Each of them began the RCIA journey with a desire to become a Catholic, but the paths that led them to the Church differ in many ways. Among the hundreds in the Diocese who are expected to receive the Sacraments of Initiation this year, five Elect and candidates opened up about their experiences of conversion.
Lani Garcia & Dennis Negron
Our Lady of the Lake Parish, Lake Arrowhead
Although Lani Garcia was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and fiancé Dennis Negron was a Protestant, both remembered always having a curiosity about the Catholic Church since they were young children. Garcia’s first Catholic experience was at a funeral when she was in the eighth grade. “It was a very sad time but the experience intrigued me,” she said.
Garcia was a member of the Alcoholics Anonymous program for four years. After each meeting, her group would recite the prayer of St. Francis, a prayer she had grown to appreciate. She researched the Saint and learned that he was the Patron Saint of animals. That sparked her interest because she loved animals (she has three dogs that she adores).
But she suffered a major setback when she relapsed. Drug and alcohol abuse took her to near death. The experience led her to therapy where she was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and began to educate herself on the disease.
“Everything finally made sense,” she says. “I learned that being wasted to the point of blanking out was reliving a traumatic experience I had at 12,” she said. “I don’t really have a desire to drink anymore. I truly believe that this is God helping me through my addiction.”
Lani and Dennis have been together for two years. During that time they have dealt with stress and chaos that ultimately brought them closer to God.
“It was in my heart that I really needed to get to church,” Dennis said. “I was really suffering but I was nervous to talk to my fiancé about it.”
He finally talked to Garcia about going to a church and both naturally agreed to try Our Lady of the Lake. Soon after speaking with parish leadership, they signed up to join RCIA.
“AA wasn’t enough. I still had that void,” said Garcia. “Now that I’m in RCIA, that hole is being filled.”
Negron and Garcia spent Valentine’s Day signing their names in the Book of the Elect at St. Francis Xavier Cabrini Parish in Yucaipa. The pair will move on to receive the Sacraments of Initiation at Easter Vigil while their three children continue to attend classes in preparation for full initiation into the Church in the near future.
“I can’t wait ‘til my baptism,” said Negron excitedly. “Once I’m baptized, I can’t wait to get more involved in my church. My sponsor is involved in Knights of Columbus and I’m really interested in becoming involved if given the opportunity.”
Gabby Garner
St. Matthew Parish, Corona
Gabby Garner devotedly attended church with boyfriend Jeremy Briseno at St. Matthew in Corona for three years and although she wasn’t able to fully participate in the Sacraments, she still felt like it was home.
She grew up in a Protestant church and regularly attended bible study with her family. But in her teen years and early adulthood, she says she began to lose connection with her faith. The years to follow were difficult after experiencing conflict with her family and turbulence in her life. When she met her boyfriend, he was attending Mass every Sunday.
“At first, I didn’t go with him,” she said. “Then I started to go a couple of Sundays with him and then I went every Sunday. I really found a place where I felt a connection to God again and with Jesus.”
The RCIA process has become a family affair. Garner, Briseno and his brother are all involved in RCIA. The couple together has a one-year-old daughter named Charlotte. They plan to have her baptized this summer after Briseno’s brother is confirmed so that he can serve as Charlotte’s godfather.
“We want her to be raised Catholic,” Garner says. “I want her to be able to come to us with any questions about her faith or about God.”
Garner’s Protestant family has been supportive of her but she feels that they don’t understand her conversion to Catholicism.
“My family has been the hardest part of my journey,” she said. “They have a lot of questions and although I know the basis of the answer, I can’t fully explain it to them. After we finish RCIA, I want to learn more. Whether it’s bible study or something else, I want to learn more.”
James Shipley
St. Patrick Parish, Moreno Valley
Married to his wife for 36 years, James Shipley says that the secret to his long marriage is communication, openness, love and patience. “Especially her (patience) with me,” he jokingly added.
Although he was raised as a Southern Baptist, he and his wife, Josefina Maria Shipley, were married in the Catholic Church. They have one daughter together who was baptized and raised in the Catholic faith. They also have an 8-year-old grandson who is being raised Catholic.
“I was going more and more to the Catholic Church and I decided that I should just become Catholic so that we can all worship as one family,” James says.
He credits his grandson for giving him the push he needed to begin his RCIA journey. He was regularly attending Mass with his wife and grandson and he just wanted to learn more about the parts of the Mass he didn’t understand.
After he receives the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Confirmation at Easter Vigil at St. Patrick’s, Shipley will finally be able to fully understand and participate in the Mass with his family.
George Neice
St. Mary Magdalene Parish, Corona
Inspired by his love for his wife, Gerri, George Neice began the RCIA process in order to fulfill his wife’s dream of getting married in the Catholic Church. The couple married 22 years ago in a civil ceremony while also baptizing and raising their daughter in the Catholic Church.
“I started the process to kind of make my wife happy,” he said. “But it turned into much more of an adventure for me.”
Their journey started three years ago when they began the annulment process. George had two previous marriages while Gerri had one. It was a long three years filled with paperwork, phone calls and red tape. George’s annulment took one and a half years to complete while Gerri’s took longer. George had already completed the RCIA process last year but wanted to make sure all of the annulment paperwork for his wife would be completed, too, before they moved forward in their journey.
“It took forever for Gerri’s annulment process because she was married in Mexico,” George said. “We don’t hear anything for a year and when we did finally hear back it was ‘well, we’re going to need this paperwork and that paperwork.’ It seemed very disorganized but we just kept looking forward to the ultimate goal of getting married in the Church.”
The couple’s efforts finally paid off when they received word that Gerri’s paperwork was completed. Their wedding date is set for June 11.
“What kept us encouraged was that it would mean so much to my wife and now it means a lot to me because I’ll be receiving my First Communion and Confirmation on Easter Vigil.”
Malie Hudson is a freelance writer in the Diocese of San Bernardino.