Detroit — In the process by which people come into full communion with the Catholic Church, there is more going on than just the actions of the catechumens, candidates and not fully sacramentalized Catholics.

“There’s a role for God, a role for the recipient, and a role for the rest of the Church,” Auxiliary Bishop Francis Reiss told the near-capacity congregation March 12 at one of the five Rite of Election ceremonies held that weekend at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit.



At those ceremonies, the Archdiocese of Detroit welcomed 1,200 people who will be coming into full communion with the Church at Easter Vigil Masses on Holy Saturday, April 23.

They were joined by more than 1,600 others — sponsors and family members — at the ceremonies.

Breaking that 1,200 figure down into categories, there were 483 catechumens (344 adults and 139 children), 427 candidates (393 adults and 34 children) and 290 not fully sacramentalized Catholics.

Catechumens are those officially joining a Christian faith community for the first time, while candidates are people from other faith communities seeking reception into the Catholic Church, and the Catholics are people who were baptized, but for one reason or another never completed their sacraments.

Those taking part in the March 12-13 cathedral ceremonies will be completing their journey to full participation in the Church at one of 149 parishes or missions of the archdiocese.

Many of the 125 other parishes and missions also have people who will come into the Church at their Easter Vigil Masses, but hold their own Rite of Election ceremonies. Those numbers will not be reported to the archdiocesan Worship Office until later.



Rita Bentley was at the 2 p.m. ceremony on March 12 with her sons, William, 11, and Thomas, 7, both of who are candidates.

“This is something I’ve been wanting to do — to bring my children into the Church,” said Bentley, 40, who had grown up Catholic in New Jersey, but had been away from the Church herself for some years until beginning to attend Mass at St. Patrick Church, White Lake Township, last fall.

She and her husband, Jim, a Protestant, were married in a Presbyterian church, and both of the boys were baptized Presbyterian, but the family later fell away from church attendance altogether.

“Last year, my husband had left on a business trip to China, and I had a lengthy conversation with my girlfriend about how I wanted to start going back to church, and how I knew I wanted it to be a Catholic church,” Bentley recalled.

Her friend invited her to accompany her, and bring the boys, to St. Patrick Church that Saturday.

“The boys were excited about going back to church,” Bentley said. She signed them up for the children’s section of the parish’s RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) program last fall, and has been accompanying them to class.

“The experience has been a very positive one. They have a better understanding of the Christian faith, which makes them better people, and it has triggered a lot of memories for me as well,” Bentley said.

She said her husband has been supportive of her desire to bring the boys up in the Catholic faith, though he has not chosen to join them.

The two Bentley youngsters also say the experience has been “fun.”

“I’ve learned prayers, and I’ve learned about the sacraments,” said William.

While he knew some things about Jesus already, he added, “Then I realized there was more to learn.”

Thomas said he had “learned about baptism, and that Jesus sacrificed Himself for us.”

And William predicted that the RCIA classes would have a lasting effect: “When I’m older, and all grown up, I’ll still go to church and spend some time talking to God.”

Bentley said the boys would be going to reconciliation for the first time the following week, and that she intended to make her confession then, too.

When Carmen Arzola is baptized on Holy Saturday, it will be the day after she turns 27. A catechumen, Arzola is joining a Christian faith community for the first time. “My father was a Catholic, but my mother was a Baptist, and they decided just to leave it up to me to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up,” she said.

Her decision to become Catholic was influenced by her fiancé, Marray Mbayo, who was raised Catholic as a child in his native Sierra Leone, but was never confirmed.

That makes Mbayo, 33, a candidate. He said he sees the process he and Arzola are going through as “a beginning step toward being with God.”

The couple is to be married Oct. 21 at St. Gerald Church in Farmington.

Candidate Ronald Smith, 67, said his journey to the Catholic Church stemmed from watching “my wife of 22 years and family going to church together.”

He said his wife expressed joy when, one day last summer, “I told her I was going to get up and go to church with her. I had never been in a Catholic church before except to get married.”

Smith, who had been raised Methodist, said he liked what he saw and what her heard at St. Alfred Church in Taylor. “Since I started, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve missed Mass,” he said.

Especially praising the systematic program of Scripture readings at Mass, he said he always makes it a point to find out the readings for that Sunday and study them in advance so as to better appreciate the homily. “If you attend Mass on a regular basis, you get to read quite a lot of Scripture,” Smith said.

He entered the RCIA program in October, and said he has liked learning about the Catholic Church and more about the Christian faith. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” Smith added.