TRAVELING WITH ROMA TO ROME

Throughout my years with Roma, I have dragged her through so many different church doors to either preach or play music for, or simply to explore. She has been a really good sport about it all. But last month she came to me and told me from the heart that before she dies she wants to be Catholic.

Channeling my inner Baptist long-windedness I will share with you a very tender and private story of faith.

Roma grew up going to St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church. She went to school there and worshipped there too. When she came of age she wanted to be Catholic and her mother would not allow it. She was heartbroken. She eventually went to the Episcopal Church as a compromise. But in our intimate talks recently she shared deep down she wants to be Catholic before she dies. This has been a lifelong buried desire of hers. I love her and so I have been working on seeing if I can make this happen for her through my contacts that I have. I would naturally join with her so she is not doing this alone.

This is a new faith journey we are on now. One I was not expecting. But here we are! Roma has chronic back pain and going to a morning service has been getting harder on her. We have family that attends St. Roch Catholic Church and they have evening Masses which are easier for Roma to attend. We went and she had a sparkle in her eye like a kid in an ice cream shop. I believe I witnessed a coming home celebration for her spiritually speaking.

Now I have written off the cuff in my blogs recently about having Catholic tendencies and I wonder if the Lord was not preparing me for Roma's proclamation to me that fateful Fall evening.

We met with the priest and passed the interview to move on to be in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. Then next year at the Easter Vigil we will be officially Catholic. So the song by The Beatles is quite appropriate, "The Long and Winding Road." Another song by The Beatles we should throw in here is "Let It Be" with the lyric, "Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be, let it be."

Now we must let a dear sweet priest in the Episcopal Church know we have a new spiritual journey to travel and we have to say goodbye.

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