Across the diocese, children and adults of all ages and from various cultural backgrounds were received into the Catholic Church as new members during Easter Vigil Masses.
All of them have their own unique stories to tell about their journey into the Catholic Church.
During the Holy Saturday Mass on April 8 at Sunbury St. John Neumann Church, that diversity was on display in a small but profound way.
Among the individuals receiving the sacraments for the first time were Tommy Lee Diamond, an 18-year-old high school senior from Utica, and 16-year-old Queen Swen, who was born in Ghana and raised in Liberia before her family emigrated from west Africa to the United States when she was age 8.
Both received the sacraments of baptism, First Holy Communion and confirmation during the Mass celebrated by Father Dan Dury, the parish pastor.
Swen’s family had been Catholic but had become members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) while living in Africa.
In the years since coming to America, Swen said she felt drawn back to the Catholic faith and chose to be baptized (there was no record of her being baptized as a Catholic in Africa) and confirmed at the Easter Vigil Mass.
Diamond, a senior at Northridge High School, went to a Church of Christ preschool and attended a Baptist church as he grew older but had never been a member of a religious denomination until his girlfriend introduced him to the Catholic Church.
He began participating in various youth group activities and attending Mass before deciding to begin religious instruction last fall at St. John Neumann to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.
During the baptismal rite at the Easter Vigil, Diamond and the others to be baptized each stepped down into the baptistry while wearing a protective garment over their clothes before Father Dury poured holy water over their heads.
“Right before the Mass started, I was very nervous. I started shaking,” Diamond said. “But once we got around the baptismal pool, all that went away. And when I entered the pool, I felt overjoyed to be in there.”
Receiving communion after being confirmed “was really special for me because it was something I really wanted to be a part of for a long time – to be able to take communion,” he said. “And being able to receive it from Father (Dury) was even better.”
Tyler Berger, Diamond’s sponsor, said, “I’m honored to be his sponsor and am so proud of him – to see him go through this whole process with the youth group and the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation for Adults) team.”
Diamond’s parents, Amy and Terry, are not Catholic but they were “110 percent” supportive of their son entering the Church.
“Since he was younger, I’ve always known that he’s a child of God, just in everything he does,” Amy said. “He’s really just been looking for someplace that was ‘home,’ and now he’s found it. And I’m proud of him.”
