Divine Blessing: Liturgical Formation in the RCIA

by Timothy P. O'Malley

RCIA teams often struggle with getting catechumens and candidates to participate regularly in the church’s liturgy. Those who do often feel bored or confused, or they see it as a nice tradition or an inconvenient obligation rather than the heart of our Catholic faith. So we fill the gap with more catechesis that explains the liturgy to seekers, and we pray they will have a better personal experience on Sunday. Yet neither causes them to love the liturgy as we do. In  Divine Liturgical Formation in the RCIA ,   Timothy P. O’Malley shows us how we can break out of a classroom model about liturgy and instead invite seekers to be formed by the Risen Christ through the liturgy. This book will give you a process for preparing your catechumens and candidates to learn the liturgy’s symbolic language of self-giving love that will sustain them with divine blessing and train them to be Christ’s disciples in the world.

144 pages, Paperback

Published June 14, 2019

About the author

Dr. Timothy P. O'Malley, Ph.D. (theology and education, Boston College; M.T.S., Liturgical Studies, University of Notre Dame; B.A., Theology and Philosophy, Notre Dame), is Director of Education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, and Academic Director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy.

Reviews

[Joyce Donahue · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this small gem of a book, O'Malley lays out a vision for liturgical formation during formation for and celebration of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults that counters common mindsets that impede today's people from fruitful worship. He names the main obstacles to full engagement in liturgy as belief in an absent God, rugged individualism, the loss of wonder, throwaway culture and consumerism. Using the 3-part model of Luigi Giussani (provocation, hypothesis and verification) He shows how the liturgy is an encounter with God that can inspire, transform and unite us communally and provides examples, stories and simple ways to assist people to appreciate the rhythms and beauty of the liturgical life.

The first half of this book, where he lays out the obstacles to worship and the practical theology that counters these issues should probably be read by every parish liturgy team member and catechist - not just those working with the RCIA. The last half is practical gold for RCIA teams, as O'Malley lays out specific principles, methodologies and strategies for each stage of the catechumenal journey that could change the way parishes think of the RCIA. This is true formation in a liturgical discipleship model.

A nice addition to the Team RCIA library.

[Daniel Hackenjos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great short book for those involved in RCIA. O’Malley gives plenty of practical advice for those running RCIA programs in a parish. At times he’s very poetic and wordy, but a book well worth reading.