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Forming those who form others

RCIA: Questions, Answers, and Advice

In this issue Bill Keimig answers the following questions:
Q. Is it liturgically appropriate to formally allow catechumens to choose a baptismal name earlier than the Holy Saturday Preparation Rites?

Q. The Code of Canon Law (CIC 865) says that adults to be baptized should be exhorted to have sorrow for personal sin. My pastor has the unbaptized elect and the baptized candidates both go to Confession prior to the Easter Vigil. His reasoning is that as adults even those not yet baptized would benefit from participating in this sacrament and would better understand how life-giving and freeing it is. Is there any problem with this?

Q. What would you recommend in terms of ensuring that a baptized participant has gone to Confession prior to making a profession of faith and receiving Confirmation and Eucharist?

Q. Where can the provision be found for Christian initiation of a person in danger of death?

Q. A person who is a strong, lifelong Christian meets with you about becoming a Catholic. He is absolutely positive that he wants to be a Catholic; he tells you that he has studied many books and listened to many tapes and is totally convinced that he wants to join the Church. He doesn’t have any close Catholic friends. He is upset by the idea that it might be many months before he is allowed to enter the Church and receive the sacraments. He asks if he really has to go through the entire RCIA process and all the rites.

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Dr. Bill Keimig is Deputy Director of the Catechetical Institute (CI) at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. For 15 years, he served as Director of Religious Education at St. Mary’s of Piscataway Catholic Church in Clinton, Maryland. Along with this work, Dr. Keimig served as a master catechist in the Hearts Aflame and Faith Foundations catechist formation programs for the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. Dr. Keimig has served as a speaker in many other settings, including at the annual St. John Bosco Conference in Steubenville for over two decades, and at major venues in over 85 dioceses. He served for nine years as Director of the Association for Catechumenal Ministry (ACM) for many years, which assists dioceses in training clergy and laity to do RCIA ministry, and was the managing editor of ACM’s series of RCIA texts currently used in thousands of U.S. parishes and in many other countries. He also served for nine years as a volunteer counselor for a local crisis pregnancy center. Dr. Keimig holds a Doctorate in Ministry from the Catholic University of America, and Master’s Degree in Theology and Christian Ministry with a Certification in Catechetics from Franciscan University. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Public Management from the University of Maryland in environmental policy. He and his wife, Heather, have six children running around: Rose, William, Julianna, Theodore, Elizabeth, and Gregory.

This article is from The Sower and may be copied for catechetical purposes only. It may not be reprinted in another published work without the permission of Maryvale Institute. Contact [email protected]

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