Joining The Catholic Church Is 'pretty Awesome'

The anticipation was better than a visit from Santa, said Barb Schmitt as she prepared to be received into the Catholic Church on Holy Saturday.  "Like Santa -- but more!"

She's been going through the RCIA program as a catechumen at St. Joseph Parish in Jasper, and on Holy Saturday she was baptized, confirmed and received her first Communion.

When she was young, her immediate family didn't have a church connection. "My grandma took us to church once in a while, but there was so much yelling and screaming that it scared us." In her own home, there was no talk about "God or the Bible or Jesus. There was nothing there."

A few years ago, members of the choir at St. Joseph Parish decided to participate in the "Why Catholic?" program. Barb's husband is a choir member but he doesn't drive, so she went along. "I didn't know these people very well, but we got to be a tight little group. Then a little over a year ago, I decided I was ready, and I joined the next RCIA."

Her friends in the "tight little group" were very helpful. "Any question I had they answered. There were no silly questions."

During the RCIA classes, she learned about the importance of the Eucharist. "I found it was the most important part of the Mass. At first, I thought, 'It can't be that big of a deal,' and then one day it dawned on me that this is what I should do."

A few days before Holy Saturday, she said she had a "peace" about joining the Catholic faith. "My heart just feels lighter. I feel better about my life, about myself. I always believed in God, but not to this point."

Aaron Farr's journey to Holy Saturday began back in the late 1980s when he started dating a young woman who is now his wife. He was raised in the Christian faith, and had attended a variety of churches as a young child and teenager. "Christianity was strong in my life," he said of those early years.

When Aaron and Lisa began dating, he started attending Mass with her, and they were married at St. Francis Xavier Church in Poseyville in 1994.

Joining the Catholic Church was "something I always knew I needed to do, but I never put my mind around it."

Now that he is "older," he says things have changed for him. That's why he decided to attend RCIA classes at Good Shepherd Parish in Evansville. Because he had a connection to the Church already, much of what he heard in the classes he was familiar with, he said.

What struck a chord with him was something his RCIA teacher said one night: It's what makes you feel good.

“That phrase nailed it for me. This makes me feel good."

He believes that now he will have "strength" when he faces life's challenges because he will depend on his Catholic faith.

On Easter Monday Schmitt was still in awe of her experience on Holy Saturday. “It was pretty awesome,” she said. “It was really awesome.

“After receiving the Eucharist, tears started coming to my eyes. I had a feeling I never had before. It was excitement times 10.”

Schmitt said “getting Communion is now at the top of my list. It’s one of the great experiences of my life. My sponsor, Pam Howard, kept telling me, ‘It’s going to be awesome.’ It was awesome. It was life-changing.”