Speaking to those who attended a Feb. 26 Rite of Election ceremony at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit, the archbishop said the greatest conflict in the world is the struggle against sin.
“You catechumens are saying, ‘This is the war I want to fight.’ Jesus Christ has found you, and you are enlisting this day in the lifelong struggle against sin,” he said to those who are to be baptized, confirmed and make their first Communion at this year’s Easter Vigil.
Besides catechumens, the Rite of Election ceremonies also included candidates, who were baptized in some other Christian faith community, but who will be coming into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, and Catholic candidates — people who were baptized Catholics, but never completed their sacraments.
“Those of you who are candidates we might say you are ‘re-upping,’” Archbishop Vigneron said, using the military slang term for re-enlistment.
The archbishop presided at the late-Sunday Rite of Election ceremony, one of five held Feb. 25-26 at the cathedral. The archdiocese’s four auxiliary bishops — Bishops Donald Hanchon, Arturo Cepeda, Michael Byrnes and Francis Reiss — each presided at one of the others.
In all, a total of 2,709 people from 148 parishes took part in Rite of Election ceremonies at the cathedral, counting catechumens, both classes of candidates, their sponsors, and three members from each participating parish’s pastoral team.
Of those, 445 are catechumens (312 adults and 133 children); 404 are candidates (373 adults and 31 children); and 288 are Catholic candidates.
A parish representative read the names of the individuals coming into the Church, and the presiding bishop asked questions to determine their intent and readiness.
In the case of catechumens, each person approached the front of the cathedral, where they wrote their name on pages that would be added to the Book of the Elect. They then continued into the sanctuary, where they were questioned, en masse, by the bishop.
Those taking part in the cathedral ceremonies make up the majority, but not all, of those coming into the Church this year. Some parishes opted to hold their own Rite of Election ceremonies, but no figures were available as to the numbers of catechumens or candidates involved.
