Sometimes, when we are pressured to provide a religion of absolutes straight out of the Catechism; sometimes, when candor, actual experience, and the importance of involving ordinary people in the RCIA is pooh-poohed; sometimes, when the community is not taken seriously as the most basic agent of evangelization; sometimes, when the catechumenate is seen as […]
It’s the community that initiates
The RCIA is a training process. If we look at other training processes, we begin to see how the RCIA is perfectly designed to train seekers in the Christian life (see RCIA 75 and Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity, 14). Three levels of training Let’s take running for example. If you are a running
RCIA training level one: evangelization
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said in an interview recently that there are three key things that attract new folks to the Catholic Church: the sacrament of penance, the role of the pope, and our devotion to Mary. I’d love to hear your thoughts on Cardinal Dolan’s statement. When I read that, I thought
Here is a pop quiz. In the next month, if ten visitors come to your Sunday liturgy, how many would you guess will return for a second visit? According to Chris Walker, founder of EvangelismCoach.org, the answer is one or two. And can you guess the number-one reason the other eight to nine did not
The key to evangelization: start talking and start inviting
How skilled is your RCIA team at evangelization? Many teams don’t think about it much. Most of us have a few weeks of the year that we identify as the “precatechumenate,” but that often seems more like interviews or classes than evangelization. Here is what the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults says our teams
Three extremely easy evangelization skills every RCIA team can master
Help your RCIA inquires create a plan for their conversion with these five, simple questions. Free download: The one, most important thing we have to teach in the RCIA
Five key questions to ask RCIA inquirers
The period of the precatechumenate is all about evangelization. Don’t send seekers away, asking them to come back later. Use these simple skills to engage them immediately.
In 1968, the best team in the upstart American Football league was led by a brash young quarterback who had thrown most of his passes that year for interceptions. Even so, they were slated to go up against the far superior National Football League champions—the Baltimore Colts—in Super Bowl III. Most people expected a crushing
5 ways RCIA leaders can overcome “the way we’ve always done it”
I was once part of an RCIA team along with another catechist who had a great devotion to St. Michael. Whenever she would lead a session, somehow the conversation always got around to St. Michael. On the team I’m currently with, one member is a dedicated supporter of our parish food pantry for the poor.
Wow! The universal truth RCIA teams can learn from box-office hits
If you have been working in RCIA ministry for a number of years, you may have already noticed some shifts in the way you need to minister. These trends in the United States are upending our usual patterns and causing us to rethink our processes. Catholics are leaving the northeast Catholics are leaving the northeast
Surprising demographic trends that will change the way you do RCIA
