Easter Vigil welcomes new Catholics
Stan Ramirez was always the guy at the back of the church.
This year during Easter Vigil, he will be among those who are front and center.
Ramirez, a catechumen, will be baptized, confirmed and receive his first holy Communion at St. Charles Church in San Carlos on April 23 during Easter Vigil as more than 200 people throughout the Archdiocese of San Francisco and thousands throughout the U.S. enter the church.
“I find myself at home,” said Ramirez, 45, who said that for 20 years he was always the guy who sat in the back of the church. “I wrote an e-mail to a friend, ‘I have really found peace in myself.’”
Ramirez said he found himself drawn more urgently to the faith with the birth of his daughter three years ago. “I always didn’t want to be the person who is over religious and I find myself being that person,” he said.
Entering the church during Easter Vigil Mass is an ancient rite that was restored to the Catholic liturgy after the Second Vatican Council to signify that the newly baptized are received into a community of faith.
There are two different rituals and processes of preparation in the faith that may culminate at Easter Vigil. The catechumens are those who have never been baptized. They participate in the Rite of Christian Initiation, a process that may take a year or longer. At Easter Vigil, catechumens are baptized, confirmed and receive first Eucharist. During Easter Vigil parishes might also witness Christians who have been baptized, “come into the full communion” of the Catholic Church. They have also gone through a special catechetical program. In the Archdiocese of San Francisco, a total of 178 catechumens will be baptized, with another 62 candidates being received into the full communion of the Catholic Church. In addition, 155 adult Catholics who were baptized but never received the other sacraments of initiation will be confirmed and receive first Communion at Easter Vigil or later during the Easter season, said Patrick Vallez-Kelly, director of the archdiocesan office of worship.
Among those being received into the church are James and Michelle House, who will be confirmed and receive their first Communion at St. Catherine of Siena Church during Easter Vigil. A month later, on May 22, their five children will be received into the faith when 2-month-old David is baptized. For the Houses, who just moved to Northern California, this is an opportunity to join a church where they always felt at home, said James House.
“The church we went to before was pretty much based on Catholic belief,” but was a charismatic Protestant church in Southern California, House said. His parents were raised Catholic but left. House said that whenever he traveled he always attended Catholic Mass, including during college in Spain.
“We wanted to go back to our roots,” he said, adding that the family chose their home in Burlingame partly because it is close to the parish church and school of St. Catherine of Siena.
Father Ulysses D’Aquila of St. Kevin Parish says the way candidates enter the RCIA and other catechetical programs is almost mysterious. “Of course it’s a topic all the time” during the months of formation, he said. “Many people say, I stopped in a Catholic church. I was raised with no faith. It began to occur to me that this might be right for me.”
Seeing the growth of new Catholics in faith “is very rewarding,” said Father D’Aquila.
The Holy Saturday liturgy of Easter Vigil begins with the Service of Light, which includes the blessing of the new fire and the paschal candle which symbolizes Jesus, the light of the world, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops explains on its website. The second part consists of the Liturgy of the Word with a number of Scripture readings. After the Liturgy of the Word, the candidates are presented to the community, who pray for them and join in the litany of the saints. Next, the presider blesses the water, placing the Easter or Paschal candle into the baptismal water. Those seeking baptism then renounce sin and profess their faith after which they are immersed into the baptismal water three times with the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
In some situations the water may be poured over the head of each candidate. After the baptism the newly baptized are dressed in white garments and presented with a candle lighted from the paschal candle. They are then confirmed by the priest or bishop who imposes hands on their heads, and invokes the gift of the Holy Spirit. He then anoints them with the oil called sacred chrism. The Mass continues with the newly baptized participating in the general intercessions and in bringing gifts to the altar. At Communion, the newly baptized receive the Eucharist, Christ’s body and blood, for the first time.
“Each year the baptism of adults at Easter Vigil is cause for great celebration,” said Vallez-Kelly. “It’s a joy and a blessing to be at a parish vigil and to witness these baptisms. Of course, the testimony of those baptized in years past tells us that it’s a profound experience for them, too!”
By Valerie Schmalz
From April 15, 2011 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
