Integrating a Systematic Catechesis with a Year-Round R.C.I.A. Process

Posted on February 22nd, 2010

This presentation was given by Dino Durando and Stacy Phillips from St. Joseph Catholic Church in Modesto, CA at the Diocese of Sacramento’s Catechist Ministry Day on September 26, 2009 in Sacramento, California.

Handouts

This following handouts accompany this 65-minute video presentation. We recommend downloading and printing out all of these handouts before watching the above presentation. (If you prefer to download all of the handouts in one PDF document, we have compiled them as a download at this link)

• Paragraphs from the General Directory for Catechesis (GDC) and the RCIA
• How Long?
• 3-Cycle Structure
• 14-Week Inquiry Doctrine Cycle
• 14-Week Catechumenate, 3-Part Repeating Doctrine Cycle
• Using a Celebration of the Word of God in a Catechetical Setting

Background to the Presentation

The R.C.I.A. is a liturgical, catechetical, and pastoral process that requires signs and stages of conversion to take place before a participant progresses to the next stage (e.g. from Inquiry to Catechumenate). This necessitates a process that allows for an individual who is not ready to progress to remain in one period of the process while others who are ready to progress to move on to the next period of the process. This can only be facilitated by a year-round parish R.C.I.A. process.

Simultaneously, the catechetical documents of the Church clearly call for catechesis to be systematic and organic.

Systematic means that each successive teaching be linked to the teaching given beforehand, demonstrating the hierarchy of truths. A carefully laid-out systematic presentation of the faith does not leave any holes. It is complete. It does not skip over any of the essentials of the faith due to careful planning.

Organic means that each doctrine is linked to other doctrines, showing the integral unity of the Faith. Organic catechesis has more to do with how a lesson is presented, while systematic catechesis has more to do with how a curriculum or “doctrine cycle” is devised.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a prime example of a catechesis that is both systematic and organic. It systematically lays out the Deposit of Faith (what God has revealed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition for the sake of our salvation) piece by piece, while at the same time, consistently demonstrating the unity of the Faith.

An example of systematic: The first section of the Catechism is structured around the 12 articles of the Apostles Creed and progresses from “Who is God?” to “The Four Last Things.”

An example of organic: While presenting the teaching on Mary (CCC 963-975), Mary is presented in relation to Jesus, the Church, the Holy Spirit, the life of faith, the Paschal Mystery, the resurrection of the dead, grace, and the list goes on!

Below are a number of quotations below from John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation titled: On Catechesis in Our Time (Catechesi Tradendae) (CT), which is quoted extensively by the General Directory for Catechesis as well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

All in all, it can be taken here that catechesis is an education of children, young people and adults in the faith, which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness of Christian life. (CT 18)

The specific character of catechesis, as distinct from the initial conversion-bringing proclamation of the Gospel, has the twofold objective of maturing the initial faith and of educating the true disciple of Christ by means of a deeper and more systematic knowledge of the person and the message of our Lord Jesus Christ. (CT 19)

In his closing speech at the Fourth General Assembly of the Synod, Pope Paul VI rejoiced ” to see how everyone drew attention to the absolute need for systematic catechesis, precisely because it is this reflective study of the Christian mystery that fundamentally distinguishes catechesis from all other ways of presenting the word of God” … I am stressing the need for organic and systematic Christian instruction because of the tendency in various quarters to minimize its importance. (CT 21)

Nor is any opposition to be set up between a catechesis taking life as its point of departure and a traditional, doctrinal and systematic catechesis.[52] Authentic catechesis is always an orderly and systematic initiation into the revelation that God has given of himself to humanity in Christ Jesus, a revelation stored in the depths of the Church’s memory and in Sacred Scripture, and constantly communicated from one generation to the next by a living active traditio. (CT 22)

Why?

We may ask the appropriate question: Why do the catechetical documents insist upon a systematic and organic catechesis?

When divine revelation is presented in this fashion, the student is able to better understand the big picture and see how each piece of the picture fits in its proper place.  This allows for greater ease of understanding and comprehension as previously learned truths shed light upon the truth at hand, which, in turn, leads to increased faithfulness (seeking holiness), which is the ultimate goal of Christian discipleship.  It also shows how the disciple cannot dispense from believing one doctrine without marring the integrity of all we believe.

On the contrary, when the Catholic Faith is presented in a merely topical fashion wherein the subjects from week to week in the catechumenate have no system that follows an order, the student is more prone to view Catholic doctrine as a smorgasbord of “beliefs.”

In Conclusion

The balancing act that the R.C.I.A. process must perform is this: It must present a systematic and organic catechesis while allowing for multiple points of entry and exit for participants.  We hope that the above video presentation with the accompanying handouts will give you, the viewer, a firm foundation to build from as you continually seek to improve and grow your own parish catechumenal process.

The viewer may also be interested in these related blog entries:

• 9-Month vs. Year-Round
• Catechesis in the Catechumenate
• Celebrations of the Word of God Held in Connection with Catechetical Instruction

Tags: 9-Month vs. Year-Round, Celebrations of the Word, Pastoral Formation, Systematic Catechesis
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Christian Fellowship is Foundational

Posted on July 16th, 2009

The testimony of Christian living means that fellowship and love should be tangibly present from the first contact with inquirers.  Catholicism is emphatically not a “me and Jesus” form of the Christian faith.  The task is not to lead people into some vague state called “being a Christian,” but to invite them to become Catholics.

Pope Paul VI has written that, for Catholics, evangelization is not “an individual and isolated act; it is one that is deeply ecclesial” (Evangelization in the Modern World, 60) and that “the community of believers… is the Church, the visible sacrament of salvation” (23).  For this reason, Christian fellowship is called the foundational means of entering in to the mystery of Christ, and the RCIA ritual book stipulates that the “initiation of catechumens… takes place within the community of the faithful” (RCIA 4).  Catholic evangelization is aimed at making someone a member of the Body of Christ and [Click here to read the rest of this entry… » ]

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Preparing for Catechetical Sessions

Posted on May 22nd, 2009

The Christian initiation process is such a fundamental activity of the parish that the pastor and RCIA leader should ensure that everything possible is done, within the available resources of the parish, to ensure that the setting for catechetical sessions is appropriate for adult learners and that they have the resources to learn.  Elements that are helpful in RCIA catechesis include:

The most appropriate day of the week and time of the day.
The experience of each parish will determine the specific times that most potential inquirers are available.  It is possible that, if there is a sufficient number of participants, more than one time period can be made available, especially if Sunday afternoons can be offered as well as one, perhaps two, evenings a week.  The demand for meeting space in most parishes is high, and the needs of other organizations must also be taken into account by the pastor and RCIA leader.

[Click here to read the rest of this entry… » ]

Tags: Environment, Preparation
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The Story – Context for Catechesis

Posted on September 11th, 2008

In the catechumenate of the early Church, the early Church Fathers recounted the history of salvation (also known as “Salvation History“) to their audience (inquirers and catechumens) using the Bible and Church History.

We especially see this clearly in St. Augustine’s “First Catechetical Instruction” (In Latin: De Catechizandis Rudibus).  St. Augustine wrote this famous work to a deacon of Carthage named Deogratias in AD 405 as advice on what to present to an inquirer.  This story of Salvation History is referred to by Augustine as the narratio – the “narration”

Before we go on, let’s take a look at two quotations from the Church’s General Directory for Catechesis:

“In the patristic period properly, catechumenal formation was realized through Biblical catechesis, based on recounting the history of salvation” (#89)

“The historical character of the Christian message requires that catechesis attend to the following points … presentation of salvation history by means of Biblical catechesis so as to make known the ‘deeds and words’ with which God has revealed himself to man: the great stages of the Old Testament by which he prepared the journey of the Gospel; the life of Jesus, Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary who by his actions and teaching brought Revelation to completion; the history of the Church which transmits Revelation: this history, read within the perspective of faith, is a fundamental part of the context of catechesis” (#108)

In a nutshell, the catechist – in one RCIA session – tells the Story of God’s Family from before creation to the end of time.  In other words, the catechist begins with the eternal life of the Blessed Trinity and finishes with the Final Coming of Jesus Christ. [Click here to read the rest of this entry… » ]

Tags: The Story
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The Gospel Message in the Precatechumenate

Posted on July 31st, 2008

RCIA 38 says we are “to give the candidates a suitable explanation of the Gospel.” Likewise, RCIA 42 says that before someone passes from the first period of Precatechumenate into the Catechumenate, “the fundamentals of Christian teaching” should have “taken root in the candidates.”

The Gospel and the fundamentals of Christian teaching includes the following:

♦ Trinity and Creation – God is Trinity and creates out of his divine love
♦ Divine Revelation – God speaks to us so we may know his will
♦ Man and Woman – We are made in the image of God (Lat. Imago Dei)
♦ Sin – We have separated ourselves from God through our own free will
♦ From Adam to Jesus – God has been working to save us through the covenants
♦ Jesus Christ – In the final and definitive covenant, God became man!
♦ Paschal Mystery – Jesus saves us through his Suffering, Death, Resurrection and Ascension
♦ Pentecost – Sitting on his heavenly throne, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit; the Church is born
♦ Life in Christ – Jesus frees us from our sin and brings us true joy in holiness
♦ The 4 Last Things – We will die and be judged; heaven and hell are the only two final destinations

The above bullet points serve as an outline of what is known by different names: The Story, The Narratio, or Salvation History. The General Directory for Catechesis says, “In Patristic catechesis, the narration (narratio) of the wonderful deeds of God and the awaiting (expectatio) of Christ’s return always accompanied the exposition of the mysteries of faith” (#107). [Click here to read the rest of this entry… » ]

Tags: The Gospel
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