THE GOOD NEWS
ARCHBISHOP BELTRAN

April 29, 2007

The Good News

...An Easter Challenge!

On the First Sunday of Lent, the Cathedral of Our Lady was overflowing with people for three separate services for the Rite of Election. Included in those crowds were about 245 catechumens and another 385 candidates. This meant that more than 600 people were preparing then to enter the Church at the Easter Vigil services throughout our Archdiocese. Almost all those who were at the Rite of Election have now been baptized and/or celebrated Confirmation and received Holy Communion.

I happily welcome all who joined the Church this Easter and I remind you of the special Mass I have scheduled for you, your families and friends here at the Catholic Pastoral Center at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 29.

It is a real blessing that so many people have found their way into full membership in our Catholic Church.  To each of you, I extend congratulations and encouragement to live the fullness of our Catholic faith. Don’t ever lose the zeal and enthusiasm you now possess.  God has called you, blessed you and received you into the Church. Now it is up to each of you to bring to perfection this good work the Lord has begun in you.

The importance of a vibrant RCIA program in every parish is much more than an option. Since, through the RCIA, people are led into the Church or back to the Church, it is essentially a work of evangelization. The response of evangelization is a serious obligation of the whole Church and therefore rests upon every adult Catholic person!

Some parishes have already begun their RCIA schedule for next year.Others should do so real soon.  Intellectually, psychologically and spiritually, human beings need the better part of a year for the immediate preparation to enter the Catholic Church. No one should take such an important step unless they are adequately prepared and convinced of the Church’s teachings and demands.  No one can ever join the Church unless they do so freely and with conviction.

Evangelization is the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus. Every Catholic person, having received and accepted the Good News, is now obliged to live it and to share it. With that grave obligation in mind, I wish to extend a happy challenge to every Catholic person of this Archdiocese. I challenge you personally to invite someone who is not now an active member of the Catholic Church to come and enroll in your parish’s RCIA  program! Then, instead of counting new members in the hundreds for next year’s Easter Vigil, we could be counting in the thousands!

In extending this challenge, I am not focusing on numbers. Rather, I wish to emphasize the reality of the truth and value of our Catholic faith. If we believe that Jesus is Lord and that He established the Church, then we should want to bring family, friends and  associates to share in this Good News.  If we are grateful to God for the gift of faith, then we should desire to offer this same gift to others.  If we believe in the truth of the Catholic Church and find our liturgical practices to be meaningful, we certainly would want to share this with others.  In a spirit of gratitude and faith and with great joy, let each of us give some serious thought to this opportunity to evangelize, to share the Good News of Jesus with others, to bring others to come to know, love and serve the Lord.

Call your parish office soon to get the schedule for the next RCIA sessions. Broach the subject with your family members and friends.  Volunteer to attend with your invited guests so they will feel more welcome and encouraged.  Then, someday, when you stand before the Lord, you will hear Him say:  “Well done, good and faithful servant.”