Session 4: How and when to present the Creed and the Lord’s...on, at number 157, you‟ll see the Presentation of the Creed. Now the Creed is given orally after the homily. There

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Lenten Rites of the RCIA Audio Course

Session 4: How and when to present the Creed and the Lord’s

Prayer

Nick: Hello everyone. I‟m Nick Wagner and I‟m here with Rita Ferrone, and we‟re

about to begin our fourth session on the Lenten Rites of the RCIA. How are you today

Rita?

Rita: Doing fine. Hello everybody. I‟m looking forward to talking today about the

Presentations, continuing our course on Lent.

Nick: So the focus, you said Rita, is going to be on the Presentations. I‟m hoping that

we‟ll also have a little time to touch on the minor rites and say a word about the

Preparation Rites on Holy Saturday, if we can. But let‟s start with the Presentations.

Tell us a little bit about why we celebrate the Presentations.

Rita: Well first of all, just for those who may be new to the process, let me clarify that

we‟re talking about the Presentation of the Creed and the Presentation of the Lord‟s

Prayer. So a lot of times, you who are catechists might talk about your presentation,

meaning what it is that you are teaching. But these are liturgical rites, and they hand

on some of the important, let‟s say central, documents of the faith—the Creed and the

Lord‟s Prayer. To say why we do this, I‟d like to just tell a story.

This past Christmas, my niece got engaged to by married. And I went over to my

brother‟s house to visit with his family, and they were all talking about Stephanie and

how she had gotten engaged, and my brother said to me, “You know her

grandmother,” his wife‟s mother, “sent Stephanie the family silver.” And wasn‟t this a

mark of great honor that she handed over these treasurers of the family.


Now, Stephanie has silverware of her own, or she could get a set of silverware. But

there is something special about being given the thing, which has belonged to the

family for years before you were even born. So, I think in the same spirit, we as the

Christian community are handing over our treasurers, our family jewels, or our family

silver to these newcomers and saying, you belong to us and this belongs to you. We

want you to take this into the new life that you are going to be living and use it. Be

aware of how precious it is and how having this means that you‟re a part of us. So the

Presentations are very much a community affair. It‟s not just a head thing. It‟s really a

heart thing to be handing them the Creed and the Lord‟s Prayer.

Nick: That‟s really a great image with the silver. Because it does feel like—if you‟ve

experienced this in your parish—it does feel like you‟re handing over a treasure, a

family treasure. It can be quite a beautiful celebration. You mentioned though, Rita,

that these are two different presentations—the Presentation of the Creed and the

Presentation of the Lord‟s Prayer. Other than the actual text of the two, are there

distinctions between the two presentations?

Rita: Yes. The way in which we celebrate them is designed to be quite different. In

order to understand that, we have to look at the ritual text itself. If you look at number

178 and following, you‟ll see the Presentation of the Lord‟s Prayer. If you look earlier

on, at number 157, you‟ll see the Presentation of the Creed. Now the Creed is given

orally after the homily. There are readings that are special to this celebration, and

after the readings and the homily, then the Creed is recited by the assembly and orally

then given to the elect.

The Lord‟s Prayer, on the other hand, has a different format. It too has special

readings, but the reading of the gospel is actually the text of the Lord‟s Prayer. So it‟s

not a separate recitation of the Lord‟s Prayer that gives it, but rather the proclamation

of the gospel is the moment when the Lord‟s Prayer is given. So the elect are to be

invited forward to be near to wherever the gospel is going to be proclaimed and to

hear it as it is proclaimed within the liturgy. So each of these has a different shape.

In both cases, however, it is important that the community be involved with it. So the

setting is normally at Mass, and it would be a daily Mass during the week, for the

Creed, following the first scrutiny. For the Lord‟s Prayer, the week following the third

scrutiny. That‟s the guidelines that we‟re given. We can play with that a little. There

are some other times and places we can do these presentations, but ideally that‟s

where they would take place.


Now if you‟re in a parish that doesn‟t have Masses during the week—we know of some

of our areas, we don‟t have the benefit of daily Mass because there are not sufficient

priests to go around—you could do this in a celebration of the Word. And if you don‟t

have an occasion that lends itself to this precisely—the daily Mass might be just a few

people, and you don‟t feel it is enough of a gathering—you can also call people

together to celebrate this so that there is a good representation from the community

to take part in it. So those are some of the ways that each of these has a unique

flavor, each of them has a unique way of presenting; but they both have a certain

commonality too, in that they take place during the week normally, and it would take

place in a gathering of the community at daily Mass is what is recommended in the

text.

Nick: That‟s terrific. I think it might be helpful Rita, as you‟ve done with the other

rites, if you kind of walk us through step-by-step how these presentations are

celebrated.

Rita: You know they‟re not hard. They‟re really simple. The art of celebrating them

comes into play when you just decide how you‟re going to let this unfold in your

worship space. And as I say, also who‟s going to be involved and how they‟re going to

do that. I have to confess that sometimes I‟ve tried to do things to make them more

exciting, and it really doesn‟t work. It‟s good to have them be very simple. I‟m just

going to put that on the table and say, you don‟t have to do a lot to make this work.

It‟s very powerful just as it is. So here‟s how it goes.

Looking at the Presentation of the Creed, you‟re going to have, as I say, the readings.

Now suppose you‟ve got your daily Mass crowd. They‟re very devout. They‟re very

happy that this is happening. They‟re looking around saying, who‟s this? what‟s this?

what‟s going on? And of course, the introduction of the Mass would say, we have with

us these people who are going to be baptized at Easter, and today is the day when we

hand onto them the Creed.

Then you have the readings. The first reading would be from Deuteronomy, and it is

that Deuteronomic injunction to believe, to listen Israel; you shall love the Lord God

with your heart. Then there is Psalm 19; and then the reading either from Romans

about the confession of faith or from First Corinthians which is, “The gospel will save

you if you keep believing what I‟ve preached to you.” Then the gospel passage would

be either from Matthew, “On this rock I will build my church,” or from John, “I the light


have come into the world so that whoever believes in me need not remain in the dark

anymore.” I kind of like that Johannine passage, but either of those is just great.

Nick: These readings, Rita, would replace the usual daily Mass readings that would be

in the lectionary for whatever day that you are presenting the Creed?

Rita: That‟s correct. And if you‟re the person who is preparing for this liturgy, you‟ve

got to be sure that you have the right readings on hand and that your lectors and that

your priest knows that this is the way it works. It would be in the lectionary in the

section for rituals, not with the daily Mass lectionary. So you have to look for that.

Then the homily—and of course you would have a priest/presider who would be able to

preach to this very crowd and understand why this event is important and talk about it

in a way that is going to engage everybody in what is about to take place.

Then, after the homily, the elect are called forward. And there is a little introduction to

ask them to listen, and I‟ll quote from paragraph 160:

“Listen carefully to the words of that faith by which you will be justified. The words are

few but the mysteries they contain are great. Receive them with a sincere heart and

be faithful to them.”

Then the people in the congregation recite either the Apostles‟ Creed or the Nicene

Creed. So one of the ways to block this—very simple but very effective—when the

elect are called forward, call them forward by name. Have them come forward with

their sponsors, and have them face the assembly so the assembly sees them when

they are speaking to them. And they see the assembly. This very simple way of

arranging things is, in fact, very powerful because they feel that the words are being

spoken to them, as of course they are. The people in the congregation are often struck

by how attentively these newcomers are listening. These people who are coming to the

font at Easter are absorbed in this. It becomes a really powerful moment in all of its

simplicity.


After that, there is a prayer over the elect, again with hands outstretched. I would

include an invitation for the assembly also to extend their hands at the time when the

presider does. So there is a concluding prayer, and then the elect are dismissed.

When I‟ve done this in the parish, I‟ve often had a little time to break that open with

people. And then, afterwards, everyone would be invited to a potluck supper or

something of that nature so that we could have a little informal sharing as well—having

a catechetical sharing after this is over. So that‟s the Presentation of the Creed. Is

there anything else you‟d like to flag or notice before we go on to the Lord‟s Prayer,

Nick?

Nick: Well just one thing that I think is probably obvious to everybody but we should

say explicitly. The text for the Apostles‟ Creed and the Nicene Creed that are given in

the RCIA, of course, are what are now the old translations, and these have been

retranslated with the new Roman Missal. And so what the assembly would be handing

on, of course, would be the new translation of whichever those Creeds they would

choose.

Rita: It should be the translation that they‟re actually going to use. So that‟s an

important caveat, and I thank you for raising that. I also just want to say just a thing

about how sometimes people are very keen to give a printed copy of this text to the

elect. I think that that although that is well intentioned and it can be nice, it‟s not

called for in the rite, and it‟s actually kind of opposed to the tradition of giving of the

Creed from the ancient church. And I would just like to explain why, because this is

something not too many people know.

I have before me a text from the fourth century writer Rufinus who‟s talking about the

Creed, the commentary on the Apostles‟ Creed. And he has quite an explanation of

why it is called, and this is true in the ancient church, it was called the symbol. Here is

what he has to say:

“They say that in civil wars, since the armor on both sides is alike and the language is

the same the custom and the mode of warfare the same, each general, to guard

against treachery, is wont to deliver to his soldiers a distinct symbol or watchword—in

Latin, signum or indicium—so that if one is met with, of whom it is doubtful to which

side he belongs, being asked the symbol (watchword), he discloses whether he is

friend or foe. And for this reason, the tradition continues. The Creed is not written on

paper….”


You see I‟m coming to the point here.

“The Creed is not written on paper or parchment, but is retained in the hearts of the

faithful that it may be certain that no one has learned it by reading, as is sometimes

the case with unbelievers, but by tradition, from the apostles.”

So the tradition of doing this orally goes back really to the early church. And the

perhaps fanciful image of a watchword or a password does tell us something about the

importance of the Creed. The Creed is like something that helps us recognize one

another. It‟s a communal symbol. It‟s something that is a way that we can tell who is

our friend and who it is who shares the faith that we profess.

All of that is kind of packed into the Creed and that is just a digression from the basic

point, which is not necessary or important to give them a piece of paper. You could

give that to them at the party later if you want to give them something. When I‟ve

given them out, I know, very rarely do people really do anything with them when they

have that paper. Sometimes they‟re framed or something. But most of the time, really

what you want to do is to have those texts become a part of the elect so that they will

use them, that they‟ll speak them, that it will be continually an oral way of

approaching these texts.

Nick: I do want to talk about some of the exceptions that you mentioned, but maybe

we want to do that after we walk through the Presentation of the Lord‟s Prayer, as

being the ideal, and then we‟ll come back and talk about other ways it might be done.

Rita: Ok, ok great. And thank you for keeping track of this Nick. Make a note so that

we don‟t forget to go back to those other exceptions that you wanted to raise.

So the Presentation of the Lord‟s Prayer is next. That is paragraph 178 and following,

so you can follow along as I describe this. Again, there are readings that are proper to

this presentation. The first one is from the prophet Hosea. “I have led you with cords

of love.” Oh, a very touching reading from Hosea.


The Responsorial Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd”— Psalm 23. Or Psalm 103, “As a

father is kind to his children, so kind is the Lord to those who fear him.” Again the

reference to our Father.

The second reading is from Romans 8. “You have received the spirit that makes you

God‟s children, and in that spirit we cry out, „Abba, Father.‟” A fantastic reading for

this. And also excellent, from Galatians, “God has sent the spirit of his son into our

hearts, the spirit that cries, „Abba, Father.‟”

Then we invite those who are to receive the Lord‟s Prayer to come forward. And they

would come to wherever the gospel is going to be proclaimed. Then they are invited to

listen, listen to the gospel reading in which our Lord teaches his followers how to pray.

It is simply the reading from Matthew, but the language is identical to what we use

daily. So you don‟t have to worry about it not matching the text that we actually know

and memorize.

Following that, it doesn‟t say this in our text, but something has to happen that folks

go back to their seats. Ok, because following that is the homily.

So your sponsors, who are part of this as well and would have walked forward with

them and ushered them to where they should be going—they should know then to

bring them back to their places and the liturgy continues.

There is a prayer over the elect and a dismissal of the elect. And again, like the other

one, I think the community being involved is important. So if you can arrange the elect

so that people can see their faces…. And this might mean that they come up into the

sanctuary; don‟t be afraid to do that. That‟s fine. Allow people to both hear and to see

what is going on. In practical terms, no one can do that planning except you. You

know how your layout is and what your possibilities are.

Nick: As with the Presentation of the Creed, the readings here for the Presentation of

the Lord‟s Prayer would displace the ordinary readings of the day and the same

planning would apply. You would have to let the lectors know and the homilist know

that that change is going to be made.


Rita: Yes, and all that little nitty-gritty work is going to pay off. One needs to really

plan these things and to make sure everybody is literally on the right page. This is a

beautiful rite, but it can‟t just be something that we rush in and do at the last minute.

It has to be planned, and it has to have a sense of presence about it. Doing that work

ahead of time to clue in all the ministers and make sure everybody is focused on what

this is, this will really help. And also, when you‟re approaching a congregation that

may be not focused on initiation, to clue them in some way. They are not going to be

able to follow along in their worship folders. They might have to be clued in to what to

do. All those details are important to see.

Nick: I‟ve more often seen the presentation of a paper or a parchment with the Lord‟s

Prayer on it than I have with the Creed. I would assume that you would feel the same

way, that the Lord‟s Prayer would not be something we would reduce to paper. It

would be something we would share heart to heart.

Rita: Yes. That‟s right. I think that‟s the way to go. Gift-giving is wonderful, if people

want to give those things later at the party. But the rite itself, do it orally. I think

that‟s something to really emphasize with people. What you‟re doing is to engrave this

on your heart, and that is what is really going to make a difference over the long run.

Nick: I have a pastoral question. It‟s not really addressed in the rite. Would we have

introduced the Lord‟s Prayer to the catechumens in their preparation process as we‟re

teaching them the prayers? Would they have learned the Lord‟s Prayer ahead of this

presentation, or would this be the very first time we would presume that they hear it?

Rita: Well I think in our society, with there being so many conduits of access to

Christian prayer of one kind or another, probably in most cases people have already

heard the Lord‟s Prayer.

As a catechumenate director and as a catechist, I feel very strongly that we should not

ask people to pray the Lord‟s Prayer until it has been presented. But they probably will

have read it or been familiar with it or been present when others are praying it.

I remember one year I had a very well intentioned catechist, and she reported to me,

well one of the inquirers reported to me after the inquiry session, “Oh we said the


Lord‟s Prayer, and I didn‟t know it. We concluded our inquiry session with the Lord‟s

Prayer, and I wanted to know where I can get a copy.”

I was so distressed, because that‟s certainly not the time to be introducing the Lord‟s

Prayer. And this poor person, who was non-Christian and from another cultural

background and didn‟t know it at all, really felt left out. Whereas other people, who

were maybe much more familiar with Christianity, were babbling along. I think it‟s

important to wait until it‟s presented to pray it publicly. However, I do think it‟s not a

secret. Having it be available to people, catechizing on it, having some time to reflect

on it is very, very valuable.

I wanted to make a comment about both of these presentations that I think adequate

catechesis is really important. You notice how the Catechism of the Catholic Church is

arranged. Fully half of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is based on the Creed and

the Lord‟s Prayer. These are very, very central touchstones of everything that is part of

the faith of the church. We‟re not going to fail to mention this as we go along in our

catechetical experience through the catechumenate, and we may in fact have sessions

that are devoted to unpacking the articles of the Creed or the articles of the Lord‟s

Prayer.

But putting it all together? That‟s where I‟d like to make a suggestion. And that is that

we have some really good catechesis about the Creed and the Lord‟s Prayer in

conjunction with the Presentation. One parish that I know of actually has a Lenten

program every year. They gather the whole parish on Wednesday night for every week

in Lent. The program of the evening for the third week of Lent is the Creed. They have

catechesis, discussion, sharing, unpacking reflection on the Creed. Then the closing

prayer for the parish renewal group is the Presentation of the Creed. And they do the

same thing with the Lord‟s Prayer on the fifth week of Lent. It becomes an occasion to

really delve into this much more deeply. And then when it is spoken as a presentation,

both the faithful know what it is we‟re presenting—and it is often called to mind by the

catechesis—and also those who are the elect are learning more about it as well.

I think we don‟t have to exhaustively cover every single thing before they are initiated.

But they should have some familiarity with what this means, and it‟s certainly going to

connect with things that you‟re catechizing all along the way. Does that make sense?

Nick: Yes, that makes sense. It‟s helpful. I do very much appreciate the idea that we‟ll

be covering the articles or the ideas behind the Creed and the Lord‟s Prayer throughout


the catechumenate period without necessarily kind of assembling the whole thing in a

neat package until the Presentations themselves. And then it seems that the

Presentations would be like an unveiling or a viewing of the whole thing all together.

Rita: A kind of a capstone to put all the pieces together. Sometimes I‟ve done this too,

and it can be quite powerful. The sponsors can be engaged in the reflection on the

Creed or on the Lord‟s Prayer simply by having each of them prepare some thoughts

about one or another article on the Creed or the Lord‟s Prayer and sharing that either

before or after the celebration—or even, if your priest is comfortable with this, as a

kind of dialogue homily. I think everyone having a hand in this is appropriate. If it can

be handled efficiently, without too many people speaking or whatever, it can be an

enrichment.

I‟ve certainly done this with people who are working as [sponsors] to prepare. I just

ask them the question, looking at the Creed, what do you most want to give to your

catechumen?—to your elect, shall we say. I‟ve gotten some beautiful responses from

people. I‟ll give you just a couple of quick examples.

One woman said, “What jumped out at me, what I‟d really like to share with the

person I‟m sponsoring, is that we believe in one God, because she‟s from a Jewish

background. And I feel this is such a strong connection to all the monotheistic religions

and to peace in the world, believing in one God, that this is God of all.” And I thought,

what a marvelous reflection on this. And it came from the real heart of this person to a

very specific individual that she knew.

Another example. Someone really picked up on the “life everlasting”—knowing that the

person that they were sponsoring had had a very sad loss of a loved one over the past

year and said, “What I‟d really like to give is this confidence in eternal life. And that

phrase, „we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting,‟ that really

speaks to this person‟s grief and their need for consolation.” Well, you know, I just

stand aside at that point and the spirit is taking over.

Nick: That‟s powerful isn‟t it, when that happens? Well maybe this would be a good

time, Rita, to go back and look as some of the exceptions. What are other times or

other ways that these rites might be celebrated?


Rita: Yes it does give us permission to be quite flexible with these rites. I would refer

everybody to paragraph 104 where it says, “Presentations [Optional].” Paragraph 104

says this, and I quote:

“The presentations normally take place during Lent, the period of purification and

enlightenment, after the first and third scrutinies. But for pastoral advantage, and

because the period of purification and enlightenment is rather short, the presentations

may be held during the period of the catechumenate rather than at the regular times.”

You can do that and it‟s called “anticipating” them, doing them in advance of Lent. If

you choose to do that, you can do it, again, with some more care and some more time

and some more preparation, if you feel that your Lent is just way too packed. You

could do it during the catechumenate.

“But the Presentations,” it goes on to say quote:

“But the presentations are not to take place until a point during the catechumenate

when the catechumens are judged ready for these celebrations.”

One thing I would guard against, sometimes I‟ve had people ask me this question.

They said, “Oh can we give the Presentations at the scrutinies?” In other words add

them on, tack them on after we‟ve celebrated a scrutiny. And I would say that‟s really

not a good idea. That would be too much in one celebration. So I would warn people

away from that. Also, if you notice, the very shape of the liturgy in which they are

given requires them to have proper readings that go along with these Presentations.

When you‟re [doing a] scrutiny, you‟re not going to have those readings; you have to

have the Sunday readings. And you should have the readings that are appropriate to

the scrutinies.

I think there are ways to do this that are good, and there are ways to do this which

really are not going to be very helpful. So I would just monition that one because I

know some parishes have tried it. I think it‟s not the way to go. It would be

overloading the Sunday celebration.


But doing it in the catechumenate period, that can work. If you do it that way, you also

get freebies. You get extra points here, because they tell you that you can add on the

Ephphetha Rite at the end of the Presentation, if you want. So you get a little extra bit

of ritual in there if you anticipate it. Now I don‟t really know that you need to do the

Ephphetha Rite, but that‟s the opening of the ears and the mouth and the text that

goes along with that is about proclaiming what you hear and being able to voice this

for yourself. That could follow the Presentation if you do it out of season. If you do it in

Lent, don‟t worry about that, because you‟re not going to do the Ephphetha Rite;

you‟re just going to do the Presentation. And the Ephphetha Rite would take place on

Holy Saturday, if you do it during Lent. Have you got all that clear?

Nick: Well now I have a lot of questions.

Rita: I bet you do. This is where it gets exciting. There‟s a lot of options here.

Nick: So let‟s just go back and reiterate. If we do the Presentations, in the ideal form

during the weekdays of Lent, as you pointed out to us, the options are very simple. So

then when we go to talk about some of the exceptions, that‟s where it can get a little

bit of a thicket, but we shouldn‟t let that distract us from what the ideal option is.

Bit if we do celebrate them in the catechumenate period, when you were reading

there, it sounded like we wouldn‟t necessarily celebrate the Presentations with all of

the catechumens, but just those catechumens who would actually be going to the Rite

of Election that year. Is that right?

Rita: Exactly! Oh bingo. I‟m so glad you pointed that out, Nick. Because, that‟s right.

You‟re not presenting it to the ones who are going to do the Easter bypass. You‟re

presenting it to the ones who are going to be elect.

Nick: Because, again in that sense, in that story you led us off with, that sense of

treasure—it‟s those who are going to be elect who are ready to receive the treasure.

And those who are less well formed in the catechumenate aren‟t yet ready for that

handing on yet. So just as they are going to bypass baptism, they‟re also going to

bypass the Presentations until later on in their formation.


Rita: As we go along, too, it does seem to me that some of these options really aren‟t

as strong. Then you might set up a situation in which people become jealous of each

other; one person is getting the Presentation and the other isn‟t. It‟s so much clearer

when you do it in Lent. But you do have flexibility, and it may be that you have a real

sense that everybody is going to be ready at Lent, and so it would make sense. That is

something that you judge on the ground. I know that the pastoral practitioners are

keeping their eyes open for these variations.

Nick: Now, you mentioned that some people have advocated sticking these on to the

end of the scrutinies. And I‟ve actually seen that with the Presentation of the Creed,

once, where it was added on the end of the scrutiny. It does a disservice to both the

scrutiny and the Presentation, in my opinion. But the justification for that seems to be

that the catechumenate team wants the Sunday assembly to experience the

Presentations. Of course, it is a much bigger community than just the weekday Mass

community. That seems to be a good pastoral goal, but it doesn‟t really work very

effectively, even though the goal may be ok. I‟m wondering if there is a time or a way

to celebrate these on Sunday, for instance if we move them into the Ordinary Time

period before Lent could they be celebrated on a Sunday?

Rita: Yes. And the way that would work is, with the rites of initiation, as you would

have with other sacraments, in Ordinary Time—if it‟s not a feast or a high season such

as Lent—if it is in Ordinary Time, you can substitute one of the Sunday readings from

the lectionary with a reading that is proper to a ritual. So, in the case of the Lord‟s

Prayer, you would be substituting the gospel for the Lord‟s Prayer.

Or in the case of the Creed, you would choose one of the readings that‟s proper to the

Creed and substitute it. With the Creed, it is a little easier because there may be

Sundays when the theme of the reading is already conducive to the Presentation of

Creed. There may be already readings concerning faith or profession of faith or

believing , whatever, that might be useful. You can do it in Ordinary Time. You can‟t

substitute the readings in Advent or in Lent or on feast days and so forth. You have to

be aware of the liturgical year. If you did it during Ordinary Time, anticipating it in the

catechumenate period, yes you could do that at Sunday Mass.

Nick: So perhaps in winter Ordinary Time, in the weeks just before Lent, might be a

good time to look at celebrating the presentations.


Rita: That could work well. I think that‟s a great idea. Allow me to throw out one more

idea here. I think this is another way to do it. There‟s lots of ways to do this. I would

ask that people, catechumenate teams who are planning retreats, you might consider

doing the Presentation of the Lord‟s Prayer in the context of a retreat. You‟re having a

time away, it‟s focusing on prayer, people are having time in which to delve into this,

so there‟s another setting. Your community, in that case, would be your sponsors and

catechists rather than the whole assembly. So you do have a trade off there because it

is a more intimate group. However, sometimes that can work as well.

Nick: And as you said before, that might be a celebration of the Liturgy of the Word if

you didn‟t have a priest who is on the retreat with you.

Rita: Right. Exactly. And that can work out; it just has to be planned in. I think we

need to look at all kinds of different options—whatever is going to work well in your

setting. Don‟t let the best be the enemy of the good. If you have certain things that

you‟re trying to achieve, and you can‟t have them all, pick one, and there‟s usually a

good way to do it.

Nick: And to say that you picked one way of doing it this year doesn‟t mean that

you‟re stuck with that forever. So you could pick one this year and see if it met your

goals—what you are trying to accomplish. And then, if you didn‟t feel that it was

successful, try one of the other options the next year.

Rita: That‟s right. I think you can. I think it would be really great…. I don‟t know if any

of our listeners have had this experience, if they have been doing the catechumenate

for a while, if they have actually arrived at the point where the parish expects the

presentations to occur.

I think for most parishes we are still getting to the point where we expect the

scrutinies to occur in Lent. We‟re not that attuned, as a whole church—well, this is

something we always do, and we always do it on this day, and that kind of thing.

But if you do have a good system, and it‟s working for you, repeating it year after year

can also build up a wonderful sense of anticipation. You don‟t have to be stuck with the

same thing every year, and sometimes these are affected by people‟s schedules, too.


Not everyone can always be available to come at the time when we would like them to.

We have to be somewhat flexible to really be pastoral here, too.

Nick: That really leads to another question that I had, Rita. I think you make a good

point where we‟re just sort of coming to the place where assemblies are starting to

expect the scrutinies and the Rite of Acceptance and the major rites of the

catechumenate. When it comes to the Presentations, especially say we‟re celebrating

these on a weekday or a retreat setting, how is the celebration of these Presentations

going to renew the assembly‟s participation in these prayers?

Rita: Yes, I think that‟s an excellent question, because we always have to be looking

at the other side of the coin. As initiation ministers, I think we tend to focus on the

people whose faith journey we‟re accompanying. That is certainly appropriate and

good. But there is always the other side of the coin, which is how does the people of

God pray this rite in such a way that it enhances their faith?

Because the initiation process should renew the whole community and not only renew

those who are going to be baptized at Easter. So here are a couple of ways that I think

this can work.

One, I think we really have to talk to our preachers and give them encouragement to

preach powerfully and well about these rites, at these rites. About them—really, I think

we can tell stories on Sunday about what took place at the Presentation during the

week. At any rate, the people who preach need to be on target with this stuff. That will

help the assembly to connect.

I think also, we have to be very intentional about letting people know when rites are

going to take place. It should be in the bulletin. It could be prayed for in the

intercessions. It could be something that you feature in the parish magazine or on the

website. I think we have lots of avenues of communication these days. But oftentimes

we‟re just stuck in whatever we used to do before we had all these communication

devices. I can foresee really using our media to help people to be aware that these

things are taking place.

Here‟s another way we can engage the community of faith. Think about what groups

are meeting during Lent in your parish. Usually the lenten time is a time when people


are very intentional about ramping up their spiritual life. They go to the Stations of the

Cross. They may attend a sharing group or a renewal process or a Bible study. They

may be going to daily Mass more frequently. If there is a parish school or a religious

education program, they are going to be having special prayers at different events for

Lent which will highlight the season.

I would ask myself again, as we said with some of the other rites earlier in this course,

who are our collaborators in this business of having the whole lenten season be rich

with the celebrations of initiation? These are all your allies. These are all your

collaborators. These are all your partners in the work of helping this to take place. So I

would engage them and see how they would approach it. Perhaps they might have the

children in the religious education program learn about this and send some notes to

people. Many delightful things have happened from having a little intergenerational

involvement in the adult initiation. Or there may be children who are going to be in the

catechumenate, and that is going to be a segue into that population.

Or just the regular gatherings. Do you have pious societies or volunteer groups that

gather during Lent? Even St. Vincent de Paul or the people who are doing outreach,

how are they praying during Lent? Is there a space in their prayer to acknowledge that

the Creed and the Lord‟s Prayer, our tradition, is being handed on this week? These

are some opportunities we have, if we look for them. Can you think of other things?

This is somewhat of scattershot, I realize, but part of that is because each parish is

different.

Nick: I think you‟ve given us a broad range of ideas that we can use as sparks to think

about. I already started thinking about, well, this group in my parish is great at that,

or I can put that on the website, or all those sort of things. Sometimes it‟s a matter of

the RCIA teams just sort of thinking more broadly about the parish—not only focused

on the catechumens and the elect, but on how their ministry can have a broader effect

on the larger parish community. Once they start asking that question, then all kinds of

opportunities will pop up, depending on what is actually going on in a given parish.

Rita: And toward that end, too, I would always want to ask the question who is the

liaison with the parish staff. Presuming that you have a parish staff, that it‟s not just

the pastor, but that there are other people working as well. Sometimes it‟s just a

matter that people don‟t communicate very easily because we‟re all in our different

little worlds.


So who is the liaison of the catechumenate team with the other people on the staff,

and how can that be a fruitful collaboration? There are lots of things we can see

develop. It‟s a beautiful season, and it can really produce fruit for them as well as for

the catechumens. I think we‟re trying to do something that is going to have a very

good yield if we do some of the planting and sowing for the harvest.

Nick: Well this might be a good time to say a word about the Preparation Rites on

Holy Saturday, because after the Presentation of the Creed, we‟re not quite finished

with the Creed are we?

Rita: Yes, that‟s right. Again, looking back to the history of the church, in the ancient

church there was not only the presentation, which was called traditio, traditioning,

giving on, but there was the reditio, or the return of the Creed. On the day of Holy

Saturday, those who were going to be baptized, recited back those words that they

had been given. So in the meantime, between being given them and giving them back,

they committed them to memory. They knew them by heart.

Well you might say on the night of Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil, they are going to

make a profession of faith, but it‟s not going to be the Creed. It‟s going to be a

question and answer format. So why are they memorizing and reciting the Creed in the

morning? Well the answer is kind of interesting. The Creed itself, The Apostles‟ Creed,

is based on the question and answer interrogation of the baptismal rite. So in fact,

what you are doing in the preparation rite when you return the Creed is you‟re

preparing to profess faith at the font. It‟s liturgy getting ready for liturgy. That‟s what

quite a few of these things are.

If you look with me at Preparation Rites for Holy Saturday, at paragraph 185 and

following, if our readers would do that, you‟ll see we actually have a bundle of

possibilities to do on Holy Saturday morning. The first one is the Recitation of the

Creed. And if we‟re going to do the Ephphetha Rite, the Ephphetha is celebrated before

we recite the Creed. In other words, these two rites, both of ancient origin, the one of

the opening of the ears and the mouth, the hearing and the speaking organs of the

elect, is for the purpose of them being able to speak the words of faith in the Creed.

So you would do that beforehand. If you anticipate the presentation, then you do the

Ephphetha afterwards, because they‟re not speaking it yet, they‟re just hearing it.

You‟re opening their ears and mouth.


Again, I think we‟re probably just at the stage of doing these things where we‟re going

to choose a few of these preparation rites, and we don‟t have to do them all. So don‟t

feel overwhelmed by detail here. I‟m just going to hit on the highpoints and then we

can talk about the details. Nick, maybe you‟ll have some suggestions about this too.

So the recitation of the Creed; the Ephphetha Rite; Choosing a Baptismal Name—that

can happen at this time; and if you haven‟t presented the Lord‟s Prayer, you can

present it in the Preparation Rites. So if that did not happen, that can also happen at

that time.

There‟s a model for the celebration of the Preparation of the Rites at 187 and following.

When the elect have gathered, they start with a song; there‟s a greeting; a reading of

the Word of God; a homily; and then a celebration of the rite chosen; and a concluding

rite of the prayer and dismissal.

By looking through these details, you see, you‟ve got several possibilities. You can do

that Recitation of the Creed. You could do the opening rite, the Ephphetha Rite. You

can give the Lord‟s Prayer, if that wasn‟t given, and you can do the Choosing of the

Baptismal Name.

In that rite, also kind of interesting, you may, if the person is actually taking a name,

that could be given at that time. That giving of a name can also happen at the Rite of

Acceptance, so that may have already taken place. But more often, people are not

taking a new name that they are going to use. In fact, the name ritual is explaining the

Christian meaning of their name. That‟s where, again, we can use some creativity.

People have already had a name, they‟re going to stick with that name, but perhaps

the sponsor, again, could become actively involved in researching the background of

that saint or who it would be in the Christian tradition or what part of Christian life this

name would connect to.

Suppose somebody is named not for a saint but for something else in nature or a

name that doesn‟t have a Christian background. They can find some connection to

what it is we believe and what that name now will mean as that person carries forward

their life of faith. This can also be quite touching because they will be called by name

that night when they come to the font.


So each of these things, professing faith—that is going to happen again at night.

Opening the ears and the lips, of course, that relates to the professing of faith that‟s

going to happen at the font. The baptismal name also is going to relate to what is

going to happen at the font. And the Lord‟s Prayer, of course, they will be at the whole

Mass. If they‟ve been dismissed all this time, this is the first time they will be at the

entire Eucharist, and they will be praying the Lord‟s Prayer in the company of all the

faithful at the Easter Vigil. All the anticipation and the preparation is going to be

fulfilled that night. As we come near, we have the opportunity to really prepare with

prayer.

A very practical question is when would this take place? I know most parishes have

some kind of a rehearsal for the Easter Vigil with the sponsors. We shouldn‟t rehearse

with the candidates themselves unless there‟s something that does need to be

explained about how they approach the font or something like that. I know in some

places where I‟ve worked with baptism by immersion, practically speaking we can‟t

have that be a total surprise to people. They have to know they are going to be

immersed, and there are some practical things they need to know about how that

takes place.

But mainly you‟re going to have the rehearsal for the Easter Vigil be with the sponsors.

When you get together with everybody to have this rehearsal, that‟s a great time for

the Preparation Rites. Have the Preparation Rites, and then afterwards send the elect

on their way, and sponsors could rehearse. Or vice-versa, have the rehearsal and then

have the elect come in and join them for a time of prayer.

And I would also suggest—this has worked well in my setting although, again, each

parish may be different—sometimes having the Preparation Rites actually in the place

where you will be celebrating the liturgy of the Easter Vigil is quite a powerful thing.

Because it is the same worship space, very lightly populated, because you‟re going to

have a small group, and then that night you‟re going to be in the very same place. So

you‟re making again the connection.

But it can take place also in a chapel or in a meeting space apart from the worship

area if for example they‟re working on environment and preparing the church. It may

not be convenient to have it in the church. There is nothing in the rite that says where

you have to hold the Preparation Rites. When I‟ve had one person, we‟ve sometimes

done it in a very intimate setting simply in an informal gathering area. It all depends

on your situation and your setting.


Nick: I liked what you said to start this part off Rita, that we don‟t have to do all of

these rites, especially if we‟re just beginning. We can keep it kind of simple to begin

with and perhaps add of as we go. And I also wanted to come back to the idea of

choosing a baptismal name. I have a story about that that I tell quite often, so our

listeners may have heard it before.

Years ago, I was helping with a catechumenate process and we had a young girl, and

she was about ten years old. She was going to be baptized at the Easter Vigil, and her

mother had grown up Catholic but had drifted away from the church. Her mother

remembered when it used to be kind of a rule that if you didn‟t have the name of a

saint, that you had to take the name of a saint at baptism. That was a long time ago in

our history, and it is no longer a rule, as you pointed out.

But this mother came with that expectation because she had named her daughter

Pebbles when her daughter was born. So we had a long conversation about if we

should choose a saint name to baptize this little girl with. And the little girl really loved

her name. She thought it was a terrific name, and she didn‟t really want a new name.

So we baptized her as Pebbles without changing her name.

And I later I came across a quote in the Catechism that I wish I had known at the

time. It‟s paragraph 2158 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It reads:

“God calls each one of us by name. Everyone‟s name is sacred. The name is the icon

of the person . It demands respect as a sign of dignity of the one who bears it.”

So even if we are not named after a saint, the name that we are named is the name

that God knows us by, the icon that God has given us. So that‟s a worthy name for

baptism. You don‟t necessarily need to change that name.

Rita: I don‟t know if I would have thought of this at the time either, but as you were

saying that—“Pebbles”—there is a place in the book of Revelation where it talks about

God knows your name and has written it on a stone. Actually the white stone might be

her icon of scriptural warrant for her name, let‟s say.


Nick: Exactly. And I was telling this story to another catechumenate team years later.

Someone piped up, and they said, “Pebbles, that‟s just like Simon. He was renamed

Rock. The rock of the church.

Rita: You see, this is where the creative imagination comes into play. I think it‟s

always the case that if someone has a name that they love, that‟s a good start. If

somebody does want to change their name, it gives us permission in the rite, if it is

their cultural expectation to have a new name, then that‟s ok. We can do that. It‟s just

not normally done, because most of the time people want to keep using the name that

they‟ve got.

And the key, the trick of this is to find a link between the name that you have and the

life that you‟re given here in baptism. Whatever that could be is a good thing. We

leave that to our creative imaginations, and there could be some good work that we do

with that. All of us have this sense of, you know, my name just is what I am called.

But when you think about it religiously and you think about it in terms of what you just

read from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We see that the name has much more

symbolic value. We should learn to revere our name and to place it before God with

the reverence that it deserves.

Nick: We just have a couple of minutes left, and I wonder if you could just say a word

about the minor rites that we celebrate throughout the catechumenate period. Would

we continue to celebrate the minor rites during the period of Purification and

Enlightenment?

Rita: I think the answer to that is yes. The minor rites, for those who are not familiar

with this term, refer to those rites which we began using in the catechumenate period,

and there are three of them.

The blessings

The minor exorcisms, and

The anointing with the oil of catechumens

There are many times when you can use the blessings and the minor exorcisms. They

are very simply prayers for asking God to bless these folks on their journey of faith.

They are very scripturally based. They are also prayers of purification. They are not big

exorcisms like the scrutinies, but they are little prayers of purification that we say


along the way. And each of them has a marvelous scriptural content and can work very

well in connection with the catechetical session. I like to use those frequently in

connection with catechesis as the opening or the close of a gathering for catechesis

and use those minor exorcisms and blessings as we go along.

The anointing of the oil with catechumens can be used more than once. But, of course,

it wouldn‟t be used every single time we gather. You can do a lot with the blessings

and minor exorcisms, but anointing with the oil of catechumens is rather special. We

do that at an important junctures in the process and at times when you feel a person

needs strengthening because that anointing is intended to strengthen the person with

their struggle with evil and their desire to grasp and hold on to the faith that they are

being given.

So the anointing with the oil of catechumens comes out of, again, the context of the

ancient church. They would anoint athletes in preparation for combat. Think about this.

It is a very practical thing, and I think it is possible it may still be used today.

Wrestlers would anoint their body so they would slide out of the grip of their

opponents.

Also anointing was like massage—it strengthens the muscles and relaxes the muscles

to rub oil on them. We‟re struggling with evil in our anointing with the oil of the

catechumens. We anoint people so that they will slip out of the grasp of Satan. We are

also strengthening their spiritual muscles so that they can be strong and continue on

their journey of faith. So anointing with the oil of catechumens.

Now we have a new little wrinkle in the third edition of the Roman Missal. They have

put in an instruction that that is to be done as part of the Easter Vigil. But I think we

have to wait and see just what happens with the rites of initiation. Because according

to our ritual book, the RCIA text that we have, you are not do the anointing with the

oil of catechumens at the Easter Vigil. So we have a contrast here. And it is not

automatic that what‟s in the missal would trump what‟s in your ritual text. We still

have to go by what is in the ritual text for the RCIA when it comes to the Easter Vigil.

Nick: Well, once again, you start out by telling us how simple things were and then

you take us deeply into the rite. It is very simple on the surface. But with some care

and some preparation, I think all of these rites can have a profound impact on the

elect and on the parish assembly. Thank you for this terrific tour Rita. We‟re going to

look forward to your next session.


Rita: You‟re welcome. And if I just may say one word in closing to those who have

been listening today. I want to just commend you for taking in so much detail but also

for trying to keep your eyes on the prize. And that is, the people that we work with

and how is this going to help their faith. Those are the questions I think we‟ve returned

to again and again, and that‟s where the heart of this all lies. So the devil is in the

details maybe, but we have our central point pretty well fixed, and I thank you for

that.

Nick: Well said. Thank you very much.

Rita: Bye-bye.

Documents

Session 4: How and when to present the Creed and the Lord’s...on, at number 157, you‟ll see the Presentation of the Creed. Now the Creed is given orally after the homily. There