Catechumen Says Coming Into the Church During Covid-19 Is Plan God Had For Her All Along

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Amanda Romeo woke up on her 39th birthday last July and knew it was time to give herself the gift of joining the Catholic Church.

“I just found myself ready. I just followed my heart,” said the wife and mother of two children who, despite the coronavirus pandemic, began RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) in September through St. Christopher and St. Sylvia parish in Red Hook. The family also attends Good Shepherd and St. Joseph parish in Rhinebeck.

“I actually can’t believe it’s almost here,” she said of coming into the Church at the Easter Vigil April 3. 

“I am just so excited to finally be in God’s home with my husband, with my children… to finally, officially, be a Catholic, to have made that commitment to God and to honor Him, and to honor my husband and my children, and even my extended family, who have so warmly embraced me and introduced me to this faith.”

Mrs. Romeo spoke with CNY Feb. 18, three days before she took another pivotal step to becoming a Catholic: celebrating the Rite of Election at St. Christopher and St. Sylvia as a catechumen.

The annual Rites of Election and Continuing Conversion were celebrated in parishes across the archdiocese on the First Sunday of Lent, Feb. 21.

Catechumens—adults and children of catechetical age, 7 and older, who have not been baptized, confirmed, nor received First Holy Communion—the sacraments of initiation—take part in the Rite of Election during which they are declared members of the elect.

The catechumens are accompanied by their godparents and  have participated in the Catechumenate, or RCIA.

“This program has flown by,” Mrs. Romeo said of RCIA. “I’m sad to see it ending, but this whole new journey is beginning.”

“All of these years, I have gone to church and we’ve raised our children in the faith...I’ve just sat for years not being Catholic but acting as though I was,” she said, all the while “feeling this pull and knowing in my heart that it was the right place for me to be. 

“I have always been welcomed so warmly.”

She said she was a Jehovah’s Witness until she was 11 years old, when her parents divorced, and then was not raised with the continued practice of a religious faith.

“It wasn’t really until I met my husband that my eyes were opened up to the Catholic faith,” Mrs. Romeo said. “All the years being married to him, and attending church, to me there was just no question of where I needed to be.”

The Catholic faith, she continued, “fills my heart and...just gives me peace.”

Her husband Joe, she explained, is a cradle Catholic and the couple are raising their children Catholic. Son Rocco is a high school sophomore and daughter Ella is a sixth-grader. 

Her first experience of the Catholic Church was Easter Sunday with her future husband and his family when she and Joe were first dating. 

“I’m so excited for this moment to be here,” Mrs. Romeo said. “I’m so thankful for the Holy Spirit for pushing me and saying, it’s your time, go. 

“It’s been a long time coming,” she continued. “I have always felt like I belonged, but I needed to go through the proper steps to do so, and not just play the part.”

The timing of becoming a Catholic during Covid-19 is not lost on her. “Being a busy mom and doing this through a pandemic...My time came when it was meant for it to happen...This pandemic really hit me hard and made me realize, there’s this thing that’s been on my to-do list and...here I go.”

When she awoke on her birthday last year, it was clear. “I felt my time had come and I just didn’t want to waste another minute...I’m going to trust that this was the plan that God had for me all along.”

The RCIA sessions at St. Christopher and St. Sylvia are held weekly in person from a social distance in the parish center following the 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. Two permanent deacons of the parish are assigned to RCIA, Deacon Raymond Ricci and Deacon Keith White. Maggie Burud serves as the RCIA coordinator. 

Traditionally, Cardinal Dolan serves as principal celebrant at the Rite of Election at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. This year, amid Covid-19, he delegated that responsibility to pastors and priests of the respective parishes.

The Call to Continuing Conversion is for candidates who have already been baptized, who have participated in their parish Catechumenate and who are preparing to complete their initiation in the Church. They will receive the sacraments of confirmation and First Holy Communion during this coming Easter season.

Father Patrick Buckley, pastor of St. Christopher and St. Sylvia, said of the catechumen and candidates there, “We’re in this together. They’re not on their own. We are always with them, with God and the whole Church. That’s what the message should be in the pandemic. 

“We are united in Christ…There is nothing to be afraid of…” And with RCIA, “We get stronger as we get closer to the Easter Vigil.”