There is a story about a new school and the way the children of the school played during recess. The school yard was enclosed by a high fence and furnished with state-of-the-art playground equipment. Every day during recess many of the children would race to the edges of the school yard and clamor up the

I wrote earlier about my image of God as I was growing up. Like many people today, I did not have a very complete understanding of who God is. I thought of God as distant and judgmental. Some people even think that God is wrathful and is specifically angry at, or at least disappointed with,

You know what one of the hardest parts of my ministry as an RCIA team member is? A catechumen hears something on the news about a poll that says, “X percent of Catholics no longer believe _____.” Or, “Some-huge-percent of Catholics disagree with the pope about _____.” Or “A big bunch of Catholics think it

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults says that a suitable catechesis… is gradual and complete in its coverage, is accommodated to the liturgical year, is solidly supported by celebrations of the word leads the catechumens to an appropriate acquaintance with dogmas and precepts leads the catechumens to a profound sense of the mystery of

We have all had this happen. We find ourselves challenged to provide a suitable catechesis for an RCIA group that includes a raw beginner—someone who knows nothing about Christianity and has never lived as a disciple. And then in the same group, we have a mainline Protestant who knows more about Scripture than most Catholics

It may seem obvious that it is important to provide a suitable catechesis for seekers, but there is more to it than meets the eye. In order to grasp the importance of a suitable catechesis, we have to first ask who the catechesis is for and what it is for. Who RCIA catechesis is for In