It’s a rare block of uninterrupted time on Don Bouchard’s calendar when we sit down together at Catholic Charities Diocese of Kalamazoo’s offices. The busy physician not only guides the agency as its Executive Director, but he also runs his six-year-old practice, Holy Family Healthcare, and serves in his diaconate ministry for St. Augustine Cathedral Parish, Kalamazoo. It’s a demanding schedule that keeps him busy with stops all around Southwest Michigan, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Easter is the holiest day of our Catholic faith. After 40 days of penance through prayer, fasting and almsgiving during Lent, and the three days of preparation during the Easter triduum, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of eternal life. Through the centuries Catholics have developed many traditions for celebrating Holy Week. Incorporating these traditions into our personal observances lends a rich experience of the true message of this time in our liturgical calendar.

Each Easter Vigil thousands of people across the world enter into full communion with the Church through the sacraments of initiation. Southwest Michigan Catholic interviewed Jessica Woods, a 27-year-old Ferris State University pharmacy student and parishioner of St. Mary Parish, Marshall, who was baptized and confirmed into the Catholic Church last year.

Q: Why do I have to go to confession with a priest? God knows what’s in my heart — isn’t saying I’m sorry to him in prayer enough? A: The simple answer? For the grace.