A summary of Mrs Sue Thomas Keynote Address at the 2012 ACN Conference in Brisbane
What I would like to share with you is an experience of a model of implementation of adult Christian initiation which reflects the dynamism of paragraphs 4 and 5 particularly of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.1
The initiation of catechumens is a gradual process that takes place within the community of the faithful. By joining the catechumens in reflecting on the value of the paschal mystery and by renewing their own conversion, the faithful provide an example that will help the catechumens to obey the Holy Spirit more generously.2
The rite of initiation is suited to a spiritual journey of adults that varies according to the many forms of God’s grace, the free cooperation of the individuals, the action of the Church, and the circumstances of time and place.3
It is a model which responds to each participant’s identified needs, allows for flexibility, engages the community, and focuses on exploring a participant’s growing relationship with God with the Catholic understanding of being initiated into a community of the faithful. Based on Mary Birmingham’s book Year-Round Catechumenate4, grounded in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, and supported by Thomas Morris’s The RCIA: Transforming the Church. A Resource for Pastoral Implementation5, the model grew out of a multi parish collaboration6 which evolved into an experience of an ongoing catechumenate.
Let me share two stories, both personal experiences:
In hindsight, the first experience was not unexpected, as during the post Easter discernment session a week after the Easter ceremonies, the questions this neophyte was asking were more indicative of an inquirer. While the process had started with two inquiry sessions in July of the previous year, the Rite of Acceptance was celebrated midAugust, and the group really only commenced meeting early September. With a week break over Christmas, it had been in reality a month knowledge based program.
Nor was the second experience surprising, even though it was eight years later and another parish. During the conversation with this young woman, it became evident that her journey to initiation had been that of information based meetings with little connection to the community, other than the rituals of the RCIA.
Regarding the time required for the catechumenate, the RCIA states:
The second period, which begins with the rite of acceptance into the order of catechumens… may last for several years.8
A suitable catechesis… gradual and complete in its coverage, accommodated to the liturgical year…9
The duration of the catechumenate will depend on the grace of God and on various circumstances… long enough – several years if necessary.10
The only reference in the Rite to a time frame for inquiry is that time is given ‘so that the genuine will to follow Christ and seek baptism may mature’.11
In Year-Round Catechumenate, Mary Birmingham states:
Rather than a program of specific instruction, the RCIA suggests a fluid, gradual process of formation, the heart of which is paschal mystery of Jesus Christ.12
Thomas Morris suggests three models for implementing the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults:
Model One: Initiation by Classes
… the primary work and concern about initiation belong to the catechist… The format is lectures or presentations with information about the Catholic Church… do not follow the various periods and steps of the rite… or… follow them in name only. This is an inadequate model…contrary to the spirit and vision of the rite… gives the message… receive this information, show good will and true desire and we will baptize you… this is not sacramental catechesis….13
Morris states this first model is counter cultural to the spirit and vision of the Rite. Lectures or presentations with information about the Catholic Church led by a priest or catechist, nominal implementation of the rites and rituals of the RCIA, at times which may be according to the rite, or at the convenience of the parish. Anecdotally, this model is becoming more prevalent.14 This is faith as information – ‘receive this information, show good will and true desire and we will baptise you.’
Model Two: Nine Month Initiation
…relies on an awareness of the periods and steps… a very popular and common model, especially for parishes beginning to implement the rite. (This model) does not reflect the dynamic sense of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.16
The second model is that with which many parishes would be familiar. Advertise and hold inquiry sessions around July, and celebrate of The Rite of Acceptance soon after, usually combined with a ritual of welcome for baptised inquirers. The period of the catechumenate is one of small group discussions with catechist, catechumens, candidates and sponsors with a bit of a break for Christmas. The Rite of Election is celebrated the first Sunday of Lent. The Period of Purification and Enlightenment sometimes becomes a bit of a ‘catch up’ for those topics not covered due to a candidate or catechumen having missed a meeting. A combined celebration of the Sacraments of Initiation and Reception into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church occurs during the Easter Vigil. Post baptismal catechesis may or may not occur during the Easter season. The group may continue to meet for a further length of time, but usually starts tapering off as the year continues. The cycle then commences again. As Morris says, this is a valid model – for parishes beginning to implement the rite.
In Model Three, Morris focuses on the community as the primary minister of initiation.
Model Three: Year-Round Initiation
…says that the community is always about the work of initiation, just as the community is always about the worship of God… What is critical, though, is that the parish recognizes what it is doing: striving to develop a richer pastoral experience of the rite that is faithful to the spirit and norms established in the rite itself.17
Morris says that the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is meant to prepare a person for discipleship and mission, rather than prepare people for the celebration of the sacraments.
The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is directed towards Mystagogy: reflection on the mysteries that empower us for mission…18
Mary Birmingham poses two questions:
Let us pose these questions in a different way.
Is your parish’s initiation journey one which is flexible enough to allow for:
A nine month model may go some way to address some of the needs of each of the examples given. However, in what ways do we engage these inquirers in the paschal mystery, in the life of the parish, in faith formation if they are unable to join a weekly discussion group or get to Mass regularly on Sundays due to irregular working hours?
How do we journey with both the Uniting Church elder, who is fully catechised, together, with the agnostic who knows very little of Christianity? The man who has attended Mass every Sunday for 40 years together with the 19 year old who loves the mountain top experience of praise and worship?
These seven inquiries within 2 months of each other sparked the shift from a nine-month model to an ongoing catechumenate.
It was around the same time that four parishes in the Deanery had just completed the first process of working together in implementing the RCIA journey. A combined RCIA Team had been formed 18 months previously which consisted of a couple of representatives from each parish. The process commenced with a series of six inquiry sessions, held with the assistance of a small group of people which was called The Inquiry Team. Their task was to facilitate the weekly sessions. They maintained contact with the RCIA Team during this time, and arranged appointments for participants with the parish priests prior to the celebration of the Rite of Acceptance, or a Rite of Welcome. Then their task was complete.
12 participants entered into the Period of the Catechumenate. They were formed into two small groups, each group with its own catechist. The catechists’ roles ended with the Rite of Election on the 1st Sunday of Lent.
Members of the combined RCIA Team, who had kept in constant contact with the groups during this time, arranged the discernment processes, in consultation with the catechists. The Team also facilitated the retreats during the process, as well as the Lenten sessions in preparation for the celebrations of the Triduum. Each participant was fully initiated or received into the Church in their own parish during the Easter Vigil.
A fourth team facilitated a journey of Mystagogia throughout the Easter season with the combined group of neophytes and newly received. This period commenced with a retreat and ended on Pentecost Sunday with a gathering to share stories, celebrate the journey and identify areas of parish involvement for the participants.
The learnings gained from this experience were:
In the feedback received at Pentecost, there were two comments particularly which highlighted the importance of points 4 and 5 above: to take time for the Period of Inquiry, and connection with the parish outside the group process. The first comment was the expressed grief of two participants when they realised they were not going to celebrate their initiation together because they were from separate parishes. They had bonded very strongly during the catechumenate. What came to light was that neither of them had connected to their own parish community outside the experience of the group process. The second comment was from a baptised catechised candidate. While he had found the group experience interesting, he felt that a lot of what had been covered during the catechumenate was unnecessary for him. He had been a practising Christian for decades.
In response, the RCIA Team decided to move to piloting a process which we called ‘a rolling catechumenate’, now called an ‘ongoing catechumenate’.
So, how to explain this term ‘Ongoing Catechumenate’?
The best way I can describe it is: Adult faith formation through both input and experience, each as important as the other, adapted according to each individual’s identified needs and circumstance.
A little advertorial here. You may have heard of, or had experience with, the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is formation in Christian faith grounded in scriptural, liturgical and prayerful study, for children aged 3 to 12 years. Each child is enabled to explore his/her relationship with God framed by Maria Montessori’s principles and philosophy of education. Children learn through doing, and the process allows the children to ‘hear’ the Gospel through the use of sensorial materials. A sacred space, called an atrium, provides a Spirit filled environment conducive to tactile experiential learning. Children enter the atrium, and their faith formation occurs according to their readiness.20 They grow in their relationship with God gradually and at their pace. God has all the time in the world.21
Imagine if we had something like this for adults… a sacred space; faith formation grounded in scripture, liturgy and prayer; sensorial experiences of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch; preparation for mission; surrounded by the faith community.
In the introduction to each of the Rites of Christian initiation – the Rite of Baptism for Children, the Rite of Confirmation and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults – the community is the first named minister. This is before parents, godparents, sponsors, catechists, priests and bishops.
During the 2006 National RCIA Conference in Parramatta, Dr Sheila O’Dea RSM focussed on the four pillars of Word, Worship, Community, and Mission named in paragraph 75 of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults as grounding the journey of Christian initiation of adults.22 Catechesis in the small group process is important and necessary. However, if, as the Rite states, the community is the first minister of initiation, of equal importance is encouraging and expecting the presence of catechumens when the community gathers for Word, Worship, Community and Mission. For how else will they experience life in Christ? How else will they explore and commit to live life-long continuing conversion of heart to Jesus if they do not, in this time prior to their Christian initiation, hear the cycle of readings, experience the full cycle of our liturgical year with its feasts and seasons, meet with their potential brothers and sisters in Christ week in week out, explore what mission means by being exposed to living the Christian life through sharing their time and gifts with each other and for those in need?
In Year-Round Catechumenate Mary Birmingham says:
“…implementing a year-round catechumenate is not only possible, but is also the best stewardship of the gifts and talents of the potential initiation ministers”23
Tapping into the life of the parish community through Word, Worship, Community and Mission is the best stewardship of the gifts and talents of the community. It enables the community to be the primary minster of Christian initiation. Morris states:
For many parishes, the goal of initiation is the Easter sacraments, with little care for Mystagogy.24
I wonder if that’s the reason why so many of us struggle with Mystagogia. If the goal is getting to Easter to celebrate initiation during the Vigil, it is no wonder the vast majority of participants – elect, candidates, sponsors and catechists – are shattered after the celebrations of the Triduum. We spend so much time and expend so much energy in working towards a mountain top experience at Easter that we have little reserve left to come down from the mountain and journey on the salt flats.
Birmingham states:
The journey must be tailored to respect the needs of each person who comes to us …25
I read that and think not only of the inquirers, catechumens and neophytes, but also those in the community who have the role of catechist, sponsor and mentor. Asking an adult to commit to nine or twelve months of weekly meetings in already very full lives is onerous. No wonder we frequently have trouble finding sponsors and the Parish RCIA Team is a tad burnt out after Easter.
Let’s return to the group which sparked the evolution into an ongoing catechumenate. Recall those seven inquirers: unbaptised Immigrant, Presbyterian mother, Anglican fiancée, the Church of England man in the pews for 40 years, unbaptised 19 year old, agnostic, Uniting Church elder.
The man in the pews had been in the Inquiry period for 40 years. He had a couple of discussions with the parish priest and RCIA coordinator. With the support of close friends in the parish, he prepared to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance. After that celebration, he was received into the Church one Sunday morning a couple of months after formally inquiring, surrounded by the community he had sat amongst for 40 years. His journey took 40 years and 2 months for preparation to be received into the full Communion of the Catholic Church.
The Uniting Church elder joined the rest of the group for a few months until it became evident the discussions weren’t answering her questions. She was connected to an adult faith discussion group in the parish and was supported by two parishioners involved in that group. After a few months she had a couple of meetings with the parish priest and felt ready to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance. At her request she was received into full communion at Pentecost. Her journey took over 12 months.
Our 19 year old had the experience of World Youth Day, and praise and worship. Her experience and understanding of the Paschal Mystery was limited. The rest of the group was a mix of unbaptised and baptised, none of whom were catechised.
As this was a multiple parish collaboration, during the process, each participant attended Sunday Mass in their parish with their sponsor. The group decided to meet fortnightly rather than weekly due to work and life commitments. Because the topic of each meeting was in response to the participants’ identified needs and according to their situations, it was not an issue when someone felt the need to step out of the process for whatever reason. There was no sense of needing to ‘catch up’ if a meeting was missed. The focus of each meeting was exploring the message of Jesus through scripture, and identifying God’s presence in daily life, each person ‘growing’ their relationship with God. Members of the group also connected with their parishes in a variety of ways with the assistance of their sponsors. There was the expectation was that every Sunday they would be with the worshipping community.
The commitment from the sponsor was to arrange to be with the catechumen every Sunday for Mass, and to engage in a mentoring relationship. It wasn’t expected that the sponsor attend the discussion groups or sessions, though the majority did.
All rituals were celebrated in the parish into which they were to be initiated, and each met with the parish priest prior to each celebration. While each celebrated full initiation or reception into the Church in their own parish, there wasn’t the sense of disappointment in not celebrating together.
In the following years, the RCIA Team tapped into what was happening in the life of the parishes and the deanery. For example:
The catechumens and candidates were involved in the Exploring Liturgy course being held in the deanery, facilitated by Sr. Ursula O’Rourke. Each week for eight weeks the RCIA group attended sessions along with 60 parishioners from around the deanery. This was instead of meeting in their small group with their sponsors and catechist. After the eight weeks, there was enough stimulus for discussion for the next three months of fortnightly meetings. Through the information presented they learnt a great deal about the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church. But it was the conversation over the cuppa in the breaks with the parishioners that bore great fruit. The catechumens and candidates heard ‘everyday’ Catholics debate the content, have differences of opinion, share their thoughts and share their faith. The catechumens and candidates experienced community in a different way.
Over the course of a number of weeks the group explored the theology of the sacrament of Marriage. We looked at the liturgies of a Nuptial Mass and the Rite of Marriage outside Mass. The Church’s teaching on divorce and the annulment process was explored. The group attended a parish Wedding Anniversary Mass and shared a cuppa afterwards with those present. The RCIA participants heard the stories of couples married from between one year and 50 years. A previous RCIA candidate was invited to a meeting to share her story of both the pain and healing of going through the annulment process prior to being received into the Church. One of the RCIA participants was also married during that month, and shared her experience of not only the wedding ceremony, showing photos and telling the story of how the day unfolded, but also her experience of the marriage preparation course.
A series of sessions focussed on Social Justice. Different parishioners from across the Deanery were invited to meetings to share their faith journeys as Prison Chaplains, Hospital Chaplains, SVDP 15 members, and journeying as support people for refugees and asylum seekers. The Church’s teachings on Social Justice were explored, and the work of various Catholic organisations and agencies such as Caritas, Catholic Mission and Edmund Rice Camps were identified. Each of these occasions became an opportunity of identifying and experiencing God present in each other. RCIA participants heard the stories of people of faith living out their baptism as followers of Christ in very practical ways.
And what of the baptised catechised candidates?
The Rite states in Part II, Chapter 5:
…no greater burden than is necessary is required for the establishment of communion and unity.26
Birmingham states:
It is no accident that the RCIA does not specifically provide formation direction for baptized, catechized persons. The bias of the rite is that baptized, catechized persons need a different type of formation.27
Part II Chapters 4 and 5 of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults give direction to implementing a faith journey responding to catechised candidates identified needs. These candidates entered into conversation with both priests and catechists, and any areas of concern were addressed and talked through. Sometimes they became involved in the group process through their own choosing. However, more often than not, each stepped out when it became evident that they were ready to move on. They were prepared for and celebrated the Sacrament of Penance. When it was discerned they were ready, they were received into the Church within the Mass on Sundays in Ordinary Time, where the readings were deemed appropriate.
The experience in South Country Deanery resulted in those parishioners in the parishes involved having a greater awareness of the flexibility of the Rite. The liturgical experiences of Christian initiation and reception into the Church were the richer for it. Both participants and the assembly had a greater understanding of what it was all about. The catechumens and candidates were visible and involved members of their communities prior to their initiation or reception into the Church. That meant that afterwards there was not that unsettling sense of ‘where to from here’?
When parishes are immersed in the theology of the rite…the principles become the driving force behind implementation.28
In the parish from which I come, one year there were five candidates, and no catechumens. During the process one participant became involved with the parish Sacramental Team as her child was going through Sacramental preparation for Confirmation and 1st Eucharist at that time. Another joined the Parish Playgroup and also became an assistant with Children’s Liturgy of the Word each Sunday during the school terms. A third joined the parish Welcome and Inclusion Group, assisting with the hospitality every Sunday morning as well as being a part of the hospitality at parish events. Another participant joined the Wednesday Art and Craft group. The fifth was a teacher and joined her school’s Social Justice Group, which assisted Rosie’s during Schoolies Week on the Gold Coast. The decision was made to not receive them into the Church during the Easter Vigil. This highlighted for the community that the focus of Easter was baptism. The candidates renewed their baptismal promises along with the rest of the assembly during the Easter Vigil. They were received into the church, anointed and came to the Table at various times during the Easter season. It was, quite unexpectedly, a great experience of liturgical catechesis of the assembly.
Another year, we had three families which included two adults being fully initiated and five children between the ages of three months to nine years baptised through full immersion. We also had one person who was received into the Church – a baptised uncatechised candidate who had journeyed with the catechumens. Two of the children then entered into sacramental preparation for Confirmation and 1st Eucharist with their peers a couple of months later, as suggested in RCIA 244. Throughout the same 14 months of this group’s journey, seven adults and two teenagers were received into the full communion of the Catholic Church at various times when they were ready.
Along with these experiences of initiation, once a month during Sunday Mass the parish celebrates a ritual of welcome the parents state their commitment, the community promises to support them, and the families are presented with a baptismal candle. Baptised children preparing for the sacraments of Confirmation and 1st Eucharist enter into a 12 month process with their families, during which time some of the rites of the RCIA are adapted for them– blessings, enrolment, and presentations of the Lord’s Prayer and Creed. The completion of their Christian initiation is celebrated around the time of the great feast of Pentecost. These initiatory rituals of welcome, blessings, presentations and sacraments of initiation and reception into the Church are celebrated on various Sundays throughout the year. The celebrations have all become opportunities for the community to be involved as the primary formator in faith of those journeying to Christian initiation, be they unbaptised adults, baptised candidates, baptised children preparing to complete their Christian initiation, or families on mystagogia, presenting their infants for baptism. On occasion, we will celebrate a ritual for children in sacramental preparation or an RCIA ritual on the same Sunday as welcoming and blessing the infants for baptism. If these Sundays also include a dismissal of children for Children’s Liturgy of the Word, we have a very alive liturgy. The parish hasn’t yet moved to regular Sunday dismissal of catechumens, but small steps. We are also discussing celebrating the Rite of Baptism for Children during Sunday Mass.
Very early on in my involvement in the RCIA I attended the Qld State RCIA Conference in Brisbane in 2003. During the Conference I embraced two maxims: ‘If in doubt, look to the Rite’, ‘If you have a question, first look to the Rite’ courtesy of Rev Dr Tom Elich.29
My hope is that, if nothing else, you will have been challenged to have another look at the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, and continue to break open its mysteries and explore the depths of this liturgical document.
Here is born in Spirit-soaked fertility
a brood destined for another city,
begotten by God’s blowing and borne upon this torrent
by the Church their virgin mother.
Reborn in these depths,
they reach for heaven’s realm,
the born-but-once unknown by felicity.
This spring is life that floods the world,
the wounds of Christ its awesome source.
Sinners sink beneath the sacred surf
that swallows age and spits up youth.
Sinners here scour sin away down to innocence,
for they know no enmity who are
by one font, one Spirit, one faith made one.
Sinners shudder not
at sins kind and number,
for those born here are holy.30
Bibliography:
Rite of Christian of Adults. St Pauls Publications, Strathfield, Australia, September 2003.
Birmingham, Mary. Year-Round Catechumenate. Liturgy Training Publications, Chicago, 2003.
Morris, Thomas H. The RCIA: Transforming the Church. A Resource for Pastoral Implementation. Paulist Press, Mahwah, New Jersey, 1997.
Resources:
Year-Round Catechumenate. Mary Birmingham. Liturgy Training Publications. Chicago, 2003.
RCIA Team Book. Gagen, Peter & Harrington, Elizabeth. Brisbane Catholic Education. 2002.
The RCIA: Transforming the Church. A Resource for Pastoral Implementation. Thomas H. Morris. Paulist Press. New York, 1997. ISBN0-8091-3758-5.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. The Roman Ritual. Study Edition. Approved for use in Australia by the Australian Episcopal Liturgical Commission. St Pauls Publications. Strathfield. 2003. ISBN 1 876295 72 4.
The Way of Faith: A Field Guide for the RCIA Process. Nick Wagner. Twenty Third Publications. New London, 2008. ISBN 978-1-58595-710-1.
www.TeamRCIA.com Companion online resource for The Way of Faith: A Field Guide for the RCIA Process.
End Notes:
