Welcoming the nearly 1,000 preparing to join the archdiocese's family of faith (Photos/ video)

The Archdiocese of Newark held a celebratory weekend at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart with nearly 1,000 faithful who have been called to be Catholics through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

Call to Continuing Conversion and Rite of Election rites are held at Cathedrals around the world the first weekend in Lent.

The Rite of Calling the Candidates to Continuing Conversion is held for candidates who have already been baptized and want to experience communion and confirmation into the Catholic Church. The Rite of Election is for catechumens who have not been baptized and are called to enter the Catholic Church. This year, there are 575 who have been baptized and celebrated the Call to Continuing Conversion on two services held on Saturday, Feb. 25, while the 380 who have not been baptized celebrated the Rite of Election the next day.

Candidates Anna Nuoo and her mother, Ivy Sam, who were both baptized in Ghana and were part of the Saturday rite, said they felt left out by not being able to fully participate in Mass, especially the Eucharist.

“We kept putting it off, saying it wasn’t a good time,” said Anna Nuoo. “But every time we went to Mass, you feel, you know you haven’t gone through the full process.”

*Anna Nuoo and Ivy Sam* *were candidates for Continuing Conversion.*

In October of last year, they both committed to the process, leaving their jobs as health monitor technicians for an hour to attend catechism classes on Sunday.

Reinalis Ayala was never baptized but started to pray more last year.

“I decided to fully give my life to Christ,” Ayala said about becoming a catechumen, attending the rite on Sunday.

It is a joyful weekend for the catechumens and the candidates marking the final preparation phase and a grand public declaration that they have finally decided to sign up to become Catholics.

The rites take place in a cathedral by the bishop — or Cardinal in the Archdiocese of Newark’s case. Their decision to become Catholic is made public at the service with their sponsors or godparents and ministers, who speak in favor of the candidates and catechumens.

“This choice is made by the Church (headed locally by the bishop) as an outward expression of the choice already made by God. Only those catechumens who are ‘fit’ are chosen. And God is choosing those, who are able, to be disciples of Jesus. Those chosen are expected to be initiated into a life in Christ, which necessarily means a life of mission,” according to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) team.

*Bishop Manuel A. Cruz, D.D., is pictured with candidates from Divine Mercy Church.*

At both rites, the First Reading was from Genesis 2, the temptation story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Gospel was from Matthew, the story of Jesus in the desert for 40 days and his temptation.

In his homily, Cardinal Joseph Tobin C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Newark, said that when good is faced with evil the “fundamental lie is exposed.”

“Satan has all the facts but not the truths,” Cardinal Tobin said. Satan knows our sins, our feelings, but not the truth of the love that God has for us, he said.

In the Act of Recognition, Cardinal Tobin addressed the candidates: “Candidates, 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.”

To the catechumens, the Cardinal said: “My dear catechumens, I now declare you to be members of the elect, to be initiated into the sacred mysteries at the next East vigil.”

At the Rite of Election, the catechumens sign the Book of the Elect from their corresponding parish.

Once all the signatures have been collected, the minister then holds the book above his or her head facing the names to the crowd as they lead the catechumens to the sanctuary for the Cardinal’s prayer.

The Elect will now experience a ritual known as The Scrutinies during Mass at their local parish during the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent. It is a period of purification and enlightenment for the elect for those wishing to be baptized.

After spending a year in Catechumenate at their parishes, the Elect will become full Catholics and initiated on April 8, at the Saturday Easter Vigil Mass. The Continuing Conversion Candidates will celebrate Confirmation and/or Eucharist on any Sunday of the Easter Season.

Of the 211 churches throughout the archdiocese, 124 (Bergen, 43; Essex, 32; Hudson, 24; Union, 25) were represented at the rites. Father Armand Mantia, Director of the RCIA, said that this year’s numbers are higher than before the pandemic.

“It speaks to the power of God’s calling,” he said about the numbers.

As many of the candidates and catechumens are Spanish speaking, the rites were said in both Spanish and English.

The history of the Rite of Election and Enrollment of Names goes back to the early centuries of the church’s life.

“Sources that describe details of this rite date as far back as the fourth century. The “Apostolic Tradition” of Saint Hippolytus of Rome is the earliest liturgical source that describes the catechumenate in any detail with a brief instruction on the election of the catechumens,” according to a report by the Georgia Bulletin.