The RCIA  offers a pathway for returners - in steps and stages, gradually introducing people to the person of Christ, through the community life, the Word broken and shared,  various forms of liturgy, and the outreach in service to the wider community.   (See RCIA Part II, chapters 4 and 5).  The important thing is that we are who we say we are, Body of Christ, and that we build relationships and walk with those who come as Christ, through being sensitive, friendly,  and welcoming as a parish community - giving the strong Gospel message, Yes, You Can Belong Here !  And also recognising the treasure they bring to us - Christ welcomed in the stranger.

One vital truth to remember in any process  - their conversion to Christ is based on their Baptism, already received, the effects of which they must develop.   At every step, we make mention of this fact -  and any ritual we engage in respects this too.   As with other candidates, and catechumens, we listen to their stories, we share ours, and help them to connect with God who is active in their lives.   Other rites may also be suited to their needs along the way - a Presentation of the Gospels, and the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer,  the Sacrament of Reconciliation - as signs of God's grace at work in their preparation for Confirmation and Eucharist.   

Last word?  Don't abandon them at any stage - listen, encourage, and reflect with them.   Help them to find themselves at home.   If you'd like any help with adapting RCIA for returners, please get in touch with the Network via the website.

The presence of the children has also given the assembly some thought. We take pride in the place these children will take in our community. We acknowledge that somehow their presence has enriched our own experience of participating in the mass. We each learn from each other.

Candidates and catechumens also enrich the community in which they grow and settle. They too can benefit from our example,  of being invited along to  see the church in which we worship. A meditative walk through the church with someone (sponsor) to answer questions, offers a good introduction. Follow up with attending mass with their sponsor or RCIA catechists or their own family. As soon as they are catechumens, let the rest of the church know that these are your catechumens, so the whole community can be ready to help and support them.

• All Saints day offers a great opportunity  for prayer, 
• stories and catechesis about the catholic church,
• the Church Fathers, our tradition and our  Saints.

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! 

Once again we are invited to celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. We can admire and be inspired by the example of all the saints and be aided by their prayers. But as we celebrate we can also be challenged, challenged with the invitation to become one of their number!

Our reaction to this may take many forms, perhaps it is ‘Lord, I am not worthy...’ or alternatively we may share the sentiments of Groucho Marx who famously said “I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.”  And yet the challenge and the invitation remain. By God’s grace we are called to become saints.

Many will know that this theme was emphasised at Vatican II and again significantly at the turn of the Millennium with these words:

“stressing holiness remains more than ever an urgent pastoral task. It is necessary therefore to rediscover the full practical significance of Chapter 5 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, dedicated to the ‘universal call to holiness’. The Council Fathers laid such stress on this point, not just to embellish ecclesiology with a kind of spiritual veneer, but to make the call to holiness an intrinsic and essential aspect of their teaching on the Church. The rediscovery of the Church as ‘mystery’, or as a people ‘gathered together by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’, was bound to bring with it a rediscovery of the Church's ‘holiness’, understood in the basic sense of belonging to him who is in essence the Holy One, the ‘thrice Holy’ (cf. Is 6:3). To profess the Church as holy means to point to her as the Bride of Christ, for whom he gave himself precisely in order to make her holy (Eph 5:25-26). This as it were objective gift of holiness is offered to all the baptised.”(NMI 30)

This striking last sentence deserves some consideration, it tells us clearly that the gift of holiness is offered to all the baptised. This gift of holiness is offered therefore to us and to all those that we journey with on the RCIA process, all seeking baptism and full belonging to the Church. It reminds us that we are all on a journey. Some of us may be on a journey of initiation, but all of us are on the journey towards holiness. On this journey we accompany each other. And it is ultimately, from an eternal perspective, it is the only journey that really counts.

Pope John Paul II goes on to stress that the gift of holiness “in turn becomes a task, which must shape the whole of Christian life: ‘This is the will of God, your sanctification’ (1 Th 4:3). It is a duty which concerns not only certain Christians: ‘All the Christian faithful, of whatever state or rank, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity’”. (NMI 30)

So as we celebrate together, as we journey together, let us take this opportunity to be open to holiness, to be open to the gift that it is, and open to the task that it entails. And as we do so let us remember that many have trod this path before us, and pray for us to join them.

We are all familiar with the process - but this was somewhat different as the office was in the parish of St Vincent de Paul, Koko, Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso. (If you’re not sure where Burkina is or what it is like, click this link to see what Wikipedia says about on Burkina Faso). I had gone out for the ordination of a new Missionary of Africa (White Father), Anselme Tarpaga, in the cathedral there and the opportunity to chat to people about the inculturation of liturgy and Christian Initiation was irresistible.

Pere Albert with young women from a local village in Konadougou parish

Among those who spoke of the culture in which the White Fathers and Sisters were evangelising was Père Albert, a German priest with 37 years experience of living and working among the peoples of Africa. He invited me to spend a few days out in the mission station of Konadougou in the south-west in the Diocese of Banfora.  This is pretty remote and Père Albert said that when he first came people hid behind trees as he passed in his truck… now they clamour for a lift as he passes at the end of the day! In such a place, evening meetings are impossible – people are understandably reluctant to risk meeting snakes on the way home! So much of the catechesis is done in basic Christian communities with leaders coming together for formation and to discuss how their catechumens are progressing. As the leaders can travel up to 20 km, meetings take place during the day and the people obviously need to be fed before returning home. Catechumens are brought together for a 7-day retreat each year with a two-week one during the Lent before their baptism – a chance to reflect together and deepen their spiritual lives... and a hefty commitment of time for subsistence farmers at the hottest time of year. Each week in Lent has its own rite – but given the distance between the Mass centres, not all can happen in every centre every week (as indeed Mass does not always happen).

A family's fetish in the village

The process takes 3-4 years – a one year pre-catechumenate and three year catechumenate – though this can be slightly less where candidates are literate and can undertake study and reflection at home.

Most of the people coming forward are animists, brought up with fetishes and animal sacrifices – and polygamy. It is the latter that often exercises the catechists and clergy and questions about the marital status of the catechumen form a significant part of the questionnaire the leader of the Basic Christian Community fills in to state the readiness of any given candidate. Where a man or woman is in a polygamous marriage, they cannot be baptised but, after their four years of formation receive a blessing during Eastertime. Where the marriage is to one other person, it is regularised as a religious marriage (to go along with the traditional and civil ceremonies that most people also have).

In the town, catechist Georges described a very similar process with candidates following a course of books which opens with the very simple question – who/ what is a catechist? (It prompts the thought about whether people coming to our sessions actually know who or what a catechist might be!) At the end of each year, the prospective new Catholic receives a small token to make the stage in their journey:
End of pre-catechumenate – a miraculous medal
Year 1 of catechumenate – a rosary
Year 2 – medaille croix – a cross with small images of the miraculous medal, St Christopher, the Holy Spirit, Christ and a Madonna
Year 3 – a crucifix
The main responsibility for the formation of the new Christian rests with the Basic Christian Community.

Lent is again marked by rites for each week – and, being in a town, means that people are more able to participate. Week 1 is the call of the candidate who seeks baptism and the vouching for them of the Base Community, catechists and clergy.
Week 2 is the formal renunciation of animistic practices and an exorcism of “esprits mauvaises”.
Week 3 is the giving of and recitation of the Creed by the catechumens.
Week 4 has the “Rite du Sel” – where candidates take salt as a sign of being salt of the earth. There is also the signing of the senses.
Week 5 is the choice of Christian name – where the catechumens give the name they have chosen and why.
The catechumens stay in Mass throughout their catechumenate – there is no dismissal after the Liturgy of the Word – and take full part in the liturgies of Holy Week.

The Easter Vigil starts at 21.00 with the Liturgy of Light and of the Word – and is timed so that the baptisms take place at midnight. There is then a thanksgiving Mass for the newly-baptised on Easter Monday with a blessing for those whose polygamous marriage prevents their being baptised.

Confirmation is deferred for a year and further instruction continues, reinforcing the new way of life the Christian is establishing. Various pictures are used for discussion and particularly significant seemed to be the emphasis on Christ as the perfect sacrifice and the need for the new Christian not to revert back to the sacrifice of chickens, sheep or goats of their animist past. There was also the interesting picture of a man beating a woman – with the explanation that this behaviour too is something that is not appropriate in a Christian marriage.

Of necessity, this really is just a brief summary of the conversations and experience of the Church in Burkina Faso – a country in Africa that prides itself on being an integrated nation where Moslems. Christians and animists live side by side. More snippets can be found on the blog I kept during my time there… including the experience of going to a place sacred to animists.  Click here to read more:  http://www.bilbosjourneys.blogspot.com/

Easter Monday

Father,
you give your Church constant growth
by adding new members to your family.
Help us put into action in our lives
the baptism we have received with faith.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who live and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Easter Saturday

Father of love,
by the outpouring of your grace
you increase the number of those who believe in you.
Watch over your chosen family.
Give undying life to all
who have been born again in baptism.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who live and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.

As we look beyond the Triduum to the Easter Season and see 6-7 weeks of mystagogy we need to remind ourselves the celebration of the Triduum is the starting point. Perhaps we need to first note down our experience of the liturgies of the three days. I am a great one for jotting down the practical details: what went well, what needs to be attended to next time, what could be better. This is all very useful when we come to prepare the following year's liturgies. But here I am more thinking of a journal. Reflections and impressions over three days. Even if you are busy as a liturgical minister in some form your need to participate. Participation is the first condition of mystagogy.

On Holy Thursday

• What were your expectations before hand?
• Was there a word or a phrase in the readings that stayed with you?
• Which symbols caught your attention?
• How did you feel at the end?

On Good Friday

• What words would you use to describe the liturgy?
• During the intercessions for whom did you pray?
• What did feel like to kiss the cross?

At the Easter Vigil

• What did you see as you gathered around the fire?
• How many times did images of water come in the readings?
• How would you depict the liturgy of baptism?

These questions are only starters. After you have got down your impressions take the opportunity to come back to them, to reflect on them. Ask why did you think or feel that, what can learn about what we celebrate, about Christ.

These reflections will enable us to help others to reflect. In the end though it will be the neophytes who lead us deeper into the mysteries. This paradox is at the heart of the Easter gospel.

When I prepare the liturgy booklet the one thing I am likely to forget is the reading that changes each year — the gospel at the Easter Vigil. One of the element that is common to gospel in all three years is that the resurrection is announced by someone in white garments. In Matthew 'His face was like lightning, his robe white as snow'. It is not too fanciful make a connection with those who will rise up from the waters and put on a white garment, white as snow perhaps. In the waters of baptism they will die and rise with Christ, they are the sign that Christ is risen in our midst. From them over the coming weeks we will learn what it all means.