Why is the Eucharistic Prayer important? When I was a child, I thought it was because that’s the moment in the Mass when the bread and wine are turned into the Body and Blood of Jesus. And while that’s true, that is a very narrow understanding of the importance of the prayer. In fact, the […]
Is the Eucharistic Prayer a big deal for RCIA catechesis?
Am I really willing to help others? Just think of that. Think that this sign is Christ’s caress, because Jesus came just for this, to serve us, to help us. —Pope Francis, Holy Thursday Homily On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis showed us how to be master catechists. He knelt before 12 inmates of the Casal
How Pope Francis knelt in front of 12 teenage prisoners and taught us to be master RCIA catechists
In the last few posts, we have been exploring running as a metaphor for living the Christian life. We have been looking at the three levels of training that are necessary to “run” as a Christian: The General Directory for Catechesis identifies these levels as: In this post, we’re going to take a quick look
Six examples of catechesis that happen after RCIA is over
An old African proverb says: Every morning, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or gazelle — when
Do your RCIA catechumens wake up running?
The first time I heard about the RCIA, it was like a “should’a had a V8” moment. I got it. I understood the pontential power of this collection of progressive rites to transform not only seekers, but entire parishes. Or at least I thought I did. In those early days, my insight was focused almost
How I discovered the RCIA is the Grand Prix of catechesis
As evangelists and catechists, our number one job as catechumenate ministers is to bring people into intimacy and communion with Jesus Christ. That is impossible to do if we do not fully comprehend and teach that Jesus is part of a Holy Trinity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that the truth of the
The Trinity is not a math problem
When Pope Benedict XVI announced the Year of Faith, which began on October 11, 2012, he said, “We want this Year to arouse in every believer the aspiration to profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, with confidence and hope” (Porta fidei, 9). Three ways to renew our faith As catechumenate ministers, how
Knowing content is not sufficient for RCIA…according to the pope
My teenage daughters’ favorite television show is The Glee Project. On The Glee Project twelve teenagers and early-twenty-somethings live together for three months and learn how to be actors, actresses, singers, and dancers. But, it’s also a competition, where one person “goes home” each week and the eventual winner gets a starring role in the
Four things I learned about RCIA with teens from “The Glee Project”
Don Tapscott, in Growing Up Digital, lists eight shifts in learning styles for teenagers. The way I learned things as a teen was linearly. For lots of cultural reasons, teens no longer learn that way. This is important when we begin to think of evangelizing and catechizing teens in the catechumenate process. If we approach
Eight essential shifts in forming teenagers in the RCIA process
