New Catholic 'radiates Christ's love', says parish priest; hundreds join church at Easter Vigil

By Melanie Sisinni, OSV News

ERIE, Pa. (OSV News) -- Like other catechumens who entered the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil April 8, Keith Holden, 25, is passionate about his faith. It's what drove him as he prepared to become a Catholic through the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults process.

The only difference between Holden and other catechumens is he was born with Down syndrome.

"The Lord himself must be given credit for bringing Keith to this point in his discipleship," Father Stephen Schreiber, pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish in Warren, Pennsylvania, said in an interview ahead of the Easter Vigil. "Keith radiates Christ's love to all of us gathered for the Eucharist on Sunday mornings. I am so privileged and excited to baptize this young man and welcome him into the Catholic Church."

Holden was one of several catechumens from the Warren County Catholic Community in the Erie Diocese initiated into the Catholic Church this Easter. The group was among nearly 100 candidates and catechumens across the diocese welcomed into the church at the vigil -- a scene repeated in dioceses and archdioceses across the nation.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, received about 200 catechumens into the church. The Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, welcomed 381 catechumens. The Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, reported 164 catechumens and 392 candidates. Across the Atlanta Archdiocese, there were 1,831 catechumens and candidates. In the Archdiocese of Washington, about 1,000 people came into full communion with the Catholic Church. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston had 1,820 registered candidates and catechumens. The Miami Archdiocese had 453 catechumens, and the Baltimore Archdiocese had 178 catechumens and 323 candidates.

Catechumens receive the sacraments of initiation -- baptism, confirmation and first Eucharist -- at Easter Vigil. Candidates are those who have been baptized in another Christian tradition and receive holy Communion and confirmation to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Through his interest in becoming Catholic, Holden has brought his mother, Connie, back to church with him. His grandmother, Rosy Cashmere, whom he visits every weekend, also was his sponsor through the OCIA process, or RCIA as it is best known. Everyone involved in his faith formation agreed that Holden's enthusiasm about becoming Catholic has brought joy and excitement to everyone around him.

"The Holy Spirit reached out to Keith. He is the one that pursued it on his own," said Alice Fadale, a member of St. Joseph Parish and a special education teacher for over 20 years.

Holden's faith formation and RCIA instruction were overseen by Jennifer Wortman, director of religious education for the Warren County Catholic Community. She enlisted Fadale's help.

The two women created a customized faith education plan for Holden after they met with him and his mother and "took some time to get to know him so we knew his interests and personality to see how we could approach teaching him," Fadale added.

Across the Archdiocese of Detroit, 800 candidates and catechumens entered the church during the Easter Vigil. Of those 800, nine candidates and catechumens from three parishes -- Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, St. Moses the Black and St. Aloysius -- received their first sacraments from Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron at the cathedral, the mother church of the archdiocese.

Among the nine was candidate Anthony Nellon. After taking a good 10 years to study and try to fully understand the faith, Nellon told Detroit Catholic, the archdiocesan news outlet, he was finally ready to become Catholic.

"I took my time with it," Nellon said. "I was inspired around 2013 by Pope Francis because he gave (attention) to a lot of charities, and he made a lot of changes."

Nellon said he also was deeply inspired by the life of St. Maurice of Thebes, whom he chose to be his confirmation saint. Nellon said he will never forget the moment when the archbishop asked him, "What is your name?" and called him Maurice.

"I am sure I can stay humble and happy with this because just knowing the faith and knowing what I can do with it in my life inspired me to make a change," Nellon said.

Before the vigil, candidates, catechumens and their supporters gathered in the dark in the plaza outside the cathedral. The faithful waited in silence as the archbishop lit the Easter candle, signaling that darkness has been brought to light, thanks to the promised resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus' rising is glorious and immortal, Archbishop Vigneron told the faithful in his homily. He is risen, never to die again, an act with a meaning of cosmic proportions. "Christ is invincible; even hell could not hold him," he said. "And so nothing in this world can bind him up or impede his victory."

It was a fellow teacher who invited Thomas Boyd to the first OCIA session at Divine Mercy Parish in Burlington/West Burlington, Iowa, in the Davenport Diocese. Aron Kehoe's father-in-law, Deacon Gary Johnson, leads OCIA at the parish and Kehoe knew that Boyd was searching for a church to call home.

Boyd accepted the invitation and Kehoe's offer to accompany him. The first session wowed Boyd because it connected with his own spirituality, his understanding that the origin of everything is love, which expresses itself in all that makes up the natural world. "God is love," he heard in that first OCIA session. He thought to himself, "This is a church that believes what I believe." Each session was a revelation, Boyd told The Catholic Messenger, Davenport's diocesan newspaper.

His greatest anticipation for the Easter Vigil was to be able to receive the first Eucharist. His wife, Rachel, a cradle Catholic, and their extended family were there to see him received into the church. Earlier this year the Boyds had their marriage validated in the church.

Rachel said she didn't want to push her faith on her husband but was encouraged by his interest in becoming Catholic. "It's so exciting to me," she said. "It's like a miracle. I feel like everything (up to this point) is a little miracle. I'm really proud of him."

Boyd's journey to the Catholic Church began after an intense, successful effort nearly a decade ago to overcome addiction to alcohol and painkillers, an effort he undertook because Rachel couldn't bear to watch him destroy his life. She located a rehabilitation center and handed him the phone to ask for help, which he did. "I wanted him to get well and to love himself unconditionally," she said.

Ahead of the Easter Vigil, a special section of The Catholic Spirit, the news outlet of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, highlighted the conversion stories of individuals who described their journey to the Catholic Church.

Meisha Johnson, now 43, recounted being drawn to her knees more than a decade ago by a voice she couldn't name but knew she had to obey. It happened one afternoon while vacuuming at her home in Blaine, Minnesota; her living room was engulfed in a mysterious and palpable light. An inaudible voice or prompting told her to get on her knees and pray.

As she obeyed, Johnson glanced out the window and saw two large and vibrant suns side by side, suspended in the sky.

"I stopped vacuuming and went down to the ground," said Johnson, a former TV journalist who is now director of pastoral care and adult faith formation at St. Joseph of the Lakes Parish in Lino Lakes, Minnesota.

At the time, Johnson knew very little about God or faith but she felt the Lord reaching out to her seemingly out of nowhere. "It was as if God was speaking to me, like, directly to my heart or my conscience," she said. Over the next decade, she moved from having no religion to seeking understanding -- on her own at first, then through others and in continuous academic study in academic studies -- and joining the church in 2019.

"Conversion literally means a 'turning back.' It is a turning back to God, the source of our creation and of love, rather than hiding in our self-sufficiency and shame, covered by a fig leaf," Paul Ruff told The Catholic Spirit. He is assistant director of human formation and director of counseling services at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul.

God offers the free invitation to be embraced by his love continuously and gradually, and, at times, dramatically, he added.