Kingston & Brantford

On June 13 & 14, 2014 the Christian Initiation Committee of the Ontario Liturgical Conference hosted a successful workshop "Journeying in Community to the Fullness of Life in Christ" in Kingston at the Providence Spirituality Centre. The presentations included:

Making Christians: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow How did we prepare for and initiate in recent years? Describing the current picture and hearing the Church’s vision assists us in initiating others.

Touching the Heart of Initiation: Jesus Christ Our journey to union of life in Jesus Christ is ongoing. The journey is shaped by familiar practices and immersion into a way of life.

Finally we concluded with Focus Groups:

Formation for Life at the Table In light of the Church’s vision how do we prepare others for life at the Sunday Eucharistic table at home, in the parish and in the school?

Click on the "Upcoming Workshops" link to the right to get information about a similar workshop we are offering in the Diocese of Hamilton - in Brantford in September.

Shifting from Graduation to Initiation - Paradigm Shift Part 2

In our North American society, there is little doubt that our lives are governed by the school calendar: summer vacation, Christmas vacation, March or Spring break.  Even when nobody in our immediate lives is in school, this calendar still affects us.  One just needs to look at vacation package prices for Spring/March break to be reminded of this reality.

In a society that lives within this academic-year backdrop, it is no surprise that the “graduation model” permeates so much of people’s thinking about the sacraments that we celebrate with young people and their families.  Think of the requirements needed to obtain a High School Diploma: courses that need to be completed, certain grades that must be attained, a defined minimum number of credits in subject categories, and a minimum number of hours in each of those credits.  This need to complete these permeates this graduation model.

This graduation paradigm is reinforced when we speak in terms of knowledge to be gained, work to be done, hoops to be jumped through, before a child or young person can celebrate a sacrament. You need to do this – in order to get that.  All of “these things” need to be done before you get the carrot at the end of the stick – whatever sacrament that might be.  Once you have graduated you have completed the task.  Just as graduation is seen as the end point, so the sacrament is seen as the end point.

We also live in a culture where experiences are treated as commodities, where the experience of praying and chanting compline in a chapel with monks is then packaged as a CD to be played in the background at a dinner party or cocktail hour.  A mystical spiritual experience that requires time and effort on the part of a participant is now packaged for “atmosphere” and demands nothing of the hearer, let alone that person’s attention.  The graduation paradigm also fits this approach, treating sacraments as commodities.  Something must be “done” so something can be “obtained.”

We need a paradigm shift here: a shift from graduation to initiation.

Now, the initiation paradigm sees the preparation for and the celebration of baptism, confirmation and Eucharist as incorporation into the life of the church.  Initiation is the opposite of graduation.  Initiation sees each of these sacraments as a beginning, as a start, as immersion into the life of Christ, not as an ending, or as a final goal.

How do we make such a shift?

First, we need to see how we operate out of the “graduation” model as ministers within the church.  How often do we treat the sacraments as commodities that we dole out when people have achieved a certain knowledge base, or have done a certain number of community service hours, or made a certain number of visits to the church?  I remember a parishioner who was absolutely distraught one Sunday morning a number of years ago.  The source of her distress was a comment that the mother of a family had made to one of her children who was literally tearing the songbook to shreds: “Don’t worry, honey, after today we only have to come back here one more time.”  Have we forgotten that readiness to celebrate a sacrament is connected to relationship: relationship with God and with the local believing community?  Hoops, hoops, hoops.  Come to this Mass, present this letter, receive this cross, get your name checked off …  We need to examine ourselves: does the graduation model not lurk in all these approaches?

We also need to name the difference for our parishioners.  Let’s use clear examples of the difference between the two mindsets.  When we speak to families of young people who are preparing for the sacrament of confirmation, we can quite literally speak of how a child who graduates from elementary school is no longer welcome in that school without a “Visitor” badge from the office.  In this situation graduation means completion and departure.  Celebrating a sacrament of initiation is the exact opposite of graduation:  it is about belonging and inclusion.  Regardless of the timing and order of the sacraments of Initiation, each one and all three together are about incorporation into the life of Christ, who brings us into the shared life of the Trinity.

When we work with children and families who seek a sacrament, there is a catechesis relevant to the sacrament that is being anticipated.  This is different from religious education.  Ongoing religious education, either in a Catholic school, or in the parish and home setting, differs from the formation and catechesis that are linked to initiation sacraments.  In religious education, participants fill in books, and get stickers and perhaps even grades.  And they pass from one grade to another.  Religious education rightly falls within the scope of the graduation paradigm.  Preparation for sacraments of initiation does not fit this paradigm.  Some parishes expect candidates for a sacrament to participate in a certain number of community service hours.  Community service is a good thing.  Years ago the Province of Ontario instituted a specific number of community service hours as a requirement for graduation from secondary school.  Seen in this light, a set number of community service hours as a requirement for young people preparing for Confirmation reinforces the graduation mindset.  Publicly stating this, and encouraging candidates to see service as a way we live our life as Catholic Christians, not merely as something (or worse – as a hoop) to be “done” in order to “get” confirmed, can allow both parents and children to make this shift as well.

A number of historical and cultural factors have influenced our mindset and impacted on our parish practices.  The graduation model encourages people to see sacraments as end goals, instead of moments that invite us into continued relationship with our Triune God.  What we as church are about in the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and Eucharist is initiation: bringing people into this life of God lived in the community of the Church gathered around the table of the Eucharist.  Until we as pastors, catechists, religious educators, sacramental preparation leaders and co-ordinators realize the need for this shift from graduation to initiation, the people we serve will hardly be able to make this shift themselves.

Written by Fr. Larry Léger and originally published in Celebrate! March – April 2010

Preparing to Initiate Children of Catechetical Age – Paradigm Shifts, Part 1

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults has been in use in our country for over twenty years.  Considerable time and energy have been devoted to implementing the church’s rites of initiation for adults who come to our parishes asking for baptism.  In addition to the adults seeking initiation, parish leaders are being approached by families with children of catechetical age seeking baptism or reception into Full Communion. (Children who have entered their seventh year are considered to be of catechetical age).

A rather elementary survey of parishes may indicate that one of the common ways to address children of catechetical age seeking initiation is to meet with the parents and inquire why they have waited so long to celebrate baptism, provide some basic catechesis on baptism and then baptize the child on a Sunday afternoon either with the group of infants or at a separate time.  The child would then join a group of peers and prepare to celebrate confirmation and first eucharist in the same way as children who had been baptized in the Catholic Church as infants.  Although at first glance this response may seem reasonable, it is not in harmony with our Church’s vision of initiation for children of catechetical age.  Before a parish community can respond to families with children of catechetical age, paradigm shifts may be required.

Children of catechetical age celebrate full initiation

Our Church reminds us that “the Christian initiation of these children requires both a conversion that is personal and somewhat developed, in proportion to their age … as with adults their initiation is marked by several steps.”  (RCIA, 243) The formation of children includes both periods for catechetical formation and the celebration of the various liturgical rites.

It is inappropriate to simply baptize these children.  The Church’s rite is clear, “the children will receive the sacrament of baptism, the bishop or priest who baptizes them will also confer confirmation, and the children will for the first time participate in the liturgy of the eucharist”. (RCIA, 281).  It is not appropriate to celebrate baptism with the child without celebrating confirmation and first eucharist in the same celebration.  Formation for children of catechetical age resembles that of adults seeking initiation, not the preparation and celebration for infants.

Part I of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is normative and foundational.  This means that the four periods of formation and the Rites of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens, Election and Scrutinies will shape the initiation journey for children of catechetical age and adults.  Although the periods of Evangelization and Precatechumenate, Catechumenate, Purification and Enlightenment will shape the journey.  Gatherings and times of catechesis for the children will be held with their families, not the adults.  A parish will have only one catechumenate with various activities and times of catechesis.
Children of catechetical age will celebrate the sacraments of initiation at one liturgy, normatively the Easter Vigil.  They will continue to gather with their families for the formal period of mystagogy throughout the Easter Season.  The fully initiated children will continue to gather each Sunday to be nourished at the table of the Word and Eucharist and their post-baptismal catechesis will take a path similar to that of children baptized in infancy.  If there is a Catholic school in the community they will receive ongoing religious education or they may participate in a parish based religious education. 

Readiness to celebrate the Sacraments of Initiation
When parents approach the parish seeking baptism for their infant child the Church welcomes them and provides catechesis.  The Church expects and understands that babies will be baptized into life in Christ in virtue of the faith of their parents.  We do not wait until the child is old enough to participate in formal catechesis.  The Church does expect that the parents be members of the local parish and active participants in the weekly Sunday Eucharist.  Readiness to celebrate the sacrament of baptism with a young child (not yet of catechetical age) is evident in the faith life of the parents.

The readiness of adults to celebrate the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and eucharist is reflected in their relationship with Christ, their participation in the weekly celebration of the Sunday liturgy of the Word and their desire to live lives modeled and shaped by gospel values.  Adults who have journeyed through the periods of Evangelization and Precatechumenate, Catechumenate, and Purification and Enlightenment have participated in the Liturgy of the Word each Sunday and been dismissed to break open the Word.  A parish sponsor and, throughout the period of Purification and Enlightenment, a godparent, have supported these adults.  With members of the parish they have engaged in works of charity and been apprenticed into living a Catholic way of life.  There have been times of catechesis, reflection, prayer and discussion.  Answers to the three questions the Bishop asks during the Rite of Election shape the process of discerning their readiness to celebrate the sacraments of initiation.  Before declaring the adults “elect”  (chosen by God and affirmed by the Church), the bishop asks their godparents “Have they faithfully listened to God’s Word proclaimed by the Church, have they responded to that word and begun to walk in God’s presence, have they shared the company of their brothers and sisters and joined with them in prayer?” (RCIA, 118)

Readiness to celebrate the sacraments is not linked to or determined by knowledge acquired.  Too often a major obstacle to celebrating the sacraments of initiation with children of catechetical age is revealed in expressions such as, “They don’t know enough” or “if we celebrate full initiation we lose opportunities to teach them.”  To begin to implement the Church’s vision of initiation for children of catechetical age we must grapple with the way we as a local parish or diocese determine readiness to celebrate the sacraments of initiation.

Embracing the Church’s vision of initiation for children of catechetical age may challenge current pastoral practices.  Yet children of catechetical age are quite capable of a personal relationship with Christ and are eager to journey through the initiation process.  In a parish a first step is to review Part I of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, recognizing that it is normative and foundational.  We read and implement Part II Chapter 1 of the rite in light of Part I.

Written by Catherine Ecker and Originally published in Celebrate! – January – February 2010.