Diana Macalintal is the cofounder and codirector of Team Initiation.
You know who they are. They’re the ones who keep coming back week after week long after the Easter Vigil and Pentecost are over. They light up anytime someone mentions the catechumenate or becoming Catholic. They want to be sponsors even before they’ve gotten the Chrism smell off their pillowcases. They’re the neophyte evangelists, those […]
QHow do I lead an ongoing catechumenate in a campus ministry setting when we only have the catechumens from September to April? ASome of the general adaptations you’ll need to make for RCIA in a campus ministry setting depends a bit on the type of campus you’ll be working at. Is it a commuter campus
What do I wear?! That’s a question I get often when I’m planning liturgies. Whether it’s the confirmation candidate, the newly-ordained, or even the bishop, himself, we have a natural concern over what to wear. The baptismal rite in the RCIA gives us at least one answer: Put on Christ. Therefore we physically clothe the
Whether it’s business or church, first impressions count. According to this post from “Fast Company,” a business magazine, big-time law firms and other major companies have figured out that their best strategies for success start right at the front door with the receptionist. We in the church business can learn tons from the business world in
Do you have a Director of First Impressions?
The Rite of Election is one of those “hinge” rites in the RCIA because it marks the transition from one period to the next for a person becoming baptized. But most people in your church won’t ever see a Rite of Election which usually takes place at the diocesan Cathedral. What most people will experience
Help your assembly prepare for the Rite of Election
QWe have a candidate preparing to celebrate the Reception into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. This person was baptized and confirmed as a Lutheran. Do we recognize Lutheran Confirmations as valid sacraments? Or do we confirm him at the Easter Vigil? AFrom John Huels’ book, The Catechumenate and the
These approaches to preaching mystagogically are defined by Jan Michael Joncas in Forum Essay, Number 4: Preaching the Rites of Christian Initiation (Chicago, Illinois: Liturgy Training Publications, 1994) 95-117. The five approaches outlined by Joncas are: hallowing cosmic symbols; exploring anthropological patterns; celebrating biblical history; analyzing beliefs and behaviors; and revealing the future present. According
Five Ways to Preach Mystagogically
In the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, only two pages of texts are given to describe the period of mystagogy and post-baptismal catechesis. Below are the five main things you need to know about mystagogy during this period of the initiation process (from RCIA 244-247): Free download: A step-by-step guide to mystagogy
Five principles for mystagogical preaching and catechesis
Mystagogy: Savoring the Mystery of God by Diana Macalintal © 2007, Diana Macalintal. All rights reserved. Whodunit? Secret? Science? God is a mystery, but not like an Agatha Christie novel, or a secret reserved only for special people, or a math problem to be solved. God is a mystery in the way that grandma’s love
The content of faith is the content of my mother’s or any mother’s life. That is because faith happens in and through our daily life. What we do on Sunday is simply one expression of our faith. We need to connect the messy un-“holy” events of daily life with God and all the things we
