Our Journey Home: Easter Reflections

Allen Acker – St. Catherine of Siena Parish, Portage
Danniel and Alaina Jaye – St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Coldwater
Brandon Culbertson – St. Monica Parish, Kalamazoo

Brief Background of your road to RCIA/Catholic Church:
Allen: I reconnected with a childhood friend. We started dating and I began going to church with her and her sons. I found myself really enjoying going to church and when we married in September 2016 I decided I wanted to learn more.
Brandon: I believed in the Lord Jesus around the age of five but by the age of 13 I fell into the trap of wanting to be loved by the world. I became addicted to drugs early in life and it led me to a road of destruction and eventually prison for a term of four years. Before being sentenced to prison I went to my knees in prayer to God. I admitted to Him my failures and sins and completely surrendered my life into His hands holding nothing back.

When did you first feel called to the Catholic Church?
Allen: After going to church and listening to Mass and finding myself really understanding how much god is in our lives every single day and how it affected me and how going to church made me feel god is with me all the time. When I look at the crucifix I know he is always looking at me and that makes me feel loved even more by God.
Danniel: When it was time to enroll our daughter in school. I just did not know it, yet! With whom would I entrust my five-year-old child? I no longer could control who would enter her life. St. Charles Borromeo School was the answer. For the morals it teaches and the safety of her well-being, not to mention its high academic standards. Over the years, the staff has answered not only my questions about the faith, but also my daughter’s, in a way that was always considerate of our lack of knowledge in the Catholic faith.
Alaina: I always worried and didn’t know what to do. Then I found the obvious answer – to go to God.
Brandon: While in prison, I asked the guard for a bible and finally received one. It was a Catholic bible. I asked God to give me wisdom, to answer all my questions and He did. All of them. I continued to ask, seek, knock, and He continued to give, love and strengthen.

What are you most looking forward to?
Allen: Being baptized and receiving the Eucharist
Danniel: The blessed sacrament of the Eucharist. I cannot wait!
Alaina: I am most excited about being closer to God.
Brandon: I am finally entering in to His One Church and have been experiencing His infinite love and grace like never before. The way He intended. And I’ve only just begun.

What is your favorite part about the Catholic Church?
Allen: Going to church with my wife and stepsons as a family, getting to see all the amazing friends that I’ve gotten to know going to church, building community and friendships through bible studies, the golf league, retreats, etc.
Danniel: The Church’s willingness to reach out to all people, everywhere.
Alaina: The priests – I feel calmer when I am with them, because they are close to God. I can feel the reflection of God when I am with them.
Brandon: The history and Truth. My studies and my relationship with God led me toward the Catholic Church but I was told by others that the Catholic Church was wrong. The more I studied history and the Bible, going back to the beginning, I was amazed to find everything God had been teaching me and showing me was contained in the teachings of the Catholic Church. God really had preserved His Church from the “gates of hell”.

Anything else you’d like to say?
Allen: I can say it takes a lot of time, patience and prayers to get to this point but is well worth the time it takes to be fully initiated into the Church.
Brandon: I challenge anyone to investigate it for themselves with an open heart and mind to what God wants to do. Challenge your misconceptions. Even when man is unfaithful in his dealings God remains faithful. 

*Pictured, Brandon Culbertson spends time in prayer during the Rite of Election.