Sophomore Stephen Porritt receiving the Sacrament of Baptism during the RCIA ceremony held on April 10.
“I had a difficult time freshman year acclimating to social life and challenging classes,” recalls sophomore psychology major Jenna Moscarelli. “I struggled to find a place where I really felt at home.”
Moscarelli would eventually find solace in the Catholic Masses held on campus. She explains that attending them provided her with feelings of love and eventually a relationship with God that she may have never found. “The Catholic Church truly became the rock I used to ground myself during such a hectic time in my life,” she says.
After regularly attending the liturgies throughout her freshman year, Moscarelli decided to officially join the Catholic Church through the RCIA, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults offered through the Office of Campus Ministry.
Earlier this month, she was one of nine undergraduate and graduate students who received the sacraments of initiation into the Catholic Church at a Mass in the Lannon Chapel of St. Ignatius Church.
Each of the students had participated in the RCIA, which results in full membership in the Church through the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist.
On Sunday, April 10, Moscarelli, along with sophomore classmates Zoe Bosenberg and Stephen Porritt, freshmen John Kiefer, Bryan Lee, and Jennifer Pema and graduate student Ryan Brown, received the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and First Eucharist at Campus Ministry's 9 p.m. Mass, with Rev. Don MacMillan, S.J., presiding.
Receiving the sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist at the same Mass were freshmen Kelsey Kopazna and senior Travis Jeke.
Moscarelli, who has recently added a minor in theology, thanks one of the first friends she made at Boston College for bringing her to her first Mass. That same friend acted as Moscarelli’s sponsor earlier this month.
“I loved my experience with the RCIA program,” says Moscarelli. “Now at Catholic Masses I feel much more connected to the entire BC community, especially as I am able to receive the body and blood of Christ alongside the rest of the Catholic population.”
For more information about RCIA process, visit the Office of Campus Ministry’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.
By Siobhan Sullivan | News & Public Affairs