Discernment:

The Pastor, his team and leaders must discern the need for Mystagogy as it pertains to the parish family they serve.

Involves: Meetings with Pastor and DRE (along with other parish leaders such as: those on the Pastoral Council, Catechists, parents, etc.) to discern the need, potential leaders, and how such a need can be met in line with the overall catechetical structures currently in place.

Communication:

The faithful meet the expectations, as requirements, which we lay out for them. We must communicate any change of expectations with charity, conviction and encouragement. The Parish is a people and must be brought into the awareness of this need of the parish.

Involves: Parent Meetings, Announcements at or meetings after Mass, Ongoing engagement with and support of the Community

Implementation:

Must Be Adaptable: Deliverable to anyone who has been fully initiated into the Catholic Church, and deliverable at various points of a parish’s faith-formation process.

Must Be Sustainable: Formation/Mentorship of Mystagogues to deliver content to neophytes. Mystagogues are the foundation and continuation of this effort. Because of this, Formation and Mentorship of Mystagogues so that they will be able to train others to share in this ministry is essential.

Mystagogues as Witnesses:

A Mystagogue is primarily someone who experiences the vast wealth of the ultimate meaning and value of the liturgy and who can communicate that to others by way of ushering them into that experience.

Mystagogues are thus mentored, so that they can be prayerfully disposed to offer that witness.

This takes place over a yearlong partnership via weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly meetings.

This mentorship is split up roughly as:

Month 1-3, Weekly Meetings: (Instruction Phase)

Weeks 1-11 (Mystagogical Catechesis)

Week 12: Commissioning Retreat.

Month 4, Bi-Weekly Meetings: (Implementation Phase)

Weeks 14 and 16: Launching 1st Cohort and Adaptation

Months 5-12, Monthly Meetings: (1-on-1 Mentorship Phase)

Week 26: Day of Recollection

Monthly Meetings: Mystagogue Training Initiative

Week 52: Retreat and Renew

The continuation of any initiative rises and falls with personal relationship. Unfortunately we often do not give the complexity and variety of relationship much thought. We need leaders and mentors in our life of faith. A sustained effort to provide for brothers and sisters in Christ thrives only in a place where faith, hope, and love are cultivated in the heart of those entrusted with their care.

The yearlong process of mentorship and accompaniment is to instill such a cultivation within the heart of mystagogues. After a year, therefore, consultation with Criterion will no longer be needed. The parish community will have dedicated mystagogues and mystagogues-in-formation on mission together to lead them more deeply into a personal experience of the Sacred Mysteries.

With that said, consultation can continue in an attenuated manner to assist parishes to raise awareness of the community’s role in the work of mystagogy, as well as helping form continual conversation and conversion around what has been shared in the mystagogical experience. For instance, for adolescents/young adults a small group mentorship revolving around discernment of personal vocation would be a great way to extend one’s mystagogical understanding more deeply into his/her everyday life.