When the bishops of the Second Vatican Council called for a restoration of the catechumenate, they were actually asking us to shift our paradigm of conversion. Conversion would no longer mean “becoming Catholic” (as in, “I used to be Lutheran, but I am a convert to Catholicism.”). Conversion has a much more profound meaning. The […]
The RCIA is our definitive statement on conversion
Whenever I talk with RCIA teams about establishing an ongoing initiation process in their parishes — one that is not limited to the few academic months between fall and spring, I usually get resistance. One source of the resistance is a feeling that if we ask the catechumens to spend a year or more in
Does RCIA change what it means to belong?
Previously, I wrote about the big paradigm shift caused by the Second Vatican Council. To understand the impact of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, we have to first of all realize the overall goal of the Second Vatican Council was to turn the pyramid upside down. Flowing from the upside-down-pyramid model, we received
RCIA requires big paradigm shifts, starting with these two
One of the successes of the Second Vatican Council was a recovery of our ancient tradition of liturgy that is centered on the word of God. One of the keys to that success was the expansion of the lectionary. So since Vatican II, if someone goes to Mass every Sunday for three years, she will
The first part of Mass isn’t just about scripture
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
Dear (Arch)Bishop, We know that these days have been hard for all of us in the Church and that you have many urgent tasks before you. We also know that you care deeply about the ongoing mission of Christ that all the baptized share, and we have seen many of you and your brother bishops
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
Discernment by the bishop In the ancient church, the catechumens who wanted to be baptized that year would give their names to their pastor sometime before Lent. If the pastor thought they were ready, he would submit their names to the bishop. At the beginning of Lent, all those seeking baptism would go before the
A few things you probably didn’t know about the Rite of Election
One of the common misconceptions of our role as catechists is that we are “teachers” of the faith. That it is our job to give seekers (often mistakenly referred to as “students”) knowledge about our faith’s doctrine and traditions. But this view, especially for the RCIA catechist, is, if I may say, a little too
Is your RCIA open all year-round? The Pyramid of Acceptance/Belief
There are two dismissals in the Sunday liturgy. The one Catholics are most familiar with is the second one, the dismissal of the faithful at the end of Mass. The other is becoming better known. That is the dismissal of the catechumens at the end of the Liturgy of the word. Both dismissals are sometimes
The symbolic importance of the RCIA dismissal
