Prospective Catholics take next step in their journey of faith

BY MARY STADNYK  Associate Editor

For Shawn Woodward, the motivator for him to join the Catholic Church was his family.

“It’s important for me and for them,” Woodward said of his wife and godparent, Vanessa, who attends St. Mary Parish, Colts Neck, and their children who are in the parish religious education program. they receive the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist at the Easter Vigil, which this year is April 8.

“I want to be a role model for my children in the faith,” Woodward said, noting that his journey of faith to the Church began two years ago when he joined the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, the Catholic Church’s official process for preparing persons to enter the Church.

Others who will be taking a significant step in their journeys to the Catholic Church are the RCIA candidates, those who have been baptized as Catholics or in other Christian faiths, but did not have any further religious instruction in the Catholic faith.

Bishop O’Connell preaches his Rite of Election homily on what it means to be a Catholic Christian. The Bishop reminded the catechumens that they were called by God to become Catholic.

“I’ve learned a lot and I see things more clearly,” he said of all he’s learned about the Church and her teachings.

“It’s pretty neat,” he said.

Woodward was among the 164 women, men and children from around the Diocese to take the next step in their journey to becoming Catholic when they gathered Feb. 26 with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold, for the Rite of Election.

At the Rite of Election, the catechumens, supported by their sponsors, godparents, family members and parish ministers, declared their intention to become fully initiated “Catholic Christians” when

This year, the Diocese reports having 65 non-Catholic candidates and 330 Catholic candidates who are taking part in the Call to Continuing Conversion in their parishes, marking the beginning of a time of intense spiritual preparation leading up to the Easter Vigil when they will receive the Sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist.

‘WHAT’S IN A NAME?’

In his homily, Bishop O’Connell reflected on what it means to become Catholic and to be known by that name.

“The name Catholic is a deep and profound identification of what you believe in, what you are called to be and, therefore, how you plan right now to live unconditionally.

“Being a Catholic is not aways easy or comfortable or convenient, but it is what you have chosen, and it is a package deal,” he said.

Bishop O’Connell urged the catechumens to remember that they belong to Jesus Christ and that they have “elected to become part of his Church.

“Your name and your identity, as with all of the baptized in the Church, draw from the person of Jesus Christ,” Bishop O’Connell said.

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