Help! What materials do you use for RCIA?

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Phemie

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Our parish doesn’t have an RCIA team. Tonight the Pastor, who will be leaving at the end of the summer, informed me that a parishioner’s 25 year old daughter wants to be baptized and he has asked me & my friend to prepare her for this. While I did the “Beginnings and Beyond” workshop 10 years ago, my focus was more on the rites and liturgy than the actual teaching of the catechumens. Are there materials available? I was thinking of teachings based on the CCC, starting with the 10 commandments and the sacraments. For some reason, because I’m on the team that prepares parents for their children’s baptism, he thought I’d do this – it’s a major commitment and I’m not sure I’m up to the challenge.
 
Oh I wish I was home right now (currently in Seattle) so I can look through my files from when I went to RCIA about 6 years ago. Perhaps by the end of the week, I can get a hold of them and tell you what they are so that you can find them online to hand out to the catechumens.

Basically, we followed these pamphlets that we were handed each week at our meetings that taught about all sorts of things about the church. We would go home and read them and use them to read certain passages of the CCC and the bible, only to come back and spend some of our time discussing what we found and what we think each thing means. The priest or deacon would then continue the discussions with us and teach us more and more about each individual area. This ranged from anywhere between the Creed to the Commandments to the different Sacraments to the Virgin Mary and confession…etc. It was a very good program and helped convert me (former Episcopalian) to the Catholic faith. When nearing Easter, we would go into the church itself and learn about the proper care used for preparation of items for the mass, about the different parts of the mass, about the clerical items worn by the priests and deacons and their meanings.

I’ll do my best to find these records for you, but it likely won’t be for another week or so.

God Bless!
 
Thank you both. I don’t think I’ll be dealing with someone who is totally unknowing. Truth be known, I was shocked to hear that she wasn’t baptized. Her mother is from a strong Catholic background but her dad is not Catholic. Guess he got his way, or perhaps Mom is like my children, Catholic in name only.
 
Phemie said:
Our parish doesn’t have an RCIA team. Tonight the Pastor, who will be leaving at the end of the summer, informed me that a parishioner’s 25 year old daughter wants to be baptized and he has asked me & my friend to prepare her for this. While I did the “Beginnings and Beyond” workshop 10 years ago, my focus was more on the rites and liturgy than the actual teaching of the catechumens. Are there materials available? I was thinking of teachings based on the CCC, starting with the 10 commandments and the sacraments. For some reason, because I’m on the team that prepares parents for their children’s baptism, he thought I’d do this – it’s a major commitment and I’m not sure I’m up to the challenge.
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my overall structure for what to teach, and it is based on the CCC and scripture, is Making Disciples from Our Sunday Visitor
all also use the lesson plans on the appropriate topics for sacramental parent-sponsor meetings, and for adult confirmation.
when I need handouts I get them from ACM but it is too expensive to buy for one person until you have a comprehensive plan for RCIA, team etc.
newsflash: you don’t need handouts.

my “powerpoint”, the booklet of the basics they have in their hand that replaces dozens of xerox sheets is Outlines of the Faith from leaflet missal. for me it is perfect because it comes in English and Spanish and is in a Q&A format, organized in accordance with the CCC, and only a couple of bucks in bulk. for one person you could also get her a compendium

if she is someone who has grown up in a Catholic family and is “all but baptized” your job is easier. If she is completely new to the faith do your best to find a good sponsor, which can be a family member but not novio (spouse of bf)

she does not need a PhD in theology, but merely to make an informed profession of faith and understand the sacraments she will be receiving.

the MD has suggested schedules in the front. start informally with inquiry and get her questions answered, and you already know about marriage and other issues that have to be settled.

when you get a new pastor and she has decided to continue you can ask him about Rite of Acceptance and get more formal in the instruction.

yes a good jumping off point is what you already doing for the parents and sponsors because it is a great place to start inquiry, she could even begin there if you have baptism classes scheduled. In any case, don’t make her wait, get started with at least some weekly meetings now and through the summer as both your schedules allow. If there is anything going on like a festival, parish picnic etc. get her involved.

I thought you were the RCIA guru, I am sure you have no worries

if you will be one on one you can move faster and cover more, and direct it toward her specific needs. you will love it, and she will love working with you
 
You could also just get her a copy of the US Cathechism for Adults and go through it together. They have study guides and other resources to facilitate its use as a learning aid. I think there are even pre-packaged powerpoint slides for it. As funny as it sounds, the Catholicism for Dummies book is very well done also. Even after I have completed RCIA, read the catechism, and all of the notes from ACM, I am still learning things in the ‘Dummies’ book.

We used the ACM series and I thought it was quite good. But, as is already mentioned, they are likely too expensive unless you are planning on using it continually.
 
Our diocese recommends, and we use, the ACM materials. They are fantastic.

acmrcia.org/index2.html

warning, this website plays music, so mute before clicking if you don’t want music.
 
We have been using the book This Is Our Faith by Michael Francis Pennock. It is pretty good and is nice as it includes references to the CCC in the side bars.

I think they are also going to start using the Journey of Faith handouts from Liguori. I’ve used the kid and teen versions in my class and for the most part have been happy with them. They are nice if you plan on following all the Rites as they are divided into inquiry, catechumante, etc.
 
Our priests do RCIA.

We had a team, and the team used a set of materials designed by the person in charge of the team. The priests wanted to take charge of this program and do the teaching themselves rather than give the duty to lay people, so a few years ago, they dropped the “team” and started doing RCIA themselves.

I don’t know what materials they use. I think they speak from their own personal notes.
 
If I have a mixed group, as I do some years, all ages, both English and Spanish, especially during lent when the entire RCIA group comes together, I use Journey of Faith, as the “handouts” and a couple of catechists prefer it. liguori.com. I still use Making Disciples as the master catechist guide, and I have JOF cross-referenced to it. This makes it easier to break into small groups for discussion and process of the presentation., but MD has the CCC citations and scripture references, in a good spiral binding, and fills in blanks not covered as well by JOF (commandments, last things for example). with MD as a master guide I know the catechists are more or less uniform in what they present.

A couple of catechists use the ACM materials, but quite frankly not all of them know enough to make best use of the lesson plans. For one-stop shopping on all the background you need for each topic you can’t beat it. It is expensive so if a parish anticipates having RCIA every year the catechist’s manual would be a good investment. I use it my self for catechist formation for certain key lessons. We still have not made up what we invested in it and I am still waiting for Spanish, and for our diocese to abandon NAFC and invite ACM here for diocesan wide training.
 
The very well run RCIA program I attended used the US Catholic Catechism for Adults, in addition to talks and slideshows given by the instructors. I found it easy to read and understand, but not so thorough as to leave nothing for discussion.
 
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