I’m leading a roundtable discussion at the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership meeting in Las Vegas next spring. My roundtable topic is:
 
 

Move your RCIA process from good to GREAT!

Come discover the core principles of a great RCIA process. Learn how to apply these core principles in ways that will renew your parish.

I thought we could begin the roundtable beforehand. I’d love to get your thoughts. I think identifying the core principle or principles of the catechumenate process is key to understanding how the RCIA can be fully integrated into parish life.

As I listen to catechumenate team members and pastoral leaders, I hear a lot of different opinions of what those core elements are.

What do you think? What do you identify as the core principles of the RCIA?

Thanks for your help with this topic.

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

Seventeen years ago, I left the professional ministry field and started a career in publishing. Ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by the intersection between business values and spiritual values. There can be a tendency among ministry folks to stereotype business people as being completely focused on money. Recent stories about unscrupulous bankers and greedy Wall Street CEOs seem to reinforce the stereotype. But my experience has been that the vast majority of business people are guided by deeply spiritual principles. They may not think of their principles as spiritual, but that’s how I see them.

For example, I stumbled across a blog post today by Barry J. Moltz (via Liz Strauss). I don’t know anything about Barry, but take a look at what he wrote in Letting Go of the Outcome. His suggestions, his business principles, are terrific reminders for RCIA teams.

RCIA is a process, not a program

“Process needs to trump outcome,” he writes. How many times have we all said, “RCIA is a process, not a program”? I hear that phrase so often that it has become jargon. What do we really mean by that? Barry has an insight for us:

“During these tough times, it is important to let go of a specific outcome.” He’s speaking of the tough economic times, of course. I think of tough spiritual times. Often, inquirers come to us in some state of spiritual distress. They are looking for peace or hope or faith. They don’t show up at a church all of a sudden because everything is going fine in their lives. What is important, what our spiritual principle is, is that we need to respond to the inquirer’s longing. We need to provide peace or hope or faith. We need to let go of the “specific outcome” of initiation.

“We need to be flexible,” Barry writes, “or we are bound to end up disappointed or disgruntled much of the time.” That has been soooo true for me! If an inquirer stops coming or a catechumen misses Mass or a neophyte falls away, I tend to take it as a personal failure. I can get really down on myself and spend a lot of negative energy wondering what I did wrong. When I am feeling that way, it’s a sure sign I’ve put programming ahead of process. So what should I be doing instead?

Due diligence

“Be diligent in formulating the best process that you can,” says Barry. He means business process, of course. Good customer service, accurate billing, quality manufacturing, stuff like that. But I think of “best process” as being diligent about my own prayer life; or listening, listening, and listening some more to the deep needs of the inquirers and catechumens; or constantly sniffing the wind for parishioners with just the right talents to help with the initiation process; or scrutinizing the fine details of every Sunday liturgy and initiation rite so the ritual can do its conversion thing.

If we pay attention to the process, the outcome will take care of itself. It’s a good principle to remember—in business or in ministry.

Here is a pop quiz. Catechumen A is traveling at 90 mph on a train from St. Louis to Chicago. Meanwhile, Catechumen B is traveling by bicycle from Seattle to Miami. Supposing each catechumen participates in the liturgy of the word every Sunday for the duration of their respective trips, which catechumen will reach conversion first?

Answer: Catechumen B will reach conversion first.

(Show your work: Catechumen B had cycled through the Sundays of the liturgical year, which is the primary encounter with the Mystery of Christ; Catechumen A had many fewer, if any, encounters with the Mystery of Christ.)

How many catechists do we need?

Okay, it’s a silly example, but it has a serious point. An abbreviated RCIA program does not provide the complete conversion process required of the catechumens. Of course, everyone agrees with that, don’t we? Most of us know that a complete catechumenate process—one that extends through the entire liturgical year—is going to provide a deeper experience of conversion for the catechumens. So what’s stopping us from providing catechumens with the fullest possible encounter with the Mystery of Christ?

There are several roadblocks, and the one I hear about most often is a lack of catechists. If a parish is currently barely able to offer weekly catechetical sessions in an abridged RCIA program, it is difficult to imagine expanding to a complete catechumenate process that spans 52 weeks of the year. In most of our parishes, we just don’t have enough catechists to provide an ongoing process, do we?

Well, in fact, we do. How many catechists does it take to provide an ongoing catechumenate? Count up the number of catechists you have on your team right now. That’s how many it takes. If that’s you and you alone, that’s how many it takes.

Let’s look at how you can expand your current, condensed RCIA program into a complete, ongoing catechumenate process with only the team members you have now.
Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to all of you who commented on the cover proposal for my forthcoming book on starting and sustaining an RCIA process in a parish. The marketing folks at Twenty-Third Publications were happy that so many of you responded positively to it. They also considered the suggestions you offered for improvement. In the end, however, they decided to go with their original concept. So what you see here is what it will look like when it’s finally out. And they tell me that will be in late August 2008. If you want to order a copy in advance, click here.

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.

You know who they are. They’re the ones who keep coming back week after week long after the Easter Vigil and Pentecost are over. They light up anytime someone mentions the RCIA or the catechumenate or becoming Catholic. They want to be sponsors even before they’ve gotten the Chrism smell off their pillow case.

They’re the neophyte evangelist, those newly-initiated who are not only living breathing proof of the resurrection but also walking billboards for the RCIA. They are your greatest fans and your number one supporters.

The RCIA process is not a one-way street that shapes only the catechumen into a disciple. It’s a mutual formation in the life of Christ that changes both the catechumen and the parish. That mutual relationship is evident when a neophyte feels called to share his experience of transformation with others. Essentially, this neophyte is doing faith-sharing, exactly what the catechumenate taught him to do and what all the baptized are called to do.

Some parishes invite neophytes to share their experience with the rest of the parish some time after their initiation. It’s best to give a neophyte time to process for himself or with a small group what he experienced and what it meant (mystagogy) before you ask him to speak to the assembly at a Sunday Mass about his experience. They might speak during the announcements or before Mass begins or even at coffee and donuts after Mass.

But don’t limit yourself to just the Sunday gathering as the venue for evangelization. Neophytes who are more comfortable writing their thoughts can provide a brief reflection for the bulletin or your parish Web site. Or better yet, record their reflection and put it on your parish Web site or blog just like Saint John the Evangelist Parish in Davison, Michigan, did with their neophytes.

Click the audio button above to listen to one of their neophytes, Michael McCarty, talk about his initiation experience.

(Thanks to Michael McCarty and Elaine Ouelette, Director of RCIA and Family Faith Formation for their permission to include this testimony on TeamRCIA.com. Go to Saint John the Evangelist’s RCIA Web site to hear more testimonies.)

Imagine an entire CD filled with reflections like Michael’s from your neophytes, sponsors, team members, and parishioners who witnessed the transformation taking place in your catechumens and in themselves!

Do you have other ways you invite your neophytes to share their experience with the community? Have you included reflections from your neophytes on your Web site? Click the comment link below and share your ideas.

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 »

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: ((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))

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.