Quo Vadis Youth

Stefanie's Story

I grew up in a family that changed religious convictions every so often. My mother grew up Seventh Day Adventist, and she and my father attended that church with my grandmother until shortly before they had me. After concluding that they didn't want to accept rules such as "no dancing," they switched to the Lutheran church, as my father had been raised a Lutheran. We attended that church until I was in 5th grade, when our pastor left. After he left, my parents concluded that they didn't want to go there anymore (both because people were too judgemental and because they didn't like the new pastor). We took a bit of time off church, but within a year joined a Congregational church. Both while in the Lutherna church and the Congregational church, I occasionally went to the Seventh Day Adventist church with my grandmother. Needless to say, while I believed in God, I didn't really have a strong conviction that any one of these faiths had the truth. In fact, I never completely felt God's presence in any of them, and never really felt drawn to church. It also didn't help that we didn't go all that regularly; once or twice a month at most.

When I came to college, I needed to go to church on campus, as I didn't have my car first semester. The only options were the Catholic Mass and a non denominational service, and as a Protestant, I choose the non-denominational service. I disliked it immediately, and resolved to never go back. Thus, I didn't attend church for the first two years I was at college, except when I went home (which was only for holidays). Even when I had my car and could find a church in the city, it wasn't a major priority.

I decided to take a spring semester course at my university titled Russian Studies 225: Russian Culture. It would fulfill a requirement for one of my majors, and I thought it would be interesting. Little did I know how much it would change my life! One whole lecture was devoted to the Russian Orthodox Church, which I knew very little about. After class, I decided to do some research about Catholicism; in my mind, they were quite similar, and it would be easier for me to start with the Western faith. I visited Catholic websites and chatted with people in Catholic chatrooms, and the more I learned, the more convinced I was that there was something to all of it. I also chatted with my Catholic boyfriend about it as well; although he doesn't attend Mass as regularly as he should, he attended Catholic schools K-12 and is pretty knowledgeable. After a great deal of research, Bible reading and prayer, I decided that I would attend Mass as soon as I returned to college.

At the beginning of my junior year of college, I did indeed attend Mass. As soon as I walked in, I felt the Holy Spirit in a way I never had before. I immediately knew that I needed to become Catholic, so I joined RCIA as soon as the classes started. I became Catholic at the Easter Vigil April 11,2009 at the age of 21, and it was the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me. I am eternally thankful to God for strengthening my faith and bringing me Home.