Jeremy Helmes and I hosted a webinar last week for Directors of Evangelization and of Worship, to inform them on the upcoming OCIA. In that meeting, I presented the major changes to initiation ministry that the new National Statutes of the OCIA will be implementing. See “National Statutes Highlights” to see what those changes are. A webinar for OCIA Coordinators will be coming soon.

Also, note the following formation opportunities from LTP:

Orientation Sessions for New OCIA Coordinators

Finally, here are my answers to some recent questions I’ve received regarding the OCIA and initiation ministry:

Q: I’m concerned that the Precatechumenate period is about to start at my parish and I still don’t know enough about the OCIA. What should I do?

A: Don’t worry! The OCIA is a new translation of the Latin original, so the wording of the ritual text and the introductions to each Period and Step is a little different, but the meaning is basically the same. Even the paragraph numbers are the same. So, the new translation shouldn’t cause much concern. The “newness” really comes from the National Statutes (read them here), and they aren’t requiring very much that you aren’t already doing. The basic approach to each Period of the process is still largely the same.

I suspect that the biggest change will be in the use of a “Register for Catechumens” for recording those who celebrated the Rite of Entrance into the Catechumenate (formerly called the “Rite of Acceptance”), and a “Register for Reception into Full Communion” for recording the baptized Christians who enter into full communion. The use of these registers actually isn’t new, they’re indicated in the current RCIA (see nos. 46, 486), but since they are now mentioned in the new National Statutes, new attention has been brought to them. The rest of the changes have to do with small shifts in approach or emphasis, which shouldn’t be too challenging to implement.

Q: Do I need to purchase these registers for each parish in my Family of Parishes, or can we use one set of registers for the whole Family?

A: Until you either merge or amalgamate into one parish, you should continue to keep separate records for each parish in your Family. These registers can be a little expensive, so if your Family can’t afford to purchase a “Register for Catechumens” and a “Register for Reception Into Full Communion” for each parish, you could create these registers yourself by printing pages with columns for each piece of information that needs to be recorded (see RCIA 46, 486 and Norms 14, 16 of the new National Statutesfor what needs to be recorded) and placing these pages in nice binders for each parish.

Keep an eye on our OCIA page for new content and updates as we have them! And please do send me an email (nhardesty@catholicaoc.org) if you have any questions, or if there is a specific formation opportunity that would be the most helpful for your initiation ministry team.

The Peace of Christ to you,

Nicholas Hardesty, Assoc. Dir. of Adult Evangelization & OCIA