we combine catechetical sessions with the rcia community with attendance at youth group meetings in order to connect them with the community of their peers
We use a family process for children and teens in the RCIA in both English and Spanish. Because of the size of our parish and the number of families we have with children who have never been in a formal faith formation or religious education class, we also offer a family program which is made up of baptized candidates; generally a two year process. It is family based and we use the same process and materials as the RCIA for the first year, since many of the families (including parents) have been away from the practice of their faith. Our RCIA is primarily for the unbaptized children (and any siblings who may be baptized and have never been in a formal faith formation program) and those baptized in another faith tradition. At this time, we are not able to combine the two groups because of the size. Both groups are encouraged to join the youth ministry teens and participate in the activities they offer, etc. It seems to be working well for us at this time, but we’re always looking for ways to improve and expand what we are doing.
Glad to hear Mary and Debbie both connect RCIA groups with the parish youth ministry. Would love to hear more about how you do that. Do teens come to RCIA sessions and then go to youth group? Is that too much? Debbie also brings up another point: Spanish speaking RCIA and English speaking RCIA. Glad to know that both are family-centered, but do the teens from those groups ever get connected? i.e. the Spanish speaking teens and the English speaking teens? Would love to hear more about how variosu parishes handle these issues!
we combine catechetical sessions with the rcia community with attendance at youth group meetings in order to connect them with the community of their peers
We use a family process for children and teens in the RCIA in both English and Spanish. Because of the size of our parish and the number of families we have with children who have never been in a formal faith formation or religious education class, we also offer a family program which is made up of baptized candidates; generally a two year process. It is family based and we use the same process and materials as the RCIA for the first year, since many of the families (including parents) have been away from the practice of their faith. Our RCIA is primarily for the unbaptized children (and any siblings who may be baptized and have never been in a formal faith formation program) and those baptized in another faith tradition. At this time, we are not able to combine the two groups because of the size. Both groups are encouraged to join the youth ministry teens and participate in the activities they offer, etc. It seems to be working well for us at this time, but we’re always looking for ways to improve and expand what we are doing.
Glad to hear Mary and Debbie both connect RCIA groups with the parish youth ministry. Would love to hear more about how you do that. Do teens come to RCIA sessions and then go to youth group? Is that too much? Debbie also brings up another point: Spanish speaking RCIA and English speaking RCIA. Glad to know that both are family-centered, but do the teens from those groups ever get connected? i.e. the Spanish speaking teens and the English speaking teens? Would love to hear more about how variosu parishes handle these issues!