Nick Wagner is the cofounder and codirector of Team Initiation.
In their book, Teaching as a Subversive Activity, Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner propose a new system of education that is driven and directed by the students. They engage students in creating a fictional but real “Quo Vadimus High School.” As the students go about creating their school, several questions come to mind. I wondered […]
This is going to shock you. I don’t like to do it, but somebody has to tell you. There are a few of you out there who are “doing the RCIA” without having read the book! What book? The RCIA. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. The book. How people learn how to do
6 reasons you need to read the RCIA
In Teaching as a Subversive Activity, Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner make some interesting observations that could very well apply to initiation catechists. For example: The trouble is that most teachers have the idea that they are in some other sort of business. Some believe, for example, that they are in the “information dissemination” business….There
Love of God does not spring from study. It is not from others, after all, that we learn to enjoy the light, to yearn for life, and to love our parents and those who nourish us. Much less, then, does love of God arise from external teaching. Rather, as soon as people exist they have
Teaching secrets from the ancient church
Sometimes a sense of futility creeps upon us. We despair that “they don’t come back for mystagogy.” Or we fret that “we can’t find enough sponsors.” We bemoan the lack of participation among the members of the assembly. And now the diocese wants us to run the catechumenate “year round” when we are already stretched
May 13, 2007 Sixth Sunday of Easter, C Core beliefs You can discuss one or more of these teachings of the church today. Use your powers of discernment to make your choice based on three criteria: What have the catechumens been asking about? What issues came up during the dismissal reflections? What, in your opinion,
Catechetical Session, Easter 6C
May 6, 2007 Fifth Sunday of Easter, C Core beliefs You can discuss one or more of these teachings of the church today. Use your powers of discernment to make your choice based on three criteria: What have the catechumens been asking about? What issues came up during the dismissal reflections? What, in your opinion,
Catechetical Session, Easter 5C
April 29, 2007 Fourth Sunday of Easter, C Core beliefs You can discuss one or more of these teachings of the church today. Use your powers of discernment to make your choice based on three criteria: What have the catechumens been asking about? What issues came up during the dismissal reflections? What, in your opinion,
Catechetical session, Easter 4C
Today there is a great silence over the earth, for the King sleeps. The earth has trembled and fallen still, for the Lord sleeps in his fleshly nature; in the netherworld he is arousing those who have slept for ages. God is dead in the flesh, and has shaken Sheol to its foundtions. —From an
Frank C. Senn writes about the mystagogical process for neophytes in the early church: During the week after Easter Day, the neophytes attended the liturgy daily, wearing their white robes, while the bishops instructed them in the mysteries (sacraments) they had just experienced. The faithful were also permitted to attend these sessions during the “week
How to do Mystagogy with the Neophytes in Easter
