Sally comes from a long line of Christians and has always loved the Lord and loved church. Three generations of her family preceded her on her faith path as a girl when she was moved to be baptized where her family worshipped, the Church of the Brethren in Wenatchee, WA. Her high school sweetheart, whom she later married, was a Catholic. They considered marrying in the Catholic Church, but Sally’s first encounter with the parish there was negative, to say the least. For that reason, she and her fiancé married in the Church of the Brethren. She and her first husband were married for twenty years.
Circumstances started leading her to our faith. She and her then-husband started having and raising children in a house and in a marriage that was buffeted by strife and damaged by her spouse’s mental and spiritual problems. After her first son was born, it weighed on her heart that he had not been baptized. They went “church shopping,” but nothing seemed right until they found a church, St. Cecilia in Beaverton, OR where they lived at the time that had a “cry room.” The practical consideration of having a place to take their infant when he cried, be able to see and hear the Mass and not disturb the whole church seemed a good answer.
So, they tried it. Sally was amazed at the priest’s powerful, inspiring messages; he was young, funny, energetic and down-to-earth. She really liked the experience there at St. Cecilia, so when the family moved the short distance to Vancouver, they looked around for a Catholic Church and found St. Joseph. The pastor there was very influential and supportive in her decision to follow the call of the Holy Spirit and become Catholic. When the children were old enough, they enrolled them in religious education and Sally was the parent who usually took them on Wednesday evenings to RE. St. Joseph’s offered Bible classes for adults at the same time, Sally became more involved and even became an aide in RE. At first, she didn’t even feel qualified – thinking one “had to be Catholic” to do it. The teacher urged her to help and so she did. Sally was being taught, just like the kids, just by being there, in the RE environment. The teacher would send home a note to parents after every class (“what we did, what we learned, and here’s what’s coming up at Church…”) so she took one, too. Suddenly, she was the faith leader in their home. Sally led her kids in donating to charitable causes and began to lead them in praying the Rosary on Monday nights. Soon, Sally became a catechist herself, teaching a class of kids.
After a morning catechist training meeting one Saturday with the pastor and the head of RE, she was chatting with a fellow catechist girlfriend, a convert to the Faith, who asked her, “Why aren’t you a Catholic?” Sally replied, “Well… not enough time… it’s all about my kids…I’m the breadwinner.”
Her friend told her about her own experience in RCIA suggesting Sally might “check it out.” When she finally enrolled and started RCIA, she was scared; it was a packed session of over 100 catechumens. But says, “It was like a curtain parted, a veil lifted, revealing so much truth. It was very open, accepting, free – to voice concerns and questions. In the nine-month program we catechumens dispelled our misconceptions one-by-one and met privately twice with a priest - really getting the chance to probe and explore why we were there… I learned so much. The Church is always guided by the Holy Spirit but we humans can make bad choices, bad decisions. Just because a Catholic sins, the Church itself isn’t a sinner.”
“In my RCIA group, we studied together, read together, we socialized, we were like a family. When I proceeded through the Three Scrutinies* and finally got Confirmed, I was ‘on fire’ with my faith.”
Life circumstances brought Sally here; travails and low points followed her relocation, but she “never lost Faith that God would see her through.” She was right, of course, and is today deeply active in many areas of Good Shepherd. She knows that the Holy Spirit will guide her in whatever is next.
· The Scrutinies of RCIA are celebrated on the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent; celebrated at liturgies where the Elect are present. The Elect are those in our midst who are preparing for Baptism or Confirmation. These are ancient rites and they may, at first, seem strange to us. But they are profoundly rooted in our human experience. We need to examine (scrutinize) how we are, the areas of our lives where we are tempted, or seriously sin - in what we do and what we fail to do. We really need healing and the strength that can come from the support of our sisters and brothers. (Creighton University Online Ministries) In Sally’s case, some of the Elect, including her, were confirmed before Palm Sunday Vigil, participated in that Mass, felt truly a part of the Church and were moved to tears.
What Have Church Leaders Said?
“God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes… He does nothing in vain; He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about.” — John Henry Cardinal Newman (himself, a convert)
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