‘I placed my feet once again in the Catholic Church’

By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -

Photography: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO | FC

MIAMI | At this year’s Rite of Election ceremony, held March 9, 2025, at St. Mary Cathedral, Archbishop Thomas Wenski greeted catechumens, their godparents, sponsors, and other guests, emphasizing that the cathedral is their mother church in the Archdiocese of Miami.

“As we gather today with hearts searching for the Lord, let us seek his strength, and let us always rejoice in his love,” Archbishop Wenski told them.

For Martiza Vilaseco, a catechumen and parishioner of St. Martin de Porres Parish in Leisure City, it was the welcome she was hoping for.

“I feel so blessed since I placed my feet back in the Catholic Church, which was my home all my life in Cuba,” Vilaseco said.

Vilaseco and her mother, Victoria Fonseca, also a catechumen this year, raised their children and grandchildren in the Catholic faith, always making sure that the younger generations received the sacraments. Ironically, neither mother nor daughter ever received the rites themselves.

Years ago, after they moved to the United States, they attended a Christian church.

“I did not turn away from God because I was following His path because they were talking about Jesus and the Word,” she explained.

But they were neglecting someone Vilaseco loves deeply: Jesus’ mother, Mary.

“That’s what made me feel some regret,” she said.

Although she practiced a different denomination, Vilaseco kept her devotion to the Niño Jesús, or the Child Jesus. One day in prayer, she felt a stirring in her heart.

“I felt like He was telling me, ‘Your place is not here. It’s in my house.’ And the house for Him, I felt, was the Catholic Church,” said Vilaseco.

That day she went to Mass with her mother and felt she needed more.

“I needed the sacraments because I wanted to receive Communion, and only with the sacraments could I do that. And that’s when I began this journey,” she said.

With catechesis, as well as the accompaniment of a godparent, catechumens like Vilaseco and her mother can sign their names into the Book of the Elect at this stage of faith formation. There are also those called candidates, who were previously baptized into the Christian faith, but have chosen to convert to Catholicism, who can also sign.

“By your enrollment in the Book of the Elect, you are saying that you want to be holy,” said Archbishop Wenski in his homily.

He explained that in Haitian Creole “saint” is translated as “Zanmi Bondye,” or “friend of God.”

“This is a beautiful, and I might add, a most appropriate translation, for the saints are friends of God, and only one who is holy can claim to be a friend of God,” Archbishop Wenski added.

This year, more than 770 catechumens signed their names in the Book of the Elect at the archdiocesan Rite of Election ceremonies. Sister Karen Muñiz, director of the Office of Catechesis at the Archdiocese of Miami, believes the overwhelming number — over 100 more than in 2024 — comes as a response to the Catholic Church celebrating a Jubilee Year.

“It was definitely a full house. Every pew in the Cathedral was filled with catechumens and godparents representing 47 parishes in the first of two ceremonies. We even had parishes from the Keys in attendance — St. Mary Star of the Sea Basilica and San Pedro Parish — and St. Peter the Fisherman Parish in Big Pine Key connected virtually,” she said.

Catechumens from 28 parishes participated in the second ceremony of the day.

All who signed the Book of the Elect will receive baptism, Communion, and confirmation in their home parishes spread across Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties at this year’s Easter Vigil, to be celebrated April 19, 2025.

For Pavel Galano, a catechumen from San Lazaro Parish in Hialeah, this will be his first Easter in the United States. He arrived from Cuba seven months ago, and while he is in the process of adjusting to his new country, his family and work have been vital, and dedicating time to his faith formation has been a priority. While Galano is new to the Catholic Church in Florida, he grew up attending San Jose Obrero Parish in Guantanamo, Cuba, founded in 1999 by Father Jose Espino, current rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami.

“He was one of the kids from the block,” said Father Espino, who remembers Galano as a 13-year-old.

Although separated by the sea between Cuba and the U.S., they maintained a friendship over the years. Galano, now 40 years old, considers Father Espino his spiritual director, and has even asked him to be the godfather of one of his sons. Now, for his own journey in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, he has asked Father Espino to be his godfather.

“I am so grateful to Father Espino, as well as to the priests and community of San Lazaro for welcoming and guiding me. I feel blessed and very happy with our Church,” Galano said.