ONCE A CATHOLIC, ALWAYS A CATHOLIC

Listen to this.  You gotta luv it.  A man accosted me yesterday at the lobby of the mini-symposium and started his conversation with, "I'm sick and tired of these people who say, 'I used to be Catholic, but now...'  I always tell them, 'you're like the auto mechanic, med school drop-out who brags 'I was a doctor, once, but I got pissed off at the registrar and left'.  You never have been a Catholic and never will be until you come back and live the life for at least ten years.  Then you'll be Catholic not by culture but by conviction."
This is the strongest language I have heard over the three days of operation.  I wonder if there is more of the same in store.  Actually, the three stories I have heard so far are more of the "Once Catholic, always a Catholic" variety, and they come in varying degrees of conviction.  One man said, "You need me.  Put me to work."  This was Monday, so I did, and he keeps coming back.  So, I guess he's back.  If he asks me where to go to confession, I think I'll just say, "You already did."  I'll have to wait and see how it turns out.
Anyway, I have to take a short break.  I'll be back.
Talking about strong language makes me remember the testimony of a young lady during the second meeting of the gay and lesbian instruction led by the diocesan minister in charge of such things.  I was late getting to the party, but I had plenty of other things to do.  I walked in and sat in the back.  The microphone was making the rounds and parents and younger people were taking turns throwing their two-cents into the ring of opinions.  I was listening with about 1/2 of my brain when the microphone got to the young lady in question.  I couldn't help but hear since she was in the chair ahead of mine.  The most stunning part of  her self-disclosure was when she said, "The day when I decided to stop fighting my sexuality and to throw myself into the loving arms of God was the day that I felt I was being kissed for the first time, all day long."  After a while the meeting started to break up and I got the chance to see her face to face.  I hope she didn't pick up on the flood of emotion that washed over me when I realized that she is one of the people in the parish that I get along with very well.  She grew several notches in my estimation tonight.
The two nights of teachings on this subject exposed over 100 people to the culture of this ministry.  Many in attendance are leaders of the parish.  Some are of the right-wing conviction.  Those leaders now have a different view of the world.  We have been changed by the experience and we have been handed new responsibilities by God Himself.  We have discovered what it's going to take for us to go through life life proclaiming "Once a Catholic, ALWAYS A CATHOLIC."