PROSPECT HEIGHTS — David Flowers, who recently retired after a 20-year career in the U.S. Air Force, said serving in the military isn’t an easy life. “I saw a lot of things, very painful, very difficult,” he said. “I can see the worst of human nature in a lot of ways.”
And for most of his life, Flowers had no religious belief to sustain him. “It’s hard to explain because most of my life, I really didn’t believe in anything at all,” he admitted. “I considered myself an atheist.”
But that all changed on April 19, when he was baptized into the Catholic faith by Bishop Robert Brennan during the Easter Vigil at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph.
Flowers’ faith journey began when he started reading about Catholicism to gain a deeper understanding of the faith.
“Only in the past couple of years, talking to people and reading a lot of Pope Francis, especially, I realized that when I didn’t believe, I didn’t really understand who Jesus Christ was at all,” he said. “But as I came to know and understand Jesus Christ more and the comfort he can give to you, how he can forgive you, I wanted to be baptized into this church.”
Flowers was one of five people Bishop Brennan baptized at the vigil. Five others who had previously been baptized but had not received the other Sacraments of Initiation — Communion and confirmation — received them that night.
“It’s good to see people making a conscious decision toward their faith to say, ‘Yes, I really believe this. Yes, I really want to be part of this. I want to live my life in accordance with the Gospel in union with the Lord Jesus,’ ” Bishop Brennan told The Tablet prior to the vigil.
The Easter Vigil — the liturgy marking the transition from the darkness of Christ’s death on Good Friday to his resurrection on Easter Sunday — begins in a darkened church. But just as Christ, through his resurrection, brought light to a darkened world, light did come to the co-cathedral.
Bishop Brennan lit the paschal candle at the start of the vigil, and from that candle, smaller candles held by each one of the hundreds of people in the pews were lit, and within moments, the co-cathedral was bathed in candlelight.
By tradition, the Easter Vigil is also a time when people who are joining the Catholic faith are baptized and others receive the other sacraments.
Max Racine, an actor, was there to be confirmed. He was baptized many years ago but was not particularly religious.
However, as he thought about all of the blessings in his life, he wanted to find a way to express his gratitude and decided the best way to do that was to get closer to his Catholic faith. “I always believed in God, but I wanted to put more of a focus into giving gratitude and appreciation to why I’ve been blessed in my life,” he said.
The Easter Vigil was full of memorable moments — the lighting of the paschal candle, the procession into the darkened church, the reading from the Book of Genesis, the soaring music, the candlelight, and Bishop Brennan blessing the congregation by sprinkling the baptismal waters on everyone.
The sacraments that took place in the co-cathedral were also happening in churches all over the Diocese of Brooklyn.
The diocese said 693 people — 454 in Queens and 239 in Brooklyn — completed the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA) program this year and were baptized at Easter Vigils.
Bishop Brennan, who called the Easter Vigil “the night above all other nights,” said he was delighted to be welcoming so many newcomers.
“Hundreds of people are entering the church. We have some parishes with 40, 50, 60. There’s one, I believe, with 70 people coming into the church. So it is a very exciting night for the church here in Brooklyn and Queens, as it is for the church all around the world,” he said.
Father Christopher Heanue, rector of the co-cathedral, said the newly baptized are proof of the power of God.
“Each and every one of their stories are so touching and moving, how God sometimes whispers, sometimes God yells, sometimes God pulls us in directions,” he explained. “And it’s just so nice to see each and every one of these men and women come to their fulfillment in the Catholic Church.”