Faith has been a big part of my entire life. I grew up in the churches that my parents took me to as a child. We have been members of Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran and non-denominational churches. I was always searching for the whole meaning of everything, and church was a place to begin to search.

I went to the University of Dayton for college for many reasons. First, being from the Chicago area, it was close to home, but not close enough for the dreaded parental unannounced visit. It was also highly ranked in what I wanted to major in, Audio/Video Communications, and finally it was Catholic. While at the time I wasn’t Catholic, I knew how the Catholic Church stood its ground when it came to specific issues, and those issues lined up with my own personal beliefs.

While at the University of Dayton I volunteered at a local church in their youth program. It wasn’t Catholic, but it helped me explore more. When I did attend Holy Mass, it was because of a girl who was Catholic. The messages began to sink in. This was reinforced in my regular studies, as I had to take a religion class at least once a year. Nuns who lived on and near campus taught these classes. We looked at religion from many points of view such as, how do Christ’s teachings resonate in today’s world, what are the subtle changes that can we make in a word in the scripture to bring the text alive for those of us alive today without changing any of the meaning of what Christ said, etc. These women of faith made me think long and hard. While not totally understanding what was happening, I was becoming more Catholic every day.

Our instructors who were either priests or nuns didn’t seclude themselves within the halls of academia either. They brought the real world to all of us. The nun who taught my Religion and Film class would go to the Vatican over spring break and meet with Saint Pope John Paul II to discuss film and culture (I actually got, and still have, a cross that he blessed by him on one of her trips) with those living, leading and learning at the Vatican.

Another instructor, a priest, showed me that religion (i.e. Catholic beliefs) had a place in Washington DC. He taught my introduction to Political Science class. He regularly went to DC to talk with members of Congress about what it meant ot be Catholic, and their responsibilities to the Church was just as important as their responsibilities to their constituents.

These two people of the cloth impacted me in a way I wouldn’t realize for over a decade.

After leaving college I looked for a church home. I told myself (and my wife at the time) that I wanted to be as close to Catholic without being Catholic. I still didn’t understand a lot about the basics of Catholicism, but loved the teachings.&nb