eChurch Blog

As is traditional on the first Saturday of Lent, today I underwent the ‘Rite of Election’ at the 60′s style Clifton Cathedral in Bristol.

Clifton Cathedral is the Catholic mother church of the Diocese of Clifton, [Sounds like a spacecraft and looks like a spacecraft] covering a large area including: the counties of North Somerset, Bath, North and South Gloucester, Wiltshire, South Somerset, and the City and County of Bristol.

For those of you who don’t know, the Rite of Election is a celebration of the journey toward being received into full communion with the Catholic Church.

I underwent the Combined Right as a ‘Candidate’ which is for those folk who have already undergone a recognised trinitarian baptism, such as I have, within the Anglican tradition.

Interestingly, this group was by far the largest going through the Rite of Election today, with some 91 candidates by my count.

The second largest group (53 by my count) were the Catechumens, which are those seeking baptism as well as confirmation and first communion.

Much to my surprise, there was also an Ordinariate group – comprising 32 by my count – which is those seeking to swim the Tiber and join in full Catholic communion from Anglicanism.

Members of each group had their name called out and then proceeded to the front to sign their name in the ‘Book of the Elect’ and to be met and greeted by the Bishop.

In my mind the ‘Book of the Elect’ echoed the ‘Book of Life’ referenced in Revelation and elsewhere. I did ask a couple of priests who were round and about, but they couldn’t verify if this were so. If anyone can offer clarification on this point I’d be most interested.

All in all it was a lovely service, albeit rather long with the number of folk participating in the rite, but one can’t complain at that. For me personally, I’m rather emotionally flat right now and at times not really in the room, but it was still a thoroughly edifying experience.

Although it’s interesting to note the large size of the ‘candidates’ group, for many, the more poignant and emotionally rewarding sight were the 53 Catechumen seeking believer’s baptism.

All of this is leading up to the Easter Vigil, in which I will be formally received into the Catholic Church, confirmed, and take first communion – God willing. The Catechumen will additionally undergo baptism.

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Tags: Christian Life, Church Life

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 12th, 2011 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Webmaster's Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.