RCIA: Initiation Into What? and Why?

by Ray Ryland

There are two extremes in the Church today with regard to ecumenism. One extreme tends to ignore Vatican II and Pope John Paul's clear summons for all Catholics to take part in reestablishing unity among separated Christians. The other extreme responds to the ecumenical imperative, but in a way, which does harm to the cause of Christian unity. Quite contrary to the Church's ecumenical directives, the latter group plays down or even ignores distinctively Catholic teachings for fear of offending non-Catholics.

This latter tendency can be seen in some of our catechetical work with adult converts. Anecdotal evidence of this false ecumenism comes to us who in the Coming Home Network are in touch with adult converts under instruction around the country. Specific evidence of false ecumenism is written in the pages of the ritual for catechumens.

A careful study of the Roman ritual, Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, shows that in important respects it is ambiguous. The liturgies for various stages of the catechumenate are vague both in their affirmations and in the responses, which inquirers are to make. In good conscience most Protestants could make many or most of the responses called for. In my years as a "high-church" Episcopalian, without hesitation I could have made every single response. Indeed, I would also have asked, "Why should I become a Roman Catholic? I already have the Catholic faith as set forth in the RCIA liturgies."

When referring to the Church, these liturgies avoid using any language specifically designating the Roman Catholic Church. They speak of "the Church," of "God's Church," of "the Holy Catholic Church," of "the Christian family," of "the Christian assembly," of' "God's holy people." These terms are commonly used by almost all Christians. The important qualifier, "Roman," never appears in any of the liturgies, and only once in the detailed instructions for catechists.

Ecumenical Paranoia

This vague terminology reflects an excessive concern about the "ecumenical implications" (their term) of initiation of new members into the Roman Catholic Church. The instructions specify that we must consider these "implications," though it says not a word about what the implications are (section 475, para. 2). Again, we are told that in conducting the Easter Vigil "ecumenical sensitivities should be carefully respected" (section 34 of NCCB's National Statutes for the Catechumenate, incorporated in the manual). Not a hint as to what those "sensitivities" are. The instructions almost make it sound like the Church should be apologetic about receiving new members, especially those previously baptized.

This overly sensitive attitude comes out in the National Statutes, section 2. There we are told that the term "convert" should never be used except for unbaptized persons who become "Christians" (not to say "Catholics"). I call this "overly sensitive" because for centuries Catholics have used the term "convert" for all non-Catholic persons who become Catholic. All the "converts" I know are proud to bear the title. Protestant traditions use it to designate those who come to them from other denominations. What's the problem? Do the National Statutes prefer that we follow the style of the New American Bible, using long phrases when a single word is more accurate? Instead of calling a baptized Christian a "convert," should we call him a "person-who-was-once-member-of-an-unspecified-tradition-and-who-for-reasons-which-we-cannot-mention-because-of-possible-ecumenical-sensitivities-has-become-a-Roman-Catholic"?

Here is another symptom of what seems like a touch of ecumenical paranoia in the National Statutes. They prefer that baptized persons who are being received into full communion not be received at the Easter Vigil. Why? It might create "confusion of such baptized Christians with the candidates for baptism" (section 33). Now think about it. How can this confusion arise when (a) the liturgy itself explicitly distinguishes between the baptized and the unbaptized, and (b) the baptized Christians do not receive baptism in the liturgy: only the unbaptized catechumens do? What stronger safeguard against confusion could there be?

Another reason for excluding converts from the Easter Vigil is that there might be "misunderstanding of or even reflection upon the sacrament of baptism celebrated in another Church or ecclesial community" (section 33). Surely neither of these is possible. In the liturgy the Church publicly states that those persons being received do have valid baptism. How could the Church affirm non-Catholic trinitarian baptism more strongly than this? How could any rational being fail to get the message?

The Statutes (section 33) offer a final reason for not receiving baptized persons into full communion at the Easter Vigil. Here, I think, we come to the heart of the matter. The Statutes says we must guard against "any perceived triumphalism in the liturgical welcome into the Catholic eucharistic community."

This fear of something called "triumphalism" becomes explicit in several places. The RCIA manual not only abhors "triumphalism" (whatever that is). It also abhors "any appearance of triumphalism" (section 475, para. 2). The Statutes even abhors any "perceived triumphalism" (section 33: italics added). The manual and the Statutes seem to fear that someone might think that Catholics are being "triumphalistic" in receiving baptized Christians into full Catholic communion.

If "triumphalism" is so strenuously to be avoided, we should be told what it is. Since neither the RCIA manual, nor the Statutes tells us anything, we can only speculate.

Does "triumphalism" mean outbursts of "la-dee-dah! We've got it made! We're better than you!"? Vatican II has warned us against idle boasting about being Catholics. "All the children of the Church should nevertheless remember that their exalted condition [that is, being fully incorporated into Christ's own Church] results, not from their own merits, but from the grace of Christ." Note what follows: "If they fail to respond in thought, word and deed to that grace, not only shall they not be saved, but they shall be the more severely judged." (Constitution on the Church. 14: italics added.) We Catholics stand under the dominical warning: "everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required" (Luke 12:48).

The RCIA ritual's strict avoidance of anything "Roman Catholic" leads me to further speculation. Does "triumphalism" mean being deeply excited about the Roman Catholic Church and about being a Catholic? Does it mean being eager to share that joy with others? Does it mean being thankful for the privilege of sharing in the one true church of Jesus Christ? Does it mean articulating the Church's teaching about herself and about the life in Christ which she alone makes possible? Is this the "triumphalism" the RCIA manual and the Statutes want us to avoid at all costs?

Those who find this "triumphalism" abhorrent should never read the documents of Vatican II. The Constitution on the Church, the Decree on Ecumenism, the Constitution on Divine Revelation fairly reek of this kind of "triumphalism." So does John Paul II's encyclical on ecumenism, Ut Unum Sint, in what he says about the Catholic Church.

Off In A Corner

To avoid any appearance, any perception, any anything of "triumphalism." the ritual tells us, often it will be preferable to celebrate the Mass with only a few relatives and friends" (section 475. para. 2). The authors of these instructions apparently do not know that many of these converts—and all the clergy converts—are suffering, and will continue to suffer for years to come. I speak of the suffering of economic hardship, always severe for clergy converts and their families; of harassment and even rejection by non-Catholic family and friends: of the actual break-up of families in some cases; of starting a new life in a new ethos and sometimes even in a new community; sometimes of coming from warm church communities into unfriendly, lack-luster Catholic parishes.

Despite all this, the instructions would have us push the converts off in a corner and treat them as though we were ashamed of receiving them into the Church. And after all they have suffered and will suffer by their following God's leading into the Church. This is an insult to them, however much unintended.

Furthermore, quarantining converts in this manner denies other people in the parish the joy of welcoming them. Several years ago it was my privilege at Franciscan University of Steubenville to receive into full communion a Presbyterian minister and his wife. (They had been referred to me by a mutual friend after three priests they had previously approached ignored their request to be received.) The converts were strangers to the congregation, but there was great excitement and joy on the part of the congregation. They rejoiced at the prospect of the rich new life upon which the converts were entering that day. They gave the converts a beautiful reception afterward and overwhelmed them with expressions of admiration and appreciation for the converts' courage and faith-filled pilgrimage.

(False ecumenism abounds. Recently a Protestant clergyman courageously announced to a ministerial gathering, including four priests, that he is being drawn to the Catholic Church. Neither during the meeting nor afterward did one priest say a word to him. Providentially, a Presbyterian minister present took him aside and told him how to get in touch with the Coming Home Network. That is how his story came to me.)

Fundamental Requirement

Another and even more serious weakness of the RCIA ritual and instructions and the Statutes is that they never even allude to what should be the basic reason for becoming a Catholic. Individuals are attracted to the Church for any number of reasons, which are legitimate, but not fundamental. If one is to become truly Catholic and fully enter into the Church's life, he must come for one reason. He must be convinced that what the Catholic Church teaches about herself is true. He must be convinced that she is the one true Church of Jesus Christ, entrusted with his authority to speak in his name. He must be convinced that she always lives under the direction, humanly speaking, of Christ's vicar, the successor of Peter.

Get that straight, and everything else falls in place. Without this conviction, one will never be a zestful and joyful (because loyally obedient) Catholic. In a number of instances I have seen converts come in for other reasons and eventually drop out of the Church. Other converts who have not been presented with the first requirement for being Catholic may remain, but they will not be zestful Catholics.

The first married man ordained to the permanent diaconate in this country in the mid-sixties was a former Anglican clergyman. A year after he was ordained to the diaconate, he announced that he and his wife were going back to the Church of England. He said he had become a Catholic because he thought the Catholic Church was the best vehicle available for proclaiming the Gospel today. Now, he said, he had decided otherwise.

Naturally I was surprised to learn he was returning to the Church of England. When I read his stated reason for having become a Catholic, however, it was clear to me why he did not stay. He came into the Church for the wrong reason. He had made a prudential judgment that he could work more effectively inside the Church than outside. He never embraced her on her terms, never submitted to her authority. He never really became a Catholic.

The RCIA ritual must give converts this guidance. They need to hear it affirmed not only in their catechesis (if they do hear it there), but also in the public professions the liturgies call on them to make. Indeed, I believe they have a right to hear this fact affirmed and join in that affirmation. They have earned that right by the great sacrifices, which many of them are making.

Liberating Truth

Another and closely related weakness of the ritual is this: It never mentions the fact that truly becoming Roman Catholic necessarily transforms one's personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Many of the converts already have a relationship with our Lord. They must be alerted to the change which reception into the Church will work in their lives, and be encouraged to rejoice in that change.

Let me illustrate my point from personal experience. As a Protestant I was my own final authority on who Jesus Christ is, what he expects of us, how he wants to nourish our lives in him. In other words, I was the final authority on all the content of the Christian faith. This was inevitable. I had no other authority. If I claimed the Bible for my authority, I was in fact claiming as my authority either my own interpretation, or someone else's interpretation, which I had chosen. I necessarily submitted to Jesus Christ on my terms, on my best guess at what his terms are. I had no other terms.

As I came into the Church I realized my relationship with Jesus Christ was changing. When I submitted to the authority of the Catholic Church. I submitted to the authority of Jesus Christ in a new and liberating way. No longer was I the final authority in basic matters of faith and morals. Now Christ was the final authority, speaking to me through his Church. It was and remains a liberating and exhilarating realization. "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:32). But only the whole truth will make you truly free.

There is not the slightest suggestion of this liberation in the RCIA liturgies and instructions. In fact, there simply is no articulation of a Roman Catholic identity. As we have said, some of our converts and catechumens make great sacrifices in order to become Roman Catholics. They need and deserve support from the RCIA program—including its liturgy—in understanding why becoming Catholic makes their suffering worthwhile. They need and deserve answers in the instruction and also in the liturgy to the question, "Why am I subjecting myself to all this in order to become a Catholic?" The Church's public proclamation in the initiation process gives no answer. Indeed, it ignores the question.

The articulation of a Roman Catholic identity can also benefit our converts' non-Catholic family members and friends. Those non-Catholics who attend the various stages of converts' reception should hear in the liturgy the reasons why their family members or friends are becoming Catholic. Non-Catholics might well say of what they hear now in the ritual. "Is that all they're uprooting their lives for?" These non-Catholics also need to hear the real reasons for becoming Catholic. They probably will not agree, but seeds of the truth can be sown even in closed minds. Who knows what God will do with those seeds?

At some points the RCIA liturgies should proclaim distinctively Roman Catholic themes such as these: that the pope is successor of Peter, Vicar of Christ, earthly head of the Church: that the pope and bishops have been entrusted with the teaching authority of Jesus Christ (let these new members learn early to use and cherish the word "magisterium"): that the Roman Catholic Church is the one true Church: that the Roman Catholic Church is the sacrament of the unity of the human race: that only in the Roman Catholic Church can one find the fullness of Christ's truth and of his nourishing sacraments. Let the faith of the Catholic people be affirmed and strengthened.

A Place To Start

Liturgy is one thing, catechetics another. We do not expect the RCIA liturgies to carry the burden of teaching these newcomers the Catholic faith. But lex orandi (the law of praying) is still lex credendi (the law of believing). Through the ages the Church's liturgies have been her chief teaching device. In fairness to our new members, the RCIA liturgies must instill in their minds the fundamentals of what it means to be a Roman Catholic.

Until the rite of initiation is properly revised, celebrants should take every opportunity to make the liturgies explicitly Roman Catholic. Thoughtfully prepared introductions to, and summaries of, the brief liturgies can do much. Where there are options, specifically Roman Catholic choices should be made available. For example, in accepting children as catechumens, the ritual asks, "What do you want to become?" For answers to this question the ritual suggests, "I want to do the will of God": "I want to follow the word of God": "I want to be baptized": "I want to be a friend of Jesus Christ": "I want to join the Christian family." All very good, but every earnest Protestant could use the same words to express desire for church membership.

These answers are vague. Suppose, instead, we give the children (and the adults) a choice from these answers: "I want to be a Roman Catholic Christian": "I want to belong to the Church which Jesus Christ established": "I want to share in the fullness of Jesus Christ's truth and life": or "I want to surrender my will to Jesus Christ by surrendering it to him through his Church."

Those are Roman Catholic answers. The Roman Catholic Church is the one true Church. That's why today hundreds of Protestant clergy are struggling and sacrificing to come into her communion. That's the only reason for joining her. Our catechumenal catechesis and liturgy must declare this fact to our converts and to the world.

Away with false ecumenism and the faceless bugaboo of' "triumphalism"!

Reverend Ray Ryland is a former Episcopal clergyman who was ordained to the Catholic priesthood under the Pastoral Provision. He is a retired professor of theology from the University of San Diego and currently he is an Adjunct Professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. He is also chaplain of the Coming Home Network.

© The Homiletic & Pastoral Review, Ignatius Press, 2515 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94118, 1-800-651-1531.