America has republished Greeley's 1989 article against the RCIA. Greeley provides not only a critique of the RCIA but also an alternative vision grounded in its general principles.
The alternative vision resides in the fact that Catholicism is as much about diversity as about community. What so many of our parish programs do is submerge diversity in the name of community.
While I have always felt that I could be myself in my work environment, in parish environments I have felt that I not only should check my credentials as a social scientist at the door, but also my master's degree in spirituality, my life time of study of liturgy, scripture, etc. and my four years of experience as a member of a voluntary pastoral staff and defer to whatever lay persons the pastor has anointed to run the parish.
A pastor once made this explicit by telling me that I was just too intellectual for the parish, and needed to be humble so that I would fit in. I resisted the temptation to tell him that I had spent my whole professional life in the company of social workers and consumers who were very happy to have me as friend. I never had to check my intellectuality at the door; rather many seemed to be delighted to have an intellectual treat them as equals.
The Case Against R.C.I.A.
“THE R.C.I.A.,” I have been told often in the last couple of years, “is the answer.”
I respectfully submit that it is not the answer, even assuming that we know what the question is, which I don’t think anyone does anymore. The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RC.I.A.) is just that—a rite. When it is imposed as an obligatory paradigm, it violates the freedom of the Spirit and the integrity and the dignity of individual human persons. I protest against it even when it is imposed as an obligation on those who have never been baptized. I protest against it a fortiori when it is imposed on those who have already been baptized. Finally, I protest against neo-gnostic oppression of which the R.C.I.A. is only the most recent, though possibly the most offensive, manifestation.
[The RCIA} is spun out of historicist and academic concerns and displays no sensitivity to either the nature of contemporary religious experience or the cultural environments where it is to be exercised. (How can you call people the “elect” or require “scrutinies” or babble about “mystagogy” in the final decade of the 20th century?)
At a very general level it makes two important points that have been forgotten in the past and of which contemporary Catholics needed to be reminded—that becoming a Christian is a process and not an event, and that it is a process which of necessity should involve some sort of community. I would have called these two “points” guidelines, save that in contemporary clerical culture “guidelines” means “rigid laws” (just as “dialogue” means accepting a bishop’s order). For all I know those who actually drafted this rite intended nothing more than making these two points. Yet, the process, contrary to what is thought by those in the R.C.I.A. movement who interpret the document, is not necessarily that which is administered by the parish “staff.” and the community is not necessarily the parish “R.C.I.A. Team.”
THERE WERE REASONS a millennium and a half ago to require sponsorship and scrutinies to make sure that only worthy people approached the Eucharist—the bishop literally did not know anything about those who presented themselves for admission to the church. There were also reasons to exclude such prospective Christians from the Eucharistic Prayer. The Discipline of the Secret protected the church from the spies of the Roman Empire.
The empire hasn’t been around for a long time. And neither have the other assumptions behind a literal imposition of the rite. There are no grounds for ordering anyone out of church after the homily. Such behavior is an offensive and insulting anachronism. I did it once, caught by surprise, and still feel guilty about it. I’ll never do it again. I’m not an elderly Irish canon from the turn of the century with a blackthorn stick in hand. What right do I have to tell anyone that she or he cannot sit at the Lord’s table?
***
MY FOUR CASES, it will be said, are exceptions. Sorry—everyone is an exception. Everyone is unique. The Holy Spirit still blows whither She wills. The uniqueness, that which is most special about each person who comes to the rectory, is precisely the message, to those who preside over the rectory, of the Spirit of Variety and Pluralism. We have no right to try to arrange Her schedule, budget Her time, routinize Her grace. No one’s spiritual pilgrimage fits a formula. No one can be run through an automatic process. No one can be forced to jump through a series of hoops that have been designed a priori by liturgists and religious educators.
Am I merely saying that the R.C.I.A. must be more flexible and more responsive to individual human needs (and thus the devious workings of the Spirit). I am saying that it must be so flexible and so responsive that it will be unrecognizable to its enthusiasts—and I mean those who write the books and run the conferences and edit the newsletters and pontificate on the tapes and staff the national offices.
If I am told that it has been mandated by the bishops, I respond that such a mandate and a dollar bill will get you a ride on the Chicago subway. Moreover, an appeal to hierarchical authority comes with very poor grace from those who dismiss the bishops when they talk about celibacy or the ordination of women and broadly hint that infant baptism should be abolished so that all Catholics would be processed through the R.C.I.A.
IF THE R.C.I.A. is at most a very sketchy outline— suggesting community and processes for those who are not Catholics, it has no place at all in the spiritual pilgrimage of those who have already been baptized. They are by definition not catechumens (conceding for the sake of the argument the validity of the term) and should not be treated like catechumens.
Using the R.C.I.A. as a model for all sacramental preparation is, alas, typical of the resurgent clericalism of the Catholic Church in the United States. Instead of viewing a request for a sacrament as a sign of the Spirit at work (however tenuously) and joyously and enthusiastically responding to that request, the New Clericalist (who need not be a priest) converts the sacramental experience into an obstacle course, a series of barriers to be surmounted, a list of tests to be passed. (Young people have told me that they “passed” the psychological tests their priests gave them and hence were free to get married!)
"Those who engage in R.C.I.A., the 'team,' enjoy it enormously—the only measure of validation that seems to matter. Why shouldn’t they enjoy it? It gives them what every gnostic elite wants: power over the lives of other humans."
ReplyDeleteThat's maybe harsher than I would put it, but I essentially agree.
Catholics have a lot of beefs with anti-clericalism, all of which I understand and mostly sympathize with. But preparation for RCIA is run by the laity who enjoy the authority more than any priest or deacon I've known.
I don't blame RCIA or its leaders for my falling away from the Church. But there was certainly nothing in the process or people running it that encouraged me to stick with it, either.
America also is running the rebuttal that went with the original article.
Deletehttps://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2022/08/11/case-rcia-catholic-243534
The author makes the point that RCIA is a grassroots movement:
The North American Forum on the Catechumenate, the group which has emerged to sponsor implementation of the R.C.I.A., is not part of any “official” church structure. It is an organization of parish ministers, an authentic grass-roots movement that grew out of positive results with the use of the R.C.I.A. in the early days following its obscure promulgation. In a mere seven years it has grown to a membership of 18,000 persons, not because of faddism or shallow enthusiasm, but because the people of God have found in the experience of the R.C.I.A. the breadth of the Spirit, bringing fresh air and new life to individuals and communities longing to enter more deeply into the ways of God.
The post-Vatican II American church has been shaped by large parish level movement that give laity a far larger role in the parish than they had before. I would include the deacon movement, the lay ecclesial minister movement, the RCIA, and numerous parish renewal movements.
Note, however, all these movements empower laity to work in the parish in new roles under the supervision of pastors. We have not had movements like the Catholic Worker movement where laity have assumed (with only informal supervision by the diocese) strong roles in the community and/or worked relatively independently of the parishes and/or the diocese.
Greeley correctly diagnosed this as the New Clericalism long before Francis.
I wonder why America decided to resurrect this 30-year-old debate. Of a piece with Pope Francis's views on New Clericalism, as you suggest, which gives it currency?
DeleteAs far as I can see, RCIA is just one wedge by which the self-clericalized laity (i.e., Church Ladies) have made their influence felt.
As far as I can see, the Church Ladies are not working under the supervision of anybody. The priests we get are either retired supply priests or young bucks on their way to greater glory. They don't have the energy or inclination to see what's going on. They spend a few years here, blow some money--a new crucifix, wedding gazebo, landscaping, microwave for the office, an Amigo scooter for elderly priests--and then move on or die.
So the parish is mostly in thrall to the Church Ladies and their minions, and their aim seems to be to make the parish into a monument to their memories/delusions about what the Church was in the 1950s and 1960s when they were kids and less a place where anyone (i.e., me) can find God through the love of Jesus Christ.
It has, however, made me rethink my general idea that the world would be better off if women ran the whole shebang.
"Note, however, all these movements empower laity to work in the parish in new roles under the supervision of pastors. We have not had movements like the Catholic Worker movement where laity have assumed (with only informal supervision by the diocese) strong roles in the community and/or worked relatively independently of the parishes and/or the diocese."
DeleteI think there are many initiatives which are being driven by Catholic laypeople and not tied to a particular parish. But by and large, they haven't grown or coalesced into movements. Many of them are initiatives started by young Catholics who are inspired by Catholic social teaching, which they learned in Catholic high schools and colleges. I previously wrote about some of these here: https://newgathering.blogspot.com/2020/01/promoting-life.html
I also think that Catholics, inspired by Catholic social teaching, latch onto broader movements which don't have a distinctively Catholic identity, but which are consonant with Catholicism. Black Lives Matter; environmental and global warming initiatives; even Bernie Sanders' presidential candidacy.
Well, Fr. Greeley, tell us what you really think!
ReplyDeleteI dunno. I suppose it depends on who is teaching it, and who the catechumens are. It could be just a bunch of hoops to jump through, or it could be a chance to get one's questions answered, and meet others who are in the same boat. My husband found it a useful experience. For what it's worth, I've never been in a parish where RCIA was the *only* way to join the church. Most priests will work with someone if RCIA doesn't work for them, timewise or otherwise. Deacons, too, sometimes work with people on the side. K. did private classes for some kids who were beyond the usual age for 1st Communion. They had been baptised, but had fallen through the cracks as far as formal sacramental prep.
The lady who heads up the RCIA team in our parish is a very kind, simpatico person, who joined the church herself through RCIA. She is the very opposite of a control freak church lady. There are so many variables that it's not really possible to say that the program is good or bad without knowing the particulars in a given parish.
We do the private instruction for older kids, too. Although I've never done it personally.
DeleteI guess you could accuse Fr Greeley of making an oblique case for clericalism by pointing out the flaws in RCIA, which invests some priestly authority on poorly trained and overly enthusiastic lay deputies. In all his examples, the priest fixes problems, easy peasy. Ergo, get rid of the deputies. That seems to be his line.
ReplyDeleteBut I think his point is rather that an experienced priest or catechist tailors catechesis to the individual vs the individual to whatever program is on offer.
I do think it is impossible for Cradle Catholics to judge RCIA the same way that those subjected to it do. Their friends run it, their friends are nice, ergo it must be a real nice friendly program. And it might be. Or not.
This cradle job certainly is not much aware of it. All I knew was that sometimes there's a ceremonial kicking out of church before the Eucharist. I thought, "Well, that's not very nice."
DeleteStanley, yeah we don't do the dismissal thing here. It seems pretty pointless when anyone can come in off the street and stay for the whole Mass. That is one thing I agreed with Fr. Greeley about, that it was counter productive to bring back terms from the early centuries such as scrutinies" or mystagogia" which might have had meaning then, but no longer do.
DeleteDuring Enquirers we sat in the church for the whole shebang, that was Sept thru December. When RCIA proper started in January, we were required to sit in the cry room for Mass and debrief on Wednesday nights until the Vigil. A couple times we were hauled up front for the Rite of Sending, Scrutinies, etc. By that time, you are really just doing what you're told. The RCIA leaders were "exhausted" after the Easter Vigil, so there was no Mystagogia.
DeleteWe need to reconsider the ritual, instructional, and community building aspects of the RCIA process.
ReplyDeleteA new ritual process needs to replace the early centuries scrutiny process with a ritual process that focuses upon the meaning of baptism. The Byzantine Rite has on Theophany (our Epiphany which they celebrate as the Baptism of Christ) at Vespers an elaborate 15 lesson liturgy which concludes with the solemn blessing of water. I would combine those readings about water with appropriate hymns and do them as a series of 45 min services either before or after the Saturday evening Masses beginning on the Feast of the Baptism of Christ extending up to Lent. These would constitute a parish wide liturgical celebration about the meaning of baptism to which everyone would be invited. On the eve of the Baptism of Christ I would have the solemn blessing of waters to start the liturgical celebration.
I think that parishes and dioceses should regularly have instructional programs about the essentials of the faith, both elementary and advance, to which everyone should be welcome with minimal fees to cover costs such as books. They should be used as credentialing for those desiring baptism, entrance into the church, and participation in various ministries. No required specific courses, no grading; only a total number of credits that can be used to show that one has done one’s homework in studying the faith. These would all be taught by appropriate credentialed faculty at least at the master’s or doctoral level.
Community building could be done by participation in a variety of ministries, e.g. choir, various service ministries, bible study groups, etc . In other words, let the person get their feet wet by actually taking part in the life of the parish and the diocese.
My suggestions integrate the person into the Catholic community by using existing resources rather than creating a separate program; much less work for the pastor and the pastoral staff. No separate community that ends after baptism and/or confirmation. Hopefully many of the new Catholics will continue their chosen ministries. It is also far less clerical because most of the interaction will be with parish members rather than the paid or volunteer ministers.
In addition to sponsors, we should also allow guides, people who are experienced in certain aspects of church life, that can serve something like a big brother or big sister to introduce the candidate into certain ministries or to deal with certain issues. The parish could keep a list of persons who have volunteered to be guides and their field of interest. The parish, of course, will exercise due diligence in screening and monitoring the guides.
DeleteI dunno. People don't want to go to church and sit through liturgies they have to take classes to understand, earn credits for credentials, etc.
DeleteThe happy clappies get people in with praise music, prosperity promises, and feel good messages for the Believers.
Jim mentioned above that young people gravitate toward organizations that mesh with the social teaching they value. Significanyly, those orgs don't involve having to reject the their gay friends and divorced parents.
The Boy was 3 when he was baptized at the Vigil. It was hours past his bedtime, and he was exhausted and disorganized. When they put the chrism on his forehead, he wiped it off with his shirt hem and said, "I hate this!" and started wailing.
ReplyDeleteParents entering the Church ought not be forced to drag babies and young children through the Vigil because "it's easier" to process everybody at once.
DeleteWith one exception I have never experienced babies or infants being baptized at the Easter Vigil. The one exception was the baptism of a new-born (less than one year) at the same time as the father was baptized. That went off well.
DeleteIn one very liturgical parish the infants are regularly baptized at Sunday liturgy. That goes very well. The best Sunday baptism however was of two girls probably around fifth grade. They were absolutely joyous! I told the pastor maybe we have discovered the right age for baptism!
We have baptized infants at the vigil once or twice. The circumstances were similar to Jean's: a parent and older siblings were being initiated at the same time.l, and this is how the parents chose to do it.
DeleteI am not certain RCIA itself is intrinsically flawed. The missing piece, at least for us, is what comes after the Vigil. Our folks don't transition smoothly from "elect" to "parishioner". Frankly I blame the parish, not the program.
ReplyDeleteI blame the program. Actually, the whole ritual initiation theory behind it.
DeleteAll sorts of organizations have initiation rites: religions, professions, fraternities. We social psychologists see these initiation rites as being based on the principal that suffering leads to liking. That is one of the consequences of our human drive to make sense and consistency of the world. If we have suffered some or a lot to belong to a group, then we must value that group. That means that if groups make it difficult to become a member, then they are often valued. So many professions make entry difficult with long and elaborate training.
Effort justification should not be the basis for being Christian. Baptism is a free gift from God not something to be earned.
Before Constantine, those who choose to be Christian knew that it could come with a high cost, therefore effort justification was not needed.
After Constantine, when people began to flock to Christianity, Christianity imported into itself some of the aspects of the mystery religions which had initiation rituals. Like all initiation rituals these established boundaries between insiders and outsiders; then dissolved those boundaries.
The problem with our present RCIA is that it based upon the idea that if we make a person or group of persons feel that they are outsiders seeking to be insiders by placing them through a series of rites, then when they are finished with those rites they will begin to not only feel and but function as insiders.
Like Andrew Greely I say there is no evidence that this happens. In fact, there is a lot of evidence that our initial rituals for First Communion and Confirmation preparation do not result in young people becoming deeply involved in Catholicism.
All my proposals for an improved RCIA above are based in modern education practices that no longer are based on suffering leading to liking. Remember education until recently was based on very harsh disciplinary practices which were based on effort justification. We have removed a lot of the harshness, but we still tend to think there is something magical about all those years of study. Surely someone with all those years of study most be an expert. Sometimes yes, but often not.
We try and encourage the new people to join the various parish ministries and activities. But it shouldn't be just about "doing". I wish there was more emphasis on spirituality. People are kind of on their own for that. I suppose to an extent it has to be something they decide to develop for themselves, of course led by the Spirit.
DeleteMy theory is that parishes have a vague notion that once people have gone thru RCIA they have been thoroughly assimilated and it's up to them to find their way. In reality, RCIA keeps converts largely sequestered with a very small number of RCIA programmers. Maybe running a little "welcome to our parish" profile about the new members in the bulletin would be nice. Or "greet our new parishioners at coffee hour on such and such a date."
DeleteBoth Raber and I appreciated "assignments" when we were newly converted because we had no family in the parish and knew no one except Church Ladies. I enjoyed lectoring, and he found his way to the men's group. We have never made any deep lasting soul friends in the parish (and we don't expect to after 20+ years), but it helped us feel we were serving God and our neighbors, and it
modelled good behavior for The Boy.
Also: RCIA is mostly sitting around listening to videos and Church Ladies talking about how to be Catholic rather than actually doing it. Maybe, as I think Jack suggested, assimilating candidates into the parish as part of RCIA instead if releasing them into the wild at the Vigil would be good.
DeleteYikes, I have hogged this thread. Trying to wean myself off social media and online stuff. But I'm as the only person here who has endured RCIA, hopefully some insights in with the blather and complaining.
DeleteIt's a listen and learning experience for this cradle job. That's what we're all here for. Being a socialist, I would rather see a place for communal living and sharing emerge naturally from the Church but top down elitist control makes that impossible. RCIA probably reflects those deficiencies in our less than living out a Christlike Way.
DeleteI no little about RCIA. I know far more cradle Catholics who have left the church than I know converts. The five converts I am acquainted with include one who converted on her own and has run the RCIA program at a former parish for the last 20 years. The other four converted because they married Catholics, so that they could join the family going to communion after kids arrived. I don’t know any of them well enough to ask them about their RCIA experiences.
ReplyDelete“ know” - not “ no”. Sigh.
DeleteWe no.
DeleteThere are very few of us who walk in off the streets. Most converts have people already in the Church. Enquirers and RCIA sessions are usually open to Cradle Catholic visitors. I encourage some of you to visit a couple of times to see how it works in your parish. Most of us enjoy seeing friendly interested faces.
DeleteYou may find folks in there who need sponsors. Asking people to sponsor you when you know no one is very awkward, and RCIA leaders could ease this a bit by putting in a word.
My general sense is that RCIA could work ok if leaders were committed to the needs of the participants in addition to trying to jam the info down their throats and do the requisite investigations about marriage, baptism, and abortion, and holding forth on their sainted mother with sixteen kids and Sr Mary Norbert's skill at smacking kids with a ruler.
It's basically being a good teacher and being interested in people.
Catholicism is a huge worldwide two-thousand-year-old religion with a diversity of liturgical traditions, national cultures, religious orders, and saints. Karl Rahner asked the question of why the church spends so much time canonizing saints rather than defining doctrine. His answer was that each saint’s life is a new way of following Jesus. Congar, another famous theologian, responded that each saint’s life is a new commentary on scripture. Some years ago, there was much criticism about cafeteria Catholicism. But the critics had it wrong; all the attempts in church history to impose ideal lives (rather than offer their possibility as a form of sainthood) resulted in heresies and schisms.
ReplyDeleteIn my own life I have had the privilege of engaging deeply with three very different forms of spirituality fostered by three different forms of religious life. From my childhood I was very influenced by the Benedictines, their love of liturgy and the Divine Office. From adolescent I was introduced by Merton to the contemplative life of hermits, and from Novitiate and College I was introduced to the mission-oriented life of the Jesuits. Solitude, community, and mission have all played great parts in my life, though in different proportions at different times.
Ultimately Christian life is a journey under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. People need to learn how to discern the saint that they are meant to be. Merton says that means we will often be misunderstood by others and may even worry about our own discernment process. The best help that we can be to others is to listen attentively to them and see what we can discern of where the Spirit may be speaking to us from their lives and, if possible, suggest some resources that may help them.
"...each saint’s life is a new way of following Jesus", and "...each saint’s life is a new commentary on scripture." Wow, a lot to think about in these quotes!
DeleteWell, yah. God makes saints so that we have all these friends to relate to. We can't all be the BVM.
Delete"...each saint’s life is a new way of following Jesus", and "...each saint’s life is a new commentary on scripture."
DeleteKatherine, I agree - the money quote.
This really is a new insight for me. I can be very slow to catch on to some things. I know that Jean is very drawn by the stories of the saints. They always left me cold. I couldn’t relate to people who are so holy, or self- sacrificing, or even just plain weird. I have never been able to look at them as role models, or inspiration because I knew I could never come close to living as they did.
Maybe I’ll read a few saint stories now, keeping Jack’s insights in mind. Maybe now I will find something in their lives that will stay with me. Thanks, Jack
An easy way to become acquainted with the variety of the saints is to read the About Today section of Universalis which gives the Divine Office in English. The following for Tuesday, August 16th is an example:
Deletehttps://www.universalis.com/L/USA/20220816/today.htm
St Stephen of Hungary (969 - 1038)
He was the son of a pagan father and a Christian mother. He worked hard for the conversion of his country to Christianity, setting up both episcopal sees and monasteries. He was crowned the first King of Hungary in 1001. He is the patron saint of Hungary, where his feast day, a public holiday, is celebrated on 20 August.
St Rock (- 1378) Slovenia, Philippines
He was the son of the governor of Montpellier in France. At the age of 20 he went on a pilgrimage to Rome. When a plague broke out in Italy, he took care of the infected and cured many. He himself caught the disease, but not wishing to be a burden to others, he went to the woods to die. There a dog brought him food and licked his sores. Later its owner found Rock and looked after him. He died around the year 1378. He is a model of those who carry out works of mercy and is invoked in time of pestilence.
Maria Sagrario of St Aloysius Gonzaga (1881-1936)
Maria Sagrario was born at Lillo (Toledo) on 8th January 1881. A pharmacist by trade, she was one of the first women in Spain to be admitted to this qualification. In 1915 she entered the Carmel of St Anne and St Joseph in Madrid. Through her spirit of prayer and her love for the Eucharist she was a perfect embodiment of the contemplative and ecclesial ideal of the Teresian Carmel. She was Prioress of her community when she was martyred on 15th August 1936.
Unrelated, have any of you taken the so-called Vatican survey which is going around? I don't know if it really is originated by the Vatican, or if anyone is actually going to read it, but I attempted it. The main complaint I had about it is that there is no way to back up and change an answer. There were a couple of things I wanted to change, or add to. And it had a drop down menu for country of origin. I was looking for USA and accidentally checked Surinam.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the internet, I am skeptical of this "survey." The results would obviously be very self- selected, and it would be difficult to evaluate this self-selection.
Delete