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Ripe for the Harvest:
Strengthening OCIA in Your Parish
Professional Development Day
for Pastoral Leaders
Friday, October 16, 2026
Attend In-Person or via the Live Stream
Augustine Institute Campus
16805 New Halls Ferry Road
Florissant, MO 63034
About the Event
The fields are ripe for the harvest, and with the number of people coming to the Church rapidly increasing across the country, now is the time to strengthen the formation we provide in OCIA to those seeking to enter the Catholic Church.
Based on ancient practice and structured through liturgical rites, the OCIA process provides all the structure necessary for Catechumens and Candidates to encounter the living God through Scripture, Liturgy, Catechesis, and prayer. The OCIA is designed to not only prepare people for the Sacraments at the Easter Vigil, but to make life-long Christian disciples.
No matter what your role is in the OCIA—whether you are the pastor, have been leading OCIA for years, were handed the baton this fall, or are volunteering or sponsoring—we invite you to join us for a day of learning.
This professional development day is sponsored by the Master of Arts in Pastoral Theology program and taught by the faculty of the Augustine Institute.
What You Will Learn
- What’s truly at stake in OCIA programs
- The history of OCIA and its origins
- The Periods and Rites of the OCIA and why they matter
- How to model catechesis after Jesus, the master teacher
- What topics should be taught in OCIA and why a complete and systematic catechesis is critical to formation
- How to involve the whole parish community
- Keeping catechumens and candidates engaged after the Easter Vigil
Who Should Attend: Pastors, DREs, Faith Formation Coordinators, OCIA Directors and Instructors, Volunteers, Sponsors, or anyone interested in learning more about the OCIA.
Schedule
8:45 A.M. | Check-In
9:00 A.M. | Welcome and Opening Prayer
9:10 A.M. | Session I: Back to the Basics: What is OCIA?
10:00 A.M. | Session II: Modeling the Teaching of God in OCIA
10:50 A.M. | Session III: The Gameplan: Strengthening OCIA in Your Parish
12:00 P.M. | Holy Mass (for in-person participants)
12:30 P.M. | Lunch (for in-person participants)
1:30 P.M. | Q&A Discussion
Session Descriptions
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Lucas Pollice
Back to the Basics: What is OCIA?
The restored OCIA process is a way of recovering the ancient Catechumenate that the early Church Fathers used in making new disciples of Jesus Christ. This presentation will discuss the importance of OCIA in forming disciples, the Church’s wisdom in how the process is structured, and why all the Periods and Rites are crucial and how they work together.
Speaker Bio
Lucas Pollice is a Visiting Associate Professor of Theology and Catechetics at the Augustine Institute and the Chief Mission Officer at the Diocese of Colorado Springs. He has over twenty years of experience in the areas of catechetics and pastoral theology at both the parish and diocesan level. He oversaw the development of the Augustine Institute’s OCIA series, Symbolon: The Catholic Faith Explained, and is the author of Open Wide the Doors to Christ: Discovering Catholicism, a complete curriculum for OCIA and Adult Faith Formation.
Sean Innerst
Modeling the Teaching of God in OCIA
Throughout Scripture we see how God uses words and deeds to form his people and draw them closer to him. Using the teaching of God as a model, Prof. Innerst will show how to use the Catechism of the Catholic Church to structure Catechesis in the OCIA process.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Sean Innerst is a Professor of Theology and Catechetics at the Augustine Institute and has been teaching theology, evangelization, and catechesis to clergy, DREs and DEs, and catechists for over twenty-five years. He is the author of From Blessing to Blessing: The Catechism as a Journey of Faith (Ascension Press) and the four-part series Ladder of Ascent, a two-year course on the Catechism of the Catholic used in a number of dioceses in the U.S.
Arielle Harms
The Gameplan: How to Implement & Strengthen OCIA in Your Parish
From implementing a year-round OCIA, to knowing where to look for resources, to involving the parish community, to deepening the prayer lives of our Catechumens and Candidates, there are many ways to strengthen our OCIA programs. In this talk, Prof. Harms shares practical steps to take to strengthen your parish’s own OCIA program, helping you take incremental steps to better your program year by year.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Arielle Harms is an Assistant Professor of Theology and Pastoral Theology at the Augustine Institute and the Program Area Director for the MA in Pastoral Theology. She has 20 years of experience in catechesis and evangelization at the parish level, including over a decade of experience building and running OCIA programs.
Registration
This is a complimentary workshop for those working or volunteering in ministry. Since the Church presents OCIA as the model for all catechesis, all catechetical leaders are welcome to attend regardless of involvement in OCIA.
The event will be offered live online or in-person on our campus in St. Louis, Missouri.
