Jesus normally warns us to avoid temptation. He asks us to pray 'lead us not into temptation'(Matthew 6:13) and suggests that 'if your right eye should be your downfall, tear it out' (Matthew 5:29). But in Lent as we open ourselves up to God we also may expose ourselves to testing but, if we approach it in the right way, we do so in a safe environment. To help us to learn to swim better the instructor asks us to jump into the water but remains always on hand to save us if we get in trouble.  Lent is, of course, a time to deepen our relationship with the Lord through learning humility through repentence (we discover we really aren't as good as we think we are), and learning to trust in Him. 

Lent may be a time of being alone with God - yet, paradoxically, being alone is a communal activity. We are alone with our brothers and sisters of our parish community. The wilderness is full of our friends! For the catechumens and candidates preparing for the Easter Vigil it is a period of Purification and Enlightenment. But then that is what Lent should be for all of us. This is why the RCIA process involves all the parish community. The catechumens and candidates can be  a great blessing for us all, an encouragement and a challenge in our own Lenten journey, and a source of joy in the Lord. 

The RCIA process offers a route by which people can prepare to be received into the Catholic Church which is inseparable from growing in personal faith. It also offers nothing less than a means of promoting renewal within a parish community.  The more the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is implemented in full and the greater the opportunities it offers. 

In our parish, as in many others that 'do' RCIA, we have never really  carried it out in full, and what actually happens is somewhere between the ideal and what seems to be practical.  This year we have gone increasingly lectionary-based, and carried out  a combined Rite of Acceptance (of Catechumens) and Welcoming (of candidates already baptised) in Sunday  Mass. We  combined these because this year we have fewer participants than usual, just one Catechumen and two candidates. It is important to emphasise that catechumens and candidates are different yet just as important to see them as fellow travellers with us on their journey in faith. The Rite of Acceptance and Welcoming did not take up much of the Mass yet it proved very meaningful not only to both Catechumen and Candidates but provided a 'before your very eyes' experience of the work of the Holy Spirit.  As Lent began the Rite of Election and Enrollment in the Cathedral a few weeks later gave added to the momentum. Two weeks later our catechumen took part in the First Scrutiny in Sunday Mass. The candidates came to support  their catechumen brother and the scrutiny concluded with all three being presented with the Creed. Thus the people of the parish have their own experience  of Lent deepened by being part of it. This year we are going to carry out the second and third scrutiny within the weekly RCIA meeting but next year we shall consider doing all three in Mass, particularly if we have more  catechumens.  Perhaps each scrutiny at a different Sunday Mass so that more of the community might become involved.

So far we have not gone as far as dismissal. It is quite possible that once we started the practice it might well become accepted much more readily than one might think. We considered introducing  the idea towards the end of Lent this year as the first step in extending it to the whole period of the catechumenate. To do it this year might be to expect too much of our one catechumen but perhaps we shall have more next year and we can extend dismissal to the whole of Lent. In our parish we tend to have more candidates than catechumens and the candidates consist a mixture of those who have already been catechised as practicising member of a non-Catholic Christian Community and some who, though baptised as infants, have had little or no further catechesis. The Rite suggests that the latter might be dismissed but the catechised might not, with an element of choice. For this year at least, with only one Catechumen and two candidates , it seemed better to keep them together and encourage each other.  Perhaps we shall have more catechumens next year, do all the scrutinies in Mass and start to introduce the dismissal principal.

The more the members of the parish  become involved in the journey of the Catechumens and Candidates and the more they will share their joy at the Easter Vigil and the more the newcomers will be a blessing to the whole community.  After the period of mystagogia and they descend from the mountain of transfiguration  comes the challenge not only of integrating the new members of the body of Christ into the parish but in appreciating that they represent new life which has the potential to renew us all. Are we going to be content to let them merge into the inward-looking background or are they going to lead us in inviting strangers into our church  to 'come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did'? (John 4:29). Our new brothers and sisters of the Easter Vigil offer us the opportunity to see our parish community to grow not only in numbers but in spiritual depth and in the Joy of the Lord.

May we, along with our new brothers and sisters, all be Easter people! 

One of the difficulties of RCIA is that feeling we could always be more whether it is celebrating more of the rites, providing a year-round catechumenate, identifying sponsors, distinguishing between catechumens and the baptised — and the list could go on.

One of the dangers of this is that it can create a 'checklist of smugness' — 'did you hear he said programme doesn't everybody know that it's a process'. My guess is that this is one of reasons that the Rite has not yet found its proper place within the Church in England and Wales. It is that we, the practitioners, can give the impression that it is a complex and secret mystery, a true 'disciplina arcana', which other mere mortals may never attain. This is not to say that it isn't complex but at its heart it requires commitment to a vision of Church, a Church of mission which meets people where they are and invites them to share a journey.

Before this gets too down hearted it is worth noting some basic signs of life:

• diocesan Rites of Election are steadily growing in numbers present
• the Easter Vigil is at the heart of initiation
• there is a gradual shift towards welcoming the unbaptised, something which we may not have conceived 20 years ago.

That's on a large scale you may have other things you would add from your own experience.

An interesting book I read in the last year was Real Stories of Christian Initiation published by Liturgical Press. It tells the story of five parishes in the States where the authors stay with the RCIA group over a year. The parishes though in the same area are quite diverse in their approach and an impression it corrects is that in the US there are many wonderful parishes doing a wonderful RCIA. Here are 5 ordinary parishes doing there best; none of them were perfect (it might even inspire the 'checklist of smugness' in places!). What makes the book interesting though is that these are 'real stories'. Sometimes what we need is not to be told how to do something but to see that it is possible. This was particularly true about the parish that offered what is referred to as the '3 ring circus' — recognising that the needs of enquirers, catechumens and the elect are different and have to be met in different approaches.

It was question of the dismissal of catechumens that I found most surprising. All five of the parishes dismissed their catechumens after the Liturgy of the Word even if this meant only during Advent and Lent. This was another example of seeing that it is possible. More than that was the implication that this was normative practice — a necessary part of RCIA — if you ain't dismissing you ain't doing RCIA. In England and Wales my impression is that for the majority of parishes (though not all) dismissal of the catechumens is paragraph quickly passed over as 'complex' and not how we do things here.

Throughout this entry I have mentioned aspects of the Rite that make it what it is: not just dismissal but distinguishing between catechumens and the baptised, responding to the needs of enquirers when they come etc. There are probably many others my question is which one might you pick as your 'new year's resolution'. Whatever it is it may take a year to develop: understanding as team why and working what might be involved, maybe finding new people or communicating with others. Through such a process you will grow and you will better respond to the needs of those who come to you — the journey will be richer as you discover new paths.