“Greetings. I coordinate the RCIA process for our parish, and I am kind of new to this. Our pastor asked me to take on this role, and I’m learning as I go. Can you give me some direction on what I should be doing?” We get some version of that question about once or twice […]
The Secret to Leading RCIA Catechesis
Parker Palmer, author of The Courage to Teach, asked teachers to name the biggest obstacle to good teaching. The answer he almost always got was “my students.” If we asked a similar question of RCIA catechists about the biggest obstacle to their formation efforts, I wonder if the answer would be “the catechumens and candidates.”
The problem with RCIA formation
How many team members do you need for an effective RCIA process? The answer to that depends on what you mean by “RCIA.” If your RCIA starts in September and ends at Easter Vigil or during the Easter season, then you probably need about five to seven highly committed team members (not including sponsors). If,
RCIA: Learn why year-round is easier
There is one simple thing you can do to dramatically influence the way catechumens—or any adult—learns. If you can manage to make this one shift in your catechetical process, your catechumens will be more engaged, more interested, more motivated, and more committed to the conversion process. The secret to this seemingly too-good-to-be-true transformation doesn’t require
How to completely transform the way catechumens learn in the RCIA
I like to think of myself as a lifelong learner. Right now, I have ten books on my “to read” shelf. I also like learning new skills, exploring new places, and trying new recipes. But sometimes learning is drudgery. I struggled to learn just enough French to complete my master’s degree. I had to learn
What is adult learning in the RCIA? Six concepts
For the first five centuries that the church existed, the norm for initiation was baptism of adults. Infants were probably also baptized, but the New Testament never explicitly mentions that they were. By the second century, there is more firm evidence of the baptism of infants and children, but it is not the norm. Some
Why is the norm of adult initiation so important?
Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Confucius, Cicero, and Jesus all have two things in common. They were all great teachers. And they didn’t teach children. Even so, as ancient as society’s emphasis on adult education has been, there is surprising little research on how to effectively educate adults. The first academic studies began to emerge in the
What research says about teaching adults in the RCIA
With Lent come the long narratives of the passion and death of Jesus. The Passion story is meant to be a story of hope and transformation, a story of the restoration of humanity to right relationship with the Loving God who created us all to be in God’s image. The ugly secret is that too
How will you catechize your RCIA group about anti-Semitism?
Did you know Christmas carols are a rich source of catechesis for your RCIA groups? A good carol has the power to “teach” the theology of Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection—the paschal mystery. A cosmic dance between Divine and human For example, Charles Wesley’s 1739 text, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” has several verses paschal-preaching
Sing these 6 carols in RCIA for strong holiday catechesis
In 1952, educator Robert Havighurst wrote: “When the timing is right, the ability to learn a particular task will be possible. This is referred to as a ‘teachable moment.’ It is important to keep in mind that unless the time is right, learning will not occur” (Human Development and Education). So how do you know
The right way and the wrong way to do a “teaching Mass”—according to the pope
