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
Signs of the Times
The recent cultural campaigns asking questions about God’s existence, and whether or not that should matter to us – should matter to us!
You may have seen the bus campaign sponsored by R. Dawkins & friends ‘There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.’ Produced in opposition to the visual Christian messages found in the public domain, the comment seemed to suggest that worry was associated with God while enjoyment wasn’t.
But the statement has also engendered a healthy Christian response, with one local church displaying the sign ‘There is probably no bus; so why not come in and enjoy God.’ Another has used the modern text message of: OMG! adding ‘Learn to say it and mean it’…and I’ve seen www.lookingforGod.come! with an arrow pointing to the church nearby.
The latest Alpha promotion asked several questions including ‘Does God Exist?’ with the familiar method of expressing an opinion in tick boxes of: □Yes, □ No □ Probably.
I saw examples where people had indeed ‘ticked a box’; one was Yes and one was No. The No was on a large billboard, where the person had made a significant effort to climb up and make their mark in a bold lime green. The Yes was in one of the tunnels at London Bridge station, where hundreds of people could potentially see this affirmative sign. The fact that people were stimulated enough by the question to physically express their declaration of belief was very interesting.
It made me consider all those people who are searching, who are asking the same questions and who are coming to our RCIA groups to figure this out: Is there a God?, Does God exist?, What do I believe?, What does it mean to say Yes?, Could we ever be satisfied with .. & How do we respond to… a Probably?, Are we part of transcending a Probably into a Yes?
These larger questions go well beyond ‘What does it mean to be Catholic …..??’ but they are linked to the deepest and innermost questions an enquirer might ask. How do we, as those walking alongside listen, respect the curiosity within the questions…. and wait. The Rite #6 mentions the periods of the RCIA and the steps that are part of the process with 6.1 ‘The first step: where an enquirer reaches the point of initial conversion and wishes to become Christian.’ Until that conversion of heart and mind, we are there to show through our lives, words and actions, the Yes of God’s love.
That waiting may challenge us not to rush to tick our own boxes. Do we turn our RCIA time into an assessment: Have they done this? Do they meet our criteria? Are we trying to give them the big answers too soon? Paul addressed this in his letter to the Colossians 4:4-6 when he suggests that we ’Be tactful with those who are not Christians and be sure you make the best use of your time with them. Talk to them agreeably and with a flavour of wit, and try to fit your answers to the needs of each one.’
Public displays which demonstrate a Christian presence and invitation may be the trigger/ prompt for those who are searching and some groups invest significant funding to promote their option. A 2005 study by the Heythrop Institute for Religion, Ethics, and Public Life called ‘On the Way to Life’ pointed out that: “If the religious community seeks to evangelise the culture, it must also be aware that it is being evangelised by the culture.”
In the world, in our Catholic communities, and in our RCIA groups, our witness, sincerity and visible Yes may also animate someone’s quest to encounter Jesus Christ, who makes God known to all.
Making Enquiries
At this Sunday’s Mass we had a talk by the St Barnabas Society. It was St Barnabas who introduced Paul to the disciples in Jerusalem, and spoke in his support to those who were wary about his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus.
I was struck by the account of welcome and help (emotional and financial) that is given to clergy and religious, from other Christian denominations, that come to full communion with the Catholic Church. There was a particular relevance to our community, as last year we welcomed a former Anglican priest and his family. So at first hand we could empathise with what we were hearing.
Two questions arose for me:
- How does the welcome and support we give our inquirers and catechumens compare with that offered by the St Barnabas Society; and
- is there a patron saint of catechumens?
From my own experience, we still have to work at engaging with the ‘whole parish concept’, rather than having an RCIA team that does it all. Having ordinary parishioners who can be introduced to inquirers was a point discussed at the RCIA Network Study day at Tooting Bec (13.6.09). Catechists have their place but weekly structured meetings don’t necessarily fulfil the Period of Evangelisation and Pre-Catechumenate, which ‘is a time of no fixed duration or structure, for inquiry and introduction to Gospel values, an opportunity for the beginning of faith.’
Potential Inquirers come from diverse backgrounds, at any age, with or without dependants. It must be quite daunting to people to make that first step and knock on the church door. But if they are also being alienated from their family and friends by their decision, that must make it a very difficult step to pursue. There are ways we as a community can make it easier. This is a just a suggestion. You will have others that work, do share them.
- Offer an invitation to them to bring their family and friends to your parish church. This is not about converting them, but saying this is what we do because we are catholics.
- Have a ‘drop in’ hour, say 3.30pm-4.30pm: ideal if your church is on the school route. 5.30pm to 6.30pm is a good time to catch those returning home after work. Have parishioners who can chat about what it means to be a member of your parish church. (This is also an evangelising moment).
The above also apply to catechumens. Another way of offering support is by the optional rites eg Blessings [RCIA 95-97] can be done at any time. Think how you feel when you receive a blessing: they can be a real boost, whether in a small group or within the whole assembly. Do remember to extend the invitation to the catechumens’ family or friends.
As to my second question I did find a saint for catechumens: Saint Robert Bellarmine whose feastday is on September 17.
Open to the Spirit
Pentecost is upon us – the formal time of Mystagogy is complete, at least for those who were initiated at Easter and in at least some parishes things quieten down again in the catechumenal programme.
Lent and Easter sees extraordinary activity for our RCIA groups. The Rite of Election, Scrutinies, and the celebration of the sacraments at the Vigil, and then adapting ourselves to the distinctive form of catechesis that is Mystagogy and finally the gathering of new Catholics with their bishop. Now there’s a checklist and a half. Which of these things have we done? And which have we failed to do. What omissions were due to us, and which were due to others? What might we learn from how kept Lent and Easter with our catechumens and neophytes this year for what we might want to do next year?
In the parish where I serve our catechumenal programme used to really quieten after Pentecost. In fact it went into complete hibernation – with an expectation that it would start up again in the Autumn. This was the practice up until this year.
That things are different this year is not especially because we decided to do things differently, (and some might say ‘properly’). However change has been thrust upon us by those who have been coming along to our parish enquirers meetings this year.
Unusually (for us) those people have mostly been unbaptised people, and have been young parents with pre-school children. The number of pre-school children for whom our enquirers have responsibility presented us with an early challenge.
Our Enquirers group has traditionally met on a weekday evening. This year’s participants were happy with this so long as they could bring their babies and toddlers with them. The group leaders found this a challenge too far so after six weeks or so we switched to an afternoon meeting which was good for the parents and ok for our leadership team.
The next challenge was just how much formation the group needed at enquiry stage. It was quickly clear that they would not be ready for the sacraments at Easter this year, and that was quite a break with tradition in this parish, where we have for many years operated a curtailed and constrained Autumn to Easter programme. So we had no Easter baptisms or confirmations from this group and had a very much more extended enquiry stage, because the members were very clear they were not ready to make any commitment.
Interestingly enough we did have a number of confirmations this Easter – for a number of adults, already regular in their practice, independently approached the parish team wanting to receive the sacrament. Our enquirers not yet having become catechumens we found it better to establish a new group which met weekly during Lent to prepare for confirmation.
The experience of Lent/Easter was a powerful one for our Enquirers and has helped them all to come to the decision that they want to make the commitment to continue their exploration of faith in a more committed fashion. Which itself presented the team with an issue – what to do about welcoming into the catechumenate, and what form might that catechumenate take.
Over recent years we have not made much of the role of sponsor: the RCIA group itself has tended to take on that responsibility. But this year was to be different in this respect also. We’ve encouraged the enquirers to think about who they already know that in fact is exercising something of that role. And where those people are ready and able we have chosen them to be the sponsors.
The Rite of Entry into the Catechumenate is being celebrated on Trinity Sunday. The season of Easter has come to take on a particular initiatory flavour for our parish. This is not only because of the (usual) celebrations of adult initation at the Easter Vigil. In our diocese confirmations take place in the Easter season and this year all our parish first Holy Communions (about 100!) have taken place over the last 4 Sundays of the Easter season. But this year, when Easter has finished we gather the next Sunday to celebrate a rite which has us mark out work to be done in readiness for Easter 2010.
Our present expectation is that the group will be ready for baptism next Easter but as flexibility has been our keyword so far this year, who knows?
And as for catechumenal process, one good thing that has come from this group is that because of their various other commitments they are happy to try out Sunday dismissal catechesis. This will be something new for us all. So please keep us in your prayers!
Come Anytime
It has always felt wrong to ask inquirers to wait. Once they have taken the all important first step of approaching someone it is not fair to send them away to wait until a more ‘convenient’ time for us. Last year we tried to solve this dilemma by working towards monthly open ‘welcome’ sessions for inquirers, perhaps to include new parishioners.
Other parish needs pre-empted that particular drive and the parish is benefiting from the reconstituted Ministry of Welcome and new impetus to complete a parish handbook.
What had felt like something of a setback with regard to a way of being available to inquirers, in fact has solidified into a ‘come anytime’ mentality. Though the experience is now more of fluidity than of something solidifying! The work of the Spirit - not how we had meant to plan!
It came about without any fresh (autumn) invitation or information about the Journey in Faith process in the parish. That had been stalled while parish consultation about ways of inviting and welcoming took place. Yet, before that first meeting inquirers were making their own first approaches. For three weeks running a different person arrived making inquiries: one asking for baptism; one to be Confirmed and to receive Eucharist and then one to be received into Full Communion. Within a week or so of the first approach we had arranged a suitable time for her and those who where close on her heels. We gathered our small RCIA team and new sponsors. As with Peter at the house of Cornelius [Acts 10], the Spirit was leading people and all we could do was to respond to their request, and stay with them and share experiences of God’s work in the church.
So it has continued. We have managed to respond immediately to individuals who have continued to arrive – not weekly! We have taken account, of course, of their family, work and time commitments and fitted in with them as much as possible. One group now has a catechumen whose babies were baptised at Easter, a previously uncatechised catholic who is now fully initiated and a new catholic brought up within a different Christian tradition and another who remains on the periphery as yet. Because of child minding issues the best time for this group to meet was after Mass on Sundays, or rather, after coffee following Mass. [For very good reasons dismissal catechesis was not appropriate.] A result of that timing has meant that we had a natural way of parishioners and inquirers getting to know each other – people made new friends and parishioners became more aware and involved in the process simply by offering welcome and acceptance. Older teenagers and later families have become invaluable child minders too. It has been of great benefit to meet from within the heart of the parish assembly and fresh from the Sunday liturgy.
Another group has formed in the meantime - meeting on weekday evenings. Because of catechists and sponsors and by now the experience of the rites of acceptance, reception and confirmation and first Eucharist for those others there is a bond between the two groups. There is a sense of a heightened challenge – a goal that is achievable and empathy. The awareness goes both ways. For example, it mattered to those who went to the cathedral at the beginning of Lent that others were exploring in the ways that they had. At the same time it caused some excitement and a sense of unity for the inquirers.
In a sense it is a ‘messy’ process because of new inquirers joining a group who are in the early stages of getting to know each other. Yet it feels right. Ironically perhaps, it seems peaceful and is at once energising and calming. People who are still new in their exploration of catholic Christianity are themselves encouraged by, and encouraging of, new comers. It has made the RCIA process even more just that – a fluid process. We find that we don’t have to try to avoid the idea a programme. Liturgical catechesis feeds all of us and the issues that are brought by inquirers and that catechists suggest for exploration have no set sequence and get revisited along the way.
There are, of course, hurdles to overcome. There is a shortage of trained catechists and no diocesan provision to call upon. Inevitably the RCIA team is stretched even more in terms of time and commitment. Will we reach a time when we have confident catechists to lead in the initial stages and others to lead catechumens and candidates? Perhaps. For now we will endeavour to respond to the Spirit who prompts inquirers long before we meet them and try to offer “catechesis suited to their needs, [and] contact with the community of the faithful…” (RCIA n401)
A useful resource
The Miracle Maker is an animated film produced for the Jubilee Year 2000 which tells the story of Jesus. It generally uses the gospel of Luke as the source for its narrative – but it hangs loosely to the source, and treats it somewhat creatively. This is most noticeable in its development of the character of Tamar, the daughter of Jairus. It's easily available from most DVD stores, or of course from Amazon. or Play.
It was well-received by faith communities: A pretty typical review follows:
In The Miracle Maker, the film’s makers have a small miracle of their own: a simple, modest retelling of the gospel story of the ministry and passion of Christ that does little more than present the bare events of the gospel narratives, without adornment or invention, without idiosyncratic “explanations” or editorial spin, without elaborations for the sake of amusement or excitement.
It’s so straightforward, it’s practically revolutionary. Adapting a story for the screen substantially as it was written is a lost art nowadays. It’s easy to see why, in a way; storytellers are just naturally attracted to projects to which they feel they have some creative contribution to make; some special angle or insight to offer.
http://artsandfaith.com/t100/2005/entry.php?film=52
You might wonder about the claim that there is little adornment or invention – remember Tamar – but she operates more as a narrative device to help the viewer engage with the story of Jesus than a distraction or dumbing down.
The Miracle Worker is a rather beautiful creation – most of the narrative shown through stop-go animation; but others through painted cell work. And it is an engaging presentation – with much of the credit for this going to the somewhat stellar cast, led by Ralph Fiennes as Jesus.
We’ve been using it in our parish over the past weeks – a ten minute section as a time, as a way of familiarising the group with the outline of the story of Jesus, and as a ‘safe’ way of giving them matter for discussion reflection. Last year we had a very quiet group who rather resisted discussion. It’s a different group this year but there’s much discussion and I think the film is to credit for that.<
I’d recommend the film as a most useful aid for first evangelisation, for the pre-catechumenal time. And I am happy to share below the discussion sheets we used to to give you an indication of the sort of conversation starters we’ve used.
Starting up
The parish I serve has a term-time catechumenate. It starts up again next week. So the last few weeks have been a time for more focussed encouraging of people to come along as our group starts back after its fallow-period post Pentecost.
People come to the group that supports the catechumenate through a variety of ways. Particularly important are the personal contacts - through friendships in the parish; through the Parents and Toddlers groups; through the pastoral encounters around weddings and funerals. But also of importance - it seems to me, (their author and designer!) - are the leaflets and posters we put around - sources of information, prompts to action.
Last year I used a series of posters which used images of gates and paths and lighthouses. I hoped these would suggest the idea of journey, and - who knows - for the more biblically literate the idea of Christ our pioneer, our way, the gate, the light. A few people noticed them but they didn't seem to find them particular significant - the images didn't seem to register, much.
So this year I decided I'd lose the visual images and go for words. Searching? Questioning? Lost? And suggesting that in response to these experiences the Gospel has something to offer - companionship on the way; support in the search; and yes, able to introduce the searcher to a relationship with Christ who we have found to be the way, truth and life.
I though the new poster looked pretty good and eye catching. Bold graphics, bright colours. I still think that. But a number of the people who I am in contact who will be coming to the group have been on the look out for the poster which would give them information about when the group starts up. And none of them thought that what this poster was advertising could be what they are looking for!
I've not yet had the chance to explore with them why that might be. But clearly the poster and its words speaks to my agenda and not theirs. At the moment it's enough for them to know when to come and where to ‘become a Catholic'. Their main interest is not the why or wherefore
So, all this has got me thinking again about where people are coming from and what, at a conscious level at least, people are looking for. I'm comfortable with the idea of people searching from motives of existential angst. I'm also happy with the idea of people interested in ‘becoming Catholic' or wanting to deepen a relationship with Jesus or the Church. Different things engage and motivate different people. I hope in pastoral practice that I'm sensitive to that, and can give space for the person to journey as they see fit as well as trying to feed into their exploration of Catholic faith an awareness of important dimensions that they may not yet have considered in any conscious or explicit way.
But the question of the posters and what we put on them and what they say to people has me thinking again about what we offer and what people want. What is the good news we want to share? I can put names to aspects of that. But then my fear is that the Christian specificity of these things might be neglected. We could offer ‘Community'. Our Gospel offers this, but it also promises to set brother against brother. ‘Truth through intimacy with Jesus': we can offer that. But from time to time Jesus might turn and call us Satan and say we think as people think and not as God. ‘Security' too we can offer, but it is a security that sometimes leads us into hard and lonely places.
It probably all boils down to a matter of quality of catechesis. They will perhaps be coming from one reason. The challenge to the group is to ensure that if they stay, they stay for a reason which is acceptable to the Church and authentic to the Gospel we preach.
My personal fresh resolution - encouraged by the poster issue - to try to make sure that the Gospel we share in our pre-evangelisation meetings and in catechumenate is one which welcomes those who come, offers the assurance we all need that we are loved by God and chosen. And at the self same time, draws us speedily into the mission which helps us to see that if the Gospel is for us, we and not just the Gospel are for the world.
A Space For Encounter
Walking round the local mega-supermarket last year in Autumn (part of a well known ‘family’) was like entering a time-warp. In the same aisle were Halloween costumes, Bonfire Night essentials and a few early reminders that Christmas wasn’t too far away. In the milk aisle, the plastic cow was mooing and the plastic chicken clucked next to the eggs. In the background, over the PA system, someone was giving a commentary on life in the store – bargains on aisle 26, Golf Clubs on aisle 2 – oh, and “Sandra on aisle 24 is 40 today, lets all sing: Happy Birthday too you…”. By the time I got the shower-gel aisle, I was completely overwhelmed with the endless choices – Which water do I want? What kind of bread do I want? What kind of cereal, soap, ….? The experience became somewhat surreal and for a moment, time stood still and I began to feel like I was caught in some weird sci-fi universe in which “resistance is futile”.
So, what has this got to do with RCIA? The key thing is to trying not to overwhelm people all at once with the speed of the process and all that’s on offer.
As many of our parishes will be preparing to welcome new enquirers over the next couple of months maybe we need to be aware that in new situations people can easily feel overwhelmed, carried along by the momentum of the group and end up feeling a like there’s no way out - or that ‘resistance is futile’. We often speak of meeting people ‘where they’re at’ and not where we want them to be. This requires discernment on the part of the enquirer and of catechists – and it requires us as catechists to be aware of any of our own desires and tendencies which might be coming into play. It also means avoiding the temptation of the October – Easter ‘course’. RCIA is a gradual process, not a treadmill. How does the way we work in parishes allow for the different speeds at which enquirers will journey?
We also need to avoid the RCIA curriculum approach – we’re not about putting everything our faith brings to us on offer all at once – like the supermarket shelves. We are about creating space for an encounter with Christ. As Pope Benedict said recently, Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy, but an encounter with a person. In speaking of Paul on the road to Damascus he said "this change of his life, this transformation of his whole being was not the result of a psychological process, of a maturation or intellectual and moral evolution, but it came from outside: It was not the result of his thinking but of the encounter with Jesus Christ.”
( http://www.zenit.org/article-23546?l=english)
In exploring the implications of conversion for us as Christians today, he said "We can touch Christ's heart and feel him touch ours. Only in this personal relationship with Christ, only in this encounter with the Risen One do we really become Christians. And in this way, our reason opens, the whole of Christ's wisdom opens and all the richness of the truth. Therefore, let us pray to the Lord to enlighten us, so that, in our world, he will grant us the encounter with his presence, and thus give us a lively faith, an open heart, and great charity for all, capable of renewing the world."
( http://www.zenit.org/article-23546?l=english)
Proclaiming What?
In the parish where I serve we are struggling toward an all-year round enquiry group and an all-year round catechumenate. But we’re not there yet. So are we move pretty rapidly through the season of Easter with its primary focus on mystagogy – the pastor in me is already starting to think: ‘And who will we have next year, and where are we going to get them from, and why will they be coming?’
They come as a result of many points of contact, of course. Some are people who have a new and encouraging contact with the Church through our parish Parents and Toddlers group; others through the meeting with priests and catechists in the baptism programme or through marriage preparation, or through the First Holy Communion programme; still others coming because of contact following the death of a family member. People coming from all sorts of ‘Church’ encounters, who have caught the scent of something, got a taste for something and think there is something good here, something beneficial, considering ‘maybe this is something I should investigate more.’
And far be it from me to gainsay the value of these encounters, but there’s a little something in me that niggles. It’s all a bit ‘Churchy’.
I’ve nothing against Church. I happen to think it’s very important, and that the institutions and the community of the Church have an awful lot to offer – indeed much more than I’ve probably realised. But what concerns me a little is that if it is Church that attracts, rather than Jesus, we might be selling the gospel short.
Of course the Lord calls people in all sorts of ways. I just wonder, in a society that is so weak on community and belonging and moral values maybe the attractions of a community such as the Church are such that sometimes, and inadvertently, they might obscure the attractions of Christ himself.
I recall hearing that the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard criticised the clergy for being prostitutes of eternity – people who sold something precious, indeed sold something that should never be sold, but should only be offered, and received, as a gift freely given; as a gift which opens both the one who gives and the one who receives to an extraordinary and ennobling intimacy and experience of profound personal communion one with another. Might our happy and committed RCIA groups sometimes become a substitute for the Kingdom rather than a resource that sustains us as we search for that which we cannot give to each other but which must always come as gift from God.
The Lutheran pastor Deitrich Bonhoeffer seems to have had a concern similar to Kierkegaard when he warned Christians against he called ‘cheap grace’. In The Cost of Discipleship he wrote ‘Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian 'conception' of God.’
Bonhoeffer knew the danger of a Christianity that was merely a socialisation, that created comfortable Christians but failed to create disciples willing, precisely, to follow Christ and willing to pay the cost of following him. ‘Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ. It remains an abstract idea, a myth which has a place for the Fatherhood of God, but omits Christ as the living Son. … There is trust in God, but no following of Christ.’
Now our Catholic theology of Church would want to challenge the idea that Church is simply about socialisation. We confess the sacramentality of the Church, Christ present under the form of, as, us in our social relationships and in our union with him: the Church is a source of grace and not only a human phenomenon. Again, I’m grateful for what I receive and have received from Christ through the Church, and am happy for whatever I can do to help other people to recognise the richness of what the Church is and what she has to offer. But, again I wonder, what it is people come looking for and why? And what do they find that we set before them? The Gospel or something less?
I note the language of RCIA 36 in which the Church establishes what the work of the period of evangelisation and precatechumenate consists of:
Faithfully and constantly the living God is proclaimed and Jesus Christ whom he has sent for the salvation of all. Thus those who are not yet Christians, their heart opened by the Holy Spirit, may believe and be freely converted to the Lord and commit themselves sincerely to him. For he who is the way, the truth, and the life fulfils all their spiritual expectations, indeed infinitely surpasses them. (RCIA 36)
One reading of RCIA 36-47 (the section treating of the period of evangelisation and precatechumenate and the rite of entry into the catechumenate) suggests that our task in the period of evangelisation is (simply?) to evangelise: ritualisation and indeed socialisation come later: that the Church’s expectation is that people are to come to a relationship with God in Christ first. Then (and only then?) are we to help them come to an appreciation also of how the community of the Church is and can be an authentic expression of our relationship with Christ.
Does it have to be either/or? Can it not be both/and? Maybe it can be. But for myself, just at the moment, I wonder about what it actually is.
Why do we think Evangelisation starts at the Church door?
So how do you recruit? It may not be the right term, but if we put as much energy into recruiting as the National Trust do, just think of the numbers we may be initiating into the Church.
Two things got me going on this, one was a comment about the likelihood of a Rite of Acceptance, that ‘we may have someone who has just joined the RCIA. They've been to the first session'. The second was when I was literally standing at the front door to the parish office and was told ‘that we might have a couple of ‘nibblers', who'd made an approach. It was probably standing at the outside door to the parish office that did it, but I suddenly thought, how we were failing prospective Christians by waiting for them to approach our church. Both the above comments recorded the expectation that enquirers make their first approach to the church, and while in some respects that is correct, we seem to have forgotten there is an even earlier stage. What might it take before we get into the mindset of being open to evangelisation away from the church door.
The first thing is to note that evangelisation is not taking every opportunity to ‘preach God' to the unconverted. It is not proselytising and it's not moralising. I think of it as being open to the Holy Spirit working in others and using me as its instrument. I couldn't stand on a street corner and proclaim the Good News of God, but I've come to see how in subtle ways I can open other people's hearts to the joy and hope that Jesus brings. Here is one example.
Somebody I know (but not a close friend), who has had their share of worries in their personal and family life, sent me a text one Sunday morning asking when I went to church if I would ask my God to keep a special eye on someone for them. It came right out of the blue from someone who had previously told me they couldn't find God in their lives because of all the troubles they'd endured. I was delighted to be able to text back and say ‘of course'.
I got another text the next week, asking if I would please send the same words to God. I must have been a bit slow, because it needed this text to make me think that I should be doing something other than praying, as I'd been asked. Eventually, I sent a text with a little story about a close (non baptised) friend of mine, who at a time when she was experiencing some family problems, had told me how she liked to call into churches, any church, and look for a statue of a beautiful lady, with a serene face, who she would talk to, and how it used to make her feel calm, and at ease. After my text there was silence for a while, and then I got a text back that mentioned about looking for a very easy book about God. I thought of all the books I've got and realised that a story version of the Gospel was the best book to start with. I got an email address and sent a few ideas.
Now I don't know what will happen with this person's journey, but I do believe that similar opportunities happen to us all in our daily lives, and that this is when evangelisation takes place. It is a way that the whole parish can get involved in subtle ways in the first period of the RCIA, after all:
‘the precatechumenate is of great importance... It is a time of evangelisation: faithfully and constantly the living God is proclaimed and Jesus Christ who he has sent for the salvation of all. Thus those who are not yet Christians, their hearts opened by the Holy Spirit, may believe and be freely converted to the Lord....' (# 36).
Being honest, I know in my parish that the message has not yet got through that it is the whole Church, (RCIA General introduction 7), all the baptised, who have a part to play in the very first period of the RCIA (# 8). Until the ‘entire community’ understand that their individual and collective role as Christians is to ‘proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God’ (EN 14) then new Christians will only enter our church when they manage to arrive at the church or parish house door.
Until RCIA ceases to be the domain of the few who make up or are affiliated to the RCIA team, the whole dimension of ‘witness’ will go undetected and undervalued.
I’ll end with a suggestion. As our fully initiated Catholics emerge at the Easter Vigil, how might we benefit from their experience? Has anybody analysed and assessed how the last ten years of enquirers got onto the RCIA? How many of our PPC’s have anyone with responsibility for evangelisation? What strategies can we introduce for reaching out to the unchurched?
How do we use our liturgy to express Catholic identity? Is it accessible to those who are not (or not yet) Catholics? Is it inculturated? Is it faithful to Catholic tradition?*