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April 21, 2022BY TANYA CONNOR
THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
WORCESTER - Twenty-three youth and adults from different ethnic communities were baptized and/or confirmed Saturday during a joint Easter Vigil on Grafton Hill. Some of them also received the Eucharist for the first time. In addition, three children ages 9-13 made their first Communion.
“Talk about the work of the Holy Spirit!” rejoiced Msgr. Robert K. Johnson, pastor of Holy Family and St. Stephen parishes, noting that it was a surprise to have so many people to initiate.
Before administering the sacraments to people from both parishes at Mass in Holy Family’s St. Joseph Church, he asked them - in English and Spanish – to make a profession of faith. Father Thiago DaSilva, associate pastor, asked the same thing of the Brazilians - in Portuguese.
These languages – and French for Holy Family’s Haitians – were also used for Scripture readings and prayers at the Mass, along with some Latin.
“I loved it,” Gustavo Figueroa, 14, said after the Mass. Asked what he liked, he said simply, “Everything.” He and his 16-year-old brother, Luis Figueroa, had just received all three of the sacraments of initiation – baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist. Their father, Luis Figueroa, 49, was confirmed and received his first Communion.
The three had spoken with The Catholic Free Press earlier that day, the father through a translator. He said he came from a Catholic family in Puerto Rico, moved to U.S. mainland, and did not attend Church regularly. But now he goes each Sunday, and really wanted to receive the sacraments and have his sons receive them and learn about his faith, he said. Professing the Catholic faith would give them better tools to fight forces that attack young people, he reasoned.
“I was cautious at first,” said Gustavo, explaining that he didn’t know much about God. It helped a lot that “they welcomed me with open hands” in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, which prepared them for the sacraments.
“I feel like I’ve learned a lot about the way of God and the Church,” he said. He said he finds it helpful to understand more and be able to talk to God.
“I’m very excited … I’m able to receive the sacraments and be part of the community now,” he concluded, in his Saturday morning comments.
“Everything that I’ve ever wanted in life, I feel like God has given me the strength to achieve it,” added his brother. “I feel receiving the sacraments is kind of my way of saying thanks.”
Luis said the RCIA process was interesting and he learned a lot. He learned about “what we have to do to serve,” that God is love, and that “sin is all around us.”
“Bad things are going to come,” he said. “We shouldn’t expect God to shield us … but know that he’s always with us.”
He and his brother were in Deacon Paul J. Reuter’s English-language RCIA program and the joint religious education program directed by Deacon Reuter’s wife, Karla. Deacon Reuter said he and his RCIA team also worked with four other young people and an adult.
Mr. Figueroa attended Deacon Israel R. Fernandez’ Spanish-language RCIA program with two other adults at St. Stephen’s. Father DaSilva directed the RCIA program in Portuguese for the 13 Brazilian adults at Holy Family who received sacraments Saturday.
One of those Brazilians – 43-year-old Denizia Gomes – who received all three sacraments Saturday – said through a translator afterwards that she was very happy, but didn’t know how to explain what she felt. She said her motivation to go through the RCIA came from her heart; she wasn’t brought up in church, but her husband is Catholic and goes to Holy Family.
John Menard, 36, said he started attending English-language RCIA classes “on a whim” because his son is about to make his first Communion.
Mr. Menard said he himself was baptized and confirmed at All Saints (Episcopal) Church, but at some point stopped believing in God and attending church.
Later he started going to the Catholic Church because his son’s mother is Catholic, he said. Their son, a Catholic school student, talks about what he learns in school and religious education classes at church.
“I felt it would be better for my son if we were all in the same faith,” Mr. Menard said. So he contacted Deacon Reuter about entering the RCIA program.
“I mostly did it for my son, and found out a lot about myself,” he said. And what he was learning often lined up with what his son was learning.
Mr. Menard said that, unlike parishioners he talked with over the years, who focused more on sin, Deacon Reuter asked, “What is your relationship with God on earth?”
“I really connected with that, because I was trying to make a better life for my child,” Mr. Menard said. It was like Deacon Reuter was saying to trust God rather than fear God and he found the deacon to be “a very open and honest person” who did not shy away from questions.
Mr. Menard said his mood has changed since he entered the RCIA program and “people in my life are noticing it.” Deacon Reuter taught him to let the past go and focus on what he can do going forward, he said.
Saturday he was received into full communion with the Catholic Church. He was confirmed and received the Eucharist.
Now “I can fully participate,” he said, whether attending church with his son or alone.
“I loved the experience of it all,” he said this week, after the Easter Vigil, at which his son gave him a big hug.
