Call to Understanding

I am a recently baptized Catholic. My husband and I reconciled from a divorce situation and went through the RCIA program during 2021 to 2022 at our local parish. I had never been baptized before, and my husband had been baptized Episcopalian. The main difference from what I understood is the devotion to Mary and asking for intercession from the saints. I love Catholicism and love going to Mass.

We were assigned sponsors from the parish, and they were great through the process. I suffer from a mental illness that sometimes makes it hard to go to church, be social and be more active in the Church. We donate when we can. I can’t help but feel from the local parish community that I am not living up to the Catholic ideals of the community. I love hearing God’s word and celebrating the Eucharist, but, socially, I am pulling away. I know that there is still a horrible stigma from the general population about mental illness, and I feel it from the Church too. I feel like I’m a “not good enough” contributor to the Church.

I pray for people to understand and to know that it is important for all of society to treat others kindly. It is especially important to me that people can understand that everyone cannot be “a model Catholic.” The more broken you are, the deeper the faith. That is how I feel.

Chrystal D. Williams

St. Peters, Missouri