April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
NEW CATHOLIC
Help and homilies drew her to Church
Raised Southern Baptist, she had been searching for her own path to faith. Having just been received into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil Mass, she now sees the irony.
"Something was working that I hadn't even picked up on. It was not an accident that I met all of those people," Ms. Thompson told The Evangelist.
Last fall, Ms. Thompson began visiting churches of different religious denominations, looking for one where she felt at home. Though, at first, she was accompanied by a friend, she realized she needed to go alone to really see how she felt at each church.
"It needed to feel right. I wanted to make the decision myself and I knew that meant going on my own," said Ms. Thompson.
That was when she found St. Patrick's parish in Athens. She told The Evangelist that she was initially attracted to St. Patrick's because of the homilies by sacramental minister Rev. Richard Shaw.
"They were just so intelligent and did not seem like he pulled them from the drawer. You could tell they came from inside of him," she said.
Sister Mary Mazza, CND, parish life director, and parishioners at St. Patrick's made Ms. Thompson feel comfortable and included.
"I remember looking around the church just to look at people and their faces during the Mass," she recalled. "They all looked comforted and human. They drew me in even if I didn't know them yet."
But what was most important for Ms. Thompson was that she not feel pressured to make a decision. Although she knew many Catholics, she wanted to find her own way to the Church.
So, when she decided to begin the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) process, she was grateful for the 11 other people of all ages making the same journey toward Catholicism.
"I felt very supported," she said. "It was never awkward between all of us."
Even after the formal RCIA meetings concluded, she added, "We're even going to meet a few more times voluntarily, just to see each other."
Through the RCIA process, the future Catholics together learned the rituals of the faith, prayer and what it should be, and the teachings of the Church, she explained.
Ms. Thompson is still learning: "The Easter Vigil Mass was especially complex for me and it's all very different from the churches I'm used to," she said.
But, considering her background as a drama teacher and an actress in New York City, she joked that she knows she'll eventually "hit the right marks at the right time."
"I'm just so grateful and happy that St. Patrick's has been so kind and helpful to me," the new Catholic concluded. "The Church has such a history and thousands of years of tradition. I like being attached to that tradition, and I like that there's room for me in that history."[[In-content Ad]]
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