Christian Initiation
2002 Reston, Virginia
2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Convener 2002
David B. Batchelder (parish minister at Latrobe Presbyterian Church in Latrobe, Pennsylvania)
Seminar Participants 2002
(in attendance) Timothy Fitzgerald, Lawrence E. Mick, John J. O’Brien, John Hill, Ruth Meyers, Tony Sherman, Victoria Tufano, Mark W. Stramm, Daniel Benedict, David Batchelder; (visitors) Tom Rand, Hilary Hayden, Rowena Roppelt, Anne Koeste, Jerry Galipeau; (absent) Paul Turner, Leonel Mitchell
Seminar Report 2002
The year’s seminar (see below the papers by Mick and Turner) explored the current state of mystagogy in the process of initiation. With its vision of rooting life more deeply in the paschal mystery, the seminar assessed how well contemporary efforts at mystagogy are enabling individuals and communities to live the life of discipleship and engage in ministries of societal transformation. This discussion explored the relationship between mystagogy and mission and the necessity for the ongoing conversion of the initiating community. Deeply imbedded in our traditions are many models or metaphors of being Church that resist such conversion and thwart the Church’s mission. In an effort to examine the dysfunction, which domesticates communities’ discipleship, John Hill led the group in a discussion concerning the various ecclesiologies that impinge on faith communities concerned with initiation. He introduced his study guide, Operating Models of the People of God, which seeks to help churches identify their unconscious assumptions about church life, mission, and discipleship. From another vantage point, Tim Fitzgerald led the group in a consideration of what happens to the community itself which is engaged in the catechumenal process. In addition, the group received a report from Daniel Benedict concerning United Methodist efforts to introduce the catechumenate among its churches. The group discussed a related paper by Mark Stamm (see below) describing the conflict between U. Methodist baptismal and confirmation rites and the personal experience of evangelical Methodists.
This year’s discussion laid the groundwork for papers to be written this year, including (tentatively titled):
- Tom Rand: “Mystagogy and Galatians: Rediscovering Community in a Disintegrating Church”
- Ann Koester: “Mystagogy as Continuing Conversion”
- Tim Fitzgerald: “Initiation as the Church’s Conversion”
- John O’Brien: “Uniting Redemption and Creation?”
- Mark Stamm: “A Response to Craig Saterlee’s Book on the Mystagogical Preaching of Ambrose.”
2002 Papers and Discussion
“Mystagogy and Mission: Some Reflections” by Larry Mick
The goal of the RCIA is not the font but discipleship. To this end mystagogy is a critical part of the ongoing formation process. This paper considers the issues related to strengthening the weakest link in the catechumenal process.
“Twenty-First Century Mystagogy” by Paul Turner
There are significant contextual differences between the early catechumenate and contemporary appropriations of this initiation process. These differences should inform the way the Church carries out its ministry of mystagogy, in particular, as it understands its preaching of the gospel on the Lord’s Day.
“The Reception of Roman Catholics and Protestants into Orthodoxy” by Tony Sherman
The paper reviews the historical and current ways Russian and Greek Orthodoxy deal with the reception of non-Orthodox persons. Grasping the current situation is complex because Orthodoxy is not monolithic. Practice may be more illuminating than “official” statements.
“Christian Initiation on Two Tracks: Reflections on Liturgical Piety and Practice Among United Methodist Evangelicals” by Mark Stamm
United Methodist efforts to introduce the catechumenate have raised significant questions from Methodist evangelicals who place a premium upon personal encounter with Jesus Christ as foundational to religious experience. This understanding has implications for how baptism and confirmation are construed theologically with the result often being that the meaning of the sacraments becomes vague and undefined. This paper explores the dimensions of this problem in ways that helps lay out the landscape for further dialogue.