By Rita McInerney

Three young women from St. Luke the Evangelist Church in Dahlonega are among several hundred candidates and catechumens who entered the period of purification and enlightenment after being welcomed at the Rite of Election on March 8 at the Cathedral of Christ the King.

During Lent they will prepare for the great change which will come into their lives when they join the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. Each Tuesday night they listen and share their thoughts on Scripture and prayer, as part of the conversion process known in the Church as the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

On Sunday, March 8, candidates Jenny Berrena, Amy Aicher and Audrey Dalton were presented with Bibles during the 10:30 Mass at St. Luke's, and with their sponsors, officially presented to the parish family for the first time. Later they traveled to Atlanta for the Cathedral rite.

There are about 60 families in the parish as well as 20 families in its mission at Dawsonville. The attendance at both places swells in the summer with the influx of vacationers, according to the pastor, Father John R. Henley. There is also a military presence in the area, at Camp Frank D. Merrill, an Army Ranger training camp, and ROTC personnel at North Georgia College.

Mrs. Berrena's husband, Matthew, is a staff sergeant at the Ranger training camp. The couple has been married four years.

She had considered converting at the time of her marriage but when she mentioned this to the priest he talked her out of it, she said, advising her to wait, to think about it more. When they came to Dahlonega about a year ago she found the small parish to her liking. "I had thought about it," she said. Raised as a Lutheran, she found this religious background a good unifying factor. And important to both the Berrenas was raising the children they hope to have in a strong religious environment.

Perhaps the greatest influence on her was the excellent example given her by her husband's family. "Their faith in the face of adversity and their ability to deal with adversity" made a lasting impression on her.

The fellowship and feeling of community the couple found when they began attending St. Luke's was the kind she had been used to in the Lutheran congregation in her home town of State College, PA. Members of the women's prayer group which meets Thursday afternoons "opened their hearts and homes to me," she said. "I feel that if I have any questions about the faith I can ask them and they will answer in a Christian, loving way."

Dru Woody, who is sponsor for Mrs. Berrena, sees her role as being someone who can go along with the candidates on their journey, answering their questions from the perspective of someone who is living the faith. She said she tries to be open and available in sharing her faith, willing to talk about and answer any questions Mrs. Berrena may have.

Mrs. Woody, mother of six, has been in the parish nine years and has been active eight of those years. She is a Eucharistic minister, was a catechist "for years and years," and director of religious education for one year. The Woodys came to Dahlonega from Virginia Beach, VA, where they were members of a huge parish. "When we split we still had 1,200 families," she said.

Another candidate who found a good example of living the faith among her husband's family is Audrey Dalton, 20, who came to realize she wanted to be a part of what her husband, Brad, and his family shared. Before making her decision she regularly attended Oakwood Tabernacle Holiness Church.

Brad's mother, Eleanor Dalton, is part-time parish secretary. A native of Dahlonega, she moved away years ago and lived in the Midwest. The family returned from Iowa to the north Georgia mountain town three years ago. She said no one in the family ever asked the young Mrs. Dalton to become a Catholic but tried to support her by example. Another influence in the younger woman's decision was her older sister, Lisa, an enthusiastic convert who came into the Church several years ago at St. Michael's parish in Gainesville.

Audrey Dalton said she has received support in understanding the faith dimensions of her life from Father Henley, Ken Cassity, pastoral associate and director of religious education, and the others in the RCIA group.

Amy Aicher has been in Dahlonega since July, 1986, when her husband John, a Catholic and a graduate of Emory Medical School, opened his practice in family medicine. The Aichers were married in the Cathedral of Christ the King and Mrs. Aicher was overjoyed to return there Sunday, March 8 for the Rite of Election. But she prefers a small church. She had been raised a Baptists and did not feel comfortable in big churches like the one the Aichers attended in Columbus. She found the people to be unfriendly, she said, not what she had been used to in the Baptist church, where there is a good deal of fellowship.

Then in Dahlonega she found the small church and friendly people she had been seeking. The close-knit parish satisfies her need to feel closer to God and to the church community. The Thursday afternoon prayer group has also helped her to better understand matters of faith and to get close to people. Like Audrey Dalton, she has found talking to the pastor, Cassity and others in the group helpful in understanding Church teaching.

Another blessing for her has been living next door to Sister M. Marcia McKinley, patient advocate and chaplain at St. Joseph's Hospital in Dahlonega. Mrs. Archer spends a lot of time with Sister McKinley and the two other Sisters of Mercy with her, asking questions and getting the right answers, she said.

Mary Ann Clagett knew Mrs. Aicher just slightly when the doctor's wife asked her to be her sponsor for RCIA. Her initial reaction, Mrs. Clagett said, was to feel "very honored, but I did not feel I measured up as a perfect Catholic Christian." But the process, she said, has been a learning experience. "Both of us are growing in our faith." Another member of the women's prayer group, Mrs. Clagett said there exists in the group a deep bond which holds them together in their sharing of happiness and sorrow.

The bond shared by candidates and sponsors is a necessary part of the RCIA process, Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan said as he addressed the candidates and catechumens at the Sunday celebration. Important on their journey of faith, he said, is the visible support of the other candidates and catechumens. This support is evident in the presence, both in the parish church and the cathedral, of their sponsors, priest and deacons.