Catechetics & Faith Development

Click on the + located to the right of the subheadings below to find listed the titles of recommended programs, resources, and links to information on these and other helpful materials.

For clarification and/or further assistance, you may contact the Director of Catechetics or the Associate Director of Catechetics. Their contact information is given under their picture above.

• Confirmation Rally Registration & Consent Form
• Parish Events Consent Form for Minors
• Using Images of Children – Consent Form
• Child Abuse Registry Check

The Rite of Election and the Rite of Acceptance are key moments in the process of Christian Initiation.

The Rite of Election is the celebration in which the local bishop calls the catechumens to baptism at the upcoming Easter Vigil. These women and men, who have been preparing for initiation and those who have been working with them for months and years, believe that God has chosen them to become one of us, the baptized. In the Rite of Election, their godparents, sponsors, catechists, pastors and friends will testify before the bishop that God has chosen these people. They will offer the evidence of their lives among us, hearing and following God’s word, praying with God’s people and participating in the work and the communal life of God’s church. After listening to this testimony, the bishop will declare they are elected for baptism, chosen to be God’s own in Christ Jesus – not because they earned It, but because God wants it.

Since the bishop is the head of the local church, it is his responsibility to oversee the initiation of new members. Ideally, it would be the bishop who would initiate the catechumens through the Celebration of baptism, confirmation and eucharist. However, since it would be impossible for the bishop to be in every parish to celebrate the Easter Vigil, in the Rite of the Election the bishop, on behalf of the whole church, chooses those to be baptized and mandates the local pastors to initiate the catechumens of their parish.

The Rite of Acceptance recognizes those individuals (candidates) who have been baptized in other Christian churches and now wish to be accepted as members of our Catholic Faith. In the Rite of Acceptance, the bishop listens to the testimony of those responsible for the formation of these Individuals declaring their readiness to be one with us in Our Catholic Faith. He accepts these Christian bothers and sisters for the sacraments of confirmation and eucharist, thereby entering into full communion with our Catholic Community.

Written by Fr. Darrin J.G. Gurr, the Chair of the Liturgical Commission for the Archdiocese and Pastor of St. Gianna Beretta Molla Church.