Getting got by God
At the latest session hosted by local adult faith formation group, Conversations on Faith, three adult converts explored their journey into faith and the Church. During the evening, they touched on their decision-making process, challenges they experienced along the way and the ways that their lives had changed since becoming Catholic.
The event was hosted as part of a three-part exploration of Faith and Conversion, which had featured local experts discussing how to support people coming into the Church and delving into the nuances and risks of life in pursuit of Christ.
The third instalment, Faith and Stories of Conversion consisted of a panel of parishioners from St Christopher’s Cathedral, Francis Béringer, Becky Langworthy and Hannah Ozolins. Each had participated in RCIA in the Archdiocese and were baptised into the Catholic Church within the last five years.
The panellists reflected on their conversions as a series of gentle and consistent invitations from the Lord until it was no longer a decision to be made. One described it as being “Got by God,” to which the other panellists laughed and agreed.
One of the panellists described changes in their life as a slow and steady orientation of components of their life towards God, saying, “Worship is ordering your life to God”. Another noted “connection and community” as one of the areas for parishes to focus on after the RCIA process had ended and converts were often struck by “post camp blues”.
During the Q&A, each member of the panel was asked, “What are three things that make a good Catholic?”. Hannah highlighted the importance of spending time discerning your vocation, living your vocation to capacity and not denying your faith in front of others.
Becky reflected on “Being people of prayer so we are living an ongoing, deep relationship with God”, frequenting the sacraments and “taking the dismissal seriously when we are asked to take what we receive out into the world. Francis said the most important characteristics for him were “Being realistic and talking about the difficult stuff ” and “being attentive at Mass and thinking through what you are doing when you are at Mass.”
Francis also mentioned that it was important to “find the niche you are interested in, such as history, Scripture or family, and developing that into fuel for your faith to be tangibly lived out in the world.”
Conversations on Faith has been run out of the Cathedral Parish by a team of volunteers for the last three years. It is an adult faith formation series for all ages focused on the foundations of our faith and ways to talk about them with reason. Contact: conversationsonfaith.cbr@gmail.com