Astonishing Variety of People Joining Catholic Church this Easter

Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

US Catholic Church Finds Astonishing Variety of People Joining this Easter - U.S. - Catholic Online

The following excerpt is from Catholic Online:

WASHINGTON, DC (CNA) - A Muslim, a family of seven, a marine, a former abortion clinic administrator - these are just a few of the many faces of people from around the country who are slated to join the Catholic Church at Easter.

The U.S. bishops' conference recently profiled a handful of unique stories from individuals in different states, each of whom will be either baptized or confirmed during the Church's universal celebration of the Easter Vigil on April 24.

Although the numbers are still trickling in for this year, the conference reported that in 2010, there were over 43,000 adult baptisms in the U.S. and more than 75,000 people received into full communion with the Church.

Soon-to-be baptized New Orleans resident Ahdija Cheumbike Baker was raised a Muslim. The daughter of a Detroit man and a Tanzanian woman, Baker is one of the 282 catechumens and candidates that the Catholic Church in New Orleans will be welcoming at Easter.

Baker said that she struggled with some of her Muslim beliefs throughout her life and that ultimately, the "love of the Lord" as well as a love interest drove her to start attending a local Catholic church, St. Peter Claver.

Eighteen year-old Kalene Laforest is a Marine and feels compelled to join the Catholic Church before going on assignment in June. A catechumen at St. Peter's Church in LaGrange, Georgia, LaForest said that she wanted a faith with depth, history, deep spirituality, tradition, and "no all-over-the-place craziness." She is among 1,912 who will join the Catholic Church in the Atlanta archdiocese this year.

Across the U.S. in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, a family of seven will be welcomed into the Church. James and Michelle House, who are parishioners at St. Catherine of Siena Parish, will come into full communion at the Easter Vigil. In the following week, infant David, 2 months old, will be baptized, while his siblings Kristina, James, Alexandra and Joseph will be received into the Church.

Michelle House said the family, who are former Episcopalians, found a welcoming community at St. Catherine's when they moved to northern California.

In Austin, Texas, Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director and author of the bestselling book "Unplanned," is getting ready to enter the Catholic Church.

Due to a personnel shortage at the abortion clinic she used to work in, she was called in to assist in an ultrasound-guided abortion for the first time in September 2009.

The next few minutes changed Johnson's life irrevocably, as she watched the 13 week-old baby -whom she had believed to be incapable of feeling anything- squirming and twisting to avoid the tube into which it would be vacuumed.

Shocked by what she had seen, Johnson still initially continued her work running the clinic and promoting its work. Just a few weeks later, however, she was in the nearby office of the Coalition For Life, telling its director Shawn Carney that she could no longer continue helping women have abortions.

Johnson and her husband have grown in their faith during the past year, and are now preparing to enter the Catholic Church.

Read more: Variety of People Joining Catholic Church this Easter

Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen

YouTube Video 

Review by Loci B. Lenar

Shannon Attaway, director of home media production at Zeitgeist Films has sent me a screeners copy of 'Vision' before its public debut in the USA. I am grateful for her kindness in supplying me with a copy of the movie.  Produced in Germany by Zeitgeist Films, Vision was originally released in 2009, but now is available to purchase in a DVD format with English subtitles for the U.S. market beginning on April 19th.

Not knowing what to expect from this attention-grabbing film, I sat down on my living room couch and watched the movie for the entire 110 minutes without flinching an eye.  My usual routine is to consume some snacks and drink beverages to counter my restlessness when watching TV or a movie.  However, I was totally absorbed in this fascinating film for the entire time!

Director Margarethe von Trotta has captured the spiritual journey of Hildegard von Bingen in an upfront and poignant film about the 12th-century Benedictine nun and mystic, portrayed with a powerful performance by actress Barbara Sukowa. The movie provides insight into Hildegard von Bingen's remarkable life including her straightforward approach and skill in challenging superiors to make changes as a result of her visions and messages that she said were from God.

Vision is categorically a thought provoking film of intensity with an impressionable account of Hildegard's Christian faith that a general audience will find interesting!

Image Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films

Zeitgeist Films: Vision - From the life of Hildegard von Bingen



Vision - Official U.S. Trailer

The following excerpts are courtesy of Zeitgeist Films:

About the Film:

Hildegard von Bingen was truly a woman ahead of her time. A visionary in every sense of the word, this famed Benedictine nun was a Christian mystic, composer, philosopher, playwright, poet, naturalist, scientist, physician, herbalist and ecological activist.

In Vision, New German Cinema auteur Margarethe von Trotta (Marianne and Juliane, Rosa Luxemburg, Rosenstrasse) reunites with recurrent star Barbara Sukowa (Zentropa, Berlin Alexanderplatz) to bring the story of this extraordinary woman to life. Sukowa portrays von Bingen’s fierce determination to expand the responsibilities of women within the order. Vision is a profoundly inspirational portrait of a woman who has emerged from the shadows of history as a forward-thinking and iconoclastic pioneer of faith and change.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

A child of a wealthy German family, Hildegard is handed over to a Benedictine Monastery at the age of 8. Taught in the arts of herbal medicine, reading and writing by her mentor Jutta von Sponheim, she quickly excels in all. When Jutta dies, Hildegard is horrified by evidence of self-flagellation on her body and vows to change the ways of the order.

Hildegard becomes the abbess of the convent and by subtly using her intelligence and diplomacy begins to change the laws from the highest level. Since childhood she has had powerful visions that she records. Certain that these mystic perceptions are messages from God, she mentions them to her superior, without fear of the obvious scepticism and suspicion of heresy from the Christian order. The Pope grants her his support and allows her to publish the written accounts of her revelations. With this, Hildegard’s life takes a new turn. Allowed to build her own convent—the monastery of Saint Rupertsberg at Bingen—she invents a revolutionary and humanist approach to devotion.

About Hildegard

Born nearly 1000 years ago, Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) remains a popular figure to this day. A polymath ahead of her time who was at once spiritual and practical, von Bingen challenged Church rules and founded two convents. She was a visionary and modern theologian who, at age 60, explained the lunar eclipse not as a divine occurrence, but rather from a scientific viewpoint. With a keen mind, von Bingen was someone who believed in a positive image of humanity. Centuries later, masters such as Dante and Leonardo di Vinci were inspired by her works. Hildegard von Bingen was one the most important inspirational and visionary female leaders of the Medieval age, responsible for bringing Europe out of the darkness and into the modern era of science and enlightenment. In 1233, Pope Gregor IX initiated the process of canonizing her but for formal reasons the canonization was never completed. Regardless, Hildegard von Bingen has continued to acquire an ever-expanding faction of admirers worldwide.

Read more: Zeitgeist Films