RITE OF ELECTION

Each year on Holy Saturday during the Easter Vigil, thousands are baptized into the Catholic Church in the United States. Parishes welcome these new Catholics through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. When a Catechumen and the priest and the parish team working with him or her believes the person is ready to make a faith commitment to Jesus in the Catholic Church, the next step is the request for baptism and the celebration of the Rite of Election. Even before the Catechumens are baptized, they have a special relationship to the Church.

The Rite of Election includes the enrollment of names of all the Catechumens seeking baptism at the coming Easter Vigil. On the first Sunday of Lent, the Catechumens, their sponsors and families gathered at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany on Feb. 26. The Catechumens publicly express their desire for baptism to Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger. Their names were recorded in a book and they are called the Elect.

Source: USCCB.