That was what James Joyce once said about the Catholic Church. It’s still that way, and we’re still “everybody” — a motley and wonderful bunch of saints and sinners, marching toward something we hope (despite all our obvious flaws) is our salvation.

Well, here they come again: the catechumens and candidates of 2008, and the USCCB (as it does every year) has a neat overview:

Tens of thousands of people from around the country will be received into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, Holy Saturday, on March 22, through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). Called catechumens, they will be baptized, confirmed and receive Holy Communion on that day. In addition, others known as candidates and who already have a valid baptism will be admitted into full communion with the Catholic Church.

The numbers vary across dioceses and people joining are of every age and come from all walks of life. The Diocese of Orange, California, for example, will baptize more than 650 people and welcome more than 500 others into full communion at the Easter Vigil. In Texas, the Diocese of Austin reports it will welcome 314 are catechumens and 522 candidates; the Diocese of Fort Worth welcomes 390 catechumens and 529 candidates.

Most of those coming into the church through the RCIA program are adults, but in some instances children are part of both groups, usually as families enter the church together.

Mark Ma, a second year student at the University of Virginia, who has a major in economics and a minor in philosophy, was born in Beijing, to agnostic parents. A self-defined hard-line atheist through high school, he started talking to Christians of different denominations, read a few Christian works and began to pray. After soul searching and historical research he found his home in the Catholic Church.

In Tucson, Steven Parceluzzi, 41, was admitted last June to Tucson Medical Center in Palo Verde. There, he met the hospital chaplain, Father Bill Kohler. Parceluzzi had not been raised with any religion, but had relatives in Italy who were Catholic. Father Kohler told Parceluzzi he recognized the struggle he faced and that the priest and his parish community would be there to support him if he needed them. After his release from the hospital, Parceluzzi pursued the RCIA at St. Cyril of Alexandria parish. His conversion led to his wife, Terri, his mother, Nina, and his niece, Jennifer, joining him in embracing the faith.

In most instances, there is a sentiment of finally coming home. When Kimberly Grub moved from Texas to Rhode Island, she decided to embark up on something she’d been wanting to do for a long time: get closer to God. Feeling the discomfort that comes in moving to a new place, she found comfort and community at St. Lucy’s Church in Middletown.

Read on for more great stories and statistics. And keep these folks in your prayers. Bless ’em all.