While it is true that I had been baptized into the Roman Catholic Church as an infant, we never really had a strong upbringing in the faith while at home.
My father still to this day is largely agnostic, and in the 60's he was very hostile to the Catholic Church as a whole. For myself, and my sisters, he didn't make much of a fuss about the baptisms, and I think for my mother it was more for the party that followed rather than any sacramental reality that motivated her.
My maternal grandparents would occasionally take us to Mass, and so the image of the crucifix and the Easter story was not entirely foreign to me. But I can't say that I had much of a commitment to the idea that Jesus was divine.
I had mentioned that even while in college, the writings of Gichin Funakoshi probably had more influence over me than say, the Gospel according to St. Matthew.
Part of this problem also comes from public education. Consider, that in a series of high school world literature, we studied Greek Mythology, Roman Mythology, and then The Bible as Literature. What's a rational mind to think but "past mythologies, followed by present day mythologies" ?
My conversion came about in the Fall of 1986, while I was training in "A" School to be an Electronics Technician for the Navy. At that time, I had made the Navy a huge part of my life, it was bigger than I was, and I had a strong desire to serve it well.
Our class went on a weekend outing together, and on the drive up to the mountain, the class leader Petty Officer Strickland, opened a box of cassette tapes for me to choose something to play. Well, it was all gospel music, almost none of which I had ever heard of before.
I firmly believe that for any piece of music to be enjoyed, there must be something thing in it that is at least a little familiar. As it turned out, one tape in that box was familiar. It was the soundtrack to Godspell. My mother has taken me to a performance in Boston, when that play had made all the rage and was played everywhere. I still remember riding the green line and getting candied apples on the way to the show.
And I must say, I was transported during that performance. Something about it did stick with me. So here I was in 1986, listening once again to the soundtrack, and I realized that there was something really really missing in my life.
The next day, I stepped into the chaplain's office, and got a copy of the New Testament and actually started to read it. The first thing I did also was notice the number of times that passages were quoted within Lincoln's many speeches, and I took a yellow high lighter and marked that New Testament up.
This did take a few weeks to make a full conversion. I later completed "C" school in Memphis, TN, and was then assigned to NAS Lemoore. I met with the base chaplain, but late found my way to St. Brigit's in Hannaford, CA. Where I was placed into the Rite of Catholic Initiation for Adults (RCIA) and sponsored by my good friend Joe Coakley and his wife , Kathy.
The Coakleys were about ten years older than I was and already had established a large family of eight children. They lean a bit more to the charismatic side of the faith than I do, but their influence is felt in my family of eight. For example, the fact that we have picture of all out children's first days of life, is largely copied from what the Coakleys had done.
On of the topics to tackle in RCIA was this stance that the Church had against contraception. And to be honest, I didn't struggle with it at all - it made perfect sense the first time I considered it. Consider - if we begin with the assumption that God is omnipotent, then he certainly has the power to cause any contraceptive method to fail. A couple using illicit methods is simply expressing their desire not to have God's will interfere with their lives. And yet God could still bless them with a child. So if God could potentially grant a child under such circumstance, what does the couple achieve ? Nothing really other than a rebellion against God's will. And that is wherein the evil lies!
So after a few weeks of preparation, and getting al the paperwork complete, I went home to Massachusetts on leave, and received my First Holy Communion on Christmas Eve of 1987 in St. Mary's of Chelmsford, MA.
I point this out only to say that I made an adult choice to be Catholic. It wasn't something that I grew up with and had never questioned.
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