Mother Joins Her Children: Second Year Of Baptisms Highlights St. Mary's Easter Vigil Mass

ALTON - In a special Easter Vigil baptism at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Lucy Hendrix, the mother of Isabelle and Jack Droste, joined them as part of the Catholic faith.

For St. Mary's parishioners, it was very moving and it was standing room only for the ceremony and the Saturday Mass.

Isabelle and Jack joined the church in 2021 and now Lucy is also a member. Isabelle was Lucy's baptism sponsor.

Hendrix was very appreciative of Father Paul Nguyen for his guidance in bringing her and her children to the church.

"Father Paul has been leading us on this path for a year or two," she said. "Isabelle and Jack have been encouraging me. I've been going with them to Mass, and I wanted that for myself. I am really excited that I will be able to fully participate in the Catholic religion with them."

A total of 106 people in 50 Catholic Churches in the Springfield Diocese received baptisms this Easter.

Carolyn Simansky has been an ardent volunteer and parishioner for St. Mary's Catholic Church for many years. Since 2000, she coordinated RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) in the church.

Simansky said it was beautiful to see the mother of the two children receive their Catholic sacraments for the first time.

"The mom was moved by it last year and she knows how much it means to her children," Simansky added. "She and the two children are nice, sweet people, that anyone would love to know. We now have another mother thinking about becoming Catholic after seeing this. This happens a lot in our church, where a family member becomes Catholic, then other family members are inspired to follow them."

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