Kathleen Setina-Herbert is one of the new writers for SQPN.com. In this article she presents herself.
By way of introduction, let me first say I was raised a Catholic. Baptized when I was eight weeks old; or so they tell me. I have no recollection of it. One of my first “Catholic” memories was when I was six years old, trying on my navy blue school uniform (white blouse, navy knee-high socks and dress shoes, plus a navy beanie hat for attending Mass). That was when females covered their heads before entering Church, but because that dates me, let’s move on…
I spent five years, off and on, attending parochial schools. If you’re looking to me for stories about being terrorized by nuns carrying rulers, priests doing untoward things to my person or having the fear of God put into me that haunts me to this day, please look elsewhere. My education was excellent, and apart from the usual ‘my teacher doesn’t like me’ complaint every so often, I look back with basically good thoughts about my Catholic education and upbringing.
In my family, Sunday Mass was a given. We went to confession, knelt to receive Communion at the Communion Rail, but we stopped short of praying together. My parents didn’t take it to the extreme. When I was 12 years old, a priest actually came to my home to give me what is now called Anointing of the Sick. I remember the Sick Call Crucifix which, as an adult, now hangs in my bedroom. The point I’m trying to make is that Catholicism was embedded into my psyche. Not overly done, yet it was a presence in my life.
But then something happened. My husband and I were married in the Catholic Church, my children were baptized in the Church, but somewhere along the way, between the time I was married and when my children started attending a parochial school themselves, I stopped going to Mass. When they graduated, I stopped going to Church again. For years, in fact, I barely thought of God at all.
I admit that, every so often, Sr. Georgiana’s words came back to me when least expected: “When you hear an ambulance siren, say a Hail Mary for the person who is sick.” “Never pass a Church without stopping in for a moment to say a prayer.” And the most dreaded of all, “Jesus always sees what you do.”
Fast forward to a few years ago. Something was nudging me to get my prayer life back on track, and so I did an internet search for how exactly to go about that. While downloading a favorite tune via iTunes, I venture out and see Podcast categories. There are Catholic podcasts? Prayer and Liturgy, Saints, Catholic kids, Women, the Catholic Family, Cooking and everything inbetween.
Search Engines. Gotta love ‘em. Catholic Blogs. What the heck is a blog, much less a Catholic one? Learn how to make rosaries; download the instructions here.
As it happens, one thing leads to another, and I found Catholic New Media. My iPod and iTouch are loaded with not only podcasts, but apps for podcasts. The transformation is taking place not only around me on the internet, but inside of me as I discover how much I can learn from the work being done by Catholic bloggers and production companies. There is never a better time to be a Catholic.
I would like to share with you in coming months some of my favorites. Whether you’re a Cradle Catholic (lukewarm or not), someone who might be toying with the idea of Catholicism and if it’s for you, where to look for the answers you might be looking for or just curious about what might be out there, check back here for more. Yes, I kept God waiting to hear from me all those years. I promise not to do the same to you.
Kathy Herbert, 
Denyse and one other person are discussing. 
Dan, 
Barb in Nebraska are discussing. 
Dan H., MA
Suzanne 11:31 am on March 12, 2011 Permalink |
Reading your post, it felt like I could have written those very same words. Looking forward to reading more.
Kathy Herbert 11:38 pm on March 8, 2011 Permalink |
Hello Capt. Jeff! Thank you for a heads-up on the boss. Gee, and he seems like such a nice fellow
Denyse 10:40 pm on March 8, 2011 Permalink |
Nice post, Kathleen. Many of us have followed your very path. I’m looking forward to more of your thoughts. Glad you’re on SQPN. Capt. Jeff comes with the package, but he’s pretty okay. We love him
Kathy Herbert 4:55 am on March 12, 2011 Permalink |
Thank you, Denyse. And thank you to Fr. Roderick for the chance to write for SQPN now and then.
Capt. Jeff 1:41 am on March 8, 2011 Permalink |
Welcome to SQPN, Kathleen! I look forward to seeing more of your work. (Don’t let the boss get to you, though… he’s quite the tyrant!
)