Copyright: © 1994 Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. This document may be freely reproduced for non-commercial purposes with credit and mention of the Lift Up Your Hearts web site http://www.worship.ca/ as the source.

Pneuma is a journal on spiritual direction and formation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

1. A number of current articles may help parishes discern when they are ready to introduce "Living Witnesses: The Adult Catechumenate." Consider these words of Raymond Kemp from "A Journey in Faith": "The parish, after reviewing its corporate life, may decide not to set up a catechumenate until it puts its house in order. Surely the demands of the precatchumenate are such that if you have a parish in disarray, it is not ready to introduce a nonmember to membership. Some parishes would do well to emulate certain religious communities who stopped receiving new members until they had reorganized their constitutions and practices and brought themselves up-to-date in the life of the Church. What a refreshing breeze of candour were a parish council to say to themselves and the parish that we are taking no new members for a year until we implement a pastoral plan that incorporates Church renewal in liturgy, religious education, parish council organization, and works of social justice!"

   Kavanagh's essay "Unfinished and Unbegun Revisited" ("Worship," 1990, pp. 327-340) addresses how the catechumenate presents such a vastly strategic overhaul of every way we deal with the gospel in the church and may be helpful for those wondering where first to begin implementing the catechumenate. Pastors and parishes might also read Gusmer's "Seven Reasons Why Your Parish Needs a Catechumenate" ("Catechumenate," Nov. 1988, pp. 14-21. Liturgy Training Publications. This and the other journals to which I refer are available in theological libraries). James Dunning's "Yes, Indeed a Church Reborn" explores the dangers of the new wine of initiation being poured into old churchskins ("Catechumenate," July 1992, pp. 30-33). See also his "It's All About Water" in September 1993, pp. 26-29, and his "Sowing the Seed of God's Word: Preaching, the Parish, and the Catechumenate" (July 1994, pp. 2-11). In the latter he writes: "Adult, unpolluted, open, searching catechumens invite hard-path, rocky and thorny baptized [church members] to be adult, unpolluted, open and searching good earth. Babies call families to renewal, change, and new commitments. 'Baby Christians' call parishioners to change and deeper faith."

   Kathleen Hughes in "The Credible Community: Keeping Baptismal Commitments" ("Catechumenate," March 1994, pp. 2-14) raises questions like these for parishes: What does it mean for us to be a credible community? What do others read on our faces? She recalls the vision of discipleship and commitment which the catechumenate presents to which the candidates and congregation say Amen, includes a summary of social and cultural forces that shape the world and make fidelity to promises so hard to sustain in these times, and makes the point that the catechumenate aims to develop habits of heart for the rest of one's journey into God. Another article on this same theme is Dunning's "Saving Parishes: Community and Conversion" ("Church," Spring 1994).

2. The spiritual dimensions of the catechumenate are the subject of Boyer's "Breathing Deeply of God's New Life" (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1992) and Jackson's "Journeybread for the Shadowlands" (The Liturgical Press, 1993). Richard Gula has written an essay, "Spiritual Direction in the Catechumenate," which is included in the "Christian Initiation Resources" volumes from Wm. H. Sadlier, Inc.

3. On Sponsors. Morris in "Walking Together in Faith" (Paulist Press, 1992) provides a resource guide for forming sponsors. He uses an adult-learning process that allows the sponsor to acquire the skills for this ministry. The book walks the sponsor through the various responsibilities, deals with the necessary skills of a sponsor, and then situates these skills in the context of helping others and oneself to embrace the demands of God's reign. There are suggested outlines for sponsor training events.

   Two new videos, "Becoming a Sponsor" and "Becoming a Catechist," are available from Trinity Press, 960 Gateway, Burlington, ON L7L 5K7. Useful for workshops, the former deals with the meaning of being a sponsor, a sponsor's role, characteristics the sponsor might develop, and insights into the sponsor-candidate relationship. Four sponsors tell their stories of what being sponsors means to them.

4. Several writers steeped in the catechumenate traditions begin to see connections between the catechumenate and youth ministry. James Morgan writes: "Evangelization and all that it means for the people who are involved bids the sponsoring and inviting community to walk with its catechumens or its young people, and not to rush toward rites of passage. Ironically, many of those confirmed as adolescents seem to interpret confirmation as passage out of the church, rather than full membership in it. Perhaps more attention to the journey that the young people actually are on, rather than the one adults think they should be on, can help reverse this situation. ("The Catechumenate and Youth Ministry: Making Connections" in "Catechumenate," July 1994, pp. 22-27). There are other references to youth ministry and the catechumenate which I have not included. Write me if interested in the sources.

5. There is a booklet on the catechumenate in the scriptographic series published by Channing L. Bete Co., Inc., South Deerfield MA 01373. Filled with simple graphics, the art might be useful in preparation of visuals for workshops. One design I like presents six ways the catechumenate involves the entire church community.

6. Be sure you are on the mailing list for the North American Association of the Catechumenate. Write Julia Collins, Editor, at 651 North Berwick Ave., Indianapolis IA 46222. Also get on the mailing list of The Catechumenate Network by contacting Rev. Paul Bowie, 509 - 454 Centre Street South, Oshawa ON L1H 4C2. Particularly useful is the essay "What Is the Catechumenate?" with its use of an adoption metaphor for the catechumenate.

7. Music for the RCIA catechumenate, published by GIA in Chicago, offers a two-volume set entitled "Who Calls You By Name," composed by David Haas, with tapes, presider and choir editions, and gospel dramatizations. These are available through Broughton Co. Ltd., 2105 Danforth Avenue, Toronto ON M4C 1K1.

8. A very inexpensive brochure of a dozen pages, with striking color photographs and powerful text, "Journey in Faith," is available also from Broughton ($1.70). It would be a useful item for a display table at workshops to help communicate the catechumenate to newcomers. It is published by Franciscan Communications, 1229 S. Santu, Los Angeles 90015.

9. If in a bookstore, take a look at John Hill's "Making Disciples," 1991. Hoskin Books, 103 Bellevue Ave., Toronto ON M5T 2N8. You may also want to check Joseph Sinwell's "Come Follow Me" from Paulist Press and Theodore Eastman's "The Baptising Congregation: Christian Initiation and the Local Congregation" from Morehouse Publications.

10. If you have designed any pamphlets or brochures to interpret the catechumenate to your congregation, forward "Pneuma" copies which will be promoted in a future issue. If references to article and books in this resource listing are not precise enough, please write me.

11. Finally, Don Johnson speaks of the catechumenate in terms of "times," rather than the more traditional metaphors of journeys, stages, or processes. Along the same vein, you may enjoy James Dunning's essay "Models of Adult Growth" ("Worship," March 1979, pp. 142-56). Dunning presents the catechumenate using these calls for blessings:

    Let there be storytelling,
    Let there be questioning,
    Let there be communities of faith,
    Let there be Tradition,
    Let there be conversion,
    Let there be celebration, and
    Let there be ministries.