By Currents News and Paula Katinas
Almost 700 soon-to-be Catholics from Brooklyn and Queens took a big step in their faith journey by taking part in the Rite of Election on Sunday, March 9 — a time-honored tradition that takes place annually on the first Sunday of Lent. The Rite of Election signifies that those who are to be baptized — called catechumens — have been chosen, or elected, by the Church. Amanda Dennison, who is among the newly elected, will not only be undergoing the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil at Blessed Sacrament Church in East Elmhurst on Holy Saturday, but she will return to the church a week later to get married.
Dennison and her husband, Jonathan Guaman, were married in a civil ceremony last year and are looking forward to their church wedding. Guaman, a lifelong Catholic, and Dennison met while attending Flushing High School.
Dennison is in the unique position of taking pre-Cana marriage prep classes at Blessed Sacrament while also taking part in the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults program.
Calling her husband “my best friend,” Dennison said he has been a pillar of support as she prepares for the baptism, holy Eucharist, and Confirmation.
“I can’t imagine, to be honest, doing this without him. He’s really been there for me through everything, supporting me, talking me through things, encouraging me, praying for me,” she said. “I’m so grateful to God that he put him in my life because I feel like God really knew who I needed and he matched us up in that way.”
The Dennisons plan to “put God at the center of our marriage,” she added.
Dennison said she is also joining the Catholic Church to fulfill her spiritual needs. She grew up in a Pentecostal household with parents who were Sunday school teachers.
“I had a really strong foundation, but as I got older, I had Catholic friends and I would get invited to different sacraments for confirmation and things like that. So as an adult, I started to question my tradition,” she said, noting what the Catholic faith offers.
“Compared to my Pentecostal background, the faith is there, but we are missing pieces. So for me, coming into Catholicism, it was like I had a puzzle and pieces were missing,” she added. “But then once I started to understand the Catholic faith, I was able to take the puzzles that I had with the missing pieces and use the knowledge that I had from Catholicism to fit in all those missing pieces.”
“That is the reason why I would love to become Catholic,” she continued, “because I really want to fulfill God’s will for my life and the purpose and the plan that he has for my life.”