Year-round RCIA

[Gorgias]

And having been involved with RCIA for about 20 years now, I have never been able to reconcile some people’s attitude that a baptized Christian needs less than someone who has never been baptized.

I don’t think that the attitude is “a baptized Christian needs less” so much as it should be “a baptized Christian needs different”. More to the point, if we really mean that we recognize ‘one baptism’ – whether it occurs in our parish church or in the Protestant church down the street – then we should honest stop treating those who come to us for full communion with the Church as if they’re just a different flavor of catechumen.

People who have been baptized in other faith expressions may know a little about the Church, or know a tremendous amount of untruth about the Church, and may actually know little about the faith expression they were brought up in.

All these are true. What it says, of course, is that there isn’t a “one size fits all” program that can meet the varied and diverse needs of those approaching the Church for membership.

What makes it even more difficult, in parishes, is the level of resources available and the quality of those resources. Some RCIA programs are amazing; others are lukewarm and/or programmatic; some are infected with a variety of agendas that are (to a greater or lesser degree) foreign to what the Church intends.

All of these difficulties make RCIA quite the handful to manage. But, the potential upside is amazing!

I don’t know what your experience of RCIA was - it sounds as if it was not good; nor do I know if you have experienced it elsewhere, and for what length.

I agree that one size does not necessarily fit all; but then, again, on Sunday we all get the same homily, and one size… is what we all get.

That’s because a homily isn’t a program of adult catechesis, nor is it a program of formation for candidates. The desire to turn a single homily into an exercise of “all things to all people” is as fruitless and vain as the desire to attempt to meet all needs in a single, monolithic RCIA program.

Most of us out here in the trenches are doing the very best we can.

Absolutely!

I am not against thinking outside the box; on the other hand, there are limited resources (i.e. people who can implement the program).

It’s almost as if we need to band together, rather than run little fiefdoms in every parish, don’t you think?

 

[Casilda]

I think every Catholic in the pew should share their faith with others. A one on one approach to begin with and ends with an interview with the priest. This relationship/mentoring may take years. That is how my husband was converted, by a Catholic co-worker not afraid (or ashamed) of sharing his faith. Sadly, the rcia programs are run antithetical to the goal of nurturing souls into communion with the church; that, and no access to a priest and you have potential converts and reverts walking away from the church. I did.

In the handful of parishes we tried, the programs were so mechanized they lacked integrity and with only one priest between 1800-2500 families and maybe a deacon or two, oversight was non-existant.

In our parish, people walk in or call the priest or are brought in by parishioners to be interviewed by the priest. Their journeys are all different. Their formation is tailored. Some need more, some need less. They all need spiritual care and guidance. That starts with a face, a voice not a workbook.

 

[Magdalen2013]

I’d like to see this happen. My timing was good in that I inquired right after RCIA started up. I do wonder what happens to people who inquire after Easter, during the summer, when it’s months before the next RCIA class.

In my parish, they do one-on-one meetings with the DRE until the formal RCIA process begins in September.

 

[SMHW]

Well the Period of Inquiry can start at any time of the year but for parishes that have numerous catechumens or candidates such that they want to hold inquiry classes, it makes sense that those who need lots of instruction should get it in a meaningful order. What doesn’t make sense is to treat RCIA rites like award ceremonies for accomplishing something in inquiry class. Inquiry classes should continue for as long as necessary, whether that means one day, one month, or five years.

I am not a big fan of the combined rites for catechumens and candidates unless you have families consisting of baptized and unbaptized who wish to enter the Church together. Combined inquiry, OK. Combined RCIA, generally not.

The first rite of RCIA is the Acceptance into the Order of the Catechumenate and because of the nature of the rite it is generally a communal event for all catechumens. As such it needs to be scheduled. Its the same for the other rites for catechumens.

The rites for baptized candidates and Catholics needing full initiation might occasionally occur in conjunction with those of catechumens but for the most part they can occur at any time of the year and/or be scheduled around the time of confirmations.

 

[solayan]

I love the idea of a year round model. Unfortunately our RCIA program is currently being run by a team of 3 laypeople, all of whom work full-time, so it’s all we can do to run one catechetical session a week from September to May. If we one day have a larger team (and believe me, we ask for new volunteers all the time) I’d love to see us do more, particularly a separate class for inquirers.

As it is now we do have people inquire throughout the year though, so we’ve tried to find ways to accommodate them with the program we have. My experience so far (this is only the 4th year of our program) is that it doesn’t matter so much when someone comes to us, as what background they’re coming to us from.

We’ve had people come to us who were baptized as babies, but who never received any catechesis and who really needed a full cycle of catechetical sessions. We’ve had people who have Catholic relatives or are married to Catholics, but who were never baptized, and who already had a decent grounding in the faith and needed less instruction. We’ve had inquirers who’d never even heard about the Resurrection before, and who’ve needed more than one year of catechesis to properly understand what they’re committing to.

If someone needs more than one “cycle” of RCIA to be ready then we invite them to stay with us for however long it takes.
If someone doesn’t need as much instruction we try not to make them wait longer than they have to before joining the Church.

 

[Gorgias]

I think every Catholic in the pew should share their faith with others.

Do you think that every Catholic in the pew is well equipped to share their faith with others? Do you think that every Catholic shares the faith of the Catholic Church when they share their faith with others? :nope:

Sadly, the rcia programs are run antithetical to the goal of nurturing souls into communion with the church; that, and no access to a priest and you have potential converts and reverts walking away from the church. I did.

Sadly, I suspect that you’re extrapolating your experience as if it were the normative situation in the church.

In the handful of parishes we tried, the programs were so mechanized they lacked integrity

In the handfuls of parishes in which I’ve participated in RCIA programs, ‘integrity’ was the strongpoint of the programs.

and with only one priest between 1800-2500 families and maybe a deacon or two, oversight was non-existant.

‘Clerical oversight’, you mean, right? I think that this varies priest-by-priest, and depends in a substantial way on the particular priest’s commitment to adult faith formation.

In our parish, people walk in or call the priest or are brought in by parishioners to be interviewed by the priest.

In your current parish, how many families are there?

 

[otjm]

I don’t think that the attitude is “a baptized Christian needs less” so much as it should be “a baptized Christian needs different”. More to the point, if we really mean that we recognize ‘one baptism’ – whether it occurs in our parish church or in the Protestant church down the street – then we should honest stop treating those who come to us for full communion with the Church as if they’re just a different flavor of catechumen.

If a candidate is from “high church” (Anglican/Episcopalian or Lutheran), they are possibly different than someone coming from Baptist or the newest evangelical church down the road; but that depends on how well catechized they were in that church - and neither of those two have escaped problems which the Catholic Church has faced re: catechesis.

Different? People keep saying this, but they don’t say what those “differences” are. Someone never baptized, but whose spouse is Catholic, and who has attended Mass for a number of years may well know more about the faith than someone baptized in another faith expression. My experience is that the wag who said “Catholics - here comes everybody” could have just as well been talking about candidates and catechumens. After 20+/- years of involvement as a sponsor and a teacher in RCIA, I simply don’t find the two groups all that different in what they need to learn and what they need to experience (growth of faith).

All these are true. What it says, of course, is that there isn’t a “one size fits all” program that can meet the varied and diverse needs of those approaching the Church for membership.

and if you have more than a few (lets say, 4), you simply are not going to be able to tailor a program to fit each individual.

What makes it even more difficult, in parishes, is the level of resources available and the quality of those resources. Some RCIA programs are amazing; others are lukewarm and/or programmatic; some are infected with a variety of agendas that are (to a greater or lesser degree) foreign to what the Church intends.

I suspect that is world wide, and I suspect that has been the case for 2,000 years.

All of these difficulties make RCIA quite the handful to manage. But, the potential upside is amazing!

Agreed.

I don’t know what your experience of RCIA was - it sounds as if it was not good; nor do I know if you have experienced it elsewhere, and for what length.

As above; all in one parish. And for about 17 years, not as well done as it could have been (pastor run) and has been fantastic (according to those going through the process) over the last 4 to 6 years, due to a trained (and certified) catechist heading up the program.

That’s because a homily isn’t a program of adult catechesis, nor is it a program of formation for candidates. The desire to turn a single homily into an exercise of “all things to all people” is as fruitless and vain as the desire to attempt to meet all needs in a single, monolithic RCIA program.

That was an analogy - you missed the point.

It’s almost as if we need to band together, rather than run little fiefdoms in every parish, don’t you think?

I think there is value in having the process in each parish, as that is the most likely venue in the future for the individuals; some will move to another parish, but most will go locally.

Fiefdoms? I don’t live on the east coast, and parishes often are miles apart, with the exception of a few larger cities. Perhaps there are people involved in presenting RCIA who may not be the best to do so; but that is a problem for the pastor, not me. That problem is not solved by combining parishes; it is solved by getting better people t head up the process.

RCIA, like just about everything else in life, is better in some places and with some people than in other places and with other people. On the whole, it appears to me to be a valuable way of introducing people to the Church, and working with them to help them develop their faith. I do not suggest that no improvements could be made; some years back there was an article in Our Sunday Visitor addressing the fall-out later (that is, people going through RCIA, and then eventually not attending Mass regularly). I don’t recall the conclusion; on the other hand, the fall-out of cradle Catholics is horrendous among the young. CARA statistics indicate somewhere between 18 and 22% of Catholics in the ages of 18 to 29 attend Mass weekly.

 

[otjm]

I think every Catholic in the pew should share their faith with others. A one on one approach to begin with and ends with an interview with the priest. This relationship/mentoring may take years. That is how my husband was converted, by a Catholic co-worker not afraid (or ashamed) of sharing his faith. Sadly, the rcia programs are run antithetical to the goal of nurturing souls into communion with the church; that, and no access to a priest and you have potential converts and reverts walking away from the church. I did.

In the handful of parishes we tried, the programs were so mechanized they lacked integrity and with only one priest between 1800-2500 families and maybe a deacon or two, oversight was non-existant.

In our parish, people walk in or call the priest or are brought in by parishioners to be interviewed by the priest. Their journeys are all different. Their formation is tailored. Some need more, some need less. They all need spiritual care and guidance. That starts with a face, a voice not a workbook.

Portland has the privilege of having a Maronite parish, and the pervious abuna was drop-daed awesome (now retired, and starting a monestary in souheast Washington). If your abuna is anything like Abuna Decker, you are privileged.

I am sorry that you had some bad experience with RCIA. Not to make too fine a point of it, but there are about 17,300+ parishes in the US, and I believe you paint with too broad a brush. That does not change your experience, nor do I wish to minimize it, but projecting out from what you experienced is, to put it charitably, not accurate.

Our program has never started with a workbook; it has always started with a person, and one who is seriously interested in assisting others in their faith journey. And from other parishes, I have found the same thing.

I, too, wish that parishioners would share their faith with others; and after too many decades, I have come to the conclusion that many, if not most, either don’t know how to do so, or are not comfortable doing so.

 

[PJM]

There’s nothing “outside the box” about a year-round catechumenate. There’s no reason that someone should inquire about RCIA in January and be told to come back in September when “classes” start. That’s not the Church’s vision, it’s the adaptation that some/many parishes have implemented.

While it is NOT the “churches vision”; it nevertheless its reality

Because of this fact, & because from experience I know * that RCIA and its imposed time limites can ONLY introduce our Catholic Faith; NOT actually “teach it.”

So when I retired I created a TOTALLY FREE OF ALL COST home study course with one E-Mailed Lesson sent each week.

I cover far more topics

ALL in Depth

& I STRESS proving the evidence proving our Catholic beliefs and practices.

I ALSO answer all faith related questions personally

**Anyone interested just send me a private message. I’m now in the 8th year i=of this Ministry **

Easter Blessings,

Patrick [PJM]*