Baptism – Page 2 – Team Initiation

What do RCIA teams do with the elect now that baptisms are postponed?

Baptism, Easter, Elect, Year-Round / Nick Wagner

Many parishes organize their catechumenate ministry on a school-year model. While this is not the vision of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, it is nevertheless a reality in many communities. However, the isolation and distancing requirements of the coronavirus outbreak have disrupted that model. And now, we’re feeling a little panicked. What in […]

What do RCIA teams do with the elect now that baptisms are postponed?

RCIA mystagogy when there have been no baptisms

Baptism, Evangelization, Mystagogy / Nick Wagner

The suspension of Triduum liturgies, especially the Easter Vigil, have left some RCIA teams foundering and wondering what to do with the elect during the period of mystagogy. If we look at the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in the section on mystagogy, we will discover or rediscover a few key points. First, the

RCIA mystagogy when there have been no baptisms

One of the most earthshaking shifts of the RCIA

Baptism, RCIA / Nick Wagner

The introduction to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults lists a litany of principles that undergird the initiation process that a seeker and an initiating community will follow (for example, see RCIA 4-5). One of the most earthshaking of these is, “The rite of initiation is suited to a spiritual journey of adults….” (5).

One of the most earthshaking shifts of the RCIA

RCIA shifts and corrects our understanding of confirmation

Baptism, Children, RCIA / Nick Wagner

On February 11, 2019, Bishop James S. Wall of the diocese of Gallup, New Mexico, announced that the diocese will restore the order of the sacraments of initiation for children who are baptized in infancy. That brings the number of dioceses in the United States who have restored the order if the initiation sacraments to

RCIA shifts and corrects our understanding of confirmation

Baptism isn’t just about water

Baptism / Nick Wagner

I have been having to say this more often lately. I’m not sure if that means our understanding of baptism is shrinking or (I rather hope) that so many more of us are beginning to grasp what baptism in its fullness means and that is generating a dialogue. In any case, while most TeamRCIA readers

Baptism isn’t just about water

RCIA with incarcerated seekers

Baptism, Candidates, Catechesis, Catechumens / Lulu Santana

When a person asks about becoming Catholic, our reflex kicks in to refer them to the RCIA process in a parish. What happens when an inquirer happens to be incarcerated? It is likely that the typical response has been to use the rite of baptism intended for infants. The thinking is probably that RCIA is

RCIA with incarcerated seekers

Conditional baptism is like being struck by lightning: What RCIA teams need to know

Baptism, Catechumens, Triduum / Nick Wagner

Every year, just before Lent, we tend to get a lot of questions about conditional baptism. I think of conditional baptisms like being struck by lightning or winning the lottery. These things happen, but not to me. Not to anyone I know. And not to anyone my friends and acquaintances know. Like lightning and the

Conditional baptism is like being struck by lightning: What RCIA teams need to know

Your RCIA team’s number-one job

Baptism, Leadership / Nick Wagner

When your seekers look at the church, what do they see? I wonder if they see a pyramid — with the bishops and priests at the top, supported from below by the laity. Honestly, that’s the way I saw the church throughout my childhood and most of my teen years. It is the way the

Your RCIA team’s number-one job

RCIA formation is a call to holiness

Baptism, Catechesis, Leadership / Nick Wagner

Several years ago, I was helping lead a training institute for RCIA teams. One of the participants was quite young compared to the rest of us who were mostly well past 40. I asked her how she wound up serving on her parish’s RCIA team. She told me that when she was in college, she

RCIA formation is a call to holiness

Baptism matters

Baptism / Nick Wagner

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

Baptism matters

What do RCIA teams do with the elect now that baptisms are postponed?

RCIA mystagogy when there have been no baptisms

One of the most earthshaking shifts of the RCIA

RCIA shifts and corrects our understanding of confirmation

Baptism isn’t just about water

RCIA with incarcerated seekers

Conditional baptism is like being struck by lightning: What RCIA teams need to know

Your RCIA team’s number-one job

RCIA formation is a call to holiness

Baptism matters

Completely transform your inquiry process with five simple questions

Wednesday, December 7, 2022
11am PST / 2pm EST

"Five Inquiry Questions that Will Shape Your Seekers' Journey of Faith"

Where can we send your free sample?

Where can we send your free sample?

Join over 20,000 subscribers