April 3, 2006VOL. 44, NO. 7Oakland, CA

Thousands to join the church
in U.S. at Easter vigil services

By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Across the United States this Lent, tens of thousands of prospective Catholics began the final phases of joining the church, a process that will culminate with the sacraments of Christian initiation at the Easter Vigil, April 15.

For catechumens, people not yet baptized, the final part of the journey began with a Rite of Election on or near the first Sunday of Lent. For candidates, who are already baptized Christians, the start of Lent meant participating in a Call to Continuing Conversion.

Catechumens will receive baptism, confirmation and first Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. Candidates will enter full communion with the church by receiving confirmation and first Eucharist.

Perhaps the largest number of new Catholics is in the Washington Archdiocese which has 1,133 catechumens and candidates. Across the Potomac River in Arlington, Va., there are 697.

In the Oakland Diocese, 233 adults and 96 children are expected to be baptized and 338 will be initiated into full communion with the church. They have participated in RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation) programs in 70 parishes throughout the diocese.

Among other dioceses, there are 560 in Little Rock, Ark.; more than 500 in Nashville, Tenn.; 264 in Albany, N.Y.; 269 in Hartford, Conn.; and 325 in Wilmington, Del.

When the bishops’ national evangelization office did a nationwide survey two years ago, it found that about 150,000 people joined the church that year through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. The rite, a catechetical-sacramental program, reaches its peak in the Lenten final steps and Easter initiation into the church.

Some, like Andy Fox of St. Ann’s Parish in Wilmington, were prompted by a pending marriage. He and his Catholic fiancee, Kelly Metkiff, are getting married in June and plan to raise their children in the church.

“It was time,” Fox told The Dialog, Wilmington diocesan newspaper. “I’ve been going to St. Ann’s for over a year; it was time to enter into full communion.”

Others, like Bob Lang of St. Mary Immaculate Parish in Plainfield, Ill., have been influenced by years of marriage to a Catholic. Lang, a lifelong Lutheran, said he had been attending Mass for almost three decades with his wife, Peggy, but one day last year he had an unexpected experience when the priest elevated the chalice and pronounced Christ’s words, “Do this in memory of me.” It struck him that he was not fulfilling that call, he said, and a few days later he entered the parish’s RCIA program.

In Hawaii, Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu flew from one island to another early in Lent to preside at Rite of Election ceremonies. The diocese has 188 catechumens and 125 candidates this year. Bishop Silva is a former pastor and vicar general of the Oakland Diocese.

Sometimes, relatives are the significant influence that brings someone to think about joining the church. That was the case for Dawn Jones of Plainfield, Ill., who said she began attending St. Mary Immaculate Parish at the invitation of her cousin, Yolanda Grant. “I started to go to church with her about two years ago and I just felt a connection,” Jones said.. “I just felt like I always belonged there.”

Catholic schools can also play a role. In Sheffield Lake, Ohio, Lori Okes began sending her son, Hunter, to St. Thomas the Apostle School because of the educational environment. Hunter, 7, has enthusiastically embraced Catholic practices and last September he and his mother and his grandmother -- Patsy Okes, Lori’s mother-in-law -- were baptized together. The adult converts have been attending RCIA classes in preparation for confirmation at Easter.

Patsy Okes, who had attended a number of Christian churches previously but never been baptized, told the Cleveland diocesan newspaper, that she had considered becoming a Catholic before but never followed through. “When I saw Hunter kneeling down to pray in his bedroom, I was convinced that now was the time,” she said.

The RCIA and the ceremonies culminating in the sacraments of initiation at Easter are used by the church throughout the world. In Canada, for example, the Western Catholic Reporter of Edmonton, Alberta, reported that 299 catechumens and candidates from 37 parishes across the archdiocese participated in the early Lenten ceremonies.

Dean Akazawa, a catechumen from Santa Maria Parish in Orinda, stands during the Rite of Election, March 4, at St. Joseph Church in Pinole. Bishop Allen H. Vigneron presided at the ceremony, one of four held in the diocese. Akazawa is one of the 233 adults who will be baptized during Easter Vigil services in 70 East Bay parishes. Ninety-six children will also be baptized and 338 will be initiated into full communion with the church.
GREG TARCZYNSKI PHOTO

During the Rite of Election at St. Joseph Church, Pinole, Bishop Allen Vigneron adds his signature to the Book of Election. At the right is Deacon Bill Bothe.
CNS PHOTO/GREG TARCZYNSKI

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