Another blessed weekend as we celebrated the Scrutiny Rites with our elect at St. Edmund, enjoyed a soup supper on Saturday and a Sweet Table on Sunday and continued to meet new people at our St. Edmund campus. The Sunday night 5 PM Mass is growing and the Young Adults are beginning a variety of service projects including making sandwiches for our St. Catherine-St. Lucy Housing Forward site and considering some kind of jail ministry associated with Kolbe House. The Ecumenical Healing Prayer service at 7 PM Sunday evening was inspiring with a rousing rendition of “Stop By, Lord, Stop By.” There is no shortage of prayer opportunities this Lent as we ready ourselves for our high holy days: the Triduum. That you may visually depict our Elect that we are asked to pray for during this season of Lent in a special way, let me introduce you!
Our Elect
This year we have 3 Elect preparing for full initiation at Easter. One of our Candidates has a younger brother who will also be baptized at the Easter Vigil.
Dominick is a 6th grader at St. Isidore in Bloomingdale. He had been requesting to be baptized for several years when his Dad, Nick, decided to bring him to Ascension where Nick had been baptized and received sacraments to be part of the RCIA process for children. Although their children were in Catholic school, Nick and Gina had not been participating regularly at Church. The family’s commitment to the process has been admirable, making the longer journey to Oak Park for retreat days and special rituals. Dominick, along with Zoey, zoom every Monday evening with me to further discuss the Sunday liturgy and other aspects of the Baptism preparation journey. Dominick’s brother, Gianluca, who is 6 will also be baptized, but will participate in other initiation sacrament preparation with his classmates as is appropriate due to his younger age.
Dominick is a 6th grader at St. Isidore in Bloomingdale. He had been requesting to be baptized for several years when his Dad, Nick, decided to bring him to Ascension where Nick had been baptized and received sacraments to be part of the RCIA process for children. Although their children were in Catholic school, Nick and Gina had not been participating regularly at Church. The family’s commitment to the process has been admirable, making the longer journey to Oak Park for retreat days and special rituals. Dominick, along with Zoey, zoom every Monday evening with me to further discuss the Sunday liturgy and other aspects of the Baptism preparation journey. Dominick’s brother, Gianluca, who is 6 will also be baptized, but will participate in other initiation sacrament preparation with his classmates as is appropriate due to his younger age.
Zoey is also a 6th grader in our Oak Park School System. Her mom graduated from Ascension and Trinity and her grandmother/sponsor, Dorothy, was a member of Ascension’s choir for many years. Zoey, too, expressed her interest in Baptism and her family chose Ascension as the logical place for Zoey to complete the formal process of preparation for the Easter Sacraments. Zoey is part of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) Program and has enjoyed learning and growing as a disciple of Christ. A favorite line of Zoey’s that we have all come to appreciate is “God has everything happen for a reason; we have to trust.”
Connor started formal inquiry into becoming a Catholic last summer. He and his fiancée, Angela, had met with Fr. Rex to begin their Marriage preparation and Connor just decided it was time to start the process. Two months into the meetings, he recognized these studies he was engaging in were not something he was doing to join the religion of his fiancée, but truly a conversion for himself in becoming a believer. An IT specialist, Connor looks forward to becoming a full member of the Catholic Church as he continues to grow in his knowledge and strengthen his new-found faith in the months and years ahead. Connor’s sponsor, Deana, was herself baptized, confirmed, made her First Communion and was married at Ascension. Like all our Candidates, she, too, is becoming comfortable in our two worship spaces that are our unified Ascension and St. Edmund parish.