I was baptized and entered into full communion with the Catholic Church during the 2006 Easter Vigil mass. I was 23 years old.
Some background. I didn’t meet my dad or my grandma and grandpa on his side of the family until I was about 5. My mom and dad were never married. I feel it noteworthy to mention that I have a great relationship with my dad now. However this is another story.
I was raised mostly by my mom and Grandma. I never met my grandpa on my mom’s side. My grandma was Catholic, but mostly non-practicing. My grandma never had my mom baptized. My mom eventually went and was baptized into a non-denominational church, but she also hardly ever attended services. So for the most part I very rarely went to any sort of church services. I went to a few Catholic funerals and weddings, but didn’t know enough about the Catholic Church to know what was going on, plus I was too young.
During my teenage years and during high school I was headed down the wrong path. I wasn’t a total loser; I didn’t do drugs, or really even drink for that matter. But I didn’t have a very well formed conscience. So I did some things and thought some things that were simply immoral.
God wasn’t done with me yet. My friend regularly attended a non-denominational church and made sure I knew I was always welcome. Another friend attended a Baptist church again always making sure they knew I was welcome. So occasionally, but not very regularly, I went to one or the other church. Both kind of taught the same thing actually. But to be honest, I was bored. I didn’t really understand what they were trying to teach me. Both churches had very gifted pastors that could formulate how today scriptural reading is applicable to our lives. Some of what they said made sense actually.
However, I got a sense that these people were fake. They believed what they believed because some guy told them how to interpret scripture. They read the Bible then pretend like every page has a life lesson and that the lesson is always positive and uplifting. They were always just so freakishly happy and positive around you, but you knew they couldn’t be like that all the time, could they? The way they acted in church was supposed to be some sign of how God is working in their lives. But to me it was just a bit uncomfortable.
- I met the person that would become my wife. She was Catholic. I was still my same self from high school. I was pro-choice, liberal minded, basically corrupt. I cleaned it up a bit because I was trying to impress the new girl in my life, but I was set in my ways. We both liked each other, but there were obviously some clashes in beliefs.
She invited me to midnight mass on Christmas. I had actually always wanted to go to a midnight service on Christmas, so I agreed. I still didn’t know much about Catholicism or anything. In fact I came in like a non-denominational. Business casual, Bible in hand. I realize now how silly that must have looked.
The mass was awesome. The music the Christmas spirit. Just amazing. I didn’t realize at the time the effect this had on me.
New Years Eve, my now girlfriend takes me to the Church after hours. The church is still beautifully decorated from Christmas. Lots of candles and other decorations. I’m standing in Church and realize I feel a presence there. Something I can’t explain. I felt God.
Over the next few months, I go to mass several times. I recalled when I was just a kid going to a Catholic funeral or a wedding. Somehow what I witnessed as a little kid and what I was experiencing now many years later, felt . . . . right. This was how church should be. Not what I witnessed in the non-denominational churches. No wonder I felt strange at those other churches. I was searching for something that could only be found in the Catholic Church.
The rest is history. I started RCIA that fall and here I am.
