Rite move for Adelaide mum
People
After a faith journey spanning several years and different continents, Elizabeth Reed is feeling a sense of “peace and contentment” as she prepares to be received into the Catholic Church at next week’s Easter Vigil.
A total of 30 candidates from eight parishes in the Adelaide Archdiocese will receive the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Communion on Holy Saturday in their local parishes.
For Elizabeth, the decision to sign up for the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) process last year was a long time in the making.
Born in Kingston SE and moving to Adelaide at the age of four, the now lawyer and mother of two laughed that she was “raised on the breast of atheism” and had “no religious education” during her formative years.
After attending Unley High, Elizabeth studied law at Adelaide University, moving to Canberra in 2010 to work as a lawyer in the public service. She met her husband in Canberra and his work in the airforce has taken them to postings in Darwin, Canberra, Hawaii and now Adelaide.
It was during her time in the United States that she started to look more closely at her beliefs and through reading and listening to podcasts was exposed to the “incredible wisdom in the Bible”. Hearing US Bishop Robert Barron’s recital of the three rosaries on his YouTube channel provided the first “real spiritual awakening”.
“I listen to that and I feel good. It certainly resonates with me,” she said.
“It’s been a very slow evolution, it hasn’t been like I’ve been struck by lightning and no saint has come in a dream to me.
“I believe there is a creator both in logic and faith and everything else for me flows from that belief.”
Drawn to Catholic teaching and now a mum to two-year-old twin girls, Elizabeth said she was looking forward to raising her daughters in the Catholic faith alongside her husband, who is also a Catholic and her sponsor in the RCIA process.
“I wasn’t raised a Catholic, I wasn’t raised a Christian and I have a very superficial understanding of the Catholic faith – I’ve probably read only 20 per cent of the Bible – so I will learn with them,” she said.
“It gives me peace and contentment as I think about becoming a Catholic and I am excited about having Communion for the first time.
“At one of our Masses I had a real welling up of emotion seeing people standing up and going for Communion and how beautiful and special that is.”
RCIA coordinator Kathy Horan said the Easter Vigil is considered the “high point” of Christian life and is a special time for those receiving the sacraments for the first time.
“The presence in the midst of parishes of candidates seeking to become members of the Church is a wonderful gift to the parish and we look forward to welcoming and acknowledging these new members at Easter time,” she said.
“In the time following Easter they will continue to reflect on what it means to be Catholic and to identify with the risen Lord, the beginning of the next stage of their journey within the community.”
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