The event of central importance on Holy Thursday will be the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper—the liturgy which begins the Triduum. I hope everybody is going to take part in this wonderful celebration! I won’t try to anticipate what takes place. Better to experience it for yourself. Perhaps Holy Thursday is also a good […]
Free download: Why Baptized Candidates Should Not be Received at the Easter Vigil Your turn What are the best practices you’ve learned in your parish? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Free download: Why Baptized Candidates Should Not be Received at the Easter Vigil
32 best RCIA practices for Easter Vigil
We have a new pastor, and he told us that we are not supposed to be confirming adult Catholics at the Easter Vigil. If confirmation is an initiation sacrament, what’s wrong with celebrating it at the Vigil? Your question raises a larger issue of who should be celebrating sacraments at the Easter Vigil. I’ve seen
Should we confirm Catholics at the Easter Vigil?
Joe Paprocki has some serious concerns about Catholics celebrating a Seder Meal that I think are worth reading. His first point is the strongest: First and foremost, the Seder Meal is a sacred Jewish ritual. For Catholics to re-enact this sacred ritual is disrespectful of the Jewish tradition. (Imagine Jewish or Muslim children re-enacting a
The trouble with Catholic Seder Meals
In order to help you prepare the elect for their initiation, I’ve written a Holy Saturday retreat, which includes the Preparation Rites, that is FREE for subscribers to TeamRCIA. The church’s great festival of initiation is approaching fast. Be sure to provide the elect with some substantial time for prayer and reflection as they prepare
A Preparation Rites retreat for the elect on Holy Saturday
What do I wear?! That’s a question I get often when I’m planning liturgies. Whether it’s the confirmation candidate, the newly-ordained, or even the bishop, himself, we have a natural concern over what to wear. The baptismal rite in the RCIA gives us at least one answer: Put on Christ. Therefore we physically clothe the
The Easter Vigil is coming—that most amazing liturgical celebration at the center of our faith that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. We who have been working, praying, planning, collaborating, and sacrificing for the good of our catechumens and candidates are now focused on how to plan for the great
The Easter Vigil—should you rehearse the catechumens?
QWe have a candidate preparing to celebrate the Reception into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. This person was baptized and confirmed as a Lutheran. Do we recognize Lutheran Confirmations as valid sacraments? Or do we confirm him at the Easter Vigil? AFrom John Huels’ book, The Catechumenate and the
Today there is a great silence over the earth, for the King sleeps. The earth has trembled and fallen still, for the Lord sleeps in his fleshly nature; in the netherworld he is arousing those who have slept for ages. God is dead in the flesh, and has shaken Sheol to its foundtions. —From an
During the Triduum, the question arises about when to dismiss the Elect and the catechumens. (If you are engaged in a year-round process, you will likely have both.) If parish leaders understand the liturgical role that the unbaptized have in worship, it will be clear that the Elect and the catechumens are dismissed before the
When Do You Dismiss during Triduum?
