The Bond of RCIA

In 2011, I volunteered to be on the Rite of Christian Initiation team with my friend Sue. We agreed that Wednesday nights would be time well spent with our RCIA Coordinator, Walter. We met at the library in our Catholic School. Before the yearlong program began, I was at my neighbor Bonnie’s. She was always at Mass with her sister-in-law, Gwen, the Southern Baptist. On a lark that day, I decided to invite Gwen to the RCIA program since it was obvious that she was searching for something in the Catholic Church. She had been under the prayerful influence of Bonnie’s mother, a most faith filled and devoted Catholic.

Bonnie decided to be Gwen’s sponsor and the four of us attended weekly meetings. Along the way we met Karen who was also searching for a home in the Church. We went through the year together. Gwen and Karen were full of questions, thoughts, and prayerful insights. We started to look forward to our meetings where eventually parts of our journey became parts of our shared hearts. Gwen and Karen joined the Church in 2012. The five of us women simply didn’t want to part company. We decided to meet weekly at my house around my big dining room table to discuss the upcoming weekend’s Scripture readings.

Eventually, Beryl, the grandmother of Bonnie’s great-nephews, decided to join us too. Other women came and went, but the six of us have been huddling around my table for over four and a half years now. Since then we have weathered various storms together.

Bonnie lost her husband to a lung illness. Although his health had been failing for months, she was still in shock over his passing. He was a man of quiet strength and integrity, helping everyone in the neighborhood all the time. It was then that Beryl stepped forward to help Bonnie because she had lost her husband a few years before. Bonnie and Beryl also bonded over the three young boys they share from family ties--- Beryl being the grandmother and Bonnie being the great-aunt. And I was able to share with them because the boys were my former students.

Beryl had also suffered through the loss of a position as a Catholic HIgh School English teacher. Her husband had been the principal of our local Catholic High School for many years. She stayed on after his death. But the school ended up closing and Beryl had to find other employment. She ended up working for her brothers with hours that made her more available to her children and grandchildren. Beryl and I are able to share that grandmother role of filling in the gaps for our adult children. I watch my grandsons before and after school. Beryl has two of her grandsons living with her and her son.

Karen came to us from a new second marriage. She and Bernie had married in 2011. She bonded with Sue and me and the saga of our divorces. We rejoiced with Karen because she found Bernie, the obvious love of her life. Bernie treated her like a queen and after these many years together, it seems as if they are still honeymooning. Karen showed us that joy can come after the sorrow of divorce.

Gwen came to us from an African American Southern Baptist upbringing. She taught us how to pray to our Father God as if He is our Daddy. We all rallied for Gwen as she endured brain lesions that left her with painful headaches and healing surgeries. We became close to her husband as he dealt with eye surgery and heart issues. We watched her adult children “take charge” of their appointments and home care with all the love any family can muster.

We learn from Sue, who taught us what it means to be a survivor of breast cancer and heart surgery. She teaches us to find never ending ‘opportunities for personal growth” through our trials and tribulations. Sue is committed to Relay for Life which raises funds for cancer research. She is always ready to offer free consultations concerning breast cancer and heart surgery. She has talked many off the ledge of worry and fear with her own miraculous story of living in a “bubble of grace.”

This group of women prayed me through a rough patch with my own health as I sorted through the side effects of a drug that left me extremely fatigued and compromised.
Yet through it all we have bonded together through all the ups and downs of life, companions on our journey. We often feel as if sitting around my table is a different Eucharist where we share from our hearts as we drink coffee, eat cookies, tell our tales, study Scripture and pray. I am forever grateful for these women who give my life depth of meaning and strengthen my faith each week. And I am forever grateful for that year in RCIA.