The Digital Shepherd: Online Catholic Forums
Posted on May 26th, 2009
With the advent of the Internet, several very good and trustworthy Catholic forums have emerged online. These are online communities wherein people create “posts” and are able to hold conversations. This provides an online Catholic community that can assist the formation of your RCIA participants 24/7, at no additional financial cost to you. These forums also help RCIA participants enter into conversations with a great diversity of Catholics, around the globe, opening them up to the catholicity of the Church.
If you have any RCIA participants who are adept at using the Internet, you may want to introduce them to the forums at the website at Catholic-Convert.com. The exact web address is forums.catholic-convert.com. Upon visiting the website, you need not register to read the online conversations, but if you want to ask a question or contribute to an online conversation, simply click the Register link at the top of the website to create a free account.
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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.
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Tags: Environment, Preparation
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Analyzing Doctrines – What to Teach
Posted on May 14th, 2009
In a typical parish RCIA setting, we are given very little time to catechize in proportion to the beautiful depth of each truth of the faith. With such limited time, with so much to learn, what must I teach? What do they have to know?
Teach the Premise
The premise of the doctrine is the underlying truth upon which the doctrine is based.
For example, for the doctrine of Faith, the premise would be: “We believe because of the authority of God who reveals. He cannot deceive nor be deceived” (Catechism #156). For Scripture, the premise would be “God has chosen to speak to us in human words. He is the author of these human words” (Catechism #105). By conveying the premise from the get-go, the catechumens/candidates will have little lights go off in their minds as they come to grasp with the intellect the rhyme and reason behind this particular doctrine.
The premise should be very short and sweet. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is an excellent resource to use to find the premise underlying this or that particular doctrine.
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Tags: What Must I Teach?
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Follow This Blog on Twitter
Posted on May 13th, 2009
Do you use Twitter? Be notified of new blog posts by following us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rciablog
Tags: Twitter
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Living the Mysteries
Posted on April 29th, 2009
Living the Mysteries: A Guide for Unfinished Christians
Scott Hahn and Mike Aquilina
Published by Our Sunday Visitor
ISBN: 1931709122
To Order by Phone: (800) 348-2440
Purchase Online
Designed as a daily devotional for those who have just been initiated through the R.C.I.A., this little book compilation of homilies for the Period of Mystagogy from eight of the Early Church Fathers: St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Basil, St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Leo the Great.
50 passages are provided for the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost (or, for any other time of the year if you wish). These passages are taken from the Church’s great teachers and focus upon a relevant point of the mystical or moral life. Each passage is then followed by practical applications for allowing this reading to inspire one’s prayer life and daily actions. These snippets from these master catechists are truly Mystagogy (“Revelation of the Mysteries”) as they ponder the powerful implications of receiving the sacraments of initiation… ramifications that transform us and make us truly holy!
Daily titles include: (here are some examples)
- On the Power of Ordinary Things
- Passing Sinless through the Sea
- You Are Other Christs
- The Milk of Mother Church
- The Sacred Vine, the Eucharist
- A Nation of Priests
- Our Daily Bread
- Scandals and Sinners in the Church
- The Mystery of the Mass
- Pilgrims on Earth
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Problems with Attendance
Posted on April 23rd, 2009
Each RCIA process encounters individuals who display problems with attendance. Some express an initial interest but after a while attend RCIA sessions irregularly, or stop coming altogether. Others, who might be physically present, are not really “there.” Some people seem to relate to the RCIA process as “hoops to jump through” in order to become Catholic, which may be especially likely if the person’s Catholic spouse is pressuring him or her to convert. Others attend catechetical sessions and go through the first two gateway Rites (i.e. Acceptance or Welcoming), but do not engage in the process in any other significant way; they appear to be “going through the motions.”
Everyone involved in the Christian initiation process must always keep in mind any circumstance or motivation is good that has brought an individual to contact a parish to find out more about the Catholic Church, and that throughout the Christian initiation process, God’s graces are poured out in abundance on each person. In general, the leader and team must provide opportunities for participants to respond to the Lord through a powerful proclamation of the Good News, joy-filled catechesis, participation in reverent and beautiful liturgies, opportunities for heartfelt prayer, compelling testimonies, and service opportunities. All of these in effect “till the soil” and “scatter the seed” which God will then cause to grow in the participants’ hearts and minds.
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Handing on the Faith Series
Posted on April 22nd, 2009
We here at The Blog That’s All About RCIA want to introduce you to an invaluable set of 4 DVDs that will tremendously aid each of your catechists. These DVDs contain a series of 13 twenty-five minute discussions on the nature of catechesis… a perfect training tool for catechists within the parish R.C.I.A. process.
Each segment is very manageable at a length of only twenty-five minutes, and the content is given in a conversational setting, in bite-size pieces. This resource takes much of what is said in the Church’s General Directory for Catechesis and puts it into video, to make this rich understanding of catechesis available and accessible to the average person.
Using a variety of professionals in the field, each segment approaches catechesis from a unique angle, giving the viewer a multifaceted and beautiful vision of what it means to hand on our Catholic Faith in a meaningful way that changes lives through the power of God’s grace!
Here is a list of the titles of the 13 segments:
1. Handing on the Faith Today
2. The Pedagogy of God
3. Handing on the Faith Personally
4. Handing on an Adult Faith
5. Handing on Faith Holistically
6. Handing on an Organic Faith [Click here to read the rest of this entry… » ]
Tags: DVD
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Mystagogy
Posted on March 16th, 2009
Download and read the PDF article titled: Deepening in the Graces Received – RCIA Catechesis in the Period of Post-Baptismal Catechesis or Mystagogy to learn about the final period of post-baptismal catechesis, which is called “Mystagogy.”
A quote from the above article:
“Mystagogy is properly situated after the reception of the sacraments because only then do our fledgling Catholics, the neophytes, have the grace to understand and appreciate the sacred mysteries of the Church in a more profound manner.”
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A Bishop Reflects Upon the Rite of Election
Posted on March 6th, 2009
The Most Reverend Jaime Soto, Bishop of Sacramento, wrote an article titled Faith Journeys of the Elect Strengthen Our Own for his Hope and Joy column in the Sacramento diocesan newspaper: the Catholic Herald. This reflection of a bishop upon the Rite of Election is a beautiful insight into this ancient and rich liturgy.
Here is a brief quote taken from this article:
“While the ritual may seem very minimal and the recitation of names monotonous, there is a perceived sense of drama for anyone who has attended this rite. For me, this year’s celebration of the Rite of Election was a source of great consolation and hope for our future as a church.”
Tags: Election
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Catholic Culture Gives Us Excellent Rating
Posted on February 26th, 2009
CatholicCulture.org has been reviewing Catholic websites since 1996. Recently, Catholic Culture rated The Blog That’s All About RCIA as “the best of the best,” receiving top marks in all three categories of Fidelity, Resources, and Useability. To view the review, click here. Thank you Catholic Culture!
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