ARTICLES

New Catholic grateful to RCIA and continuing education

By Kathryn Forrester Thro
Special to The Catholic Virginian

Not long ago, my daughter Kristina and I, having both married Catholics, went through the ancient Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in different cities: she in the Philadelphia area and I at Blessed Sacrament, Norfolk.

To anyone who doubts the vital need for and great blessing of this wonderful process, and that of continuing Catholic education, I state here that he or she should reconsider what education means.

To this poet, the entire process meant everything and continues to inspire.

One lovely summer spent in Philadelphia near the time of the birth of my first granddaughter, Laurel, I walked to and from a small Catholic church in Jenkintown, a path literally (and how appropriately, for a poet) strewn with flowers!

Each morning, I would enter the small church so tentatively, sit in the last pew, and await the moment when the women began to pray the Rosary.

Was this beautiful, ark-like church, filled with images of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin, speaking some lost language to my heart? I felt deeply, at last, the Real Presence of God.

All my previous, misguided ideas of the Church fell away as I was welcomed to attend Mass with my little family there. When Kristina officially began her own RCIA classes, I was invited to attend a few evenings, and was truly delighted at the open and kind atmosphere I witnessed.

How mysterious are God’s ways, and how the Blessed Virgin’s gentle presence seemed to guide each step after that.

When I saw Laurel baptized, heard the great “Alleluia” sung and realized the long history that preceded the sacrament, I felt deeply that I had come home at last to the Church of all the great saints, the Church that Jesus Christ entrusted to St. Peter as He handed him the keys of our traditions. I longed to learn more.

Returning to Norfolk, I walked shyly into Blessed Sacrament’s Tuesday night RCIA class and have belonged to this loving parish community ever since.

There, under Father Joseph H. Metzger III’s inspiring words and the gentle, sunny presence of Sister Regina Stupak, our director of religious education, I felt safe in an environment where I could freely ask questions, listen and learn. Here was a Heavenly place where all was explained to a hungry soul.

My daughter and I entered the Church on the same night and, although hundreds of miles may have seemed to separate us, I felt a true communion with her and all the saints that special Holy Saturday night and Easter morning, because I now more fully understood their meaning.

Now when I attend Mass and adult education on Sunday mornings, I continue to be amazed at the depth and richness of our Church heritage, and the living witnesses who explain the traditions to us as we grow in Faith.

How fortunate we are to have our learned pastor, Father Metzger. How beautiful and meaningful are the Mass, Holy Communion, Reconciliation, when we understand how great a love God has for us! And now each Sunday morning, the eminent Dr. Lawrence Dotolo and his wife Sandra continue to exemplify years of dedication by providing the education we all desire. How else can we grow in love unless our heart’s garden is so gently and skillfully tended? Only then can we turn our joy into loving action and embrace the world!

For this minor poet, having the blessings of this parish community, I am most truly, eternally grateful and I can sing in my heart thanking God that “My cup runneth over.”

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