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Journeys of faith often begin with invitation to seek god through rcia

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Looking at a faith journey, one must always begin in the middle. Those who will join the Catholic church at Easter Vigils have traveled to a point in their faith lives where they have decided to become members of a family of believers in a particular parish in this diocese.

Feb. 10, at the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion, many of those who will be baptized or enter into full participation in the Catholic church, were welcomed and greeted by Bishop Stanley Schlarman. His heartfelt welcome is echoed by parish leaders across the diocese.

Many stories of faith have brought these catechumens (those who will be baptized) and candidates (those already baptized but not in full communion with the Catholic church) to this place in their lives where they look forward anxiously to the Easter Vigils.

For Jim Edwards of St. Nicholas Parish in O’Fallon, taking a journey of any kind is not uncommon. He and his wife, Laurie, and their children, Nathan and Ellie, have lived in a number of different states while he was in the military and then later, with the FBI.

Jim Edwards grew up in the Presbyterian church where he at one time was an elder and a deacon. “I was happy in the Presbyterian church,” he said.

After he was married, his wife, Laurie, joined the Presbyterian church and became active as well.

Then, church politics and other issues caused Laurie to step back from the Presbyterian church, but she continued her journey of faith which, with research and study, led her to the Catholic church, which she joined in 2000.
Jim was not ready to join, but said, “where I am today, in large part, is because of her journey. I saw her going in the direction of the Catholic church, but I was not prepared to do that myself.”

At that time, the family began going in different theological directions, and “it was hard,” Jim said, especially because the family no longer worshipped together.

He drifted away from any church, and when the family lived in Colorado, Jim went to church with them occasionally but felt “like an outsider.”

Respectful of his faith journey, Laurie said she prayed for Jim to find happiness in a church, not necessarily the Catholic church, but a church where he could feel at home. Eventually, she discarded the “any church” in her prayers and began praying for him to find a home in the Catholic church.

For three years after she joined the church, wherever the family lived, Laurie would let Jim know that classes were forming for those interested in finding out more about the Catholic church. “That’s all I said,” she added. A patient person, Laurie said she “firmly believed he would eventually join the church.”

This year, this time, at St. Nicholas, Jim expressed an interest in finding out more, in joining the classes and the church at the Easter Vigil.

“Early on, I was in a fog, at a point where I couldn’t hear” God’s call, he said. “Looking back, I see that.”
Describing his decision as “a wake up call,” he said he needed “to get in touch with my family spiritually and back in touch with God.”

Excited and admitting to being “a little nervous,” Jim said he knows he must have faith. This Catholic church is “huge, it has a history,” and he expects someone to ask him a question he can not answer.
However, with faith, he said, he really doesn’t need to know all the answers. God will provide them when God is ready. Jim does know “the picture is getting a lot clearer. I’m getting ready to take that next step to bring me closer to God and my family.”

When Laurie and the children went to Mass without Jim, they missed him. “The children are comfortable and happy that he is back in his spot,” Laurie said. Before, “they recognized him as a Christian, but now he sits in the pew with us where he belongs, at home.”

Thinking about what will bring him the most joy, Jim’s eyes filled with tears as he said, “joining my family at Communion. That will mean a lot.”

Laurie said she didn’t realize “he had such a hunger for the Eucharist.” Perhaps putting his thoughts and feelings into words brought the journey into clearer focus for both of them.

But their daughter, Ellie’s joy, was defined specifically by her upcoming confirmation. “Dad will stand in as my sponsor,” Ellie said. If he were not Catholic, Jim could not be a sponsor for anyone, even his daughter.
Although his journey will reach a high point at Easter, Jim knows it will continue in a new and fuller way. He looks forward to joining “a community with his family and other believers. This is really important,” he said.