Queen of the Holy Rosary C at h o l i c C h u r c h
Meet
Parishioner
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Joey Crane Grateful for the P
n 2018, Joey Crane attended a Mass at Queen of the Holy Rosary for the first time when his thengirlfriend, Liz, asked if he would like to come to Mass with her for Ash Wednesday. The Holy Day just happened to fall on Feb. 14 that year, and St. Valentine must surely have been smiling down on the couple that day. For now, less than three years later, not only are Joey and Liz husband and wife, but Joey is also a member of the Catholic Church! Joey was raised in the Methodist church but had drifted away from the faith during his college years. When he attended Mass at Queen with Liz, however, he was drawn in by Fr. Bill’s authenticity and the welcoming atmosphere of our parish. He began coming to Mass with Liz every week, and by the summer of 2019, he was excited to sign up for our Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process, or RCIA. Before the RCIA classes began, Joey was blessed to experience a pretty remarkable “preview” of many Church teachings in a very special place — Vatican City. “Liz and I got married on Aug. 31 and had our honeymoon in Rome and the Vatican,” Joey says. “So I kind of joked that my pre-RCIA lesson was going to the Vatican and spending three days doing tours. We had a papal blessing as a new married couple, and the whole experience was just amazing. The trip was mind-opening and made RCIA a different experience for me because I had physically seen so much of the history of the Catholic Church.” Attending RCIA classes after his trip to Italy, Joey was even more impressed by the historical perspectives offered, as well as the complex connections that Fr. Bill made between Scripture from the Old and New Testaments. With so much to learn, it was reassuring to hear from Liz and his good friend and RCIA sponsor, Brian, that adults who have been raised in the Church often have just as many questions about the faith.
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Joey Crane and his wife, Liz, awaiting the papal blessing of their marriage at St. Peter Basilica in Vatican City, 2019
“Both Liz and Brian said that it was great as lifelong, born-into-the-faith Catholics to go through the RCIA process because there is so much that they had forgotten or took for granted,” Joey says. “So they thought all lifelong Catholics should go through RCIA. It was refreshing to me to know I’m not supposed to know it all. I’ll still be learning until I die.” Even as he realizes that there is always more to learn, Joey is thankful to now have a stronger foundation in the faith. “I had never been comfortable talking about faith because I didn’t have a good base in it,” he says. “So just reaffirming that basic knowledge of where our Christian faith comes from has made me feel like more of an active participant. I’m part of this again. Having faith back as one of the priorities in my life has helped me with giving a little bit more grace and mercy towards others.” In March, our parish RCIA classes moved from in-person to Zoom meetings. Even in this unforeseen
