March 11, 2025 // Bishop

Cathedrals Packed for Rite of Elections

Kasia Balsbaugh

On consecutive Sundays – March 2 in South Bend and March 9 in Fort Wayne – Bishop Rhoades celebrated the Rite of Election for candidates who will come into full communion with the Church during this year’s Easter Vigil.

At St. Matthew Cathedral in South Bend, every pew was full during the liturgy, with standing room only for family and friends.

“At this liturgy, the catechumens will become the elect – the chosen,” Bishop Rhoades said, using vocabulary the Church has used for centuries, and from which the rite takes its name. “Their godparents, and all of us, will be part of their Lenten journey until Easter.”

In South Bend, the rite was held on the Sunday before Lent, and in Fort Wayne, it was held on the First Sunday of Lent. In each location, Bishop Rhoades began his homily with the roots of the practice of Lent in the early Church. Fasting before Easter has been practiced since the second century, he said. By the third century, the Easter Vigil had been established. By the fourth century, pre-Easter fasting had developed into a 40-day period that became the season of Lent as we know it today.

Inspired by the second reading during the rite’s liturgy, Bishop Rhoades said that many Church fathers have connected the story of Noah’s ark to our lives as Christians. First, the flood is a “cleansing act” like baptism, Bishop Rhoades pointed out – the water being “the instrument through which salvation comes.”

“Just as Noah and his family were saved from death by passing through the waters of the flood, so we are saved from sin by passing through the waters of baptism,” Bishop Rhoades said. He told the catechumens, “You will become a new creation, like there was a renewed creation after the flood.”

The ark is also traditionally seen as a parallel to the Church.

“It is here that we are nourished by the word of God, strengthened by the sacraments, and supported by our community of faith,” Bishop Rhoades said. “The Church is our spiritual ark, guiding us through the storms of life and leading us toward eternal salvation.”

Bishop Rhoades pointed out that just as the animals and Noah’s family entered the ark by a side door, so Christians enter the Church in a sense through the side of Jesus. Blood and water came from Jesus’ side when pierced after His death, and from Jesus’ blood came salvation.

At both celebrations, Bishop Rhoades exhorted catechumens and candidates to always keep the Eucharist at the center of their lives. The sacrament, he said, unites us to Jesus and to one another. He assured each of them of his continued prayers throughout their journeys.

In South Bend, the largest contingent of inquirers came from St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Elkhart. This year, the parish has a group of 58 catechumens and one candidate. Pastor Father Craig Borchard called it “business as usual at St. Vincent’s,” a booming parish of 11,000 parishioners where every Sunday Mass is full. Father Borchard said the size of the OCIA group is not the product of any one event but a testament to how many “listen to this prompting from God.”

“It’s a beautiful blessing,” said Father Borchard, who praised the “intensive” and “accessible” OCIA program at the parish, directed by Lori Massa. It is split into sessions by age group and language – St. Vincent de Paul is the only Spanish-speaking parish in Elkhart – making it easier for families who enter the Church together to have an OCIA experience that is fruitful for everyone. And families do often receive several sacraments together. Massa gave an example: The program this year has a family in which a son and his cousin are getting baptized, and the father and mother got married so they could be godparents to the cousin.

Another of these family groups is Amber Rowland and her son, Ryan. Rowland grew up, in her words, as a “holiday Catholic,” only attending Mass for big occasions. She did go to Sunday school and received some of the sacraments, but she attended other churches as she got older. However, once Ryan began attending Marian High School, the idea of coming back to the Catholic Church had “a rightness to it for both of us,” as Rowland put it. When the Rowlands began attending Mass again, she noted, “There’s a reverence with the Catholic Church that you don’t find with other churches.” She said returning to the Church had a feeling of “coming home.”

A key player in the Rowlands’ journey was Amber’s grandmother, a devout Catholic who has attended St. Vincent de Paul since moving to Elkhart.

“My grandma has prayed for her family to return to the Catholic Church for a bazillion years,” Rowland said with a laugh. At the age of 93, her grandmother is seeing the fruit of her prayers. She will be Rowland’s sponsor at her confirmation in early April and was a key influence for Ryan’s decision to receive his sacraments of initiation. Once Ryan began attending Marian High School, his great-grandmother gave him books and a rosary and asked him questions about the faith. Rowland credited her grandmother’s “faithfulness and persistence” as a main reason for her and Ryan’s return to the faith.

Also in South Bend, a group of uniformed catechumens and candidates came to the rite from St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Culver. They are coeds and cadets at the Culver Academies, a college preparatory group of high schools. Father Stephen Felicichia, pastor of St. Mary of the Lake, told Today’s Catholic that there were 19 students entering the Church this year, a number he called “exceptionally large” for the parish. Father Felicichia credited this to a rising number of students inviting friends to Mass and having open discussions about their faith.

“The witness of those who are living their faith at the academy, I firmly believe, is allowing many of the other students to encounter Christ and His Church,” Father Felicichia said. “I could not be prouder of them all.”

 

Likewise, the Fort Wayne side of the diocese also experienced record numbers of catechumens and candidates present at the Rite of Election ceremony at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on March 9. An official from the diocesan Office of Worship shared that there were 167 catechumens and 121 candidates in attendance, which he believes is the most to come into the Church in a single year under Bishop Rhoades’ leadership.

Father David Violi, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Bluffton, spoke about why he felt there has been an upswing of people coming into the Church, stating, “I feel that many people are open to and responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit reaching out and moving their hearts. Those who may have seen themselves as non-religious or solely spiritual, in addition with those coming from nontraditional or nondenominational Christian backgrounds, still identify with a strong spiritual life. And, over time, the Spirit has prompted them to pursue a community, reminding them that they are not alone in this pursuit; They feel called to a community with structure and order, ultimately, a body… the Body of Christ that is the Church.”

Father Violi continued, “There is also the element that this pursuit, prompted by the Spirit, is seeking truth and, as such, necessitates an answer to that age-old (and scriptural question): What is truth? We’re searching for something. Ultimately, we’re searching for someone – Jesus Christ. And I feel that many, after much searching, have found those answers, as many before them have, in the Catholic Church. They have found Jesus Christ here. And, as such, He draws them to join Him, to receive Him in the Eucharist and the sacraments, and they are responding in great numbers, as we are seeing today.”

Brittney Hammond, who is preparing to become Catholic this year at St. Joseph in Bluffton, shared her gratitude for finding clarity through the teachings of the Church. She told Today’s Catholic that she “had questions that just could not be answered through my old church. I started doing historical research on my own and went to a Mass, and then it clicked and made sense! After going to Mass, I talked to the pastor, Father [David] Violi, and was invited to participate in the class beginning in September. It just all makes sense and adds up now.”

Hammond also mentioned that reading “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist” and “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary,” both by Brant Pitre, were very helpful and formative in her journey of faith. She exclaimed, “I searched and sought the truth, and I found it, so here I am!”

The Fort Wayne side of the diocese also experienced record numbers of catechumens and candidates present at the Rite of Election ceremony at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on March 9. An official from the Diocesan Office of Worship shared that there were 167 catechumens and 121 candidates in attendance, which he believes is the most to come into the Church in a single year under Bishop Rhoades’ leadership.

Speaking on why the numbers are higher this year, Cindy Black, who leads the “Becoming Catholic” classes at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Fort Wayne, suggested, “People are seeking meaning, truth, and greatness outside of themselves after years of coming up empty from what the world offers.”

St. Vincent’s is welcoming 52 new Catholics this year (31 catechumens and 19 candidates), which Black also attributed to “Father Dan Scheidt’s exhortations to multiply love and how all the goodness we have in Christ is meant to be shared,” Black said. This has included additional invitations for the wider parish to commit to regular times of prayer at the perpetual adoration Oratory of St. Mary Magdalene, as well as praying specifically for those who live in the nearby area to be open to the voice of the Lord and the truth of Catholicism.

One of these catechumens is Supacha Thongsuwan. A native of Thailand, whose entire family practices Buddhism, she was put in a Catholic international school as a kindergartener to learn English. Now as an adult living in Indiana, she shared, “In 2023, I experienced an emotional hardship and felt lost [regarding] the real purpose of life. I had all the materialistic accomplishments anyone can ask for but didn’t have love and peace in my heart. I remember vividly on Christmas, I asked whatever spiritual higher power is out there, ‘What did I do so wrong in my life, and why am I not happy?’ Then all of sudden I felt God hugging me and said: ‘You are my child, and you are loved. You’re not living the life you’re meant to, so go live it.’ I turned around, and Mother Mary appeared on my right side. I felt her love and warmth, a feeling like I’ve never experienced before in my entire life. I knew right then and there that it was my calling to get close to God and convert to Catholicism. I joined the Becoming Catholic program at St. Vincent’s in Fort Wayne, which has been the most life-changing experience. I regularly share my experience on social media, and it brings me joy being able to share the love and word of God in ways that are applicable to my daily life and make an impact by just being myself. If I follow the word of God, I will be able to find the love and happiness that I’m looking for. He guides me to become the best version of myself, and during this journey it has led me to find others with similar experiences as well.” She added that she feels “deeply honored” to be able to enter the Catholic Church.”

Christopher Lushis contributed to this article.