*Disclaimer
before reading…it is very choppy. I started writing this right after conversion
and finished it a year later!
A little more
than a year ago, I was content at my Protestant church and attending my weekly
Bible study with Chris and our friends. As the ‘worship’ music grew louder week
by week, and I had commented on the connection card every week how loud it was,
I became less comfortable with the way I was worshipping, and felt a void. I
also felt that void in our Bible study. There was a church-wide study going on,
instead of a group-specific study. They glued a disclaimer in the front of it,
telling us that there are some parts they don’t agree with one hundred percent.
I was confused and somewhat angry. Why is there a difference in doctrine between
“Protestant Church A” and “Protestant Church B?” The gears in my head started
turning…I had longed for tradition and reverence and I wasn’t feeling that with
our Protestant church.
Backing up a
bit, Chris had been interested in the Catholic Church, had a ton of books about
Catholicism, conversion stories, and had been trying to get me to go to a
Catholic church pretty much since we’d been married. I thought it was too weird
and too structured, and that I wasn’t able to worship how I pleased. And the
crossing one’s self, and the genuflecting, and the same prayers every week. How
could this be counted as worship?
As I had discussed
with Chris the issues I was having, he agreed, of course. He was probably like,
“FINALLY!” Ha! He made a pile of books for me to read and we started a list of
other churches to visit. My list had Protestant churches, and his did not. At
the time, I didn’t realize that I didn’t want to be Protestant anymore. I was
like, “Hey, let’s check out the church my parents were married in and I was
baptized in! That would be so cool!” Chris said that he wanted to either be
Catholic or Orthodox. “Okay, I’ll give them a shot, but I don’t want to go back
to Holy Rosary because it’s way too blue!” I said.
We narrowed our
church search to four churches: St. Patrick, St. Andrew, Holy Disciples, and
All Saints. We had been to All Saints before for their Christmas Eve Mass.
There were a few reasons we decided not to attend there. First, the altar is in
the middle of the church. The pews are also really squished together, which
makes it difficult for our toddlers to stand and walk around as they please. No
one really talked to us, either. Holy Disciples was next, but their church is
more of a large gathering space with chairs set up and the altar up front. St.
Andrew was great (I threw up there, thanks to being pregnant with Nora at the
time). We also didn’t really feel all that welcome, probably because we were
giving off that Protestant vibe.
As we drove to
St. Patrick, I had a feeling this one was it. I had seen the church before, and
it is absolutely beautiful. Also, what Irish girl doesn’t love an Irish saint?
We headed in and felt instantly welcomed. I was still uneasy attending a Mass
because I couldn’t fully participate…I still didn’t know the order of the Mass
(and couldn’t receive the Eucharist yet) but I still felt like this was the one
God was calling us to. After Mass, a woman came up to us and complimented us on
how well-behaved Hannah was, and said she hadn’t seen us before and welcomed
us. Wow. That was the kicker!
We grabbed a
parish bulletin and headed home. We pretty much emailed the RCIA instructor
straight away about enrolling.
I had picked up
a book called “Surprised By Truth,” which I’m sure many Catholics have read.
Chris is friends with Paul Thigpen, whose story was in there, and his was the
only one I read before deciding that yes, indeed, I wanted to become Catholic.
Fast forwarding
to the beginning of RCIA. We weren’t new believers to Christianity, so a lot of
the history we had already known.
Nora was born at
the end of October.
We learned about
the Mass and the Sacraments.
We had the Rite
of Election, the Rite of Sending, and the Chrism Mass.
We had our first
Reconciliation.
Holy Thursday
Mass, Good Friday service. And then the Easter Vigil. Everyone cried.
Chris and I
(Michael and Veronica) were Confirmed, and Hannah and Nora were baptized.
We received the
Eucharist. We were now fully Catholic. And boy is it amazing.
