Young family enters the Catholic Church together
By Catherine Sheehan
The entire Baker family—husband and wife Terry and Kirstin and their two-year-old son Jesse—had the enormous blessing of being baptised together and entering the Catholic Church as a family.
On Sunday 25 August the three family members were baptised at St Peter’s Church in New Norfolk by Parish Priest Fr Anthony Onyirioha, with Terry and Kirstin also receiving the sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation.
“It was a wonderful experience and something we felt very fortunate about, being able to experience Baptism as a family unit,” Terry said. “It was a very special day and we are grateful to have our close family and friends there to witness it.”
Kirstin said the “sense of community, forgiveness and belonging” had attracted them to the Catholic faith.
“Since having our first-born in 2021, during Covid lockdown, it was something we had given great thought to,” Terry said. “Kirstin’s father and all his family are all Catholic.”
“For us it wasn’t just about making the decision to have our son baptised Catholic,” Kirstin said. “It was our belief that we too needed to gain greater understanding of the Catholic faith, to make an informed decision and to support our son to build his knowledge, growth and understanding of the Catholic religion.”
Fr Anthony said it was the first time he had witnessed an entire family baptised together and that it had been a “really special” occasion for the entire parish community.
“I am really very proud to have witnessed such a big occasion,” Fr Anthony said.
“This is the first time a whole family has come along, which is remarkable,” he added. “It’s inspiring and encouraging. It gave me a bit of a boost as well.
“The faith is still there,” he added. “Regardless of all the concerns and the bad news and people not aligning to their faith anymore, there are still people who are very much interested and devoted and wish to explore more and to know and then belong to their faith.”
Terry and Kirstin described as “fantastic” the RCIA program they undertook over the past eight months guided by Fr Anthony.
“It provided us the opportunity to fill knowledge gaps and fully understand our commitment to enter the Catholic Church,” Terry said. “Fr Anthony made the process enjoyable and provided his full support. We were grateful to have him share his knowledge and honoured to have him as our priest on our big day.”
Kirstin said that receiving Holy Communion for the first time was something she and Terry would “remember vividly” for the rest of their lives.
“After attending Mass and witnessing others receive Holy Communion, we felt proud to be able to actively participate and receive Holy Communion with our Church members,” she said.
“We’d really like to take this opportunity to thank Fr Anthony. The Derwent Valley community are blessed to have him as the leader of the parish. We’d also like to thank the local St Peter’s Church members for being part of our special day and making us feel so welcome.”
