Every one of us who is passionate about the treasure that is the Catholic Faith has encountered moments of difficulty when attempting to unlock the door to this treasure for another human soul. There are varying levels of difficulty depending on where any particular individual is on the path to their journey to God and to reality. I am referring here to each one or us, as well as the person God presents to us. After such difficulties, we often find ourselves replaying the scenario that transpired in our minds. “I should have said this. I should have said that.” Sometimes we are painfully aware that we are not sure what we should have said or what was the most effective way to say it. For those of us who are catechists or support members of an RCIA team (the Church’s process for assisting adults who are exploring the Catholic Faith, considering becoming a Catholic, and/or never received Communion or Confirmation), we can find ourselves in this state of unrest at any point in the process most particularly when we get into the divisive and polarizing issues of our time. Though we do need to remember that it is God’s grace and a soul’s cooperation with that grace that ultimately unlocks the door to the treasure, there is no denying the fact that effective and timely words and actions on our part can make a radical difference. It is also important to note that it is oftentimes we, ourselves, that need better understanding in any one particular area of our Faith.

The goal of this column is to assist all adult Catholics in more powerfully and effectively communicating the treasure that is the Catholic Faith both in your RCIA programs and in your every day encounters with family, friends, and acquaintances as well as that random stranger that God places on your path. These tips will be applicable regardless of the faith background and/or world view of the person you are presented with.

Those of you who are involved in, thinking about becomig involved in, or know someone who is involved in RCIA, read on.

My paramount goal in working this column, is to share the secret of our very successful RCIA program and make a radical difference in how RCIA programs are conducted, particularly in the U.S. Unfortunately, too many programs are not nearly as effective as they should be. Many RCIA programs “lose their people” after they have received their Sacraments at Easter and rarely see them at Mass again. This happens, in large part, because they have not been given substance or the Truth. Too many teams make a deliberate choice to shy away from the teachings of our Faith, oftentimes because they themselves are not convinced or comfortable with some, or all of the teachings. They tend towards bringing a “politically correct” mindset into the process along with a false sense of ecumenism (the Catholic Faith is just “one of many ways” to God). Tragically, all too often, a good number of students are fed partial or total error, doing all involved a great disservice. Whether it is because of these factors, or because an earnest team is at a loss for the best way to “get the job done,” many catechumens and candidates are received into the Church with little understanding of the life transforming treasure that is the Catholic Faith.

I plan to share the secret of the dynamics and structures that we built into our RCIA program, where absences are rarely, if ever, an issue (despite a weekly Sun 9AM Mass commitment followed by an additional hour-and-a-half of catechesis and discussion, from Oct-June) and where, by the time we deal with the polarizing issues of our day, our students are open vessels because they are standing on solid ground! I will share the secret of why they trust what we are saying and, far from resisting, light bulbs are going off and many of them find themselves on the opposite side of these issues for the first time in their experience. Most of the time, it is because they have never heard the facts on the side of objective Truth and they almost universally become exhilarated. I want to share the secret of how we have even developed things to a point where, if they are still uncomfortable, we “scoop them right up” and they are very quickly back on track.

Finally, I plan to share the secret that keeps our students coming thru the end of the year, typically quite sad that the classes are over, sometimes coming back again in the Fall, often joining our team and/or getting involved in some kind of Church work, raising strong Catholic kids and, most importantly, effectively evangelizing themselves! The bottom line: The Truth works and there are effective ways to transmit it to others!

It is my prayer that the readers of this column will become exhilarated themselves, as they learn to more powerfully fulfill the will of the Christ “to make disciples of all nations.” A broken world needs your help. Let our journey begin!

2009 Peggy Clores

A critical ingredient for the optimal effectiveness of any catechetical endeavor is conviction. I can tell you that with every beat of my heart and every breath that I take, I am radically and immeasurably convinced that the Catholic Faith is the fullness of Reality; the fullness of objective Truth.

In “The Truth Works,” I spoke of my plans to utilize this column to share the secrets behind the success of our RCIA program; the secrets behind dynamically and effectively communicating the treasure that is the Catholic Faith. The first secret begins with a conviction that lives in the hearts of our Team members and ends (by God’s grace) with the eventual conviction in the hearts and minds of at least 95% of our students. [In subsequent articles, I will back that statistic.]

If your RCIA has poor ongoing attendance or your students stop going to class (and Mass!) after Easter, your solution begins here. You must begin to rectify what it is that keeps you from being convinced.

For my part, I was not always convinced. Far from it.

I “left” the Church as a young adult because I perceived Her to be irrelevant, out of touch with issues, boring (at times), absurd, intolerant and lacking in compassion. The summer before college, I recall fighting back tears as I challenged my father’s imperative that I “must go to Mass!” At risk that he might have a sound answer, I promised him that if he could give me one good reason why I had to go, I would continue to go. After a long pause, his answer was, “You just have to, that’s all. It’s the right thing to do.” It was the nail in the coffin for me. My dear father was absolutely right, but he, too, never put the pieces entirely together – yet it was enough for him. Welling up, as it killed me to hurt him, I said the words, “That’s not enough for me, Daddy.”

God, Our Father in Heaven, said, “Not so fast.”

In the years that followed, He led me to a long line of people who turned all of this on its head and inside out. The first in the line-up would eventually become my husband of thirty years. At age eighteen he had it amazingly together on this count and turned my misconceptions around one day at a time, often one long argument at a time. In the end he, and many effective Catholics to follow, helped me to recognize where my faculty of right reason was coming up short.

At the same time, God also permitted into the history all manner of challenge in other good and intelligent people who compelled me to “turn over every rock”: Atheists, Agnostics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Born-Again Christians, New Agers, etc. As I delved deeply and extensively into the Church’s wisdom on every challenge, I came to realize that, though we certainly share much common ground with other belief systems, nothing is as complete or as backed by solid history and sound evidence. I was astounded; overwhelmed by the Church’s brilliance, insight and foresight. It became apparent that my eighth-grade religious education had only scratched the surface and left me with a largely limited understanding of the Church’s teachings. I thought I knew what the Catholic Church taught and why. In the grand scheme of things, I hadn’t a clue.

Everything changed so dramatically. All of life – its purpose and direction, all of trial and challenge – found its most profound meaning and context. I was given the tools and means to elevate functioning and living to heights one would not have thought possible – especially under the worst of circumstances!

I will share more of my story in articles to come, but for now let’s get back to the “unconvinced” catechist.

So what pieces are you missing? The time has come for you to “turn over every rock” and begin anew to persevere in knowledge, in trust, and in prayer to become radically and immeasurably convinced! To launch your pursuit, I suggest the first in a line up of many excellent works: “Theology and Sanity,” by Frank Sheed.

2010 Peggy Clores

So how does an RCIA Team measure if we are, in fact, effective? More to the point, how do we assess that our participants are rationally and emotionally convinced and gradually falling in love with all they were made for!

The first measure could best be summed up by “What Are the Participants Doing?.

By God’s grace and a first decade of trial and error, it seems our Team has presently managed a winning formula yielding consistency in effectiveness over the course of our second decade. We utilize fifteen indicators to evaluate whether or not we are serving our students best interests effectively. Upon review, your Team may find it ‘an extreme’ or even an impossibility to shoot for all fifteen. It is not my intention to discourage you! I have a tri-fold positive purpose in sharing these effectiveness indicators:

-To both edify and encourage you in your work

-To assure you of what, in fact, is possible

-To assist you in defining your goals!

While subsequent columns will address how to get here, let’s first determine where we are going.

Effectiveness Indicators (What Are The Participants Doing?)

1) Their interest is high from the first class to the close of the year. (In our program, that time spans from Oct thru June and includes the post-Easter Mystagogia Period.)

2) Apart from genuine emergencies, conflicts of a serious nature, clearly genuine instances of illness, or grave circumstances, there are NO challenges with attendance.

3 ) Their trust is high very early on and is sustained throughout

4) Regardless of the participant’s age, sex, marital status or prior perspective, your students miss attending the program when they have a day off and are truly saddened to see the year come to an end, longing to build on what they have received.

5) By the time you are working through the Commandments and divisive issues challenging our present day culture, your participants (for the most part and/or to the extent that they are presently able) have become rationally convinced that the Church guards and holds the objective truth about God and Reality; in other words, the truth about who they are, why they are here, and where the direction of their lives needs to be heading!

6) Your students feel entirely freed up to get all of their most difficult questions answered and come to the point where they feel a relative sense of peace.

7) When any given class is over, rather than ‘bolting’, they linger for further discussion. (With charity and gratitude, I share that many of our students, after an hour and a half class- preceeded by Mass-will hang around to the point where we have to ‘usher them out’!)

8 )All participants automatically attend the Rite of Election or Call To Continuing Conversion, Holy Week Services and the Neophyte Mass.

9 )When the program is over, they continue to attend Weekly Mass and, in some cases, begin to incorporate Daily Masses into their lives. They regularly frequent Confession and begin to develop a prayer life, incorporating the Rosary, Adoration, and attendance at special Holy Hours.

10) They often return the next year to reinforce select topics and/or retake the whole year of their own volition!

11) They expand out, taking advantage of additional programs, courses, and lectures, as well as reading books in areas of personal interest and utilizing the internet to increase and deepen their understanding of the Faith.

12) If their state in life permits, they become actively involved in the Church, serving in various areas or ministries. (At least half of our Team of 30 is presently made up of past participants!)

13) Those who have children take the raising of those children in the Faith seriously and consider it the top priority of anything and everything they could possibly give them.

14) The participants begin to respond to trial, suffering, and life’s challenges differently than when the program started.

15) They are better able to (or desire to be able to) explain and stand up for the Catholic Faith.

Subsequent columns will address the dynamics that yield this level of effectiveness. Next month, however, we explore a second measure of Evaluating Effectiveness: “What Are The Participants Saying?”

[Book recommendation: “Winning Converts: A Symposium on Methods of Convert Making for Priests and Lay People”, Edited by Rev. John A. O’ Brien; Forward by Karl Keating; Catholic Answers Inc., 1996]

2011 Peggy Clores