NANCY and Steve Persson feel their hearts overflowing with Jesus’ love as they prepare to receive Holy Communion for the first time as Catholics.
The Perssons are two out of hundreds of Brisbane adults expected to be received into the Church at Easter Masses and in the coming months across the archdiocese.
“It’s been a long journey,” the couple said as they stepped outside their regular Sunday Mass at Australian Catholic University’s Holy Spirit Chapel at Banyo.
But they both felt ready for the next step and could see the guiding hand of God leading them in their lives.
Nancy grew up in China.
Her parents grew up under the Maoist communist regime, where they were instructed into state-based atheism from a young age.
Unlike her parents, Nancy always believed in a spiritual dimension to life.
She had her grandmothers to thank for that.
Her strongest influence was her maternal grandmother, who brought her to her Buddhist temple and taught her about the “unseen world”.
For Steve, it was much the same – the witness of a grandmother, who passed down her Christian faith to him.
He was unsure what Christian tradition she practiced, but he remembered she would talk fondly about the nuns at her church.
From a young age, Steve read the Bible every night and said he had a “sense of Godfearing” about him.
“It kept me out of trouble as a teenager,” he said with a laugh.
He studied and earned a position as an automated engineer.
His work took him all over the world – the United States, Japan, Korea and China.
He loved embracing new cultures and said he “saw God’s presence” in all those countries.
It was in China, on a business trip, where he met Nancy.
Nancy was working as an exports manager and acted as the first face many western business people saw when they came to China.
Steve and Nancy were leaving the hotel restaurant, one heading upstairs, the other downstairs, when they crossed paths in the lift.
Nancy said she always felt bad for westerners who could not communicate with others in China and, because her English was good, she made an effort to greet Steve in the lift and make him feel welcome.
They exchanged business cards and from then on, whenever Steve came to China, he would call Nancy and they would chat.
The couple wed in 2011 and moved to Australia permanently in 2012.
Nancy remembered her friends warned her if she married a westerner, he would “expect her to go to church”.
So when Steve asked if she wanted to go to church, she was not surprised – but she was surprised to find out she was not just invited once, but every Sunday.
She had never stepped foot into a church in China, but she was willing to give it a go.
The couple passed a church and Nancy heard someone playing piano “with all their heart”.
She wanted to head inside and she said when both feet crossed the threshold, she was overwhelmed with a feeling of love and she started to cry.
“I heard God’s voice saying, ‘You are home now’,” she said.
She said it was an experience she never had visiting the Buddhist temple growing up.
“After this, we made a commitment to go to church every week,” she said.
The Perssons found a welcoming community at a Pentecostal church and became regular churchgoers there.
They served that church community for 10 years.
They loved how much their Pentecostal church did for evangelisation and sharing the Gospel with the world.
The Perssons journey to the Catholic Church began with a surprise necklace.
Nancy had joined the fair trade fashion industry in Australia.
She was visiting a customer, a mature-aged lady, who saw Nancy’s brilliant blue outfit and wanted to match it with a necklace.
The lady placed the necklace over her head and Nancy saw that it had a cross and an image of the Virgin Mary.
It was a set of rosary beads – and it matched her outfit perfectly.
Nancy said some members of her Pentecostal church had warned her that Catholics pray to Mary and do not acknowledge Jesus.
But seeing Jesus and Mary together on the rosary beads, she started to question what she had been told.
The beads sat on her desk for a year before the couple moved houses, which caused them to start looking for a new church.
They decided to try a Catholic Church.
Steve had no reservations about trying new churches; his grandmother had always loved old churches, which rubbed off on him, and because of his love for travel and new cultures, he was open-minded to seeing what the Catholic Church was like.
His first reaction was awe.
He appreciated how reverent the parishioners were towards the altar and in their movements in the Mass, he said.
He always had a strong personal sense that God should be respected, a sentiment which he had not experienced in other churches.
This Catholic way resonated with him.
Nancy said she loved how the Pentecostal church had made her feel and how they had brought her to Jesus, but she saw her future growth in the Catholic Church.
“It was our time to go deeper,” she said.
They started to attend seminars for Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults with ACU campus ministry leader Colleen Tracey.
Steve said he saw the Scriptures falling into place as they learned more about the Mass and the Church.
“It’s like the light suddenly went on,” he said.
“And with more understanding of the Church, you get more understanding of who God is.”
Mrs Tracey said Nancy and Steve’s eagerness to learn reminded her of the “richness and beauty inherent in our faith, prompting a renewal within my own heart”.
“It’s essential to recognise that the RCIA process isn’t solely about the catechumens and candidates – it’s about revitalising the entire faith community,” she said.
“Nancy and Steve’s journey serves as a means for collective renewal, fostering a spirit of community and strengthening our shared commitment to living out our Catholic beliefs.”
The Perssons were expected to be confirmed into the Catholic Church at ACU’s Holy Spirit Chapel in the coming months.
“I’m looking forward to God drawing us deeper and deeper into his plan for our life,” Nancy said.
