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Catechumens joyful about upcoming baptism

By Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian

Mark Ma, a second year student at the University of Virginia, is an only child whose parents are agnostics.

He admits he once considered himself an atheist, but now he plans to enter the sacramental life of the Catholic Church at this year’s Easter vigil at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlottesville.

He will be baptized, receive Communion for the first time and be confirmed after participating in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults at the university parish which is staffed by Dominican Friars.

Born in Beijing, China, Mr. Ma came to the United States at age four and first lived in Rockville, MD. In the 5th grade he and his parents moved to Bristow in Prince William County where they still live.

“Before the 5th grade, I hadn’t thought about religion at all,” Mr. Ma told The Catholic Virginian at the Rite of Election held Feb. 9 at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.

“I started thinking about it and basically became a hard-line atheist which I remained until high school,” he continued.

“In my sophomore year I started talking to Christians who were Protestants and started reading some Christian works and started praying. I wanted to believe in Christianity.

“I did some research about church history and Catholic doctrines and started reading the Bible more. This was process I followed throughout high school.”

He had struggles with the theology of salvation by faith alone which is the view of some Protestants, but “I found the doctrine of salvation by faith and works convincing.”

“I had a choice then between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy and I made my choice because there weren’t any Eastern Orthodox churches nearby,” Mr. Ma explained.

He said he enjoyed his sessions with the RCIA program at St. Thomas.

“I think it’s excellent,” he said. “I found Father Dominic teaches the faith in a straightforward manner.

“I think I’ve been receiving quality catechesis and I’m grateful for the experience.”

Mr. Ma said he was “very excited” as he approaches his upcoming baptism.

“I’m looking forward to being able to receive Communion and the remission of sins which comes with baptism will be a great relief,” he said.

The undergraduate has a major in economics and pre-commerce and a minor in philosophy.

He plans a future career in business or law, “both of which will require further education,” he said.

He was one of 287 catechumens in this year’s RCIA program who attended one of the three gatherings of the Rite of Election Feb. 9–10.

In addition to the service at the Cathedral for parishes of the Central Vicariate, there was one earlier on Feb. 9 at St. Bede Church in Williamsburg for the Eastern Vicariate, and one on Sunday, Feb. 10, at Our Lady of Nazareth Church in Roanoke for the Western Vicariate.

Another catechumen, Katie Hamilton, says she never felt any pressure from her Catholic fiancé or his family to become a Catholic.

She has freely chosen to learn about the sacramental life of the Catholic Church and this knowledge and her faith are why she wants to be baptized and receive Communion for the first time at the Easter vigil March 22 at St. Ann parish in Colonial Heights.

Ms. Hamilton, who works at a surgery center in Richmond, said she never was baptized even though her mother is Catholic and her father a Baptist. She has made the choice to seek baptism because she knows it is now the right time.

“I did have faith and I believed there was a God and I’d even been to different churches, but I didn’t know the stories,” she said before the service began.

Asked why she entered the RCIA program at St. Ann’s, Ms. Hamilton replied that some of her family members had been through it, but that she was somewhat nervous about it.

“It was hard to take the first step, but I brought my fiancé and his mother to the first session, a potluck supper in September,” she said.

“The potluck supper gave me a chance to meet everybody,” she continued. “I liked everyone involved and felt comfortable.”

In what probably is somewhat unusual a reason for becoming a Catholic, Brett Williams, of Ss. Peter and Paul in Palmyra, is doing so partly based on a comment made by his three-year-old son, Brian.

“I’m a boy and boys don’t go to church,” Brian said one Sunday as his mother, Dianna, and two older sisters, Maddison, 10, and Amy, 7, were preparing to leave the house for church.

“Dad’s a boy and he doesn’t go to church and I’m a boy so I don’t have to go to church either,” Brian reasoned.

That event awakened Mr. Williams’ desire to explore the Catholic faith. His wife and children had never pressured him to become Catholic, but he admits that some colleagues at work had pressured him to attend services at their respective churches. He always politely turned them down.

“It’s a real miracle and an answer to many prayers,” Mrs. Williams said of her husband’s conversion.

As a result of his experiences with RCIA and worship at Ss. Peter and Paul, Mr. Williams participated in the 40 Days for Life vigils in Charlottesville and this year took his older daughter, Maddison, to the March for Life in Washington.

Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo, in his message to the catechumens, said that they were coming to a church community in which there are both saints and sinners.

He said some might be skeptical about the promises of heaven, much as someone buying a used car would worry about buying a lemon instead of a “cream puff” as the salesman promises.

“You also become very suspicious when you buy a previously owned house,” the bishop continued. “You have all sorts of concerns about this old house that you don’t want to become a money pit.

“When they promise you heaven, you become suspicious,” he asserted.

“What makes us different when we promise you heaven?” he asked rhetorically.

The Catholic Church is and has always been a community of saints and sinners.

“Jesus was honest from the very beginning,” Bishop DiLorenzo continued. “He said there’s going to be both the wheat and the weeds and the saints and the sinners, and they’re going to be all mixed together. Some people will be saints and some will do bad things and fall flat on their face.”

There will be a day of reckoning at the end of one’s life, the bishop said, and it is with this in mind that people have to make choices as to how they live their life.

But still eternal life is possible, he said, with people who choose to make the right choices about the life they live. Those who make mistakes can be forgiven through the sacrament of reconciliation.

 “You are invited into a community that gives you the grace, help and strength to continue the journey where we will have eternity with God and the saints,” he said.

“This is the best deal we can give you.”

During the rite of election, the catechuemns were asked to stand as the name of their parish was called.

The rite also included affirmation by the godparents and the assembly. They were invited to affirm the readiness of the catechumens for the Easter sacraments and their willingness to hold them in prayer.

Firnally, the names of the catechumens were read from each Book of the Elect by the parish RCIA coordinators. The individual coordinators, one by one, took the book to Bishop DiLorenzo for his signature.

The service ended appropriately with the singing of the closing hymn “We Rejoice to be God’s Chosen.”

In words that continued with the message from Bishop DiLorenzo’s homily, the hymn ended with the words:

“We rejoice to be God’s chosen and amidst all that we can see, to anticipate with wonder the best that is yet to be.”

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