Tens of thousands prepare to enter church at Easter

Published: 2007-03-05

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In dioceses across the country at the beginning of Lent, tens of thousands of Americans began the final stages of their journey toward baptism or entering into full communion with the Catholic Church at Easter. Jamie Swan of Maryville, Mo., is taking it a couple of steps further. Not only will she receive baptism, confirmation and first Communion at the Easter Vigil in St. Gregory Parish, but she and her fiance, Michael Casteel, are preparing to receive the sacrament of matrimony there a few months later. And Swan, the new second-grade teacher at the parish school, is making her preparations for first Communion along with her pupils, who will receive the sacrament later this spring. Swan is one of the catechumens and candidates in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., who participated in the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion Feb. 25 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in St. Joseph. Two other liturgies for candidates and catechumens were celebrated the day before at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City. In all, the diocese has 580 people preparing to be baptized or to enter into full communion with the church this spring. For catechumens, people not yet baptized, the final part of the journey began with a Rite of Election on or near the first Sunday of Lent. For candidates, who are already baptized Christians, the start of Lent meant participating in a Call to Continuing Conversion. Many candidates were raised in a different faith. Some were baptized Catholic but never received first Communion as children or were not confirmed. Catechumens will receive baptism, confirmation and first Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. Candidates will enter full communion with the church by receiving confirmation and first Eucharist.

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