JOURNEY IN FAITH TESTIMONIALS - 2015

At the Easter Vigil ten new members of the Catholic Church were received and baptised in the Parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

They had joined the Journey in Faith course, with other parishioners who were interested to know more about the faith, in September 2014.  In December 2014 they were admitted to the order of Catechumenate and in February 2015 they went to Saint Chad's Cathedral for their Rite of Election.  Finally in April they became full member of God's Holy Family.  Here is some of their testimony about their experiences of wanting to become a Catholic, the course and being received into the Church at Easter.

Testimony of Daniella Priestly

When I walked into the Church and saw it all candlelit ready for the Easter Vigil proceedings a huge feeling of emotion rushed over me, after months of deepening my faith, it all came together that night.

I know that God loves me, and I know that he knows I love him, but it actually felt really special to do something that I felt really shows that I love him, and I felt like I was doing this by being baptised and becoming a Catholic.

I felt like I was saying to him "I trust in you, I love you, and this is my faith."

The Easter Vigil was more special than I ever could have imagined, and it felt wonderful to share that experience with the people who had been through the Journey in Faith Course. It was an experience I'll never forget.

I also felt extremely luck and thankful to be there too, as I had previously been very poorly for a few days beforehand and it was very touch and go if I'd actually be able to make it to the Easter Vigil. Thankfully I woke up on Holy Saturday feeling fine, and I thank the Lord and the Holy Spirit for that. It just shows the love and power behind prayer!

Testimony of Claire Arthur and Ian Wright

Our Journey of Faith has been a great experience for myself and Ian. We have learned and achieved so much and feel very welcomed into the Catholic Church.

The course is very interesting and starts off with Mass in the beautiful Parish Church. Ian and I have both enjoyed going to Mass each week. The course is very well organised and starts off with a reflection from one of the Cathechists. This helps relax the mind and helps with the rest of thepresentation. The course explains a lot of important things about the faith.

What Ian and I ejoyed the most was the section on the Meaning of Life because it refers to the most fundamental reasons for the world and ourselves. Other interesting parts were the Life of Christ and the Life of Prayer since it helped us in being able to speak and listen to God.

Confession could have been a big thing but being able to discuss this in the course helped and knowing that receiving absolution is a means of avoiding sin and growing in virtue.

This course has been a fantastic opportunity and I would like to thank everyone that has helped us.

I am very proud to have known all the people on the course and thank you for welcoming us into the Catholic Church. I would recommend this course to anyone thinking of deepening their faith.

This is not the end of my and Ian's journey in faith, it is only the beginning!

Testimony of Michael Yates and his sponsor Maria Yates

Michael's Testimony:
My Easter Vigil this year, with my Confirmation and First Holy Communion, was truly inspirational. Giving me a feeling of totally being a part of the Catholic Church which is where I had hoped that my Journey in Faith would take me.

Many, many, thanks to everyone who has helped me on my Journey in Faith, but especially to my wife for being my sponsor. My life has now been changed forever.

Maria's Testimony:
In May myself, and my husband Michael completed this year’s Journey in Faith course. I am a lifelong Catholic and have wanted to do this course for some time now, and as my husband decided that after all this time of coming to Our Lady of Mount Carmel with me, and raising our two children in the Catholic faith he wanted to convert to Catholicism himself, so we embarked on this Journey together.

My reason for wanting to do this course is because I was brought up as a Catholic and all the things I learnt about my faith was as a child going through school, although I have continued to attend Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Michael and I were in fact married there 45 years ago this coming October.

So now I thought it would be good to do The Journey in Faith course as a bit of a ‘refresher’ and to re-visit the teachings of my faith as an adult.

I have to say this course is absolutely fantastic for anyone wanting to become a Catholic, as my husband did, or for people like me who are lifelong Catholics.

The course is extremely well organised and covers many different subjects each week, ranging from The Meaning of Life, The Holy Trinity, The Sacraments and many more. We both thought we already had a deep understanding of the Catholic faith, but we still had things to learn.

We have both enjoyed the whole experience and I was so honoured to have been my husband’s sponsor at the Easter Vigil for his Confirmation and First Holy Communion. While we have always attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel together both our lives have been changed forever and we feel that this experience has opened up a whole new way of life for our future together.

We have met some lovely people while doing this course, but on personal level I would like to say a massive thank you to Fr Tony, Fr David, Fr Cornelius and all of the Catechists who helped us both on our Journey in Faith.