THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: A Process of Conversion A TREATISE Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Ministry © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Linda L. Monitello, D.Min. Washington, D.C. 2020 The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: A Process of Conversion Linda L. Monitello, D.Min. Director: Margaret Schreiber, O.P., S.T.D. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (R.C.I.A.) consists of a series of rituals that celebrate and make present a person’s spiritual journey of conversion toward God within the context of a worshipping community. Connecting the vision of the R.C.I.A. process and its pastoral implementation has been a challenge since its promulgation in 1988. According to surveys conducted by CARA in the United States in 2000 and 2014, the majority of parishes are not celebrating the R.C.I.A. according to its principles. For many parishes, the R.C.I.A. is a school-year program, running from September to April each year, indicating a lack of focus on a gradual response to God. Mass attendance of newly-baptized adults (neophytes) declines in the first three years after full initiation, indicating a need to more fully integrate them into the community’s ongoing journey of conversion and worship. These surveys indicate that there is limited diocesan training for R.C.I.A. teams, who are to be agents and companions of conversion. Training will better prepare teams to implement the rites according to their intended purpose. Without renewal, the R.C.I.A. is in jeopardy of losing its intended vision as a model of conversion toward God. The D.Min. project provides needed training that connects the R.C.I.A. vision with its pastoral implementation, focusing on the conversion of both those seeking baptism and the community. The D.Min. project design follows Thomas O’Meara’s theology of ministry that recognizes the unity and diversity of all involved, the principles of adult experiential faith formation, the pedagogy of God and a theology of conversion. The D.Min. project, consisting of four sessions, utilizes divine revelation (scripture and apostolic tradition) and liturgical catechesis (experience of ritual and mystagogical reflection) to lead the participants to recognize initial and ongoing conversion in themselves and others. The sessions enable the team to re- evaluate their parish R.C.I.A. process in the context of conversion and community. This treatise by Linda L. Monitello, M.A. fulfills the treatise requirement for the doctoral degree in Ministry approved by Margaret Schreiber, O.P., S.T.D., as Director, and by Jason McFarland, Ph.D., as Reader. ________________________________________ Margaret Schreiber, O.P., S.T.D., Director ________________________________________ Jason McFarland, Ph.D., Reader ii Contents Chapter 1. General Introduction............................................................................1 Part I. Background and Rationale ................................................................... 6 Chapter 2. A Historical Foundation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.................................................................................... 6 Chapter 3. The Role of the Community in the R.C.I.A. Process........................ 42 Chapter 4. Initial and On-Going Conversion...................................................... 63 Chapter 5. Pastoral Implementation of the R.C.I.A. .......................................... 79 Part II. Design and Implementation of the D.Min. Project ......................... 91 Chapter 6. Principles of Design.......................................................................... 91 Chapter 7. Design and Implementation of the D.Min. Project........................... 99 Part III. Evaluation of the D.Min. Project................................................... 112 Chapter 8. Evaluation of the D.Min. Project.................................................... 112 Chapter 9. General Conclusions of the D.Min. Project ................................... 117 Appendices...................................................................................................... 124 Appendix A. Detailed Session Plans................................................................ 124 Appendix B. Session Materials ........................................................................ 141 Appendix C. Pre-Session and Post-Session Questionnaire Results .................................................................................................. 204 Appendix D. “Rite of Acceptance” Mystagogical Reflection ......................... 213 Bibliography..................................................................................................... 216 iii Chapter 1 – General Introduction The purpose of this D. Min. project treatise is to provide teams responsible for the implementation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (R.C.I.A.) with a renewed vision of their role and purpose as they lead others toward Christ. This vision respects the past yet focuses on the future of bringing individuals to Christ today. The goal of this project is not to advocate for a return to ancient practices of preparing those seeking baptism, but to honor and put forward the principles of the restored catechumenate published in 1972 and promulgated in the United States in 1988 as a relevant initiatory process of conversion for our times. Catechumens are those people over the age of reason who are seeking baptism in the Catholic Church. The restored catechumenate states that the R.C.I.A. is a “gradual process” of conversion leading to the reception of the sacraments of initiation.1 These sacraments are a participation in the mystery of God.2 The role of the R.C.I.A. team is to lead catechumens into this mystery, which is rooted in a relationship with Christ. The R.C.I.A. team has a unique opportunity to fulfill God’s mission in making “disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”3 How R.C.I.A. team members connect catechumens with Christ as they initiate new members into the Church is important because their efforts will affect how inquirers4 perceive 1. R.C.I.A. 4, International Commission on English in the Liturgy and Bishop’s Committee on the Liturgy, Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: Study Edition (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1988) [hereafter R.C.I.A.], 2. 2. Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church (Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994) 1075. 3. Matthew 28:19-20, New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE). 4. Inquirers, sometimes referred to as seekers, are unbaptized persons who are drawn to the Christian way of life, and are seeking basic information about Catholicism or Christianity. Such persons may or may not eventually join the Church. 1 2 God and how these potentially new Catholics will worship and serve God. R.C.I.A. team members should be companions to those seeking Christ, assisting them to respond to God’s call in their lives. The team should incorporate catechumens into the community of the faithful early in the process, allowing community members to experience conversion toward Christ as well as fulfill their mission in leading others to Christ. The R.C.I.A. ritual text (Introduction, rubrics, and prayers) provides instructions on how to implement the rite. It is important to study the R.C.I.A. ritual text and use it as a guide to assist both catechumens5 and the lay faithful on their spiritual journeys. Across the United States, R.C.I.A. teams structure their programs in myriad ways. According to surveys conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) in the United States in 2000 and 2014, the majority of parishes are not celebrating the R.C.I.A. according to the principles and structures of the rite or the “National Statutes for the Catechumenate” (see Chapter 4).6 For example, many parishes implement the R.C.I.A. in nine months, which includes the periods of precatechumenate, catechumenate, purification and enlightenment, and the initiation sacraments at the Easter Vigil. Few have a full-year catechumenate as called for by the National Statutes.7 The observance of the period of postbaptismal catechesis or mystagogy often does not comply with the National Statutes which extends to the first anniversary of their Christian initiation.8 5. A catechumen is an unbaptized person who is formally preparing for full initiation into the Catholic Church, and has already celebrated the Rite of Acceptance. 6. The “National Statutes for the Catechumenate” were approved by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops on 11 November 1986, and confirmed by the Congregation of Divine Worship on 26 June 1988 (Prot. 1191/86). 7. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, “National Statutes for the Catechumenate” 6, in Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: Study Edition (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1988), 364. 8. “National Statutes for the Catechumenate” 24. 3 Shortening the R.C.I.A. timeframe does not respect the gradual nature of the catechumenal process as a response to God’s invitation to relationship. According to the CARA surveys, Mass attendance of the newly-baptized (neophytes)9 declines in the first three years after their full initiation.10 While neophyte attendance is much higher than that of