At the Easter Vigil on March 30, 2024 in churches across The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, about 1,350 people will enter into full Communion with the Catholic Church, including the elect, those who have not been baptized and are preparing to receive at Easter all three of the Catholic Church’s sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist. Also becoming full members of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil will be candidates, those who have already been baptized in the Catholic faith or who have been baptized in another Christian faith and who are preparing to receive the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Eucharist. Some people preparing to become full members of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in the archdiocese share the stories of their journeys of faith in this Lenten series of articles.
One could say that Vanessa Darlene Catherine Washington is Washington through and through, from her family name to her life’s work in government service to her journey of faith that will culminate in her becoming Catholic at the Easter Vigil in the Washington, D.C., area at St. Joseph’s Church in Largo, Maryland.
In addition to being born in Washington, D.C., she noted that “I am a Washington on both sides of my family.” Her mother, Jessie Lee Washington, was from Virginia and her father, Elihue Alexander Washington, was from Florida.
Vanessa Washington retired from the U.S. Department of State in 2014, when she was then serving as Chief of the Law Enforcement & Liaison Division at the Office of Legal Affairs in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. In that role, she served as a liaison to federal, state, local and international law enforcement entities.
Her life’s journey, and her faith journey, wound across the country and back again to Washington, D.C., where she was born. When she was young, she lived in Los Angeles.
“In my mind, heart and soul I have always been Catholic,” Washington said in an email interview. “My earliest memories are around age 6 (or) 7, every Sunday a group of seven or eight of my neighborhood friends and I made a 20-minute walk to attend Holy Cross (Church) on Main Street in Los Angeles. After Mass, we would stop at a place like Taco Bell, have lunch and walk back home. We did this for years.”
Washington said that after moving back to the nation’s capital, “I stopped going to church and tried to focus on fitting with my new surroundings.”
Years later, she joined Ebenezer A.M.E. Church in the Washington area and participated in the sign language choir. “However, I found myself missing something and that was the Catholic Church. I would visit other churches, but it wasn’t the same. For years, I kept saying I wanted to return to Catholic Church but didn’t do anything about it,” Washington said. “Then in 2022, a friend and neighbor heard me say I need to go back to Catholic church, and she invited me to St. Joseph, and I went all the way until Holy Week and stopped. She told me about the RCIA program, and I decided to go even though I knew I would be the oldest person there, but it was okay, that voice said ‘go’ and I did, and I’m glad I did.”
At the Easter Vigil at St. Joseph’s Church, Washington will be baptized, receive her First Communion and the sacrament of Confirmation, as she comes home to be a member of the Catholic Church that she has felt a part of for as long as she can remember.
Reflecting on her life, Vanessa Washington said, “That’s my story!” And as for what is ahead in her journey of faith, she said, “I want to learn more and develop more. How has my journey of faith changed me, I don’t know how to explain the change except to say there are weights, I think I had that are lighter and freeing. My hopes for the future, I have always believed in God, but with the time I have left I just want to simply honor and praise Him.”
