Catholic New World staff writer Michelle Martin talks with Jackie Pokorny.

When Jackie Pokorny took on the job of director of religious education at St. Stephen Protomartyr Parish in Des Plaines in 1987, the archdiocese was just beginning to teach parish leaders how to implement the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. Now retired after more than 11 years with the Office for Catechesis—and experience teaching the teachers of RCIA as well as serving on the Christian Initiation Board— Pokorny reflected on the benefits the catechumenate brings to the catechumens, their teachers and sponsors and the Catholic community at large.

 

The Catholic New World: Could you explain what RCIA is?

Jackie Pokorny: We most commonly understand it as a process of Christian initiation for the unbaptized coming into the church. In that context, we have people who were baptized in another tradition but are seeking to come into the Catholic Church and others who are completing their initiation. Basically, the rite is intended for the unbaptized. (For more stories about RCIA, see Page 13.)

 

TCNW: How long has RCIA been around?

JP: Vatican II called for the restoration of the catechumenate (the period of formation before entering the church), and the rite was published in Latin in 1972. Implementation began almost immediately, but here in the United States it really became mandatory in 1988. Here in the archdiocese, the process began before it became mandatory.

When I got to my parish and took the intensive training from the Office for Liturgy, I really knew nothing about the RCIA. But going through the intensive and recruiting a team, and beginning ourselves to deepen our own faith and sharing that with others … I saw us come alive in that. There’s something that touches the fire there.

 

TCNW: Explain a little bit about how the catechumenate works. What had happened to it in the years before Vatican II?

JP: The catechumenate was the process in the early church, where Christians went through a longer process of faith formation. It really meant apprenticing yourself to Christ and what it meant to live that message of Christ in the world. The process in the early church was geared toward adults, and probably families, coming in.

Over the years, we had infant baptism coming in and so on. I think in the church in the United States, there was the gradual separation of sacraments—baptism, then confirmation—that whole thing affected how we looked at how we were bringing people into the church. The instruction became more one-on-one until there was this call to look at the catechumenate.

The catechumenate was really a gradual process of initiation into the life of Christ and the church, the people of God. It’s done in stages, which are recognized publicly through liturgical rites. We’ve got the rites in the parish—the rite of acceptance for the unbaptized and the rite of welcoming for the baptized and all kinds of liturgical rites throughout the process—which are public and involve the church community.

 

TCNW: Does the interaction with the catechumens help the parish community?

JP: Oh, definitely. If the parish community is aware that they are the catechizing community, the initiating community, that that’s where it takes place, they are called to that responsibility. They are sharing what their faith is all about, and I think that’s very important. There’s also a call to the community to take responsibility to journey with these people as sponsors.

 

TCNW: Why is it important for the parish community to be involved with the catechumenate?

JP: The catechumenate really centers on conversion, the conversion process. As fully initiated members, we sometimes think our formation is complete, and conversion has happened. We forget about the message of ongoing conversion, that our life, immersed in the paschal mystery, is an ongoing process of apprenticing in Christ and living our faith actively, acting on what we believe.

 

TCNW: Why do we send the catechumens out of the church after the Liturgy of the Word?

JP: What they do is take the Sunday readings and reflect on what they mean for them. Of course, as catechumens, they’re unbaptized, so they’re not participating at Eucharist, and that dismissal sends a message to us. Again, going back to the early church, that’s what happened—people would see the catechumens being sent forth from the community. …

Sometimes we forget about the power of the Gospel to transform and inform our lives. When I was in the parish, I remember an elderly man coming up to me and saying, “I think I missed something. I feel deprived because I didn’t realize the power of that Word,” in seeing the catechumens leaving and having time to reflect on it.

 

TCNW: How do the neophytes change the parish community?

JP: It’s a rippling effect. Maybe I see it as an overflowing of what they have in all aspects of their lives. They’re sharing their faith, and others begin asking, “What is my faith all about?” We are all evangelizers. If we really feel that, we are compelled to do something about it.