Faith helped him recover from a host of hardships

Some spiritual awakenings begin with a joyous revelation or an insight during a rough period in life. For Michael Baggetta, there was a whole pot of woe: divorces, a violent attack, job losses, near-bankruptcy — and then, a simple question.

“I wanted to find out if I was baptized Catholic,” said Mr. Baggetta.

By that time, in 2007, he was living in a flat in Watervliet, a low-ceilinged, sparsely-furnished space. The soaring brick edifice of St. Patrick’s Church stands a few blocks north, and Mr. Baggetta found a ready ear in Rev. Edward Deimeke, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, of which St. Patrick’s is a worship site.

“I told him my story and he told me about RCIA,” Mr. Baggetta explained, referring to the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, which prepares individuals to enter the Church. “Father Deimeke said he’d check into that baptism question.”

Life’s course
But the road to that conversation was long and rough. Mr. Baggetta, 51, is a trim man who speaks in a calm monotone. He grew up in Loudonville in comfort, but without much family faith.

He described his father, a successful contractor, as “a strong atheist” who objected to religious expression. His mother, a bookkeeper, was Methodist. They divorced when Mr. Baggetta was 10.

“I got into a lot of trouble: reform school, fighting, crime,” he recalled.

He eventually attended Siena College and then worked as a stockbroker and financial planner. His business collapsed in 2000, and by 2002 his second marriage ended. There are two daughters, now grown, and a son, 11. “They’re taken care of and I’m in touch with them,” Mr. Baggetta said simply.

In 2004, there was an incident in his office in Rensselaer that left him stabbed several times. Rensselaer police investigated the case as a robbery or a burglary that went bad. No suspect was ever found, said Mr. Baggetta.

Afterwards, he said, “I remember thinking I was dead, lying on the floor oozing blood.” When he recovered from surgery, he sold the building. Other property was liquidated in his divorces.

In 2007, he was working in the mortgage business, which evaporated in the recession. Mr. Baggetta found himself unable to work and renting a room for $50 a month in Watervliet.

“I had to let go of everything, because everything failed, and I had to let God,” he said.

While recuperating, he met a kind woman, whom he called Rosa, who would visit and help with small chores.

“She was like an angel,” Mr. Baggetta said. “She was Catholic, and her parents were devout Catholics. After meeting them and seeing their peace and the success in their life....They didn’t have much, but I was impressed by their faith and belief in the Catholic Church.”

Mr. Baggetta picked up where he had left off at Siena, reading St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine and other Church Fathers and great thinkers. He described a prescient dream he had about being pinned to the wall by a Bible.

During this time, he was surviving on federal disability payments he receives due to chronic “cluster” headaches.

Surprise Catholic
While reading Aquinas, he decided he needed to become Catholic if he wasn’t already. His mother didn’t know and his father, said Mr. Baggetta, wouldn’t have allowed it. But, as Father Deimeke found out, he had been baptized at Blessed Sacrament parish in Albany, thanks to a devout aunt.

“My aunt and my uncle were my godparents; their names were on the certificate,” he said. “When I saw that, that was my final call.”

Mr. Baggetta entered the RCIA program.

“He was part of a particularly wonderful group of people,” recalled Father Deimeke. “There were eight or nine, an unusually cohesive group. Some people [after RCIA] you don’t see again, but most of these keep active in the parish.”

Nothing more
For Mr. Baggetta, less has literally been more.

“I’ve never been happier in my life than with nothing. I had beautiful homes, a maid, but I never had compassion,” he explained.

He welcomed the introspection prompted, for him and many others, by loss and hardship: “The Pope said that now is the time to reflect on our deeper values. Relying on God is not weakness, but strength.”

Mr. Baggetta said he wants to return to work and end or reduce his reliance on disability payments. He has been writing and studying, and plans to teach a course on practical mysticism at a local college.

“To me, it all happened for a reason — the divorce, the stabbing, losing the jobs. I took it as a calling from God to rebuild my life,” he said. “I survived for a reason: to do what I was meant to do, not just for myself but to teach and help people, which is the Christian way.”

(11/05/09)