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?
TeamRCIA just wrapped up a bilingual training institute in the diocese of Raleigh, NC. This was a special event for us. We have done bilingual institutes before, with the help of Spanish-speaking colleagues. On this institute, we still had help. Rose M. Hernández, director of formation and evangelization in the diocese of Fresno, led the
RCIA training in Raleigh diocese shows Catholic unity
Parishes have a tendency to shift into low gear during the summer. Schools are closed. Most school-aged formation programs shift to summer camp mode or shut down all together. The choir takes the summer off. The same was also true for initiation ministry. The catechumens have been initiated and the candidates have been received; what’s
Is your RCIA open all year-round? Much ado about summer
Previously, I wrote about the big paradigm shift caused by the Second Vatican Council. To understand the impact of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, we have to first of all realize the overall goal of the Second Vatican Council was to turn the pyramid upside down. Flowing from the upside-down-pyramid model, we received
RCIA requires big paradigm shifts, starting with these two
Do you remember when you first heard about the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults? If you are a lifelong Catholic in your 40s or younger, you probably grew up experiencing the rites. Older Catholics, on the other hand, remember growing up without the catechumenate. I learned about the RCIA in the 1980s when I
RCIA: A radical, ground-breaking, world-shaking, world-transforming way of being church
