WITH my daughter Rachel studying for her sacraments, and helping her with the lessons every fortnight from February through to September, I started thinking about whether I should convert from being Lutheran and become Catholic like the rest of my family.
It wasn’t that hard a decision to make with my youngest daughter Lisa asking me why Daddy goes up for communion and she and Rachel go up for a blessing from the priest each week and Mummy doesn’t?
It wasn’t hard to answer that question as I just told her that I wasn’t a Catholic like the rest of them. I was actually baptised Lutheran.
I then began thinking about becoming a Catholic and how I would go about making it happen.
Finally I went to see Selina Harris who was preparing the younger ones for their First Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Holy Communion in Sunnybank/Acacia Ridge parish on Brisbane’s southside.
Selina said that they had just finished an RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) program at Easter. But she said if there were enough adults interested she would run another program in May.
Selina said that she had enough adults interested in the program and that she would begin one in May as she had hoped, so that the program would finish with the celebration of Christ Our King and we would celebrate this with the rest of the congregation.
I was nervous about going into the program not knowing anyone. I was glad to find out that one of the mums I know, whose child was receiving their sacraments at the same time as Rachel, was also thinking of becoming a Catholic. This made me feel a lot better about my decision.
Selina informed me that I would need a sponsor to help me through the program but it could not be a close relative.
When I told Selina that I couldn’t find anyone, she was nice enough to find me someone who wouldn’t mind stepping in and being my sponsor.
And so Hilary Collins, who works at Our Lady of Lourdes Church office, became my sponsor.
I really appreciate the time she has given me during this busy time. She gave up Saturday afternoons and came to Mass on Saturday nights or Sunday mornings when I needed her to be there.
I enjoyed meeting all the other candidates and sponsors through the year, knowing we all had made this decision ourselves for one reason or another.
The lessons weren’t too long and you still got all the information you needed along with getting information sheets on what we had discussed in that lesson.
Also I could ring Selina or Hilary if I wanted more information about that particular topic or anything else. It was made more interesting by not just having the same person doing all the lessons each week.
Some of our classes were livelier than others depending on the topic and what we had to say on that item.
I was very nervous when we all had to stand up in front of the whole congregation one Sunday morning. It did get easier each time we went up there.
When I told some of my friends that I was changing religion they were very pleased for me.
My mother-in-law and other members of my family were really pleased. They thought it was fabulous that the whole family would now be as one.
My husband Patrick and my children Rachel and Lisa have backed me all the way through this program because they knew it was what I wanted to do for myself.
When I finally became a Catholic, Lisa who was five at the time, said to me on the night after Mass had ended: “Mummy are you a Catholic now like us?”
I looked down at her and said: “Yes darling, Mummy is now a Catholic like the rest of you”.
This made her so very happy and proud of her mum.
We all enjoy regularly going to Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church at Sunnybank or to Our Lady of Fatima Church at Acacia Ridge.
I would like to thank Selina Harris for all the time and effort she puts into these programs.
Also I would like to thank Fr Adrian Sharp, Fr Ray Kearney and the volunteers.
Now we have just celebrated Christmas as a Catholic family for the first time and we really enjoyed going to Mass at Our Lady of Fatima Church on Christmas morning after our girls had opened their presents.
We all went to Mass to give thanks for God sending us his child Jesus Christ.
Rosemary Doyle is a daughter-in-law of the late Brian Doyle, a former editor of The Catholic Leader.
