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A Journey into God’s Embrace
For the first 16 years of her life, Kathleen did not believe in God at all. In fact, she said she grew up not just atheist, but strongly opposed to religion. So when she found herself pulling into the parking lot of St. Jude, a Catholic church near her home in Boca Raton one afternoon in high school, it made little sense even to her. She had been going through a difficult time and had recently cried out to God skeptically: If you’re real, do something. Then she walked inside.
“I just felt so safe,” Kathleen said. Looking back, she sees that moment as the beginning of a journey that would eventually lead her into the Catholic Church.
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A freshman chemistry major at Florida State, Kathleen arrived on campus last fall already carrying that quiet story of grace. What began as a hesitant reaching out slowly became a relationship with God — and, in time, a desire to understand the Catholic faith more deeply. This Easter, that journey reached a beautiful milestone.
According to Deacon Andy, in March and April 2026, the Co-Cathedral welcomed 82 people receiving major sacraments or being fully received into the Church, including an estimated 50 students. Kathleen was one of them.
Her path into the Church did not happen all at once. After first encountering God in high school, she spent time learning, praying, and waiting. She had hoped to begin OCIA sooner, but when that did not work out, she entrusted the timing to God. By the time she was discerning college, she was also praying for something she knew she needed: Catholic community.
“I really prayed about gaining a Catholic community,” Kathleen said. “In Boca Raton, there is no young Catholics… I was like, God, I need some community.”
At FSU, she found it almost immediately. On move-in weekend, she attended the Catholic Noles welcome barbecue, where she met students who would shape her first year — including her eventual sponsor, Paola. Through Catholic Noles, Bible study, and the larger Co-Cathedral community, Kathleen found not only OCIA, but a spiritual home.
“They’ve been so helpful,” she said. “I went from knowing zero Catholics my age to knowing hundreds.” What mattered most was having a place where she could ask questions, share openly, and keep growing in faith. “I just love having a community where I can just be open and talk about my ideas and my thoughts on certain stuff, especially regarding religion.”
OCIA gave structure and depth to what had already begun personally in Kathleen’s heart. One of the hardest parts, she said, was simply learning to believe after spending 16 years of her life not believing in God at all. But as she moved through the process, she discovered more and more of the beauty and coherence of the Catholic faith. “Every time I learn something, I’m like, of course, if God was gonna have a Church, that’s how it would work,” she said.
One aspect of Catholicism that especially struck her was the Church’s shared liturgical life. Kathleen was moved by the fact that Catholics around the world hear the same readings and participate in the same rhythms of worship. That sense of unity made the faith feel larger than any one parish or place.
And at the center of it all was the Eucharist. For Kathleen, the chance to receive the Eucharist — and to do so not just once, but throughout the life of the Church — became one of the most powerful discoveries of all. “The ability to partake in the Eucharist every single day of the year is probably the best thing about the Catholic Church,” she said. “The ability to partake in God’s covenant with us is just incredible.”
She also came to appreciate the richness of the OCIA journey itself. Kathleen described the scrutinies during Lent as especially meaningful because they helped her connect the Gospel more directly to her own life. Reflecting on the woman at the well, for example, she came to recognize her own thirst for God in that story. “The Gospels are still being lived through our lives,” she said.
There were challenges. Kathleen said the weeks leading up to the Easter Vigil were spiritually difficult, a time of discouragement and attack, especially in the very areas she had come to love most: faith, community, and the Church. But she kept praying and kept going. Then came the Easter Vigil.
Kathleen admitted that before the Vigil, she worried she might not feel anything at all. After such a long journey, she feared the moment might somehow feel ordinary. Instead, it became unforgettable. After her baptism, she said, “I just had the biggest smile on my face.” In fact, “the smile did not go away the whole night. My mouth was hurting at the end of the night because of how much I was smiling.”
Later, after receiving Communion for the first time, she knelt in prayer and felt a peace unlike anything she had known before. “I’ve never felt so calm before,” she said. “I was just sitting there with Jesus, and he was just being like, ‘You did it. You made it.’”
For Kathleen, the Easter Vigil was not simply the conclusion of OCIA. It was the beginning of a new life in the Church. Since Easter, she said, her desire for Mass and for the Eucharist has only grown stronger. “I'm going to daily Mass as much as I can,” she said. “I can finally partake in the Eucharist — why would I not want to every single day?”
Looking back now, she can also see more clearly how God had been at work in her life even before she knew Him. Moments that once felt confusing or disappointing now seem, in hindsight, to have been guiding her here all along. “Even though I didn’t believe in Him, He was still guiding me,” she said.
Her story is deeply personal, but it also points to something larger unfolding in the life of Catholic Noles and the Co-Cathedral. Students are arriving on campus hungry for truth, belonging, and something more than what the world offers. Through OCIA, many are not only asking questions — they are saying yes.
Asked what she would say to another student who is curious about faith but hesitant to take the next step, Kathleen’s answer was simple: “Just go to Mass. It may be scary or confusing at first, but it is 100% worth it.” She encourages students not to be afraid to ask questions, because, as she has found, people in this community genuinely want to help.
She also had a message for the alumni, donors, and friends who continue to support the ministry that shaped her first year: “Catholic Noles and the Co-Cathedral have become a home for not only me, but I know for a bunch of other students,” she said. “Thank you for helping maintain our new found home.”
