As a director for our parish’s adult catechumenate ministry I field a lot of phone calls and e-mails from seekers wanting to know about the various programs and processes our parish has to offer. I do my best to be welcoming and attentive in answering their questions in the hopes that I can schedule a […]
Is your RCIA open all year-round? Much ado about doing the RCIA online
A light mist was falling as I waited to cross the intersection. Suddenly, out of the darkness, a tall man asked me for a handout. Then a look, or a word, or his own demons set him off, and he began to yell. The light changed, and I rushed past him to the other side.
The Period of Evangelization and Precatechumenate — a time for getting messy
I shouldn’t do this to myself. I wanted to write a bit about the period of evangelization and precatechumenate. I know there are many misunderstandings about this part of the process. The biggest one is that there’s a “schedule” for the precatechumenate. There isn’t one. At least, there shouldn’t be. So, to find some examples
The one, most important thing we have to teach in the RCIA
Over a series of several posts, we have looked at the paradigm shift that was launched at the Second Vatican Council and further developed in the restoration of the catechumenate. The overarching shift in our model of church, taught by the Second Vatican Council, is a reenvisioning of the church’s mission. A simple way to
How the RCIA makes us dream of a new church — a summary
It’s no secret that the life in most parishes follows the old-school academic calendar. So it’s at this time of year when parish schools, groups, and ministries begin to awaken from their long summer slumber. For most every parish I’ve encountered, that includes the catechumenate formation process. The fact that those of us in catechumenate
Is your RCIA open all year-round? Redefining when the process starts
When the bishops of the Second Vatican Council called for a restoration of the catechumenate, they were actually asking us to shift our paradigm of conversion. Conversion would no longer mean “becoming Catholic” (as in, “I used to be Lutheran, but I am a convert to Catholicism.”). Conversion has a much more profound meaning. The
The RCIA is our definitive statement on conversion
The introduction to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults lists a litany of principles that undergird the initiation process that a seeker and an initiating community will follow (for example, see RCIA 4-5). One of the most earthshaking of these is, “The rite of initiation is suited to a spiritual journey of adults….” (5).
One of the most earthshaking shifts of the RCIA
If you’re an RCIA director or team member, you know that one of our biggest issues is having to address marriage questions with our seekers. Seekers come from a variety of backgrounds, and it is inevitable that we will have to address these issues. Yet far too many of us are ill-prepared to address them
Is your RCIA open all year-round? Serving on the front lines of marriage and annulment issues
On February 11, 2019, Bishop James S. Wall of the diocese of Gallup, New Mexico, announced that the diocese will restore the order of the sacraments of initiation for children who are baptized in infancy. That brings the number of dioceses in the United States who have restored the order if the initiation sacraments to
RCIA shifts and corrects our understanding of confirmation
Whenever I talk with RCIA teams about establishing an ongoing initiation process in their parishes — one that is not limited to the few academic months between fall and spring, I usually get resistance. One source of the resistance is a feeling that if we ask the catechumens to spend a year or more in
Does RCIA change what it means to belong?
