Baptised into the Church of England in a secular household, my parents didn’t go to church but didn’t say anything negative about it, either and supported me. Attended a CofE junior school, was confirmed and was very active in church youth activities all through my teens. I always felt I was watching a show when I went to church, it’s hard to explain.
Started looking for another church around that time - tried nearly everything. In my late teens, I went to a Catholic church in my hometown and sat at the back for a while. “You are Peter”, said the priest. It made me think, I never forgot it.
Years passed, I didn’t go to church at all - my career took over my life. I felt I wanted to go back to that Catholic church, but I was with someone who hated Catholics (although he didn’t actually know anything about them and wasn’t religious himself). Kept the thought in my heart and did nothing. Dabbled in other religions, some a little bizarre, soon drifted away.
More years pass. I end up with a lovely husband, a Christian who is open-minded and supportive. I returned to church, to an Anglo-Catholic community. Lots of incense, lots of ritual but rows of empty pews and a priest who gave very strange homilies. I knew I was in the wrong place. One day, aged 54 I decided I wanted to be a Catholic - just like that. My husband said “go for it”.
I called my nearest church, the priest was wonderful and said RCIA was starting that very week. I went along and was welcomed. Just before I was 56, I was received into the Church.
A year later, we moved across town and I changed parishes. Guess what - I now attend the very same church where I first heard “You are Peter”!
I came home, but it took nearly 40 years to cross that river!
