On the weekend of 16 & 17 February, 675 people from 115 parishes underwent the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults’ (RCIA) Rite of Election, at a ceremony in Westminster Cathedral. Presiding over the ceremony was Bishop Alan Hopes, along with Bishops John Arnold, John Sherrington and Canon Paschal Ryan,
Episcopal Vicar in the Diocese
During the Rite of Election the 675 adults made a public commitment to entering into the communion with the Catholic Church. At Easter, of those adu
lts undergoing RCIA, 335 will receive the sacraments of Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist, and 340 adults will be baptised, making them full members of the Catholic Church.
Bishop Alan praised those undergoing the Rite of Election saying: “Election is a translation of a Latin word for chosen. Today you are being elected, chosen, called to salvation...Along with the whole Church, this Lent is a time for you to be renewed through an examination of your lives and a deepening of your commitment to God. We are called to turn to the Lord - we are called to holiness – we are called to be saints.”
Canon Stuart Wilson, Dean of the parishes of Kensington & Chelsea, who presented the Candidates and Catechumens from his Deanery, spoke of the meaning of the service to the wider Catholic Church:“What you see speaks volumes. A Cathedral full of enthusiastic people, many of them young adults, publically proclaiming that they want to become Catholics. It will be the same at the second Celebration. 700 people happy to be Catholics. Our Church is blessed indeed.”
Further photographs of the Rite of Election are available here.
