Of your charity, please pray for the 940 men, women, and children who are due to become Catholic this Easter across the Diocese of Lansing. That's the highest number of Easter converts – including the highest number of adult baptisms – in 20 years. Deo gratias!
“It’s all grace,” said Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, February 23, “I mean, this really is God's working. I also know it's not just our diocese. It's across the country, around the world. Thanks be to God for this great evangelization that's taking place.”
This weekend saw Bishop Earl Boyea tour the diocese for three Rite of Election ceremonies. See photographs below. They were hosted at Saint Joseph in Dexter, Saint Matthew in Flint, and Saint Martha in Okemos, involving some 380 Catechumens and 560 Candidates each of whom will be received into the Church, or complete their Sacraments of Initiation, in parishes across the Diocese of Lansing during this year’s Easter Vigil on Saturday, April 4.
“It was a fatiguing weekend but also one that filled me with great joy,” added Bishop Boyea, “how can one not be filled with joy when confronted by this mystery, when confronted by this grace and, really, you have no responsibility for it, at all. It's just pure grace. Thanks be to God!”
A Catechumen is an unbaptized person preparing to receive all three Sacraments of Initiation – Baptism, Confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist – while a Candidate is a baptized Christian seeking full communion with the Catholic Church.
The Rite of Election is the liturgical ceremony, celebrated during the season of Lent, when Catechumens transition from being mere "inquirers" to being officially chosen by the Church as the "elect". That is, deemed by the Church as ready to receive the Sacraments of Initiation. To signify this, their names are also enrolled in a Book of the Elect.
Please keep all 940 men, women and children in your prayers between now and Easter. Our Lady, Mother of the Church, pray for them.
