Six join Church during Easter Vigil at St. Patrick, Lexington
As dusk descended on a warm Holy Saturday evening at St. Patrick, Lexington, all the usual signs of the Easter Vigil ceremonies were present: flames blazing in a fire pit outside the front doors, the paschal candle awaiting final adornment , small tapers with clear plastic windscreens for each person to hold.
But this night would be different from most other parishes. Only here would two women and four men from the Virginia Military Institute who hope one day to join the U.S. armed forces profess their allegiance to the Catholic faith.
“If there is one reason why your faith is true, why your faith continues… look at our catechumens today and those who will be fully received into the Church and those receiving confirmation,” said St. Patrick’s pastor, Father Štefan Migač in his homily. “They come to Christ not because he is offering something for free, but because he’s offering true faith, true hope and true love.”
The cadets accepting that offer were Benjamin Cheng, Faith Guy, Stafford Johnson, Lazzara Mazza-Hilway, John Lightfoot and Bryson Minear.
Lightfoot had two sisters attend VMI, so enrolling was pre-ordained, so to speak. A third year, or sophomore, from Chesapeake, majoring in electrical and computer engineering, he is a baptized Catholic whose faith waned. In his first year, he found VMI “incredibly difficult.”
“I remember praying to God to change me, make me better, just off a whim,” he said. “All of a sudden, I started going to Mass, and I really felt an inclination to look further and further into the Church and really take it seriously.”
‘Right way to go’
An international studies major from Magnolia, Delaware, Minear said he had no formal religious training, but last fall the sophomore started attending RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) meetings on Monday nights on the VMI post. Initially, he had no intention of becoming Catholic.
“Going through the whole process just opened my eyes,” he said. “There’s so much more out there, so much more than just your day-today life. Having that faith in your life makes life actually a little easier.”
A second-year, or junior, Mazza- Hilway is a mechanical engineering major from Little Falls, New Jersey. She was involved in a nondenominational church growing up.
“Last year, I was going through a hard time especially with my faith, and so I was praying a lot and asking God to show me his will,” she said. “I ended up meeting my boyfriend, who was Catholic, and he was very adamant about bringing me to Mass. I felt that my prayers had been answered and that this might have been a path that I should take to deepen my belief and my faith in God.”
Guy, a sophomore, grew up a Lutheran in Statesville, North Carolina, and is studying physics and applied mathematics. As a “rat,” the name for all first-year students, she began thinking of becoming a Catholic.
“During the past couple of years, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about Church history and theology, and I just feel like this is the right way to go,” she said. “I do really feel called to become Catholic.”
Questions, answers
For Lightfoot, RCIA helped answer “the question of ‘why Catholicism’ over any other sect in Christianity, and it’s done a very good job of assuring me that this is frankly the way to go. Before God, I was in a miserable place, didn’t have a purpose, was very anxious, really afraid. Putting my faith in God, coming back to the Church, has really set my priorities and set my life straight.”
Minear also found the sessions enlightening, no matter how basic the questions.
“Why God made us, why God made the world, what his purpose in that was, certain teachings of marriage and having children, why you do certain things at the Mass,” he said. “A lot of that was very new to me and very eye-opening.”
“Having that deeper understanding of what a relationship with God looks like and what it feels like going about my every day with God is very comforting and very relieving,” said Mazza-Hilway.
Guy said she learned some practical ways to live a deeper life.
“I feel I’ve been given a lot of tools to carry out my faith and carry out my devotion,” she said. “All the things you do – going to Mass, praying the rosary – I feel like that really means a lot to me,” she said. “It’s not just going through the motions… It’s a whole experience, honoring God with all of those traditions.”
Guides for the journey
Leading the sessions were parishioners Bill and Carey Wyatt. Both are experienced in faith formation and campus ministry from previous work at Blessed Sacrament and James Madison University in Harrisonburg.
“They’re just a great group and so faithful, all the different personalities, but all so courageously faithful,” said Carey of the cadets.
“There’ve been plenty of questions over the course of the year where we didn’t really know the answer, so we went and found it,” said Bill, who is VMI’s director of communications and marketing. “Just to sit around and talk about our faith and share that in a way that is personal and hopefully applicable to their lives, it’s something that helps us grow in our faith as well.”
Some of those questions focused on the role of women in the Church.
“They had all kinds of pre-conceived notions about what Catholics thought,” Carey said. “And it was fun to explain to them what the Church actually thinks about women and how much the Church reveres women, and they were just so pleasantly surprised by that.”
‘God’s plan’
The Wyatts are hoping the cadets will take part in Bible study and continuing education in their faith; the cadets appear more than willing.
“It really felt like there was something missing before coming back to the Church,” said Lightfoot. “It’s absolutely one of the most valuable things I’ve done so far in my life.”
“I think a lot of people in our generation get very lonely, very easily,” said Minear. “Having God in your life, not only the Catholic Church but any church, believing in God, believing in someone higher, gives you someone to talk to when you’re alone.”
“On Sundays, coming here and being able to get down on my knees and praise God and then going about my day after that is refreshing. It’s relieving,” Mazza-Hilway said.
“It reminds me that I have a bigger purpose than everything that I’m doing now,” said Guy. “All the menial and stressful things in my life, they’re all for a reason because God has a plan.”
As they recessed from the vigil to meet family and friends, the new Catholics and their sponsors easily fell in step. Father Migač has no doubt he’ll be seeing them at liturgies quite often.
“We are very blessed at St. Patrick’s to have an amazing core of cadets and students…who truly live their faith in Christ,” he said. “Faith of our cadets and students is truly an inspiration for me and St. Patrick’s parishioners!”