www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization Catechumenate

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Out here in the Tennessee diaspora, we have stumbled across an honest to goodness catechumen - a fine woman who actually wants to become a Catholic - and do so in the Ruthenian church!

Now for those of you up north, this may be a rather ordinary event (at least I hope it would be), but down here where the total number of Catholics hovers around 2% of the population, all catechumens are special, but a Byzantine catechumen has never been seen before. And, of course, this means that we have never had any experience with any formation of catechuemns.

So, help! What do we do? Is there any standard process? A helpful list of topics to explore? Any sort of standardized "program" to use as a starting point? There has to be some help or guidance out there somewhere?

Where?

-- Ed Klages

PS At the risk of sidetracking this discussion into the whole "reform of the liturgy" arguments that were all too common a while back - would it be acceptable to offer the Petitions for the Catechumens between the Litany of Supplication and the Cherubic Hymn - or is this on an official list of "things we no longer do"?

Ed,

It would be absolutely appropriate to offer the Litany of Catechumens during the Liturgy. The main reason it fell out of use was that there were no Catechumens, there is no prohibition against using it. However, the Litany of the Catechumens is also a dismissal litany and the Catechumens are called to leave at the end of it. The Latin Church does this and sends the Catechumens to instruction after the dismissal.

As for materials, I would go with God With Us publications, especially the Light for Life series.

In Christ,
Subdeacon Lance

We have had several catechumens but sadly never used the dismissal. Who would train the catechumens upon their dismissal? Imagine the excitement if on any given Sunday 15-20% of those in attendance left for training at this point. It would reinvigorate the congregation!

Dan Lauffer

Ed, there used to be a full litany and dismissal of the catechumens in the Byzantine liturgy before the Anaphora. It is still in the current "official" altar liturgikons of several Greek Catholic churches.

It is appointed to be taken immediately after the Litany of Supplication, divided by an ekphonesis of the priest "For You are a merciful God who loves mankind and unto You" etc, followed by the Deacon, who then sings "All you catechumens, pray to the Lord", "All the faithful pray for the catechumens that the Lord may have mercy on them" etc.

If the priest does not want to take the entire separate litany for the catechumens he could insert a specific intention ("For the handmaiden of the Lord __ who is approaching enlightenment" or whatever other language the priest wants to insert at the end of the Litany of Supplication where the Liturgikon indicates that other petitions may be inserted. Some priests also mention them by name at the Great Entrance as well.

The Roman Church is dismissing catechumens during Lent in some places as they prepare for their Easter Vigil baptism, chrismation, etc. Seems like we should be able to liturgically include them in the worshipping community in the Byzantine liturgy during this special time as well.

One question that does have some significance. Is she truly a catechumen, that is never been baptized, or is she a baptized person seeking full communion? Ideally they should be treated differently, even though in Roman Church they usually aren't. Don

One way would also be to add the second litany for those to be illumined during the presanctified liturgies in the last few weeks of Lent.

Don in Kansas wrote
I confess that I do not know the answer at this time. Please elaborate on the differences.

Thanks,
Ed

The difference is immense, and needs to be recognized in a very real way.

In fact, the Roman Catholic documents discuss three different classes of people in this regard:

(1) The true catechumen, who has not been baptized or catechized;
(2) the candidate, who has been baptized in infancy either as a (Roman)Catholic or as a member of another Christian community, but did not receive further catechetical formation nor, consequently, the sacraments of confirmation and eucharist; and
(3) the one who is born and baptized in a separated ecclesial community, who seeks to be received into the full communion of the Catholic church.

The true catechumen enters the Church through the process of the catechumenate, with all the ceremonies which accompany baptism (i.e., the exorcisms, etc).

The candidate may have the same instruction as the catechumen, but under no circumstances may any of the baptismal or pre-baptismal rites be repeated.

Those who are being received have the rite "so arranged that no greater burden than necessary is required for the establishment of communion and unity." (cf Acts 15:28)

All of this material is taken from the "Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults" of the Roman Catholic Church, 1985.

It is important to note that this same volume says:

"In the case of Eastern Christians who enter into the fullness of Catholic communion, no liturgical rite is required, but simply a profession of the Catholic faith."

(Prof.) J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

There is the problem of those who have undergone a form of baptism which for any of several possible reasons the Catholic Church is unable to recognize fully. Handling these cases can require sensitivity both to the sacramental/ecclesiological issues and to the spiritual needs of the catechumen. In every case of any sort of Protestant seeking to enter the Church, chrismation is indispensable. As to the relevant portions of the Divine Liturgy and the Litany of Presanctified Gifts, I am unaware of any hierarchal attempt to prohibit their use - only of permissions to omit them. I would most strenuously recommend that these traditional texts be used, and that nobody attempt to invent new ones. Incognitus

Incognitus:

Did anyone suggest otherwise?

Not every non-Catholic baptism is recognized as valid by the Catholic Church; the Church has stringent guidelines for the recognition of the baptism of non-Catholics (except, of course, for the Eastern Churches, which are automatically accepted as valid). And every baptized Christian from any other community except the Eastern Churches (and the Polish National Catholic Church) must be chrismated/confirmed as part of his/her reception into full communion.

And in regard to the relevant portions of the Byzantine liturgical services vis-a-vis the catechumens: no authorization is needed to utilize those litanies and prayers, because they are in the English edition of the Liturgikon which was approved for use in the Metropolitan Province in 1965. Who ever suggested that new texts be created? If it was in this thread, I missed it totally.

(Prof.) J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

JMT and Incognitus both raise good points that I think need to be taken a step further.

Someone who is not baptized is a true catechumen. Someone who is already baptized is not technically a catechumen but rather a member of another Christian community who is seeking full communion with the Byzantine Catholic Church. If the original baptism were invalid, pastoral sensitivity would most likely approach Baptism as a conditional Baptism, and then complete the Sacramental Mysteries of Initiation with Chrismation and Eucharist. Placing such an individual in a group of people who are not baptized might not be the wisest pastoral course.

If this person is already a Christian I do not believe that it would be appropriate to pray the Litany of the Catechumens for this individual. My preference would be to add appropriate petitions for this individual during the other litanies when special petitions are generally taken.

I highly recommend that you speak with your pastor. He is the one to contact the Archdiocese to learn about the normal protocol in these cases.

--

On a related note, the Roman Catholic parish in my neighborhood does dismiss catechumens, but only at the Masses where these catechumens will immediately gather for formation. At the conclusion of the Mass the catechumens then join the parish for the social hour. I think that this is a very practical approach. It is my understanding that baptized individuals who are part of their RCIA program are not dismissed and a clear distinction is made between those who are already baptized and those who are not.

My wife was a convert, already baptised [in the Brethren church] but she went through the [Roman] catechumenate. The distinction was recognized by all involved but the parish- a large one- simply did not have the personel to have two classes. This would probably not be the case in the Tennessee convert's parish and yes, she should be treated differently if validly baptised, even more so if a committed Christian.

This is exactly what occured with me when I was in RCIA. I was a candidate as I was baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant but was raised with no faith formation.

All of us were dismissed though, not just the catechumen.

Another aspect of this, the person who leads the catechumen though this formation will miss communion. In the Roman Church this is not an issue as the person leading the formation goes to another Mass, either before or after the one where the dismissal takes place.


David

Thanks to Subdeacon Lance for his suggestion of the God With Us / Light for Life series for materials.

Does anyone else have any practical guidance on how to proceed in the formation process. I have heard that the individual in question will be going to a local Roman parishes RCIA for at least a few weeks while we try to get our act together. This is obviously not ideal, and I have a fear (perhaps unfounded) that there is a risk that she might continue throughout the entire RCIA process and never once undergo formation as an Eastern Catholic.

As I said when opening this thread, we have NO experience in this regard and are desperately trying to find out how this is handled in other parishes. Can someone please help?

-- Ed

Ed,

First, work with your pastor. He is the one to stipulate the formation program for converts. No one should make any moves regarding the formation program for this person without his explicit blessing. I would really like to see you specifically state in this thread that your pastor is the one in charge of the formation process and that you and others involved in this program are working under his direction. A well-intentioned but ill prepared person can do great damage to another person�s faith. The person(s) coordinating the formation process will actually have to work harder than the person who is preparing to be received into the Church.

Second, there are a number of good books that can be used for formation:

The Living God, A Catechism for the Christian Faith (SVS Press, 420 pages) � This two volume catechism does a wonderful job presenting our theology interwoven with both Scripture and the Liturgy in a format that is very easy to read.

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith by St John Damascene � I like this because it covers the essentials of our theology, is a fairly easy read, and each chapter lends itself to a discussion. It is short (under 150 pages) and readily available.

I also agree with Lance�s recommendations on the God With Us books, especially the �Light for Life� series. There is a lot of good �meat� in these books and it should be part of any formation process.

Finally, since yours is a mission parish you might present to your pastor the idea that he make this formation process a parish event. It is highly likely that many members of your mission parish do not themselves have a strong formation in the Faith (this is true of almost every parish). If a weekly adult Christian formation program can attract even 10-15 people on a regular basis it can not only educate the faithful but also contribute incredibly to development of a parish family.

Admin