MM 50 Years Ago

My Way In

The Church has long ceased to be a strange county. I can now find my way with fair confidence at Mass. It has become part of me and is no longer a weird mumbo-jumbo of movement and sound.

It is still bewildering to find that the faith of one’s fathers no longer means anything. I admired my parents tremendously and knew that they would be very hurt when I became a Catholic. Although they were never uncharitable or harshly critical of any religion, I knew that they believed the Roman Catholic religion to be one of fear and oppression. …

In spite of all this, I found myself impelled in my student days into a Catholic church I often passed. It was quiet in there and there was something present I could not identify or describe. I could not stop myself from going inside and just sitting and looking. Here was beauty and peace where all I had previously experienced was austerity, hearty hymn singing and an innocent evangelical zeal….

It was not until some time later that the term ‘gift of faith’ caused me to consider. I am inclined to think with wonder, “Why me?” … God does move in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. 

April 1972