JAMAICA ESTATES — Angela Peguero said she has always enjoyed attending Mass at Holy Cross Church in Flatbush with her husband, Geoff Smith, even though she knew something was missing. 

While she enjoyed many aspects of the Mass — the prayers, the hymns, and the priest’s homily —  she realized that her experience was somewhat tempered by the fact that, as a non-Catholic, she could not receive the Eucharistic.

“I think I’ve always been seeking God, and I appreciated the traditions of Catholicism,” said Peguero, an adult education teacher at the Brooklyn Public Library. “My husband was born and raised Catholic, and his father sings in the choir in his church. Every time we would go for Christmas Mass, I would be like, ‘Huh?’ and then I think I just got closer and closer and wanted to know more.”

Over time, that initial curiosity grew into a desire to join the Catholic faith. 

Peguero took a major step toward that goal on March 9, as she was one of hundreds of people who participated in the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Rite of Election at Immaculate Conception Church in Jamaica Estates.

The Rite of Election is a service held on the first Sunday of Lent for those who are completing their studies through the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA) programs at their individual parishes and who are on track to be baptized at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. 

The Rite of Election brings people from the different parishes together so that Bishop Robert Brennan can formally accept them into the faith. The service signifies that the Church has officially chosen or elected people to be baptized into the faith at the Easter Vigil.

Known as catechumens, those participating in the service are people who have never been baptized before in any religion and are making a conscious decision to join the Catholic faith. The Rite of Election also signals their official change in status from being catechumens to being elected. 

The Easter Vigil this year will take place at parishes on Holy Saturday, April 19.

According to the Office of the Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis, there were 693 catechumens this year in the Diocese of Brooklyn. Of these, 454 were from Queens, including 333 adults and 121 children. Brooklyn was represented by 239 catechumens, including 205 adults and 34 children.

Due to the large number of catechumens, the diocese hosted two separate Rite of Election services on March 9, with Bishop Brennan presiding over both services at Immaculate Conception Church. 

Bishop Brennan told The Tablet before the service for the Brooklyn catechumens that his best advice to the newcomers is to be joyful. 

“This is a great moment. We are entering into this holy season, leading them to baptism,” he said, adding he would tell the catechumens, “Let the love of Christ settle in your heart and let that bring you hope and joy.”

One highlight of the service was when Joann Roa, the diocese’s director of Adult Faith Formation, called each parish’s group of catechumens up to the altar, where Bishop Brennan asked them if they intended to live according to the Catholic faith.

They responded yes in unison. Roa then asked each of the parish faith formation directors to approach the altar with their Book of the Elect — the official book containing the names of the people to be baptized.

The catechumens all had different reasons for wanting to join the faith.

Bernardo Mendez, a construction worker who came to the United States from his native Mexico at age 18, said he wanted to honor the memory of his late parents, Miguel and Luz Mendez, who both died when he was a boy.

He said that since they did not get the chance to baptize him, he wants to fulfill their wishes.

“I want to make them proud of me,” Mendez said. 

Mendez, who attends Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Sunset Park, came to the Rite of Election with his wife, Leovigilda Vivar, and their three children: Juana, Eduardo, and Jacqueline. 

He said he looks forward to the Easter Vigil. 

“I think I will feel happy because I will be closer to God,” Mendez said. 

Peguero said she also looks forward to the Easter Vigil. 

“I’m excited to be a student — to know more, and I’ve always loved seeing people take the Eucharist,” she said, adding that she thinks Jesus Christ is giving her a sense of personal peace. “I always thought, ‘I want to be able to do that,’ and now, I’ll be able to.” 

Bishop Brennan said new Catholics can serve as an inspiration to lifelong Catholics. 

“We see people choosing faith, and we can use that sense of faith that’s within each one of us,” Bishop Brennan said. “For a lot of us, it was part of who we always were. It’s easy enough to take it for granted, but seeing people choose faith makes us stop and think and appreciate it more.”