A Flavour of a Northern Network Day
Last Saturday saw the first of the R.C.I.A. Northern Network “Journey in Faith” days that I ‘blogged about’ in September. Amongst the fifty five who gathered were ‘new teams, experienced but tired catechists, parishioners who have often wondered just what it’s all about’ and a genuine Enquirer who had telephoned the office some days earlier. He had seen the poster and ‘wondered what it was all about’. We explained the purpose of the day and that although he had not yet officially taken the step of contacting a local parish regarding his growing desire to ‘become a Catholic’ he would be made welcome if he chose to come along: and he did!
He admitted later that when he first entered he had ‘cold feet’ and wanted to run away, but he came and introduced himself instead and I was able to introduce him in turn to someone I knew would be a very good ‘accompanier’ through the morning session. Nikki is in the second year of a Foundation Degree in Pastoral leadership at Hope University and is currently reflecting on the RCIA for her course so this opportunity for ‘hands-on’ experience was valuable for her too. I knew I’d made the right decision when at lunch time he came to me again and asked me how he could go about taking this forward: he had thoroughly enjoyed the morning and knew he wanted to further explore living as a Catholic Christian. I introduced him to the co-ordinator of the parish RCIA team which meets just five minutes away from his home and she accompanied him through the afternoon.
What were the main ingredients of the day that were so much appreciated in the final evaluation forms? Well we shouldn’t be surprised that in fact, they all flowed from the vision of the RCIA itself:
“warmth, we were made welcome, a variety of voices giving input, lovely spiritual atmosphere, good teaching and sharing, enlightening and encouraging, breaking and sharing the Word, friendliness and openness of people sharing, scripture study in a small group, excellent music ….”.[1]
Also greatly appreciated were the two real life story tellers who came to the day. The first told his story of his family’s journey from non-practising Anglicanism to becoming enquirers and spoke movingly of ‘the threshold’ of belonging and the freedom to choose. In the afternoon a Neophyte (he loved his new name!) described how full membership resulted in him knowing that he wanted to ‘give something in return’ and his involvement in the RCIA group in a new way. Both these ‘very brave witnesses who spoke on their journeys’[2] added a deeper dynamic to the experience of the day and kept it ‘real’.
A mixture of experience and freshness, of accompaniers and accompanied permeated the day and the inclusion of parts of the Rites themselves: in the signing of the cross during morning prayer and the dismissal … to lunch (!) brought alive the ability of the Rites to speak to our experience.
There was some serious conversation in plenary about people not wanting to be seen ‘upfront’ and therefore not celebrating Acceptance/Welcome rites except within the RCIA group, but these were countered by others who shared what it meant for them to receive the welcome which followed such a celebration.
Without doubt though what stays with me is the very rich sharing of the Gospel for the 32nd Sunday in ordinary Time Year B. The images, words/ phrases and questions posed by people as it was broken open in the large group stretched and challenged my reception of it and I am left with the images of three faces discerned within the story itself: the smug, the humble and the watching face of Jesus.
Did we achieve what we hoped for? I think we did :
It is an introduction for anyone new to RCIA or for parishes wishing to refresh their team. An opportunity to glimpse a vision of the richness the RCIA journey offers, not only to new comers to the faith, but to the whole parish community. All are Welcome!”
The programme for the day was arrived at through inter-diocesan collaboration and was delivered through local collaboration: Amen to collaboration! May Middlesbrough, Hexham & Newcastle, Leeds and Hallam all experience similarly encouraging days.
[1] From the evaluation forms completed on 7.11.09
[2] Evaluation forms
What were you arguing about on the road?
We have just had Sheila O'Dea (formerly of North American Forum on the Catechumenate) with us in the Diocese for three days reflection on our practice of RCIA. At the centre was the Word of God for last Sunday - and the whole thing of 'what were you arguing about on the road,.. being afraid... not saying anything.' This particularly struck me because it amazed me that the 'arguments' about initiation of adults come about because people dont even have copies of the Rite and are simply doing their own thing - many clergy hadnt opened the Rite since they were given it, let alone have studied and reflected on it together, with people from their parish. So that was the first point of encouragement: everyone who is involved at 'leadership' level in the process should have their own copy of the rite, read, mark up and inwardly digest! The Rite is the skeleton and our task is to put flesh on it, and not to replace it with a programme!! Flowing from this essential of knowing the rite inside out, the second point of encouragement: to get to know the community inside out too! If initiation of adults is the responsibility of the baptised and takes place in the heart of the community, a gradual process accommodated to the liturgical year, then we must know the community, and then we can 'link up' our enquirers with people who can accompany them - a single mum with another mum for example, a 20-yr old university student with a student, a family with a family and so on..
The third point of encouragement: the whole mystery of Christ really does unfold over the course of the liturgical cycle, and if we are reflecting on the Word of God Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, then we can be sure that our catechesis will be suitable and complete. These 'feasting on the Word' for at least one year is what the Church calls 'appropriate' preparation - together with the catechumens we feast and grow into the Body of Christ.
RCIA is about who we are as Church - and the focus is not about 'getting sacraments' but on becoming a member of the Body of Christ and doing the mission of Christ! RCIA is about how we celebrate Liturgy and how this forms us as 'Church'. RCIA is about how we do catechesis - and the goal is communion with Christ. And finally, RCIA is about living and sharing the life we have with others - to be a place, a heart, that offers hope and listening, peace and reconciliation - the mission!
What now? Well if we really believe that RCIA is not about 'them' but about 'us', then can we do a few simple things for ourselves?
Encourage 'feasting on the Word' for all the community - many many Catholics still havent heard that God is really present in the Word... there is a 'famine of hearing the Word' (Amos). Can we celebrate the Liturgy of the Word really well every Sunday, and teach people how to open to the power of God's presence through the Word?
Q: To start with, have all the Ministers of the Word in your parish been offered and taken up formation? Including praying with the Word? And then, what about other opportunities to reflect - in families, neighbours, parish groups of any kind?
What’s happened to RCIA?
Coming back to the desk at the beginning of September is always a mixture of dread and excitement for me: excitement at all the possibilities that beckon and the opportunities for implementing the planning which took up so much time before the break but also dread at the thought of the amount of post and e-mails waiting and that sense of yet another year starting! Last September, following the last RCIA Network Conference, a group of us with a passion for RCIA in dioceses across the North of England, agreed to meet together to see whether we could address a shared feeling of ‘What’s happened to the RCIA?’. There was a general feeling that where good practice had been evident in many areas this was less so now. Fewer people seem to be in touch with the vision and whilst people are still being welcomed into the Church in Easter initiation ceremonies, the journeys they are invited to make towards these are hugely diverse. If we imagine the RCIA as a person and were to ask “Who do you say I am?” would we be prepared for the responses? And so, this group of northern RCIA practitioners decided to pool our resources, work together and have a go at enthusing a new generation with the vision and scope of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.
We’ve agreed to offer a day which is visionary and introductory and is for everyone: new teams, experienced but tired catechists, parishioners who have often wondered just what it’s all about. We’re determined to keep it grounded in the ordinariness of human experience – inviting people to tell their stories and witness to “spiritual journeys that vary according to the many forms of God’s grace.” [RCIA 5] We want it to be rooted in experience with a living Word of God that somehow conveys the passion of 1 John 1:
“Something which has existed since the beginning that we have heard, and we have seen with our own eyes; that we have watched and touched with our hands: the Word who is life - this is our subject.”
We asked ourselves questions such as: How do we convey the passion and enthusiasm? How do we do it? How simply can we do this? We identified a large target audience: people with responsibility for RCIA whom we want to be able to see that Yes – we can do this, it is possible; and also those with little or no experience but who’ve heard something! And in working our way through the questions we allowed ourselves the luxury of prayerful, gentle reflection time together during which we broke open the scripture of the day and learned from such figures as Lydia.[Acts 16:11 – 15]
The result is a one-day road show under the banner: R.C.I.A Northern Network called Journey in Faith: Exploring RCIA (The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). The poster states that:
It is an introduction for anyone new to RCIA or for parishes wishing to refresh their team. An opportunity to glimpse a vision of the richness the RCIA journey offers, not only to new comers to the faith, but to the whole parish community. All are Welcome!
We plan four venues between now and May, 2010 with local teams fronting the road show and support from other members of the planning group as required. The first will be in the Archdiocese of Liverpool in November, closely followed by Middlesbrough then Hexham and Newcastle, Hallam and Leeds. It’s an exciting initiative, not least because it is a genuine effort to take seriously the call to work collaboratively across dioceses:
Collaborative ministry begins from a fundamental desire to work together because we are called by the Lord to be a company of disciples, not isolated individuals. [The Sign We Give 1995]
Sheila O’Dea coming to Middlesbrough Diocese
In case anyone is 'oop north, or might like to come up here - Sheila O'Dea
is coming over from Canada to do 3 days for the Diocese of Middlesbrough.
1. Thursday 24th September, 6.30-9.30 at the Endsleigh Centre HULL
2. Friday 25th September - a day for CLERGY (in York, 10.30-3.30)
3. Saturday 26th September, 10.30-3.30, in YORK.
Theme: 'Becoming the Body of Christ' - the initiation of adults is the
responsibility of all the baptised.
If you'd like to come, or need more info, email Caroline on