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Parishioners' Faith Stories
Every member of our community
has a faith story. Just as the “Chicken Soup For The Soul”
series captured the inspiring stories of everyday people, the community
of St.
Joe’s is inviting you to share key moments of your faith journey.
On these web pages we hope to share these
stories with the rest of the world. It
is our way of reminding ourselves of how active God is in our lives and
hopefully giving us all some inspiration for living our lives more
fully. Please submit any stories of faith from your
life to Steve Robach.
Jennifer Jensen,
2005-2006 RCIA member "First I would like
to
thank everyone for their prayers and blessings during my RCIA
journey. It has been such a time of spiritual growth for me; I am
so happy that I am able to share it with all of you.
I
grew up a “non-practicing catholic” and was just fine with that for
most of my life. It was not that I didn’t believe in God, I just
found Him in different places.
When my family moved back to Lino Lakes
and purchased our first home I decided I wanted to reacquaint myself
with the church and the Christian faith. Initially we went to a
Lutheran church a few times and while it was nice it just did not feel
right. On Mother's Day of last year I told my family that I
wanted to start going to church regularly as my Mother's Day present,
and let’s just try St. Joe’s to see what it is like. So we
started attending most Sundays and while it is a huge church there was
a sense of community about it that was really welcoming. For a
while I kind of fumbled through the service not really knowing what the
rituals were and kind of feeling lost but I really enjoyed the messages
I got from each service.
After a few months we decided to become parish members and then we got
what I like to call the book of stuff! There was stuff you could
do and stuff you should do and oh by the way don’t forget to donate
your time and talent!!!! Needless to say, I was a little
overwhelmed. So I put it aside for a while and just kept going to
Mass learning what I could and pretending I understood the rest!
Then last fall I was talking with my mom and aunt and they made some
religious reference that I did not understand, and when I looked
perplexed my mother said, “Well, someone didn’t go to parochial
school!"
They both were products of the parochial school system! I was
just shocked! I could not believe my mother who never made me go
to church a day in my life would sit there and ridicule me for not
knowing something about religion. At that point I realized that I
had two choices. I could say something smug about how I was never
given any religion as a child and make her feel bad, or I could be a
grown-up and stay silent and take responsibility for my own spiritual
journey. Well guess what I did both! I made the snide
comment because I am kind of a kid sometimes and definitely not
perfect, but after that I got out the book of stuff and found out that
there was a RCIA program and it would not only teach me what I wanted
to know it would help me become a full member of the Catholic
Church!
So I called Steve Robach and got the
information and found out that not only was the program available but I
could start that Thursday. Then guess what I did: I
panicked. I felt like a fish out of water. I was going to
take a class about religion where I had to talk about my relationship with God
in front of an audience of my peers and, oh by the way, they say; you
will have to stand up in front of the church half a dozen times for
them to see you and a couple times you have to say a few words to let
them know you really want to be a part of the group! But I went
anyway determined never to be stumped by my mother again, at least
about religion, and to seek answers to the many questions I had.
Then
I met Pat Loew, who was my sponsor, and what a saint she is!
I can not say enough good things about her. She was patient, easy
to be around, gracious, a great listener and friendly. She never
pressured me to talk about things I was not comfortable with, answered
all my questions, many of them more then once, listened to me babble,
which is what I do when I am uncomfortable, never made me feel stupid
for not knowing something, and even went with me and provided moral
support during my first reconciliation. Steve, Marsha and Donna
did a great job matching up candidates and sponsors which is amazing
because I don’t think they really knew any of the candidates real well
before RCIA.
While going through the RCIA program I got answers to many
of my questions, but, like learning anything, each answer leads to more
questions. I learned so much about the history, tradition and symbols
of the catholic faith, and I also learned a lot about myself.
I found that my world views did not always match the views of the
Catholic Church. In today’s world, I think this is a common issue
we face. I felt much anguish over this and even wondered if maybe
this was not the right religion for me. Then I realized that I am
a work in progress and that God accepts me with my flaws, but it is my
choice and responsibility to work towards being a better person.
I realized that my communication with God has always been one sided; He
spoke and I didn’t listen. I was so afraid of becoming one of
those people who only talks to God when they want or need something
that I stopped talking to Him at all. Now I make
an effort to offer a prayer of thanksgiving each day, as well as to
pray for people other then myself, my friends and my
family. In RCIA we learned ways to pray that don’t consist
of asking, but of reflecting and I found that to be foreign at first,
but now I find it quite useful and natural, it is actually one of my favorite
forms of prayer.
One of the
most amazing things I learned in RCIA was about the Second Vatican council. It is probably the most
significant thing ever to happen to the Catholic Church and I had no
idea! To have someone in our own parish have been there and to
come tell us his story was amazing. It explained a lot to me
about why our religion is often misunderstood, and why many people
turned away from the church.
I don’t think I have mentioned all the work Steve, Donna and Marsha put
into this program and what a wonderful job they do.
They all bring a passion and spirit to the group that really is
phenomenal. They are such warm and open people who really enjoy
what they do. I could not imagine going through my journey
without any of them!
After my initiation
into the church I kind of thought, "What
now?" I have many
answers but I still have so many new questions. I really enjoyed
being a part of a smaller group within the church community and I
wanted that to continue. If you have never participated in any of
the opportunities our church has I highly recommend it. Not only
do you meet great people, but you do good work. I currently
deliver Meals on Wheels and I find it to be an easy way to do something
nice for someone else, but I also wanted to continue my learning so I
decided to do some lecturing during some of the
Masses. It provides me the opportunity to read and reflect on the
scriptures on a deeper level than just attending Mass.
I hope by sharing my RCIA experience, you can get a small glimpse into
what a fantastic program Steve, Donna and Marsha are providing and I
encourage you to recommend it to any unconfirmed adult or child who is
ready to take the next step on their faith journey."
Jessica
Adcock – RCIA member – 2004-2005
“The RCIA program has been
a wonderful experience for me . I
have gotten to know many great people who belong to our Catholic
community. We will forever share a bond
for having started on this journey
together. The RCIA program has taught me
a great deal about the Catholic faith. I
feel that going through this process as an adult has been very
rewarding. I recommend the RCIA to anyone
who is
interested in exploring the Catholic Faith.”
Clauadette Kaiser – RCIA member –
2004-2005
“My immersion into the Catholic faith began
with a meeting
with Fr. Tim last June before my marriage. Knowing
that I would be reluctant to do anything showy,
the suggestion
was that I attend the RCIA classes in the Fall, and go from there.
I found that every week I got more involved
and soon looked
forward to classes and participating in lively conversations and
thought
provoking discussions. The friendships
forged and the bonds share are very special to me.
With the love and support of my husband who
was my personal
sponsor, and his niece, Tammy Lincoln, who was my parish sponsor, my
walk into
faith was a very memorable experience. “
Jerris Miller – 2004-2005
RCIA member:
My husband Jeff and I
started attending and became members
of St. Joe’s in 2000 because we built a home nearby in Ham Lake. I
was raised Missouri Synod Lutheran and he
was raised Catholic. Because of our
differing denominations we did do quite a bit of “church shopping”
during the
first five years of our marriage.
During a morning Mass
last summer after attending St. Joe’s for four years as a Lutheran, I
believe
God spoke to me and told me to look into the R.C.I.A. program. That morning after Mass we picked our two
little boys up from their Sunday school classes and headed down for
some donuts
and Kool-aid. Just in case I wasn’t
listening to him earlier, God arranged it for my family and I to sit
down at
the same table with Terry, an active sponsor of St. Joe’s R.C.I.A. Program. I don’t
remember how the subject came up but God made sure
it did and I
asked Terry a few questions about the program. Without
being too pushy Terry said he would pray for me to
join. Well that same week I called the
church and
they put me in touch with their newly appointed R.C.I.A. director, Steve Robach and we scheduled a time to get together and talk about joining. Steve was so kind-hearted and welcoming that
I knew this was the right path for me.
Even though I had
already attended this church for four years, taught Sunday school and
felt like
it is was very much my family’s church, I still had reservations about
becoming
a Catholic. So I told myself I would
just start the program and if at anytime
I felt it wasn’t the right thing for me, I would just stop going. Steve told me the church would assign me a
church sponsor and this made me very nervous.
He also told me I could ask my spouse to be a personal
sponsor. I was thrilled when my husband
said he would
be my personal sponsor and delighted when I met my church sponsor Pat
Loew. What a blessing she has been to me
this year and what a wonderful lady she is!
At my first meeting with Steve he
gave me a schedule of all
of the meetings and other events we were going to get through in the
next nine
months. I was a little overwhelmed and
couldn’t imagine getting to the end of the program.
Now that it is Mid April and we only have one
more get together (a pot luck dinner because these people love
to
eat!) I am really sad that it is
over. The year went too fast, the
blessings
were too plentiful to count and I have never felt more at home anywhere
than I
do here at St. Joe’s.
We had so many wonderful experiences. We went down to the beautiful Cathedral where
some of group got to meet Archbishop Harry Flynn. We
went as a group and served dinner to the
hungry with Loaves and Fishes, a very humbling experience.
We had countless meaningful and spiritual
discussions. We were prayed over by the
congregation on several occasions. I
made my first reconciliation with Father Tim after which my husband
informed
me, “Aw, he went easy on you!” But
nothing compared to how meaningful and moving the experience of Holy
Week
was. Seeing the washing of the feet,
being able to venerate Jesus on the cross and then being confirmed and
watching
the baptisms was truly one of the most meaningful times
of my life.
I am excited to
start my life as a Catholic and pray that I am able to give back to
others at St. Joe’s as much as
they given me. Most importantly, I am so thankful that God
showed me how beautiful and alive my faith can be through the Catholic
Church. "
Paul
Tuveson – RCIA sponsor – 2004-2005
"During these past nine months I had a great
opportunity
to be a part of the RCIA process as a sponsor. A
process in which I was not only able to watch my
candidate grow in
faith, but also a process in which my faith grew as well.
RCIA is a great process to
learn why Catholics do certain
things the way they do. Steve Robach,
Director of Adult Enrichment, did an outstanding job this past year in
leading
our group by educating us in the teachings of the church.
Father Tim also was on hand from time to time
to give us his insight on the more deeper teachings of the church. It is always great to visit with him in a
different light. His faith is strong and
we are fortunate to have someone of his caliber in our church.
As a former Lutheran and now a
Catholic, there is no
question that my mind went into “shock” from time to time, trying to
accept or
understand where the church is coming from. The
important thing for me however was to keep an open
mind about the
current teachings. When a person is
brought up one way for many years, sometimes it hard for us to accept
or
comprehend the changes that our new faith teaches.
If you’ve been wondering if
its time to get your family
Catholic as a whole, you’ll never regret your decision to take that
first
step. I encourage anyone who is not
Catholic but has been coming to St. Joes, to call Steve Robach and talk
to him
about the RCIA process. It’s an informal
time to ask questions and talk about the process in general. At the same time, for those interested in a
process where by you can learn more about our faith and be a sponsor, I
would
encourage you to call Steve as well. The
entire process flies by quickly, and it’s a great opportunity to meet
people
within the Parrish, learn about our faith, and have fun as well."
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