Mystagogy: How's it going?

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Mystagogy is the fourth period of the RCIA, and undoubtedly the most neglected period of the process. It is for the newly-initiated – those who have just received the sacraments.

If you just received the sacraments at Easter, or if you are involved in RCIA, I would appreciate knowing what you and your parish are doing for your Mystagogy. Are you attending? Why or why not? Do you like it? Why or why not? How is it benefitting you? If no post-Easter support is being offered in your parish, do you know why not?

Thank you!
 
I am still in the RCIA and hope to be Baptized next Easter, but those who just got Baptized still attend the RCIA classes for Mystagogy. We all still go to the same class, it’s just that some of us are already Baptized.
 
We typically lose about 50% of our folks after Easter. I do understand. We start our RCIA in August and we’ve been meeting for over 30 weeks for 2 hours each week. Some folks have had to make great sacrifices to attend and just can’t summon the energy once they are Catholic. This year things are better. About 75% of our folks are attending. Here is what we cover:
  1. Reflection - general reflection on the Tridium and the Easter Vigil in particular, leading into a reflection the entire RCIA process. We actually give them a survey to fill out that asks all sorts of questions about the process and classes. My team scours the comments to find new ways to improve the process for the next class.
  2. Evangelization - the importance of going forth and witnessing their faith. We do a plug for getting folks for the next class but the emphasis is on the need to witness in general.
  3. Options for Witnessing - we bring in all the lay apostolate leaders and have them explain how they live their faith through their particular apostolate - choir, lectors, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, etc., etc., etc.
  4. Faith in Action - Social Justice. Similar to Evangelization, we talk about the importance of this topic (using Pope Paul VI’s encyclical "Evangelization in the Modern World). We also cover our St. Vincent de Paul and Foster Kid apostolates in this meeting.
  5. Praying - I’d love to actually cover this earlier but our schedule is so crammed it gets moved to Mystagogia.
  6. Ongoing Resources - we stress the need to keep studying. We go over good web sites, good books, good computer applications (iPhones, etc.)
 
Oumashta said:
I am still in the RCIA and hope to be Baptized next Easter, but those who just got Baptized still attend the RCIA classes for Mystagogy. We all still go to the same class, it’s just that some of us are already Baptized.
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I am glad for you that you’re in RCIA!

How many weeks post-Easter do the newly-initiated attend?
Are you enjoying the sessions?
 
We typically lose about 50% of our folks after Easter. I do understand. We start our RCIA in August and we’ve been meeting for over 30 weeks for 2 hours each week. Some folks have had to make great sacrifices to attend and just can’t summon the energy once they are Catholic. This year things are better. About 75% of our folks are attending.
Click to expand...
I was wondering if our poor attendance is simply due to burn-out. I’m glad for you that you have a strong turnout this year!
We actually give them a survey to fill out that asks all sorts of questions about the process and classes. My team scours the comments to find new ways to improve the process for the next class
Click to expand...
I’ve used a feedback survey in some past years, but I don’t know how helpful it was, other than morale-boosting for me. But sometimes I wondered if people just didn’t want to share anything negative (and they should have, because I’m way less than perfect), in order to spare my feelings (because they were grateful).

Do you generally end the weekly sessions at Pentecost?

Do you ever share your survey?

Thank you for your response!
 
quiet52 said:
Mystagogy is the fourth period of the RCIA, and undoubtedly the most neglected period of the process. It is for the newly-initiated – those who have just received the sacraments.

If you just received the sacraments at Easter, or if you are involved in RCIA, I would appreciate knowing what you and your parish are doing for your Mystagogy. Are you attending? Why or why not? Do you like it? Why or why not? How is it benefitting you? If no post-Easter support is being offered in your parish, do you know why not?

Thank you!
Click to expand...
I would love to know the answer too, only 4 families are still attending even though we stressed it all year particularly in Lent. I know from experience I will not see those children again until somebody wants a quincenera and that unmarried adults who do not return to mystagogy are almost guaranteed to enter into an invalid marriage. Tragic. And of course none of them will be prepared for and make first confession. I also know from experience the families now in mystagogy will be participating in Parish life 5 years from now, those who are not will seldom be seen or heard from again. If the Easter Vigil is the high point of my year, week 4 or 6 of mystagogy is definitely one of the low points.
 
quiet52 said:
I’ve used a feedback survey in some past years, but I don’t know how helpful it was, other than morale-boosting for me. But sometimes I wondered if people just didn’t want to share anything negative (and they should have, because I’m way less than perfect), in order to spare my feelings (because they were grateful).
Click to expand...
Our forms are anonymous, maybe that helps. But during the meeting we stress how important it is to be honest and help us improve the program. We mention some changes we’ve made based on prior feedback. This year we learned that the USCCB Catechism for Adults is fine for folks with a Catholic background, but confusing and unhelpful for those coming fromother faiths.
quiet52 said:
Do you generally end the weekly sessions at Pentecost?
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Yes, we end by Pentecost.
quiet52 said:
Do you ever share your survey?
Click to expand...
Just amongst the RCIA team. Did you have someone else in mind?
 
quiet52 said:
I am glad for you that you’re in RCIA!

How many weeks post-Easter do the newly-initiated attend?
Are you enjoying the sessions?
Click to expand...
I’m not sure how many weeks they attend. Maybe several months. I am enjoying the classes:) Even though becoming Catholic is quite a long process, I’m still very happy to learn more about the Faith. It’s very different from my former protestant faith. I was raised pentecostal, and all you had to do was just walk in, pray the “sinner’s prayer”, speak in “tongues”, and viola! It’s over. Now just go on with your life waiting for the rapture:p

I like how the Catholic Church makes it very clear about a life-long commitment to Christ and His Church.
 
quiet52 said:
Mystagogy is the fourth period of the RCIA, and undoubtedly the most neglected period of the process. It is for the newly-initiated – those who have just received the sacraments.

If you just received the sacraments at Easter, or if you are involved in RCIA, I would appreciate knowing what you and your parish are doing for your Mystagogy. Are you attending? Why or why not? Do you like it? Why or why not? How is it benefitting you? If no post-Easter support is being offered in your parish, do you know why not?

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Hi,

I’ve been attending the classes during this period. We’ve had very good attendance - almost every person was at the last meeting.

So far I’ve enjoyed it - it’s not any different from our classes from before Easter. I enjoy listening to the questions and comments the other people in the class have and I’ll miss it once RCIA ends.

Right now, it’s been opened up to anything people want to talk about so we’ve discussed things like the definition of marriage and contraception education.
 
So far I am enjoying the Mystagogy sessions. We are working through this book which provides short discussion from Church fathers designed to lead to a deeper understanding of the sacraments from a spiritual point of view. Group attendance has dropped off dramatically which I am disappointed to see but I guess it was expected. Several of us are still attending along with our Sponsors/God Parents and we have had some really good discussions. I am extremely glad that we still had sessions following the Easter Vigil as my wife and I have really come to love learning the faith and spending time with our fellow new Catholics as well as our sponsors and the team members.
 
peanutproduct said:
Hi,

I’ve been attending the classes during this period. We’ve had very good attendance - almost every person was at the last meeting.

So far I’ve enjoyed it - it’s not any different from our classes from before Easter. I enjoy listening to the questions and comments the other people in the class have and I’ll miss it once RCIA ends.

Right now, it’s been opened up to anything people want to talk about so we’ve discussed things like the definition of marriage and contraception education.
Click to expand...
This is good news for you and your group!
How long will your group be meeting?
jwinch2 said:
So far I am enjoying the Mystagogy sessions. We are working through this book which provides short discussion from Church fathers designed to lead to a deeper understanding of the sacraments from a spiritual point of view. Group attendance has dropped off dramatically which I am disappointed to see but I guess it was expected. Several of us are still attending along with our Sponsors/God Parents and we have had some really good discussions. I am extremely glad that we still had sessions following the Easter Vigil as my wife and I have really come to love learning the faith and spending time with our fellow new Catholics as well as our sponsors and the team members.
Click to expand...
I love that book (by Hahn & Aqualina) and regret lending it to someone, because I didn’t get it back.
I’m glad your sponsors are participating. You seem to have a healthy sense of “community”!

for both posters: Are the participants in your group generally newly-baptized?
 
quiet52 said:
This is good news for you and your group!
How long will your group be meeting?

for both posters: Are the participants in your group generally newly-baptized?
Click to expand...
I think we’ll be going until Pentecost, so June 11 or 12th depending on if we meet Saturdays or Sundays.

The majority of our group was already baptized.
 
quiet52 said:
I love that book (by Hahn & Aqualina) and regret lending it to someone, because I didn’t get it back.
I’m glad your sponsors are participating. You seem to have a healthy sense of “community”!

for both posters: Are the participants in your group generally newly-baptized?
Click to expand...
About half of the group are newly baptized and half came from other Christian traditions with a few who were baptized Catholic but had drifted away before confirmation mixed in. And yes, we do have good group. I wish that more people would have continued coming following the Easter Vigil but the small group we do have is very active and we have some good discussions as a result.
 
I just entered the Church this Easter. My RCIA experience was different than most. I work a second shift job and was unable to meet with the entire class every week, therefore I was taught independantly by the one of the RCIA leaders. In a way I feel like I learned so much more with the one on one experience that I had. However, I did miss out on truly getting to know the other RCIA members. I would meet with them every Sunday at dismissal, but meeting with them for 30 mins a week hardly allows you to really get to know someone. After the Easter vigil my independant meetings stopped. Although the other members continued meeting until a week or so ago. I was told I was done and had completed everything. If I had been able, I would have attended these meetings. However, my work schedule couldn’t accomodate it. While I’m sure sure what exactly was discussed during these meetings, I don’t feel that I missed out on much. During my meetings I discussed many things with my teacher and felt I gained a good grasp on the Church and what I wanted my place in it to be.
 
It been going pretty well. Attendance has dropped off for us too but I know that many people made big sacrifices to make it to the other sessions (needed someone to watch the kids, had to work overtime on Saturdays so they could be free on Sunday etc). This coming session we will have people from the various ministries and group at our parish coming in to talk to us. I’m excited about that!
We do end at Pentecost :(. The team has found that there are many other groups that do things similar to what we would be doing so it makes no sense for us to be doing it on our own.
I will personally be continuing to be involved in RCIA though. I am blessed to have been asked to be a sponsor! Its unusual but they were looking for a young adult to be a sponsor and there aren’t really that many to choose from.😃 I do get a couple of months off/to prepare. I’m very excited to experience it from the “other side”.👍
 
Rite of Missioning for us this week at our Diocesan cathedral. I’m looking forward to it and am glad that we have another rite to go through…

After that, one more meeting and then it is over. My wife and I are looking to get involved in other ministries within our parish and also our local campus ministry. Hopefully that involvement will help to keep us involved.
 
TheresaThoma said:
It been going pretty well. Attendance has dropped off for us too but I know that many people made big sacrifices to make it to the other sessions (needed someone to watch the kids, had to work overtime on Saturdays so they could be free on Sunday etc). This coming session we will have people from the various ministries and group at our parish coming in to talk to us. I’m excited about that!
We do end at Pentecost :(. The team has found that there are many other groups that do things similar to what we would be doing so it makes no sense for us to be doing it on our own.
I will personally be continuing to be involved in RCIA though. I am blessed to have been asked to be a sponsor! Its unusual but they were looking for a young adult to be a sponsor and there aren’t really that many to choose from.😃 I do get a couple of months off/to prepare. I’m very excited to experience it from the “other side”.👍
Click to expand...
That’s awesome! I hope to hear more about your experience as a sponsor. Should be a wonderful experience! 👍
 
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