Suggested reading for new RCIA facilitator

[franksv]

Hello

Well its official, I am going to be the new facilitator for RCIA at my Parish. I went through the program in 05-06 and I can tell you there is no shortage of great folks facilitating there already.

What I bring to the table is my Faith and a fresh approach from a younger family man. Most the current facilitators, all have atleast a decade in the program and are older.

Besides Scripture & the Catechism, anyone have suggestions on helpful books for some over the summer, last minute reading?

Frank

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Hello

Well its official, I am going to be the new facilitator for RCIA at my Parish. I went through the program in 05-06 and I can tell you there is no shortage of great folks facilitating there already.

What I bring to the table is my Faith and a fresh approach from a younger family man. Most the current facilitators, all have atleast a decade in the program and are older.

Besides Scripture & the Catechism, anyone have suggestions on helpful books for some over the summer, last minute reading?

Frank

I would suggest spending some time in the main documents of Vatican II, Learn what the Church has to say about herself. Spend some time in the Early Church Fathers and a little Church history.

One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic is a good book.

Jurgens three vol. set of the Fathers, The Faith of the Early Fathers is a good resource indexed by topic.

Another clasic apologetics book is, The Faith of Our Fathers - by James Cardinal Gibbons

 

[puzzleannie]

your first step should be the RCIA ritual book from ltp.org liturgical training publications, the study edition. You need first to know the rites inside and out. ACM Association for Catechumenal Ministry has just started offering workshops for this I believe it is acm.org. Their RCIA program is distributed through ltp.org in is the gold standard. If you can’t get an ACM workshop, take a weekend or 4 day Beginnings Plus or Beginnings and Beyond workshop from the North American Forum on the Catechemenate. Just go with the idea that you are their to learn the rites and the periods of preparation for the rites. Just be discerning as some (not all) of the presenters go off the deep end in some areas as far as music, liturgy and so forth. If you are responsible for anything more than the catechetical sessions, you do have to know the rites inside and out. Bear in mind that as the Church believes so the Church worships, and the rites are themselves teachers of belief.

Then find reliable resources for the Breaking Open the Word portion of the sessions, and next look for resources for catechesis. ACM again is your gold standard. There are several recent threads here for advice on that. BroSFO is our resident RCIA expert.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

your first step should be the RCIA ritual book from ltp.org liturgical training publications, the study edition. You need first to know the rites inside and out. ACM Association for Catechumenal Ministry has just started offering workshops for this I believe it is acm.org. Their RCIA program is distributed through ltp.org in is the gold standard. If you can’t get an ACM workshop, take a weekend or 4 day Beginnings Plus or Beginnings and Beyond workshop from the North American Forum on the Catechemenate. Just go with the idea that you are their to learn the rites and the periods of preparation for the rites. Just be discerning as some (not all) of the presenters go off the deep end in some areas as far as music, liturgy and so forth. If you are responsible for anything more than the catechetical sessions, you do have to know the rites inside and out. Bear in mind that as the Church believes so the Church worships, and the rites are themselves teachers of belief.

Then find reliable resources for the Breaking Open the Word portion of the sessions, and next look for resources for catechesis. ACM again is your gold standard. There are several recent threads here for advice on that. BroSFO is our resident RCIA expert.

I read “facilitator” as being a member of the team presenting sessions, not as RCIA director. If I missed this correct me and I will post some other resources that an RCIA Director or Team Leader should read over the summer in addition to what puzzleannie has already suggested.

 

[franksv]

I read “facilitator” as being a member of the team presenting sessions, not as RCIA director. .

You read right. My gosh, no not a director, just a member of the presenting team. LOL. That would be a huge step I am no where near ready to take at this point of my journey.

I 'll be leading a session about once per month or so and my first year I am told I will always have one of the more seasoned facilitators present for back up.

 

[puzzleannie]

guess we use facilitator in a different sense, but I still think everyone involved should have at least an introduction to the rites themselves and to the flow of the RCIA process. I guess what you should read then depends on what you, as a facilitator, are responsible for. For instance, if you are helping with small group discussions as part of Breaking Open the Word, you need some help with how to make this process work, and a good guide to the Sunday lectionary. What does your parish use for this process? At Home with the Word or Manual for Proclaimers of the Word are very helpful, but your parish might prefer other resources.

What are your responsibilities going to be? If you are going to be leading some of the doctrinal teaching sessions, the book that has been most helpful to us is Making Disciples from Our Sunday Visitor, because it covers “what do I absolutely have to teach” about each topic, tied to the CCC, so you know where to find the background you need, what to stress and how to present it.

 

[franksv]

guess we use facilitator in a different sense, but I still think everyone involved should have at least an introduction to the rites themselves and to the flow of the RCIA process. I guess what you should read then depends on what you, as a facilitator, are responsible for. For instance, if you are helping with small group discussions as part of Breaking Open the Word, you need some help with how to make this process work, and a good guide to the Sunday lectionary. What does your parish use for this process? At Home with the Word or Manual for Proclaimers of the Word are very helpful, but your parish might prefer other resources.

What are your responsibilities going to be? If you are going to be leading some of the doctrinal teaching sessions, the book that has been most helpful to us is Making Disciples from Our Sunday Visitor, because it covers “what do I absolutely have to teach” about each topic, tied to the CCC, so you know where to find the background you need, what to stress and how to present it.

I am glad I started this thread, I have gotten many good ideas, as well as things to ponder. For the most part, going through this process a short time ago myself, it seems the weekly sessions have much to do with the readings from Mass. Our RCIA program meets at 9:00 AM for Mass and we are sent on our way after the homily to reflect & learn.

Its does seem that throughout the process, the meat & patatos of the Faith are covered along with the readings. So, my best guess right now would be that topics above & beyond the readings are assigned to speciffic days.

I am told, I will be recieving a lesson plan for each session. I feel, I have a decent grasp of the foundational stuff but, you really hit on it when you asked about the rites.

So much to learn, you could spend decades learning about our Church, it’s teachings and history. I am sure glad I will have back up my first year LOL.

Frank