Nick Wagner is the cofounder and codirector of Team Initiation.
If you go to almost any ministry conference or listen to Catholic media, you will probably hear that the future of the church in the United States does not look good. We’re told that Sunday Mass participation, especially among millennials, is in steep decline. Sometimes the experts will speculate that we need to become a […]
Two secrets to RCIA evangelization — smile at strangers and buy a van
“Archbishop,” someone in the audience asked, “so many people are leaving the church because of the scandals. What can we do to address that?” Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta had just opened the floor to questions after his keynote talk at the Cathedral Ministry Conference on January 15, 2019. The archbishop took a deep breath
Give your RCIA seekers a reason to stay
Diana and I have just returned from a three-month Spanish language immersion process in Panama. In all that time, we saw no evidence that the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults exists there. Yet, the church in Panama seems to be thriving. The first Sunday we were there, we went to what we thought was
Like most people, I am terrible at keeping New Year’s resolutions. But several years ago, I found a way to become better. Now, I make 90-day resolutions. At the end of 90 days, I check in with myself to see how I’m doing. Then I either recommit to my resolutions, or I trade them in
13 New Year’s resolutions for RCIA leaders and teams
There are two dismissals in the Sunday liturgy. The one Catholics are most familiar with is the second one, the dismissal of the faithful at the end of Mass. The other is becoming better known. That is the dismissal of the catechumens at the end of the Liturgy of the word. Both dismissals are sometimes
The symbolic importance of the RCIA dismissal
In a recent post, I pointed out that the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity from the Second Vatican Council instructs that we who are members of the royal priesthood should be especially focused on social action (see paragraph 7). I then drew the conclusion that if our RCIA processes are not making this
What commitment is your RCIA prioritizing?
Some years ago, business leaders were caught up in a trend called “Management by Objective” (MBO). MBO is a method of organizing and motivating employees to accomplish the objectives of the company. So if the objective of a company is to sell a million widgets, whatever any employee does to help the company reach that
What is your RCIA team’s objective for the catechumens?
In a previous post, I talked about how all of the baptized have a vocation to accomplish the mission of the church. Our number-one job as RCIA team members is to form our seekers to be able to accomplish that mission. The first step in the process of formation is to develop in the seekers
Do your RCIA seekers have a spiritual formation plan?
When your seekers look at the church, what do they see? I wonder if they see a pyramid — with the bishops and priests at the top, supported from below by the laity. Honestly, that’s the way I saw the church throughout my childhood and most of my teen years. It is the way the
Your RCIA team’s number-one job
Several years ago, I was helping lead a training institute for RCIA teams. One of the participants was quite young compared to the rest of us who were mostly well past 40. I asked her how she wound up serving on her parish’s RCIA team. She told me that when she was in college, she
RCIA formation is a call to holiness
