By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A young adult raised in communist Cuba, an African woman who grew up as a Muslim, a marine being deployed in June, and a former abortion clinic administrator, along with tens of thousands others around the country, are joining the Catholic Church in the United States at Easter.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has released information about many of the catechumens, now known as “the elect,” and candidates for full communion, who are planning to enter the Catholic Church during this year’s Easter Vigil. Throughout this week, the USCCB Media Blog will feature many conversion stories from around the country.
A few of the stories released thus far include:
Ahdija Cheumbike Baker is the daughter of a Detroit man and a Tanzanian woman. She was raised as a Muslim. Ahdija means “to be loved,” and Cheumbike means “one who is blessed.” She is one of the 282 catechumens and candidates that the Catholic Church in New Orleans will be welcoming at Easter. Converting to Christianity from Islam was not an easy decision. Through her young adult life she struggled with some of her Muslim beliefs. “The love of the Lord” and a love interest drove her to start attending a Catholic church.
After Hurricane Katrina, “I felt compelled to look for a church to call home so that I could give my thanks to God,” Baker said. “If I had gone to a church that gets you in and out in 45 minutes, I probably wouldn’t have changed my religion; but at St. Peter Claver I feel a deep connection. The way that the priest speaks in his homilies moved me. I felt at home and accepted, and they have become my family.” Her friend’s parents will become her godparents when she is baptized during the Easter Vigil.
One of the most high profile of the elect is Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director and author of the bestselling book “Unplanned” who says she is getting ready for yet another “unplanned” conversion that will bring her into the Catholic Church. In September 2009, Johnson was asked to hold the ultrasound probe during an abortion. In the monitor, she saw the baby struggle to get away. This experience, and her unease with Planned Parenthood’s emphasis on increasing abortions, gave her the courage to leave her job and undertake a journey of conversion. She went to the Coalition for Life’s office down the street, a Christian pro-life organization whose members were a constant, prayerful and peaceful presence outside the clinic. There she received practical help as she navigated joblessness, legal problems with Planned Parenthood and broken friendships. Her pro-life advocacy also met the disapproval of her pro-choice church. Many of her new friends are Catholic, and through them she has learned
about the faith. She and her family will join the Church at Easter, along with 911 others in the Diocese of Austin Texas.
For many, taking the step of joining the Church is a family affair. At the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Burlingame, California, seven members of the House family will join the Catholic Church this Easter season. Parents James and Michelle House will come into full communion at the Easter Vigil, and in the following week, infant David, 2 months old, will be baptized and children Kristina, 7, James, 6, Alexandra, 4, and Joseph 2 will be received into the Catholic Church. Michelle House said the family, formerly Episcopalians, found a welcoming community at St. Catherine Parish when they moved to Northern California.
This year, thousands of people are planning to enter the Church. Some of the larger archdiocese numbers include New York (1,600), Philadelphia (811) Washington (1,100), Seattle (1,000+), Portland-in-Oregon (875), Cincinnati (1,100), Galveston-Houston (2,490), Atlanta (1,912), Louisville (504), Milwaukee (613), Saint Paul and Minneapolis (643).
Comparatively smaller (in population) dioceses also report numbers that illustrate the vitality of the Catholic Church in the Midwest, South and Southeast of the United States. The Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama, has 487 people joining the Church at Easter; the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia, 421 people; the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, 355 people. The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, will add 800 new Catholics; the Diocese of Cleveland, 513; the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, 450; the Diocese of Toledo, 572 people; and Grand Rapids, 568.
The Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, will welcome 434 people (98 elect and 336 candidates). Over half (224) are Hispanic, the fastest growing ethnic group in the diocese.
Some rural dioceses, which encompass an entire state—such as the Diocese of Boise, Idaho, with 195 catechumens, and the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, with 128 catechumens and 247 candidates, for a total of 375 soon-to-be new Catholics— also are signs of active and effective evangelizing faith communities.
Even dioceses in remote areas like Juneau, Alaska, where the Catholic communities are few and far apart, small parishes sometimes comprised of a handful of families, will welcome new Catholics into the Church. Juneau Diocese will proudly add seven new members at Easter.
Cheryl Sickle, a staff member in the Office of Worship and Sacraments in Wheeling-Charleston, summarized the feelings of catechumens and candidates, and of the communities welcoming them, as the life-changing moment approaches.
“Each year, some of the most touching moments at the Rite of Election include the emotions expressed. We see faces full of joy as catechumens and candidates alike realize the bigger picture of their decision to join the Church. We see the smiles of proud grandparents as their young grandchildren painstakingly sign the Book of the Elect, and the overwhelming emotions of wives or husbands, brought to tears, whose spouses are converting to the Roman Catholic faith after years of marriage. We see physically challenged people with a look of determination as they slowly and resolutely process forward, and the bond of belonging on the faces of a family who welcome into their midst and into their faith a newly-adopted son or daughter of a different ethnicity. It is a one-time Rite, but the RCIA formation behind it lasts — and changes — a lifetime.”
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