A question that keeps popping up for RCIA teams is how to get more parishioners involved in the initiation process. The best answer to this is the liturgy. If you think of where most of the parish gathers most often, it is the Sunday liturgy. So it makes sense that would be the place to […]
How to use the power of the liturgy to involve your parishioners in the RCIA
The first time I was “in charge” of a catechumenate ministry, I had three team members — myself and two brand new volunteers with no knowledge of the RCIA. The parish was a large community with over 10,000 parishioners. A lot of my focus in my first year was getting more team members. And that
The biggest mistake I made when trying to recruit an RCIA team
In 1983, I interviewed for my first job as a parish liturgist. The silver-haired pastor sat behind an imposing desk in his wood-paneled office. I sat on the other side of the desk in one of those chairs that you sink into and that makes it impossible for you to sit up straight. At one
Make the shift from “RCIA team” to “coalition for change”
I read a blog post on delegating that has some interesting ideas for busy RCIA team leaders. Sometimes the leader is the whole team, and there is no one to delegate tasks to. Michael Hyatt lists seven strategies for distributing or reducing your workload. I’m going to reframe three of them for the work we
3 ways to delegate when you have no RCIA team
Imagine a parish where every so often the pastor introduces an inquirer to the worshiping assembly saying, “This is Jose; this is Barbara. They have a desire to become part of our church.” Then the Pastor simply leaves the rest to the people in the pews. We could make a case that this is the
5 questions for every RCIA team
Last week, I met with a group of RCIA team members from parishes around the country at the Convocation of the North American Forum on the Catechumenate to discuss the question, “Whose ministry is it, anyway?” Aware that in so many situations, the RCIA process is “run” by a team of willing volunteers, we examined
Add 5,000 families to your RCIA team
Whenever we lead an RCIA institute, we tend to ask how many of the teams present are using a year-round process for the catechumenate in their parishes. Typically, about a fourth to a third of the hands go up. That seems like an awfully low percentage to me. Now in all the time I’ve been
The team you need for a year-round RCIA
The first step in building a team is to realize the team already exists. You are not creating anything new. You are enhancing and building on what already exists. Get your RCIA book and turn to paragraph 9 (page 4 in my version). Underline this phrase, about four lines down: —”the initiation of adults is
100 ways to involve parishioners in the RCIA
