by Terry Fenwick on Saturday, December 18, 2010

We raised our 7 sons in a strong Christian home and most of the guys were believing Christians. When we became Catholic, some of them said they could not see how we did this. “This” being how we could possibly ever become Catholic!!!! Today we do have one son who is close and we have one Daughter-in-Love, Christine, who was a cradle Catholic, left the Church for a time, but came back later when Tom and I came into Full Communion.

I do have the best story to tell you about Christine. Do you have a minute? She is the Daughter-in-Love from Boston who came out to California and met Jon. She and Jon fell fast for each other. Jon brought her to our home one evening, unannounced, with advanced warning that his parents were very strong Christians and his Mother would give her a Bible but, “just take it.” Laughing. Well, she was such an extrovert – the first time she came – I did not mention GOD or anything – and when they left she said, “Your Mother must not have liked me” and when Jon asked why, she said, “She didn’t suggest anything about giving me a Bible.” He assured her that it would happen. Of course, it did.

Time went on and Christine liked me, knew I taught the Bible and wanted to come to visit our class. She came just for my lecture – complete with a yellow legal pad. She sat down front during the lecture and took copious notes. She was impressed with the lecture because she felt I spoke like I knew all the Disciples in person and had dinner with them. Christine is really bright and she decided she wanted to study so she read up on what she should use to do a proper Bible study. I was excited, of course, about that and I told her I either had duplicates to give or would buy her everything – and I did. She loved it. She didn’t come to our class because it was a day class and she had a job.

Then, and this is the reason for this story, Christine wanted to visit our church. By this time Tom and I were at the last and final Protestant church. We did not know that. It was a former Baptist gone “seeker sensitive” church, and had NO worship at all. NONE. It had wonderful people who loved the Lord, but it had no worship. Tom and I were both involved in big studies and did teaching and Regional Directing and Training for classes so we had our studies and were busy with the Word of God. Too busy to notice a lot of things.

So finally this one day Christine and Jon came to visit our church. They had come early between services and had coffee and snacks before they moved into the sanctuary (which you would not call a sanctuary – nor did they – it was more like an auditorium.) Tom came down from a Sunday School class and slid in by Jon and I came in and slid in alongside Christine. The music was playing and everyone was singing. Happy place and very nice people. Christine was loving it but she turned to me, whispered and said, “They don’t have kneelers,” and I said, “No, and they never will.” She nodded. Then she turned toward me again, whispered and said, “They don’t do the Our Father.” and I said, “No, and they never will.” and then she said something that made all the difference in the world to me; Christine hit it on the head. Christine whispered, “But they do have donut holes.”

WOW!!!! No worship, no kneelers, no Our Father, “but they do have donut holes.” My words back to her? Guess what they were? I said “And they always will.”

So there you go – the little Cradle Catholic from Boston witnessed in a way she knew not – she said what was missing and all that we had “had a hole in it.”

I never forgot it. It was like getting a tattoo. It would not go away.

Holiness

or Donut Holes

Thanks Terry for a terrific post & a good laugh … we can get so muddled as people when we’re up a creek without a paddle, or in a boat without a rudder. The teachings  proposed by The Church are so totally inspired that this sort of muddle doesn’t happen …provided we stick to them, our Rudder is sound! alleluia