Q: Since the catechumens and candidates come into the church at the Easter Vigil, how do you handle someone who wants to join RCIA in, say, March, when the others in the RCIA process have been there for several months? A. This is an important question, and it gets to the heart of how parishes have […]
Q&A: What if someone wants to join the RCIA in March?
Evangelization and outreach Host a weekly or monthly online chat on “What Catholics Think about _______.” Fill in the blank with common questions about Catholics or else whatever is in the news right now. For example: What Catholics Think about the Bible What Catholics Think about Saints What Catholics Think about Climate Change What Catholics
50 ideas for RCIA teams during the pandemic
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Background: Jesus the prophet again tells a story to the religious leaders that reminds us all that what matters in the kingdom/reign of God is not just words but actions that embody love. We will be good stewards of the kingdom/reign only by bearing such good fruit. Discussion Questions Describe
Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — 27th-30th Sundays in Ordinary Time, Year A
Q: How do we “see” the signs of readiness with children and youth for celebrating the Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens? A. This is a great question. Thinking through the process of discernment for children and youth really challenges us to understand why discernment is important in the first place. In the
Q&A: How do RCIA teams discern the readiness of children for becoming catechumens?
Perhaps one of the most common questions I hear when moving to a year-round process is, do we need to break everyone up into separate groups to facilitate the preparation process? In other words, keeping together certain cohorts who may be on a similar path? Or keeping cohorts who “started” together in a separate group?
Is your RCIA open all year-round? Having all your seekers around the same table
Don Roberts has been the RCIA Team Leader for the Parish Community of St. Joseph in Belmont, NH, since 2012. In the 1980s, he and his late wife Pat introduced the process to their suburban Albany, NY, parish. After a 15-year stay in Virginia, they returned to RCIA in their retirement in New Hampshire. Don
We’re flexible: How our parish does year-round RCIA
Here at TeamRCIA, we spend a lot of time talking about the inadequacy adapting the catechumenate into a school model. Using a classroom paradigm is so common in parishes that many RCIA teams think it is the norm. However, if you read the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults carefully, you will find no reference
The school model is a chokehold on the RCIA
Introduction to the 23d and 24th Sundays: We have finished reading Matthew’s narrative about how deep faith in Jesus is the only way of entrance into the Church. For two Sundays now we read Jesus’s discourse on what life in the Church is to be like. 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Background: This Sunday’s part
Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — 23rd-26th Sundays in Ordinary Time, Year A
Jess Panlener is on the Discipleship Team at St. Charles in Hartland, WI, outside of Milwaukee, where she is the RCIA (Becoming Fully Catholic) director, baptism coordinator, and adult and family minister. She holds a master’s degree in historical theology from Marquette University, but she is a Wisconsin Badger through and through. Jess and her
Jesus’s timing is perfect—one parish’s experience of year-round RCIA
Q: Is there a possibility that a seeker would come to faith before the Easter Vigil… and how do you proceed with that scenario? A: This is a great question. The answer is a bit complicated, but if we dig a little deeper into the question, the answer becomes simpler. There is a caveat however.
Can RCIA seekers celebrate their sacraments outside of the Easter Vigil?
