Choosing a Saint...

My RCIA teachers want us to choose a Saint to be named after for our confirmation...I am thinking Mary...I asked my teacher if it was ok to choose her...I mean, she is Jesus' mother...she said it was fine...I was going to pick St. Helena...Constantine's mom...she inspired her son to become a Christian and he made it the official religion of the Roman Empire...which quickly fell shortly after...anyway, I am digressing :) I decided on Mary though because I have been praying to her and I have seen changes in my life...I am building a relationship with her and it makes me very happy...but, I am not sure how this extra name works...anyone done this? I guess kids get these Saintly names when they are confirmed as teens, right? Where does the name fit in with your birth name? After your middle name? I want to start teaching my daughter about the Saints...so she can find one or two that she can pray to as well...and find one to be named after...what Saints are popular with kids?

RCIA classes...

I started taking RCIA classes in September...my husband is also taking them and our daughter is in communion classes at the church.  I absolutely love my class and my teachers.  I am learning so much about the church and its beliefs...things that were never quite clear to me as a Protestant are making more sense...I also have a Rosary and I started doing that as well.  I was a little nervous about praying to Mary...it was a completely foreign concept...but in my RCIA classes, I learned that Mary is seen as an Intercessor...so, we are praying to her for intervention...like, when you ask a friend to pray on your behalf...I have already seen her at work in my life...for instance...last week, I prayed for a few people that we had not heard from in a long time...all I did was mention their name before I said the "Hail Mary" part of the Rosary...I try to meditate on different people as I say it...anyway, a week after I mentioned their names in the Rosary, we heard from both...one was a man that had a falling out with my husband...he did something I never thought he would do (this man is an atheist so I keep praying for him)...he came up to my husband at an event they were both at and apologized to him for all the nasty things he has been saying about Brian...my husband has a radio talk show down here and is well-known in the community...the other person was a lady who is a devout Catholic that we have not heard from in years...she is elderly and I was worried about her...I mentioned her name in the Rosary and out of the blue, she called...I was amazed!  I am also learning about the Saints and praying to them as well...NOT worshipping, just asking for intercession...it is comforting to know I have so many souls praying for me and I can tell...I am more at peace and calmer...

First Impressions...

I have to admit, I was very hesitant to go to my local Catholic church at first.  I just had heard so many negative things and read some not so great articles about the church over the years, I was not sure what to expect.  I walked into St. Jude with my family and at first glance, it looked like a very nice church.  It was large, but inviting. We were greeted at the doors with smiles and shown to the pews by an usher. There were only hymnal books in the pews.  I was expecting a prayer book...which I would still like to see there...anyway...we sat there looking around and shortly after, the service started.  The choir was on the other side of the altar, opposite where we were sitting...about 20-25 adults.  They started singing their first hymn and I was almost immediately taken to a higher place.  I cannot describe how beautiful they sounded.  I remember, thinking to myself, this is what heaven must sound like...they were amazing.  The priests walked the processional with the altar boys and girls...I was surprised at how similar things were to the Episcopal church right off the bat.  As the service progressed, I started to relax more and more...this service was almost identical to the Anglican one...the one I grew up with....I was so surprised...I did not understand all of the fighting that had occurred between these two churches in Europe, when they were basically the same church...there are differences, but the worship and the prayers are very similar. We said the Nicene Creed...same...we said intercessory prayers...same...we prayed for forgiveness...same...and we took communion...almost the same set up for that too...it was amazing!  I was still unsure about the whole Mary thing...and praying to the Saints in heaven...it was something I wanted to explore and embrace though.

The beginning...

My family has recently decided to convert to Catholicism. It has been a wonderful experience so far so I thought I would start a blog about it. I grew up Episcopal, my husband was Methodist, and our daughter was also baptized Episcopal. We moved about seven years ago and had a difficult time finding a church we liked in the new neighborhood. We tried the local Episcopal, but it was not a very friendly church and there were other issues that came up later on. We felt the church was getting too liberal. The Bishop of the Diocese came out in favor of gay marriage, which bothered me.

So, we then tried some non-denominational churches and we were not happy with them either. Going to those churches was like sitting through an hour long lecture. There was no communion, very few prayers, and I felt no reverence at all. We went to one church and the pastor gave his sermon in his karate uniform. That was it, I realized I needed to find a church that was fulfilling and felt holy.

My husband had taken a course in college on the history of Christianity. He told me that the Catholic Church was the original church started by Jesus and the apostles. My mom was not a fan of the Catholic Church. She grew up Episcopal, but went to Catholic school back in the 1950's and 60's. She said the nuns were very mean to her and that the other students would not talk to her because she was not Catholic. So, I grew up thinking the Catholic Church was bad. Still, I could not get out of my mind what Brian had told me. I prayed about it for a long time.

I am not sure why, but I felt almost afraid of the Catholic Church. All I knew about the church was what I read in the news...and we all know how much the liberal media loves God. Anyway, I bought some books on the history of the Catholic Church. I read about how the church started with Peter and how the hierarchy of leaders was established. I learned that the Catholic Doctrine was not something made up and taken lightly, but rather years and years of well thought out and researched information based on the teachings if The Bible. The more I read and prayed, the more it all made sense to me...I talked to my husband Brian about it and he was all for it. So then we decided to take the plunge and attend a Catholic service in our area...