Called to the faith
R.C.I.A.
catechumens, candidates to be welcomed into Church at Easter Vigil
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
PHILADELPHIA — Kristen Hallowell and Louis Towns are traveling different
roads to a common destination. On the evening of the Easter Vigil, March
22, supported by their respective congregations, they will be welcomed
into the Catholic Church through the sacrament of baptism followed by
reception of the Eucharist and confirmation.
There is no precise starting point for their journeys, which were afforded
formal recognition when the two joined their parish R.C.I.A. formation
programs last September.
This past weekend Towns and Hallowell, along with 371 other catechumens
and 463 previously baptized candidates from 170 parishes, were presented
to Cardinal Justin Rigali by their sponsors, godparents and catechists
as part of the Rite of Election and Call to Continued Conversion. Because
of their number, there were three separate liturgies, all at the cathedral
Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul.
Towns, who is 49, is on familiar ground as he prepares for his reception
into the Church. As a child, he attended St. Ignatius School and St. Joseph’s
Preparatory School. His extended family has a mixture of religions, including
Catholicism. Never baptized, he attended various churches. A few years
ago, on a group trip to Aruba, his party was driving up a road dotted
with small shrines. “What are they?” someone asked. “They
are the Stations of the Cross,” Towns explained. He was right; further
up the road was a chapel. The vacationers entered, and the Catholics among
them automatically genuflected. So did Towns.
“I’ve always felt comfortable in Catholic churches …,”
he said. “It’s always been in the back of my mind that this
is a commitment I wanted to make. I want to share Communion, I want to
go to confession. I’m looking forward to this.”
Hallowell comes to the Catholic faith with a blank slate.
“I wasn’t brought up with religion in my life and I was a
little bit afraid of religion,” she said. Only after Hallowell made
her decision did she discover that her mother had been baptized Catholic
as an infant but had no further religious training: “It wasn’t
something she could pass on to me because she wasn’t given it.”
A recent graduate of Penn State, Hallowell was introduced to Catholicism
by Alan Dandar, whom she will marry at Assumption B.V.M. Church, Feasterville,
in May.
Because Catholicism meant a lot to her fiancé, she began attending
Mass with him. “I told him I couldn’t promise to become a
Catholic but I was open and willing to learn,” she said.
For her, a decisive moment came at a Christian Alpha Program at Drexel
University. Hallowell had always considered herself a good person, but
during that program she was challenged to define goodness as a life measured
by the teachings of Jesus Christ. To her, it made sense.
At Assumption B.V.M. Church, she was surprised by how much she enjoyed
the Mass and the homilies, which she tries to apply to her daily life.
“It’s been pretty amazing,” she said. “I’ve
grown in faith. I want to make it a part of my life.”
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.