How I became Catholic - Part 3a

In case you need to refresh your memory, or haven't read the first two parts at all:

How I became Catholic - Part 1

How I became Catholic - Part 2

I guess I need to rewind a little bit and give a little bit of back info now. Prior to meeting Conor, I never knew any Catholics (or at least I didn’t know that I knew some). Not only did I not know any Catholics, but I really knew NOTHING about Catholicism. There were only two things that I “knew” about Catholics: they wore Crucifixes instead of a Cross, and they had a greater focus on Mary. I actually feel quite blessed that I didn’t know anything about Catholicism (if I had, it probably would have been in a negative form) so I was MORE open to hearing about it all (eventually!)

Me playing at a folk show at Ethical Addictions

Around Christmas 2001, I met Conor. I was involved in the music “scene” in Abbotsford at the time. If you can believe it, I was even in a band called the Progressive Thinkers. I also got into some Folk music at the time, and played at a few folk shows. Some other people in the music scene used to hang out at Tim Hortons (a Canadian coffee/donut shop), and I was invited to join them. The first time I went, we were all sitting around, and my friend Kyle said “where are the Caths?” I had no idea what he was talking about, so he clarified – the “Catholics”. I have to be honest, I thought it was weird that he called them the “caths” and didn’t know what to expect! I found out later that one of the girls in this group, Janel, was a Catholic, and had a close family of Cousins who would meet up at Tim Hortons as well, who were also Catholics. I went to Tim Hortons a few times before meeting the “Caths”.

The day came: Kyle and I walked into Tim Hortons and he said “there they are!” I looked over to see two big guys huddled over a card game, looking kind of intense. After we got our food, Kyle introduced me to Nathan and Conor Sweeney.

Now fast-forward a bit – a week after that eventful day, May 19th (the day my nephew was born, and my grandparents were invited to South Abbotsford Church), I attended the Sweeney Singers spring concert, and Conor asked me out. I remember when I told my mom that I was going out with someone, she asked if he was a Christian – this is how little I knew about Catholicism, I had to answer “I don’t actually know, I think so”…my brother quickly piped in that yes, he was a Christian! Haha

Initially, we never really talked about our faiths with each other, we both went to our own churches on Sunday and that was about it. One day at Tim Hortons, a very blunt friend of ours asked me when I was going to become Catholic. Awkward!! He went on to tell me that it was inevitable that I would become Catholic. That’s when I started getting kind of defensive. Why was it inevitable that I would become CATHOLIC, and he never asked Conor when HE would become PROTESTANT? I didn’t like it one bit…and actually mentally made a note not to talk about religion at all, because I didn’t want Conor to think that I was asking about Catholicism with converting in mind. But I did start to get very curious!

Two events happened that really changed things for me. I’m not 100% sure of the timeline of these events. One for sure was that Fall, 2002. The local evangelical University, Trinity Western, has a Catholic College, Redeemer Pacific, on campus. At Redeemer Pacific (RPC) they offer courses in theology, philosophy, biblical studies, etc. You can get diplomas there, but you can also be getting a degree at Trinity and take some of your courses at RPC. Anyways, a friend of ours (who at the time was dating Conor’s cousin, they are now married) told us about this seminar thing that was being held at the College and asked if we wanted to go. It was called “The good news about Sex and Marriage” presented by Christopher West. I was embarrassed at first by the title, and no one else seemed interested in going, but eventually Conor, a friend, and myself decided to attend the seminar with her.

I’ve got to say that it was pretty much a life-changing seminar for me, and for Conor as well (eventually taking us to Melbourne for him to study at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family).

How did it change my life? It gave me a perspective on Christianity that I had never encountered before. Christopher West bases this seminar on the teachings of Pope John Paul II in “The Theology of the Body”. I can’t even begin to adequately describe “The Theology of the Body”, it’s just too complex for me to comprehend fully, let alone try to explain! But briefly, and by no means adequately, the key theme is that we are created for total self-giving love in the image of the Trinity. LOVE is exemplified through the ‘communion of Persons’ in the Trinity, through total self-giving. What John Paul II points out is that the communion of persons which man and woman form through the total self-giving in marriage is not merely something ‘natural’ but is actually something ‘sacramental’ – is actually an image of this Trinitarian love, a witness to LOVE. He calls it a theology of the ‘body’ because it is in and through the body’s capacity to express and receive love – what he calls the ‘nuptial’ meaning of the body – that we are able to live out our vocation of total self-giving. (I'm going to reference this paragraph to Conor - because I was having trouble putting into words what I wanted to say)

I highly, highly recommend having a look at this book.

It's a VERY easy read (I read it in one day), Question & Answer format.

It answers some tough questions, and for non-catholics, will give a bit of an understanding as to the Catholic view of Marriage and Sexuality.

Apart from that main theme, the things that struck me the most in his talks, were the “Catholic” things that he made reference to. What Chris West gave me was a catechesis (explanation) of the Catholic faith while talking about Marriage and Sexuality! He likened Christ’s relationship with the Church, to the relationship that husband and wife have. Christ gives himself fully to us in the Eucharist. This is when I learned about a couple of the more controversial topics of Catholicism: the Real Presence (that the bread and wine in the Eucharist are the REAL body and blood of Christ), and how each act of intercourse should be open to life.

This is where some of my questions started finding some "answers". I had previously mentioned that I didn't understand the point of communion. It seemed like such a big deal in the bible, but then in church, it seemed to be "just bread" to me. Christopher West talked about how Christ gives himself fully to the Church in the Eucharist (communion), I then learned about the Catholic belief of the "true presence" of Christ in the bread and body.

I had also always believed in being open to life in a marriage, openness to children, and this was a huge portion of the seminar. That total self-giving, means giving all of yourself to your husband/wife, including your fertility.

I also heard him use words that I had never heard before, like sacrament, Eucharist, Marriage (which I already knew, but marriage as a sacrament?). I had a lot of questions for Conor after this seminar!