Who’s on your RCIA team?

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8 thoughts on “Who’s on your RCIA team?”

  1. Nick –

    Have you seen “Liturgical Prayer in Catechumenate Team Formation” by Mary Anne Ravizza? She’s in our parish and a graduate of SCU (the book was her thesis project.) She was a very successful Catechumenate Coordinator in our parish (years ago) and I think that the book talks about an important an often forgotten aspect of the catechumenate. The Forum still lists her book as a resource (through Amazon.com).

    Your site is a great idea.
    Good luck.
    Judy

  2. First of all, your web-site is a great idea!

    Regarding requirements for team members: Both “team leader” and “inquiry” make no mention of knowledge of the Catholic faith. That is a serious omission. You can’t pass on a faith you’re ignorant of.

    My observation is that in Catholic formation in general, there is a certain anti-intellectual bent when it comes to who is doing formation. And a great deal of nice, well-intentioned, people passing along what they remember (often inaccurately, or the personal beliefs of a teacher or former pastor) from a junior high confirmation class – 20, 30, 40 or more years ago. In practice, “nice” and baptized are generally our only requirements for cathechists. I’m reminded of an old bumper sticker, “Nice girls don’t make history.”

    Nice cathechists are nice, but the fact is, the millions of American Catholics who’ve left the church received their formal faith formation largely from nice people. We need to expect more than some nice time in a nice room with a nice person from Catholic formation.

  3. Debra,

    You’ve made some thoughtful comments to which I’d like to respond.

    The characteristic named above as “excellence” should take care of the concern you raise for the team leader. Excellence implies discernment, and this necessarily includes knowledge. Even as your examples point out, what appears to some as “knowledge of the faith” can be partial, outdated, or just plain wrong. But if the team is floundering in ignorance and half-truths, a team leader concerned with excellence will get in there and set up some team formation, pronto. She or he will put better resources into the hands of the team too, and help them do better.

    Where I would press your point even further, however, is in the area of catechist formation. Being a good catechist requires the skill and ability to actually draw those being catechized into a deeper relationship with the living Christ. The General Directory for Catechesis says that the catechist must be formed in “being, knowing, and savoire-faire.” “Being” embraces the catechist’s own faith journey and spirituality. “Knowing” embraces both knowledge of the message of Christ, and knowledge of those to be catechized (their culture, customs, way of life). “Savoire-faire” is the “knowing how to do it” that makes a catechesis not just “doctrinally sound” but effective.

    I find the three-fold description from the GDC helpful in filling out the sketch above. But in the meantime, let’s not lay the burden of all the fallen-away Catholics on the doorstep of the “nice catechists.” The recent Pew study, to which I presume you are making oblique reference, does not answer the question of why people leave the Catholic Church in America in great numbers, as they do. I would want more data before making the assumption that it is all because of an inadequate catechesis.

  4. I just wanted to say that this website is absolutely wonderful. It has a wealth of information that I know will come in very handy. I’ve attended a number of North American Forums, have read the Rite book (sorry, only once through so far), and have been involved in the process as a team leader for adults and teens for seven years. In my new position, I’ll be the Direcotr of RCIA and before I came across yuour website, I was wondering where in the world to start. The articles have been very helpful and I’m looking forward to meeting the existing team members as well as forming new ministers. Thank you very much for putting all of this information at our finger tips.

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