Human beings are bad at making estimates. How long will it take to shop for groceries? How long will the meeting last? I’ll just check Facebook for a minute or two. We are just plain awful at giving accurate answers about time. So when someone asks us, “How long does RCIA take?” what should we […]
When Apple founder Steve Jobs and the team that developed the Macintosh computer completed the final design, they signed it. Inside every Macintosh that shipped in 1984 are the signatures of each of the 46 members of the team. As Jobs explained to them, “Real artists sign their work.” St. Augustine said something similar to
RCIA catechesis is performance art
In an earlier blog post, I wrote about how RCIA team members never seem to have enough time. Some of us are doing more than just RCIA, and juggling all the balls is more than a fulltime job. Days are blurs of activity that fly by. For busy people, there is a strong temptation to
Sleep your way to better RCIA ministry
Mary Birmingham and I just finished a TeamRCIA Catechist School. At the event, I asked the participants what their number-one roadblock to their ministry was. Overwhelmingly, they said they didn’t have enough time. Time is the one thing you cannot make more of. You can make more cookies or music or money, but you cannot
Do you have the time for RCIA ministry?
We just launched our online course on mercy, and I want to tell you about a lesson I learned that might help you with your RCIA ministry. Diana and I spent a weekend last September brainstorming about ways we could do a better job of supporting RCIA teams in the coming year. We thought a
Make your RCIA ministry bite size
At almost every TeamRCIA institute Diana and I have led over the last two years, someone will complain that some aspect of the RCIA process they are doing is not working. And we will then ask why they keep doing it. And invariably the reply is, “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it.” I
Reasons to stop doing RCIA the way you’ve always done it
The best time to start an RCIA team is now. The best time to start dismissing catechumens from Mass is this Sunday. The best time implement a year-round process is today. The best time to recruit sponsors is right away. The best time to move out of the classroom and into an apprenticeship model is
When I first leaned about the RCIA in the 1980s, it was a brand new rite in the church. What caught my attention right away was the dismissal of the catechumens. I didn’t know anything about the theology of the dismissal or even much about catechumens. But I did know about Catholics. Right away, I
How to make parish renewal a byproduct of RCIA
If you have been reading the training articles on TeamRCIA for very long, you know that the RCIA is the model for all catechesis. But does the rest of the parish know? Who needs to know this stuff? You might consider “evangelizing” other catechetical teams in your parish to begin using the six principles of
Discover a simple way to help the whole parish catechize the RCIA way
Years ago, I read an article by a chef and food writer for the New York Times. His article was about how shocked people are when they see his kitchen. He lives in a tiny New York apartment, and the kitchen is barely big enough for one person to work in. People always assume he
The recipe for becoming a great RCIA catechist
