Inside ML

As this issue of ML is getting ready to be sent off to the press, I am wrapping up ML’s fourth Liturgical Catechesis Experience. By the time you read this, I’ll be getting ready to leave for another. ML has been planning and executing these experiences over the last five years to provide a place and time in which liturgists and catechists can come together and immerse themselves in the process.

The General Directory for Catechesis has set out the mandate for us: “The model for all catechesis is the baptismal catechumenate” (59). That’s a challenging vision. It has been a struggle in some places to convince parishioners or coworkers or bishops that liturgical catechesis — the model that has been so successful in initiating adults into the faith — is the most effective way to catechize the rest of the parish as well. However, with 30 years of experience with the RCIA behind us and new documents such as the GDC and Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us coming from Rome and the NCCB, there seems to be a shift occurring. If you thought liturgical catechesis had no chance of becoming a reality in your community, think again. It might be too bold to predict that five years from now liturgical catechesis will be the primary form of catechesis in most parishes. It is not, however, too bold to hope for.

Liturgical Catechesis Convention

You won’t want to miss the first annual Liturgical Catechesis Convention, planned in collaboration with the worship office of the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph. We plan to have sets of tracks. The liturgical tracks will work all day Saturday to create a liturgy that we will celebrate on Sunday. The catechetical tracks will work all day Saturday to create a mystagogical catechesis that will flow from the liturgy we celebrate. This isn’t like any convention you’ve been to before. The participants will build the experience themselves. Richard Fragomeni and Kathy Brown are the keynote speakers. Mark your calendars for Oct. 19–21. See page 40 for more details.

ML

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