A blog post at Whispers in the Loggia drew my attention to Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana. I had never heard of him, but I’m glad now that I have. Turkson is Ghana’s first cardinal and was the spokesman for October’s Synod of Bishops for Africa. He may soon be heading up the Vatican congregation […]
Notional Christianity vs. radical conversion
Kent Schaffer, on the Church Relevance blog, has posted the top 13 reasons seekers choose a church. The top three are: preaching teaching hospitality This would be a great discussion to have with your team. As you are making plans to start or improve your catechumenate process, how can you make the seekers’ top three
The Concord Pastor wondered aloud the the other day about what requirements for membership we might list in our parish bulletins. He had run across a Unitarian Web site that got him wondering: I Googled the church and in perusing their website I came across the following with regards to membership in their parish: Becoming
People keep usurping the word evangelization, and therefore make it more difficult for us to accomplish the primary mission of the RCIA—go and baptize. First it was the evangelicals, who used the word to identify a denomination of Christianity quite distinct from Catholicism. On the face of it, there’s nothing wrong with a denomination defining
Evangelization 2.0: Reclaim the mission of the RCIA
At the Forum Convocation last November, keynote speaker Richard Gaillardetz noted that the New Testament was written in Greek. That is significant, he said, because it means the New Testament was not written in Aramaic, the language of Jesus. (I think he was quoting, but I can’t make out my notes clearly.) I had never
Does the RCIA translate into today's culture?
We’re probably all going to see a lot of seekers in our churches over the next several weeks. First of all, we’re moving into the holiday season, and more people tend to think about faith and spirituality at this time of year. Some of them wind up in church—your church—hoping to find an answer to
Put your parish bulletin on your RCIA team
I was at a party recently, and I knew very few people. I was wandering around from conversation to conversation, trying to pick up a thread I could contribute to, and not having much luck. Then I realized I was standing next to a man who, I had overheard someone else say, was a tennis
Six lessons on evangelization from a tennis guy
You know who they are. They’re the ones who keep coming back week after week long after the Easter Vigil and Pentecost are over. They light up anytime someone mentions the catechumenate or becoming Catholic. They want to be sponsors even before they’ve gotten the Chrism smell off their pillowcases. They’re the neophyte evangelists, those
A song Rory Cooney wrote, called “Christ the Icon” (WLP 2005), is well worth listening to and meditating upon. The first time I heard it, on the CD of the same name, I didn’t take much notice of it, to tell the truth. The music was fine, but I didn’t really hear what the song
Was your liturgy memorable today? Chances are, there was someone in the assembly who was visiting your parish for the first time. If not this week, then next week or the week after, for sure. When they get home, will they remember your parish? Will they return? It’s not difficult to create a lasting memory
Is your RCIA team creating a memorable first impression?
