On April 11, 1998, I became Catholic and it was the happiest day of my life. I had waited over 25 years to be confirmed and receive communion and because of religious education, my dream had finally come true. Religious education has many facets in the Catholic Church and that night I made a promise to myself that I would learn as many as I could in my lifetime. As a military child, I was always intrigued by the Catholic faith. Every Sunday I would watch the Catholic families pile into their cars to go to Mass. Military families lived, worked, played and even worshiped on base. Therefore, the Catholic Mass really ranked up high in my mind to make families leave every Sunday. The military did have a base chapel, which offered nondenominational
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I continued to work on my certification and looked into a Theology Degree with Our Lady of Holy Cross, but it was not available online and the classes conflicted with my work and family schedule. I continued to attend retreats and lectures to further my spiritual education, but felt God had me where I should be and everything else is just icing in the cake. I had great plans for the religious education program. I began developing a new group to guide R.C.I.A in the right direction!! The people who had been in my R.C.I.A. class were thrilled to help me and share the experiences. I developed retreats for Confirmation, Reconciliation and First Eucharist and our elementary program grew with new ideas and new volunteers! I had found my place forever! My girlfriend, being a cradle Catholic told me that God still had plans for me. I did not believe her. Although, reality did make me a believer, after 7 years working 50-60 hours a week and being paid a part time salary began to take its toll. “God will provide” and “God helps those who help themselves” and many other one line quotes I would read to help me make sense of what I was doing. However, money is an evil necessity and I begin to look for a full time position. My heart was breaking when I would interview for jobs in a non-Catholic workplace. As time went on I would receive job offers that would not work with my schedule, or no job offers at all. Finally, I received a phone call asking me if I would be interested in a temporary position at a local university. I said yes. The recruiter said the temporary position was at Loyola University, I was
I continued to work on my certification and looked into a Theology Degree with Our Lady of Holy Cross, but it was not available online and the classes conflicted with my work and family schedule. I continued to attend retreats and lectures to further my spiritual education, but felt God had me where I should be and everything else is just icing in the cake. I had great plans for the religious education program. I began developing a new group to guide R.C.I.A in the right direction!! The people who had been in my R.C.I.A. class were thrilled to help me and share the experiences. I developed retreats for Confirmation, Reconciliation and First Eucharist and our elementary program grew with new ideas and new volunteers! I had found my place forever! My girlfriend, being a cradle Catholic told me that God still had plans for me. I did not believe her. Although, reality did make me a believer, after 7 years working 50-60 hours a week and being paid a part time salary began to take its toll. “God will provide” and “God helps those who help themselves” and many other one line quotes I would read to help me make sense of what I was doing. However, money is an evil necessity and I begin to look for a full time position. My heart was breaking when I would interview for jobs in a non-Catholic workplace. As time went on I would receive job offers that would not work with my schedule, or no job offers at all. Finally, I received a phone call asking me if I would be interested in a temporary position at a local university. I said yes. The recruiter said the temporary position was at Loyola University, I was