On the road to becoming members of the Catholic Church

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

Kayla Light-Pereira said she has a big circle on her calendar.
The circle highlights April 8, the night before Easter Sunday, when she is to be initiated into the Catholic Church.
Danielle Hanlon, responding to her sense of God’s call, is also preparing to be baptized and receive her first Communion and confirmation at the Easter Vigil that night.
The two women were among many people in that place on their faith journey who participated in a special service Sunday at St. Paul Cathedral.
The Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion encompassed 170 individuals from 28 parish communities, the College of the Holy Cross and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, according to Elizabeth A. Marcil, director of the diocesan Office of Religious Education. She coordinates this annual liturgy for the diocese, held the first Sunday of Lent in cathedrals around the world.
Ms. Marcil said 101 of these individuals were people preparing to receive the sacraments of initiation – baptism, first Communion and confirmation – at the Easter Vigil in their parishes. They are called catechumens. Another 69 are called candidates. Eight of them are coming into full communion in the Catholic Church; they were baptized in another Christian community and are becoming Catholics. The other 61 are baptized Catholics seeking to complete their sacraments of initiation.
Ms. Marcil gave them a brief introduction at Sunday’s celebration, noting that they came from many communities around the diocese and from many nations.
“We want you to feel very welcome and at home,” she said. She explained that when they are baptized and confirmed they will be anointed with holy oils, which were displayed behind her at the cathedral.
During the Rite of Election, Bishop McManus asks questions of the catechumens, their godparents and the whole congregation, and 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, he 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.
In his homily Bishop McManus asked the catechumens and candidates what God is calling them to do and what will happen if they accept God’s call.
“You are not choosing or electing God,” he said. “God has chosen you.” He said that the Lord invites them to “repent and believe in the Gospel.” And that they will live the rest of their lives in the Catholic Church. Their presence at the cathedral showed that they were responding and expressing thanks for that invitation, the bishop said.
Bishop McManus told the catechumens that when they are baptized, they will “die,” and put on a new way of being. He expressed hope that, when they die physically, they will spend eternity with God, the one who elected them at Sunday’s celebration.
Mrs. Hanlon also spoke about God’s call, as she shared her journey to the Church with The Catholic Free Press.
She said she was brought up with no religion. She married Hubert Hanlon, who was raised Catholic and went to Catholic high school and college, and they raised their four children in the Church.
“I felt there was always something missing,” Mrs. Hanlon said. “I’ve always been spiritual, but never in a formal way.”
Now it’s “so nice” having her husband as her sponsor, she said, “and it’s brought something else to our marriage, a spiritual aspect.” They can discuss spiritual topics with each other.
“It added another bond to our relationship,” said Mr. Hanlon, who attended the preparatory classes with his wife. She is to be initiated at the Easter Vigil at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Northborough.
“We’re very blessed to be where we are today,” Mrs. Hanlon said. Her husband added that they try to “give back to the community” in gratitude for their blessings and try to be better role models for their children and friends.
Mrs. Light-Pereira is also rejoicing as she prepares to be baptized and receive her first Communion and confirmation at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Dudley.
“We recently bought a house in Dudley,” she said. “I was looking up Catholic churches in the area. That was the closest one.” She decided, “That can be my parish” and started attending in June.
She goes alone; she said her parents and husband are not practicing Catholics.
Her sponsor, Jacqueline LaBonte, was with her at the Rite of Election. She has known Mrs. LaBonte for her whole life. She called the LaBonte family “people you want to be like.”
Jalissa Keza, 10, was one of several children participating in the Rite of Election, three of them in her own family.
She is to be baptized and receive her first Communion at the Easter Vigil at St. Andrew the Apostle Mission in Worcester. Two younger siblings are just being baptized.
“I was excited,” she said. “It was kind of amazing.” She said she was so happy her whole family came to the Rite of Election to support her.
 
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