Is your initiation process “closed” for the summer? Try these four steps to get inquirers involved without adding a lot of extra work for your team.

1. Invite the inquirers to come to Mass
2. Invite the inquirers to parish events
3. Invite the inquirers to parishioners’ homes
4. Invite the inquirers to help with a service project

• Expanding yourself for a continuous RCIA process
• Do you have a Director of First Impressions?
• Is this the year to go year-round?

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Why do we need inquiry for children? In the cases of younger children, it seems pointless. The parents have made up the children’s minds for them. They will enter this process and finish it because their parents said so. Why not start these children with Christianity 101 and go on from there?

Thanks for your question on a precatechumenate for children. It does seem like sometimes children are only in the process because their parents want them to be, although that can be the very reason why a precatechumenate is important! While the parent may want baptism for the child, the child may not even be evangelized. At other times, a precatechumenate may not be necessary.

Let’s begin by looking at whether or not children benefit from a precatechumenate. First, it depends on the needs and the background of the particular child. The precatechumenate “is a time of evangelization” (RCIA, 36) when children hear the good news and develop their relationship with the living God and Jesus Christ. This time of “initial conversion” (RCIA, 37) is extremely important for children who have not yet been become consciously aware of their intimate and loving relationship with God. In order to ensure conversion, before we begin “Christianity 101″ we must first see to it that the child is aware of her or his relationship with God. In other words, initial conversion comes first and then the catechesis.

Indeed, the General Directory for Catechesis echoes a similar point in paragraph 62. The GDC says that the “first stage in the catechetical process” is dedicated to “ensuring conversion.” A “pre-catechesis” (or a precatechumenate) must precede catechesis if we want to nurture conversion in the child, which is of course the goal of initiation with children (RCIA, 253).

Moreover, what I have just described in the previous two paragraphs is for children who have not yet been evangelized and thus need a precatechumenate. In my experience, some, if not many, of the children who come to us need evangelization. They have not yet heard the good news, they are unfamiliar with the Scriptures and unaware of God’s deep, unconditional love for them. It is not an uncommon that when I do the initial pastoral visit with a child, he or she is not able to speak about God. In other words, they “know” very little of God’s love for them. They have not yet been evangelized.

One example may illustrate this point. Recently, I interviewed an inquiring family during the Advent/Christmas season. The child was not able to tell me anything she knew about God and did not know any stories from the Bible. Trying to help her along and thinking that the story of “Baby Jesus and Three Kings” would sound familiar, I asked her if she had ever heard this story. She stared at me blankly.

Even though many people would say that North America is a Christian society, many children have not heard the good news of God’s saving love. Thus, many children need a precatechumenate before we begin the more formal catechesis of the period of the catechumenate.

On the other hand, some inquiring children come to us already evangelized. These children may be baptized or unbaptized. The key is evangelization. If they are evangelized and at least somewhat aware of their relationship with Jesus Christ, then they probably don’t need the period of the precatechumenate. The initial pastoral interview will help you and the parents discern what best meets the needs of the child. And, as you well know, the needs of each child and family will be different.

• Do child catechumens need both RCIA and religious ed classes?

Here’s the scenario:

You’ve just finished a long but wonderful Easter Vigil. After months of weekly meetings, leading dismissal sessions, and doing discernment interviews, all the Elect have been baptized, and you’re looking forward to the last few gatherings of the RCIA post-Triduum before you take a well-deserved summer break.

As you’re gathering up all the wet towels from the baptisms and getting ready to head home, a young woman shyly walks up to you.

“Hi. I came here tonight because a friend of mine sings in the choir. I really liked the service. Um, I’m not Catholic or anything, but I think I want to be.”

The towels are cold against your arms, but your spirit is warmed by her inquiry about becoming Catholic.

“Hey, that’s great! We’ll start up the RCIA again in September. You can come and join us then!”

She doesn’t look as excited as you thought she’d be.

“RCIA? Uh, okay. Thanks. I’ll come back then.” She walks away and out the door.

How much will you bet she’ll come back in September?

You and I know that really isn’t the issue. Rather, why does she have to wait until September to continue what the Holy Spirit has begun in her?

Catechumenate directors who have experienced this very scenario tell me that when they said, “Come back in September,” they knew it didn’t feel right. For some of them, it was the moment they decided to change the way their parish did the RCIA.

This Triduum and throughout the Easter season, with its weddings, First Communions, and Confirmations, you will have many visitors like the woman above. Will you tell them to come back in the fall? Or will you have a way for them to connect right away with the parish and the way of life of a Christian?

You don’t necessarily need to give up your vacation. You don’t even have to have RCIA meetings every week of the year. But you do need to make use of the parish’s everpresent resources: its weekly gatherings, especially on Sundays, and its parishioners. These resources can immediately help a person begin the initiation process.

If your formal initiation gatherings don’t begin until the fall, don’t beat yourself up or try to do more than is reasonable. Instead, connect your inquirer with a faithful parishioner. Ask this person to just be a friend for this inquirer, someone who’ll sit with them at Mass, have coffee or a meal with them once in a while, and just be someone the inquirer can talk to about their questions. Then when your formal gatherings begin again four or five months from now, your inquirer can participate in those sessions, continuing the process of initiation that had begun on that Easter Vigil night.

Here’s the story of an actual inquirer who experienced this very thing last Palm Sunday. Kudos to this parish for being ready to respond even in the midst of Holy Week!

And click here for more ideas on doing inquiry any time of year.

What should we do with people who just want to be baptized without participating in any formation sessions or rituals? Some people are shy and do not want to be put on the spot. Should we just baptize them because they desire it, or do we put them through an individual program, ignoring the benefits of the community? Or do we just let them walk away as they go looking for another church?

My suggestion would be to first assign a very strong, trust-inspiring sponsor to such person. The sponsor’s job would be to be constantly present and reassuring to the seeker.

You might also adapt the way you hold your catechetical sessions so the seeker never feels put on the spot. For example, the seeker, the sponsor, and a couple of parishioners who are friends of the seeker (or will become friends of the seeker) might meet regularly for coffee and talk about questions the seeker has.

That might go on once a week for several months until the seeker feels ready to share some thoughts with a little bit larger group. When the seeker is finally ready to take the next step, the Rite of Acceptance could be celebrated at a smaller Sunday liturgy, like the early morning Mass or the Saturday evening Mass. If even that is too scary, it could be celebrated at a weekday Mass.

I think part of the seeker’s spiritual journey has to be to find a way to share his or her faith publicly, even that sharing is in very small and safe environments. The reason to baptize, after all, is to initiate catechumens into the mission of sharing the gospel with others.

What do others think? How have you handled a shy seeker?

I was at a party recently, and I knew very few people. I was wandering around from conversation to conversation, trying to pick up a thread I could contribute to, and not having much luck. Then I realized I was standing next to a man who, I had overheard someone else say, was a tennis player. I don’t like tennis, I don’t watch it, I don’t play it. I think it’s boring, difficult to master, a bit elitist, and expensive.

But I figured I could at least spend five minutes making small talk about it.

“So, you play tennis?” I asked.

Thirty minutes later, my new friend Jay had my phone number and my e-mail address and had me seriously considering taking lessons. This guy is an on-fire evangelist for tennis.

Put some spin on your pre-catechumenate with these simple techniques

I think we can use Jay’s techniques to improve our own evangelization skills. Here’s what Jay did:

1. Jay didn’t tell me he played tennis. It just became acquired knowledge, because Jay is so thoroughly “the tennis guy” in that community. Everyone around him knows he’s a tennis player. Lesson: Be so obviously Christian that everyone knows you are one, even if you don’t say so.
2. Jay must have told me a dozen times how great his fellow tennis players are—not as players, but as people. He told me how welcoming and kind they are and how they are just great folks. Lesson: Most “seekers” are looking for a community. Talk about what you like about your community.
3. The whole time Jay was talking, his face was beaming. He was smiling and nodding his head. His enthusiasm was catchy. Lesson: Be excited about the faith. Let your enthusiasm show.
4. Jay remembered my name. He used my name a lot when he was talking to me. He told me he’d get my phone number and e-mail address before the party was over. And he did. Lesson: Be genuinely interested in the seeker. Be interested enough to remember his name and how to contact him.
5. Jay told me what my next step should be. He told me not to bother with private lessons. “Too expensive,” he said, “and you don’t need that.” He told me to take free clinics at his club. “They’re held on Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings after work.” Lesson: Hold regular “free clinics” that are convenient and that you can invite seekers to. And then invite them.
6. Jay was obviously a good tennis player. I asked him if he’d been playing since he was a child—thinking that’s when all the good tennis players started. “I started in college,” he said. “Then I quit six years later when I had kids and didn’t start again until I was 50.” I’m 50. I asked Jay how long it would take me to get good enough to have fun. “Six months,” he said. I thought, I can do that. Lesson: Make it sound completely doable for someone to become Catholic, no matter what their situation is. Because it is doable.

I saved this one for last, because the time issue is one of the biggest objections of many seekers. And that objection gets reinforced by many RCIA leaders who promote an abbreviated catechumenate. A complete catechumenate takes too much time, they say. Notice, though, Jay didn’t tell me I’d be as good as he is in six months. In six months, I could make it to beginner status. I’d know enough that I could get on court and hit the ball back over the net fairly often.

And for someone who really wants to learn how, they can easily start being Catholic within six months. They cannot get baptized until they have been in the catechumenate for a full liturgical year, but they can get on the court and begin to feel pretty confident about their faith. Being a catechumen is being Catholic.

How about you? What do you think of Jay’s techniques? Do you use any of them? Do you have any others to add? Hit the comments link, and let us know.

(This article originally appeared in Today’s Parish Minister, September 2008.)

What do you do when an inquirer wants to get to the “nitty-gritty” about the Catholic Church and “God” and does not really want to faith share or hear other’s stories about God in their life?

In the precatechumenate, the inquirer sets the agenda. So I’d answer whatever questions he had, nitty, gritty, and otherwise. If he wants to get baptized, he will eventually need to learn to grow in and share his faith. It is a prerequisite for celebrating the Rite of Acceptance. See paragraph 42. He can remain in the precatechumenate for a long as he needs to, asking whatever questions he needs to. However, until he shows the beginnings of a spiritual life, he cannot be a candidate for the Rite of Acceptance.

One of the reasons often given for doing only a partial RCIA process is a lack of volunteers. So let’s look closely at how you can redeploy your current volunteers more efficiently. I’m going to imagine you have a team of three people, plus sponsors or godparents as needed. You may have fewer than that, but these principles will still work. Certainly if you have more than that, they will work.

Limit the inquiry process to true seekers

Let’s look at inquiry. What is the inquiry period in the first place? Flip open your RCIA text to paragraph 36 and underline this sentence:

It is a time of evangelization…. Thus those who are not yet Christians, their hearts opened by the Holy Spirit, may believe and be freely converted to the Lord.

So inquiry is not a place for Christians. Usually. It is sometimes the case that a person baptized as a child was never raised in the faith and has never “freely converted to the Lord.” That Christian could be in inquiry. But the faithful Protestants who are married to Catholics, who believe in Jesus and go to church, do not belong in inquiry. Where do they belong? That’s a subject for another post, but the short answer is, if they believe in Jesus and they are going to church, they are not our first concern.

To see what I mean, flip open another book, if you have it: the General Directory for Catechesis. (You can also read it online.) Turn to paragraph 46: Read the rest of this entry »

Was your liturgy memorable today? Chances are, there was someone in the assembly who was visiting your parish for the first time. If not this week, then next week or the week after, for sure. When they get home, will they remember your parish? Will they return?

It’s not difficult to create a lasting memory among the visitors and potential inquirers, but it does take a commitment to a consistent effort. The trick is to get everyone in the assembly thinking about what they can do to create a memorable experience. It can start with everyone on your RCIA team and gradually extend out to the rest of the parish. Take a look at this inspiring video to see what one bag boy did to transform the grocery store he worked in.

[via Your best just got better]

Whether it’s business or church, first impressions count. According to this post from “Fast Company,” a business magazine, big-time law firms and other major companies have figured out that their best strategies for success start right at the front door with the receptionist.

We in the church business can learn tons from the business world in this area of making a great first impression.

When an inquirer comes to your parish office during the week to ask, “How do I become Catholic?” what kind of response and treatment do they get? Does your parish receptionist know what to do? Are they made to feel comfortable and welcomed? Are they introduced immediately to someone on staff who welcomes them warmly? Or are they given an impersonal brochure and told to come back in September?

Read the “Fast Company” post, and see what your parish can do to improve its Ministry of First Impressions.

Here is an easy way to take the first step toward a year-round catechumenate.

Many parishes have recently celebrated their annual Rite of Acceptance. If that is your situation, you now have a brand new group of catechumens, and you will not be ready for more until next fall.

So here’s your challenge. If someone shows up in the next week or the next month or anytime before next fall asking questions about becoming Catholic, invite them to meet with your ambassador of welcome. Set up a meeting within a few days of your initial encounter. Make sure your ambassador of welcome has a significant contact with the inquirer at least once a month until it is time for your next Rite of Acceptance. (Significant is at least 45 minutes.)

The monthly meeting doesn’t have to be “catechesis.” In fact, it’s not supposed to be. It can just be conversation. When another person shows up asking questions a few weeks later, simply invite her to join the conversation. (But be sure the initial meeting takes place within a few days of the first inquiry.)

If you make that the normal practice in your parish, you will have moved to a year-round inquiry process without hardly lifting a finger.