What are your thoughts on allowing a husbands or wives to serve as sponsors for their spouses? I’m uncomfortable with it, but it seems as though it happens in a lot of parishes. If you allow spouse-sponsors in your parish, what has been your experience? Do you make a distinction between sponsors and godparents? That […]
Spouses as sponsors in the RCIA process
The Year of Saint Paul Reading II Philippians 2:1-11 Brothers and sisters… Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves…. The way of faith “The universal Church is “Ëœa people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.’”
Catechesis for 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The North American Forum on the Catechumenate is providing an excellent training opportunity for you and your RCIA team this fall. Their fifth international convocation, titled “Handing On What We Have Received from the Lord,” will be held in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 6-8, 2008. The conference planners promise that participants will: rediscover the church’s
Recently, I was at a liturgy with what appeared to be some unsponsored catechumens. Perhaps they had sponsors, and the sponsors were just absent that day. Still, I wondered how that happened. In sponsor training sessions, it is important to emphasize the crucial role sponsors play on Sundays. Here are nine tasks for sponsors to
9 tasks for RCIA sponsors on Sunday
The Year of Saint Paul Reading II Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain…. The way of faith The dignity of the human person requires the pursuit of the common good. Everyone should be concerned to
Catechesis for 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Rite of Acceptance adapted for children, as it appears in the RCIA, presumes the children’s parents will be serving as their sponsors (see 265). I suppose this is because the parents are required to give their consent. If they cannot be present at the rite to do so, they are to send a “sponsor”
Who sponsors child catechumens?
The Year of Saint Paul Reading II Philippians 2:6-11 Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped…. The way of faith The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might
Catechesis for Feast of the Holy Cross
The Roman Catholic Church in the US has a long history of catechetical instruction focused on teaching doctrine. However, two key documents of the church, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and the General Directory for Catechesis call for a process of formation that leads to conversion and participation in the Paschal Mystery through
An essential skill for sponsors, and any catechumenate team member, is the ability to actively listen. Active listening is different than hearing. An active listener succeeds in hearing not only the words another person is saying but also understanding the meaning of the words from the speaker’s point of view. Active listening is not a
Listening skills for RCIA sponsors
The Year of Saint Paul Reading II Romans 13:8-10 Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law…. The way of faith Jesus did not abolish the Law of Sinai, but rather fulfilled it with such perfection that he revealed its ultimate
Catechesis for 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time—A
