My Journey into the Catholic Church
written by
Charlene Andersen
October, 2004

I was born into a staunch Lutheran home. My father was a Lutheran pastor, and our family life revolved around the church. My parents were very dedicated to their faith, to their four children, and to the people they served in their parishes in Alberta and rural Saskatchewan, Canada. But finances were extremely tight in those days, and my parents could barely make ends meet.

When I was 8 years old, my father decided to become a military chaplain. He could still be a Lutheran pastor in a different context, but would better be able to support his family. Military life provided the unique opportunity to live in Europe with the Canadian Armed Forces (from 1969 to 1974). It was during their time in Germany that my parents became acquainted with the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, a Protestant, independent, interdenominational order of Sisters and Brothers founded by Mother Basilea Schlink.

Although I fostered a personal faith during my childhood, this changed during our years in Germany in the Canadian military. I got involved with the wrong crowd, and became a very troubled and rebellious teenager. My parents thought it best to send me to a private Lutheran boarding school in Canada. During my last year of high school, I returned to faith, and desired to live my life for God.

Upon graduating from high school, my mother encouraged me and my brother to spend a summer with the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary in Germany. I was very drawn to the radiance of the Sisters and Brothers, and the message of love for Jesus. When I was 20, I felt the call to serve Jesus as a Sister. I entered the order at the Motherhouse in Germany and was later transferred to the foundations in Alberta and then in Phoenix where I spent 8 years. After 13 and a half years I left the Sisterhood which was of course a very difficult decision, but one mutually agreed upon and prayed about extensively by Mother Basilea, the Sisters and me.

I returned to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, finished a degree in Education, and found my spiritual home in Evangelical Protestantism. Five years later I met Peter, my husband, who had been a Brother in Mother Basilea’s order! Peter had become a Catholic, but wasn’t really practicing at the time. We moved to the west coast, attended several Baptist, Anglican, Lutheran and Christian Missionary Alliance churches, but didn’t feel at home in any of them. Peter wanted to attend a Catholic church, but since I wasn’t comfortable there, we looked for a Protestant church where we both would feel at home. We prayed hard and continued our search, but over time we began to feel discouraged and disillusioned. Our church attendance waned.

In 2001 we went through a crisis. Peter lost his job and spiraled into a deep depression which lasted seven months. During this period, Peter began to go back to Mass—daily Mass. He began to come out of his depression, which he attributed solely to receiving the healing Body and Blood of Jesus daily. God blessed him with a new position in a Catholic hospital as a pastoral care worker. He continued to attend Mass daily, to become involved in our local parish, and to devote more time to spiritual reading and prayer. I felt excluded, and I begged him not to go so far as to pray the rosary! The thought of him being devoted to Mary was very disturbing to me.

Although I continued to look for a home in Evangelical churches, I felt a heaviness and emptiness, exacerbated no doubt by the fact we were attending separate churches. I watched Peter grow in his faith and devotion, and I sensed in myself a growing frustration. Finally I reluctantly decided to go to church with him, but the separation I felt at not receiving Holy Communion became harder and harder to bear. Peter never once urged me to come to church with him or to become Catholic. He only gave me a book to read (Rome Sweet Home) which I didn’t touch for months. I felt repulsed by the title. I realized I had a lot of anti-Catholic sentiment in me, particularly surrounding devotion to Mary, the saints, purgatory, praying for the dead, penance and papal authority.

In September 2002, I attended RCIA, only to “check it out.” I told my friends that if I became Catholic, I would only do so in order to be able to receive Communion with my husband. The pain of not receiving together was becoming increasingly difficult to bear. I insisted I would never embrace the teachings of the Catholic church.

The RCIA team was comprised of several faith-filled, lovely people. I asked some challenging questions about the Catholic faith, but the people, as wonderful as they were, were not trained in catechesis. Questions were discouraged. Meanwhile, my evangelical friends challenged me with those same gnawing questions for which I had no answers.

As my struggles grew with Catholic traditions and doctrine, so did my desire for the Eucharist. The Eucharist, the true Body and Blood of Christ, elevated, offered, revered, and adored at the altar drew me so strongly that I thought I could not live without it. But I was at an impasse because I could not accept or understand those doctrines of the faith which set Catholicism apart from Protestantism. I didn’t know who to turn to for help.

At the height of my dilemma, the Lord graciously led us to meet a most marvelous priest, Father John Horgan. He took much time to listen to me and to explain with thoroughness, understanding and pastoral care everything from Marian devotion and the rosary to priestly celibacy. He also gave me a stack of books to read, which I devoured. He prayed for me daily at the altar. As I read, talked, prayed and attended Mass, my mind and heart began to open to the richness and beauty of the doctrines I once despised. I found myself able to confidently defend these doctrines and traditions to my evangelical friends.

And so at Easter 2002, with great peace and joy of heart, I was received into the Church. I was ready to embrace the Catholic Faith wholeheartedly. This was a time of tremendous renewal of faith and love for God. Instrumental in my spiritual growth has been St.Therese of Lisieux, whom I chose as my patron saint. She has taught and shown me many things. Three months after becoming Catholic, I had the opportunity to visit Lisieux with Peter, and absorb there her life, message and burning love for Christ.

I am amazed at the vast and deep treasures of the Faith which I didn’t know existed, and which I continue to discover and understand more each day. Above all, I have a profound sense of gratitude and peace in “being home” at last.