Easter Vigil

[Cobbfmly]

In the past our parish has had one Easter Vigil mass in English followed by one in Spanish. Typically we would have about a dozen English speaking adult candidates/catacumuns. I do not know how many Spanish speaking candidate/catacumuns we typically have.

Older children (7 to 17 yrs old) were baptized throughout the year after one on one instruction with the director of religious education and received the rest of their sacraments through the religious education program.

This year we have 35 English speaking adult candidates/catacumuns. We also implemented RCIC for unbaptized older children. We have 80 children in RCIC this year. I do not know how many Spanish speaking candidates/catacumuns we have this year.

I was wondering what other parishes, esp. multi-lingual parishes, have done to keep the Easter Vigil managable when they have had over 100 candidates/catacumuns?

Beth

(P.S. We also have about a dozen adults in the Remembering Church program.)

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

In the past our parish has had one Easter Vigil mass in English followed by one in Spanish. Typically we would have about a dozen English speaking adult candidates/catacumuns. I do not know how many Spanish speaking candidate/catacumuns we typically have.

Older children (7 to 17 yrs old) were baptized throughout the year after one on one instruction with the director of religious education and received the rest of their sacraments through the religious education program.

This year we have 35 English speaking adult candidates/catacumuns. We also implemented RCIC for unbaptized older children. We have 80 children in RCIC this year. I do not know how many Spanish speaking candidates/catacumuns we have this year.

I was wondering what other parishes, esp. multi-lingual parishes, have done to keep the Easter Vigil managable when they have had over 100 candidates/catacumuns?

Beth

(P.S. We also have about a dozen adults in the Remembering Church program.)

The first step would be to insure that ONLY Catechumens are Baptized and received at the Easter Vigil. Candidates can be received at another time after or just before Easter. English and Hispanic within their own communities.

The Easter Vigil should only be one Easter Vigil with Bi-lingual readings and prayers. But again only Catechumens are received at the Easter Vigil.

Childen over that age of reason (about 7 Yr’s old) should always be Baptized, Confirmed and receive their First Holy Communion at the same time. It is very improper and goes against the Canons on reception in RCIA. There is no such thing by the way as RCIC, you will not find that in any Church document. It is an RCIA process geared towards their age, yes. The RCIC would actullly the Rite of Baptism of Infants.

 

[Cobbfmly]

Thank you for your response. Even if we just receive catechumens at the Easter Vigil, we are looking at over 80 people (all the children in RCIA geared to children are catechumens) being received. This many will make for an extremely long mass for the children to sit still through (not to mention their younger siblings).

Also, with about 3,000 families in our parish, neither our church (holds about 800) or our community center (holds about 1,000) can handle the number of people that would attend a bi-lingual Easter Vigil. That is why we have two Easter Vigils.

 

[Andruschak]

The first step would be to insure that ONLY Catechumens are Baptized and received at the Easter Vigil. Candidates can be received at another time after or just before Easter. English and Hispanic within their own communities.

The Easter Vigil should only be one Easter Vigil with Bi-lingual readings and prayers. But again only Catechumens are received at the Easter Vigil.

I do wish it would happen that way, but this RCIA Candidate is getting the Confirmation and First Eucherest at the Easter Vigil. Although the Church does have masses in Spanish, there seems to be only ONE Easter Vigil scheduled.

I work swing shift at the Post Office, so will be taking three days of vacation for the TRIDUUM.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Thank you for your response. Even if we just receive catechumens at the Easter Vigil, we are looking at over 80 people (all the children in RCIA geared to children are catechumens) being received. This many will make for an extremely long mass for the children to sit still through (not to mention their younger siblings).

Also, with about 3,000 families in our parish, neither our church (holds about 800) or our community center (holds about 1,000) can handle the number of people that would attend a bi-lingual Easter Vigil. That is why we have two Easter Vigils.

Properly there can only be ONE Easter vigil. A parish only has one paschal candle to bless. You cannot bless the fire, the paschal candle, the Baptismal water a second time. The only option is a bilingual Vigil Mass. Cut down the number of readings to the minimum allowed. And let everyone know that the Easter Vigil will be 3 to 4 hours. 80 people is not an impossibility. Extra priests may need to be asked to join in the Confirmations, along with Deacons for the Baptisms. Keep the Candidates Reception into full union with the Church until after Easter or during Lent or when the Bishop comes around usually in the Spring.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Properly there can only be ONE Easter vigil. A parish only has one paschal candle to bless. You cannot bless the fire, the paschal candle, the Baptismal water a second time. The only option is a bilingual Vigil Mass. Cut down the number of readings to the minimum allowed. And let everyone know that the Easter Vigil will be 3 to 4 hours. 80 people is not an impossibility. Extra priests may need to be asked to join in the Confirmations, along with Deacons for the Baptisms. Keep the Candidates Reception into full union with the Church until after Easter or during Lent or when the Bishop comes around usually in the Spring.

Check this, but I think that it is required that the same priest do both the baptism and Confirmation of a particular person. This would seem to exclude the deacons from baptizing.

 

[st_ignatius110]

I was wondering what other parishes, esp. multi-lingual parishes, have done to keep the Easter Vigil managable when they have had over 100 candidates/catacumuns?

Beth

We have a bi-lingual service. Everything is done in spanish and english. Our service also lasts about 4 hours. However, it is so worth it. I love our Easter vigil.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Check this, but I think that it is required that the same priest do both the baptism and Confirmation of a particular person. This would seem to exclude the deacons from baptizing.

OK, this may require that each priest has his own specific group of Catechumens, and they should not be mixed up after Baptism. To the extent allowed by law they may need to get all the help they can get.

 

[puzzleannie]

In the past our parish has had one Easter Vigil mass in English followed by one in Spanish. Typically we would have about a dozen English speaking adult candidates/catacumuns. I do not know how many Spanish speaking candidate/catacumuns we typically have.
.)

there is by definition only one Easter Vigil for the parish. The second celebration is one of the Masses for Easter, no matter what time of day or in what language it is celebrated. Certainly baptisms can be done at any of the Easter Masses (we usually have some infants at the Easter Sunday morning masses).

We do have some parishes with a large number of catechumens, they usually celebrate at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos (our cathedral church is very small) which is large and centrally located.

An option would be to receive the adults at the Easter Vigil, and make the service bilingual (which is what most parishes do here), and receive the children at the various Masses on Sunday morning, keeping the readings down to 3. The lighting of the fire etc. is only done once for the vigil, but the sacraments of initiation can be celebrated during each or any of the Sunday Masses. Bear in mind that if you have10 or so candidates at each Mass they masses will run late, so educate the parish on what to expect.

With your bishop’s permission, if this year you have an exceptionally large number of candidates, you could have another Mass on Easter Sunday after the regular schedule.

The only reason not to receive everyone at the vigil is space, I presume.

the only time I could see having two “vigils” is in a parish that is actually 2 in 1–we had a couple in the Youngstown diocese–where an English speaking parish shared a church building, grounds and facilities with a Spanish speaking parish, and staggered their Masses, RCIA etc. to accommodate everyone. they had separate priests etc.

I will wait for the real deal from BroSFO but that is my take on it.

 

[puzzleannie]

sorry I got interrupted while typing and others posted before me, most with more complete answers than mine.

80 is not unmanageable if you limit seating to parents and sponsors only, which goes against the grain, but may have to be done. Confirmation for 60 youth in our parish typically takes about 15 min for the actual rite and anointing, the baptisms will take the longest. For this group, probably pouring rather than immersion would be most practical. Two or three priests would certainly help, and if the neophytes do not have to dress in dry clothing after baptism, they can be confirmed immediately by the same priest who baptizes.

we routinely do 60-80 baptisms of infants several times a year, so it could be done. Deacons may not baptize at the Easter Vigil.

you will have to work out traffic flow and logistics with everyone involved in the liturgy.

can you imagine the immense blessings of the Church if we all had to contend with this “problem” each year of “too many candidates” wow, thank you, Holy Spirit.

 

[Cobbfmly]

Thank you to everyone for their feedback.

We will have 90 English speaking catechumens and candidates tomorrow night.

I determined that our parish has two paschal candles. One is for the parish church, which will be used at the English vigil and the other is for our mission church, which will be used at the Spanish vigil (no vigil is held at the mission church). This is how we are able to have two vigil masses.

 

[puzzleannie]

Thank you to everyone for their feedback.

We will have 90 English speaking catechumens and candidates tomorrow night.

I determined that our parish has two paschal candles. One is for the parish church, which will be used at the English vigil and the other is for our mission church, which will be used at the Spanish vigil (no vigil is held at the mission church). This is how we are able to have two vigil masses.

that works, but it also depends on how many priests, one priest is going to be bushed, I hope he has help. Here the pastor with one or more missions does the vigil usually at the parish church, then goes to the mission chapels on Sunday. yes, the mission can have their own paschal candle, especially if baptisms of infants during the year will be done there.

 

[Cobbfmly]

It will most likely be one priest and one deacon unless another parish loans us a priest. Our other English speaking priest (newly ordained) had to return to the Philippines until some visa issues related to him no longer being a student were resolved. The issues have been resolved and he is now in the process of returning.

 

[abb]

Our parish only had five catechumens this year for Easter Vigil. Talk about feeling humble. We had the Mass said in English then directly following the English the priest would do Spanish, sometimes he would do Spanish first, then English. We had one Spanish catechumen, but she also spoke English so the sacramentals were all done in English.

 

[Cobbfmly]

Our parish only had five catechumens this year for Easter Vigil. Talk about feeling humble. We had the Mass said in English then directly following the English the priest would do Spanish, sometimes he would do Spanish first, then English. We had one Spanish catechumen, but she also spoke English so the sacramentals were all done in English.

Five is a fine number of catechumens.

Typically, in our parish of 3,000 families (only parish in a semi-rural city of 50,000 people of which about 25% identify themselves as Catholic), we have 12 English speaking adult catechumens and candidates. This year is the first year we are including English speaking children in RCIA (started with 80 children) and there were three times as many adults (started with 35 adults) as in the past. I don’t know how many of the remaining 90 catechumens and candidates are adults and how many are children.

I do not know how many Spanish speaking catechumens and candidates we have.