Image by Terry Vlisidis on Unsplash
By Max Norden
One of the outcomes of Vatican II is the reinforcing of the role and responsibilities of the baptismal priesthood to carry out their primary function to evangelise out in the world. This paradigm shift gives coresponsibility to the laity to participate with the ordained priesthood in the mission of the Church. The restoration of the catechumenate and the role of the laity in it is one of the practical outcomes of this paradigm shift from Vatican II.
In Lumen Gentium #31 and restated in the Introduction to the RCIA, Article 2 of the Christian Initiation General Instruction (p. x) summarises the instruction for all the sacraments of initiation, not just the RCIA, but also including infant Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. “The three sacraments of Christian initiation closely combine to bring us, the faithful of Christ, to his full stature and to enable us to carry out the mission of the entire people of God in the Church and in the world”.
The bishops of Vatican II see that initiation is to carry out Christ’s mission in the world not just to be members of the Catholic Church. An initiation into a community that actively carries out the evangelising mission and not just to have some of the more active members turn up each week to celebrate Eucharist.
The initiation process and sacramental processes that most of us grew up with, and still exists, is that initiation is all about membership into the Catholic Church. In some cases, the more cynical may suggest it’s all about admission to the local Catholic school or to silence grandma’s complaints.
The formation for any person celebrating these sacraments, or any kind of formation itself, the catechesis is not primarily to become members or to stay members, but to learn, understand and how to do the mission.
The mission of the Church is to evangelise and as evangelisation brings new people into the Church, we’re not just giving them their Catholic membership ticket, we’re bringing them in so that they can join in the mission with us. Therefore, they have to understand what that mission is, and we have to train them in how to do this missionary work. We are also hampered a little in that the training process in the reinstated RCIA hasn’t existed in the Church since it died out in around the sixth century until it is restored by the bishops of Vatican II.
Accepting the intent of initiation expressed by Vatican II is the first part of the paradigm shift. The next part is the paradigm shift in the process of initiation itself.
Currently, most parishes have a paradigm of cramming in information and knowledge through catechetical instruction. This paradigm focuses importance on classroom instruction over involvement in the parish community.
The new paradigm is all about conversion rather than a catechetical knowledge test. Its focus is on shaping and forming into an image of Christ and an opening of the heart to the workings of the Holy Spirit. This requires a shift in our way of thinking, moving away from textbooks, knowledge and information didactic instruction to something that really challenges our comfort zone by accepting that we can and will use the community to teach conversion.
To further challenge this comfort zone, we can take the principles of how we initiate new people in the Church and apply that to all sacramental formation. So, if we want first communicants to understand the reason for first communion, or confirmation candidates to understand the reason for their confirmation, we use the same principles that we use for initiation of catechumens to help form Catholics in these sacramental roles.
Take the Samaritan woman at the well, how much knowledge and didactic instruction did Jesus have to give her before she made the decision to go back on mission to evangelise her entire community?
In challenging our current catechetical models for sacramental preparation; we can ask: have we clericalized them to such an extent that only “qualified” catechists progressing through a curriculum can prepare candidates for sacraments or catechumens for initiation?
Surely for all candidates progressing through a sacramental process, whether that be:
- catechumens in the RCIA initiation journey to the Easter Vigil,
- baptised candidates asking for reception into full communion of the Catholic Church, or
- children in a sacramental program (even the word “program” infers didactic!),
we are taking them through a process that is teaching and training them to be an evangelist and disciple who will go out on mission to live out their discipleship.
Moving away from the current didactic paradigm to a conversion one requires a new way of accessing readiness for the sacraments. The challenge is to avoid codifying the criteria as essential requirements and seeing them as subjective evidence of faith and conversion of heart to be in a relationship with God in Christ before receiving the sacrament(s).
If the didactic model looks at catechetical knowledge and information delivery, what would be the readiness assessment criteria in a conversion model?
It is looking for the signs of change in the person and their lifestyle as they immerse themselves into a way of faith that the community accompanies them on and instructs them in. So, what would be some of the signs of change that we would use to determine readiness for the sacrament(s)?
Using the wisdom of the conversion process in the RCIA, we can get our solution from clauses like #41, 42, 75 and 107. These clauses discuss the indicators of a conversion in mind and action such as:
- A new sense of joy in their life around a sense of hope that there is more to life than has currently been lived. (Word, Worship, Community, Mission)
- Becoming part of the community that has created purpose, belonging and meaning in their life and participating in community activities (Community and Mission)
- A deeper sense of repentance for the life led so far (Word and Worship)
- The development of a prayer life (Word and Worship)
- Consistent participation in Sunday Mass (Word and Worship)
- Preparedness to actively work with others to spread the Gospel (Mission)
- To witness to their faith through their way of life (Mission)
We’re looking for a deeper conversion into a relationship with God through Jesus not just a casual commitment for the sacramental instruction period. Conversion is all about a more intense relationship and as the relationship grows the community will see clear signs of that growth in the catechumen, baptised candidate or sacramental candidate.
To achieve this paradigm shift will require some practicalities:
- Moving thinking away from lesson plans and textbooks to one of conversion for the participants.
- Moving out of a classroom situation into the community and their homes, coffee shops, sharing meals, and their ministry meetings and activities.
- Moving away from set schedules to a totally flexible timeframe based on the individual’s progressive conversion to a way of faith. That is, developing a conversion plan for each individual, based on their needs and abilities rather than a one size fits all approach. It also accepts that sacraments may not necessarily be dispensed in bulk, i.e., each person will receive their sacrament(s) when the community discerns that they are ready.
- Avoiding a checklist of criteria that a person must fulfil at the end of the process. Rather, it’s simple: discerning by the community as to the extent of conversion and commitment.
The gatherings, discussions, catechetical sessions, participation in the community’s Sunday Mass and in the overall life of the community are all for helping the catechumen, candidate or sacramental program participant in their pastoral formation in the Christian way of life. That is, teaching how to be Catholic by doing the things that Catholics do.
The paradigm shift starts with us questioning ourselves as to how we demonstrate living the Christian way of life. Am I and my fellow community members the example of the way of life in Christ that I am expecting and instructing these candidates to live?
