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Newlyweds Anne Mathews and Sriram Manivannan of St. Joseph Parish in Cockeysville were sponsor and catechumen, respectively, at the Rite of Election at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland March 1. (Paul McMullen/CR STaff)

Path to Catholic faith winds from India through Western Maryland to Cockeysville

March 2, 2020
By Paul McMullen
Filed Under: #IamCatholic, Feature, Local News, News

Archbishop William E. Lori addresses candidates during the Call to Continuing Conversion. (Paul McMullen/CR Staff)

It’s a not-so-familiar love story.

A boy raised Hindu in India moves to the United States, and meets a good Catholic girl with roots in Western Maryland through an online dating service. Her faith is woven into their courtship, which culminates in their being married Jan. 11 at St. Ann in Grantsville.

That was just the start of a year of monumental liturgies for Sriram Manivannan and Anne Mathews.

Husband and wife were catechumen and sponsor, respectively, at the Rite of Election at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland March 1. Come April 11, he will receive the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and first Communion during the Easter Vigil at St. Joseph in Cockeysville, their home parish.

That journey has involved what has become a shared passion.

Manivannan attended Mass as a first- and second-grader at a Catholic school in Chennai, a metropolis on the Bay of Bengal, but said he absorbed little about the faith. He attended high school, college and did his graduate work in chemical engineering here in the U.S. When he shared his interest in Catholicism with a co-worker, the response was, “that’s a lot of standing and kneeling,” but by then Manivannan knew there was much more to the faith than that, thanks to Mathews.

Ryoko Susukida of St. Ignatius in Baltimore brings names of the elect from the parish to Archbishop William E. Lori. (Paul McMullen/CR Staff)

She has roots in what are now Divine Mercy and Our Lady of the Mountains parishes, and graduated from Bishop Walsh School in Cumberland. Mathews was active in Catholic campus ministry at McDaniel College in Westminster, to the point where the concelebrants at their wedding included Father Matthew Gill, of the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., a friend from college days.

She carried her zeal into Baltimore Frassati Fellowship for young adults, and assorted volunteer efforts.

“I joked with her once,” Manivannan said, “and asked, ‘Are you trying to be a saint?’ She said, ‘Yes, that’s the goal.’ That’s a pretty high bar to live up to.”

He, in turn, keeps Mathews on her toes, as Manivannan has become a fan of the podcasts of Bishop Robert Barron, an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

“There’s not a single day goes by,” Mathews said, “when he doesn’t say, ‘Did you hear Bishop Barron?’”

Manivannan was among 121 catechumens and 234 candidates participating in the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion at the cathedral, where Archbishop William E. Lori presided. They represented more than half of the total who will be fully initiated or come into full communion with the church at the Easter Vigil, as 60 catechumens and 117 candidates took part in the rite at St. John Neumann in Annapolis, and 30 and 63, respectively, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg.

Iris Ayala holds Thiago, her 10-week-old son, during the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland March 1. They were seated in rows reserved for St. Clement I in Lansdowne. (Paul McMullen/CR Staff)

Catechumens have not been baptized in another Trinitarian faith tradition, and are preparing for the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and Eucharist. Candidates are those who have been baptized, and are preparing for the sacraments of confirmation and Eucharist.

At the cathedral, nearly one-third of candidates being called were from either Sacred Heart of Jesus/Sagrado Corazón de Jesús in Highlandtown, or the pastorate of Sacred Heart in Glyndon and St. Charles Borromeo in Pikesville, a Hispanic parish and faith community with a growing Hispanic presence, respectively.

To that end, Archbishop Lori repeated his homily, in Spanish.

 

Email Paul McMullen at pmcmullen@CatholicReview.org

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Paul McMullen

Paul McMullen, a resident of Austin, Texas, served as the managing editor of the Catholic Review from 2008 until his retirement in September 2021.

The author of two books, Paul has been involved in local media since age 12, when he began delivering The News American to 80 homes in his neighborhood. He began his journalism career with the Capital-Gazette Newspapers in Anne Arundel County, and spent more than 25 years as a sports writer for The Sun in Baltimore. His favorite writing assignments have included the Summer Olympics in Australia and Greece, the Archdiocese of Baltimore's response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and “Feet for Francis,” a 2015 walking pilgrimage from the Baltimore Basilica to Philadelphia to see Pope Francis.

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