I was just asked to review a book proposal that is meant to be a teaching resource for the catechumenate. The syllabus covers ecclesiology, Christology, the Trinity, each of the sacraments, and a bit of eschatology. I think those are all good things to know, but is that what the RCIA asks us to provide? Read the rest of this entry »

If you look up in the menu bar, you’ll see that TeamRCIA recently posted a glossary. And if you take a look in the glossary, you’ll see that one of the terms listed there is “RCIC.” I debated about whether to include it, because there is no such thing. Still, a lot of people use the term, so practicality won out over precision.

If your parish has an “RCIC,” I mean no offense. And you probably have a wonderful process for children that converts them to deep faith in Christ. But one thing no parish has is a Rite of Christian Initiation of Children. Because there is no such rite. Read the rest of this entry »

Apparently, Pope Benedict XVI was looking for ways to celebrate Saint Paul’s 2,000th birthday. After the Vatican Fire Marshal nixed the idea of a giant cake with 2,000 candles (the pope may be infallible, but not inflammable), the pontiff decided to declare this “The Pauline Year.” The festivities begin on June 29, 2008 and run through June 29, 2009. What festivities, you ask? Well, the Vatican is just a little tight-lipped about that. Never fear. TeamRCIA is stepping into the breach with nine ways to celebrate. (All of these suggestions have been safety-rated for catechumens.)

• Focus on the Easter Vigil epistle for the year (Romans 6:3-11). Have the catechumens memorize it. Make it the reading for your lector training. Have the lectors memorize it too. Ask the school children and the kids in the catechetical program to write an essay or poem or song about it.
• Preach on the second reading (when it is from Paul) more often this year. Focus the breaking open of the word sessions on the second reading more often. Write a weekly reflection question for the parish bulletin based on the second reading.
• Sing the Pauline canticles more often. Ask choir members, cantors, and the worshiping assembly to memorize one or two of them.
• Do you have stained glass windows in your parish? Or does a nearby parish? Is one of the images of Saint Paul? Take a field trip with the catechumens (and anyone else who wants to join in), and do a “breaking open of the glass” with them. (Don’t forget “breaking” is a metaphor!)
• Make pilgrimages to the parishes in your diocese named after Paul. You might want to call ahead. What’s a pilgrimage without some coffee and cookies waiting for you?
• Since the Feast of the Conversion of Paul is not only a Sunday this year but is also the event around which the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is planned every year, make a greater effort at building ecumenical relationships this year.
• Paul was all about conversion-his own and others’. Find a place on your parish Web site, Facebook group, or during coffee and doughnuts to share how you got knocked off your horse. (Which, as every good catechist knows, didn’t actually happen to Saint Paul. But it is a good image of conversion.)
• Throw a Paul party. Everybody named Paul, Pauline, or Pablo gets to be the guests of honor. However, they all have to tell the story of how they got their name.
• Create a parish book where people can write out their favorite verse from one of Saint Paul’s letters. In fact, let’s do that here. Click on the comments link and tell us the line from Paul that inspires you. Or share your own ideas for celebrating The Pauline Year.

QHow do I lead an ongoing catechumenate in a campus ministry setting when we only have the catechumens from September to April?

ASome of the general adaptations you’ll need to make for RCIA in a campus ministry setting depends a bit on the type of campus you’ll be working at. Is it a commuter campus or a dorm campus? Is it a Catholic college or a secular campus? Do you have a campus ministry team of professional staff or team of student leaders? Or are you by yourself as the campus minister? Is the campus ministry part of a parish community or is it an independent community? Is the school in session during Holy Week or will they be on spring break during the Easter Vigil?

Knowing some of these specifics will help you know how to best use your resources and to adapt to the natural school schedule.

Here are some basic steps you can take in any situation: Read the rest of this entry »

The ideal sponsor is someone fully immersed in their Catholic faith, and it’s wonderful when you have sponsors like this. In my experience, however, sponsors are sometimes not much more catechized than the catechumens. When that is the case, the sponsor coordinator is really a sponsor to the sponsors.

If you find yourself working with under-catechized sponsors, consider these four points. Read the rest of this entry »

In your RCIA process, do your catechumens and baptized candidates know the difference between Eucharist and communion? Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Center recently released a pastoral letter in which he ended his diocese’s practice of celebrating communion services in place of weekday or Sunday Mass. His reason for doing so was, partly, because he thought the celebration of communion services caused people to misunderstand the difference between Eucharist and communion.

This is how he described the difference: Read the rest of this entry »

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 75:4:¹

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.

1. 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 [↩]

If you have inquirers who are ready to become catechumens now, you need to celebrate the Rite of Acceptance with them before Pentecost in order for them to be eligible for initiation at the next Easter Vigil. Flip open your RCIA to the very back. Look for the section that is titled “Appendix III: National Statutes for the Catechumenate.” Then find paragraph 6, and underline the last sentence:

Ordinarily [the period of the catechumenate] should go from at least the Easter season of one year until the next; preferably it should begin before Lent in one year and extend until Easter of the following year.

I know, I know, you are completely worn out right now, and you can’t even think of starting up another group of catechumens. Well breathe easy for a second. I’m going to give you a few tips to make things simpler.

1. Note that what is required is that the inquirers become catechumens and participate in Sunday liturgy for one full liturgical year. While it would be ideal to begin weekly catechetical sessions with them immediately, it isn’t required. If you can only do the bare minimum right now, celebrate the Rite of Acceptance with them and make sure their sponsors are taking them to Mass.
2. If you can rely a little more on the sponsors, ask them to take the catechumens out for coffee after Mass for the next few weeks and discuss the liturgy. No teaching, just talking.
3. If you have neophytes this year, you are likely having some kind of meetings with them during the Easter season. Invite the new catechumens to participate in those and call on the neophytes to share what they’ve learned and experienced with the catechumens.
4. Is your parish holding parent sessions for first communion and confirmation preparation? With a little creativity and flexibility, adult catechumens could participate in those. Child catechumens could join with their peers and get a sense of what they will be getting ready for.
5. Ask some of the folks who were initiated last year or the year before to lead the catechumens in an extended breaking-open-of-the-Word each week until you can begin more formal catechetical sessions. They should be pretty good at it if you did a good job with them during their catechumenate.
6. Do you have a parish Bible study or faith-sharing group? (Or does a neighboring parish?) Ask if the new catechumens can sit in for a few weeks until you are ready to go.
7. Also remember the requirement for a year-long catechumenate is for catechumens. Baptized candidates, especially those who are somewhat catechized, don’t require a full liturgical year of catechesis.

If you are looking for a Sunday to celebrate the Rite of Acceptance, the Sixth Sunday of Easter (A) is a good choice. The assigned gospel, John 14:15-21, is part of Jesus’ farewell to the disciples in which he promises to send them the Holy Spirit. “Whoever loves me,” he tells them, “will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

If your parish celebrates the Ascension on the Seventh Sunday of Easter, the gospel for the Seventh Sunday (A), John 17:1-11, can be read on the Sixth. It is also an appropriate text for the Rite of Acceptance: “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me.”

If you don’t tell anybody I told you and you really want to stretch things, you could wait until the Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (June 8, 2008) for the Rite of Acceptance. It’s not ideal, but it is better than trying to cram in a six-month process staring in October. And the gospel, Matthew 9:9-13, is perfect: “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.”

If you do have a Rite of Acceptance scheduled before mid-June, hit the comment button below and tell us about it!

QWe have two people in the catechumenate process this year. One person is unbaptized. The other was baptized as a Catholic but has had no religious formation whatsoever. We have been dismissing both of them each week to break open the word. However, my pastor is telling me the second person should not dismissed because he is already baptized. I disagree with him. Who is right?

AThere is no uniform practice on this. Many parishes dismiss both the catechumens and the baptized candidates, just as you are. However, my preference is to only dismiss the unbaptized. I agree with your pastor that baptized people should remain in the assembly for the entire liturgy.

The reason I believe this is because there is more to Eucharist than communion. Even though the baptized candidates cannot receive communion, they can, and should, participate in the offering the sacrifice through their participation in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. This is as catechetical as breaking open the word would be.

The reason we dismiss catechumens is not simply to give them more time for breaking open the word or for catechesis. It is because they are not yet members of the Order of the Faithful and therefore cannot yet offer the sacrifice of the Mass through their prayer.

In addition, by dismissing the unbaptized and keeping the baptized in the liturgy, we are also catechizing the rest of the assembly about the importance and dignity of baptism.

The actual texts of the RCIA would seem to support this. If you look at the combined rites that include both catechumens and baptized candidates, only the catechumens are dismissed. See, for example, paragraphs 527-529, 544-546, and 559-561.

Lent comes early in 2008—February 6. That means that you only have a few weeks to decide who among your catechumens will celebrate the rite of election.

Unless you have a year-round process, you’ve probably already made the decision. In most parishes, anyone who celebrated the Rite of Acceptance this past fall (or even this past Advent!) is expected to become one of the elect and to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. It is difficult, however, to know if those who have been catechumens for only a short time are really ready for the next step in the initiation process. In this year when Lent begins so early, it might be a good time to look more closely at the shortcomings of a nine-month process (which, this year, works out to something more like a three- or four-month process).

Let’s first agree on what we are looking for. The RCIA gives us a list of criteria.

Before the rite of election is celebrated, the catechumens are expected to have undergone a conversion in mind and in action and to have developed a sufficient acquaintance with Christian teaching as well as a spirit of faith and charity. (120)

There are three clear challenges listed there. First, what does a conversion in mind and action look like? Well, that’s hard to answer. I’d have to know your catechumens pretty well. I’d have to know what their lives were like before they started coming to your parish. I’d have to know what they said they were looking for when you asked them at the Rite of Acceptance what it is they asked of God and God’s people. I’d have to watch them in the parish and how they interacted with various parish groups. I’d have to listen to them talk about their faith. I’d have to have long talks with their sponsors.

The next challenge is to see in them a sufficient acquaintance with Christian teaching. The rite says at a minimum, that teaching takes a full liturgical year to unfold. It is not so much a list of precepts and dogmas they have to master. It is a deep understanding of what Jesus meant when he said follow me. Do they know in mind and heart, what it means to follow the cross? I’d have to listen to the catechumens discuss their beliefs. I’d have to observe how they brought their beliefs to bear in difficult times. I’d have to see how they responded to the gifts God has blessed them with. I’d have to see how faithful they were in celebrating the liturgy of the church.

The final challenge is to see in the catechumens a spirit of faith and charity. I’d have to hear them talk about and see them care for those who are less fortunate than they. I’d have to witness an attitude of generosity in them. I’d have to know in my heart that they believed the poor and the outcast are especially loved by God.

Honestly, I just don’t see how it is possible to get to know these things in a few months, especially if you have a large number of catechumens. If you’re feeling the same way, then what can be done at this point? It seems you have only a couple of options. If you have the stomach for it, you might pose these challenges to the catechumens themselves. If you really don’t know them well enough to discern these areas of growth in them (or you know for sure they have not grown in these areas), tell them that. Tell them you cannot in good conscience recommend them for the Rite of Election this year.

Your other option is, perhaps less pastoral, but less stressful on you. Come clean with them about your misgivings. But, offer the catechumens the option of celebrating the Rite of Election in spite of your hesitations. Encourage those who wish, to remain in the catechumenate for another year, but allow those who are determined, to move to the next stage. The reason I suggest this is less pastoral is that those who do go forward will almost certainly fall away after the Easter Vigil. They are the ones most interested in “finishing,” not beginning.

Finally, make a New Year’s resolution that any new inquirers you encounter in the coming year will not be promised a “date” for their initiation until after an in-depth discernment process based on the criteria the RCIA provides.