

• initial proclamation
• initiatory catechesis
• ongoing catechesis

We looked at the first two levels in a previous article. In this article, I would like to look at the final level: ongoing catechesis.

Level 3: Ongoing catechesis

This “final” level of catechesis can be the most confusing. A newly baptized person who has only been a Christian for a matter of days is in this level. And so is Pope Benedict XVI. Ongoing catechesis is what the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults calls “postbaptismal catechesis.” The goal of postbaptismal catechesis is the same for both the neophyte and the pope and everyone in between—to fulfill the prayer of Jesus to the Father that we all become one in the life of the Trinity (see General Directory for Catechesis, 70).

The purpose of postbaptismal catechesis is the upbuilding the Christian community of faith.

The question we are faced with when we catechize, then, is not exactly what do I have to teach? Rather, we should ask, what do I have to teach this person to help him or her fulfill his or her unique role in the community of faith—his or her “vocation”? And at first, that can seem overwhelming. How can we possibly create a tailor-made catechetical process for every individual we encounter?

By ourselves, we cannot, of course. But catechesis is not exclusively the job of any one catechist. It is the job of the community of faith. The job of the catechist is not so much to teach the individual but to inspire the community of faith to become a learning community, focused on the praise and worship of the Father through Jesus Christ.

From that perspective, the General Directory for Catechesis lists six forms of ongoing catechesis that we would hope to find in every parish.

Scripture

The community of faith learns more about the word of God in every liturgy, which is a primary source for this form of catechesis. In addition, parishes might offer other opportunities for the study and exploration of Scripture.

Signs of the times

The community of faith is not isolated from the world. Following the model of the first apostles, we are always interpreting what is happening around us through the lens of the gospel. Note that this is not solely the work of the “social justice committee.” The entire community of faith is constantly working toward the restoration of God’s reign of peace and harmony.

Liturgy

The liturgy itself teaches. The prayers, gestures, songs, and the simple act of gathering itself all say something about who God is and how we are to act as God’s people. Pope John Paul II called the liturgy an “eminent kind of catechesis.”

Life experience

If someone is a living a Christian lifestyle, that life will be filled with moments of revelation. The work of God’s spirit will be evident in unlimited and illuminating ways. A very effective form of catechesis is simply to notice—as an individual or as a community—where God has passed recently.

Spiritual practices

To live a Christian lifestyle is not easy. It requires discipline and practice. When we engage in spiritual practices such as prayer, penance, and works of mercy, we learn more about ourselves as people of faith.

Theological instruction

The General Directory for Catechesis lists this form last, and we have to wonder why that is. For the new catechist, and even for a few of us veterans, it is the form we often think of first. However, the General Directory for Catechesis also calls this form “perfective catechesis.” It seems to me we have to be fully engaged in all the previous forms of catechesis before we can “perfect” our understanding of God as the source hope and joy. In a sense, we have to spend a lot of time learning who God is and who I am in relation to God before we can learn why and God is.

If our parish communities are actively practicing these six forms of catechesis, we will come very close to fulfilling Jesus’ prayer that we all become one in the life of the Trinity.

1. Is your RCIA team catechizing at all the levels the church expects?
2. Six “best practices” for every RCIA catechist
3. Can an art docent help RCIA teams learn to catechize better?
4. The RCIA challenge of developing intimacy with Jesus—and my billion best friends
5. Six RCIA actions that guarantee intimacy with Christ

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!

Are you having difficulty keeping the neophytes involved during the post-baptismal period?

Watch this video by Nick Wagner for some tips on how to improve your mystagogical period.
 
 
 

How’s mystagogy going for you right now? More importantly, how is it going for the neophytes?

Some teams think the period of mystagogy ends with Pentecost, but that’s not what the U.S. bishops think.

Flip your copy of the RCIA open to the very back and look for the the National Statutes on the Catechumenate. Run your finger down to paragraph 24:

After the immediate mystagogy or postbaptismal catechesis during the Easter season, the program for the neophytes should extend until the anniversary of Christian initiation, with at least monthly assemblies of the neophytes for their deeper Christian formation and incorporation into the full life of the Christian community.

How do you get them to come back for mystagogy?

Now you might be thinking you couldn’t get them to come back for regular mystagogy, much less a mystagogy that extends all year long. Well, you might be right, but that’s still no reason not to try. Before you do give it a shot, however, take a moment to put yourself in the new Catholics’ shoes.

They might be feeling a little adrift right now. It’s been a while since the Easter Vigil. The security of the small group of regulars at the weekly catechetical sessions is no longer there. And they might not really know anyone else in the parish. If you were in that situation, what would attract you to a “monthly assembly”?

Invite neophytes to parish events

I did a little snooping around and read some of your parish bulletins online. One parish is having a Summer Cabbage Ball Fun League that starts next month. I don’t know what cabbage ball is, but for a $25 fee, you get a t-shirt, a pizza party, and all the cabbage ball you can handle. What if the godparents called up the neophytes and personally invited them to play cabbage ball? Or at least come to the pizza party? And perhaps the league organizers would waive the $25 fee for the neophytes.

Another parish is rounding up a group of parishioners to go see the town’s minor league baseball team. Tickets are $7.00. Perhaps the parish might spring for the seven bucks. That, and a personal invitation from you or the godparents would probably get most of the neophytes to the “assembly.”

And a few of you are sponsoring monthly book clubs. What a perfect event to invite the neophytes to, especially the introverts. If they are feeling shy, they can just hide behind the book until they warm up to the group.

A lot of you are having farewell parties for pastors that are moving on. And others are having welcome parties for new pastors. Have the godparents get on the phone and invite the neophytes for some tears and cheers.

Let them know you care

Even if the neophytes don’t come to these “monthly assemblies” in your parish, they will feel more connected to the community just knowing you haven’t forgotten about them. Give it a try, and let us know what happens.

And what about those of you that are already implementing successful, year-long mystagogies? What tips can you share with the rest of us?

For more ideas on helping the neophytes during their first year of Christian life, check out Living Baptism Daily: A Guide for the Baptized by Lawrence E. Mick.

The Paschal Triduum is the center of the liturgical year, and the Easter Vigil is its high point. It is the liturgy at which night turns into day, and death into resurrection.

Why vigil? St. Augustine had a pithy insight into this question: “We now need not wait for the Lord to arrive…. And yet our annual celebration is not simply a commemoration of a past event; it implies a present action on our part, which we accomplish by our life of faith and of which this Vigil is the symbol. The entire course of time is in fact one long night during which the church keeps watch, waiting for the return of the Lord, waiting ‘until He comes.’”

The Easter Vigil is a masterpiece of inculturation. The oldest annual celebration in the calendar, it bears the marks of its creative handling over almost two millennia. Let it wash over you, and lead you into the mystery of Easter tonight.

This liturgy is full of unsuspected delights.

For some RCIA teams, the period of postbaptismal catechesis, or mystagogy, seems to be the most difficult part of the catechumenate to implement. I commonly hear complaints that “they don’t come back” for mystagogy, and I get requests for “a good resource” to use during the mystagogy sessions. To me, those kind of comments reflect a different understanding of mystagogy than what the RCIA calls for. If we are expecting neophytes to come to mystagogy and we are hoping for a resource from which to lead the mystagogy, we are thinking of mystagogy as something like classes that take place in a discrete place over a set amount of time.

Test drive the faith

The RCIA, on the other hand, envisions mystagogy as a principle for living that the neophytes have been learning and practicing throughout their catechumenate. The mystagogical “period” does not end after 50 days. Rather, the 50 days (or the 365 days called for in the year-long mystagogy in National Statutes 24) is an intense period of test-driving the newly acquired skill of Christian living. Note what the RCIA says about this period:

This is a time for the community and the neophytes to grow in deepening their grasp of the paschal mystery and in making it part of their lives…. (244)

If we take that seriously, it’s clear that thinking of mystagogy as something the neophytes “come to” and that we might be able to create a “resource” for it are misunderstandings of what is supposed to be going on after baptism.

The neophytes are now full members of the body of Christ. As such, their job is now the same as our job—live the gospel. Whatever it is we do is what the neophytes are supposed to be doing. So what are we doing?

Sunday Mass is the place of mystagogy

Are we, the “old-phytes,” participating in weekly Easter catechetical sessions? Ideally, we are, but actually, most of us are not. What then is the primary catechesis for us in the Easter season? It is the Sunday Mass. And so also should it be for the neophytes:

Since the distinctive spirit and power of the period of postbaptismal catechesis or mystagogy derive from the new, personal experience of the sacraments and of the community, its main setting is the so-called Masses for neophytes, that is, the Sunday Masses of the Easter season. (247)

The place for mystagogy, then, is the Easter Sunday liturgies. The resource for postbaptismal catechesis is the personal experience of the sacraments and the worshipping community.

Apply new skills

The neophytes are like any of us who have learned a new skill. If a child keeps falling off her bike, she is still learning to ride. She’s not a rider yet. Once she can go several feet without falling, she’s learned the skill. She’s a rider-a beginning rider, but a rider. The new skill the neophytes have learned is offering a sacramental sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. This is a huge deal. We need to help them practice this new skill, running alongside of them, perfecting our own “grasp of the paschal mystery” even as we are keeping an eagle-eye on the neophytes as they practice. Too often, we confuse the idea of practicing new skills with signing the neophytes up to be lectors or communion ministers. Ack! Would you try to teach your daughter to play tennis at the same time she’s perfecting her new piano skills? One thing at a time! Keep the neophytes focused on perfecting their worship skills during the period of mystagogy.

What skills do the neophytes need to practice?

Here are two essential skills for the neophytes.

Develop a sacramental imagination

We cannot “see” God the way we see a photograph. We “see” God through sacramental signs. Saint Augustine focused on four major sacramental signs that he expected the neophytes to master: the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the font, and the altar. Augustine would hand on the first three during the period of purification and enlightenment. The last, the altar and all that takes place there, he would hand on in a series of “mystagogical catecheses” during the Masses of the Easter Season. This was not catechesis as we might think of a religious education class. It was a specialized preaching that would draw upon the symbols of the liturgy—especially the bread and wine that would later become the Body and Blood of Christ—to lay out for the neophytes and the rest of the faithful the full cosmic import of Jesus death and resurrection.

Act on the faith

In his homily, Augustine would point out to the neophytes that, just as the bread and wine were to be changed, so too had they been changed. The neophytes, now part of the Body of Christ, have the responsibility of being Christ in the world. Of course, they have been practicing this skill throughout their catechumenate, but now they have the fullness of Christ within them. Their proclamation of the good news to the oppressed of the world is a direct result of their sacramental sacrifice of dying and rising to Christ in the liturgy.

Eight tasks for the team

In order to make mystagogy successful, here are eight things the team needs to do.

1. Throughout the catechumenate, focus on the symbolic imagination of the faith, helping the catechumens to “see” God in all the activities of their daily lives.
2. Throughout the catechumenate, help the catechumens understand they are not “becoming Catholic.” They are dying to themselves and converting to a new lifestyle. They are not “getting baptized.” They are learning a new way of living.
3. Make it clear to the neophytes and their godparents that they must be at all the Sunday Masses of the Easter season. This should be one of the criteria for “readiness” before the catechumens are discerned to be eligible to become elect.
4. Prepare a series of Easter homilies that lead the neophytes through an exploration of the sacramental signs of the liturgy. The readings for Year A in the Easter Season are especially suitable for this. (See RCIA 247).
5. Prepare a special place in the worshiping assembly for the neophytes to sit with their godparents. On Easter Sunday, introduce the neophytes by name to the assembly. (See RCIA 248.)
6. Provide a time soon after the Easter Vigil for the neophytes to reflect with their godparents and other members of the parish on their experience of the Triduum.
7. Ask some of the neophytes who were particularly insightful in their reflections to share some of their thoughts with the assembly at the next Sunday liturgy.
8. Keep Pentecost Sunday focused on the neophytes. Hold a parish-wide celebration for them. Invite the neophytes from the previous Easter Season to join the festivities as honored guests (See RCIA 249-250.)

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Do you have any recommendations for “some sort of celebration” at the end of the Easter season that the RCIA mentions in paragraph 249? Our parish has traditionally done a “commissioning,” a blessing prayer over the neophytes by the community at the end of mass on Pentecost. Does it need to be on Pentecost or is the following Sunday fine?

I don’t think there is a specific guideline for the celebration mentioned in paragraph 249. My sense is that the Rite means simply a party—a parish pot luck or reception after Mass, perhaps. I would think it could include a blessing prayer over the neophytes, but I would be reluctant to call it a “commissioning.” I would worry that might diminish their initiation as their “great commission.” If you are going to pray a blessing over the neophytes at Mass, it seems like Pentecost would be the ideal Sunday. If you are going to offer the blessing at the party, any Sunday near Pentecost, before or after, would be appropriate. The following paragraph in the RCIA notes that the neophytes from the previous year be brought together to give thanks to God on their anniversary. It might be a joyful moment for those who are ending their neophyte year be at the party also to be witnesses to those who are about to begin their neophyte year.

How about the rest of you? Any suggestions for or examples of implementing RCIA 249?

You know who they are. They’re the ones who keep coming back week after week long after the Easter Vigil and Pentecost are over. They light up anytime someone mentions the RCIA or the catechumenate or becoming Catholic. They want to be sponsors even before they’ve gotten the Chrism smell off their pillow case.

They’re the neophyte evangelist, those newly-initiated who are not only living breathing proof of the resurrection but also walking billboards for the RCIA. They are your greatest fans and your number one supporters.

The RCIA process is not a one-way street that shapes only the catechumen into a disciple. It’s a mutual formation in the life of Christ that changes both the catechumen and the parish. That mutual relationship is evident when a neophyte feels called to share his experience of transformation with others. Essentially, this neophyte is doing faith-sharing, exactly what the catechumenate taught him to do and what all the baptized are called to do.

Some parishes invite neophytes to share their experience with the rest of the parish some time after their initiation. It’s best to give a neophyte time to process for himself or with a small group what he experienced and what it meant (mystagogy) before you ask him to speak to the assembly at a Sunday Mass about his experience. They might speak during the announcements or before Mass begins or even at coffee and donuts after Mass.

But don’t limit yourself to just the Sunday gathering as the venue for evangelization. Neophytes who are more comfortable writing their thoughts can provide a brief reflection for the bulletin or your parish Web site. Or better yet, record their reflection and put it on your parish Web site or blog just like Saint John the Evangelist Parish in Davison, Michigan, did with their neophytes.

Listen to Michael McCarty’s testimony

(Thanks to Michael McCarty and Elaine Ouelette, Director of RCIA and Family Faith Formation for their permission to include this testimony on TeamRCIA.com. Go to Saint John the Evangelist’s RCIA Web site to hear more testimonies.)

Imagine an entire CD filled with reflections like Michael’s from your neophytes, sponsors, team members, and parishioners who witnessed the transformation taking place in your catechumens and in themselves!

Do you have other ways you invite your neophytes to share their experience with the community? Have you included reflections from your neophytes on your Web site? Click the comment link below and share your ideas.

The Concord Pastor reminds us on this feast day about the implications of Pentecost. He cites Economic Justice for All, which bears reading for all of us who are trying to be faithful to RCIA 75:4: ((Since the church’s life is apostolic, catechumens should also learn how to work actively with others to spread the Gospel and build up the church by the witness of their lives and by professing their faith. RCIA 75.4))

After Jesus had appeared to them and when they received the gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:1-12), they became apostles of the good news to the ends of the earth. In the face of poverty and persecution they transformed human lives and formed communities which became signs of the power and presence of God. Sharing in this same resurrection faith, contemporary followers of Christ can face the struggles and challenges that await those who bring the gospel vision to bear on our complex economic and social world. (Economic Justice for All, no. 47, US Conference of Catholic Bishops)

This, I think, points out the clear distinction between a classroom model of faith formation in the RCIA and a mystagogical or apprenticeship model. Our task is not merely to teach the catechumens about the apostolic mission of the church. Our task is to form followers of Christ who will transform lives and create communities that challenge the structures of endemic poverty and persecution in the world.

Check out the Concord Pastor’s entire post by clicking here.

What do you do after the Easter Vigil? What does the ritual text call us to do and be for the neophytes during the sacred time of mystagogy? The following checklist will give you guidance and suggestions for effective mystagogy.

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• “Expect” neophytes to gather the week after initiation to share stories and pictures of their Easter Vigil celebration and to share the Scriptures for the Sundays of Easter in light of their sacramental experiences.
• Avoid the temptation to use the six weeks of Easter as a time for information and recruitment for parish service. The appropriate time for guest speakers and sharing information about various ministries is during the initial stages of formation.
• Affirm the primary role of the assembly in liturgy and the place of the neophytes in that assembly. Avoid having neophytes serve in catechetical or liturgical ministries for at least a year, and avoid using them as RCIA sponsors or team members. Ministry flows from the experience of being a member of the assembly and then being called to ministry. The newest neophytes are not meant to be a new pool of parish volunteers! Neophytes ought to be engaged in social and service ministries from the time of the catechumenate and gradually experience the connection between the celebration of Eucharist and the eucharistic lives they live through these ministries. This takes time and reflection on what it means to be a “regular Catholic in the pews.”
• Plan for monthly gatherings following the Pentecost celebration and look forward to experiencing with the neophytes their first year of full membership in the church. Plan with them from the beginning of Lent to celebrate the first anniversary of their initiation at the Pentecost that concludes their neophyte year.
• Encourage the neophytes to take ownership of their gatherings, forming their own agenda based on their experiences.
• Lead them into deeper prayer and into greater participation in the parish community, primarily through worship and service.
• Offer a special invitation to neophytes to participate in various sacramental experiences throughout the year, and then to reflect on them together. Possibilities include first Communion, communal penance services, communal anointing of the sick, confirmation of the youth, and infant baptisms.
• Hold a special gathering each year for all neophytes from the previous years. Consider having the gathering just prior to Lent or at Pentecost time.
• Remember to follow the directives of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults by:

1. offering neophytes special seating in the midst of the assembly at the Neophyte Masses of Easter time
2. inviting neophytes to wear their white baptismal robes throughout the Easter Season
3. inviting neophytes to give testimony, witnessing to their conversion journey in the midst of the parish assembly
4. asking neophytes to participate in the General Intercessions and Preparation of the Gifts
5. using the Easter Season Cycle A readings at Masses where neophytes are present and preaching the homily with them in mind
6. inviting the local bishop to visit with the neophytes during their first year as fully initiated Catholics

Click here to read Six steps to effective mystagogy, a practical article on how to “do” mystagogy from the first moment an inquirer knocks on the door through the year(s) following sacramental initiation.

• A step-by-step guide to mystagogy
• Awe Inspiring Rites?
• Five Ways to Preach Mystagogically
• How to do Mystagogy with the Neophytes in Easter