Tag: Catechumens

On
Patrick Gorman, For the Catholic Herald

Rite of Election, Call to Continuing Conversion, to be held Sunday, Feb. 14

Rite of Election
A catechumen signs the Book of the Elect at the Rite of Election in 2015. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash)

WAUNAKEE — The Rite of Election of Catechumens and Call to Continuing Conversion for Candidates for Full Communion in the Catholic Church will be celebrated by the parishes of the Diocese of Madison on Sunday, Feb. 14, at 3 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee.

Parishes from throughout the diocese will send those who will celebrate the sacraments of initiation this Easter, as well as their sponsors, family, and friends. About 800 people are expected to attend, with Bishop Robert C. Morlino presiding.

‘Election’ means ‘chosen’

The word “election” is used in this liturgy to mean “chosen.”

In this liturgy, we acknowledge those who seek to be part of the Church have been chosen by God. The celebration comes from an ancient Christian practice of asking those who were to celebrate the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist) to come forward at the beginning of Lent to show their intent.

The people of the Church, in turn, promise their support, guidance, and prayers. The celebration is one part of a long process that is called The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).

The RCIA encompasses many facets of initiation, from the time a person first experiences the call of Christ or wishes to know about the Church, to the celebration of the sacraments of initiation and continued growth as a Christian.

It also includes adaptations for those who were baptized in another Christian denomination and seek to become members of the Catholic Church through the Sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist.

Read More
On
Patrick Gorman, For the Catholic Herald

Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion

MADISON — The Rite of Election of Catechumens and Call to Continuing Conversion for Candidates for Full Communion in the Catholic Church will be celebrated by the parishes of the Diocese of Madison on Sunday, Feb. 17, at 3 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee.

Parishes from throughout the diocese will send those who will celebrate the sacraments of initiation this Easter, as well as their sponsors, family, and friends. About 800 people are expected to attend, with Bishop Robert C. Morlino presiding.

 

Read More
On
Kat Wagner, Catholic Herald Staff

RCIA teaches about liturgical beauty and Church facts

Bishop Robert C. Morlino receives candidate Kimberly Kazort during the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion at St. John the Baptist Church in Waunakee on March 13, 2011. (CH file photo)MADISON — The annual Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion is approaching for the catechumens and candidates in the Diocese of Madison who are seeking the sacraments of initiation into the Catholic Church.

It’s an annual rite, taking place the first weekend of Lent, and it serves as a very public witness to the Church at large of the renewal and growth of our faith. It is filled with small rituals: the presentation of the catechumens, the Act of Election and the signing of the Book of the Elect, the presentation of the candidates, the Act of Recognition, the affirmation by sponsors and the faithful.

Rite of Election
The Rite of Election of Catechumens and Call to Continuing Conversion for Candidates of Full Communion in the Catholic Church will be held on Sunday, Feb. 26, at St. John the Baptist Church, in Waunakee. For more information about this celebration, click here.

For the Catholics not involved in RCIA, this is sometimes the last seen of these Church-seeking individuals until the Easter Vigil. Especially for longtime Catholics, there can be a vague idea that they return to classes to learn their catechism, facts about the Church, and exactly how one is supposed to genuflect in front of the tabernacle.

But RCIA is a deeper, richer process than that image provides. In the 1988 edition of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, it describes the structure of the process as gradual, as a journey that includes “not only the periods for making inquiry and for maturing . . . but also the steps marking the catechumens’ progress, as they pass, so to speak, through another doorway or ascend to the next level.”

The decree on the revision of the rite from the Congregation for Divine Worship in 1972 says that the time of the catechumenate, “intended as a period of well-suited instruction,” is “sanctified by liturgical rites to be celebrated at successive intervals of time.”

Read More
On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino

Our job is to ‘have time for God’

Editor’s note: The following column is taken from bishop’s homily of the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 30, 2008.

under the gospel book

We say to the Lord, at the beginning of this Advent, “Come Lord Jesus; do not delay! Stir up your power Lord and come to save us. Do not delay!” And when we pray that powerful prayer, we believe that it will be answered. And yet, we know that the coming of Jesus at the end of history, at the end of this world as we know it, may not be next week or next month. That return of the Lord is probably going to be delayed . . . at least we think so . . .

Read More