Last weekend's election

In my continuing series describing the process of becoming Catholic, the previous two weekends were filled with RCIA events. While I do not have a link handy with all the information, I have a program from the Rite of Election that lists almost all the steps.

Rite of Sending
Two Sundays ago (the last one before Lent started), we had the Rite of Sending at church. All of the catechumens (the unbaptized) gathered at mass. Each of them signed the Book of the Elect. After being prayed for by the congreation they were sent from the parish to the bishop.

Signing the Book of the Elect signifies deep commitment and starts the final stage of preparation. For example, any person who dies after signing the book but before receiving the sacraments on Easter is given a Catholic burial.


Rite of Election
The catechumens, their godparents, candidates, and their sponsors went to see the bishop this past weekend (the first weekend of Lent). While it was one big event, the Rite of Election referred to what happened to catechumens and the candidates were involved with the Call to Continuing Conversion.

This big event was held in the largest church in the diocese. Even though the church seats over 1,000, they had to schedule Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon sessions to accomadate all the people. The program was in four languages, Vietnamese, Korean, Spanish, and English. All the directions were given in English and repeated in Korean and Spanish (the Vietnamese people must have gone to an earlier election).

The format was basically the Liturgy of the Word. The reading from Ephesians touched on why the people are called elect:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. In him we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.

The elect are those God chose to have faith.

Affirmation by Godparents and the Assembly
The bishop asks the godparents if the catechumens are sufficiently prepared for election. The godparents respond "They have."

Invitation and Enrollment of Names
The bishop asks the catechumens if they want to participate in Easter sacraments. "Therefore, do you wish to enter fully into the life of the church through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist?" Catechumens respond "We do." As each parish brings up their Book of the Elect to the bishop, the names of the catechumens are read aloud.

Act of Admission or Election
The bishop says "My brothers and sisters, I now declare you members of the Elect, to be initiated into the sacred mysteries at the next Easter Vigil." The catechumens are now properly referred to as the elect.


Call to Continuing Conversion
This is for the candidates who have already been Baptized. It is similar to Election, except there is no book presented. There is an affirmation by the sponsors testifying to the preparedness of the candidates. The bishop says "My brothers and sisters, the church recognizes your desire to be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit and to have a place at Christ's Eucharistic table. Join with us this Lent in a spirit of repentance. Hear the Lord's call to conversion and be faithful to your baptismal covenant."

This is followed by intercessions and prayers for the elect and the candidates. The choir sang the line "Hear us, O Lord" in four different languages. I would have joined in, but the singing was not distinct enough for me to pick up and sing in three languages I did not know.

That was the end of that day's activities.

Presentation of the Creed
This past Sunday (first Sunday of Lent) the elect were presented with the Nicaean Creed. It is a concise summary of Catholic beliefs and is recited every week at Mass.

Father opened his homily with a story. He did not link it to RCIA, but it is close enough for retelling purposes. First I should say Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays in Lent. However, in olden days the injunction applied to every Friday.

Once there was a Jewish man who lived in a Catholic neighborhood. Every Friday, he would grill stakes outside and the sweet aroma would fill the neighborhood. The Catholics were not pleased with this, as they could not eat meat on Fridays. The Catholics worked at converting their Jewish neighbor and after many years finally convinced him to join the Catholic Church. As he stood before the priest on the day of his conversion, the priest sprinkled him with holy water saying, "Born a Jew, raised a Jew, now a Catholic." Everyone was happy. The next time Friday came around, the neighborhood filed with the smell of BBQ again. The Catholics rushed to their friend's house to remind him of the practices of his new religion. When they got there, they saw him sprinkling the stakes with holy water saying "Born a cow, raised a cow, now a fish."