Record numbers respond to ‘God’s grace’ and call at Rite of Election and call to continuing conversion

Laura Keener

Editor

At the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion, Feb. 22, Bishop John Iffert welcomed 420 people from across the Diocese seeking full communion with the Catholic Church. This is a record-breaking number, an increase of 57.3 percent over last year and a 105.9 percent increase over the five-year average.

In an interview with Father Daniel Schomaker, diocesan director for the Office of Worship and Liturgy, the dramatic increase, he said, can only be attributed to God’s grace and the Holy Spirit.

“God’s grace is moving and people are paying attention,” Father Schomaker said. “God’s grace is always moving; the Holy Spirit is always active and drawing people back to him.” What’s happening now is “all of a sudden people are paying attention a little bit more and responding to that grace.”

In two ceremonies, Feb. 22, pastors from 36 parishes in the Diocese of Covington and Thomas More University presented 171 catechumens and 249 candidates to Bishop John Iffert. Catechumens are unbaptized individuals seeking to enter the Catholic Church. During the Rite of Election each is called forward by name, receive a blessing from Bishop Iffert and had their name inscribed in the Book of the Elect, which Bishop Iffert signed, declaring them the Elect — God’s chosen people.

Candidates are baptized Christians seeking full communion with the Catholic Church. Included with the candidates is 46 baptized Catholics seeking to complete the sacraments of initiation. They, too, are called by name and received a blessing from Bishop Iffert.

Both the candidates and catechumens have been participating in the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA) at their parish. At this year’s Easter Vigil they will receive the sacraments of initiation — baptism (catechumens), first Communion, and confirmation (catechumens and candidates) — and will become the newest members of the Church.

In his homily, reflecting on the Gospel passage of the temptations of Christ in the desert (Matt 4:1-11), Bishop Iffert said that Jesus is the perfect model for us to resist sin that strains both our relationship with God and each other.

“Jesus takes this stand with us, relying on the spiritual gifts and powers that are available to all of us,” he said. In refusing to deny his human nature, “Jesus makes himself the source of our inner strength and inner freedom to resist the tempter in our own life. He makes himself the source of our unity and the supreme example of human solidarity. We are most united by baptism in Jesus Christ.”

Acknowledging the catechumens, who are preparing for baptism, Bishop Iffert said, “the Church rejoices with you and invites you to this period of purification and enlightenment that you might be prepared to receive Christ and his Holy Spirit with full and open hearts; to be united through Christ with your Father in heaven and in the grace that flows from that union to truly become peacemakers and reconcilers in the world and in the Church.”

Addressing the candidates, Bishop Iffert said, “Your fuller incorporation into this body where the marks of the Church established by Christ perdure in their fullness, even if sometimes they are obscured because of sin, and your union with us at the table of the Lord will always remind us of our duty to embrace the spirit of God’s love, to eschew the division that comes from sin, and to work for reconciliation and unity among all who profess the name of Jesus.”

To the baptized Catholics, “who now respond to the call of the Holy Spirit to draw near to the table of the Lord with us, we rejoice that the day of your rebirth has led you here to us and that together, united in Christ, we may work that Christ’s name may be embraced by all and for all, everywhere in the world,” Bishop Iffert said.

Bishop Iffert thanked all those journeying to full Communion with the Church “for calling us again to this most fundamental of vocations.”

“The greatest gift we have, the greatest gift we are empowered to share, is renewed life in Christ,” said Bishop Iffert. “This is the gift we long to share with you all. This is the gift we long for and we strengthen in our own life. This is the gift we call you to today.”