How to Handle RCIA Inquiries at Any Time of the Year

Posted on August 23rd, 2011

R.C.I.A. Inquirer: “Hello, I’d like to learn more about becoming a Catholic.”

Parish Secretary: “Sorry sir, it’s only January.  Please come back in September.”

This fictitious dialogue between a parish secretary and an inquirer is something we all want to avoid.  We know that our parishes and the process by which individuals join them (i.e., RCIA) are to be keenly ready to welcome newcomers at all times.  We also know that the Holy Spirit prompts individuals, and individuals respond to His prompting, at unpredictable times.  Finally, many parishes begin a new RCIA cycle once a year in the fall; and that cycle is designed to incrementally and systematically introduce people to Jesus Christ and the Faith of the Catholic Church.  Thus, to plug people in after weeks and months have passed may cause confusion, or at least provide them with a deficient grasp and experience of the whole of our Faith.

So, what can be done?  Ideally, parishes would gradually work towards implementing what is commonly called a “year-round” RCIA process.  Such a model typically consists of concurrently run groups populated by individuals who find themselves in different “stages” in the initiation process.  For example, an inquiry group would meet during the same time period as a catechumenate group.  This way, inquirers can always be incorporated immediately into an appropriate group.

Meanwhile, due to various limitations, many parishes are not in a position to offer such a sophisticated model in the near future, yet neither want to turn inquirers away nor plug them indiscriminately into sessions which began months ago.  So, what can be done?  Happily, there are a number of possible solutions.  What follows, in no particular order, are some practical suggestions that could help a parish do 2 things simultaneously: (1) retain a “single-track” systematic RCIA process and (2) offer something, however modest, that meets the pastoral and catechetical needs of inquirers at any point of the year:

Option A)  One–on-One
Pair up an inquirer with a trusted and available parishioner who could get to know him/her and discuss things about the Catholic Faith periodically until a formal inquiry opportunity comes available.  Obviously, this person could be a priest or perhaps a catechist from your RCIA team or another person who might one day become the sponsor. Conversely, a married couple or another group of individuals could invite an inquirer to join them for dinner on a biweekly or monthly basis. [Click here to read the rest of this entry… » ]

Tags: 9-Month vs. Year-Round
Filed under Inquiry and Precatechumenate, Pastoral Considerations | 1 Comment »

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
Filed under Catechesis, Catechumenate, Inquiry and Precatechumenate | 2 Comments »

9-Month vs. Year-Round

Posted on July 25th, 2008

Q. What are several reasons that a nine-month RCIA program is problematic? What are some suggestions for a parish planning to move to a year-round RCIA process?

A. Nine-months (i.e., the school-year model) is often too brief, especially for catechumens (see RCIA 76-77, National Statutes 6) to accomplish a thoroughly comprehensive formation envision by the Church. As well, because of the lack of time, the period of purification and enlightenment often gets appropriated as time to continue to try to unfold the Deposit of Faith (largely indistinguishable from the preceding catechumenate period), which is not what is envisioned by the RCIA text (see RCIA 139). This short period of time also fosters the temptation to try to get participants to all “finish up” by Easter, and to go through the Rites always as a group, rather than allowing individuals to freely discern their own readiness without the pressure of a calendar. Finally, a nine-month program is often not open, welcoming, or well-suited to inquirers who approach the parish at “inconvenient” times of the year. Most parishes that have developed the year-round process implied in the RCIA text have done so incrementally, after some years of living with the nine-month model while they worked to develop a team capable of offering a year-round catechumenate. Once implemented, a year-round process usually features a precatechumenate team (which may be as simple as a married couple who offers a Bible study, suited to inquirers, that is always open to newcomers, or as complex as a multiple-member team that provides much more diverse pastoral attention). Once an inquirer decides to go through the Rite of Acceptance or the Rite of Welcoming, then that he or she would transition to a new team – the catechumenate team, which would shepherd the person all the way through mystagogy. Some parishes develop a neophyte team as well, which, again, might be as simple as an in-home weekly or bi-weekly Bible study, a couple of people from the catechumenate team who meet once a month with neophytes, or more complex full-team experience. One of the basic challenges is to ensure that at least something, even if it is not ideal, is available over the summer, and that in some way inquirers can be helped at whatever point in the year God sends them to the parish. The call is to be willing to move incrementally in the right direction, step by step, always depending prayerfully on the provision of the Lord for your parish situation.

Tags: 9-Month vs. Year-Round
Filed under Q & A | 3 Comments »