Sometimes we can feel overwhelmed by all there is to do in initiation ministry. At times, I’ve been the only person on the catechumenate “team.” Even parishes blessed with larger teams can feel like there is always more to do than people to help. How in the world are we going to manage it all?

It helps to realize that much of the “work” of the catechumenate is the ordinary work of parish life. Catechumens learn to be Catholic by hanging out with other Catholics. Since that’s the case, the most important team member you have is the parish community.

The faithful

If you have an active parish, you already have a team. You don’t have to create something new. What we need to learn to do is enhance the many gifts you are already blessed with in your community. If you look at your copy of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, paragraph 9, you will see this phrase: “the Initiation of adults is its own concern and a matter for all the baptized.”

What that means is initiation is not your job. Your job is to help the parishioners do their job. The rite gives us a five-point outline of the job description for the parishioners: evangelization, liturgy, election Sunday, Lent, and Easter.

1. Evangelization (period of inquiry)

The first thing you need to help parishioners do is to understand the purpose of their own baptism. The rite says:

In the time of evangelization and precatechumenate the faithful should remember that the apostolate of the Church and of all her members is principally directed toward making known the message of Christ to the world by words and deeds and toward communicating his grace.

OCIA 9.1

The text goes on to describe how parishioners are to make known the message of Christ to the seekers. You can help remind them that they are to:

• Live like Christians in ways the catechumens can see them doing so
• Invite the catechumens into their homes
• Talk to the catechumens
• Invite the catechumens to community gatherings

Now you need to get creative and think up ways to help the parishioners do these things. Don’t fall into the rut of taking on these tasks yourself. Sit down right now, and list twenty ways you can encourage the parishioners to take on their role. Here are some examples I thought of.

1. Once a month, remind the parishioners that there are [number] people asking questions about being Catholic
2. Print a question in the bulletin that an inquirer asked and how you answered
3. Once a month, write a paragraph in the bulletin or website about something an inquirer witnessed in your parish that impressed him
4. Give the names of the inquirers to the elderly and homebound and ask them to pray for the inquirers
5. Create a once-a-quarter dinner schedule for each inquirer. Ask parishioners to sign up to host an inquirer for dinner.
6. Create a 3 x 5 prayer card to hand out at Mass. Side A, a prayer for the inquirers; Side B, three ice-breaker questions to ask an inquirer to engage her in conversation
7. Create large, bright name tags for the inquirers to wear to parish events; Tell parishioners to look for the name tags
8. Obtain or create a master list of parish meetings and events. Ask for volunteers to call and invite inquirers to the events.
9. One month before Halloween, ask for volunteers to invite the children of an inquirer to go trick or treating with their children
10. One month before Thanksgiving, ask for volunteers to invite an inquirer over for Thanksgiving dinner
11. One month before Christmas, ask for volunteers to invite an inquirer over for Christmas dinner or a Christmas party
12. One month before July 4, ask for volunteers to invite an inquirer to view the fireworks or come to a picnic
13. Create a Facebook page for each inquirer. Ask the teens and young adults to invite the inquires to be “friends” on their Facebook pages
14. Ask the children in the parish school or parish catechetical program to reach out to the children of the inquires
15. Add pictures and short bios of the inquirers to the parish website
16. One month before Pancake Sunday (or your parish equivalent), line up volunteers to invite an inquirer to sit with them during the meal
17. Start a friendly “points in heaven” competition among the parishioners; they get a point for every person they introduce an inquirer to whom the inquirer hasn’t met before. Keep score on the parish website
18. Ask the youth group to personally give the inquires a free gift certificate to the annual car wash or equivalent parish fund raiser
19. Ask the parish school or catechetical program children to create a poster of the inquirers
20. Ask the teens or young adults to create a YouTube clip of each inquirer and post on the parish website

The first thing you need to help parishioners do is to understand the purpose of their own baptism.

2. Liturgies (period of the catechumenate)

Whenever you celebrate a ritual with the catechumens, the faithful “should be willing to attend the celebrations of the catechumenate when possible and take an active part in the responses, prayers, songs and acclamations” (OCIA 9.2).

Time to get creative again. How can you help parishioners not only show up but also be spiritually and emotionally present for the seekers? Can you think of twenty ways to help them do that? Here some suggestions, but don’t stop with my ideas. Come up with ideas that will work in your parish.

1. Publish the schedule of liturgies for the year which will include rites for the catechumens
2. For three weeks before each special liturgy, encourage parishioners to bring their non-Catholic and non-attending Catholic friends and family to the special rite
3. Collaborate with the musician to be sure the music at these liturgies is drop-dead-easy to sing
4. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse the rite so there are no glitches. Bumpy and awkward transitions kill participation
5. Schedule the best lectors so the assembly will be drawn into the readings
6. Schedule a team meeting with the pastor to brainstorm best ideas for the homily
7. Use big symbols that everyone can see, hear, and smell
8. Remind all the minsters to smile and relax
9. Provide a lesson plan based on the rite for the parish school religion class and the parish catechetical program
10. Ask the youth group to provide hospitality
11. Send a written invitation to the senior citizens to come to the liturgy to pray for those who are becoming Catholic
12. E-mail (or better, text message) the youth and young adults with the same invitation
13. Publish the pictures of the catechumens in the bulletin the week before and the week of the special liturgy
14. Write a note in the bulletin the week after the liturgy thanking all the parishioners who participated
15. Do a 45 second (practice until you have it down) explanation of the rite afterward, during the announcements. It’s clearer for folks if they’ve exprienced it before you explain it.
16. If possible, place the catechumens at various places throughout the assembly to create a sense of unity between them and the parishioners
17. Involve the assembly in gestures of blessing and prayer for the catechumens
18. Cut out every possible time waster in the liturgy to get people out of Mass on time or close to on time
19. Provide a detailed worship aid so those unfamiliar with the rite will know what to do
20. The following week, write a note in the bulletin or on the website describing the catechumens’ reaction to the hospitality of the parishioners during the liturgy

How can you help parishioners not only show up but also be spiritually and emotionally present for the seekers? Can you think of twenty ways to help them do that?

3. Election Sunday

The election of the catechumens is a huge event. It really ought to be second only to the Easter Vigil in your parish. This is what the church teaches about this important day:

On the day of Election, since the addition of members to the community itself is involved, they should take care to give a just and prudent testimony about the catechumens when appropriate.

OCIA 9.3

You can see by this that steps one and two are tremendously important. If your parishioners have not been involved in the lives of the catechumens during the inquiry and catechumenate periods, they won’t be able to give any authentic testimony about the lives of the seekers.

In other words, you have to put a lot of focus on helping parishioners do the first two parts of their job so they can succeed in this third crucial role. Perhaps you haven’t yet gotten your parishioners very involved in the lives of the seekers yet. Even so, imagine the future. Imagine what it would be like to move your parish toward greater involvement of the parishioners during the inquiry and catechumenate periods. If that could happen, what are twenty things you can do to help them give honest and carefully considered testimony about the catechumens? Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Invite parishioners to write a letter to the pastor about a catechumen. The testimony about the catechumen should begin with, “God has.” (A testimony is about the action of God and not about the good works of the candidate.)
2. Invite parishioners to write a letter to the bishop about a catechumen. The testimony about the catechumen should begin with, “God has.”
3. Place a drop box in the gathering space or vestibule of the church. Provide parishioners with 3 x 5 cards on which they can write testimonies for the catechumens.
4. Create a private e-mail address that parishioners can use to testify about a catechumen. Each testimony should begin with, “God has.”
5. Ask the confirmation candidates to write a testimony for a catechumen.
6. Ask the children of the parish, especially the first communion candidates, to draw pictures of the catechumens and how God has acted in their lives. If they don’t know the catechumens (why not?), have them draw a picture of how they hope God will act in their lives.
7. Collect all the written and e-mailed testimonies and the drawings in a parish archive.
8. Encourage sponsors to keep of journal that tracks the times they have seen God act in the life of the catechumen.
9. If the godparents are different people than the sponsors, encourage them to do the same.
10. Encourage spouses and other family members to do the same.
11. Encourage the rest of the team to do the same.
12. Schedule a retreat day well before the Rite of Election to discern who will be chosen for baptism. Make testimonies part of the retreat experience.
13. Invite parishioners who cannot attend the retreat to fast and pray for those who will be discerning.
14. Write your own testimony for each catechumen, and give it to him or her on fine stationery.
15. Invite the elderly and home bound of the parish to pray for those who will testify about the catechumens.
16. Invite the neophytes (those baptized at the last Easter Vigil) to pray for the catechumens and those who will testify for them.
17. In the weeks before the Rite of Election, provide a “question of the week” for parish households to reflect upon based on the journey of the catechumens. For example, “How have we seen God’s spirit active in the catechumens?”
18. The week before the Rite of Election, publish a description of what testimony is and isn’t.
19. During the parish rite of sending, invite the assembly to testify for the catechumens. Have a wireless mike available.
20. In the parish rite of sending, sing an acclamation at the conclusion of the testimonies. Choose an acclamation everyone knows well.

Imagine what it would be like to move your parish toward greater involvement of the parishioners during the inquiry and catechumenate periods.

4. Lent (period of purification and enlightenment)

This may be the easiest part of your job of helping parishioners do their job. Most of our parishioners already have a heightened sense of spiritual practice during Lent and already see this as a time of renewal. All you have to do is to remind them to remember the seekers and involve the seekers as they are doing what they already do during Lent. The rite says:

[The faithful] should take care to be present at the Rites of the Scrutinies and of Handing On and give the catechumens the example of their own renewal in the spirit of penitence, faith and charity. They should be eager to renew their own baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil.

OCIA 9.4

Here are some things I have tried or that I plan to try. What can you add to this list?

1. Make the Sunday before Ash Wednesday a “Call to Lent” Sunday. Provide lenten prayer materials that include prayers for the elect.
2. Be sure the elect participate in the Ash Wednesday liturgies, and include them in the intercessions.
3. Provide a weekly faith sharing question in the Sunday bulletin based on the Gospels of Lent. Ask parishioners and the elect to discuss the questions with their families as part of their lenten discipline.
4. Provide a list of penitential practices for the parish to participate in as an example to the elect. See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1436-1437, for ideas.
5. Provide copies of the seven penitential psalms for parishioners. Ask them to pray the psalms regularly as a prayer for the elect. (The penitential psalms are Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143.)
6. Publicize the dates of the scrutinies shortly after the Christmas season ends, and ask parishioners to put them on their calendars.
7. Put an insert in the bulletin explaining the importance of the scrutinies about three weeks before Lent begins.
8. Schedule a parish evening of reflection during each of the scrutiny weeks. Base the reflection on the scrutiny gospels.
9. Ask parishioners to make one extra lenten sacrifice as a prayer for the elect.
10. Ask parishioners to reconcile with an alienated family member or friend during Lent as an example to the elect.
11. Designate a parish charity for everyone to contribute to for Lent as an example to the elect of almsgiving.
12. Invite the elect to the parish reconciliation service. While they cannot fully participate in the sacrament of penance, they can pray with the rest of the parish and witness their example.
13. Encourage parishioners to adopt a new prayer practice for Lent. Introduce the elect to prayer practices they might be unfamiliar with.
14. Keep the font filled throughout Lent as a reminder to the parish of the coming initiation of the elect and as a reminder of their own baptisms.
15. Challenge parishioners to wrestle with and overcome one temptation this Lent as an example to the elect.
16. Challenge parishioners to identify and strengthen one virtue this Lent as an example to the elect.
17. Invite the children in the school and the religious education program to draw maps of the parish’s lenten journey that include the journey of the elect to initiation.
18. Host lenten soup suppers that include the elect and a diverse mix of parishioners.
19. Host an Easter egg decorating party late in Lent that includes the elect and their children and a diverse mix of parishioners.
20. Lent is an especially good time to focus on the Corporal Works of Mercy. Encourage parishioners to chose one or two to practice especially diligently as an example to the elect. Make sure the elect are familiar with them. (See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2447.)

Most of our parishioners already have a heightened sense of spiritual practice during Lent and already see this as a time of renewal. All you have to do is to remind them to remember the seekers and involve the seekers as they are doing what they already do during Lent.

5. Easter

We go from easiest to hardest. This step is harder because we don’t really have a full sense of Easter as a 50-day celebration in many parishes. That makes your job harder, but not impossible. The rite asks you to remind the parishioners of this:

[The faithful] should participate in the Masses for the neophytes, that is, on each and every Sunday of Easter following the First (cf. no. 25), embrace them with charity, and help them to feel more at home in the community of the baptized.

OCIA 9.5

Don’t lose steam now! This a super-important phase in the initiation of the now-neophytes. Not all of these ideas will work in your parish so come up with alternatives that will inspire your parishioners.

1. Help parishioners remember that the Easter Triduum begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Give them three months’ notice to place all the liturgies of the Triduum on their calendars.
2. Ask parishioners to be in solidarity with the elect by fasting on Good Friday and Holy Saturday and refraining from their usual activities (see RCIA 185).
3. Invite the teenagers of the parish to be towel bearers for the elect during the baptisms.
4. Coordinate with the pastor’s schedule so he meets with or calls each of the neophytes in the week after the Vigil to offer congratulations.
5. Ask the children in the parish school and religious education program to write notes of congratulations to the neophytes.
6. Ask the seniors of the parish to do the same.
7. Schedule a day of reflection shortly after the Vigil. Invite the parishioners and the neophytes to recall and rejoice in their experience of the initiation rites.
8. Ask some of the parish organizations (youth group, school, religious education, Knights of Columbus, etc.) to invite the neophytes to come to one of their meetings or classes to have the neophytes reflect on their experience of the Easter Vigil.
9. Encourage parishioners to participate in every Sunday of the Easter season. These are high catechetical moments for the neophytes, and the presence of the assembly teaches them about the primacy of Easter.
10. Don’t be discouraged if the neophytes don’t participate in small group meetings in the weeks after Easter. The primary catechesis for them is the Sunday liturgy. Be sure that’s where they are showing up.
11. Publish pictures of the newly-initiated in the bulletin and on the parish website.
12. Ask the neophytes to sit together in a designated and visible place with their godparents for every Sunday of Easter.
13. Provide a weekly faith sharing question in the Sunday bulletin based on the Gospels of Easter. Ask parishioners and the neophytes to discuss the questions with their families as part of their lenten discipline.
14. Ask parishioners to invite the neophytes to their homes for barbecues or dinners during the Easter season.
15. Schedule an evening of reflection on the one-month anniversary of the neophytes’ initiation. Invite a diverse group of parishioners to speak about what the like best about being Catholic.
16. Initiate a small faith sharing group with the homilists and a few parishioners or catechumente team members to form mystagogical homilies for Easter.
17. Ask some of the neophytes to testify at the Masses of Easter about their experience of the Easter Vigil.
18. Be sure the godparents are bringing the neophytes to the parish festival and other spring events and introducing them to parishioners they don’t know. If the godparents are not present in the parish, assign a parish proxy to fill in.
19. Take the neophytes to the diocesan Mass for the newly initiated. If you diocese doesn’t have one, host a Mass at your parish, and invite all the neophytes from the other parishes to come.
20. On the one-year anniversary of their initiation, schedule a party for the neophytes.

All of this is a lot of work. But it is way, way less work than being a lone ranger and trying to initiate the seekers on your own. And it is also more fulfilling. Your catechumens and candidates will truly learn how to become disciples, and your parishioners will acquire a renewed sense of their baptismal vocation. Even if you are only a team of one, you have a large and diverse team of parishioners just waiting for some guidance and encouragement who can help you.

Just remember the guiding principle. It’s not your job to initiate. It is the community’s job.

Your turn

What are some of the ideas you came up with regarding each of the 5 periods in the article above? Share your thoughts in the comments below.