From "On the making of Catholics: How the Church Fathers united the faithful",
By Joe Tremblay
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=1634)
"...what is commonly expected of the today’s candidates in these programs is that they attend these lectures. The downside is that not much more is expected of them."
I hear you. I'm on my RCIA team and am also a professional instructional designer. In the ID biz, we have a saying that "talking isn't teaching," yet RCIA seems to be comprised of 99% talking and 1% ritual. (The way to get on an RCIA team seems to be to love talking--but we can learn as much from the candidates/catechumens as from hearing our own voices.)
"There are as many ways to God as there are men and women," The Pope has said. And yet we package them all together, and don't really get a deep sense whether the Church teachings have sunk in or not; it's a matter of endurance, not conversion.
And it isn't just about stuffing their heads with factoids; if we fail to show them--share with them--God's beauty and glory, we haven't done anyone a service.
Worse, I fear we are providing a very unsteady foundation upon which to build their faith.
If they are unable to bring real conversion into their hearts, and have this conversion show through their lives, acts, and families, how much better off are they, really?
Maybe we don't need to return to the ways of the early Church (after all, hardly anyone in America today is completely unfamiliar with Jesus Christ, unlike people living 1900 or so years ago), but I believe our RCIA programs could be effective on a much more spiritual level.
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