Walking the Rite way

I am preparing a new edition of the Network Directory for members to go out with the next Newsletter later this month.

If your details have changed please inform me at Martin.Foster at cbcew.org.uk

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.

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)

We are coming to the end of the reading of St Paul’s letter to the Romans at Sunday Mass. It is Paul’s longest letter and has been a thread on for Sundays 9-24.

This Sunday’s reading (12:1–2) has a phrase that always stands out for me — Let your behaviour change — a phrase that is both a constant reminder and a challenge. It is a phrase that perhaps characterises the Catechumenate. But it doesn’t stop there the need to take responsibility for my behaviour in my responsibility; to view myself in the mirror that is Christ and let my behaviour change.

Paul identifies one of his paradoxes. To change our behaviour is to model ourselves on Christ yet it is through changing our behaviour that we get to know what God wants. It is my responsibility to change but God will be there.

The changes are not necessarily the stuff of headlines. It is the small changes that build up to make the big differences. In that way it has similarities to livesimply — we need to learn new ways if we wish to live simply, in solidarity and sustainably.

This is the very stuff of the catechumenate; the very stuff of discernment. The catechumenate is not just the assimilation of theology — yes, it is part of it — it is that this desire to know Christ and the Church makes a difference in people’s lives. For the team these are the signs to be looking for when discerning the time to move on to the next stage. Discernment is not an exam where the student produces evidence; it is the ongoing conversation. It is ‘once I did that, now I no longer can.

Do not model yourself on the behaviour of the world around you,
but let your behaviour change,
modelled by you new mind.
This is the only way to discover the will of God
and know what is good,
what it is that God wants,
what is the perfect thing to do.

The Summer holidays, or any holiday is a time to catch up on reading . If you have time try Paul Turner’s  When Other Christians Become Catholic.  It is a must when considering how we should be planning our catechumenate.

Turner not only explores the ritual text, but puts the practice of receiving others into full communion with the catholic church into our 21^st century context, reminding us that the rite is what it says, about being “received”: it is not about being ‘forgiven or reconciled’. We have moved on from the early church  needing a route, by which those guilty of heresy or apostacy, could renounce their beliefs and return to the fold. The process and rites that applied to such a situation are hardly applicable to those christians who knock on our parish doors today.

While restoring the RCIA, Vatican 2  also looked at providing an appropriate means that would enable other christians to come into full communion with the catholic church, in a way that would not make too burdensome, Turner shows how we have in a way compromised the rite, when we combine the rite of receiving baptised christians  into the catholic church with the rite of initiating  unbaptised catechumens.

What becomes clear, reading Turner, if you hadn’t already felt it so, is that there was no intention to make is so easy for catechists, that those already baptised would be added to  the catechumens, so that all progressed the same route, using the same rites.

From such a background there are some surprising but reassuring insights, for Turner says the rite was intended for a single candidate. How many of us worry when we only have person forward? Turner refers to such a situation, which calls for a ’simple ceremony with a profound meaning’. Looking at it from the opposite perspective, what does this say to us, when we have a large number of candidates, generally outnumbering the catechumens in combined rite? Should we immediately be thinking of spreading out our rites of reception throughout the liturgical year, so as to help that meaning come out? 

For Turner the Rite of Reception happens within a Sunday mass, at any time of the year,  any time that is, but at the easter vigil.  Why not read his book and see if you think what he says makes sense . Will it influence your future planning of the RCIA process?

Sue 

Caesarea Philippi is situated at the foot hills of Mt Hermon on the borders between Jordan and Israel. It is an extraordinary place. The waters of the river Dan, one of the sources of the river Jordan, flow out of the base of the mountain, ice cold and fresh. Carved into the side of the mountain are the remains of the cave dedicated to the god Pan to whom the area was originally dedicated. The generative powers of the gushing waters were taken as signs of the fertile qualities of this god of nature, still captured in its current name of Banyas. It is a truly significant place. During the lifetime of Jesus of Nazareth it was the site of the capital of the region ruled by Herod the Great’s son Philip. It was he who dedicated Paneas (Town of Pan) to Caesar.

It is little wonder that one of the key questions of Matthew’s Gospel , “Who do you say the Son of Man is?”(the gospel for the coming Sunday) is set in this part of ancient Israel. The area was redolent with answers of all kinds. The area spoke of the awesome power both of the fertility god of nature and the might of ancient Rome and it’s Emperor. Powers rarely questioned. Where we’re concerned the context for the question put by Jesus appears to be very different, no longer do we believe in the god Pan and the power of ancient Rome has passed away. However the realities which they represent are very much present in our culture and society. We are surrounded by all kinds of offers “guaranteed to give us life in abundance”, not gushing from the foot of Mt Hermon but flowing out at us in a constant stream of images and adverts: -coming from the various forms of media, offering a plethora of alternative possibilities of life style to one and all. Total freedom of choice: ‘after all it’s your life, do with it what you will’. As for Caesar and his military power, he has simply changed his clothes. He now wears a collar and tie or a free flowing garb. The approach of Pax Romana (Pax Britannica or Pax Americana), which maintains peace through the use or threat of violence has more adherents than the more vulnerable approach of Pax Christi.  The world of Caesar hasn’t quite passed away.     

The question put by Jesus is a real question but it is not a request for a definition of belief, a catechism answer, no matter how accurate that answer might be. It is an invitation to answer from the depth of our own relationship with the person of Jesus. I love the story told by Anthony De Mello where he imagines a conversation between Jesus and a Christian:

The whole process of the RCIA at its heart is a journey of formation rather than of information. Sadly in many cases we give in to the danger of overloading the information to the detriment of the formation. Next Sunday’s Gospel gives us time to pause whether we are continuing to journey each week with an enquiry group or a catechumenal group or taking the time out to prepare for a new start after the holidays. The question still remains in our complex world: “Who do YOU say the Son of man is?”

In the middle of August, we have this well-known Gospel, which echoes powerfully with us as a parish,  in the ‘holiday season’ trying to maintain contact with our candidates - feeling we are battling against the odds…..  And He made us get into this wretched boat and go on ahead while he dismissed the crowds (yes, dismissed!) and went up into the hills for a nice quiet time by himself!  We quite fancy a nice bit of quiet ourselves.

Well, in this story there is room for both - time for quiet refreshment in the ’sheer silence’ on the hillside (Community Bible translation of ‘gentle breeze’ (in 1 Kngs 19:12) and with the psalmist to ‘hear what the Lord has to say, a voice that speaks of peace’,  and time for battling with our own fears and immaturity as we attempt to move forward with the process of initiation. 

On reflection, perhaps rather than highlighting Peter’s doubt, it is is his courage and faith that is emphasised when he says in the height of the storm on seeing Jesus walking towards them, ’Order (or ‘tell’)me to come to you’ and Jesus says ‘Come’ and he climbs out and gives it a go!

So what have we been ‘giving a go’ this Summer?  The ‘group’ has not been meeting to break the Word, which could be seen as a disapointment.  However, the sponsors have been alongside our candidates these last weeks, sitting with them at Mass, bringing them to parish picnics, prayer vigils for Zimbabwe, and pilgrimages to local shrines, as well as continuing to share on the Sunday Gospels over a coffee, and telling stories of their own experience, for example, of reconciliation, as this sacramental opportunity approaches for the one who is to be received into full communion in September (on the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross - most appropriate for him).  Our neophyte has got married - so that has been a great joy in the whole parish community.  He specifically wanted the recitation of the Creed in the nuptial mass because it has come to mean so much to him.   So on reflection, the community and the candidates have been quietly getting on with the business of helping ‘those who are searching for Christ in the various circumstances of daily life’. (RCIA9)  Perhaps, gradually we are moving towards a more liturgical/mystagogical apprenticeship!

As it is probably a general view of this blog that an all year round catechumenate is a good things, if not an easy thing. It seems appropriate that the blog does continues all through the year. As with a year round catechumenate it does not mean that the same level of offering is present but contact and support is kept up.

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 14:13-21):

• Jesus withdraws to a lonely place
• The crowd catches up with them and he has pity for them
• It is evening and the disciples want to send people away for some food
• Jesus tells the disciples — give them something to eat themselves
• They have 5 loaves and 2 fish — Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it to them
• There is more than they wanted.

A Paradox — perhaps

The disciples are told to provide the food themselves and find they have more than enough. Often what we are looking for is already present whether it be new team members or sponsors. The resources, the people we need are present in our parish — in fact they can come from no where else.

However those we seek to evangelise we need to begin to seek from beyond our familiar boundaries. It is worth reflecting on where those who been through the RCIA process in the past have come from and wondering what might be done to widen our ‘net’.

It was an interesting conversation in a small parish office - talking about RCIA - initiating adults - how challenging it could be to sort out irregularities in marriages of people coming forward to join the Church- the process of ensuring that people had begun to conform their lives to Christ - marking the journey to Baptism with various rites and making sure that the new Catholics were well-supported during the period of mystagogia.

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/

Summer is here, schools are about to break up and those involved with RCIA will soon disperse -if they haven’t already- until september. So how does the community continue to exercise its responsibility in the initiation of adults, when formal RCIA meetings have a break?

… the community must always be fully prepared in the pursuit of its apostolic vocation to give help to those who are searching for Christ. In the various circumstances of daily life, all the followers of Christ have the obligation of spreading the faith according to their abilities. #9

In looking at how the ‘primary minister of initiation’ is the community, Thomas Morris (Morris, T. (1997) The RCIA Transforming the Church. Paulist Press, pp.67-8.) reminds us to ask, what is it about our particular community that makes it distinctive: why do we initiate, and into what do we initiate? This was the theme of the recent RCIA conference, and is a worthwhile exercise to consider. Identify what makes your parish community what it is. What is it that identifies those from your church? Remember that the typical community is made up of those who volunteer, as well as those who don’t.

For those who don’t think they are involved with the catechumenate why not try LIFT. Living in Faith Together is a meal based small group, designed for those who may be too busy to commit to a more formal church group, but want to continue to mature their faith. On the basis that everyone has to eat, we combine a meal while sharing the Gospel. We meet once a month in each other’s homes. The host provides the home, somewhere to sit and eat, and everyone brings a plate of food. The evening starts with a reading of the Gospel for the following Sunday. There is time for reflection, or for lectio divina, and then discussion throughout the meal. It can be adapted to involve a couple of families with the catechumens, or to integrate with other groups and members of the community. A meal for the team, or catechumens, or sponsors, would help keep the continuity of RCIA being year- round. You could concentrate on a section of the rite; look at individual ministries: sponsors, godparents; or just get together for Christian based conversation.

I make a few other suggestions:-

• For the team, ask everyone to read the rite and reflect on it.
• As a team, attend a day retreat.
• Explore and find new resources - when travelling in England or abroad, go into a local church and ask how they practice RCIA: this is a great way for picking up ideas, particularly when you get chatting to the local parishioners.
• Ask everyone to read a book, article, or resource and be prepared to give some feedback on it in September: for example, look at the last couple of years of Catechumenate. (Catechumenate published bimonthly by Liturgy Training Publications.The Liturgy Office offers a subscription service in UK)
• Consider RCIA 75(2) & (4) and involve catechumens, candidates and neophytes in something in the parish, SVP, charity, social justice, Fair Trade.
• What is going on in your neighbourhood that would be a living example of what it means to be a Christian?
• Go for a walk, journey together, tell your stories.
• Be prepared for when someone comes knocking at the door, so you haven’t got to turn them away, but can enable an enquirer to start their journey when they want to, at their pace, rather than on a fixed process dictated by the school year.

Share any good ideas, what was challenging, what worked well.