As we draw closer to the presidential elections, our RCIA teams will have plenty of opportunities to catechize about Catholic social teaching. The U.S. bishops, as they do every election season, have provided lots of resources for parishes to help us be responsible citizens and faithful Catholics. As catechists, we might not think to look […]
How should catechumens vote? 6 ways to catechize
Do you have any recommendations for “some sort of celebration” at the end of the Easter season that the RCIA mentions in paragraph 249? Our parish has traditionally done a “commissioning,” a blessing prayer over the neophytes by the community at the end of mass on Pentecost. Does it need to be on Pentecost or
How do you party with the neophytes?
Thanks to all of you who commented on the cover proposal for my forthcoming book on starting and sustaining an RCIA process in a parish. The marketing folks at Twenty-Third Publications were happy that so many of you responded positively to it. They also considered the suggestions you offered for improvement. In the end, however,
What The Way of Faith looks like
I was just asked to review a book proposal that is meant to be a teaching resource for the catechumenate. The syllabus covers ecclesiology, Christology, the Trinity, each of the sacraments, and a bit of eschatology. I think those are all good things to know, but is that what the RCIA asks us to provide?
What do the catechumens have to know?
Sister Kate O’Neil, IHM, sent me an e-mail recently, telling me about her parish’s plan to begin catechizing the baptized candidates and the catechumens separately. As you know, in most parishes, that would take a whole bunch more person-power. Well, Sister Kate has what it takes. She told me she’s recruited seven new team members.
The secret to recruiting RCIA team members
One of the little-known (and oft-ignored) directives of the U.S. National Statutes for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is found in number 2, which states unambiguously that baptized Christians who are received into the full communion of the Catholic Church are NOT to be called converts. The term convert is to be strictly
If you look in the TeamRCIA glossary, you’ll see that one of the terms listed there is “RCIC.” I debated about whether to include it, because there is no such thing. Still, a lot of people use the term, so practicality won out over precision. If your parish has an “RCIC,” I mean no offense.
What do you do when an inquirer wants to get to the “nitty-gritty” about the Catholic Church and “God” and does not really want to faith share or hear other’s stories about God in their life? In the precatechumenate, the inquirer sets the agenda. So I’d answer whatever questions he had, nitty, gritty, and otherwise.
When an inquirer doesn’t want to do faith sharing
Team member Rita Ferrone recently won a 2008 Catholic Press Association Book Award for Liturgy: Sacrosanctum Concilium (Rediscovering Vatican II) (Paulist Press). The judges called the book: An interesting and highly accessible guide to the central document in liturgical reform, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Liturgy explores the development, key principles and implementation of
Team member Rita Ferrone wins award
One of the reasons often given for doing only a partial RCIA process is a lack of volunteers. So let’s look closely at how you can redeploy your current volunteers more efficiently. I’m going to imagine you have a team of three people, plus sponsors or godparents as needed. You may have fewer than that,
Expanding yourself for a continuous RCIA process
