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Travel Reflections: Cathedral at Reims, France

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Notre Dame de Reims Cathedral has a rich history of martyrs, bishops, and royals. As part of the Roman Empire, there is evidence of a Christian presence in Riems in the middle of the third century. The first church on the present site of the cathedral was built around 400 by St. Nicasius (Nicaise), a bishop who died by the hands of invaders (likely Huns, according to one source) when they plundered the city.[1] The statue of him on the north entrance of the church depicts him holding his head with its bishop mitre, indicating a tradition of beheading for his death (photo, right).

But more famous than Bishop Nicaise (French spelling) is Bishop Rémi or Remigius (c. 443 – 533), who is partially visible on the far right in today’s banner photo. In the center is Clovis (c. 466 – 511), King of the Franks, standing in the baptismal font. To the left of Clovis, holding his crown, is St. Coltilde (474 – 545), a Burgundian princess married to Clovis; she was a devout Catholic at a time when Arians were the majority. Clovis was not Christian, but when he appealed to his wife’s God in battle and won, he consented to be baptized (between 496 and 508), and “became the only Catholic sovereign in Christendom.”[2] Gregory of Tours wrote of the event (quoted in Butler’s Lives of the Saints):

Among clouds of incense … “like a new Constantine he moved forward to the water, to blot out the former leprosy, to wash away in this new stream the foul stains from old days.”

But it is Queen Clotilde (not Clovis) whose life can inspire us 1500 years later. Like many couples today, she was the devout partner whose faith was an instrument of the Spirit, drawing her beloved toward Christ and his redemptive work. In our research on the adult catechumenate, Kent and I have encountered similar stories (without the baggage of royalty), such as that of Gail and George. George was the devout one, and Gail, with little connection to and knowledge of Christianity, recognized early in their relationship that attending church was important to George, and so she started coming with him. When I interviewed them, they had been married about two years and were attending the adult catechumenal sessions together; Gail related that she had many questions and doubts. But when she had consented to the baptism of her own child and understood that meant raising the child as a Christian, she realized that she, too, had to be claimed by Christ in this initiation ritual, and so she, like Clovis, moved into “this new stream” of cleansing water.

[1] Butler’s Lives of the Saints,  St. Nicasius, 14 December.

[2] Butler’s Lives of the Saints,  St. Clodilda, 3 June.

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Photos of Riems cathedral by Rhoda Schuler, June 2024

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Catechumenate Formation for Pastors and Deaconesses-to-Be: Immediacy of Baptism and Implementing the Catechumenate

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Throughout the course over the last two years two issues have surfaced repeatedly: immediacy of baptism and implementation of the catechumenate. Some brief observations on both of those issues. Certainly, the desire for immediacy of baptism with adult candidates reflects the priority of the gospel and the gifts that God gives in baptism. We want people to have those gifts. It also reflects that infant baptism—baptism soon after physical birth— currently is the primary paradigm through which we view the baptism of others, especially adults. But adult baptism is best seen through its own paradigm. When seen through the lens of incorporation into the entire story of God in Christ and into the body of Christ in a particular place, then the Word before baptism plays a central role in forming the disciple toward baptism as a pinnacle event in the adult disciple’s ongoing life. Baptism is an encounter with the crucified and living Christ. The adult should have cognizance of who Jesus is before they come to the waters of baptism. They should have some familiarity with the body of Christ into which they are being incorporated. The ministry of the Word—that is always connected to baptism—provides that formation. Waiting as part of a pattern of eschatological waiting is a formative practice. The adult disciple is formed by life in the Word so that they can fully apprehend—as an adult—what God is doing to them in their baptism.

Regarding implementation, three words: Just do it. You have to risk, just try something. It doesn’t mean you have to lay out in the first year an entire adult catechumenate. That boat probably would sink. But just try something and then you can build on that. In many of the parishes we have worked with that have started a catechumenate they take those small steps the first year. They incorporate a weekly meal into their current adult instruction. They use one of the Scripture study methods, such as the African study method, with their elders first and then begin to use it with the catechumens. They incorporate other modes of teaching into their catechesis such as small group reflection. They implement the use of sponsors for adults. It’s not all of these things, but one or two of these kinds of things in the first year to get the ball rolling. This begins to implant these patterns into the congregation’s consciousness and lays the foundation for them becoming the pattern of the congregation’s life.

Interesting that waiting and patience are part of both the adult baptismal experience and the implementation of the catechumenate. It is formation that reflects Paul’s words in Romans 8:24-25: “But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

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Catechumenate Formation for Pastors and Deaconesses-to-Be: Experiential Pedagogy

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Two-thirds of the way through this half semester course—as students were preparing to make their presentations on various aspects of the catechumenate—the revelation popped into my head that I had used few experiential pedagogical elements in the course. What a sucker-punch self-critique of my pedagogy this was. Why? For at least two reasons, first because I strive to teach using a variety of pedagogies to attend to students’ different learning styles. Experiential learning is a critical style to attend to, especially among students of the post-modern generations. And here I had utterly failed to employ any experiential pedagogies. Second, because Dr. Schuler and I had included just such learning strategies throughout the workshops we had held both in person and on-line over the past four years. How had I forgotten about these extremely effective ways of learning about the catechumenate that we had employed in the past? In our next class period, I immediately began class by asking for forgiveness from my students for having failed them as a teacher in this regard. In next year’s version of the class, I will not make the same mistake.

               In our catechumenate workshops we have employed both ritual and catechetical, experiential pedagogies. [Our image for this post only hints at it, with the oil on the table below my posture.] We have had participants experience the rite of acceptance with anointing of the body and the rite of enrollment with the signing of the Book of the Elect. Catechetical experiences have included the African, the visualization, and the Luther Scripture study methods. All three involve reflective, personal consideration of the texts and questions that explore their meaning for the catechumens’ lives of faith in the Triune God. (We have explored these study methods in previous blog posts. If you’d like a copy of one of these posts, e-mail me at burresonk@csl.edu). Exposure to all of these experiential learning experiences will be a part of the course going forward.

               But you, the reader, are wondering what does Burreson’s pedagogical failure have to do with me? Well, primarily, learn from my error of judgement. Your catechumenate should include such opportunities for experiential learning throughout the catechumenate’s length. This will embed the learning and formation of the catechumenate in intentional ways that take hold of the catechumen. This is one of the reasons that ritual action is significant in faith formation. But the same thing applies to experiential forms of Scripture study and opportunities for service to the church and the community throughout the catechumenate. Engagement with these types of experiential learning also becomes important when introducing the catechumenate to a congregation. They need to experience the same things that the catechumens will experience. They need to be formed by the same vision of Christian life, into a similar experience of entering the Christian life. Hopefully, they are captivated and it renews their own faith.

               My students forgave me in early May for failing them pedagogically. Repentance and forgiveness lead by the Spirit’s power to new fruits of faith. Experiential pedagogy will be a constitutive part of the class from now on. I pray you don’t need to repent of such failures in your catechumenate; that it is already filled with an abundance of experiential learning.

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Catechumenate Formation for Pastors and Deaconesses-to-Be

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“This course will examine how the church forms, catechizes, and incorporates adult Christians into the church and the fullness of the Christian life. It will give specific attention to the practice of adult faith formation, especially through the adult catechumenate, by (1) studying its ritual and theological origins and development, (2) examining contemporary catechumenal theology and practice, and (3) charting a course for adult formation that meets today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. The course will involve interaction with adult formation and catechumenate experts and church workers who are currently engaged in adult faith formation.” So reads the description for the course on the catechumenate that I (Kent) have been teaching for the last two years (and will again next year).  So, the next four posts will reflect upon our experience in the course over the last two years. I don’t think my students (hopefully all of them are reading this!) will mind being treated as fodder for the blog. I wouldn’t be reflecting on our experience in the class if they hadn’t given me something to say. I appreciate greatly their investment in the class.

               As my students would affirm, and as the course description implies, the course is unquestionably an apologetic for the catechumenate. I don’t make any bones about it. I want them to find things of value in the catechumenate’s intentional way of making lifelong disciples. Most enter the class with little exposure to the catechumenate. They are surprised to hear that the LCMS (alongside the ELCA’s leadership) was involved in the preparation of the Lutheran Welcome to Christ catechumenal materials in the 1990’s. The catechumenate is foreign territory for most of them, a novel concept. But they are all aware that our current ways (usually the 6-8 week adult instruction class) of making disciples isn’t working very well. The making of disciples, assimilation into the body of Christ, and retention for the long haul…well our current patterns don’t have an avowedly strong track record at any of that. My students are positioned to want to find something of value in the catechumenate. My persuasive rhetoric could persuade successfully.

               Following an initial introduction through the beginning pages of Paul Hoffman’s Faith Forming Faith, we begin with the rites of the RCIA and Welcome to Christ. Last year a required visit and this year an optional visit to the Easter Vigil at a Roman Catholic Church exposed them to how the Vigil makes the most sense in the context of a catechumenate (20 baptisms at the Roman Catholic Church in St. Louis that some of us attended). A brief history of the catechumenate and conversion follows, especially through the work of Alan Kreider. Then we center on a Lutheran theology of conversion and the acknowledgement that we need to look at conversion both from below (human perspective) and from above (divine perspective and monergism). The last section of this seven-week course considers contemporary issues in the catechumenate such as ritual and preaching, mission and hospitality, catechesis and mystagogy, and vocation. The only required texts are the aforementioned by Hoffman (best introduction to the catechumenate for any audience) and Kreider. The students must do a resource review to familiarize themselves with other resources. The final course project is developing a plan for introducing the catechumenate or aspects of it in their congregation. Since many of the students are finishing their education and will soon be going to their calls, this exercise might prove an immediately handy resource.

               In the next three weeks I’ll talk about some of the questions that my students have raised and reflect on the pedagogy of the course, an opportunity for self-critique. Entrance into the course is initially like sojourning in a foreign land. I am thankful my students are willing to become like catechumens themselves and journey with me and become no longer strangers but pilgrims into the catechumenate.

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More Resources for the Stages of the Catechumenate

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As the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” closes, framed by the Confession of St. Peter and Conversion of St. Paul, we again commend to our readers seeking resources on the adult catechumenate the website of Journey to Baptismal Living: https://journeytobaptism.org/.

Here’s this week’s sampling of some helpful JBL resources:

“What Is the Adult Catechumenate?” is a brief outline of the catechumenal process for adults. It stresses individualized process and importance of relationships in the process. https://journeytobaptism.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2023/05/Articles_What-is-the-Adult-Catechumenate.pdf

“An Aural Method of Experiencing Scripture (The African Model)” provides the step-by-step process for this widely used method to engage inquirers and catechumens with Scripture. We recommend trying it with faithful members of your congregation first, both to see how it “works” and to become comfortable with this method before introducing it into a catechumenal process. If you read this document and say “No way” to yourself, see the next item in the list … https://journeytobaptism.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2023/05/BibleStudies_AuralMethod.pdf

“Formation in Small Groups: Benefits of Using the So-Called ‘African Model’” is the companion piece to the above resource. Each of the bullet points in this short document stresses the formation aspect of the catechumenate: “We learn … We begin … We become …” culminating with “We experience Christian community …” https://journeytobaptism.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2023/05/Articles_Formation-in-Small-Groups.pdf

“The Emmaus Journey: Mystagogy for God’s People” is a longer document (7 pages) that richly offers the Emmaus story as a model for the post-Easter/baptismal stage of the catechumenate, mystagogy. It’s both inspiring and practical. https://journeytobaptism.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2023/05/Workshop_Mystagogy.pdf

As we said last week: Not everything on this site will be of value to subscribers of “Forming Lutherans,” but we trust that you all are discerning readers who can separate the gold from the dross and use the gold to fashion a catechumenal process appropriate for your congregation and its missional context. Just as Peter and Paul developed different methods to preach Christ, so each pastor and congregation will need to work with the gifts of the Spirit in their setting.

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Banner Image: Icon of Ss Peter and Paul by Konstantinos Paleokapas, 1640. Karakallou Monastery Mount Athos, Greece. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Konstantinos_Paleokapas_Saint_Peter_and_Paul.png

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A Living, Organic Network: A Catechumenate Heart

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Alan Hirsch’s 4th characteristic of missional DNA (mDNA) or Apostolic Genius is what he calls Organic Systems. This entails perceiving and structuring the church’s life in mission on organic, living models rather than institutional and bureaucratic models. As Hirsch says, “A living systems approach seeks to structure the common life of an organization around the rhythms and structures that mirror life itself” (The Forgotten Ways, 182). Hirsch argues that the organic model is “theologically richer…because it is funded by a sense of God’s intimate relation and investment in his creation” (181).

Organic systems function primarily in networked ways. Think of the various systems of the body such as the neurological system. It operates in a collaborative way, all the parts of the neurological system contributing to its guidance and operation. With regard to vital organic networks Hirsch says, “The effective performance of a network over time and distance will depend to a large degree on the cultivation of shared beliefs, interests, principles, and goals—perhaps articulated in an overarching ideology” (202). Those beliefs, interests, etc…, shape that ideology. That ideology or shared social imaginary, to borrow a phrase from Charles Taylor, is the living pulse that keeps the network interconnected and thriving.

Missional leadership within an organic network will foster the permeation of that social imaginary throughout the network. Hirsch delineates 4 things that missional leadership can do for the living network to thrive in the world:

  • Unleash the mDNA that is dormant in the system.
  • Bring the various elements in the system into meaningful relationship.
  • Move the system…to become highly responsive to its environment.
  • In a mass of disordered information … select the flow of information and focus the community around it (183-4).

Through such leadership in the body of Christ—the living network of God—the relationships of the believers to one another and to those outside the body become the very center of the church’s life. In other words, mission resides at the center of the church’s life.

Central to the organic network of the body of Christ are hubs. For Hirsch, “Hubs are places where the lines of communication connect” (204). Hubs are central nodes in the neurological system of the body. In the congregations whose catechumenates we studied, the catechumenate functioned as just such a hub, and often as the central hub. The catechumenate was a central connection point for sharing and communicating the social imaginary of a congregation in mission. Other elements of congregational life emanated from the catechumenate such as Bible studies, community service, youth group, youth catechumenate, liturgical service, men’s and women’s groups, hospitality ministries, even congregational committee meetings. The catechumenate became one of the places that embedded in the congregation the way in which the congregation understood its life together and shared that social imaginary. It is the living heartbeat of the organic network of the congregation—the body of Christ in that place.

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Where to Begin? A Vision for Transformation

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We have a Readers’ Group at my congregation and we just finished reading The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume in J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy The Lord of the Rings. Hobbits are a very contented lot. Change is not something in which a hobbit believes. Adventures and journeys lead Hobbiton to question the character of a hobbit. Yet, the most prominent models of Hobbit character—Bilbo and Frodo—initially reluctantly, but willingly embrace change and the journey. So it needs to be for the journey of our adult catechumens and congregations seeking robust forms of adult faith formation. We must have a vision for transformation.

All of us know that something is just not right with our adult catechumenal formation approaches. Certainly some congregations that have the typical 10-week adult instruction class are receiving new members. But in most congregations those are professions of faith and transfers, not adult baptisms. With the increasing growth of adults who have not been baptized, the number of those who can enter a congregation’s life by profession of faith or transfer will continue to shrink. Something is not right with our adult catechumenal models. We need a vision for transformation.

Establishing such a vision starts with assessing what we are doing right now. It is comfortable and desirable to remain in the surroundings of the catechumenal Shire, thinking that all is well and good. Lethargy (catechumenal sloth!) is an attractive temptation. But too much is at stake for congregational life and mission to continue to own a dry and dormant adult formation process. Assessment begins by asking questions. What are we doing well right now? What evidence is there to support that? What are we doing poorly in adult faith formation? What evidence supports those conclusions? What is driving our adult faith formation practices? Is it being driven by a clear sense of mission? Are we baptizing a good number of adults each year? Is it fostering active lives of faith and true discipleship in those baptized, confirmed, and who profess faith within the congregation? Are our current practices transforming congregational life and discipleship?

These kinds of questions, as Leisa Anslinger indicates [A Vision for Conversion: Eight Steps to Radically Change Your RCIA Process (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2018], helps to create a sense of urgency for transforming our adult faith formation approaches. That urgency will drive the movement toward change in how we evangelize and form disciples within the congregation. By asking these hard questions about our current faith formation we realize the significant inadequacies of what we are currently doing to disciple new Christians. Sitting on our hands is no longer an option. Transformation is needed NOW.

The entire congregation needs to participate in creating a new vision for faith formation within the congregation and for the transformation of congregational life for and through this new vision. This means being clear about your mission as a congregation and holding that mission close to your congregational heart. For example, as I’ve said elsewhere in this blog, one way to do this is to speak your mission statement regularly and repeatedly in your worship services and congregational activities (as Redeemer Lutheran Church in the Bronx does!). That mission identity is the foundation for the new vision of adult faith formation. And that new vision sustains the urgency for congregational transformation. We can’t remain in the catechumenal Shire. As Bilbo says to Frodo in the Lord of the Rings, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” Let’s hope you’re swept off to the vision of a new journey in adult faith formation.

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A Curriculum for the Catechumenate? Formation for Life

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An often asked question about the catechumenate is, “Where can I find a curriculum for the catechumenate?” While from the perspective of efficiency it would be desirable to have a curriculum that could fit all places and circumstances that desire works against the nature of the catechumenate. While some Roman Catholic dioceses do provide catechetical/doctrinal curriculums for the RCIA, those usually only focus specifically on catechetical knowledge and aren’t intended as a curriculum for the entire catechumenate. This is why Diana Macalintal titled her book on the RCIA’s life within the Christian community: Your Parish IS the Curriculum. (See my series of blog posts on her book from July 15 through August 20, 2021). Since the catechumenate is aimed toward forming seekers into the Christian faith within that particular congregation’s life as the Body of Christ, their life together is the curriculum for formation. An abstract curriculum from outside the parish would run counter to that type of formation.

But I don’t want to be accused of punting on the efficiency question. Yes, the catechumenate requires a deliberate, intentional, and, at times, slow approach to forming disciples. But that “built-in” inefficiency shouldn’t be shouldered solely on the backs of the pastors, church workers, catechists, and sponsors who work the catechumenal process. Rather, the inquirers and seekers themselves should shoulder that load since the intentionality and slow pace of the catechumenate is for their benefit as they walk the road to conversion.

So what might a curriculum look like that is oriented to the seekers and more efficiently responds to their seeking? Roman Catholic Nick Wagner in his book, Seek the Living God: Five RCIA inquiry Questions for Making Disciples (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2017), advocates for a curricular approach that is seeker-centered and oriented toward the adult learner. We must ask the question of each adult seeker, “What are you actually seeking?” This allows the seeker to be the primary person for determining the shape of a curriculum in the catechumenate that is tailored for their individual journey. Wagner encourages the use of contract learning in which the seeker and catechumenal team develop a contract that will facilitate their formation toward baptism and participation in the Body of Christ. Developing that contract entails for Wagner asking five questions of the seeker:

  1. Where have you been?
  2. Where are you now?
  3. Where do you want to get to?
  4. How are you going to get where you want to go?
  5. How will you know when you have arrived?

Answering these questions leads to designing a learning contract that will facilitate participation in the Body of Christ in accord with the seeker’s background, current needs, and the journey they wish to make. The seeker is the one looking to make this journey and the opportunity for accomplishing it is placed on them. All the participants in the catechumenal team can then play their role in facilitating this journey. Given the uniqueness of the journeys of each seeker, there is not a one-size-fits-all curriculum for the catechumenate. But this individualized approach, with the necessary involvement of a diverse catechumenal team, creates significant commitment to the process for the seeker that will lead to lifelong formation for Christian life. Wagner’s book calls for further reading, which I intend to do. I commend it to you. And encourage you to explore constructing a catechumenate curriculum that is seeker-centered, forming them for continual participation in the life of Christ’s body.

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New Resource for Adult Faith Formation through Preaching and Liturgy

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Life in Christ: Rooted, Woven, and Grafted into God’s Story is a new resource from Concordia Publishing House by the Rev. Dr. Adam T. Filipek, pastor of Holy Cross and Immanuel Lutheran Churches in Lidgerwood, North Dakota. In this video, Pastor Filipek speaks about his approach to articulating the Gospel of Jesus Christ—both in the book and in his preaching. He advocates for a narrative approach with an emphasis on typology as way to connect Old Testament stories with the fulfillment of God’s salvation through Christ in the New Testament. Also central to his approach is connecting that story of salvation in Scripture to “the story” of the hearer, so that people in the pew experience the “for me” of the biblical narrative.

In this video of four minutes, Pastor Filipek provides examples of this narrative approach. You must be logged into Google to view the video.

To read some reviews of the book, Life in Christ: Rooted, Woven, and Grafted into God’s Story, and for information on ordering it, click here.

Stained glass window: From Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lidgerwood, ND; for more information on the church’s windows, click here.

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Register Now for Our July 5 – 7 Workshop

The deadline to register for our workshop at Concordia University – St. Paul, Minnesota is June 21.

We have designed this “visioning lab” on adult faith formation to encourage pastors, commissioned ministers, and lay leaders to imagine how you might design an adult catechumenate process for your congregation and to give you structured time to plan the initial steps for introducing this process at your parish. The cost is $140.00.

Join Rev. Dr. Kent Burreson (Louis A. Fincke and Anna B. Shine Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis) and Dcs. Dr. Rhoda Schuler (Professor Emerita, Concordia – St. Paul) to discover that faith formation is not a program but a way of life. Through its life of community and worship, teaching and preaching, witness and service God transforms the baptized and the community, deeply and broadly.

Click here to register

Click here for a full description and schedule of the event.

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