Witness to restoration of the Catechumenate
In the early days of the Church, there was no such thing as a “cradle Catholic.”
Rather, the first Christians won converts for Jesus through the overwhelming force of what they had gained through their own encounter with Him and His good news. Who could not be moved by people whose hearts were blazing with something that would probably get them killed?
What was so much more valuable to them than life itself?
Moved by the Holy Spirit and by what He was doing in their neighbors’ lives, people started spending time with their baptized neighbors, asking questions and finding out what it means to follow the Way of Christ.
With them, they began praying, worshipping, proclaiming the Word of God to one another, holding each other accountable and becoming like family.
When the time was right, these seekers of the Way were baptized and accepted their place at the Lord’s Table at Mass.
These new Christians continued to study and grow, bringing new energy to the Church while enticing future converts by consistently living out their baptismal calling more fully.
This process of individual discernment, communal instruction, ongoing conversion and gradual integration into the liturgical life of the Church came to be known as the Catechumenate.
It began with a time of informal inquiry and culminated after baptism, with what was known as Mystagogia (Greek for “savoring the mystery”), a time in which newly initiated Christians gathered regularly to reflect further on the Easter sacraments they had just received.
Over the centuries, the initiation process evolved to the point where it had become primarily the responsibility of priests. People wanting to become Catholic received regular instruction from the pastor of the local parish until he found that they were ready to be received into the Church.
But during the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), the Holy Spirit guided the world’s bishops to lay the groundwork for making new the ancient rites of initiation.
In the United States, the catechumenate would come to be known as the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA).
Bishop John R. Gaydos (1943-2025), who began his priestly ministry in Manchester, Missouri, as an associate pastor of St. Joseph Parish (1969-74), recalled that he got his first taste of what is now the OCIA in the mid-1970s while serving as secretary to Cardinal John J. Carberry of St. Louis.
He recalled that members of the Sisters of Our Lady of Peace invited Cardinal Carberry to St. Edward Church in North St. Louis for the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion.
The rite, held on the First Sunday of Lent, began the final phase or preparation for about a dozen African-Americans from the Arlington neighborhood who were seeking initiation into the Church.
“I remember that it was one of the most beautiful, moving experiences I had ever had,” Bishop Gaydos said.
The following year, several other parishes wanted to take part, so the Rite of Election was moved to much larger St. Engelbert Church.
The year after that, it was moved to the massive Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.
Now the rite in St. Louis must be held more than once each year in the cathedral in order to accommodate all the participants, their families and their godparents and sponsors.
Pope St. John Paul II approved a concrete set of norms and guideless for the OCIA in 1979.
Pope Francis approved new norms last year.
