The dismissal of the catechumens is a liturgical rite that is done any time catechumens are present at Mass: When [catechumens] are present with the congregation of the faithful, they must normally be gently dismissed before the Eucharistic Celebration begins. (OCIA 75.3) The practice of dismissing the catechumens before the liturgy of the Eucharist begins …
Do you remember when you first heard about the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults? If you are a lifelong Catholic in your 40s or younger, you probably grew up experiencing the rites. Older Catholics, on the other hand, remember growing up without the catechumenate. I learned about the RCIA in the 1980s when I …
RCIA: A radical, ground-breaking, world-shaking, world-transforming way of being church
Several years ago, I was helping lead a training institute for RCIA teams. One of the participants was quite young compared to the rest of us who were mostly well past 40. I asked her how she wound up serving on her parish’s RCIA team. She told me that when she was in college, she …
Team member Rita Ferrone recently won a 2008 Catholic Press Association Book Award for Liturgy: Sacrosanctum Concilium (Rediscovering Vatican II) (Paulist Press). The judges called the book: An interesting and highly accessible guide to the central document in liturgical reform, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Liturgy explores the development, key principles and implementation of …
