Posted on 04/18/2007 10:58:18 AM PDT by Salvation
Please, if you are connected with RCIA or RE, please offer your wisdom for us!
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Catholic Liturgy - Funeral Masses for a Suicide And More on Confession for RCIA Candidates
Confession for RCIA Candidates And More on the Prayer of the Faithful
I agree. But, it's not "THE CHURCH" that's at fault. Blame local administration. One of the reasons is that most laypeople don't feel comptent to teach Protestants. Most times, our lives should be such that they provide an opportunity for us to witness in love on a one-on-one basis. Evangelization doesn't have to be a formal program of "Search, Seek, Teach." Get a good foundation in what the Church teaches, and look for opportunities to share what you know with friends.
I wonder what the level of catechesis RCIA/ RE instructors must display before being placed before a room of students.
Quoting from the CCC verbatim is a sign of lack of confidence (IMHO). Veering from the Magesterium is a sign of lack of conviction (IMHO). Abuse is a sign of lack of disposition (IMHO). None of these is acceptable for an instructor.
(Note: I am not an instructor for the third reason...self identified...i.e., I do not believe myself disposed with a charism for teaching)
We need to keep our instructors in our prayers. We also need to work with our parish DRE’s to make sure the quality of formation these lay people are given before being thrust into the lion’s den is the best it possibly can be.
Someone in our church anonymously invited my husband to join the church this past year. That was all it took. He decided it was time and just needed that push. He joined this Easter! I finally got myself a good Catholic boy! :o)
**They told me not to come back.**
But you never know how many seeds you planted by talking about those issues!
God bless you!
Must agree with you on the point of Catholics and evangelizing.
We all need to look at evangelization in three steps:
First, get comfortable with the Bible and discussing Catholic points of view. This involves study on my part.
Second, get comfortable discussing these Catholic concepts with your family and close friends. Encourage family members (providing they are practicing Catholics) to voice the other side of the issue and pursue the mock discussion.
Third, reach out to those in your community. I am always talking to people in the grocery line, etc. Hi, my name is ____, do you live here or somewhere else? (Really dumb question, I know, but it opens the door.) Or you can use some other mundane question — weather, traffic, whatever.
Then once the conversation is open, mention that you are on your way to your local church. This will prompt the question — What church?
Then I mention the name of my Catholic Church and bring up the next event, Sunday of the year, etc.
Very often I get a response, “Oh, I used to be Catholic.”
I non-chalanatly say, well, maybe you still are......why don’t you stop in next Sunday and listen to one of Father ______’s great homilies?? (If that works for you — or use some other kind of invitation. With a neighbor recently — I said after finding out that she was a lapsed Catholic, Well, we will have to go to one of the Easter services over at St. _____________. It didn’t happen, but I opened the door.)
Then shut up. Better to leave them hanging. Recently one of the courtesy clerks followed me out to my car and asked me a question about my church. I answered only that question and issued another invitation.
It gets easier as you practice it.
I absolutely DO NOT agree with that statement.
Having said that, I believe that the Catholic Church should be far more involved with evangelisation. I believe that the Catholic Church should be a witness and a token of God's Divine Mercy to man. I believe that more forceful and positive images of the Church and her members needs to be placed in the public square.
As an example, how many parishes do you know of that invited local television stations to their Easter Vigil Masses...or local newspapers? What better example is there than showing large groups of adults being baptized and/ or being confirmed? Imagine interviews with some of the newly received members...("You're not marrying a Catholic, so why are you converting TO Catholicism?")
But evangelizing like the Evangelicals do? No...I think we need to work to increase our numbers by showing the life in Christ, not by providing a sales pitch. (Not that all Evangelicals do that...not hardly...but there are enough where that's the image that comes to mind)
**but im in the right direction....**
All it will take is a visit with the priest (providing he is one that you can relate to.) Then you can go from there.
Do it!
** Get a good foundation in what the Church teaches, and look for opportunities to share what you know with friends.**
Right on!
Any of the Catholics who hang out on the Religion Forum and post on Catholic threads would make excellent RCIA instructors. There are several here already. I can think of three off the top of my head.
I am more involved in supporting our priest in his educational series for adults; Faith Formation 101. A week from today he will be discussing the upcoming changes in the Mass.
Not is that fabulous or not?
**Someone in our church anonymously invited my husband to join the church this past year. **
We can all issue these invitations.
God bless you and congratulations to your husband. Does he post of FR and have a screename?
Interesting article, and I sympathize with him. A family member went to about 2 meetings of an RCIA program in NY, where they spent their time staring at a candle flame and holding hands while the sister in charge told them that they weren’t there to discuss doctrine, because the Church didn’t have any anymore...and she thought this was a good thing!
My would-be convert fled and later was lucky enough to find a priest who gave her private instruction (yes, about that “non-existent” doctrine!) and received her. But it’s really, really hard for converts to find good religious instruction.
PaMom
1. RCIA split into a two-track system
This is a perfect-world suggestion, but hard to implement. It's more than most parishes can do to locate one talented, orthodox catechist. Try finding another, or telling the one you have you've just doubled his work load.
2. RCIA incorporate something like a survey of the gifts and talents of the candidates with an eye to plugging them into some form of service in the community.
Excellent idea; I have started doing this (inviting my class to parish social functions, holiday decorating of church & rectory, etc.) and plan to emphasise it more in the future.
3. Further, I'd love to see Mystagogia
Me too, and I feel rather guilty about this, but to be blunt, after Easter I'm burnt out. I'm a volunteer, with other commitments (including in the parish) and a full life. And frankly, I have my own needs for spiritual refreshment and education. My hope is that if I'm doing my job right and leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit, my alumni will start looking for ways to help out. Converts are generally more energetic than cradle Catholics.
4. Finally, I'd love to see the office (yes, it's actually an office in the Church) of godparent be taken seriously by giving godparents training in what the Church teaches and in what their office actually entails.
Worth considering. Haven't done this up till now, but if it only helps drive home to the catechumen the importance of what's about to happen, it'll have some value.
For the record, the CCC (NOT the American Catechism just published) is the text for my RCIA program. We start at the beginning and work through it all the way to the end. I quote from it a lot, but more often use it as a springboard for commentary. I certainly don’t just read from it, though it’s usually open while I teach, and I use its outline and marginal annotations by me as I cover the evening’s material.
I also distribute copies of the Compendium of the Catechism (the auxiliary bishop to whom I described all this in last Fall’s visitation to our parish seemed unaware of the existence of this Ratzinger-inspired book), but haven’t used it in class. We also discuss sacred art and scripture, literature, liturgy, Church history, and pious customs. I try to avoid current controversies and disputes, and try very hard to keep my personal opinion (including politics) out of it. I ask for questions and welcome discussion (but not dissent or speculative theology). My bride, who happens to be not only a convert but a graduate of last year’s class, helps keep me grounded and attuned to the background and concerns of my students. Finally, I make a point of praying for them all — past, present, and future — and solicit your prayers for them as well.
He’s addicted to FR but has never signed up or posted. If he ever feels the need to point something out he makes me do it! :o) I’ll get him on here someday!
You really do need to get him on here posting!
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