Faith Formation. Meri.

I'm not a cradle Catholic. I came to the faith as an adult. In 1992 I started to explore the idea of becoming Catholic, and what I found was a faith that spoke to both intellect and emotion as no other version of the faith had done.

The process of my becoming Catholic was greatly accelerated in late summer of that year, when I was advised by my doctors that I needed to have open heart surgery. I had to have an artificial aortic valve. This prompted me and my family and our parish priest at the Church of the Nativity in Dubuque to think that maybe we should not wait until the next year's Easter Vigil for my receiving the Sacraments of Initiation and joining the worldwide fellowship that is the Roman Catholic Church. So, in one day, September 26, 1992, I was baptized, I was confirmed, I was given the blessing of the sick, and I received my first Eucharist. That's pretty fast work; I received four of our seven Sacraments in one afternoon. I couldn't have received the other three. We were already married, so I couldn't do that again; I couldn't receive Holy Orders, because I was already married; there probably wouldn't have been much point in Reconciliation, because I was baptized just after noon, and what could I have done between then and the 4:30 Mass? Heck, what would I have had time to do?

I joined the Roman Catholic Church, and I have not looked back. I have not regretted it for a moment; I find enormous joy in my faith. Now, I attend Mass weekly; I am a lector at the 5 PM Mass at St. Mary's in Davenport in April, July and October; I am a eucharistic minister for the same Mass in May and November. I pray daily. I am loving it.

One memory from the early years: a rather unforgettable mass reconciliation service. One of our kids wore a Coed Naked Basketball t-shirt. She was wearing a jacket to the church, so we didn't know about the t-shirt until we got inside and she took that jacket off. Then it was, "Young lady, PUT THAT JACKET BACK ON and keep it on!"

At such a reconciliation service there are opening prayers and songs, then people go to a priest to make confession. The priests are scattered about the sanctuary; the space is open enough so that it's private, but it's not in a confessional, as such. One of our other daughters - our special needs daughter - went to one of the priests and started her confession. The priest kept looking over at us, which led us to wonder. . .Turns out that our daughter had confessed our sins. At least, our sins as she saw them. Harrrumph.

Time marches on, all too fast. Now, most of those kids have had kids, and Cindy and I are grandparents to ten. Tomorrow, one of those ten will be attending her first religious ed class, and I think she's pretty serious about finding her faith, learning about Our Lord, and joining the Church.

Meri is ten. She's a fifth-grader in the Bettendorf School System. She has a little brother, Logan, who is seven and who lives to push Meri's buttons. Meri is very tall for a fifth-grader; although she's ten, she is already over my shoulder. Brownish-blond hair, green eyes. People who see us together see the family resemblance immediately. There is nothing bashful about this girl.

Meri and her brother have been through a series of shocks over the past year that I don't want to get into here, except to say that too many other kids have been seriously damaged by similar events. Meri and Logan have had a solid rock and good support from their mom and from their grandparents. And, she has learned that part of what makes Grandma and Grandpa the people we are is that our lives are built around our faith. She couldn't articulate all of that just yet, but she does know that this is something she wants to find. So, tomorrow she'll be at the 9 AM Mass with us, and there will be a short ceremony - prayers and blessings - for the kids in Religious Ed, and for their teachers - then Meri will continue to learn, to find a new way to grow, and - who knows? - maybe at the next Easter Vigil she'll become a fully communicant member.

And I pray for our grandkids like I have prayed for no one before.

Thanks for hanging out for a few. Love your reactions.