Returning to the Catholic Church
By Catherine Miller

Dear Stephen,
Thank you so much for your e-mail! I’m absolutely fascinated that you work with returning home Catholics and converts, a group that is near and dear to my heart because of my own journey. It’s hard for me to believe that a year and a half ago, already fallen away and lukewarm in my faith, I was ready to say a final goodbye. God is so good though and he reached out to me, through a newly ordained priest, to let me know he didn’t want me to go.

The turning point for me was in a homily in which Father Joseph spoke of an experience he had as a small child growing up Vietnam in which he became very ill. They relied on home remedies and he was given a very dark syrupy herbal concoction that he said smelled bad and tasted worse. It was so bad he could hardly swallow it. Yet a few days later he was fully recovered. His point was that for those who struggle with the truths of the Church one has to think of it as bad medicine, it may be hard for some to swallow but it's so good for us. Sure enough that was the state I was in. I had never fully accepted all the teachings of the faith, picking and choosing what I wanted to believe. That night I prayed to our Lord and told him that so far I had been a very lousy Catholic and it was clear to me I had to just surrender myself to him, accepting the Church that He had established.

Stephen, that was the turning point. Once I opened myself up to accepting the Church teachings it was like watching a beautiful rose unfold with Jesus and Mary in the centre. I've spent the past year learning about the Church I never really knew and all her beautiful devotions. I'm convinced my ongoing conversion has been fostered by time spent before the Blessed Sacrament and many rosaries. How beautiful and magnificent our faith is!

My love for Jesus has grown so deeply and I really feel that only the one true Church could have helped me to develop such a passionate love for him. My true joy now is teaching our children the faith. Michael is only four but I’m able to bring him to Adoration and Benediction, in which he sits quietly. The first time I brought him to Adoration and I showed him how to bow before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament I felt tears of joy welling in my eyes. And I felt Jesus smile, pleased at Michael’s presence. Michael shows a sensitivity to our Lord that is so beautiful. My constant prayer is that Michael and Catie will not stray from our Lord as I did.

…Your work in England sounds very fulfilling although I have no doubt it has its challenges. I’m currently reading a book by Father Charles Connor titled “Defenders of the Faith in Word and Deed”, in which he goes through various eras in Church history. There is a chapter on St. Thomas More, followed by several more chapters on other individuals in England who defended the faith during various points in English history. It includes individuals I had never heard of but you probably know well. People like Edmund Campion and Philip Howard…It’s amazing to me to read of these wonderful people who the Holy Spirit used to keep the Church alive and what they suffered to defend that faith…

That further reinforced in my mind that the Holy Spirit is not about to let the Church fall, in spite of the times we live in…When Pope Benedict XVI said the Church is alive and it is young I feel like she truly is. I’m seeing something in the Church that I had not seen in my youth and maybe it’s that return to the truth.

…I will pray for you and the wonderful work you are doing for our Lord! Thanks again for writing and I look forward to hearing more about Miles Jesu!

In Jesus and Mary,
Catherine