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Posted on 03/12/2008 3:52:30 PM PDT by NYer
WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 11, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Tens of thousands of Americans will join the Catholic Church this Holy Saturday through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.
Many of those in the RCIA program participated in the Rite of Election with their bishops at the beginning of Lent and will be baptized, confirmed and receive Communion for the first time this Saturday. More, who already have been baptized, will embrace full membership in the Catholic Church.
The numbers vary across dioceses. The Diocese of Orange, California, for example, will baptize more than 650 people and welcome more than 500 others into full communion at the Easter Vigil.
The Archdiocese of Detroit registers some of the largest numbers with 589 catechumens receiving full initiation and 497 candidates from other Christian traditions being received into full communion. Although technically not part of the RCIA, 289 baptized Catholics will also receive confirmation and Eucharist.
In Ohio, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati will welcome during the Easter Vigil 437 catechumens and 541 candidates for a total of 978 people; another 65 candidates were brought into the Church at other times during the year.
Most of those coming into the Church through the RCIA program are adults, but in some instances children are part of both groups, usually as members of a family that enters the Church together.
According to early figures from the 2007 Official Catholic Directory, last year almost 64,500 adults were baptized in the Catholic Church and nearly 93,000 came into full communion.
These numbers are supplemented by the baptisms of infants that occur in parishes throughout the year. It is estimated that more than a million infant baptisms will take place in the U.S. during 2008.
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The backgrounds of the people seeking to be baptized or to enter into full communion by receiving first Communion and/or confirmation vary, but many express the sentiment that they are coming home.
Mark Ma, a second year student at the University of Virginia, who has a major in economics and a minor in philosophy, was born in Beijing, to agnostic parents.
A self-defined hard-line atheist through high school, he started talking to Christians of different denominations, read a few Christian works and began to pray.
After soul searching and historical research he found his home in the Catholic Church.
In another instance, when Kimberly Grub moved from Texas to Rhode Island, she decided to embark up on something she’d been wanting to do for a long time -- get closer to God.
Feeling the discomfort that comes in moving to a new place, she found comfort and community at St. Lucy’s Church in Middletown, and will become a member of the Catholic Church on Holy Saturday.
The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is an ancient rite that was reinstituted in the Church following the Second Vatican Council. It is the usual means for adults to come into the Church.
Good news ping!
Uh-oh.
Popcorn in the microwave...
Welcome!
So we should be ready to nail the door shut. (joke)
our parish has 50 in RCIA this year
our parish has 50 in RCIA this year
Number me as one who went the other direction. 40 years and absolutely no regrets.
Interesting. I am sure I saw that poll recently where the Catholic growth in the US is mainly through Catholics coming in from South and Central America, and amongst the native US parishioners there is nearly a static situation, with as many coming in as going out.
I know that the local CC has been flooded by Hispanics, (their parking lot is right next to my church) and the few whites are mostly older couples.
This Easter vigil will be my tenth year as a Catholic. Best decision I ever made (next to marrying my wife, of course).
I became a Catholic two years ago. There were over fifty adults plus a couple of teens in my class. No Hispanics.
My husband became a Catholic last Easter. Not quite as large a group as mine, about 40. Again, no Hispanics.
Th Church has been a comfort and a joy for me. My all who worship this Easter find the same joy, whatever their church may be.
No doubt you’ll be able to post a link to that poll so (1) the methodology can be checked and (2) we can find out if you’re being truthful.
**According to early figures from the 2007 Official Catholic Directory, last year almost 64,500 adults were baptized in the Catholic Church and nearly 93,000 came into full communion.**
Amazing numbers!
Many of these people who were baptized Catholic are recognizing that they STILL are Catholic.
We are welcoming them back with open arms.
And many of their family members are also being baptized now as adults. Also their children are being baptized. We have a whole family coming into the Catholic Church at our parish. Two years ago both the mother and father and two teenagers joined the Catholic Church!
How many families in your parish?
I have at least one gentleman coming into the RCC in my parish church community. Be it 1 or 50, it is truly a miracle.
Rather not a surge, but a flood of baby boomers who are Catholic as they see their parents pass on and have to deal with all the issues of aging.
But do not cancel out that thanks to the RCIA and the efforts of JPII and B16 to have also the “youth”, people between the ages of 16-40 step up to the plate as well as the Hispanics. This is the effects of the famous “JPII generation” for also seeing a resurge of the RCC in the USA.
Yet
I left and came back, If you seek truth, really seek the entire deposit of truth and faith, the only place you will find it is in the Catholic Church.
I will pray for you.
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