The Catechetical Review - Communicating Christ for a New Evangelization

Articles Under: RCIA

RCIA & Adult Faith Formation: Saving Faith in the Rite of Acceptance Free
No one sneaks into the Catholic Church. I absolutely love this aspect of becoming a Christian in the Catholic Church. Let me explain. I was raised in a Pentecostal Protestant denomination (International Church of the Foursquare Gospel). In some ways, Pentecostalism is closer to Catholic doctrine than Reformed Protestantism, but there is a major difference in how people become Christians. To become a Christian in the church of my youth, a person (let’s call him “Bob”) might have an experience like this. Upon being invited to church, Bob would hear Christ-centered praise and an expository sermon on a biblical text... Read more
RCIA & Adult Faith Formation: Permanent Mystagogy
According to the General Directory for Catechesis , “adult catechesis must be given priority.” [1] In fact, the GDC links adult catechesis to the baptismal catechumenate: [Adult catechesis] “involves ‘a post-baptismal catechesis, in the form of a catechumenate...presenting again some elements from the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults with the purpose of allowing a person to grasp and live the immense, extraordinary richness and responsibility received at Baptism.’” [2] Therefore, adult catechesis is not simply a refresher course in content but is permeated by the idea that the life of Baptism (and each of the sacraments) must be lived... Read more
Practically Speaking: Marriage and the RCIA Process
Pastoral Considerations Practically speaking, within Canon Law, the many canons that deal with the Sacrament of Matrimony are more numerous than any other sacrament, including Holy Orders and the Eucharist. That is a staggering and sobering fact. The Church highly regulates the Sacrament of Matrimony because she knows that marriage and family life are the building blocks of the human family as well as the Church. The rights and responsibilities that are codified in the canons reflect the revealed truth and dignity of this sacrament. I would like to address one ministry within the parish that frequently runs head on... Read more
RCIA: Evangelizing Couples
Many years ago, after a particularly challenging day of ministry, I blurted out (in jest), “Ministry would be easy if it wasn’t for people.” Since then, I occasionally utter this phrase when the complicated nature of people’s lives messes with my nice, ordered ministry schedule—which is most of the time. The point is that the Church, and our ministry as an extension of the Church, exists to make disciples. Disciples are people. People are messy. If your ministry is not messy, you might not be making disciples but simply moving people through a program. When it comes to messy, nothing... Read more
Conversion: Laying a Firm Foundation in the Precatechumenate
An atheist, a pagan and a Protestant… This could be the beginning of a really bad joke or it could be illustrative of the type of people that make their way to your RCIA process. Anyone who works with RCIA knows that people come with radically different levels of faith and understanding. If we want to lead these inquirers to a real relationship with Christ and his Church, we must first lay a firm foundation. Let me share with you three real stories I’ve encountered over the years while directing RCIA. John, in his mid 30s, knows nothing about the... Read more
RCIA: Letters to Julie
Dear Teresa, I wonder if you can help me again. I am struggling to get volunteers to help me with my RCIA and also to be honest, struggling to get the parish to realise this is something they all are meant to be involved in. I don’t know where to go for information on this, and they just stare at me and tell me the last RCIA catechist just did everything herself. Here’s hoping you can help! God bless, Julie Dear Julie, Oh dear! Attracting volunteers and getting the whole parish involved is a challenge for many catechists. First you... Read more
RCIA: Letters to Julie
Dear Teresa, I'm so glad to hae someone experienced to turn to for advice. We have a few new people in our RCIA team, and I would like to give them some basic formation on the Christian life, as this is what our catechumens and candidates are seeking. I’m not quite sure where to start though. What are your thoughts? Yours hopefully, Julie Dear Julie, How lovely to hear from you again, and I am so pleased to hear your team is growing. What a good idea to start your team’s training and formation with an introduction to the aspects... Read more
RCIA: Letters to Julie
Dear Teresa, Thank you for the help you gave me. It makes total sense that we should start with evangelisation, and looking to the Rites has been amazing in that it has helped me really engage with this period. I was going to ask you about the next stage, but something has come up. At the Easter Vigil, we had a small group received into the Church and then that was it for them. It struck me that this seems odd. I worry about one of them in particular as this person has no Catholic support network and her sponsor... Read more
RCIA: Questions, Answers, Issues and Advice
This page on Christian initiation is offered in each issue of The Sower as an on-going way to address specific questions that do not necessarily get addressed in more general articles and training resources. The questions all come straight from the field, and have two sources: 1) from readers like you; 2) from issues raised during seminars conducted by the Association for Catechumenal Ministry (ACM) over the past ten years in various dioceses. Q: Beyond Mystagogy, why is the Neophyte Year of a new Catholic so important? A: The seven weeks of mystagogy should not constitute the end of the... Read more
RCIA: Questions, Answers, Issues and Advice
This page on Christian initiation is offered in each issue of The Sower as an on-going way to address specific questions that do not necessarily get addressed in more general articles and training resources. The questions all come straight from the field, and have two sources: 1) from readers like you; 2) from issues raised during seminars conducted by the Association for Catechumenal Ministry (ACM) over the past ten years in various dioceses. Q. An RCIA inquirer has recently come to our parish and she is seeking to have the Church address the situation of a previous marriage to a... Read more