Nick Wagner is the cofounder and codirector of Team Initiation.
When I first leaned about the RCIA in the 1980s, it was a brand new rite in the church. What caught my attention right away was the dismissal of the catechumens. I didn’t know anything about the theology of the dismissal or even much about catechumens. But I did know about Catholics. Right away, I […]
How to make parish renewal a byproduct of RCIA
The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults intends the period of the catechumenate to be “aimed at training [the catechumens] in the Christian life” (RCIA 75). An essential component of that training is our liturgical life. Our participation in the worship of the church is so important that it is the first reform that was
How to teach catechumens the meaning of liturgy
At one of our training workshops, a participant was flummoxed about the dismissal of the catechumens after the homily. Why, he wanted to know, would we dismiss people who are learning about Jesus before Jesus is made present in the Mass (at the moment of consecration)? Free download: 8 ways to make mystagogy work in
Why dismiss the catechumens before Jesus becomes present?
The first sentence of Pope Francis’s letter announcing the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy is, “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy” (1). As catechists, this sentence is the key to understanding what the church means by “mercy.” For most people in the world, mercy is an optional act of leniency toward an offender.
What Pope Francis wants RCIA teams to teach about mercy
There is a story about a new school and the way the children of the school played during recess. The school yard was enclosed by a high fence and furnished with state-of-the-art playground equipment. Every day during recess many of the children would race to the edges of the school yard and clamor up the
Does being merciful mean letting people off the hook?
I wrote earlier about my image of God as I was growing up. Like many people today, I did not have a very complete understanding of who God is. I thought of God as distant and judgmental. Some people even think that God is wrathful and is specifically angry at, or at least disappointed with,
God of Mercy or God of Wrath? Lessons from the Bible
I’ve asked a lot of cradle Catholics about their image of God as they were growing up, and I get different answers. But there is one answer I get a lot, which resonates with my own experience: God was a judgmental father. My father died when I was four, so I had no living image
Teach your catechumens to gush with mercy
You know what one of the hardest parts of my ministry as an RCIA team member is? A catechumen hears something on the news about a poll that says, “X percent of Catholics no longer believe _____.” Or, “Some-huge-percent of Catholics disagree with the pope about _____.” Or “A big bunch of Catholics think it
Are you teaching the five foundations of Christian life?
Last year, Msgr. Edward Deliman of Saint Charles Borromeo in Bensalem, PA, found a note in the collection basket that said, “No more Spanish in the bulletin. Tell them to speak English.” That was the reaction of a non-Hispanic parishioner to the influx of Spanish-speakers from the recently merged Latino parish, Our Lady of Fatima.
How the RCIA teaches us to love the unlovable
The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults says that a suitable catechesis… is gradual and complete in its coverage, is accommodated to the liturgical year, is solidly supported by celebrations of the word leads the catechumens to an appropriate acquaintance with dogmas and precepts leads the catechumens to a profound sense of the mystery of
How to provide a suitable RCIA catechesis
