More than anything, I feel as if I am on a journey, and I don’t know, for sure, where I am going.

It has been said, and often by my very dear friend, Joe Barboza, that "the journey is the best part of the trip” or, “focus on the journey, not the destination.”

It has been quite a journey:  leaving Good Shepherd, and following Fr. Moyer and the Newman Fellowship from place to place, taking Catholic Catechism classes, and trying to picture myself as a Roman Catholic.

I grew up as a “cradle Episcopalian”; I’ve never been anything else, and yet the Episcopal church in which I grew up doesn’t seem to exist any longer.  The church where I spent most of my years and where I was confirmed, was a low Episcopal church.  We didn’t use the term “Father”, our ministers weren’t referred to as priests, and we didn’t have incense and bells.  So, in essence, my journey began when I joined the Church of The Good Shepherd 34 years ago as a member of the choir.  Fr. Steenson is the one who asked me to run the Sunday School.

I have been growing into Catholic worship for over 30 years, and now I can’t imagine doing anything else.  When the wonderful people in the Newman Fellowship meet together there is an incredible sense of “being in the presence of God”.  “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)  There is no better way to describe the overwhelming feeling I have when we are together, being led by Fr. Moyer.

Recently, I was talking with a friend, an older woman, a devout Irish Catholic who is very excited about the possibility of my becoming a Roman Catholic.  She asked me a pretty blunt question:  If you didn’t have the Newman Fellowship, would you feel comfortable in “just any old Catholic Church?”  That question hit the nail on the head for me.  Am I following one man and one group of people?  What would I do if I became a Roman Catholic and Fr. Moyer and the Newman Fellowship disappeared?  I don’t know. 

Clearly, I am still very much on a journey.  I have easily agreed with every aspect of the Catechism that we have covered (and I didn’t think I would, but I do).  I just keep repeating: “Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene – one step enough for me.”

I definitely don’t see “the distant scene”, but I can’t imagine doing anything else.