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Welcoming the Stranger: The Catechumenate in the Small Town

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Two weeks ago I (Kent) ventured to a small town—Ottawa, Kansas—in the heartland of the United States. This is a quintessentially American place: a small town with one main street running through it, the heartbeat of the town’s corporate life. These towns were, and in certain ways still are, the heart and soul of American life.

But the challenges for church life don’t stop at the interior rings of urban areas or the outer rings of suburbia. In many ways, certain challenges are common to all the places where the church lives. Declining participation, lack of identification with a denominational tradition, increased apathy toward organized religion, congregations that are simply trying to survive, declining numbers of ministers and church workers, and the drag on the energy and activity of a small number of overcommitted laity. Such challenges can be true in urban New York just as well as Ottawa, Kansas.

These challenges elicit questions such as: What are we doing to engage the community in relationship-building? Do we have a plan for sustaining assimilation into congregational life of those we encounter outside the walls of our church? We are doing lots of things and are engaged in lots of programs but is any of that really effective at reaching the strangers to us in our community? Do we have any vision for adult faith formation into the gospel and our congregational life?

These were the kinds of questions raised by the pastors and laity who gathered at Faith Lutheran Church in Ottawa. The welcome I received was truly warm and hospitable. The fellowship between congregations, pastors, and laity was uplifting. That makes it abundantly clear that the relational resources exist in these congregations to sustain active engagement with the stranger and formation that leads to discipleship in the context of these congregations’ corporate lives.

What they were searching for was a way to structure, organize, and energize the congregation’s life toward the outside. And during our three days together they experienced and reflected on means of encountering the stranger, fostering discipleship, reflecting on the Word of God, sustaining ongoing catechesis, and a rich ritual life that facilitates an encounter with the gospel and transitions new disciples toward faith-filled and faithful life in Christ. I pray that the Spirit’s breath through the Word experienced and reflected upon in our time together in Ottawa will bear much fruit as these congregations engage with welcoming the stranger into congregational life.

Mystagogy Cross

Formational Reading of Scripture: Introducing it to a Congregation

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Slow Walking Series

Last week we reflected on the reorientation of Scripture study as part of a faith formation process. Such a reorientation entails less focus on information and learning what Christians believe and a much greater focus on hearing and reflecting on the Word of God and exploring the questions about Jesus, faith, and the church that seekers and catechumens pose. This type of reading and exploration of Scripture is formational reading of Scripture. As the book Understanding Faith Formation indicates, formational reading transforms the reader by the influence of the Word of God mediated through the lived encounter with the text by the power of the Holy Spirit (94). One method of formational reading that we explored last week was the African Bible Study method, which seeks reflection that intersects the text with the life of the hearer.

As part of the general approach of the catechumenate for forming disciples who live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, formational reading aims to transform the lives of those encountering Christ in the church’s life. Formational reading is described by Understanding Faith Formation in the following ways:

  • The objective is not to cover as much material as possible
  • Formational reading is deep
  • Allows the text to master the reader
  • The reader is shaped by the text
  • Forms a humble, receptive approach to the Scriptures
  • Expects an openness to mystery (especially of God) as encountered in the text (95-96)

How might you establish such a formational reading of the Scriptures in a congregation unfamiliar with such an approach? Why is it important to establish this approach for the sake of a vibrant catechumenate? Since—as we have explored in previous blog posts—n the catechumenate the parish is the curriculum, this formational reading format needs to be at home in the congregation if it is to be experienced by seekers and catechumens as a living expression of the congregation’s faith life. One of the results of the catechumenate is that it builds community and incorporates newcomers into that community. For formational reading of the Scriptures to be part of the incorporation of newcomers it needs to have a formative place in building the community’s life. As an expression of the community’s life it is normally lay led with both trained catechists and sponsors participating in the leadership of formational Bible study. Lay catechists and sponsors first need to be formed themselves by this formational approach to reading the Scriptures.

So what might be the process for establishing such a formational approach to reading the Scriptures? It would be best to have this approach firmly embedded in congregational life prior to the start of a catechumenal process. To embed this approach start with small groups in the congregation. Familiarizing the leadership of the congregation with formational reading would be critical. Consider using formational reading with the board of elders or the church council and the leadership team of the congregation. Following upon an introduction to congregational leadership, formational Bible study could be used in one of the Sunday morning Bible studies. If there is a small group Bible study ministry in the congregation, this approach could be introduced to one or more of those weekly/monthly small group studies. Once formational reading has permeated the congregation’s experience with Scripture, then the pastor can begin training laity with exposure to this approach to serve as catechists for the weekly study of Scripture in the catechumenate. Establishing such a formational reading approach to encountering the Word of God will lead the explorers and catechumens  to fall “in love with the Scriptures” and making it a daily part of their contemplation of and encounter with Christ (Macalintal, Your Parish is the Curriculum, 75).

Palm Sunday 2019 (219)

Lifelong Disciples: The Congregation Training Ground

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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 Curriculum for Making Disciples” and how “Parish Life is the Syllabus.” If it hasn’t been clear, it is now apparent that the catechumenate is focused on creating lifelong disciples, people who live by faith and show forth the fruits of faith. And the best way to learn to live that life is by watching, hearing, and doing that life with the congregation as it lives it. That’s why apprenticeship is the primary model for formation in the catechumenate. It is an apprenticeship with Jesus through his body, the church. The congregation is the training ground for new disciples, disciples making disciples. The catechumenate is not only about knowledge of the faith, but also about the living of that faith. It trains disciples in the Christian life.

In order to learn the church’s lifestyle (and each congregation has a unique way of living the faith, which is why it is important for everyone who wants to be a disciple in that congregation journey through the catechumenate), the Roman Catholic RCIA outlines four disciplines that are the curriculum:  Word, Community, Worship, and Witness. I believe all four are central to a Lutheran conceptualization of the life of faith. The Word (Incarnate, proclaimed, and written) is at the center of the apprenticeship. It is the opportunity, as Macalintal puts it, “to meet Christ and his friends” (75). Catechumens (along with their sponsors) should gather at the divine service every Sunday to hear the Word, and also attend other opportunities to explore the Word such as Bible studies, devotional experiences, etc… This encounter with the Word entails breaking it open for the catechumens so that they see their daily lives through the Word. Macalintal provides the outline of such faith sharing through the Scriptures (75-77). Other forms of breaking open the Word include the African Bible study method, lectionary-based discernment, ritual-based discernment, and visualization discernment.

Encountering the Word takes place within the Community. Arthur Carl Piepkorn referred to this as the Life of God in the Life of the Parish (a seminal article in The Church: Selected Writings of Arthur Carl Piepkorn). Meeting Christians in the community is the second part of the curriculum. Thus it is incumbent that the parish be a hospitable place, welcoming inquirers and catechumens into its life together. Only by interacting with the members of the parish do the catechumens learn how to live in hope and how to forgive.

The third component of the curriculum is Worship, both the Sunday assembly and the other opportunities for worship in a parish throughout the week. Only through attending these do the catechumens learn to pray and worship. The dismissals in the Sunday gathering, after the service of the Word, are continuations of worship (not primarily instructional times). They allow members of the parish to lead the catechumens into breaking open the Word through faith-sharing that flows from the Word.

The last component of the curriculum is Witness. By joining the parish’s events and activities the catechumens learn how to witness, to proclaim the gospel in words and actions. Hopefully, they learn the priority of bearing witness to a life of faith and hope in Christ Jesus toward the poor and those at the edges of the assembly and society.

When a catechumenate immerses the catechumens in the parish’s life, then parish life becomes the syllabus for the catechumenate. It is a hands-on course as the catechumens do what Christians do day-in and day-out, week-in and week-out. Macalintal refers to this as Upside-Down catechumenate. In other words, it’s not the usual way that the catechumenate is done. The usual way entails trying to recruit volunteers to enact the activities of the RCIA which are all focused in the RCIA itself. In the Upside-Down catechumenate, catechumenate meetings are less frequent, but sponsors are immersing the catechumens in parish activities on a weekly basis. Through this the catechumens meet the assembly and learn how they believe and live the faith. Macaltinal examines bulletins from large and small Roman Catholic parishes to demonstrate the myriad of activities in a parish on a weekly basis, aligning with the four disciplines, in which catechumens might immerse themselves (even in small parishes).

If we want catechumens to become lifelong disciples, then they need to be incorporated into the faith community. The best way to do that is let the congregation’s life be their training ground in the faith.

Easter Vigil 2019 (25)

Going Outside the Doors

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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 team’s preparation of the congregation for the rite of acceptance (when the seekers/inquirers cross the threshold into the formation process of the catechumenate). For several weeks she prepared the assembly by indicating how Jeff was identifying with the congregation’s mission and identity, particularly care for those in need in the community. She encouraged them to pray for him. And then on the Sunday of acceptance she invited them to do something they had never done before. The inquirers, including Jeff, and their sponsors were outside the doors of the church and she invited the assembly to get out of their pews “and go and pray for him and bring him into the church so that he can learn to hear and follow Jesus” (58). She didn’t know how the assembly would respond, but to their great surprise almost everyone followed them out the doors to surround the inquirers. As she notes, the parish “felt invested in making sure Jeff was welcomed well and began his formation supported by the community” (58). This kind of preparation of the assembly for its role takes planning and commitment in order to build a relationship between the inquirers/catechumens and the congregation. They went outside the doors to welcome them across the threshold toward following Jesus in this congregation.

That is the role of the baptized in faith formation. In Macalintal’s words, they are “to be a shining, clear example of a people of faith and a community of conversion” (49). The team involved in the catechumenal process should aim to coach the congregation to play this hospitable, modeling role vis-à-vis the seekers/catechumens. This conviction is born of the recognition that the baptized are agents of God’s mission in Christ toward the world. They engage in “wordless witness, explicit witness, and community witness” (50). The assembly’s relationship to the seekers/catechumens in the rites of faith formation is a demonstration of community witness, a ministry of hospitality and relationship-building.

In the remainder of chapter three Macalintal outlines the assembly’s role in the primary periods of the catechumenate process. First, in the period of evangelization and precatechumenate they primarily show hospitality. One way to do so would be through inviting seekers/catechumens into their homes to eat with them in order to get to know them better and for them to get to know the baptized better. Second, during the catechumenate stage the assembly should foster in the divine service an encounter with Christ and training for the Christian life among the catechumens. For those involved in facilitating faith formation this means preparing the assembly for the rite of acceptance. The assembly needss to be aware of the purpose, primary symbols, and subjects of the rite of acceptance into the catechumenate. They also need to be spiritually prepared to foster the encounter with Christ. Such preparation can include sharing a question with the assembly, often based on the Gospel reading for that week, such as, “In your life right now, what are you looking for from Jesus?” (55). Lastly, as in Jeff’s story, it includes preparing the assembly to go outside to greet and pray for the catechumens.

Third, during the rite of election into the period of preparation for baptism, the assembly’s primary role is to give testimony to the life of Christ in their midst. Since this is a “no-turning-back” moment for the catechumens that testimony helps to affirm and strengthen them for the journey to baptism during Lent. Macalintal offers twenty suggestions for how the assembly might give testimony. I’ll highlight a few:

  • Write a letter to the pastor about the catechumen and what God has done in their life
  • Provide cards for the baptized to write words testifying to the candidates’ progress or giving thanks to God for that progress
  • Ask sponsors to keep a journal indicating how God has been at work in the lives of the catechumens
  • Invite the elderly and homebound of the parish to pray for the catechumens (pp. 61-62)

Throughout Lent the assembly is encouraged to be present at the Scrutiny rites (rites of exorcistic prayer) and the rites presenting the Creed and Lord’s Prayer to the catechumens. They are also to be encouraged to participate in and model for the catechumens the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. They are to be examples of a penitential lifestyle.

Fourth, in the postbaptismal period of mystagogy (reflection on the experience of initiation into the church through baptism and the Lord’s Supper), the goals for the neophytes are that they live within the congregation, meditate on the Gospel, partake of the Lord’s Supper, and actively support those in need. The assembly should be doing the same things and modeling it for the newly baptized in their worship and in their common life. In this way, the encounter with the living Lord is fostered.

Thus Macalintal describes the congregation’s role in the catechumenal process. How might your parish go out the doors and build relationships with your seekers/inquirers and catechumens?   

Redeemer The Scrutinies #1 2019

Your Parish IS the Curriculum

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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 the restored faith formation/catechumenate following on Vatican II. So, in these blog pages over the coming weeks we’ll turn from Paul Galbreath’s consideration of Baptism at the center of the church’s life to Macalintal’s practically-focused consideration of how the life of a parish is the curriculum for the catechumenate, or, as the subtitle says, RCIA in the Midst of Community.

Affirming that your parish is the curriculum grounds the basic recognition of why there is faith formation at all: it is for incorporating a person into the life of the Body of Christ. And that person is incorporated into a specific Christian community that lives together in a particular place at a particular time. The person being incorporated comes to know Christ in and through the life of that community gathered around Word and sacraments. But it is the community that mediates that relationship to the neophyte (whether unbaptized, baptized, or confirmed). Thus, the parish IS the curriculum.

That’s why the catechumenate/faith formation/RCIA is not a program. It is the facilitator of budding relationships in the Body of Christ. It births the incorporation of new people into the community. It is saying yes to a lifelong new relationship between the Body and this new person on the threshold of the church.

That’s why Macalintal begins her introduction with a story about Rocio, who “stumbles” onto the steps of their Newman Center, and how relationship with her transforms both her and those involved in the RCIA. Questions exchanged between them—from Rocio: What does it mean when you put your hand in that water and touch your forehead? From the RCIA folk: What do you hope for? Long for?—led to gradual change on Rocio’s part so that she became a catechumen, continuing to ask discerning questions: Who is Jesus for you and why does he matter to you? (4). And all that led to Rocio’s ultimate change: Baptism. As Macalintal, says at the Easter Vigil “the new Rocio standing before us, drenched with life and gleaming with light, was a completely brand new creation” (6).

But, because the catechumenate births new relationships, Rocio was not the only one changed. She changed the members of the RCIA team and the Newman Center parish. “[They] had become more faithful and true as Christians…had become more attentive to the Spirit’s work…had grown deeper in their love for one another and in their faith in Christ…In that font [they], too, with Rocio had been recreated into a more visible and merciful face of Christ” (6).

All that happened not because of the programmatic or catechetical elements of the RCIA, as important as those were. It didn’t happen because the teaching was utterly compelling, even though it often was. It happened because Rocio “was consistently embedded (a good description for a neophyte, or “new plant) into the ongoing life of the community beyond the RCIA group” (8). It happened because the Holy Spirit was at work through the Word in relationship with the entire Body of Christ incorporating Rocio into the life of the community. Rocio had planted roots beyond the RCIA. The catechumenate “enhanced the deeper learning of the Christian way of life that she was already living with her friends within the Christian community” (8). For us Lutherans that means our catechumenal practices, catechesis and forms are not the end, but simply part of the broader incorporation of a person into the life of our Christian community.

That is why the parish Is the curriculum. What the hoped-for new member of the Christian community is learning is the life of Christ within the life of the parish. Not an introductory class, not a catechetical program, not an introduction to the community’s structure and programs. They are learning to live in Christ as Christ lives in the life of this community.

Thus, all the members of the parish, all the baptized, are teaching the catechumens and neophytes. Their words and actions model living life in Christ. The catechumenate simply seeks to immerse them in that life, to birth relationships, to lead them to Jesus alive in their midst. In the rest of the book Macalintal will give a vision for how to do just that.

For the catechumenate, your parish is the curriculum. Faith formation opens the doors and the windows so that the neophyte can see and enter into that life.