Notes on Faith 1.0

One of my goals for 2012 is to get more involved at church. I realized that I haven't really ever talked much about my faith here on the ole blog, so here we are! I'm going to split this up into a few "installments" just so it doesn't run on too long.

 Hubby G and I are Catholic. I was born and raised Catholic, but Hubby G just went through the Rite of Christian Initiation in Adults (RCIA) last year to become an "official" Catholic. I couldn't be more proud of him! Although I was born and raised Catholic, I stopped attending church regularly while I was in college. After college, when Hubby G and I got married (with a non-Catholic wedding) we both agreed that we wanted to join a church, but we were divided on which church. Hubby G was raised Methodist, but he didn't necessarily feel strong ties to the Methodist faith. He was, however, quite skeptical of the Catholic faith. He held some common misconceptions about Catholicism, but after attending mass with my family in my hometown, he was also completely unimpressed with it all.

 It's hard for me to describe, but even though I hadn't been attending church regularly through college, I still felt strongly tied to the Catholic church. As much as I really wanted to think that I could be open to exploring different church options, I knew in my heart that I belonged in the Catholic church. I really wanted to be open to finding something we could both agree upon and feel comfortable with, but I just couldn't.

 Hubby G could.

 I'm still in awe and amazed at his ability to open his heart and his mind like that. We found the nearest Catholic church to our house and went to mass together one Sunday. It just so happens to be an AMAZING parish. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's infinitely more engaging than any other Catholic church I have attended.  After attending mass for a couple of weeks, Hubby G made the huge decision to covert to Catholicism and go through the RCIA program. Not only is this a big decision because of the commitment to the faith, but the RCIA program is a big commitment of time as well. Hubby G met with his class for about 2 hours every.single.Sunday. from September until April, plus several other commitments outside of those 2 hour blocks on Sundays. Each Sunday, the RCIA candidates and catechumens would be dismissed from mass after the homily and begin their class meeting. Mass would end and I would join Hubby G in the class and it would end about an hour later. I didn't HAVE to join Hubby G for the later part of class, but I really wanted to be there for him and show my support while he went through this important process. As it turns out, I learned A LOT myself! I'm really glad that I got to be a part of it because it helped me understand my own faith better and to cultivate a deeper faith in addition to supporting my husband and allowing us to grow our faith as a couple.

Stay tuned for the continuation of this topic!