Answer: You ask a great question. To have a year-round (“continuous” also seems to convey the idea well), we welcome new inquirers when they call. The simple answer to your question is that the Rites of Sending and Election are only done once a year: the 1st Sunday of Lent, and all the un-baptized wait for that day. Some spend longer in the RCIA, but the best answer comes from the Rites book (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults).

Using your example of an un-baptized adult beginning in January, they would start with whatever class was offered the night they begin and continue in inquiry for the remainder of sessions (For example, 14 weeks if you use the 14-week cycle we recommend in the blog post at this link). Then, they would have a discernment and, if ready, go through the Rite of Acceptance around mid-April. They would go into the catechumenate (at whatever session is offered at that time). Some parishes split the catechumenate into 2 groups: (1) the group receiving Sacraments at Eastertime and (2) those still needing more preparation.

The un-baptized adult would stay in the catechumenate until the following Ash Wednesday. This is the most ideal timing because the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults book states that the time in the catechumenate may last “several years” (RCIA n. 7.2) and is further clarified in the appendix that the catechumenate “should extend for at least one year of formation … Ordinarily this period should go from at least the Easter season of one year until the next” (Ap. III, n. 6). The intention is clear: the process would take the time of inquiry plus 1 year. For those that begin at some other time, they would spend a bit of extra time in the RCIA, sometimes 1 year and 9 months is common. They may get some repeated sessions, but this is always helpful as we see through different eyes as we grow closer to God.

If someone called the parish in June 2012 and finished Inquiry in September 2012, they would be in the catechumenate from September 2012 to February 2014 and then enter the period of purification and enlightenment at Ash Wednesday 2014 and be initiated at the Easter Vigil 2014. Once a parish moves to a year-round process, the transition is easy, because everyone is at a different stage and understands from day 1 that they need at least 1 year in the catechumenate. Anyone starting in September 2012 would also be initiated at the Easter Vigil 2014.

For the baptized Catholic candidate (un-catechized with no First Communion and no Confirmation, but baptized as a Catholic as an infant), a parish pastor may request a delegation from the bishop to confirm at some other time, such as late fall. For the baptized adult from another Christian faith (Reception into Full Communion), this can be done at any Sunday Mass, no delegation is needed, and can be done when the candidate is ready! Usually, in these cases, at least 10-12 months of catechesis is needed, and some parishes fully initiate these baptized candidates at one or two additional times (in addition to the Easter Vigil) each year.

RCIA Is a Liturgical Process

The Christian initiation process is intended to be fundamentally liturgical. Participants need and have a right to the grace that flows from the font of the Church’s liturgy as it is made available to them as catechumens and candidates prior to full communion. This grace is an indispensable aid to conversion, and the means by which they enter into intimate union with Christ and his Church.

RCIA Is a Catechetical Process

Catechesis is the process of passing on divine revelation – the deposit of faith delivered through the Apostles and maintained by the Magisterium – to obtain the two-fold goal of understanding and change. The Christian initiation process forms its participants catechetically by immersing them in the Word of God, imparted in a systematic and organic fashion, so as to deepen conversion. We cannot love whom we do not know. The lover seeks to know the beloved.

RCIA Is a Pastoral Process

Alongside the powerful liturgical moments of the process and the faithful catechetical endeavor, there is also an intense pastoral activity, which must be initiated from the first time an inquirer expresses interest in the Church. This activity operates with the knowledge that each participant will vary in his or her background, lifestyle, motivation, and state in life. We must steep ourselves in the lives of the participants with gentleness, prudence, and a genuine desire to open their hearts wide. We adapt ourselves to the participants in the process and bend over backwards to know, help, and guide each participant individually.

The Reality of Imbalance

Often, parish catechumenal ministry will tend to overemphasize one of these three approaches.

The catechetical approach may be overemphasized to the detriment of the liturgical and pastoral aspects. Examples: Participants are run through a doctrinal class without attention to whether or not they are actually experiencing conversion. Or, the minor liturgical rites of the process (e.g. blessings) are not administered during sessions because those are considered “extra”. Or, the bulk of catechumenal sessions consist of lecture to the expense of small group conversation, group prayer/worship, and celebrations of the Word… all of which should accompany the doctrinal teaching.

The pastoral approach may be overemphasized to the detriment of the liturgical and catechetical aspects. Examples: Over the course of the catechumenate, the deposit of faith is not delivered in its integrity (doctrine is left out or de-emphasized) because a false dichotomy is placed between doctrine and personal conversion. Teaching is dumbed down to where the Word of God is delivered in a mutilated or falsified form. Or, a particular participant may be shy and wary about participating in a public rite such as the Rite of Welcoming, so the leader exempts them from participating in the rite.

The liturgical approach may be overemphasized to the detriment of the catechetical and pastoral aspects. Examples: A lectionary-based organization of doctrine may disrespect the hierarchy of truths and a systematic presentation of the faith. Or, a wrong-headed emphasis is given to the initial Rite of Welcoming or Acceptance in such a way that participants are expected to go through this initial liturgical gateway, regardless of whether they are personally ready to make that important step in their own personal journey of faith.

Assessing Your Process

There’s never a better time than right now to assess the imbalances of your particular parish catechumenal process. Where is there imbalance in your particular situation? How can your catechumenal team improve in its own balancing act?

You may also be interested in this related blog entry:

• What Is RCIA Supposed to Be?

A. Pastors are given authority over the Christian initiation process for the people he shepherds in a given parish. However, that authority exists within the context of higher authorities, that of his bishop and the Magisterium.

Regarding the Magisterium, its main voice in regard to Christian initiation is the Rite of Christian Initiation itself, and its accompanying guidelines. In those authoritative guidelines (see paragraphs 138-139), which were mandated for the United States as normative in 1988, there is a clear assumption that gatherings of those preparing for initiation are still ongoing during Lent (termed the Period of Purification and Enlightenment in the text). These guidelines specify that the formation of elect and candidates in this period takes on a more spiritual than catechetical bent. This is expressive of the fact that, as the guidelines state, “the catechumenal formation of the elect is completed” (paragraph 147), in terms of them having received the total necessary instruction on the Deposit of Faith, and therefore is about “more intense spiritual preparation, consisting more in interior reflection than in catechetical instruction” (paragraph 139).

The delivery of the full doctrine of the Church is indeed supposed to be completed before Lent, hence allowing them to make a decision to enter the Church, which is expressed and confirmed at the Rite of Election and the Call to Continuing Conversion. During Lent, the Church is clearly still forming them spiritually and in readiness for the sacraments. The possibility of gatherings for reflection and formation are also assumed in the option ‘B’ forms of the dismissals at the end of each of the Presentation Rites in Lent and at the end of the Scrutiny Rites (see paragraphs 155, 162, 169, 183).

Confirming this are the directives added by our U.S. bishops, normally published in the third appendix of the Vatican’s RCIA text. It states: “…beginning at acceptance into the order of catechumens and including both the catechumenate proper and the period of purification and enlightenment after election or enrollment of names should extend for at least one year of formation, instruction, and probation.” (National Statutes, paragraph 6).

Finally, you may wish to ask your diocesan office for a copy of its sacramental norms for the Christian initiation process, which may provide further support for your understanding of the Rite.

There has been no recent change that would modify these normative guidelines, and although the form of the gatherings certainly should be different from the doctrinal catechesis that precedes Lent, there is nothing to in any way prohibit or discourage gathering the RCIA group during the weeks of that period.