We often get asked by newly formed parish RCIA teams for information on online resources. These inquiries can generally be divided into two groups: some more specific sites for helping prepare dismissal and catechetical discussion sessions, and, general information on the RCIA.
Dismissal session assistance
The RCIA area that has the least amount of ‘off the shelf’ books or manuals to help team members is the weekly Sunday Mass dismissal (it’s also the least understood aspect of RCIA and its importance to the catechetical session). There are a few quality online sites to help prepare for a dismissal discussion.
When running a dismissal session our aim is to keep the catechumens in the spiritual environment of the liturgy of the word. Consequently, we are usually looking for a broad range of discussion on the readings to help the dismissal leader have a clear understanding of the content and spiritual message of the readings. Having clarified our own thinking, we can then develop discussion starter questions to stimulate the catechumens into a deeper understanding of the readings as they apply to their current life and help them develop an action plan of deeper spirituality based on those readings.
My recommendation is to read the commentaries on these sites, maybe even using some material from them for a simple handout summary (don’t forget to acknowledge the site for copyright purposes in your handout). I do use a simple handout summary each week and always include in it my discussion starter questions so that catechumens can go through it later with their sponsor.
Catechetical sessions
Using online resources for assisting in preparing catechetical may not be as important as dismissal preparation for many teams. If you are using resources like At home with God’s people, Foundations in Faith, or similar books, much of the support material for catechetical sessions are included in these books.
However, if your catechetical session is based exclusively on linking some aspect from the Sunday readings and the dismissal session to Catholic teaching and tradition, rather than to a predetermined syllabus style format, then you may find the resources below useful.
The sites
Catholic Ireland
The CatholicIreland.net is part of the support group for the Catholic Church in Ireland. This site has the Jerusalem translation of the Sunday gospel followed by 3 or 4 commentaries. The regular contributors to this site include Michel DeVerteuil, A Trinidadian Holy Ghost Priest, Specialist in Lectio Divina; Thomas O’Loughlin, Professor of Historical Theology, University of Wales, Lampeter; John Littleton, Director of the Priory Institute Distant Learning, Tallaght (and author of several books on the gospels); and, Donal Neary SJ, Editor of The Sacred Heart Messenger. This site only provides commentary on the gospel.
Word Sunday
Word Sunday is an American administered by Larry Broding. Larry describes it as ‘a lectionary resource for Catholics’. This is a particularly good site as Larry provides commentary on all the readings including the psalm. Often in his commentary he will draw a link between the reading and the Catechism or other aspect of Catholic teaching or tradition. Usually the commentary for each reading opens and closes with reflection questions; a very useful resource for helping prepare your own questions for reflection. The Gospel discussion page includes two translations of the passage; popular and literal.
The Sunday Website
The Sunday Website is a service of the Catholic Studies Program at Saint Louis University, David Meconi SJ, Director, Eleonore Stump, Coordinator, and John Foley SJ, Editor. After selecting the relevant Sunday, the site opens with 5 suboptions. The two most useful to RCIA are Spirituality of the Readings and Getting to know the Readings. Each of those pages has up to 6 short commentaries, including some suggested discussion questions (higher level questions that you would expect from a Jesuit website!).
The Dong Hanh Christian Life Community
The Ðong Hành Christian Life Community is a Vietnamese Catholic group in America. A warning about the opening page; dates are in US format, i.e., month then day, so 4/2 means April 2. Useful aspects of this site are the comments in the sections ‘Interesting Details’, ‘One Main Point’ and the reflection questions.
Some additional useful sites
Lector Prep
For those who are proclaimers/lectors at Mass, then this site is very useful. Lector’s Notes try to serve the Church by helping lectors prepare to proclaim the Scriptures in our Sunday assemblies. For each day’s first and second readings (and occasionally for the gospel), the Notes give the historical and theological background, plus suggestions on oral interpretation.
Fr Paul Turner
Fr Paul Turner was the keynote speaker for the 2014 national conference in Townsville (text on page 9). Fr Paul is a well-known speaker, particularly on RCIA, and author. He serves as a facilitator for the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) and as the Ecumenical Officer for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. On his talks pages you will find his notes from Townsville along with many others on RCIA, Mission, Mass, Ministry among many. Fr Paul also has a YouTube channel.
Catechist’s Journey
Edited by Joe Paprocki from Loyola Press. A useful site if you are also a school catechist or working with children in the RCIA. It is a daily blog that you can subscribe to (free) or read online.
Team RCIA
Finally, but certainly not least is Nick Wagner’s TeamRCIA website containing many free short articles on almost any aspect of RCIA that you can think of. Nick also offers fee for service membership of TeamRCIA (several levels) to access discounted online training modules. I am a member and can highly recommend Nick’s training. Subscribe to the newsletter (free) to stay informed on new articles and upcoming free webinars. Nick is so generous that if you register for a free webinar but can’t actually go online live because of time difference between USA and Australia, you will automatically be given a link to download and listen/watch the webinar at your convenience.
I trust these online resources will be of assistance to your ministry. Feel free to write to the editor with a list of your own useful online resources that you use to support your RCIA ministry.
