“We rejoice because Mother Church every year sees this fresh infusion of new life,” said Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison to the Rite of Election catechumens and Call to Continuing Conversion candidates and their sponsors gathered at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee on February 18.
Before the event, there was a buzz in the narthex as participants gathered expectantly and excitedly, waiting to meet the bishop and profess their intent to join the Church.
Professing intent
Since the appointment of Bishop Hying to the Diocese of Madison in 2019, this year’s event marked the largest number of catechumens and candidates in attendance — 234; 84 catechumens attended the Rite of Election, and 150 candidates attended the Call to Continuing Conversion. Most were accompanied by their sponsor.
Approximately one hundred more people were in attendance than last year. The Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion recognize the journey catechumens and candidates take to full communion with the Church.
Catechumens — those that participate in the Rite of Election — are people who have not yet been Baptized. On this day, they signed the Book of the Elect, publicly professed their intention to join the Church, and met the bishop.
Candidates — those that participate in the Call to Continuing Conversion — are people who have been Baptized but either have not celebrated their First Eucharist or are coming into the fullness of the Church from a different Christian denomination. They also met the bishop on this day.
In Bishop Hying’s homily, he spoke of a scene in the movie Paul, Apostle of Christ, where Paul says to a Roman official, “My prayer for you is that one day you will be knocked off of your self-sufficiency, and in that moment you will discover that you are really known by God and absolutely loved by Him.” Bishop Hying continued, “Each one of you could step forward and give witness as to why you are here today, how God invaded your life, how He put His hand on your heart.
“For us to give our hearts to the Lord, we discover a love that we could never imagine, a joy that we cannot create, a purpose that is beyond us and yet fulfills us, and a relationship with God that, if we are faithful to it, will carry us over into the Kingdom of Heaven to live with Him forever.
“So being Catholic, living the faith, being serious about sanctity, is the greatest adventure one could ever set out on. Candidates and catechumens, you’re simply beginning this relationship in the Church that will carry forth all of your days.”
Bishop Hying ended his homily by sharing a personal story.
Two months ago, while aboard an airplane, he was seated next to an atheist, who “was raised without anything”.
Bishop Hying said that she asked him to “tell me what you believe” and over the next two hours, “I shared the basic essence of our faith”.
At the end, she said, “something astounding,” that, “Everything you said is absolutely beautiful, but it seems too good to be true.”
Bishop Hying looked at her and said, “Can you dare to believe that it is true, because if you take a jump into faith and suppose all of this is true, it changes everything.”
“The more we are knocked off our self-sufficiency, the more we come to realize how much we need Him and how much He loves us,” concluded the bishop.
A special focus on St. Paul’s
Of the catechumens and candidates present, 69 of them were from St. Paul’s Catholic Student Center in Madison, which is double what the campus ministry team usually form through their Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) program.
The crowd chuckled when Bishop Hying remarked, “I think St. Paul’s has this whole section,” with joy on his face, and added, “I can’t help but imagine there might be a few called to Religious Life or the priesthood among you.”
This year’s exceptional RCIA size came as a bit of a surprise, said one of the university’s Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) missionaries. The surprise stems from “not doing anything special” but is attributed to “the fruit of all of our ministry offerings”.
Students spoke about their faith and the journey that is leading them into full communion with the Catholic Church this year.
One student in attendance was George Hoyt, who was Baptized and formed in the Methodist Church.
Hoyt is in his first year of college and when he started the academic year at UW-Madison, he was already interested in becoming Catholic and enrolling in RCIA. He said that his interest in Catholicism began after listening to Michael Knowles, a devout Catholic, and that’s when he decided to start researching theology.
He said, “[Two years ago,] I decided to start to read books and the most influential book on me was Confessions. I read that from Augustine and I saw myself in Augustine’s story . . . His dad sent him to school and he became a professor of rhetoric, like a ‘hotshot’ intellectual — he was caught up with how other people would view him.
“[For me,] I would try to find my worth in whether I was good at —sports or just smarter than everybody. Obviously, those things can’t make you happy . . . I can relate to his story, so that’s how I came into the fullness of my faith, today. [Augustine’s story] didn’t convince me of Catholic doctrine, but it made me stronger to go pursue the truth.”
In his senior year of high school, Hoyt tore his ACL, which was another turning point in his life.
He said, “[When that happened,] the point of life wasn’t to play sports [anymore], so I had to find what else it was . . . I kept reading theology, and not all of it was Catholic.”
During spring break of his senior year of high school, Hoyt spent a week house-sitting for his cousins, which provided a short “exile” for him. He said, “All I would do during the day was read and look at theology online. During that week, I became convinced of some Catholic doctrine . . . Eventually this fall, I came to school and showed up on the first Sunday for church at St. Paul’s.”
It was a few weeks later, after becoming more familiar with the community, when Hoyt joined “a Newman dinner and signed up for RCIA, [in addition to] a freshman small group”.
Hoyt attests, “I’m so glad I did that because I’m pretty involved now,” and that, “I’ve found a lot of good friends.”
Hoyt has especially enjoyed Morning Prayer and Adoration, in addition to the weekly RCIA class at St. Paul’s.
Candidates and catechumens, like Hoyt, are planning to come into the fullness of the Church at the Easter Vigil.