Years ago, I volunteered for a parish catechumenate team. After several e-mails and voice mails went unanswered, I just showed up at one of the team meetings. There were about six people sitting around a cafeteria table, and they were surprised to see a new person. I told them I was interested in helping out. […]
Why a catechumenal culture is important
The short answer is yes. Perhaps because we are just now emerging from our COVID stay-at-home isolation, parish teams seem to be asking about the rites of initiation and if all of them are mandatory. Some seekers may have a pressing need to forgo the normal sacramental process and be baptized without delay. This pastoral
Is the Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens mandatory?
The first time I traveled to a foreign country (France and Italy) was in the 1990s. This was, of course, before cell phones were ubiquitous and before Google Translate and Google Maps were a thing. I had my Lonely Planet tour books and French and Italian phrase books to get me through. The “foreignness” of
Catechumenate ministry on the digital continent
At our 2021 year-end review meeting for TeamRCIA, we discovered a surprising fact about millennials. When we started TeamRCIA in 2007, millennials were barely a thing. That year, the oldest of them was in their mid-20s. Today, the youngest of them is in their mid-20s and the elders are just reaching their 40s. What have
Do you have millennials on your catechumenate team?
In previous posts, we looked at what the Rite (Order) of Christian Initiation of Adults says about why conversion is important and what the church means by conversion. In this post, we want to look at how, according to the rite, we can foster conversion in seekers. When we are talking about the initial conversion
I once had to call an online shoe company about a problem with my order, and I was dreading it. These days, you don’t get to talk to a human. You have to “press or say” numbers in response to robotic questions. But I had no choice. I took a deep breath and dialed the
You get what you measure: What the new translation means by “conversion”
On the Third Sunday of Advent, I went to a church where a friend of mine is the pastor. I arrived a few minutes late, and I was surprised the liturgy hadn’t started yet. The Mass was being celebrated in the church basement because the church itself was being renovated. And the renovation was four
Why conversion is so important in the Rite (Order) of Christian Initiation of Adults
Antonia is the catechumenate coordinator in her parish. She recently went to a diocesan workshop that encouraged parishes to accompany seekers all year long — not just October to April. She got very excited about implementing some of what she learned. But the pastor likes the current school model and refuses to change. Theo had
46 ways to accompany seekers even if you’re not in charge of the RCIA process
In a previous post, we talked about the worldwide process Pope Francis has inaugurated to dream about the future of the church. I think all catechumenate teams should take this seriously. The church that we are initiating the seekers into today will not be what the church looks like in the future. The pope and
Why dreaming together about the future is important for RCIA teams
Diana and I had two experiences recently that made us think more deeply about the way we invite and welcome seekers into our communities. We were driving to Chicago, and we stopped to see the Cahokia Mounds. The Cahokia Mounds is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city that existed 1050–1350 AD. At its
Tell the one story that RCIA seekers will remember for the rest of their lives
