CHICAGO (February 4, 2005) -- More than 1,400 adults in Cook and Lake Counties who plan to formally enter or be received into the Roman Catholic Church this Easter will participate in one of five Rite of Election liturgies that will be held this Sunday and on all the Sundays in February at Holy Name Cathedral, State and Superior streets.

The first Rite of Election liturgy will be held this Sunday, February 6, at 2:30 p.m. Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, will preside at a Rite of Election liturgy at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 20.

Within the extended period of formation and guidance known in the Catholic Church as the Catechumenate, the celebration of the Rite of Election marks the beginning of the final period of intense preparation for the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. These sacraments will be conferred and the new members welcomed into the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil (Holy Saturday) services on March 26, 2005, in archdiocesan parishes.

The adults planning to enter the Catholic Church at local parishes on March 26 at the Easter Vigil (Holy Saturday) will be called forth during each Rite of Election liturgy to stand at the Cathedral altar. The adults are described as catechumens if they have never been baptized; and as candidates if they are baptized non-Catholics or already-baptized Catholics who are in need of completing the sacraments of initiation (Eucharist and Confirmation).

Rite of Election Liturgies will be held at Holy Name Cathedral on:

• Sunday, February 6:
  at 2:30 p.m.: Auxiliary Bishop Jerome Listecki will preside.
• Sunday, February 13:
  at 2:30 p.m.: Auxiliary Bishop Francis Kane will preside.
  at 7:30 p.m.: Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry will preside.
• Sunday, February 20:
  at 2:30 p.m.: Cardinal George will preside.
  at 7:30 p.m.: Auxiliary Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, M.SP.S., will preside.