The first time I heard about the RCIA, it was like a “should’a had a V8” moment. I got it. I understood the pontential power of this collection of progressive rites to transform not only seekers, but entire parishes. Or at least I thought I did. In those early days, my insight was focused almost completely on the liturgical aspects of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. It is a rite after all.
What I completely missed was the game-changing catechetical impact of the rite. At the time, I equated catechesis with education. Sure, I knew that catechesis was more than education, but more in the sense of “better” or “super.” As in, “A Ferrari is more than just a car.” But at it’s core, a Ferrari is still a car.
RCIA catechesis is not the car; it’s the race
Catechesis isn’t like that. It’s not the Ferrari of education. Catechesis is the Grand Prix. It is an event. You might need a Ferrari to get into the race, but the point isn’t owning Ferrari. The point is racing.
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If we are going to teach catechumens how to race, it won’t happen in a classroom. It happens in a car, on a race track. In the 1980s, when I was starting out, almost all of the catechumenate programs began in September and ended in May—just like school. All of them took place in a classroom setting. Some of them included textbooks. Most included overheads and handouts. And there was a defined curriculum.
“RCIA is not a program”…or is it?
In the 1990s, more and more parishes began to say that the RCIA is a “process” and not a “program.” But from what I could see, many were still operating as educational programs.
I should point out that I’m speaking about ideals here. The full liturgical impact of the RCIA—the ideal—has not been realized. Nor has the full catechetical impact reached its ideal. But the way they each fall short is different.
Most parishes seem to be striving toward a liturgical ideal as envisioned by Vatican II. What they are doing liturgically makes sense to me, even if it is not perfect. It is on the right track.
However, at least within the catechumenate, many catechetical process often do not make sense to me. It seems that parishes are striving for educational excellence in their catechetical processes, which is not the same thing as catechetical excellence.
In other words, they are trying to turn their Volkswagens into Ferraris instead of learning how to race Volkswagens.
My aha moment about RCIA catechesis
I had another “V8” insight one night when I was leading a diocesan training program for RCIA leaders. I was describing how the RCIA process is supposed to work, ideally. One woman said she believed her parish had done all that the RCIA required. They had a year-round process, they celebrated the rites well, their catechetical sessions were tied to the Sunday experience, and they had a good discernment process. Yet, one of their neophytes left the parish a few months after the Easter Vigil and joined a large non-denominational mega-church.
The neophyte later told the RCIA leader that she left because once the neophyte was no longer in the RCIA process, she felt lost in the parish. When she went to Mass on Sunday (at a different time than the RCIA group), no one knew her and no one talked to her. She didn’t know how to get involved in the parish activities. And no one invited her to be involved.
At that moment, it clicked for me about what on-the-ground catechesis is. It’s not so much about knowing the seven sacraments or the ten commandments or the social teaching of the church.
- It’s about knowing how to pray sacramentally with the parish.
- It’s about knowing how to live a moral Christian life within a community.
- It’s about knowing how to write a letter to a congressperson or bring a pot of soup to a hungry person as a member of a gospel-based community.
Learn how to use the RCIA to train for Christian life. View the recording of our online workshop.
St. Paul says we are running a race, and that we must run to win. If we fail to train the catechumens as spiritual athletes, they won’t win. They probably won’t even enter the race. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is ideally designed to provide exactly this type of catechetical training. We will look at how it does so in future posts.
What is your experience?
How did you first recognize the liturgical potential of the RCIA? How did you first recognize the catechetical potential?
Yes!
This is the best short, practical article on RCIA I’ve seen in ages. It really elevates the question “What have we initiated our neophytes into?” In order to have a thriving, effective (not just affective)RCIA process, we need to integrate our catechumens and Elect into the active life of the Church: liturgy,life in the marketplace and apostolic vision and activity. These are the pillars of who we are as Church and what we need to pass on.
For too many years, for myriads of reasons I won’t address here, we have pigeon-holed catechesis into a ministry of information, rather than an apprenticeship into the fullness of Christian life. The RCIA document challenges us to embrace a massive paradigm shift, particularly in the United States, where we skew our educational ministry almost exclusively toward filling children with information, rather than adults with formation. We need to get the whole Church involved as an assembly that initiates, supports, reaches out and underpins its lived reality with liturgical praise. We need to abandon the “convert” mentality in favor of an apostolic and liturgical reality.
Thomas Morris and other visionary writers have been telling us that Initiation process can transform the Church; we need to animate this idea and make it happen with the kind of catechesis that is, indeed, the RACE.
Thanks for your comments Carmel Ann! You make a great point about how we have pigeon-holed catechesis into a ministry of information. Thanks for all you are doing to promote the vision.
–Nick
I work in campus ministry, which is necessarily time-limited. We don’t even get to share most of the Christmas season due to winter break. The school year usually ends before Pentecost. Some of our neophytes and newly Confirmed are still around in the fall, but many just disappear.
Do you have any suggestions about how to get neophytes and the newly Confirmed engaged when you *know* you will lose them over the summer?
Hi, Lindsay. The best strategy in working with a campus ministry schedule is to work together with the catechumen’s and neophyte’s home parish and to keep them connected to the Church and the initiation process when they’re away from the campus. If they don’t have a home parish, then you might contact the diocesan director for the RCIA, liturgy, or catechesis in their home diocese to get some recommendations for parishes near the catechumen or neophyte where he or she can continue to be nourished and even celebrate some of the rites when they occur outside of the campus academic schedule.
Another strategy is to make sure that everyone on your campus ministry team understands and uses language that does not imply a school-year time frame (e.g., “RCIA is going on break for the summer…”) and that their formation is not just something they do when the campus is in session, but that it’s a lifetime discipline they’re training for. You might indeed be taking a break in formal sessions and gatherings, but you and your sponsors should still be connecting with their catechumens. (See the article link below for more ideas on keeping this connection over the school breaks.)
For neophytes who may be graduating, you might take a cue from your campus alumni association and continue to keep in contact with neophytes from previous years. You might even schedule an annual “homecoming” or reunion of neophytes during the campus alumni weekends.
It’s also good to make sure that the RCIA team and staff in the campus ministry help catechumens and neophytes understand they are joining a worldwide Church and not a small group within the campus ministry. This can be difficult in a college campus ministry when students are trying to find their own way and create community for the time on their own away from their families and friends back home. It can be so easy to become a clique disconnected from the wider community. But connecting with parish communities where the students live when they’re away from campus and also working closely with the campus’ diocesan connections and local parishes will help integrate catechumens and neophytes into the broader Church beyond the local campus community.
I wrote more about RCIA in a campus ministry setting here:
https://teaminitiation.com/2008/05/23/year-round-rcia-on-campus/
Working on a campus does have its challenges when you’re doing the RCIA, but often, the solutions simply require a paradigm shift in the way we talk about and view what we are doing and seeing it as the work of the entire Church and not just our own RCIA team.
Good luck! Ministry on campus is a great blessing and joy!
Diana
RCIA is a process. However, it is much more it is evangilization to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. That is the bottom line. ; )
Diane, I would have to diddo everything that you have said here in the above statement. We are working at present with one person who is away at college, he is participating in the program on campus but has gone through the Rite of Acceptance and our Discernment retreat here at the parish. He will be present for the Scrutinies on campus, but will receive his Sacraments of Initiation here at the parish Easter Vigil. It has been a wonderful experience for him as well.
Elaine, that sounds great! I’ve only had experience from the campus ministry side, so it’s good to hear about the same experience from the parish’s side.
Diana