In 2012, I was asked by Sue Hamilton, the Pastoral Assistant at Regina Mundi Parish in Hamilton, to initiate a ministry of Christian Initiation of Children Who Have Reached Catechetical Age. This ministry was created in response to the release of the Diocese of Hamilton Sacramental Guidelines: the Initiation of Children. The document stated that,
“According to the law of the Church (Canon 852.1), children who have reached the age of reason and are of catechetical age (that is, children who have completed grade 2 or are older) who desire to celebrate Baptism are prepared through their participation in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (Part II, Chapter 1). In keeping with this rite, they are to be prepared to celebrate the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and First Eucharist at the same celebration.”[1]
My ministry with children has been joyful and rewarding and has resulted in the Christian Initiation of eight young people at Easter Vigils in the last three years.
Since there were no young candidates for RCIA at our Parish this year, I have had the opportunity to participate on the Adult RCIA team which has been a joyful and very personal experience. Not only did my sister Josie join the RCIA team to update her knowledge of the Catholic faith, but to my complete surprise, my husband, Ted, at age sixty-five, after almost forty-two years of marriage and attending Sunday Mass for the last thirty years, joined RCIA as a candidate. When asked, “Why now?’’ he responded that he wanted to be a better role model for our Granddaughter Allie who will be making her First Reconciliation on March 19th, and her First Communion on May 7th.
Ted’s journey to Catholicism has been a gift and a blessing to our entire family and circle of friends, and an answer to the many prayers of many people over many years. And to think that in the end, by the grace of God, it was a “little child” who led him! (Paraphrased from Isaiah 11:6)
We are looking forward to the Easter Vigil when Ted will be fully initiated into the Catholic Church. We praise and thank You, O Loving God, for in our family we know for sure that, as my dear friend, Josie, says, Your “delays are not denials.”
Leanne Thompson, a companion (associate) from the Hamilton neighbourhood of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada.
[1] Diocese of Hamilton Sacramental Guidelines The Initiation of Children. http://hamiltondiocese.com/uploads/links/331-331-SACRAMENTAL%20GUIDELINES%20-%20Complete%20Electronic%20Version.pdf