Dispositions and Attitudes of the RCIA Leader

Posted on November 21st, 2008

Just as the Christian initiation process is intended to cause and facilitate a profound interior change in participants, the RCIA leader may have to undergo an “attitude adjustment” to be successful in managing the process.  Here, we’ve listed some pointers to assist the leader.

♦ Expect the Christian initiation process to be difficult.  The leader is doing one of the most important jobs on earth, and Satan will actively oppose it.

♦ Avoid an “I’m running a program” mentality.  Administration is a secondary aspect to the leader’s calling, necessary only to serve the process of conversion as the participants experience it.

♦ Delegate everything that can be delegated.  Satan can derail the Christian initiation process by ensuring that a good leader is frantically busy.

♦ Make relationships strategically.  This includes listening to all those who are also engaged in the parish’s Christian initiation process, because people listen to those who listen to them.

♦ Think collaboratively and deferentially.  Whether the parish RCIA leader is a pastor, another member of the clergy, or a paid or volunteer layperson, that leader cannot be “territorial.”  Lay leaders must always, at all times, in every way, respect the office of Holy Orders; clergy, for their part, must respect the collaborative nature of the Christian initiation process envisioned in the ritual book (see, for example, RCIA 43, 75.1).  Whether cleric or lay, the RCIA leader must seek to be the best servant in the entire catechumenal process. [Click here to read the rest of this entry… » ]

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