I'm a "cradle" Catholic, who has seen the church through the highs and lows since the early 1950s. I usually attend church on the holidays and say grace before meals. That about sums up my formal profession of faith until recently....My Baptist-raised husband did not believe in organized religion, but recently became baptized into the Catholic Church, where we were recently re-wedded. Now I am his sponsor as he prepares to become a full-fledged Catholic on Easter 2007.

What amazes me is that I am now finding out many of the priests, deacons, and congregation members are rather recent converts and formerly from other religions. Such wonderful people, and with so many perspectives on worshipping God.

I thought I would be "teaching" my husband about the faith I was born into, and instead, he and the Catholic priests (from other countries, and some formerly of other faiths) are teaching ME about real faith & spirituality.

Catholic, when spelled with a small "c," means "universal." I see the practical application of that principle more and more now, and it means so much....