A very kind person recently asked me how I stayed faithful to the Catholic church all of these years. Where to begin? I thank her for that question. It was the final inspiration I needed to start this blog, which is for all of you who are curious about all things Catholic. I’m so excited to share with you my personal experiences of living as a Christian and my chosen faith practice – Catholicism. I’ve been a Catholic my entire life, but recently some challenging questions from friends led me on a long journey to know more about my Catholic faith. You see, if I were to come into the church at this time in history, I would be “required” to take classes for a year or more as preparation for that commitment. In the early church, the preparation time was 3 years! My parents blessed us with a Catholic education as children, but to move past that childhood faith and knowledge of God and his church, it was necessary for me to actively pursue a deeper knowledge of it. Ultimately, my love of God and my joy in the church deepened. As it turns out, the more I learn about the Catholic faith, the more I appreciate and cherish its gifts.
So in an effort to find the difficult answers to those challenging questions posed by my friends, I completed 170 clock hours of classroom instruction through the Formation Toward Christian Ministry (FTCM) program and completed teaching methodology classes to earn a catechist certificate from the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. In addition to the catechist training, I’ve studied the Bible in formal study programs (Bible Study Fellowship and The Cornerstone Scripture Study) for the past 11+ years. All this by no means makes me a theologian or an expert. I’ll make every effort to be accurate and I apologize in advance for any errors I make in theology, catechism, or doctrine.
Why My Lovely Faith?
My experiences, impressions, discoveries, knowledge, attitudes, and opinions about my faith.
Lovely– the word means something that inspires emotion, full of love, loving. Having beauty that appeals to the emotions as well as to the eye.[1]
Faith – Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. The body of dogma of a religion. I’ve had a great time learning about my God and my church, and because of that my faith and trust in both have grown.
[1] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright© 2006, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
[Scripture quotations are from] New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
My Lovely Faith 
Hello Peggy. I’m very glad to have found your blog.
I was baptised and confirmed into the Church of England, but have worshipped in several Protestant denominations throughout my life. I have become so frustrated and dissatisfied with the Protestant form of Christianity. There is so much disagreement and it feels like there isn’t much unity. For a while now, I’ve been getting to know more about Catholicism and I’m beginning to feel at peace. I intend to attend RCIA classes this autumn.
Lesley from the u.k.
Hi Lesley. So glad to meet you. I look forward to hearing about your RCIA classes. We have the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter here in Houston. They are a group of Anglican priests that became Catholic priests and have parishes all over the United States. One of their priests told us that they felt rudderless in the Anglican church. Are you writing from the states now or from the U.K.? I’ll check out your blog.
Hi Peggy. Yes, I’m writing from the u.k. I live in the north-east of England, but was brought up in Scotland.