April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
'IT MAKES ME HAPPY'
In old age, a new Catholic: 89-year-old joins the Church
The 89-year-old Albany native was baptized Protestant and longed to become a Catholic as a child, but her father didn't approve.
"My father didn't like Catholics and his parents didn't like them," Mrs. Lyngard told The Evangelist. "My mother was a Catholic and my father was a Methodist. And I lay in bed and I said, 'I don't know what I'm going to be - mixed pickles?'"
Mrs. Lyngard married in a Presbyterian church and attended a Methodist church as an adult. But in recent years, her interest in Catholicism grew, stirring her to attend Masses at her nursing home, Evergreen Commons in East Greenbush.
Last winter, eucharistic minister Debbie Divorl told Mrs. Lyngard's story in a letter to Rev. Adam Forno, pastor of the parish of St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph in Rensselaer.
Father Forno, who serves as palliative care chaplain at Evergreen Commons, was moved by the letter. Since Mrs. Lyngard has memory issues, he asked the diocesan Tribunal to allow her to skip the traditional Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults candidacy process and be received into the Church right away.
Fast track
"My goal was to legitimize her experience, to make her one in the faith," Father Forno said.
The Tribunal agreed.
When the priest confirmed Mrs. Lyngard in the sunroom of the nursing home, he recalled, "Helen was in her glory. She had a white stole on. She said, 'I'm just so happy. I wish there was a way to repay you.'"
Mrs. Lyngard selected a jeweled black cross necklace ahead of the occasion; she never takes it off. Members of St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph's parish gave her a silk scarf they had adorned with a gold cross, as well.
"She was so calm and yet she was trying not to cry," recalled Ms. Divorl. "I can't imagine waiting till you're 89 years old and being able to do something you've wanted to do for years."
Ms. Divorl, a fellow resident of Evergreen Commons previously profiled in The Evangelist (see http://evangelist55.1upprelaunch.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=22660&SectionID=3&SubSectionID=28&S=1), administers communion once or twice a week to residents.
"It makes me happy," Mrs. Lyngard said of receiving. "It makes me forget everything - what I've been through," she added, recalling a childhood spent cooking and cleaning for her cash-strapped family of five. As an adult, she lived alone for decades after her husband and siblings died.
"There's only one God and He takes care of everybody on the earth," she said. "Since my husband died, He took care of me."
Fran Albright, Mrs. Lyngard's advocate and healthcare proxy, saw a change in her friend after she joined the Church.
"I think she's more peaceful now," Ms. Albright said. "She told me that when she dies, being a Catholic will be more peaceful to her. She will be closer to God."
Mrs. Lyngard chose Ms. Albright, whom she calls "Ma," to be her godmother. She wanted to use Fran as her confirmation name, but settled for Francis, a saint.
Still, she insisted to Ms. Albright during a recent visit, "You're my saint."
Out and about
Mrs. Lyngard accompanies Ms. Albright on holiday trips and restaurant outings, where she indulges in pizza and beer and tastes culinary novelties like buffalo burgers.
"Every place I go with Fran, everybody falls in love with me," Mrs. Lyngard joked. "If it wasn't for this lady, I don't know what I would do."
Mrs. Lyngard enjoys word games, trivia, dancing the jitterbug and listening to the music of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Lawrence Welk.
She wins so much loot from bingo games that she loses track of some of it, and she fervently participates in chair volleyball and kickball. All the while, she irks some residents with her loud, deep laugh.
"It's contagious," Ms. Albright said. "She loves to have a good time."
And the octogenarian says she doesn't let her memory issue interfere with her life: "I try to forget about it."[[In-content Ad]]
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