May 21, 2010
The Christian Journey
An ongoing relationship: Keeping connected with new Catholics
BY FATHER JIM SAUER
The RCIA Rite encourages a celebration for new members and church near Pentecost. If our parishes have been enjoying refreshments following every Mass with its new members during the Easter Season, there must be room for one more celebration! When the Spirit came upon the Apostles, they began to preach the Gospel to every nation beginning in Jerusalem. The Church was born! Pentecost is the Church’s birthday. A Pentecost party is a wonderful way to celebrate how our new members are the Lord’s newest gifts to the Church. A formal parish dinner or picnic may make this day more special.
Now that our new members are fully initiated into the Church, does their faith need further nurturing? We “cradle” Catholics know that we can never learn enough about our faith. There may be times when our new members will experience dry periods in their faith, calling for us to encourage them. Their sponsors should also stay in contact with them and be available when needed. (Joining existing groups in the Church such as “Why Catholic?” or bible study, participating in Cursillo or Christ Renews His Parish may be too soon in this first year.)
We must remember that – like us – they may have more questions once beginning to experience parish life than during their catechumenate formation. During the catechumenate, we may have presented an “ideal” picture of the Church – now they see the faith as their parish lives it! They will see a very human parish where we may not always be the friendliest, kindest people in the world (the Church is both “holy and sinful”). This first year will be an opportune time to teach them the virtue of tolerance (which Mother Teresa claimed Christians need to learn above all virtues). The Sacrament of Reconciliation may begin to make more sense to them in a very concrete way! Their new life in the parish may be likened to a couple’s first year of marriage; or how a newly ordained priest — leaving his close friends in the seminary – experiences his first year of parish life.
Monthly gatherings with our new members, their sponsors, and spouses are encouraged. Upon joining the Church, the best gifts we can give them are: 1) the awareness that they will never know everything about their faith; 2) conversion is a life-long experience affecting every aspect of their lives; and, 3) how we all need the support of others to live our faith. These gatherings will provide them with the opportunity to ask their surfacing questions in a familiar environment. Catechists can provide them with a structured teaching of the Catholic faith, such as sacraments, church traditions/customs, and moral theology. We can help them discern where the Lord is calling them to use their gifts to build up his Body in ministries inside or outside the parish. We can present a fuller understanding of stewardship of time, talent and treasure. The list is endless.
Vatican II’s Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity states very precisely that the time of their formation in the faith is “not simply a presentation of teachings and precepts, but a formation in the whole of Christian life and a sufficiently prolonged period of training… Catechumens should be properly initiated into …. the practices of gospel living…. they should be led gradually into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity belonging to the people of God” (Paragraph 14). They – like us – have the rest of their lives to learn more and more about the Christian faith. The purpose of the catechumenate is that “as disciples they will become bound to Christ as their master” (Par.14).