OCIA Coordinators’ Update: 3/06/2026
OCIA Scrutinies and the Period of Enlightenment
(Order of Christian Initiation of Adults)
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Our OCIA members preparing for Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist take part in the Scrutinies at Masses during the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent. They will gather this Sunday, March 8, and the following two Sundays, at the 11:15 am Mass. This marks their final stage of preparation for the Easter sacraments. It’s described as a time of purification and enlightenment.
Our Saint Clement Lenten Theme is “Fearless: Wrapped in His Mercy.” Lent is an invitation to walk honestly with God and with one another—to make room for prayer, repentance, healing, and hope. It is a season to lay down what binds us and to rediscover the courage that grows when we trust our lives more fully to Christ.
The Elect and our Candidates who are preparing for communion with the Catholic Church and the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist, are invited to live fearlessly in letting go of all that impedes living in communion with God. As Pope Leo XIV explained in his Lenten message to the Church, “Every path towards conversion begins by allowing the word of God to touch our hearts and welcoming it with a docile spirit.”
The Scrutinies remind the Elect, and each one of us, that we rely on God’s power to strengthen and heal us. The presider petitions Christ to send his Holy Spirit to support the conversion of their hearts so that they may come to know the Father in sincere faith and to follow the pathway of God’s Kingdom, which expresses itself in charity.
Our Lenten practices provide each of us opportunities to cultivate and strengthen our spiritual lives, already joined to Christ. We deepen our baptismal calling to live united with God in Christ. Please hold our Elect, Candidates and their sponsors in your prayers.
Registration for our Spring – Fall OCIA will open in mid-March. Please email Ed Harasim, our OCIA Coordinator, eharasim@clement.org, for further information on the process of joining the Church or completing your sacraments of initiation through Confirmation and/or First Communion.
- Fr. Radley Alcantara and Ed Harasim
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