(THE SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED)

Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey about the needs of inquirers, catechumens, and candidates in your RCIA processes. Over 200 people completed the survey, and you can see a summary of the results here.

We have prepared a second survey that goes a little deeper into the kind of information your catechumens and candidates might need about sacraments. Based on the responses to the follow-up survey, TeamRCIA will begin to develop resources to assist you in forming their catechumens and candidates in Catholic sacramental life.

Even if you were not able to participate in the first survey, we hope you will fill this one out because your responses will help guide future resources for your team.

It’s good to see you again. If you enjoyed this post, please share with a friend or colleague. Thanks for visiting!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey about the needs of inquirers, catechumens, and candidates in your RCIA processes. Over 200 people completed the survey, and you can see a summary of the results here.

Sacraments

The highest need, by far, is a need for more information about sacraments. 129 of you gave that a 5-rank (highest need out of 5 possible points). And 45 more of you ranked this need at 4.

Liturgical practices

The next highest need, which is related, is more information about liturgical practices. 103 of you ranked that need as a 5, and 69 ranked it as a 4.

Church structure

The lowest needs identified are more information about church governance and more information about Rome, the Vatican, and the pope. For those, only 28 of you and 37 of you, respectively, gave those needs a 5.

The results were a little surprising to me. I wouldn’t have guessed before the survey that sacraments and liturgy would have ranked so highly. I might have guessed that church governance would rank low, but I thought non-Catholics might be looking for more information about the Vatican and the pope than was indicated in the results.

Discussion vs. apprenticeship models

One result that confirmed my hunch was the question about how your inquirers, catechumens, and candidates learn best. 187 of you gave either a 4 or a 5 to the “discussion” option. That squares with my experience and my sense of how most teams are catechizing. However, one of the lowest scores was for “apprenticeship.” That worries me a little. Discussion is an effective method of catechesis, but learning to live as Christians is primarily a “follow the leader” activity. I wonder if teams are really not doing much apprenticing or if they just don’t identify many of their modeling behaviors as apprenticeship. That will be an interesting topic for us to explore on the Web site in the future.

Resources for sacramental formation

However, for the immediate future, we plan to focus on “sacraments.” We are preparing a second survey that goes a little deeper into the kind of information your catechumens and candidates might need about sacraments. Based on the responses to the follow-up survey, TeamRCIA will begin to develop resources to assist you in forming their catechumens and candidates in Catholic sacramental life.

This is my very non-scientific look at the results. The only useful thing I remember from my college statistics course is that it’s possible to tilt the prism and get different conclusions from the same data. So please don’t be shy about sharing how you see the results. Your take is just as valid as mine. I’d love to hear what you think and what you learned from the survey.

And stay tuned for the survey on sacramental formation!

Virtual Learning Community posted an excellent video of Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk speaking about the faith of the church. Archbishop Pilarczyk makes the claim that we can give a full summary of everything the church teaches in less than five minutes. And then he goes on to prove it! Don’t miss this excellent catechist in action. (I set the video to skip ahead to the actual explanation.)

Archbishop Pilarczyk may be able to explain the faith in less than five minutes, but if you’d like a little longer discourse, check out Faith, Life & Creed by Mary Birmingham.

There is a great and somewhat ironic convergence happening in our calendars. In the midst of the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 13, 2010, the Church celebrated National Migration Week (January 3-9), starting on the Feast of the Epiphany, a week when it focused on the situation of migrants and refugees. The Church also celebrated Vocations Awareness Week (January 10-16), starting with the Baptism of the Lord, as it reminded all the faithful of its call to holiness expressed in lay, religious, and ordained life. And next week, the Church marks the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25), ending with the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. The theme of this year’s week of prayer is “You Are Witnesses of These Things,” from Luke 24:48. And finally, January 15 is the birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose holiday the United States marks this Monday.

What does the crossing of all these “memorials” mean? What are we being witnesses to these full days?

I don’t know that I have an answer to that. But all these events give me so much to reflect on, and the juxtapositions of the annual celebrations draw new light on what is happening in our world today. In Haiti, we witness a nightmare. I still can’t not be moved to tears whenever I watch the news or listen to another report. Yet in the streets of Haiti, there is hope and faith and even joy. They dance and sing even as they weep. They rejoice at the rescue of one even as so many dead line the streets.

A man, whose leg was pinned down under a fallen wall for two days, was given a microphone by the news crew filming his rescue. As people chiseled stone away from his leg and used blowtorches to cut metal, the man spoke of his faith in God. “I am a Christian,” he said, “so I say, ‘Jesus, my life is in your hands.’”

Not knowing his fate, this man relied on the promise of Christ. Amid the nightmare in Haiti, he dreamed the vision of the Spirit: Isaiah’s vision of peoples of every race and nation coming together to Jerusalem, the vision of a dove and a voice descending from heaven upon God’s beloved, the vision of healing amid division and hope for the outcast and persecuted.

We, Christians, are dreamers, dancing and weeping all at the same time, for although we find suffering on earth, we are citizens of a new heaven and a new earth. Yet our dreams are not fanciful thoughts of a world far away. Our dreams are made real every Sunday, at the table of Word and Eucharist. This is our faith. This is what we witness in Haiti. We are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

A Prayer for Dreamers

January 18, 2010, is the national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. It is also the 16th annual King Day of Service, instituted by the U.S. Congress as a day of volunteer service, turning community concerns into citizen action.

God of our waking and our sleeping,
in every age,
you have spoken to your prophets
in dreams and visions
and have promised that
our sons and daughters shall prophesy
through your Spirit.

Through the dreams of young Joseph,
you saved your people from famine.
In the visions of King Solomon,
you blessed your land with wisdom.
Because of dreams,
aged Joseph acted quickly
to protect your only Son from harm.
And through the revelation announced to Mary,
you brought forth a new King and a new dream
for all the world to witness.

Bless those who continue to seek you in dreams.
Open their ears to hear you in their visions,
loosen their tongues to speak your word,
strengthen their hands to respond swiftly in action,
and embolden their hearts that what they hear in the dark
they may proclaim in the light.

Make us all dreamers who tirelessly pursue
the vision of your Kingdom.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Copyright © 2009, Diana Macalintal. This prayer originally appeared in Today’s Parish, January-February 2009, 42:1.

Diana Macalintal and I will be copresenting a workshop in Orlando this weekend at the Fashion Me a People conference. Our topic is the Liturgy of the Word as a source of catechesis. Our goal is to help participants learn techniques for drawing out and extending the catechetical content of the Liturgy of the Word. We also hope they will learn how to grow more aware of the mystery of revelation that infuses the living Word of God.

We’re going to base the workshop on the opening liturgy of the conference. Now here’s the tricky part. We don’t know what the liturgy will entail. We don’t know the music, the readings, the structure of the rite, or the prayers that will be prayed. So how can we possibly create a “catechesis” based on the prayer?

There are two ways to understand the process of catechesis. The most common is to equate catechesis with education. Resources abound for those who want to catechize from a classroom model. The models can be set up in a scope and sequence format, and teachers can very efficiently plan out the content of their classes for the upcoming semester.

However, a more traditional understanding of catechesis is to see it as a process of entering into the mystery of Christ. The liturgy is the primary way in which we enter into the paschal mystery. And catechesis is a deep, systematic reflection on that paschal encounter with Christ.

So, from that perspective, we cannot determine ahead of time what the content of our catechesis will be this weekend. We cannot do so because we have not yet had this weekend’s encounter with the mystery of Christ along with all our brothers and sisters who will be gathered in Orlando.

If Christ is really present in his word and really present in the gathered assembly of believers, we should learn a powerful lesson from our encounter with that Presence this weekend. I’m looking forward to finding out what it is.

For Christmas, a friend gave me The Complete Robuchon, which is 800 recipes for “French home cooking for the way we live now.” My friend and I both love to cook, although she is much more serious about it than I am. She takes classes from important chefs, stocks her pantry with sea salts from around the world, and has more All-Clad pans than some women have shoes. Still, she gave me this very serious cookbook as “re-gift” because, she said, I’m more of an artist than she is in the kitchen. And this is a book about art.

The art of eating

You’ll have to come over for dinner some night to determine which of us is more the artist. I thought her comment was odd, though, because I’m what folks call a “recipe cook.” Because she is better trained than I am, my friend can whip up wonderful meals without a cookbook in sight. I’m constantly double-checking myself against the “experts” as I cook. Whether you wing it or cook by the book, however, Joel Robuchon says something important about “the art of eating”:

Proper nourishment calls for a certain balance, within each meal and from one to the next. To be healthy, then, as well as engaged by the singular pleasure of eating, we must all find ways of varying what we eat. We may think of meat or fish as the center of a meal, but fruit, vegetables, dairy products, and grains should find their way to the table whenever we sit down to eat. The proportions may vary according to individual tastes and nutritional requirements, but no single food alone makes a satisfying meal.

He then goes on to explain the intangibles that go into the art of, not eating, but feeding others:

• You must first of all avoid overwhelming them, especially with heavy dishes served from beginning to end.
• At the same time, try to find something that will tie the whole meal together such as a common flavor note struck in several courses.
• You must also take into consideration your guests’ tastes, inevitable allergies, and religious requirements.
• Don’t forget that you will want to spend some time with your friends or family, away from the kitchen.
• The finest meals are planned with the season in mind….

A recipe for formation

I know you won’t be shocked when I tell you I think this is very similar to how we should think of our formation efforts. If we think of formation as meal-sharing, we can learn a lot. You can be a “recipe cook” when it comes to formation and still be an artist. The key is balance—and keeping the needs of your guests at the forefront of your planning. There is no one form of catechesis that is going to be satisfying. You need to vary what you are feeding the catechumens. Specifically:

• You don’t want to overwhelm them with heavy doctrines from beginning to end.
• Inquirers need a lot of appetizers—small but enticing bites of the best of our faith.
• Along with the main doctrinal courses, catechumens need plenty of side dishes of customs and practices along with well-matched wines of sparkling community and enlivening friendships.
• The elect need to be taught how to harmonize their faith the way the French balance a chorus of cheeses between the main course and dessert.
• And the neophytes are to be indulged in the eternal sweetness of God’s saving grace—much like a kid in a candy store.

Cook for whose coming to dinner

The thing that moves this method of formation beyond recipe and into art is knowing when to put down the book and take up the relationship. An artist doesn’t put a meal on the table just because some French chef said this tastes good with that. An artist starts with the question—what would my friends like to eat? What would delight them? What would feed not just their stomachs, but their spirits as well? What would make them leave the table completely satisfied and at the same time longing for so much more?

If we can serve up that kind of dish for the catechumens, we’ll all be artists of faith.

What is the church’s position on baptizing adults that are traveling often and do not have time for a formal RCIA program? They are aware of all Catholic precepts but lack the formal baptism and confirmation but faithfully seek these sacraments. Any help would be appreciated.

This is a great question that sends us back to the ritual text, The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, to seek guidance for a real, practical, pastoral situation of someone seeking sacramental initiation. This traveling catechumen is not alone! Many parish communities include those whose work takes the away from home on a regular basis.

The obvious answer is that the “church’s position on baptizing adults” is the full implementation of the RCIA. Other than in the exceptional circumstances addressed in Part II of the Rite, the norm always includes a period of evangelization (or pre-catechumenate), the catechumenate, a time of purification and enlightenment, all leading to full sacramental initiation at the Easter Vigil. Nowhere does the rite call for a “formal program.”

To answer this question adequately and with fidelity to the rite, we must turn to the intent of each period of formation and make application to the situation of the individual who travels often and may not be able to gather with a home parish group on a regular basis.

Essential elements of formation

Paragraph 42 of the RCIA asks us to look far beyond Catholic precepts (with which the individual you describe is familiar) to issues of true conversion: evidence of faith, intention to change her or his life, a strong living, loving relationship with God, a sense of sin and repentance, a prayer life, and a sense of the church. If these qualities are “alive and well” in your inquirer, then he or she is ready for the catechumenate. The Rite of Acceptance should be celebrated in the home parish at a time when this catechumen can participate fully.

Remembering that the purpose of the catechumenate is apprenticeship into a life of discipleship, we turn then to paragraph 75 of the RCIA, which outlines the essential elements of formation for a catechumen:

• formation in the Word and solid catechesis based on the Word
• participation in the community
• active participation in the liturgy
• and apostolic witness and service

Think outside the “classroom”

None of these is time or place bound! Therefore, some out-of-the-box or, more appropriately, “out-of-the-classroom” thinking needs to happen so that some creative solutions for this situation may be discovered.

Some important considerations for the traveling catechumen include:

• Does she or he have a well-formed sponsor with whom there is a strong, consistent relationship and communication?
• Does the catechumen participate in the liturgy of the Word (and dismissal rite if available) on a regular basis regardless of what town or city she or he is in?
• Is there a catechist, team member, or sponsor who maintains regular online communication with the traveling catechumen to share reflections on the Word, discuss questions or concerns, share insights?
• In what ways is the traveling catechumen serving the community of the church and the world as a Christian disciple?
• When the catechumen is in her or his home parish, how is she or he involved in the life of the community? How and when are her or his stories of living the life of discipleship with its challenges and opportunities being heard and received by the home community? What support can she or he expect from the home community?
• With whom does the catechumen reflect on and discern her or his journey of discipleship and call to full sacramental initiation?
• When the catechumen enters into the period of purification and enlightenment as one of the elect, does the home parish make arrangements for her or him to celebrate the scrutinies in the parish to which travel takes her or him?
• Does the catechumen have a commitment to celebrating the Rite of Election in the home diocese and sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil in the home parish?

Focus on relationship

I wonder if the traveling catechumen isn’t somehow a sort of prophet in our midst calling us to look again at what we do and why we do it. Are we so used to or comfortable with the organization of parish programs that we miss the very essence and purpose of the catechumenate, the formation of faithful disciples? Jesus met his disciples where they were—in a tree, at the taxation bureau, by a well, near a lake, or in the dark of night—and began an intimate relationship with them in their particular time and circumstances, gradually drawing them into a share in his own mission. In his name, this is our task, too, whatever it takes.

John Madden, the legendary football coach and television announcer is retiring at age 73. And his mother still calls him to check up on him. I totally understand this because, if current trajectory is any guide, I will be getting calls from my mother when I am well into my 70s. And I also understand it because I still think of some of the very first catechumens I journeyed with. I wonder if they are doing okay-still praying, still going to church, raising their children (and grandchildren!) in the faith. If I had their phone numbers, I’d probably be calling them too.

What is the job of the catechist?

As catechists, we get that knot in our stomach that tells us it is our job to make sure those we minister to will have everything they need to live the Christian life once they’ve left the cozy nest of Sunday dismissals and Wednesday night meetings. And much like worrying parents, we know that whatever we do, it will never be enough. There will always be some unforeseen fork in the road or temptation in the air that might lure our spiritual “children” away from their home in the church.

We can try to give the catechumens as much information as we can give them, but more important will be to teach them how to interpret their daily experiences and see God’s grace in those moments. The General Directory for Catechesis has a terrific section dedicated to this titled: “Human experience in catechesis.” If you have a copy, turn to paragraph 152. If you don’t have a copy, you can read it online here.

The bishops tell us that human experience arouses “interests, questions, hopes, anxieties, reflections, and judgments.” They aren’t speaking specifically of catechumens here, but you know that catechumens are alive with questions, hopes, anxieties, etc. The bishops go on to tell us what our job really is:

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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.

One of the fabulous images for Holy Saturday is that of Jesus—after his descent into death—pulling Adam and Eve out of their tomb, their prison, and into the light and air. Their shackles fall away. Their eyes blink at the light. It’s the so-called “harrowing of hell” theme (it’s not really hell of course, but Sheol, “the land of the dead”—in Christian terms, the reality of having lived and died without knowing God’s gift in Christ). It reminds us that Jesus came to save all people, from the very beginning to the end of time.

Of course, it’s a human feeling to wonder about the fate of people who have died. For catechumens, coming for the most part from non-Christian families who did not hear or embrace Christ and his message, there is the special poignancy here. They have found Christ. They wish to celebrate his victory fully. But sometimes there is a shadow of sadness that someone dear will not be “at the table” with them on Holy Saturday night.

I do not think it’s always easy to put these things into words. But the image helps. The hands of Jesus reach out to Adam and Eve. He can do this.