Nick Wagner is the cofounder and codirector of Team Initiation.
Thanks to all of you who commented on the cover proposal for my forthcoming book on starting and sustaining an RCIA process in a parish. The marketing folks at Twenty-Third Publications were happy that so many of you responded positively to it. They also considered the suggestions you offered for improvement. In the end, however,
What The Way of Faith looks like
I was just asked to review a book proposal that is meant to be a teaching resource for the catechumenate. The syllabus covers ecclesiology, Christology, the Trinity, each of the sacraments, and a bit of eschatology. I think those are all good things to know, but is that what the RCIA asks us to provide?
What do the catechumens have to know?
Sister Kate O’Neil, IHM, sent me an e-mail recently, telling me about her parish’s plan to begin catechizing the baptized candidates and the catechumens separately. As you know, in most parishes, that would take a whole bunch more person-power. Well, Sister Kate has what it takes. She told me she’s recruited seven new team members.
The secret to recruiting RCIA team members
If you look in the TeamRCIA glossary, you’ll see that one of the terms listed there is “RCIC.” I debated about whether to include it, because there is no such thing. Still, a lot of people use the term, so practicality won out over precision. If your parish has an “RCIC,” I mean no offense.
What do you do when an inquirer wants to get to the “nitty-gritty” about the Catholic Church and “God” and does not really want to faith share or hear other’s stories about God in their life? In the precatechumenate, the inquirer sets the agenda. So I’d answer whatever questions he had, nitty, gritty, and otherwise.
When an inquirer doesn’t want to do faith sharing
Team member Rita Ferrone recently won a 2008 Catholic Press Association Book Award for Liturgy: Sacrosanctum Concilium (Rediscovering Vatican II) (Paulist Press). The judges called the book: An interesting and highly accessible guide to the central document in liturgical reform, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Liturgy explores the development, key principles and implementation of
Team member Rita Ferrone wins award
One of the reasons often given for doing only a partial RCIA process is a lack of volunteers. So let’s look closely at how you can redeploy your current volunteers more efficiently. I’m going to imagine you have a team of three people, plus sponsors or godparents as needed. You may have fewer than that,
Expanding yourself for a continuous RCIA process
Whenever we lead an RCIA institute, we tend to ask how many of the teams present are using a year-round process for the catechumenate in their parishes. Typically, about a fourth to a third of the hands go up. That seems like an awfully low percentage to me. Now in all the time I’ve been
The team you need for a year-round RCIA
QI was wondering if you could give some guidance about sacramental preparation for older children (baptized Catholic, but formally uncatechized) 3rd grade and above, since there is little consistency among parishes within our diocese. In most cases, these children (primarily 3rd-6th grade) have had no formal catechesis and have not celebrated first confession or first
How to prepare baptized, uncatechized Catholic children
We don’t often think of the acolyte or server as a team member, but this minster’s role can be important in the smooth flow of the rites. Perhaps because most parishes have someone who schedules and trains servers, we don’t think it is our place as catechumenate leaders to step in. Every parish has its
5 characteristics of a key RCIA team member—the acolyte
