April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
RCIA PROCESS
Whitehall parish boasts seven new Catholics
For a Washington County parish of 400 families, "this was a big deal," boasted Patti Abbott, who handles religious education, youth ministry and bookkeeping for OLH and is also the parish secretary.
Ms. Abbott has been a parishioner her entire life. "I always go to the Easter vigil, too," she said, "because as a kid, it was my favorite Mass. Some years, we've had no RCIA candidates."
But she called this year "very refreshing!" As the Church struggles to maintain its numbers in some places, it excited her to see "that many people coming into the Church at once."
For some of the newcomers, joining the Church came about literally through word of mouth. Rev. Rendell Torres, pastor of both OLH and St. Ann's parish in Fort Ann, recalled leading some couples in marriage preparation: "When we started talking about the Catholic faith, I asked [if the non-Catholic spouse had ever thought of becoming Catholic], and they said yes. Not everyone in marriage preparation says yes, but with a couple of them, I just felt inspired to ask."
In fact, he said, the question had come to mind as he was giving an overview of what the Church believes about salvation: "how the Son of God becomes man, offers Himself on the cross, dies and rises again to reconnect humanity with the God who made us.
"That's attractive," he said. "It's the truth we believe, and it makes sense:" Amid all the sadness and evil in the world, "there's hope from God's choice" to die for us.
It also helped, he said, that the non-Catholic spouses "were getting married to people who were serious about their faith."
Father Torres also credited his predecessor, Rev. Michael Flannery, with having helped some people through an annulment process so they could marry in the Church.
Others in the group of new Catholics "were friends with people who started coming to the church," said Father Torres.
Jay Jillson was one of the seven new Catholics. Raised a Protestant, he'd married a Catholic and raised all of his children Catholic. He's the fourth generation to run Jillson Funeral Home in Whitehall.
"I always felt real close to the Catholic Church," Mr. Jillson told The Evangelist. "I'd been going to church with my wife a lot over the past 10 years."
Now that he has grandchildren who are also Catholic, Mr. Jillson said, "I just thought it was time to make my whole family Catholic."
Along with the others joining the Church at OLH, Mr. Jillson went through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) process to learn about the faith. Listening to explanations of the Holy Spirit and the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist impressed him.
"It's a big step for me to step forward with my faith," he noted.
Receiving the Eucharist and being confirmed was "quite an experience," Mr. Jillson said. "It was probably the most important day of my life. I feel stronger in faith."
Father Torres believes the large "class of 2014" is due to the Holy Spirit. "We just let the Holy Spirit work through us," he told The Evangelist, adding: "Explaining what we believe can be attractive to people with open hearts."
(To learn about joining the Catholic Church, call a parish near you. For more information, go to www.rcda.org and click on "Becoming Catholic - RCIA" under "links.")[[In-content Ad]]
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