Spiritual Question Sparks Long Journey

A year ago, Thais O’Neil--a reawakened Catholic--hung a crucifix on her bedroom wall.

“That made me really uncomfortable,” said her husband, Dennis, who had never ventured inside a church except for an occasional wedding or funeral.

The fact was, for most of his 62 years, Dennis O’Neil had never given God much thought at all. And when you think about it, why should he?

His life was just fine, thank you. He had a thriving Irvine law practice, a sturdy 35-year marriage, a loving daughter, a beautiful home in Corona del Mar, and enough friends in town to easily elect him to two terms on the Newport Beach City Council.

So why did he begin to wonder, “Am I missing something?”

Maybe it started back in 1995 when he attended, as a newly elected councilman, the funeral of slain Newport Beach Police Officer Bob Henry.

“I felt something that day,” said O’Neil, struggling to explain what happened. “There was more going on there than just a funeral. I felt the presence of something. The Holy Spirit was there.”

Then there was his wife, who has found an amazing serenity after she recently rejoined the Catholic Church.

And this kept creeping into his thoughts: I’m getting older, and I’d better not leave this God thing unexplored before I die.

So began O’Neil’s spiritual journey, which started with a few tentative steps and, 12 months later, is in full sprint.

“It’s an experiment for me,” O’Neil said. “The more I examine it, the more I feel it’s worthwhile. I now believe there is a broader meaning to life--there is a spiritual side. It’s a fascinating experience.”

O’Neil will become a Catholic today, and he’s not alone. Fifty-nine others in his church, 1,100 in Orange County, and hundreds of thousands of others throughout the world will be brought into the faith during Easter Vigil services.

At O’Neil’s church--Our Lady Queen of Angels in Newport Beach--about a third of soon-to-be Catholics have spouses already in the faith. Other people have stories that are as unique as O’Neil’s: a recovering alcoholic who’s looking for a more defined “higher power;” a Mormon who fell in love with Catholicism; a Buddhist who’s making the leap to Christianity.

“It’s like having the world come to your doorstep,” said Diane Brounstein, a Catholic teacher who works in the program at Our Lady Queen of Angels.

Tonight’s ceremony, which for O’Neil includes baptism, confirmation and communion, is the culmination of a 12- to 18-month process--called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults or “catechumenate”--that has its roots in the 1st century Catholic Church.

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The idea is to build and strengthen a new believer’s faith over an extended period through teaching biblical and church doctrine, building relationships within the congregation (newcomers are assigned a sponsor who’s an active church member) and doing community work.

The catechumenate participants at Our Lady Queen of Angels met twice a week, on Tuesday nights and during Mass on Sundays.

“People who lived in the Roman Empire during the church’s early years had to be countercultural to join the Catholic faith,” Brounstein said. “With active persecution, becoming a Catholic had to be a very gradual process. To make that kind of choice, they had to be solid about their faith in Jesus Christ.”

A series of small milestones are built into the program that make the process less intimidating and also encourage participants to stick with it. O’Neil’s graduating class had no dropouts.

“They make little commitments as they go along,” explained Father Vincent Gilmore, the priest who oversees the program at Our Lady Queen of Angels.

The commitments range from something as simple as just agreeing to attend a social get-together to vowing to learn more about Jesus to finally deciding to become a Catholic.

The danger of the long process--it takes maybe six weeks to join most churches--is that it could scare away potential Catholics.

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“At first, there can be a kind of reluctance for the long-term commitments that it requires,” Brounstein said. “But the kind of Christian formed in this way is the kind of Christian who knows his faith and lives it. We try to explain that this is a spiritual formation process.

“And if you want to use a business term, we have a good retention rate. These people stay in church community and become active members.”

By the catechumenate’s end, the new members have bonded with their faith, their church and each other.

“It is going to be such joy to have them fully initiated in our faith,” Brounstein said. “We’ve grown so close that it’s like watching your family. It’s going to be like heaven on Earth.”

Thais O’Neil would agree.

“I always wanted and prayed that someday Dennis and I would walk hand-in-hand into church, and now it’s happening,” O’Neil said. “I’m sure I’ll cry. I think he will too.”

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