Becoming Catholic

Easter weekend, amongst our faith community, my family, and most of all our Lord Jesus – I was officially welcomed into the Catholic faith.

I haven’t shared much about my journey to becoming a Catholic, mostly because I wanted to experience all of it and let it all sink in before I sat down to write my experience and journey. So let me give you a little history.

I grew up in a non-denominational church – in fact – until I moved to North Dakota I had no idea about denominations. I couldn’t tell you the difference between Baptist, Methodists, or Lutherans. My grandmother grew up Catholic and when she met my grandpa, they attended a Billy Graham crusade and become loyal followers of his ministry. They decided to raise their children in a non-denominational church and this caused a lot of stress between my great-grandmother and my grandmother as my great-grandmother was a devout Catholic.

Needless to say, I had some big hold ups with the Catholic faith – mostly due to family history and the way I grew up. Enter my sweet husband, Mark, whose family is also all Catholic. Mark’s grandmother Katie whom we recently lost and her husband are devout and devoted Catholics. It was really a trying time when Mark and I decided to get married and I decided not to convert to the Catholic faith and how exactly that would work. Lucky for me, I never got pressure from Mark’s family nor Mark convert.  We got married civilly and decided we would address it later.

I eventually found a new church home in the Baptist church in Ashley as it was most similar to what I was used to all while Mark attended the Catholic church. On Holidays I made it a point to attend the Catholic church with the rest of Mark’s family so we could all be together as a family. It wasn’t the most ideal of situations attending separate churches as a married couple and deep down, I struggled with what was to come in the future once we brought children into the world. But we never really addressed it in our marriage – we always agreed the children would come to church with me and that was that.

Fast forward to where I found out I was pregnant with Levi. Our situation in our faith suddenly got real. We eventually found out we were having a boy and this thought weighed on my mind night after night: if I take our son to church, he will never see his father in church. And deep down I knew that wasn’t what God’s plan is for our family. Our son needs to see his father in church and to have his father be an example of faith in his life. As his Momma, I can only do so much and have so much influence.

God kept putting the idea of joining the Catholic faith into my head again and again. I talked to Mark, my parents, and Mark’s parents about where I stood, my fears, and my hold ups with the faith. I decided that for most of my life I had been unfairly judging a faith that I knew very little about. So I decided to explore the Catholic faith, with an open mind, and I prayed for God to help reveal his plan for our family and that little life that was growing inside of me.

Shortly after Levi was born, I made the decision to convert and began my RCIA classes. It seemed crazy to have a newborn baby and be driving to classes once a week, but God’s timing was perfect. We had a unique situation that Father allowed Mark to be my sponsor. He joined me at every class and what a blessing in disguise it has been for our marriage. As a born and raised Catholic (aka Cradle Catholic), Mark had a huge refresher in his faith and walked away from classes with a much deeper understanding and appreciation for the faith he has had his entire life.

In order to be fully converted in the church, we also had to go through Marriage Preparation classes so our marriage could be blessed and recognized in the church. When we baptized Levi into the Church in December, Father very thoughtfully shared a little of the journey Mark and I were on as a couple and a family. It was an extremely emotional homily as we realized that soon we were to be whole within the church. We finalized all our paperwork and classes before the month of March. I spent the entire month just reflecting and preparing for what was to come. The emotions and the power of God’s holiness and forgiveness that was going to be poured out on me was a lot to process. 

Fast forward to Easter, our marriage was blessed the morning before Easter Vigil. Father made sure to include Levi in his final blessing. We stood before God’s sanctuary, holding hands as a family of three, while God’s blessing was spoke upon us. It may have been a small, very intimate, and quick ceremony but it was so special. Levi’s first Easter and we were finally becoming whole as a family in the church and in our faith.

Later that night during Easter Vigil, I was finally baptized for the first time in my life, confirmed and welcomed into the Catholic faith, and for the first time I was able to received the Holy Eucharist, the most blessed sacrament. In one day I received four out of the seven sacraments. I still can’t fully process the amazing grace, forgiveness, and power I experienced from our Lord on that day. The emotions still overwhelm me. For the first time in our five years of marriage, we were restored back to divine life – completely free of sin. And our family was now whole – we were all one in the same faith.

As I think about where we stand in society right now as more and more people move away from organized religion and especially the “hardcore beliefs” of the Catholic church, I moved towards it and embraced the experience with open arms. If you are like me and you have had huge hold ups and hesitations about the Catholic faith, I cannot tell you how much I had wrong and how many myths were debunked as I learned and explored the faith. I can honestly tell you, the majority of the Catholic faith is misunderstood and once you understand it, you find it is truly a beautiful, beautiful way of faith.

I don’t share my experiences or my story to try and convert anyone or bring them into religion, I share my experiences for anyone else out there who may be in my situation. Who may be sitting on the fence as they are living in a divide family or relationship. It is my hope that God will soften your heart, as he once did for mine so that you can feel the grace, forgiveness, and amazing blessings that I have throughout my journey. Becoming a Catholic has restored our family, it has blessed my marriage more than I can explain to you and answered prayers that I have prayed since we were first married.

We look forward to continually cultivating our life of faith in the Catholic church and continually finding ways to incorporate that faith in our household. And as we pray the Rosary on Sundays with Grandma Katie’s rosary as she has now left this world, my heart can’t help but swell in realizing that it has all come full circle and this is exactly the path that we were meant to have walked.