Nick Wagner is the cofounder and codirector of Team Initiation.
Parker Palmer, author of The Courage to Teach, asked teachers to name the biggest obstacle to good teaching. The answer he almost always got was “my students.” If we asked a similar question of RCIA catechists about the biggest obstacle to their formation efforts, I wonder if the answer would be “the catechumens and candidates.” […]
The problem with RCIA formation
One of our most popular articles was one I wrote a while ago about how to improve what we say about RCIA in our parish bulletins. Almost every parish has something in their bulletin that invites seekers into the RCIA process. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people who we are writing to in those announcements
Four ways to attract more seekers using social media
When you talk about your faith story, do you start with sacrifice? When people ask you about becoming Catholic, does your initial reply focus on sacrifice? When you describe the Eucharist, do you do include images of sacrifice? When the first disciples began to tell the story of Jesus, they began by talking about his
Can we still talk about sacrifice?
I’m going to save you $5,000. That’s how much 27-year-old consultant Gabrielle Jackson Bosche charges to translate the world of millennials into concepts older people can understand. Most of what she has to say, however, is common sense. Decoding the millennial generation Bosche frames her insights for the business world, but it is easy enough
Common sense ideas for attracting millennials to your parish
My friend, musician and composer John Angotti, recently led a retreat for a grade school near me. He asked the children if anyone wanted to sing. Liliah, a little second-grader, raised her hand and stepped forward. But then she got crippling stage fright and began to tear up. John picked her up, told her everything
This little light of mine — how to let it shine
A small dark-skinned boy, about nine years old, stood in front of the bishop along with his godmother and a dozen or so other catechumens from his parish. He wore a black suit and a blue shirt with a black necktie. He had an American flag pinned to his lapel. His smile lit up the
The tremendous and fascinating Rite of Election
If you have noticed a decline in the number of inquirers you have had in recent years, there is a very clear reason. From the inception of the modern catechumenate in the 1970s, the number-one source of new Catholics has been people who marry into the faith. However, while the Catholic population in the United
The simple truth about getting more RCIA inquirers
Diana and I have just returned from the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, which is a four-day event sponsored by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles but actually held at the Anaheim Convention Center, right next to Disneyland. The RE Congress regularly attracts upwards of 40,000 people from all over the world. The participants represent multiple
This post was written by Jan Petroni Brown. She has led the RCIA Ministry at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Houston, Texas, for the past three years. She is an author and college English instructor. In the small, ethnically diverse inner-city parish in one of the nation’s largest cities, the RCIA ministry my husband
The RCIA Journey: Looking back paves the way for moving forward
Many RCIA teams and many more catechumens seem to not quite clearly grasp the reason that a Rite of Election is included in the initiation process. Many believe the purpose of the rite is to introduce the catechumens to the bishop. Or, as an extension of that, to show the catechumens that they are joining
What are we doing at the Rite of Election?
