With everything Corona going on in the world and with one day pretty much the same as 
another I might have been forgiven for not noticing that it was the beginning of Holy Week. However, while having Palm Sunday dinner, my wife mentioned rather off hand, “I really feel sorry for the RCIA groups this year. What are they going to do?”
I was dumb stuck. I must have sat there with a piece of chicken halfway to my mouth for a full 60 seconds until my wife asked, “Are you okay?” I was not. My head was spinning with all the theological ramifications both spiritual and practical. But mostly I felt a profound sense of empathy for the loss that this is to all these various groups around the word.
Full disclosure, I am a catholic. I served as a lay minister in the Catholic church for over 20 years, the last 13 years of which I directed the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) for the parishes in which I served. The RCIA is a process in the catholic faith to welcome – actually enculturate – those who have not been baptized or those from another faith into the catholic church. It is, or should be, an intensely spiritual journey toward faith in Jesus Christ and full membership in the community of believers that is the church. Because the catholic faith is an embodied religion steeped in sacrament and sacramentals, it is a faith that must be experienced to be fully understood. The RCIA process can take a year or more depending on the readiness and desire of the individual to move forward.
In my part of the world the candidates for full initiation, catechumens, would likely have gotten to the Rite of Election. A rite reserved for celebration by the local bishop at his cathedral in which they are elected by the community to become full members of the church at Easter. It is a powerful rite that propels them spiritually forward toward the hope of Easter.
And then the wheels came off!
Staring blankly at that piece of chicken I thought of the Scrutinies that they would not get to experience leading to Easter. Surely, they would still have their reflections on the Gospels but what of the experience of being prayed for by their congregation as their pastor laid hands on them in prayerful blessing. These are tactile and spiritually transformative moments. Gone!
My heart was breaking for them.
Now my thoughts turned to the Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. The Triduum is one liturgy that is celebrated over three days. It is the pinnacle of the church’s year. If done well it is a liturgically and sacramentally sumptuous celebration of the magnificent gift of God’s salvation in Jesus the Christ. It is chocked full of sign and symbol that is at the heart of the catholic faith’s understanding of God’s bountiful grace.
There would be no grand procession of symbols to begin the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. There would be no washing of their feet. There would be no final dismissal at which to unpack this powerful experience. There would be no experience of the tableau proclamation of John’s Passion on Good Friday no Veneration of the Cross. No first experience of Eucharistic Adoration. And then there would be no Easter Vigil.
The Easter Vigil is the holiest of nights in catholicism. There would be no experience of New Fire, the Light of Christ, and the Exsultet. There would be no experience of the proclamation of salvation history, no creation story, no story of Abraham faith, no parting of the Red Sea, no Isaiah, no Baruch, no Ezekiel, and no reflection by Paul on the dying and rising in Christ as a new creation in Baptism. There would be no challenge to the presider to get Jesus out of the tomb in his homily. No Litany of Saints, no Baptismal promises. There would be no experience of baptism no wet robes, no to rush to get changed, no laying on of hands, no chrism, no body and blood of Christ.
Now my heart was broken.
Sure there are other times that these sacraments can be appropriately celebrated according to the Vatican. The most appropriate being the Eve of Pentecost – Corona unlikely – but nothing will replace what they have lost in experience and the depth of spiritual connections to their new faith.
Since that chicken dinner I have been praying for the elect, the candidates, their sponsors, and their team members. May the Holy Spirit guide your discernment to do what is best.
I also pray for our country and our world at this time of crisis. God protect our essential workers and God be with those who are suffering with this virus.
gobblers nob 