Young catechumens 'excited' to enter the Catholic Church

By Emily Mangiaracina - Florida Catholic

Photography: TOM TRACY | FC

MIAMI | Attending this year’s Rite of Election, a centuries-old prelude to catechumens’ baptism into the Church, one might be struck by the many young people present. But any guess that these youths are simply “going through the motions” at the urging of their parents would be wrong.

Rather, the common reaction of youths to their upcoming baptism into the Catholic Church was genuine excitement.

Melanic Rodriguez, an 18-year-old who attends St. John Neumann Church in Miami, was among the 315 catechumens — people never baptized in any Christian faith — packing the pews during the second of two Rite of Election ceremonies held at the Cathedral of St. Mary on the first Sunday of Lent, Feb. 18, 2024; 300 attended the first ceremony.

During the ceremonies, the catechumens sign their names in the Book of the Elect, signifying their upcoming communion with the Church.

Melanic told how her conversion began on a spiritual retreat called Encounter, during which she believes she first “really saw God.”

“I can definitely say I felt his love and that he wanted me to take this step for my life,” Melanic said.

The high school senior at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami said she had another powerful encounter with God while grieving the death of a friend and fellow student. She was praying in the chapel at her school when she felt something she best describes as an “embrace” and a “Father’s reassuring touch.”

She added that a deacon who teaches at her school has been influential in helping her to get to know God.

“He always used to talk about how good God is. I was struggling to understand that and grasp it, but as time progressed he [the deacon] became like my best friend. It really made me realize how someone is always watching over me and how someone has always been guiding me through my life, holding me by the hand,” Melanic said.

Eventually, she applied to become a peer minister for the Encounter retreat that had impacted her so much, and learned that she had to be a Catholic to qualify. The retreat coordinator who interviewed her asked her if she wanted to convert — not merely to serve on the retreat, but because of an authentic desire to be Catholic.

“With my whole heart I said yes,” said Melanic.

Now that she is close to entering the Church, she said she is “very excited, very blessed, and appreciative to be able to start this new path, especially holding [God’s] hand.”

“Hopefully I’ll be able to keep discerning what he wants from me, and complete my vocation — whatever he’s calling me to do, to be a disciple to him,” she added.

Sophia Lorena Vargas, 14, who attends Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Doral, said her enrollment in RCIA – the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults – came as a surprise: her mother had registered her without her knowledge. But now, Sophia said, she is thrilled to be able to soon receive the sacraments, and has a newfound living faith in God, as well as a belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Sophia said that she opened up to Catholicism after she began attending Our Lady of Guadalupe, where she learned that faith is not a matter of scientific understanding, but rather an act of the will.

Asked if she has resolved her prior doubts about God, Sophia laughed with delight, saying, “Yes. Anytime I make a mistake, or when I’m stressed, I just take a breather. I have faith in God, he has faith in me.”

As an example, she told how, when it seemed she was running late to the Rite of Election due to traffic slowed by rain, she maintained her peace and calm, trusting that God was in control.

“Every light went green ... even if cars slowed down, we still went fast,” recounted Sophia, sharing that she and her family arrived at the cathedral with 10 minutes to spare, a confirmation of her trust that God would work things out for her good.

She said she is eagerly “counting the days” until she becomes Catholic. “I can’t wait. I’m actually really excited.”

She added that she wants to receive Jesus in the Eucharist “so badly.”

“I just hope that with every bump on the road that I never lose my faith in him — because he has never lost his faith in me, and look at me now,” she said with a grin.

Melanic’s and Sophia’s enthusiasm for the sacraments was echoed by Odette Borges, who is 10 years old, going on 11.

Odette said she feels “an even stronger connection with God” after the Rite of Election, “I feel really excited. When I’m baptized, it’s going to be permanent — for the rest of my life.”

After the catechumens finished signing their names in the Book of the Elect, Archbishop Thomas Wenski walked down the center aisle of the cathedral, proudly displaying their names in the book, to applause.

“The Church here in South Florida is very much alive, and we thank God for that,” Archbishop Wenski said. 

He exhorted the catechumens to remember that conversion does not stop with baptism, but is a lifelong work.

“Conversion means a turning to and a turning from — a turning to the Lord and a turning from sin. But this does not end with baptism,” the archbishop said. “Our earthly pilgrimage must always be lived as a continuing turning to the Lord, and therefore a continuing turning away from sin.”

He pointed out that conversion involves accepting God’s “gift of friendship,” which implies both a “yes” to him and a “no” to “all that is incompatible with this friendship.”

The archbishop told the catechumens that at the Easter Vigil, they “will be asked to renounce Satan and all his works and all his empty promises,” and then they will make their “profession of faith.”

“That profession of faith based on the Apostles’ Creed is our ‘yes’ to God. It is our pledge that — in spite of whatever trials and tribulations we may face — we will walk through this life as a friend of God, as a friend of Jesus and in the company of his friends, that is his Catholic Church.”