Are you looking for the “perfect” textbook for your catechumenate process? You might be asking the wrong question. In this video, I discuss the seven sources of catechesis identified by the Directory for Catechesis. Discover how to enrich your catechesis by exploring the Word of God (Scripture and Tradition), the Magisterium, the liturgy, and even
Seven sources of catechesis for your formation process
Everything I thought I knew about catechesis was wrong. When I was in my 30s, I began a career in Catholic publishing. I didn’t know anything about publishing, but I knew a lot about liturgy. My foot in the door was to edit a monthly magazine that was all about how to celebrate parish liturgy.
What I got wrong about catechesis
Almost every has one of the most effective resources for catechesis and formation right at their fingertips, but not everyone is using it! Are you one of them? Especially during the summer months when our faith formation gatherings might meet less often, we need some simple ways to keep forming our seekers. Teaching them a
Visio catechesis: A new way of seeing
Right now, I am meeting with two brand new inquirers. They are unbaptized and one grew up as a committed atheist. They are both bubbling over with God’s Spirit, but they don’t recognize or cannot name yet what is happening to them. They just know they are “looking for something.” They both asked me, separately,
Why the best sponsors are the ones who feel unqualified
When a new seeker shows up, do you start stressing over how to find a sponsor for them? Finding sponsors is often one of the most challenging parts of catechumenate ministry. But maybe that’s because we’ve been looking at recruiting in the wrong way. In this video, we explore why you may need to ask
A better way to think about recruiting sponsors
When I was in graduate school, one of my liturgy professors said that the sacrament is not in the book. It is in the community, gathered for worship. What I think he meant by that is that the ritual book is a script or an outline. But it is not the active presence of the
How to plan catechumenate rituals that transform your seekers
The Period of Mystagogy normally lasts from Easter to Pentecost. But our care and concern for the neophytes doesn’t end there. Simply because the initiation process concludes with this last period, the relationships formed between seekers and community still need nurturing—maybe even especially during this fragile time after being reborn in baptism. In this short
How do we support neophytes after the Period of Mystagogy is over?
In many parishes, we tend to prioritize “information” over “formation.” By that, I mean that most of our energy is directed toward classroom content and delivery. We often treat the liturgies and rites of the catechumenate as secondary events rather than the primary moments where formation actually happens. When we underplay the essential nature of
Understanding the beating heart of initiation ministry
When we prepare to celebrate the major rites of the catechumenate, we often feel a heavy burden to ensure everyone in the pews knows exactly what is happening and why. This good intention often leads to the first major mistake: over-explaining. When we fill the sacred silence with verbal instructions and “institutional shorthand,” we inadvertently
The three most common mistakes catechumenate teams make in the rites
If you’ve followed us for any time at all at Team Initiation, you know that we are very focused on the church’s vision of how to implement the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. When we first started talking about this vision (almost 20 years ago!) we didn’t apply the word “synodal” to our analysis
From classrooms to companions: A synodal vision for the catechumenate
