A Story of Faith Conversion
By S. Kathy Lange
(L-r.) John & Pat Mydock and Sister Kathy Lange
Pat Mydock of Clio, Michigan, was born and raised Catholic, and her husband, John, was baptized Methodist. Pat had been away from the church for awhile, but she was starting to attend Mass at SS. Charles & Helena periodically and coming on the invitation of a neighbor and close friend. She enjoyed going to church, and she felt at home in the parish.
During Advent 2004, Pat read a notice in the bulletin about the six-week series “Catholics Returning Home” that was being offered beginning January 2005. Pat attended the sessions, and was able to have her questions answered as she heard updates on the Mass, sacraments, and changes in the church since Vatican II. Pat felt that just about everything she had been questioning was explained through those six sessions.
From then on, Pat was a regular attendee at 8:30 Sunday morning Mass. At first, she left right after Mass and didn’t feel comfortable staying and socializing with other parishioners in the gathering space. After she joined the CCW (Conference of Catholic Women), that all changed. Now, her husband John says Pat loves to stay and visit after Mass, and they are sometimes the last ones out of the parking lot.
Out of the blue, John started going to Mass with Pat once in a while. He had friends who regularly accompanied their wives to Mass, even though the guys were not Catholic. John asked questions of his own, and he began participating in the Mass by praying and singing with the congregation.
By late summer of 2008, I sent letters of invitation to non-Catholic spouses about coming into the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). John received his letter, which somehow got posted on his refrigerator. One day Pat asked, “John, did you see that letter?” John answered, “Did you put her up to that?” John then disclosed that becoming Catholic had been on his mind for some time, but that he had wanted to surprise Pat. He told her not to make any plans for him on Wednesday nights, because he was going to join the RCIA.
John was a delightful addition to the group of other candidates and catechumens. He even enlisted his own sponsor—a good buddy and golf partner. John definitely experienced a major conversion through his journey. He related that his friends began to notice a change in him and wondered what was happening to him. John explained that he looked at his relationship with God and life differently, and many of his old attitudes began to shift. He didn’t have to say a word or talk “religion” to them. The change was just noticed through the way John was living his life.
John was fully initiated into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, April 11, 2009. John stated it this way: “I’m looking forward to my initiation into the Church. It will be nice to join my family as an ‘official’ Catholic. Besides Pat, my wife of 45 years at my side, my daughter will be a lector, and my granddaughter will be an altar server. This will be a special day for me.”
He continues to evangelize others by the way he lives his life. Another of John’s good non-Catholic golfing buddies, who had been coming to church regularly with his wife since she was first diagnosed with cancer, felt the nudge from John and the Holy Spirit to begin the RCIA process this year. Plus, John and Pat are now sponsors for another couple, who are their close neighbors and good friends.
John & Pat Mydock and Larry and Sue Allen
It is truly an honor and a privilege to be able to walk the journey with these people year after year. They begin the process of inquiry not knowing each other, but it is always refreshing to see how they bond together as a “family” and a small faith community before too long. I feel blessed to be a part of this process and to see how the Holy Spirit works in each of their lives. My faith is strengthened when I see how they so freely share their faith with one another.
(Sister Kathy Lange is Pastoral Associate at SS. Charles and Helena Parish in Clio, MI.)