Rite of Election: 279 prepare for sacraments of initiation

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

Appreciation for the Church and the sacraments was a theme that participants in a special liturgy eagerly sounded as they shared their stories.
They are to receive the sacraments of initiation - baptism, first Communion and/or confirmation - at the Easter Vigil March 30 at their parishes.
People from around the diocese who are preparing for these sacraments through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults gather at St. Paul Cathedral the first Sunday of Lent for the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion.
Elizabeth A. Marcil, director of the diocesan Office of Religious Education, who coordinates this liturgy, said this year there were people from 41 parishes, the College of the Holy Cross and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. There were 145 catechumens (unbaptized people), 114 candidates who were baptized Catholic and are completing their initiation, and 20 candidates who were baptized in other Christian traditions and are becoming Catholics.
“I’m excited to become an official Catholic,” Steven Loiurio, 40, told The Catholic Free Press before the Rite of Election. He said he has been attending St. Leo Parish in Leominster, where he is to be baptized, confirmed and receive his first Communion.
He was brought up non-denominational Protestant, “mostly Christmas and Easter,” and later “tried out the Baptist faith, but it wasn’t for me,” he said.
In Leominster there are many churches near his house, he said.
“I was attracted to St. Leo’s” with its old building and history, and started attending Mass there, he said. “I’m learning more and more.”
Arlyenis Garrastegui, 20, is to receive her first Communion and confirmation at the Easter Vigil of St. Joseph and St. Stephen Parish in Worcester. She said she was baptized Catholic as a baby, but not really brought up in the Church.
“My boyfriend (Antonio Valera) and his family go to St. Stephen’s” Church, she said. Sometimes she went with them.
“I started to love it, so I wanted to come more,” she said. “I even brought my brother along with me. ... I’ve been coming every Sunday.”
She said she inquired about receiving the sacraments, and “can’t wait to be confirmed.”
She called the Rite of Election “beautiful” and said it was nice to see people who are preparing to receive sacraments coming together in one place.
John Griffin, 52, is to be confirmed at St. Joseph and St. Stephen Parish’s Easter Vigil. Now it’s time, he said, and shared the following about his journey.
He was baptized, made his first Communion, was an altar server and choir boy and attended Catholic schools in the diocese, he said. In high school, he started falling away from the Church after some difficult experiences, and “eventually became totally disillusioned with religion” and lost his way.
Seeing the world lacking an anchor, Mr. Griffin realized, in 2022, that that anchor was Christianity. He understood better the power of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and the Catholic Church’s role in safeguarding the community’s social and moral fabric.
“If I want things to change, if I see that Christ and the Church are the ways to affect that change, then I need to affirm my beliefs and ask for the graces needed to do what I can to make it happen,” he reasoned. “So, for me, making my confirmation is making a commitment to take this new phase in my life to the next level. ... If I had been confirmed when I was 16 or 17, it would have been just a rite of passage,” with cards and monetary gifts. “Now it means something more, as it is my choice, and I am getting something much more valuable,” he concluded.
Bishop McManus preached to the catechumens and candidates about their choice – and God’s.
“You are not choosing or electing God,” he said in his homily. Rather, God is calling them to surrender their old way of life and choosing them to live the life of grace.
“This is a very solemn moment in your life,” he said. “You will live the rest of your lives in the ... Catholic Church.”
God will not force them to accept his invitation, the bishop told the catechumens and candidates, adding that their presence at St. Paul’s showed they are responding to it.
The catechumens were called by parish and name and they stood. The bishop asked questions of them, their godparents and the congregation. The catechumens then inscribed their names in the Book of the Elect. Bishop McManus greeted them individually, then declared them members of the elect.
Candidates too were called by name and were officially recognized and greeted by the bishop.