Curricula for ?"RC"IA

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I was told by a parish Faith Formation Director the only approved curriculum for RCIA was group discussion of each Sunday’s readings during one liturgical year.
I asked if there wasn’t an alternative, approved curriculum using the Catecism of the Catholic Church. This person became very animated and said, “Oh no. The conservative parishes who do that are going against Church teaching.”
Is the Faith Formation Director right or am I? I have been unable to find any RCIA curriculum directives on the web.
Either way, could you please provide links. I have to be able to back up what I say.
Many thanks in advance.
 
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Strider:
I was told by a parish Faith Formation Director the only approved curriculum for RCIA was group discussion of each Sunday’s readings during one liturgical year.
I asked if there wasn’t an alternative, approved curriculum using the Catecism of the Catholic Church. This person became very animated and said, “Oh no. The conservative parishes who do that are going against Church teaching.”
Is the Faith Formation Director right or am I? I have been unable to find any RCIA curriculum directives on the web.
Either way, could you please provide links. I have to be able to back up what I say.
Many thanks in advance.
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It seems what your FFD is referring to is Breaking Open the Word … it takes place after the homily when the catecheumens/candidates are dismissed. But this hardly constitutes the catechetical formation that the Church requires and for which the Pastor is responsible and accountable.
 
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Strider:
I was told by a parish Faith Formation Director the only approved curriculum for RCIA was group discussion of each Sunday’s readings during one liturgical year.
I asked if there wasn’t an alternative, approved curriculum using the Catecism of the Catholic Church. This person became very animated and said, “Oh no. The conservative parishes who do that are going against Church teaching.”
Is the Faith Formation Director right or am I? I have been unable to find any RCIA curriculum directives on the web.
Either way, could you please provide links. I have to be able to back up what I say.
Many thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
BTW, at our parish, well grounded catechists, clerical and non-clerical, who are theologically trained present the catechetical portion of the RCIA process. A Systematic Theology approach is used.
 
Who ever gave out that information is smoking something. There is a definite program laid out for the liturgical portion of the Rite for Christian Initiation of Adults. Some adaptions are possible. However, the pedagogic portion or teaching about the Faith varies from parish to parish and diocese to diocese, but all are supposed to ground the catechumens/candidates in a good basic knowledge of Catholic Faith and its teachings. My parish is a long way from being what I would call conservative and we not only “break open the word” but we teach an hour and one-half lesson each Sunday during the better part of a year after Mass as well as having a half day retreat that lasts from about two till seven towards the end of the preparation. Those who need to do so are encouraged to receive the sacrament of penance during the retreat, a practice that is received very positively by the already Baptized.
 
As someone who went through RCIA last year, I wish I could say our program contained what MaryAgnes describes. Believe it or not, we never even touched the CCC! :eek: I feel that I did not get a good understanding of many of the core teachings of the Church. In fact, I think some of the things “taught” may actually have been contrary to the Church’s teachings. I guess what I am saying is based on my experience, I am under the impression that there is no universal RCIA curriculum that is required. Either that, or my parish completely ignored it.
 
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MaryAgnes:
It seems what your FFD is referring to is Breaking Open the Word … it takes place after the homily when the catecheumens/candidates are dismissed. But this hardly constitutes the catechetical formation that the Church requires and for which the Pastor is responsible and accountable.
Click to expand...
Actually, I have heard that not only the Breaking Open of the Word, but the catechesis itself should be tied in to the Gospel readings of the liturgical year. It can be done, but it makes it more difficult to ensure that everything is covered.
 
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Strider:
I was told by a parish Faith Formation Director the only approved curriculum for RCIA was group discussion of each Sunday’s readings during one liturgical year.
I asked if there wasn’t an alternative, approved curriculum using the Catecism of the Catholic Church. This person became very animated and said, “Oh no. The conservative parishes who do that are going against Church teaching.”
Is the Faith Formation Director right or am I? I have been unable to find any RCIA curriculum directives on the web.
Either way, could you please provide links. I have to be able to back up what I say.
Many thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
this is simply not true, if she is really gung ho about sticking to what is required she is using the RCIA ritual book as her primary resource, which clearly states in a number of places that catechesis for RCIA MUST include systematic presentation of Catholic doctrine and practice, as well as proclamation and teaching drawn from the Sunday lectionary. My book is at work so I can’t cite specific paragraphs, but if she is the formation director she should know the book backward and forward, and knows quite well she is not being accurate.

The actual plan of presentation can follow either one of two models: taking the Sunday scripture as the starting point, and after “breaking open the Word”, relating it to the appropriate doctrinal topic. There are any number of guides on the market which provide these relationships and teaching. Or, after spending a sufficient time with studying the lectionary readings, the class may then proceed to a doctrinal presentation that follows the basic order and outline of the Catechism. There are also numerous guides and outlines for this approach.
 
I went through the RCIA last year. We didn’t start being dismissed from Mass until about the end of January. When we would be dismissed we would all go to a seperate room and discuss the readings, the homily, etc.

I noticed the nun who would be in charge of the class always had a book she carried with her (the priest would hand it to her and then we would file out) - this is what she read out of every Sunday morning. When Mass ended is when we would all be dismissed from the class. It was quite educational, but a lot of us also missed seeing the communion and everything else. All in all, though, it was a good experience for me.

Its funny because I have friends who are cradle Catholics and they tend to ask me questions about this or that pertaining to our religion - needless to say, you definitely learn a lot duing the process.

I’m actually thinking of sitting in on this years classes, just in case I missed something. Its tough especially when you are converting because you were raised to think a certain way, raised on how church was, etc…then you are bombarded by all this new stuff, things you never knew existed. I remember being confused a lot of the time and didn’t actually “get it” until I started going to Mass almost on a daily basis. I think now when I go I’ll be able to understand a lot better.🙂
 
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Cassaba:
As someone who went through RCIA last year, I wish I could say our program contained what MaryAgnes describes. Believe it or not, we never even touched the CCC! :eek: I feel that I did not get a good understanding of many of the core teachings of the Church. In fact, I think some of the things “taught” may actually have been contrary to the Church’s teachings. I guess what I am saying is based on my experience, I am under the impression that there is no universal RCIA curriculum that is required. Either that, or my parish completely ignored it.
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I never teach directly from the CCC … that is not the purpose of the CCC. However, I do use it in my preparation and I reference it as needed.

It is difficult to do much more than an overview of the faith in a 9-10 month program … but it should be enough to give a foundation and to wet ones whistle so to speak. Those attending the catechetical sessions (our already-Catholic sponsors love them) are encouraged to ask questions and to attend other forms of instruction (Bible Study, Adult Faith Enrichment, Spiritual Reflection, etc.) Our understanding of the faith should be an ongoing process that continues beyond the RCIA process.

Occasionally a candidate/catecheumen hears something and understands it incorrectly —that is what I would presume before I would say an instructor taught anything contrary to the faith. However, should you feel something was not explained clearly or seemed in error, please discuss it with your pastor. It might merely be an indication that the instructor does not nuance his/her statements properly a correction that can be readily made for future sessions.
 
IMO, if there is something that should come across clearly in RCIA so that all candidates/catechumens understand the implications of the vow they take at confirmation, it is what it means to obey and follow the teachings the Catholic Church. Of course it is impossible in 9 months to convey what all the teachings are, but it is not impossible to convey what obedience means. To that end, I would suggest that RCIA cover apostolic succession, the infalliblity of the Pope, and what the Magisterium is.
Our understanding of the faith should be an ongoing process that continues beyond the RCIA process.
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I agree 100%! Therefore, it should also be emphasized that obedience frequently precedes understanding.
 
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Cassaba:
Of course it is impossible in 9 months to convey what all the teachings are, but it is not impossible to convey what obedience means. To that end, I would suggest that RCIA cover apostolic succession, the infalliblity of the Pope, and what the Magisterium is.
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A Systematic approach to RCIA catechesis would certainly include that. Our’s does. Our topics include:
  1. Faith: What does it mean to believe?
  2. Revelation: Scripture and Tradition
  3. How the Church understands and interprets Scripture
  4. Old Testament: Creation to Covenant
  5. What the Gospels tell us about Jesus
  6. How the Creeds of the Church help us to understand Jesus
  7. Other New Testament Books
  8. The Trinity
  9. What is the Church?
  10. The teaching mission of the Church: the Magisterium
  11. Overview of Church history
  12. Introduction to Sacraments
  13. Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist
  14. The Mass
  15. The Liturgical Year, Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharistic Adoration
  16. Sacrament of Marriage (incl. Annulments/Divorce issues)
  17. Holy Orders (incl. Religious and Consecrated life and lay ministry)
  18. Sacrament of Reconciliation
  19. Anointing and Care of the Sick
  20. Morality and Conscience
  21. Overview of Commandments and Church Precepts
  22. Social Teachings of the Church
  23. Prayer Traditions of the Church / Devotion to Mary and the Saints
  24. The Last Things: Death, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory
It is no wonder that our Neophites and Confirmandi are often better grounded than many cradle Catholics! 🙂
 
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MaryAgnes:
A Systematic approach to RCIA catechesis would certainly include that. Our’s does. Our topics include:
  1. Faith: What does it mean to believe?
  2. Revelation: Scripture and Tradition
  3. How the Church understands and interprets Scripture
  4. Old Testament: Creation to Covenant
  5. What the Gospels tell us about Jesus
  6. How the Creeds of the Church help us to understand Jesus
  7. Other New Testament Books
  8. The Trinity
  9. What is the Church?
  10. The teaching mission of the Church: the Magisterium
  11. Overview of Church history
  12. Introduction to Sacraments
  13. Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist
  14. The Mass
  15. The Liturgical Year, Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharistic Adoration
  16. Sacrament of Marriage (incl. Annulments/Divorce issues)
  17. Holy Orders (incl. Religious and Consecrated life and lay ministry)
  18. Sacrament of Reconciliation
  19. Anointing and Care of the Sick
  20. Morality and Conscience
  21. Overview of Commandments and Church Precepts
  22. Social Teachings of the Church
  23. Prayer Traditions of the Church / Devotion to Mary and the Saints
  24. The Last Things: Death, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory
It is no wonder that our Neophites and Confirmandi are often better grounded than many cradle Catholics! 🙂
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WOW! That sounds fantastic.
Could you please tell me what sources/resources you use?
 
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Strider:
WOW! That sounds fantastic.
Could you please tell me what sources/resources you use?
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Now that is a tough question … only because I’ve used so many different sources! When I did my undergrad work (Theology) I accumulated quite an extensive library–not to mention lecture notes!

We typically have 2-3 primary RCIA catechists.
 
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MaryAgnes:
A Systematic approach to RCIA catechesis would certainly include that. Our’s does. Our topics include:
  1. Faith: What does it mean to believe?
  2. Revelation: Scripture and Tradition
  3. How the Church understands and interprets Scripture
  4. Old Testament: Creation to Covenant
  5. What the Gospels tell us about Jesus
  6. How the Creeds of the Church help us to understand Jesus
  7. Other New Testament Books
  8. The Trinity
  9. What is the Church?
  10. The teaching mission of the Church: the Magisterium
  11. Overview of Church history
  12. Introduction to Sacraments
  13. Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist
  14. The Mass
  15. The Liturgical Year, Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharistic Adoration
  16. Sacrament of Marriage (incl. Annulments/Divorce issues)
  17. Holy Orders (incl. Religious and Consecrated life and lay ministry)
  18. Sacrament of Reconciliation
  19. Anointing and Care of the Sick
  20. Morality and Conscience
  21. Overview of Commandments and Church Precepts
  22. Social Teachings of the Church
  23. Prayer Traditions of the Church / Devotion to Mary and the Saints
  24. The Last Things: Death, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory
It is no wonder that our Neophites and Confirmandi are often better grounded than many cradle Catholics! 🙂
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Ligouri Publications publishes a looseleaf binder series of lessons called “Journey of Faith.” Each 4 page section covers one of the above topics. I haven’t made a direst comparison of the units to this list, but I know we cover all the stuff on the list. Each unit is probably a bare minimum exposure, but we find it easy to expand on each topic as we do one unit each week during the year of study. As an old pre-Vatican II Catholic with 16 years of education in Catholic institutions I have yet to find any heterodox items in the material. They aren’t the old Baltimore Catechism, but they are quite good in my opinion. Our sponsors go through the whole process with the catachumens/candidates and most of them come away with a positive feeling of having learned more about their Faith. Each unit is covered for about 11/2 hours after we do the “Break Open the Word” thing for 3/4 of an hour or so.
 
Journey of Faith is great but it has some lacks, there are two sessions on Christian Moral life, but not on the commandments specifically, and no unit dealing with last things. I have found very few problems, probably can count them on the finger of one hand. One lesson refers to the Eucharist as a representation of (rather than participation in) the sacrifice of Christ, but the rest of the material makes the proper teaching very clear.
We use them as homework because they have some questions for reflection that require bible look-ups, and we want them to get the message that what we are teaching is indeed bible-based. If you teach the whole time with the catechism in one hand, it reinforces the mistaken notion that the Catholic church has made all of this stuff up.
for our family program (people in the same family of mixed ages who need sacraments) they work very well because there are 3 age levels, adult, youth and children (now available also in Spanish for all 3 levels). Since we encourage lots of parent participation in RCIA for children they work well for those sessions, too.

The best outline I have seen for systematic presentation of doctrine is Making disciples (newly revised) by Our Sunday Visitor. But this is a guide for the catechist, not a textbook. It meshes very well with any of Father McBride’s Catechisms also by OSV, which have very good lesson outlines and work very well with RCIA and adult Confirmation classes. OSV also has a companion book that links the Sunday lectionary to the appropriate doctrinal topics.
 
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puzzleannie:
Journey of Faith is great but it has some lacks, there are two sessions on Christian Moral life, but not on the commandments specifically, and no unit dealing with last things. I have found very few problems, probably can count them on the finger of one hand. One lesson refers to the Eucharist as a representation of (rather than participation in) the sacrifice of Christ, but the rest of the material makes the proper teaching very clear.
We use them as homework because they have some questions for reflection that require bible look-ups, and we want them to get the message that what we are teaching is indeed bible-based. If you teach the whole time with the catechism in one hand, it reinforces the mistaken notion that the Catholic church has made all of this stuff up.
for our family program (people in the same family of mixed ages who need sacraments) they work very well because there are 3 age levels, adult, youth and children (now available also in Spanish for all 3 levels). Since we encourage lots of parent participation in RCIA for children they work well for those sessions, too.

The best outline I have seen for systematic presentation of doctrine is Making disciples (newly revised) by Our Sunday Visitor. But this is a guide for the catechist, not a textbook. It meshes very well with any of Father McBride’s Catechisms also by OSV, which have very good lesson outlines and work very well with RCIA and adult Confirmation classes. OSV also has a companion book that links the Sunday lectionary to the appropriate doctrinal topics.
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Speaking of RCIA, what resources do you use for Breaking Open the Word? We are looking to revamp that this year … we have had too many discussion leaders attempt doing catechesis–badly, I’m afraid. Any ideas?
 
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rwoehmke:
Ligouri Publications publishes a looseleaf binder series of lessons called “Journey of Faith.” Each 4 page section covers one of the above topics. I haven’t made a direst comparison of the units to this list, but I know we cover all the stuff on the list. Each unit is probably a bare minimum exposure, but we find it easy to expand on each topic as we do one unit each week during the year of study. As an old pre-Vatican II Catholic with 16 years of education in Catholic institutions I have yet to find any heterodox items in the material. They aren’t the old Baltimore Catechism, but they are quite good in my opinion. Our sponsors go through the whole process with the catachumens/candidates and most of them come away with a positive feeling of having learned more about their Faith. Each unit is covered for about 11/2 hours after we do the “Break Open the Word” thing for 3/4 of an hour or so.
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I believe our program may have developed from “Journey” … it’s been so long (11 years) I can’t remember. Our sponsors are encouraged to attend the catechetical session with thier candidate, and like yours, find the sessions edifying. I’ve often thought the program could also be offered as Catholic Adult Faith Enrichiment–separate from RCIA of course.
 
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MaryAgnes:
Speaking of RCIA, what resources do you use for Breaking Open the Word? We are looking to revamp that this year … we have had too many discussion leaders attempt doing catechesis–badly, I’m afraid. Any ideas?
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I use At Home with the Word from LTP because it comes in both Spanish and English, Liguouri also has a Journey with the Word (I think) for each cycle, that is keyed to the appropriate JOF topic, which I use for additional preparation. both of these are intended for the catechist, not the candidate. Catechist please read and prepare for this before the session, don’t try to wing it.

BOW is instruction drawn from the readings, and while some faith sharing can follow the teaching, it is not the burden or purpose of the session (in spite of what some RCIA guides will tell you). The purpose is not to compare the candidate’s personal experience with the message of the reading, and for the group to validate the gospel on the basis of personal experience. Quite the opposite, the purpose is to glean Christ’s teaching from His Word, and apply it to one’s own life and experience.

the huge problem with BOW (and also with the performance of lectors in general) in my opinion and observation is that catechists, lectors and others involved in liturgical ministry refuse to follow the minimum recommendations of RCIA and liturgical documents and form themselves, individually or in small groups, in the Word before participating in reading or teaching.

Living the Liturgy also from LTP is a perfect resource for this. The ideal would be lectors, EMHCs, cantors and RCIA catechists to meet together weekly together or in their smaller groups, proclaim, pray and meditate with the Sunday readings together.
 
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