I have been blessed and there is nothing in my life that fills my heart more than sitting in the lovely nave at St James at Sag Bridge and thanking our good God for having never abandoned me.  

I was raised by really good people in Belleville, Illinois, not far from St Louis. It was a good, mainly-Catholic city, perhaps a bit insulated, but I have only fond memories of my upbringing.  A wonderful thriving Catholic grade school. An excellent all-girl Catholic high school.  I should have been on a path to a solidly Catholic adult life.  But the lures of the world were too strong, perhaps the education I received in the late 60’s was already weak, and I went astray, unwilling to listen to my folks or the teachings of the traditional Church.  I never stopped being Christian, but I felt the rules of the Catholic Church were outdated and simply did not apply to me.  For more than a decade I considered myself an Episcopalian, but God kept extending his hand.

In attempting to remove negative influences from my children, I did what came naturally – sent them to a Catholic high school.  So, even as just a mom, there were prayers to start each activity and a constant sense of Catholicity.  Most importantly, there was Mass.  Mass with the Eucharist – the True Presence of our Lord and Savior – something the Episcopalians could only sort of fake.  And being near the Eucharist made me crave receiving it again – to actually hold Jesus in my heart.  

Gradually, through opportunities to learn, the fire of Christ’s love was blazing in me. I began to understand why the Catholic Church’s rules exist, and I increasingly longed for the structure, formality, and reverence of the Church of my youth.  Even more, I longed for the Truth, Beauty, and Goodness of Christ’s Church. I came back to the Church through the cathartic processes that were required.  All were good for me.

All this eventually led to my involvement with the Sag Bridge Mission Society.  We all struggle in a secular society that knows no bounds.  But we have an obligation under the Second Great Commandment of Our Lord to love our neighbors, and we do that if we can help them know and understand the healthy, eternal-life-giving bounds of Catholic teaching. Regardless of the ways of Church hierarchy, we can make a difference through the Society.  No time has needed the laity more.