Hello, and welcome to the
Tiber River Café. My name is Dean
Humphreys, and today’s topic is the third installment of my faith story, my
personal testimony of my journey to the Catholic Church. I was born and raised Protestant in the
United Church of Christ and had a lukewarm spirituality for most of my early
life. It wasn’t until I met Lisa, my future
wife, that my Christianity started to come alive.
The
vast majority of people are baptized as infants, with no memory of that special
and eternal event. At the time of my
conversion the Catholic Church did not recognize the baptism I had received as
an infant in the United Church of Christ (I didn’t share this with my parents, wasn’t
sure how they would have taken it), so I had the tremendous opportunity to be
baptized again as an adult in the Catholic Church. What a moment when the water was poured over
my head and I heard the words that I was baptized in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
I had the biggest smile on my face, Lisa was crying, and a feeling of
complete joy and happiness came over me, even though I didn’t fully understand
the magnitude of what had just happened—and after more than 20 years I’m still
not sure I fully understand the enormity of it all.
I
remember the very first time I received the Eucharist. I anticipated for several months and with
great expectation the first time I would receive the Eucharist. I was so excited about receiving the Body and
Blood of Jesus, although at the time I only had a very basic understanding of
this mystery. I have continued to pray
and study about the Eucharist for the past 22 years. The Eucharist is powerful and
life-transforming, and the Eucharist continues to be the foundation of my
faith. I wanted to have a family and I
wanted us to share a common faith, and my first Confession, Baptism,
Confirmation, and First Eucharist were the first steps, on some pretty big
cobblestones, in our lifelong faith journey as a family.
My
experience with RCIA and coming into the Catholic Church started in motion an
interest, an insatiable hunger, for additional reading and study—and what
started as a small ember of faith has intensified over the years into what
seems like an unquenchable roaring fire.
I had a lot of questions about a lot of things Catholic: confession, the pope and infallibility,
heaven/hell/purgatory, saints, authority, and of course the big one, Mary. From the very beginning I humbly accepted
that the Catholic Church has been around for 2000 years and the Church knows a
lot more about these things than I do, and that I would need to read, ask
questions, and educate myself on my various uncertainties and
difficulties. I know it sounds pompous
or arrogant to say “I accepted” but in reality I think the majority of people
truly believe they know better than the Church, as evidenced by the number of
baptized Catholics who continue to leave the Church. And over the years each of my difficulties
were clearly explained and the answers made complete sense. I continue to add cobblestones to my
spiritual path.
The
last major hurdle was Mary, probably a major difficulty for a lot of former
Protestants. At first I was indifferent
to Mary, then perhaps a little interested, and then I wanted to have that
loving relationship with Mary that I saw others cherish. I kept reminding myself that 2000 years of
Catholic theology and spirituality, with some of the greatest Christian
thinkers in history, it just had to be right.
So I started praying the Rosary, for me a rather awkward prayer at
first, but I kept trying. I kept praying
that I would understand Mary, that I would experience the joy and love of the
mother of Jesus. Then one evening after
about 16 years of being Catholic and while praying the Rosary it became
extremely and overpowering real, I received a convincing sign of the reality,
and I wept. I finally and thankfully
understood and felt the love of Mary the Mother of Jesus. And my love for Mary continues to grow.
So there you have it, the
third part of my faith story, my personal testimony of my journey to the
Catholic Church. Thanks again for
stopping by the Tiber River Café, where there is always plenty of room at the
banquet table. I hope to see you next
time. Peace be with you.
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