We have all experienced hoop jumpers. A hoop jumper is someone who is present in body only, putting in the bare minimum required in order to “get baptized” (or become Catholic, or whatever their goal is). Sometimes these folks undergo actual conversion and move from hoop jumping to discipleship. But usually, they just jump through …
When I was a child in Catholic grade school, the teaching about grace was pretty clear. We mostly didn’t have it, and the goal was to participate in sacraments or sacramentals to get more of it. Once we had it, the goal was not to sin so that we wouldn’t lose it. Of course, sinning …
There is one simple thing you can do to dramatically influence the way catechumens—or any adult—learns. If you can manage to make this one shift in your catechetical process, your catechumens will be more engaged, more interested, more motivated, and more committed to the conversion process. Make this one shift in your catechetical process and …
How to completely transform the way catechumens learn in the RCIA
I like to think of myself as a lifelong learner. Right now, I have ten books on my “to read” shelf. I also like learning new skills, exploring new places, and trying new recipes. But sometimes learning is drudgery. I struggled to learn just enough French to complete my master’s degree. I had to learn …
For the first five centuries that the church existed, the norm for initiation was baptism of adults. Infants were probably also baptized, but the New Testament never explicitly mentions that they were. By the second century, there is more firm evidence of the baptism of infants and children, but it is not the norm. Some …
As RCIA ministers, most of us know what we do. We make Catholics. The fuzzier question is why. Why do we make Catholics? Answers we might expect include things like having the fullness of the faith or Real Presence. Some answer by saying we were founded by Jesus while all the other churches were founded …
The Culture of Death vs. The Culture of Life: Why we do RCIA
Recently someone asked me if we had a program for RCIA. I told them the parish is the program. That might sound evasive or nonresponsive, but I really believe that. Let’s look at how this might work. In the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, we are told that before an inquirer can celebrate the …
Storytelling is the only way to make sense of having your life turned upside down and inside out. Think about your “Mary at the tomb” moment or your “Paul getting flattened by the Holy Spirit” moment. How are you going to tell others about what happened? How are you going to tell yourself what happened? …
In this series of posts, I have been exploring why it is important to involve the whole parish in the initiation process and some ways we might make that happen. We explore the same questions on our TeamRCIA Making Disciples Institutes, and we conclude by asking the participants: What would happen if we actually engaged …
“Your ideas sound great for big city parishes, but I come from a small rural parish. Our parish doesn’t have any activities.” Jane was responding to a point I made last year at one of TeamRCIA’s Making Disciples institutes. I was pointing out what the U.S. Bishops said about catechesis: In addition, learning by Christian …
