Being with Christ Jesus (That’s Catechesis)
In the last two chapters of Your Parish is the Curriculum Diana Macalintal explores the shape of teaching or catechesis in faith formation. At its essence the catechesis is all about the experience of being with Christ Jesus through Word and Sacraments in the Christian community and reflection upon that experience. It is catechesis that […]
Lifelong Disciples: The Congregation Training Ground
Throughout her book Your Parish is the Curriculum Diana Macalintal has emphasized that formation of the catechumens through the catechumenate happens in the life of the parish. In chapter 3 she discussed the ways that the assembly is involved in the rites of the catechumenate. In chapters 4 and 5 she turns toward the “The […]
Going Outside the Doors
The title for this week’s blog is admittedly unusual. Going outside the doors where and for what reason? In chapter 3 of Your Parish Is the Curriculum, Diana Macalintal tells the story of Jeff, an inquirer/seeker who was preparing to enter the catechumenate. Her story is not so much about Jeff but about the RCIA […]
An Apprenticeship in Faith
As we saw in our last post, Diana Macalintal in Your Parish is the Curriculum explores the optimal ways in which the Roman Catholic catechumenate—Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA)—functions. That entails the Christian community serving as God’s premier agent of fostering conversion and incorporating new Christians into the community’s life together. In chapters […]
Your Parish IS the Curriculum
That’s the title of a book by Diana Macalintal published by Liturgical Press in Collegeville, Minnesota. Macalintal is one of the founders, along with her husband Nick, of TeamRCIA.com, A Roman Catholic group promoting best practices in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults or RCIA. The RCIA, for those who may be unfamiliar, is […]
A Well-Watered Life
Have you ever considered your life, at whatever age you find yourself now, as a well-watered life? Paul certainly conceives of the Christian life in this way in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” He […]
Overflowing Gifts: The Spirit’s Baptismal Outpouring
Leading through the Water, as Paul Galbreath indicates in chapter 7, leads not to baptism as an end, but to life in view of baptism: the baptismal life. That baptismal life is fed by an overflowing stream of baptismal gifts that sustain the church’s life and bear witness to Christ in the world. Those gifts […]
Water Everywhere: God’s Gift for Transforming Life
Paul Galbreath titles the 5th chapter of Leading through the Water very simply “Water.” In a sense the entire book, and the catechumenate, drives to the water and finds its center, source, and power in the Word-drenched water. In this chapter Galbreath walks through the history of baptismal water and then seeks to learn from […]