Nick Wagner is the cofounder and codirector of Team Initiation.
The Third Sunday of Lent is coming up soon, and if you feel uneasy about it, you aren’t alone. As you know, that Sunday begins the first of a series of three scrutinies that we celebrate with the elect. However, the word “scrutiny” has a negative connotation in most people’s imagination. And when you tell
Why “scrutiny” is actually about light
Sometimes ministry can feel more like a chore than a charism. We can easily find ourselves trapped in the “chokehold” of the school-model paradigm, where faith formation is treated as a series of classes with a fixed syllabus and a predetermined graduation date. We feel boxed-in, exhausted, and stressed. We wonder when we started managing
Six core principles that will lead your catechumens to Christ
One of the catechumens in our parish was raised as an atheist. Her parents are atheists, her friends are atheists, most of her coworkers are atheists. She never felt lonely or cynical. Still, in her mid-thirties, she was searching for something. She says her “God moment” happened unexpectedly while washing dishes. What she was searching
Advent hope: Accompanying the catechumens
Several years ago, Diana and I were in Panama over the Thanksgiving holiday. In Panama, as in most of the world, November’s fourth Thursday is just another day. There was no turkey, no football, and no cranberry sauce to be found. But oddly, there were massive Black Friday sales everywhere you looked. Black Friday, it
Thanksgiving as a way of faith for the catechumens
Many parish teams choose a safe, predictable path when forming seekers. We rely on our lesson plans, our schedules, our outlines, and it all feels responsible, even holy. But what if the Spirit is calling us somewhere less familiar, less comfortable and yet, more far more compelling? Over the past few weeks, we’ve been reflecting
The costly path of discipleship
You’ve no doubt heard the story of the wise man who went to the river to meditate. When he arrived, he found a group of agitated people gathered on the riverbank. As he drew closer, he saw them frantically wading into the water to rescue people from drowning. Every time they pulled someone to shore,
Go upstream: Forming disciples to confront injustice
When Pope Leo issued the first major document of his pontificate, he presented a big challenge to catechumenate teams. His apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te (“I have loved you”), is essentially an introduction to the rich tradition of Catholic Social Teaching. This is a teachable moment that we can use to introduce Catholic Social Teaching to
Encountering the poor is a prerequisite of faith
I have exciting news to share. Pope Leo XIV has just issued a powerful, timely new resource to help us in our ministry. It is a letter (technically an “apostolic exhortation”) titled: Dilexi te (“I have loved you”). In the same spirit of Dilexi te, I wrote two letters, one to seekers and the other to
How to use Pope Leo’s first apostolic exhortation in your catechumenate
Last week, I was meeting with a new inquirer in the Sr. Thea Bowman Room at our parish. Somehow, we started talking about the Christmas season. I quickly realized we were talking about two very different things. I meant the time between December 25 and January 6. She meant the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas
Why the liturgical year is your seekers’ best teacher
We just finished our webinar on finding and preparing sponsors and godparents (Team Initiation members can view the recording here), and I’ve been reflecting on the experience. We can do all the planning, preparing, training, and strategizing we want—but at the end of the day, the Holy Spirit is running things. Right now, our parish
Finding the “perfect” sponsor: A Holy Spirit story
