The Rite of Acceptance adapted for children, as it appears in the RCIA, presumes the children’s parents will be serving as their sponsors (see 265). I suppose this is because the parents are required to give their consent. If they cannot be present at the rite to do so, they are to send a “sponsor” to give consent for them (260).

I’m not sure that having parents serving as their children’s sponsors is the wisest pastoral practice, however. Isn’t it usually the case that the reason these children have reached catechetical age without being baptized is because the parents have had a few bumps in the road on their own journey of faith? They are not likely to have been the active Catholics we usually look for in the role of sponsor. But if the parents don’t serve as sponsors, who does?

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The key to catechizing children in the RCIA is this:

The process of initiation [of child catechumens] thus must be adapted both to their spiritual progress…and to the catechetical instruction they receive. (RCIA 253, emphasis added)

We can’t stress enough that the spiritual progress and instruction required for each child is unique. We must constantly be adapting the initiation process for each child. So how do we know what to adapt?

The goal of adapting the RCIA for children

To know what to adapt, we need to be diligent in asking the right question. Often, we get stuck on the wrong question: What do they need to know? The right question is: Who do they need to know?

I don’t know about you, but I get stuck on the wrong question because it is the question that helped me grow in my faith. By the time I could read and write, I was learning what I needed to know to be a better Catholic. But, by the time I could read and write, I already knew who I needed to know. I was raised in a faithful Catholic home. By the time I started school, I knew how to make the Sign of the Cross, say the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary, and had a basic understanding of the Trinity. I started school catechized. I didn’t need to be introduced to Christ. I needed an ongoing catechesis for my continuing conversion.

RCIA catechesis is initiatory catechesis

Ongoing catechesis is way different than initiatory catechesis (see National Directory of Catechesis, 57-59). Initiatory catechesis is a

comprehensive and systematic formation in the faith [that]…includes more than instruction: it is an apprenticeship of the entire Christian life, it is a “complete Christian initiation,” which promotes an authentic following of Christ, focused on his Person; it implies education in knowledge of the faith and in the life of faith, in such a manner that the entire person, at his deepest levels, feels enriched by the word of God. (General Directory for Catechesis, 67)

So the adaptations we are striving for in initiatory catechesis are those that are focused on the Person of Christ and following that Person. It is a catechesis that provides a

basic and essential formation, centered on what constitutes the nucleus of Christian experience, the most fundamental certainties of the faith. (General Directory for Catechesis, 67)

The purpose of this initiatory catechesis is to lay a foundation that will enable the child catechumens to later engage fully in Christian life—which includes a more comprehensive, complex, ongoing, lifelong catechesis.

By focusing on the wrong question—what they need to know—we run the risk of not attending fully enough to the most important question—who they need to know. The key to adapting the RCIA for children is this: first who, then what.

• 5 principles for adapting the RCIA for children
• Why we need to stop RCIC
• How to prepare baptized, uncatechized Catholic children

If you flip open your RCIA to paragraph 252, you’ll see the section titled “Christian initiation of children who have reached catechetical age.” Paragraphs 252-259 are pretty important for understanding how we should go about adapting the catechumenate process for children. Here are a few things that stand out for me.

1. The norm on which this form of the rite is based is everything that comes before this rite. That is, the RCIA itself. Anything we do in adapting the rite for children has to be in harmony with what we do with the adults.

Practical implications:

o We cannot baptize child catechumens and celebrate Eucharist with them without also confirming them in the same ritual.

2. To be subjects of this form of the rite, these children have to meet two qualifications: they were not baptized as infants and they have attained the use of reason.

Practical implications:

o This rite is not for children baptized in other traditions who are becoming Catholic (because they’re baptized).

o The age of the child is not the determining factor; use of reason is. A child who is younger than seven, who would be capable of knowing the difference between ordinary bread and wine and the body and blood of Christ, and who knows right from wrong, is of catechetical age.

3. As with the adults, there is no set length for the catechumenate. The spiritual journey of each child is unique, and, “the process of initiation thus must be adapted to both their…growth in faith, and to the catechetical instruction they receive” (RCIA 253).

Practical implications:

o A child who has not experienced “a conversion that is personal and somewhat developed” cannot be initiated, even if he has completed two years of first communion preparation classes with his peers. (Neither can his peers celebrate first communion if they have not experienced a conversion, but that’s another post.)

4. Formation is more about lifestyle training than classroom study. The child catechumen’s formation “depends upon the help and example of their companions and on the influence of their parents” (RCIA 254).

Practical implications:

o The child catechumens should be hanging out with Catholic children their own age.

o Their parents need to be actively living the faith. It makes little sense to ask for a profound conversion of young children if their parents are not living a converted lifestyle.

5. The discernment of the children’s readiness is interlinked with the readiness of their parents.

Practical implications:

o Because many parents who bring their children for initiation are not living a converted lifestyle, children’s catechumenate teams need to be providing a conversion process for the parents as well as for the children.

Take a look at paragraphs 252-259. To read it through will probably take five to ten minutes. What other principles can be drawn out of the text? Is there anything in those paragraphs you disagree with? Anything you think we aren’t emphasizing enough in our parishes?

• How to prepare baptized, uncatechized Catholic children
• 100 children in RCIA—what would you do?
• Children and the scrutinies

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 »

QI was wondering if you could give some guidance about sacramental preparation for older children (baptized Catholic, but formally uncatechized) 3rd grade and above, since there is little consistency among parishes within our diocese.

In most cases, these children (primarily 3rd-6th grade) have had no formal catechesis and have not celebrated first confession or first communion. Some of the parishes integrate them into a regular religious education program and use a two-year process, which would include sacramental preparation in the second year (for first confession and first communion only and confirmation later, usually in the 8th grade).

Many parishes place them in an RCIA program with some sacramental preparation for first confession and first communion in the second year, but they are not confirmed.

Then, there are some parishes that place them in an RCIA program, and they do receive all sacraments at the Easter Vigil; there is a distinction made at the Vigil between the neophytes and candidates.

Any thoughts or suggestions on what the best direction to go might be?

AOh my, what a tangle! Unless you are a diocesan employee, I think you have to focus on what is right for your parish. It might be better if all the parishes in your diocese had a uniform policy, but that may not be a problem you can solve. So what’s at stake here?

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QOur church has just added over 100 children (candidates), 9 to 17-years-old, into the RCIA program. I have not been able to find information on discerning these baptized children. I am fairly new to the team and am finding discernment of children, or rather more specifically trying to determine when and who is ready, very frustrating. I hope you can provide me with some pointers to help make this process easier.

AWow! That’s a lot of children, and quite an age range. I think your first step is to do a little sorting. Are any of these children approaching your parish on their own, or are their parents also in a process of reception? For those whose parents are also in the process, I would focus on discerning the readiness of the family and not focus exclusively on the children.

For those children that are closer to the 17-years-old end of the spectrum, you can treat their discernment as you would the discernment of an adult.

The basics of a discernment process can be found in paragraph 75 of the RCIA. The criteria there are meant for unbaptized adults, but they can be adapted to anyone, at any age. Briefly, you want to see growth in

1. the way the candidates hear the word of God and understand the tradition of the church
2. the way the candidates pray and worship
3. the way the candidates participate in and contribute to the parish community
4. the way the candidates care for the poor and for those who have never heard the Good News

For a more detailed discussion of discernment, check out these links:

• RCIA Discernment: What is it and how do you do it?
• Do you know the three Rs of RCIA discernment?
• RCIA Discernment: How do you know if they “know enough”?

There is lots more that could be said about discernment, and I’m going to open the discussion up for comments to see what other wisdom is out there.

The adaptation of the scrutiny rites for child catechumens is confusing (RCIA 291). Instead of clearly labeling the rites as scrutinies, they are called “Penitential Rites (Scutinies).” And even though the title is plural, only one text is given with an instruction to write your own for a second, using the given text as a model. Nothing is said about a third scrutiny. There are nine readings listed as options for the liturgy of the word and, although the traditional Johannine gospels are listed among them, there is no requirement that they be used and no emphasis in the rite on the progressive nature of these three traditional scrutiny gospels.

Most parishes that have child catechumens simply include the children in the regular scrutinies with the adults. If the liturgy is celebrated well, it is as meaningful for the children as it is for the adults.

• Choreographing the Scrutinies
• Don’t catechize in Lent
• What are the proper prayers for the scrutinies?
• 9 Ways to Treat the Elect Like Royalty
• Reckless Love: A Scrutiny Homily
• “God Glasses” for the Man Born Blind - A Scrutiny Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent