Q. My parish has historically confirmed candidates for confirmation at the Easter Vigil — those who were baptized and uncatechized and those who were in need of confirmation only. We have been told recently to celebrate the sacrament of confirmation with the already-baptized at a time other than the Easter Vigil. So when should they […]
Q&A: When should we confirm baptized candidates?
One thing a lot of people may not know about the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is that it includes a rite that is not a rite of initiation. There were two important reform movements that let up to the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. One was the liturgical movement. The restoration of
What the church teaches about making other Christians Catholic
This past Easter Vigil, I was visiting a parish I had never been to before. I was truly uplifted by the beauty and quality of the entire liturgy. It was one of the best Easter Vigil liturgies I have celebrated. The key factor that made the liturgy so good was the effort the planners and
Should baptized candidates celebrate their sacraments at the Easter Vigil?
This is a question we often get from parish teams. They’ve just read a blog post, a book, or participated in a workshop on the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and are excited about the principles they’ve learned. But they wonder why their priests don’t seem to follow them or even know about them.
How do priests learn about the principles of the catechumenate?
When the current translation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults was promulgated in 1988, we might not have been as prepared as we need to be. Because we weren’t quite ready, many misinterpretations and misapplications of the rite began to flourish. The biggest difficulty is that the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults
Is your parish ready for the new translation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults?
We all know the saying about not being able to fit square pegs into round holes. When we accompany others on the journey of faith, we are almost always in the business of getting squares to fit into rounds. In some sense, that is what we mean be conversion. People are living “square” lives and
How to fit in square pegs when our formation process is a round hole
The first official role of the sponsor happens in the Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens. After the seekers have said what they are looking for from the church and have promised to follow the gospel way of faith, the presider turns to the sponsors and asks: Sponsors, you now present these candidates
Why the role of “sponsor” is so important in the RCIA
Some of the RCIA rituals can be complicated. The Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens, for example, takes place in several locations, requires at least one procession, includes multiple gestures, and has many different moments of ritual dialogue. Our first inclination might be to write out a script for the seekers so they
Should we provide ritual scripts for RCIA seekers?
You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here.Fifth Sunday of EasterBackground: For two Sundays the gospel selections are a continuous reading from John, 15, part of what is called the Last Supper Discourse. It would seem odd that in Easter Season we are reading from a discourse given on Holy Thursday
Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Eastertime — Year B
Someone recently asked on Facebook, “What is the Easter Vigil for?” The person asking is from a Christian tradition that does not usually celebrate baptisms at the Vigil. If you’re old enough, you will remember when that was true for Roman Catholics. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults was issued shortly after Vatican II,
What does baptism do? A mystagogy on the sacramental act of washing
