Christian Initiation of Adults in the Dulce Nombre parish

Yesterday we celebrated the Rito of Election of the process Chrsitian Initiation of Adults, I decided it might be helpful to give an idea of what we do.

2023 - election of catechumens

When I was at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ames, I got to learn a lot about the journey, observing the parish's practice. 

But our parish is so different.

The parish of Dulce Nombre de María includes about 45 widely scattered places of worship, in five municipalities. Four of these are the municipal seats – Dulce Nombre is the largest of these and has three churches. Some of the aldeas, villages, are fairly large with more than 1000 people, including El Zapote Santa Rosa, Candelaria Concepción, Plan Grande Concepción. There are a few places that are more like hamlets, caserios, with a few families or even just one extended family. 

Religious formation takes place in the cities, villages, and hamlets. Sometimes there is only one catechist. Many of the catechists have limited formal education. This past year there have been several young people who are in formation to be catechists in their communities. In one, more than five are in formation; most of them were confirmed last year. 

The bishops’ conference and the diocese are promoting religious formation by levels. This is difficult for us because of the number of catechists we have. We were about to do pilot projects in three places when the pandemic changed our plans.

Most of our formation is preparation for the sacraments. 

There are three different formal processes for the sacrament of baptism. 

For children under seven, the formation is for parents and godparents: six sessions and a retreat. Each year there are one or two celebrations of baptism of children in most communities.

A baptism in 2016 in Plan Grande

There is a separate process for children between seven and thirteen. This is almost a year long and begins whenever the catechists on a village are ready to do the catechesis and have enough candidates. 

The third process is for those fourteen and older, the catechumenate. 

For a number of reasons, a fair number of young people are not baptized as babies and so there are a good number of children between 7 and 13 baptized in their communities. And there are also young people who wait until they are 14 or older.

There is not a tradition of baptism soon after birth. I have baptized few babies less than a year old. I am not sure if there are cultural reasons or if this is merely a holdover from the time when the parents had to be married in the church and in a base community in order to have their children baptized. (Thanks be to God this ended in our parish in 2013 with the new pastor, Padre German.) 

There are usually a good number of children between 7 and 13 who are baptized each year. (There were more in the past when the regulations about married parents were in effect.) 

This year we have about 37 catechumens who will, God willing, be baptized at the Easter Village. More than 12 of them are over 18, though the majority are between 14 and 18.

We are probably one of the few parishes in the diocese who have a program for Christian initiation of adults. Due to the expanse of the parish, we don’t have a centralized catequesis. Most of the formation goes on in the local community, even if there is only one candidate. I have tried to encourage neighboring communities to join together and this has happened in a few places. 

The formation normally begins 8 or 9 months before Easter. 

 We do celebrate the major rites in the main parish church in Dulce Nombre. 

We celebrate the rite of acceptance into the catechumenate on the first or second Sunday of Advent. This past December we celebrated the rite on December 4, since the first Sunday of December we had the visit of the image of Our Lady of Suyapa in our parish. There were 40 candidates. 

welcoming the catechumens at the church entrance, December 2020

 We use the rites from Mexico, although I have added the signing of the feet from the US Spanish version. I think it is such a significant part of the rite that we have adapted it for our parish. How important it is to see godparents, priests, and even a deacon on their knees, signing the feet of the candidate!

signing of the hands

signing of the eyes

signing of the feet

Signing the feet, San Agustín 2017

This past Sunday we celebrated the Rite of Election in the church with 36. A few dropped out. One has Sunday morning classes and couldn’t get permission for the rite. Another didn’t get to the church on time – a longer story. The pastor or I will arrange for the rite in their communities. 

Since we don't have a book of the elect and because some of the catechumens can't write their names, we give each  a card and have someone write their name. They sign or put their thumbprint on the card. In the rite we have them come forward, put the card in a bowl and say their name aloud. 

I had enough energy to be able to help arrange the rite at a special Mass at 10 am in the parish. I even preached – very much inspired by the presence of so many catechumens. I reminded them that they were elected (elegidos) – not like the politicians, but “chosen” (elegidos) by the Church, the People of God.

The diocesan radio station, Radio María, broadcasts Masses every Sunday and usually broadcasts a Mass from Dulce Nombre once a month. Yesterday’s Mass and Rite of Election were broadcast. I talked to the staff of the Radio who were unfamiliar with the Rites of the Christian Initiation process. 

In Lent, there are a number of rites and activities for the “elect.”

There are three scrutinies which involve prayer and “exorcisms” as well as the handing on (entrega) of the Creed and of the Our Father. We have designed our formation so that the Creed and the Our Father are handed to the elect during their weekly sessions. 

But I was concerned about the scrutinies. It would be a major burden (of time and money) to have them come to one of the Sunday Masses, if they lived far from the Mass sites. Where there is a Mass nearby or where I could get to a Sunday morning celebration, we would use the scrutinies in the rite. 

The pastor usually celebrates Mass in five different sites – Saturday evening in Dolores, Sunday morning in Concepción and in the Saint Anthony Church in Dulce Nombre, Sunday evening in the main church in Dulce Nombre. He also usually has one or two Masses in other places in the afternoon – every other week in San Agustín. 

Scrutiny in San Agustín, 2018

I have tried to get to a village with “elect” for the rites on several Sunday mornings. It has been a real blessing, especially when a community has several “elect”. 

I spoke with Padre German about this yesterday and gave him the list of communities where there are “elect” as well as the scrutiny rites. He visits communities for Mass every day. His suggestion is that he could preside at the scrutinies at the Mass in the community during the week. For me, that seems great.

My pastoral solution for the other communities was to do a minor re-write of the scrutinies so that they could be celebrated without a priest or deacon in the communities. The scrutinies of the “elect” would take place in a community Celebration of the Word, led by the local Delegate of the Word and Catechist

In the past, the final preparation for the Easter Vigil was a retreat in their communities. But this often meant that there were only one or two in the retreat. This year we will have a retreat for all the “elect” on the Tuesday of Holy Week. This shouldn’t be a major problem since Holy Week (Semana Santa) is a major holiday. 

In our parish most local communities pray the Stations of the Cross in the streets of their villages on the Fridays of Lent. In addition, we have a parish wide Stations of the Cross on the Friday before Holy Week, traditionally the feast of Our Mother of Sorrows. We encourage our elect to take part in these as part of their preparation.

The Easter Vigil is quite a celebration here. We begin in a field with the Easter Fire and then go in procession with the Paschal Candle to the Church. 

2015

2022

Last year we used the auditorium to accommodate all the people who came. 

2022

I’ve sung (or tried) to sing the Exultet, though I may not try this year, due to my health. We also use all the readings and sing all the psalm and canticle response. 

Baptism is not a simple pouring of a little bit of water. The elect are baptized in a bath of water! 

In many parts of the world, the catechumens are fully initiated in the Church in the Easter Vigil receiving the three sacraments of initiation – Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation. 

I am not sure why, but in our diocese the catechumens have not been confirmed. I guess the bishops want to confirm them, probably to connect them with the universal church. I can see why those under eighteen might wait until they can be confirmed with other young people of their communities, forming a community in the preparation for confirmation. But those over eighteen? I am trying to get our bishop to permit our pastor to confirm those who are eighteen or older. 

With all the readings and baptisms, the Easter Vigil celebration can last from 5 to 6 hours. 

We are not very good with the mystagogia – the continuing formation after Easter, trying to incorporate the newly baptized into the community. 

This year I’ve asked the catechists to bring all the newly baptized to the Pentecost Vigil, which, for us, is an all-night vigil. I need to think of other ways to involve the newly baptized in the life of the church, especially those who are adults, eighteen or older. In the meantime, I look forward to the upcoming weeks, praying for strength.

This Sunday, I’ll go to Vertientes for the Rite of Election for the catechumen who got lost (and arrived at the end of the Mass.) Does this sound like the parable of the lost sheep? Not my plan.

If I have the strength, I’ll get to two or three villages for Sunday morning Celebration of the word with Scrutinies and Communion. The big challenge is the retreat in Holy Week. I hope I can work on this with some catechists. 

But the big night will be the Easter Vigil. I hope I have the strength and stamina (and the wisdom to involved lots of catechists in the process.) I will probably not take part in the procession and try to take rest during the readings.

But I want to be there for the baptisms and the First Communion of the elect. It’s a highlight – because I have seen the grace of God in the eyes and faces of so many. Here are a few pictures from previous years.

2015

2022

2015

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we also have baptized persons preparing for matrimony who are not yet baptized. Besides receiving the pre-marriage formation, they receive a mini-catechesis on baptism and Eucharist. Either Padre German or I have baptized persons, sometimes in the mornng of their matrimony. 

In 2020, I baptized three persons preparing for their matrimony - in the middle of the pandemic!

There's another sacramental story here - five couples from one distant community planned to get married before the pandemic struck. They continued and were married together on August 24, 2020, in a room in the classroom of their aldea, since the church was not finished. Here's a photo of one of hte couples.

 

Baptisms, renouncing evil - and more

In this New Year, I have baptized six persons, five children and one young man. 

A group of children had been baptized in Dulce Nombre at the end of last year, but one child was sick and so we arranged to have a baptism before Mass on the Epiphany. I really love being able to welcome new members into the Body of Christ, but this baptism was special. I have been working in this parish since a few months after I got here in Honduras, at first on an occasional basis. In the process, I met a fair number of people, including a few young people. One of those was the father of the child I baptized. What a privilege. 

On Wednesday, the pastor was going out to a rural community for Mass and baptisms. I decided to go along, But, as I was leaving Plan Grande, he called me and told me he was stuck in Santa Rosa with the parish car for the sick which needed serious repairs. Could I preside at a Celebration of the Word with Communion and baptized the four children. Of course. It was a good celebration, and I knew a few of the parents. One or two of the kids decided to exercise their vocal cords during the rite. But, even though the parents wanted the children baptized with lots of water, holding them standing in a plastic tub, it went off very well.

Today, at the request of the pastor, I baptized a young man who had been in the catechumenate, starting in 2019. He would have been baptized at the Easter Vigil 2020, except for the pandemic. I met with him on Friday and we talked about the baptism. He, with his mother, his girlfriend, his godparents, and a catechist from his village, arrived before Mass for the rite.

Since he had already participated in the catechumenate rites of welcome and election, the rite was shortened. But I decided that it would be good to use the long form of the renunciations with him. They are found in a ritual book from Mexico that I use. I had used a form of it in a Lenten booklet I prepared when I worked at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ames, Iowa, but I cannot find my files. So here is a loose translation, which misses some of the nuances of the Spanish, but this may give you an insight into another way of looking at renouncing Satan. 

Do you renounce Satan, that is:

• sin, as a sign of the denial of God;

• evil, as a sign of sin on the world;

 • error, as obscuring the truth;

• violence, a contrary to charity

• egoism, as lack of the testimony of love? 

Do you renounce the works of Satan, which are:

• envy and hatred;

• laziness and indifference;

• cowardice and insecurities;

• sadness and lack of confidence;

• materialism and sensuality;

• injustices and favoritism;

• lack of faith, hope, and love? 

Do you renounce his seductions, which can be:

• thinking oneself the best;

• seeing oneself as superior;

• being overconfident of oneself;

• believing that one is completely converted;

• staying put in the things, means, institutions, methods, rules and no going to God?

Do you renounce believing oneself superior to others, that is, every type of

• abuse;

• discrimination;

• pharisaism, hypocrisy, cynicism;

• pride;

• personal egoism;

 • despising [others]? 

Do you renounce holding back in the face of injustice and the needs of persons and institutions for:

• cowardice;

• laziness;

• comfort;

• personal advantages? 

Do you renounce the materialistic criteria and behaviors which consider:

• money as the supreme ambition for life;

• pleasure above all;

• business as an absolute value;

 • one’s own good above the common good? 

As I prayed this, I kept wondering if this is what we need to use more often as part of our examination of conscience. 

I also wonder if this list might be a good prayer for the US, in these days after the terrorist attacks on the Capitol building. I think so. 

But I wonder how many parishes would dare use these.

Deacon reflection 3

The Ordained Deacon and the Baptized

When the bishop asked me to consider the diaconate, I shared with him one of my concerns: Would this create a wider breach between me and the people I serve?

I am aware that there is a breach already between us. I am white, from the United States, I have bank accounts and an assured income (Social Security). I have many more years of education than most of the people I work with. I can leave whenever I want for the United States and don’t need a visa to visit there since I am a US citizen. I can take vacations, even to Europe (if I save enough money). I am from a different culture and prefer different foods (though I love baleadas and pupusas). Would becoming a deacon, a member of the clergy, create a further breach? I still struggle with this.

Some of my concern is with the clericalism I see here. Many people have a clericalist view of the clergy. Not only does Father know best, his word is law – for some lay people. It is not easy to find people with a critical consciousness, able to raise questions with priests and bishops. I have also seen aspects of clericalism among some priests, a sense of entitlement and superiority and an unwillingness to hand over responsibilities to lay people. I have also known priests who seek to empower the people.

Avoiding any type of clericalism or sense of entitlement or power over others is absolutely necessary. But I think there is also a need to rethink the sacrament of holy orders, especially in light of the sacrament of baptism.

For me, the sacrament of holy orders is a special way to some members of the community to live out their baptism in such a way as to “order” the life of the people of God.

The deacon serves in the church in evangelization, liturgy, and charity.

In our diocese the pastoral work is organized for the most part, in three areas, which we call the Triple Ministry – the prophetic, the liturgical, and the social.  In the rite of baptism in Spanish, the baptized person is anointed with chrism, “para que se incorpore a su pueblo y sea para siempre miembro de Cristo, Sacerdote, Profeta y Rey” – so that the baptized person may be incorporated to God’s people and be forever a member of Christ, Priest, Prophet, and King.

As I see it, the deacon is ordained to live this baptismal call in a special way, for the good of the whole Church. The deacon needs to place emphasis on servanthood – which is the way Christ see being a King. But he will also live out the other two aspects. And so, for me, the diaconate is trying to live as the evangelizer, the servant of the poor, and the minister at the altar.

I am there not to replace the non-ordained in the ministries but, in the words of Pope Saint Paul VI, to be a driving force, an animator of diaconía for the whole church.

The deacon is not above the baptized. He is called to live out his baptism in a unique way, serving God and the People of God.

There are my first thoughts on this important issue: How can is the ordained diaconate related to baptism? I plan to write more on this.

Workings of the Spirit - baptisms galore

Thursday I went to El Zapote de Santa Rosa to do a workshop with catechists and others.

This was a follow up of a workshop two months ago to train catechists and others in the preparation of parents and god-parents for the baptism of infants and children under seven.

We were also going to begin to work on the materials for the catechumenate, the process leading up to baptism for those 14 years old and up.

I first asked them about their experience with the materials and the process.

I was overwhelmed to hear how well the process and the materials had been received. One person noted that the materials were in a language that they could understand, without a lot of fancy words. (The only word he had trouble with was “exorcism.”)

Others mentioned how this had awakened faith in some of the parents. Some of those who were not married were asking about getting married. Some who had not been active in the church have begun to come to Sunday celebrations. Some have decided to make changes in their lives – including giving up smoking marijuana.

And in the nine villages represented in the meeting there are 251 children and infants ready for baptism. In two of the villages there are more than 50. Padre German will have a tired arm after pouring so much water!

But this is only a beginning. Some communities are planning a second series of pre-baptismal sessions.

I have three more training sessions in the next two weeks. It will be interesting to compare the experience in the other parts of the parish.

The second part of the meeting was explaining the catechumenate and going over the materials for the first part of the process. There aren’t many who will begin this process, though there could be as many as 25 in the nine villages.

The Rite of acceptance is planned for the first Sunday of December, but the materials for the weeks leading up to this have been prepared.

People are also asking for materials for what they are calling the pre-catechumenate – or what I’d prefer to call the catechumenate of children – for children between 7 and 14 who have not been baptized. We have an outline and I’m working on some parts, but I doubt I’ll have much down until December.

And so we have our work to do.

The Catechumenate refers to the process – including religious instruction, retreats, and liturgical rites – leading up to baptism and the reception of the other sacraments of initiation for non-baptized persons, usually adults or older children.

Called by name

 

Yesterday I went out to the village of El Limón in the Dulce Nombre parish to facilitate the last of four workshops in different parts of parish for those who will prepare parents and godparents for the baptism of children under 7 years of age. It’s a new process and we have new materials (which I helped write.)

Catechists at the first workshop, in Agua Buena

As I’ve done in the earlier workshops I began the workshop, walking through the rite of baptism – with two parents and two godparents and a “baby.” In one case we used a statue of the baby Jesús; yesterday we used a towel – which, at first, provoked lots of giggles from the 31 participants.

The welcoming of the child and the parents and godparents at the door of the church begins with the question: “What is the name chosen for the child?”

Timothy Radcliffe has a very good chapter on this in Taking the Plunge: Living Baptism and Confirmation. I won’t try to summarize it.

After the welcoming rite was finished we discussed what had happened.

I emphasized that the first question is about the name of the child. The catechists recognized that this is an act of welcoming children into the community, into the Church.

As I noted, we do not baptize just any “so and so” – “un fulano de tal” in Spanish. The church baptizes, and calls by name, Jesús, María, Gloria, Ramón, Edelmira, Moisés, Nelson, Janixa.

This morning, reading the call of the apostles in Matthew 10: 1-7, I noted that Jesus calls the twelve by name. They are not just a mass of people going out to evangelize. They are Peter, John, Judas, James, and so on – with their names and personalities.

They have a dignity which is recognized when we call them by name.

The poor here and in most of the world are without names. Or, if they are known, they are often despised, ignored, marginalized.

Calling them by name is a way of recognizing their personal worth as children of God. (That’s why I am quite ashamed of my inability to remember names.) It is a way to counteract a society that treats the poor as “nobodies” – or, as a former president of the Honduran Congress once said, “gente del monte,” appropriately translated as “hillbillies.”

Calling them by name also counteracts the tendency to look at the poor as a nameless mass of people, to forget that “the poor” are persons with different personalities, moral character, etc.

And so I’ll try harder to remember names.

Opening the doors to baptism

"Think about a single mother who goes to church, in the parish and to the secretary she says: 'I want my child baptized.' And then this Christian, this Christian says: 'No, you cannot because you’re not married!' But look, this girl who had the courage to carry her pregnancy and not to return her son to the sender, what is it? A closed door! This is not zeal! It is far from the Lord! It does not open doors! And so when we are on this street, have this attitude, we do not do good to people, the people, the People of God, but Jesus instituted the seven sacraments with this attitude and we are establishing the eighth: the sacrament of pastoral customs!"

Pope Francis, May 25 homily

I’m in the middle of preparing materials for the preparation of parents and godparents for baptism of infants and children for the Dulce Nombre parish.

A few weeks ago Padre German asked me to work on materials for five sessions and a retreat, so that they are aware of the meaning of baptism and their responsibilities as parents and godparents.

A few days later I went to a meeting of one of the zones of the Dulce Nombre parish. The parish coordinator explained new policies for baptism. Those fourteen and old will participate in the catechumenate process. Those between seven and fourteen can request baptism and will be in a program to prepare them; they will be called pre-catechumens. (They were formerly called catechumens, which is not quite precise – nor is the term pre-catechumen.) Parents can request the baptism of their children from birth to seven years old.

Formerly children under seven weren’t baptized if their parents weren’t in base communities. This will change things.

The first question was whether parents living in fornication could have their children baptized. (I wrote on my reaction to this in an earlier blog, here.) The answer is yes, if they participate in all the pre-baptism sessions.

Single mothers? Yes.

Children of adultery?  Yes.

Is this just opening the church to be a dispenser of sacraments? No, since there are requirements.

It was interesting to hear the negative reaction by some, though I have also heard some positive reaction from some pastoral workers.

The hard attitude of some is motivated by a desire to have parents take baptism seriously and take responsibility for the raising of their children in the faith. But some of these also complained that people came to base communities only to get the sacraments and then left as soon as they had received the sacraments.

I hope that this new policy will actually encourage parents. I’m trying to design the sessions so that they stir up in their hearts questions and maybe even the desire to live their faith even more. Maybe even some who living together without being married will ask to be married in the church. At the very least I hope that the parents and godparents will work together to raise the children in the faith. It would be really a blessing if the parents and godparents decided that they wanted to be part of a base community to help them grow in their faith and raise their children.

In some ways, this is trying to open the doors, as Pope Francis urged in this morning’s homily in the Vatican.

May our efforts invite all to a life of faith in the community of the Church.

 

Our baptismal preparation sessions will cover these questions and topics related to the questions:

1.     Introduction

a.     Why do I want my child baptized?

b.     Who is Jesus for me?

c.      Where do I encounter God?

Scripture and the teaching of the church

The Eucharist, the sacraments, prayer

my neighbor in need

2.     The Church and Faith

a.     Why do I want my child baptized Catholic?

b.     What is the Church for me?

c.      In what does the Church believe?

            The creed

3.     How do we live our faith?

a.     How do I live my faith in my daily life?

b.     What sacraments have I received?

      What is a sacrament?

      What are the seven sacraments?

c.      What are the most important commandments?

Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

The ten commandments

The works of mercy

4.     The sacrament of Baptism

a.     How do you use water in your daily life?

b.     What does Baptism do to us?

5.     The rite of baptism

If anyone would like to see the materials after there are finished, e-mail me so that I can send you a digital copy.