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March 11, 2022BY TANYA CONNOR
THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
WORCESTER – Individuals preparing for full initiation into the Catholic Church were told they are evidence of life and a source of joy and hope. They gathered with Bishop McManus and other supporters Sunday at St. Paul Cathedral.
The celebration – called the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion – was for 128 individuals from 28 parishes, and Assumption University and the College of the Holy Cross, according to Elizabeth A. Marcil, director of the diocesan Office of Religious Education. She coordinates Worcester’s annual liturgy, which is held the first Sunday of Lent in diocesan cathedrals around the world.
“You are the sign of resurrection in our midst; you are the sign of life,” Ms. Marcil told people at the start of Sunday’s liturgy.
“This liturgical celebration … is a cause for great joy and hope for the Diocese of Worcester, and indeed for the entire Catholic Church, because new life is always a powerful presence of God in the world, a God who is hope itself,” Bishop McManus said in his homily.
He was speaking to about 70 catechumens and 58 candidates. Catechumens are preparing to receive the sacraments of initiation, baptism, first Communion and confirmation, in their parishes at the Easter Vigil on April 16. Candidates are to be confirmed, and in some cases receive their first Communion, at that same Mass the night before Easter Sunday. Ten of the candidates are becoming Catholics and 48 are baptized Catholics seeking to complete their initiation, according to figures provided by Ms. Marcil.
During the Rite of Election, Bishop McManus asks questions of the catechumens, their godparents and the whole congregation. The catechumens offer their names for enrollment in the Book of the Elect and greet the bishop. In the Act of Election the bishop declares them members of the elect.
With the Act of Recognition, the bishop recognizes the candidates’ “desire to be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit and to have a place at Christ’s eucharistic table.” They too greet him.
Before the liturgy concludes, special prayers are said for the elect and candidates.
In his homily Bishop McManus summarized the story of salvation and challenged those preparing for initiation.
He said that at the heart of the Christian life is our relationship with God, who elects us to receive his friendship and grace, and calls us to live in harmony with him, as he did with Adam and Eve. But Adam and Eve wanted to do it their own way, and, because of their fall, original sin affects all people. God sent Jesus as savior, and new life entered the world.
“God is calling you to receive the gift of faith,” and live it within the body of Christ, the Church, Bishop McManus told the catechumens and candidates. He spoke of receiving not something, but someone (Jesus), in the Eucharist, to strengthen them in their journey home to heaven. They are accompanied by “the household of faith,” he said.
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