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.

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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.

I recently signed up for a new wiki. If you don’t know what a wiki is, click here. But that’s not what I want to tell you about. Almost immediately after I signed up, I got an e-mail from Kristine at PBwiki introducing herself as “the community evangelist” for PBwiki. Her reason for writing was to help me get involved and to provide assistance if I got stuck.

Then she gave me ten links I could click on to find out more about my wiki and the PBwiki community. She also promised to respond if I sent her a reply e-mail. (Click on the image for a little better view.)

How simple would this be to implement in our parishes? What if we made a habit of collecting e-mails from any of these folks:

• Couples who inquire about wedding preparation
• Parents who want to baptize their babies
• Anyone who calls the parish office “looking for a priest”
• Families that register for religious education
• Anyone who calls the parish school to get information
• People who call requesting a baptismal certificate
• Folks who call to ask about Mass times
• Newcomers to Mass on Sunday (or Christmas or Easter)

Then, within an hour of receiving their e-mail address, send a note similar to Kristine’s. This can be a template so you don’t have to compose it new each time. But you might have a few different templates on hand to relate more closely to the person’s needs (for example, a template for engaged couples and another for new parents).

Here’s my attempt at something for couples asking about getting married in your parish:

Hi from St. Nicholas Parish,

Thanks for getting in touch.

My name is Nick, and I’m the information contact person for St. Nicholas Parish. I’m here to answer any questions you have about getting married at St. Nicholas or anything else you’d like to know about the parish. I thought I’d send you our top tips for finding your way around the parish and discovering who’s who.

If you have any questions, just reply to this e-mail.

Wedding procedures at St. Nicholas Parish

Why marriage is a sacrament

10 tips for a great wedding liturgy

Should we have a wedding with or without a Mass?

People of the parish

Meet our pastor

Other helpful staff members

Couples who were recently married at St. Nicholas

What we do around here

Young adult Mass

Theology on Tap

Parish Festival

What Do Catholics Believe? discussion group

Get help

If you need any help along the way, preparing for your wedding or participating in the parish, check out these great resources.

Our parish receptionist
(she knows everything and everybody!)

Our wedding preparation team

St. Nicholas Parish Web site

FAQs about St. Nicholas Parish

Thanks!

Nick

QDo you have any guidelines or suggestions for recruiting inquirers? After a somewhat small group this last year, we are looking to extend our reach.

AWhat your question really implies is, how do we get parishioners to be more active evangelizers? Catholics are can be a little skittish about “evangelization.” So it is always important to keep in mind what we mean by Catholic evangelization. In his booklet, The Rural Catechumenate, Michael Clay identifies six characteristics of evangelization that are particularly Catholic.

1. Catholics make every effort to foster a deep conversion to the Gospel in the one being evangelized. This means, of course, we must be deeply converted to the Gospel ourselves and be willing to share it with others.
2. Catholics don’t proselytize. We invite without manipulating.
3. Catholics think local cultures are fascinating, especially those we don’t understand very well. We can always find something in someone else’s culture that is a good starting point for talking about our faith.
4. Catholics don’t steal sheep. That is, we don’t try to get people to change Christian denominations if they are fruitful and happy where they are. Of course, we are always open to Christians of any denomination who have questions about us or an interest in us.
5. We accept people exactly where they are in life, even if their lifestyle is difficult for us. That’s what Jesus did, and that’s what we do.
6. Maybe most importantly, we become companions. We listen well, we empathize, we support, and we are loving toward everyone we encounter.

Those are the broad strokes. For more specific and programmatic steps, I suggest you get a hold of two resources. One is Pope Paul VI’s letter, “On Evangelization in the Modern World.”

The other is “Invite!“—a program from PNCEA.

Good luck with this. Please stay in touch and let us know how your year progresses.