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Meet the St. Giles RCIA Candidates and Catechumen 2021

Year 2021

All the RCIA Candidates and Catechumen will celebrate their sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil on April 3.

Please pray for Gaby, Mauro, Elsa, and Anthony as they continue to grow in their faith journeys.

Gaby Rodriguez recently joined St. Giles Parish and the RCIA group. She works as a marketing manager and has three children. Her oldest son, Andrew is in the St. Giles catechesis program and her six-month-old baby joins her during Zoom RCIA classes. Gaby and her husband were born and raised in Chicago, and their parents are from Leon Guanajuato México. She does not have a middle name and it has been a tradition in her family to have women be named Maria after the Virgin Mary. Gaby is looking forward to receiving the sacrament of Confirmation and would like her Confirmation name to be Maria.

Mauro Medina, III, is 24 years old, and currently lives in Elmhurst, IL. He is an account manager for Schneider Transportation. After dating for five years, Mauro is recently engaged to Angela Lezza; they plan to be married at St. Giles in January 2022. Mauro enjoys watching scary movies and is a sports fanatic (Go Colts!). Additionally, he loves being surrounded with family and friends. Mauro was baptized Catholic and is excited to continue his faith journey at St. Giles with the reception of the sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation. He and Angela enjoy being a part of RCIA.

Elsa Flores is from Chicago. She has been a Visual Merchandiser and Marketing Stylist in the fashion industry for the past seven years and is a dog mom to two pups. Elsa’s fiancé, Rocky Chauca, introduced her to the Catholic faith, and brought her with him to St. Giles Parish about two years ago. They enjoyed the parish so much, they decided to begin attending Mass regularly and have enjoyed becoming part of the community at St. Giles. Elsa is participating in RCIA to receive all of her sacraments of initiation including Baptism! It’s really important for Elsa to practice habits that honor her body, mind and soul, and this catechism journey perfectly aligns with that. She is very excited to advance her relationship with God, and start her lifelong engagement with the catholic faith, as well as her marriage.

Anthony Ranieri is nine-years-old and in third grade at Lincoln Elementary in River Forest. He loves playing hockey, watching The Simpsons, and being silly with his older sister, Maeve (12). Anthony’s relationship and understanding of God, began as a way to cope with loss. At the age of three, Anthony lost his younger cousin Graham, who was just five-months-old. As a way to process this, Anthony began praying and talking to Graham regularly, imagining him in heaven and telling his family about his dreams of Graham.

Anthony continued to pray nightly on his own, and occasionally asked questions about how one becomes part of a church community. This past year, in 2020, Anthony asked his parents if he could make his First Communion. They explained to him that he would likely spend a few hours every week devoted to learning about God in order to receive his sacraments. Anthony considered the commitment involved and decided to go forward. The Ranieri family is proud to be part of the St. Giles Family Mass Community and remain grateful for how welcoming they have been.