HALEDON — March 22 will be a day that the Cheon Family of Wayne will always remember. RaeAnn and her two sons Chris, 21, and Ron, 29, will be receiving sacraments together at Easter Vigil at Jesus Christ Prince of Peace Chapel and Catholic Campus Ministry (CCM) Center here after going through the RCIA process since last fall.

Father Lou Scurti, diocesan campus ministry director and campus minister at the chapel, said, “I feel thrilled because this shows the life of the community. These people meet us through our many outreaches and really it’s all word of mouth and evangelization by them.”

It was Chris Cheon who first became connected with the work at the center. While volunteering with the CCM Communications TV program, “The Word Alive and Well,” a half-hour talk show hosted by Father Scurti, he met the staff working at the center and then started attending Mass and getting involved in the center’s many activities.

“Chris then asked me to go with him,” said his brother, Ron. “I came here a few times and thought this was a good place to be. It’s a young, faithful and active community.”

Ron was the first to decide he wanted to join the RCIA process and became a candidate, having already received baptism as a baby. The family has a Catholic background but was not active in its faith before becoming members of the Prince of Peace community.

Chris, who is a catechumen in the RCIA process, then wanted to join. RaeAnn soon followed in the decision to go through the RCIA process after seeing the desire that both of her sons had to become fully-initiated members of the Church.

RaeAnn, who is also a catechumen, said, “I was thinking a lot lately about becoming baptized. I needed a sense of faith in my life and something to grasp. I decided to just go with it.”

Matt Shields, a campus minister at the CCM Center, guided the Cheon family through the RCIA process. “They had a lot of questions and they were very involved which made them ideal students,” he said. “They were very eager to learn about the faith.”

Doing this process as a family has made the Cheons closer to each other proving that famous adage that “a family that prays together stays together.” The family finds themselves talking more about faith away from class and in their home, according to Shields.

Ron said, “I’m proud that we are doing this as a family together. That sense of family seems to be missing in society a lot lately. It has already brought every one of us together. Just as we are growing as individuals, we’re growing together as a family.”

As for their faith growing stronger, Chris said, “My faith didn’t just grow stronger, it started here.”

“I feel a spiritual change. My life is becoming better and I have more faith than before,” their mother said.

Ron also believes his faith has become stronger. “It seems that since we have started coming here, things have changed,” he said. “Good things have been happening in all our lives. I believe there is something to be said for that. I know I’m headed in the right direction.”

In addition to having their family grow together in faith, the family also is growing in numbers as they have found a “home away from home” at the center. They are thankful to the staff for leading them on this journey of faith towards becoming fully initiated members of the Catholic Church.

Chris, who experienced the staff’s commitment to others first, said, “They’re definitely great here and always around to answer any questions you have.”

Ron said, “While I haven’t necessarily seen a burning bush, I have seen a lot of good people trying to make the world a better place and that’s what’s needed right now and I think I want to be a part of that.”