In this clip, Cy Kellett welcomes Emily Dinneny and Brayden Cook to discuss Catholic community.
Transcript:
Caller: My concern is that if I become Catholic, I won’t have any community like anybody that I really relate to.
Cy Kellett: Can I ask you, Sarah, like, when you go to Mass, are you among the younger people there? Is it.
Caller: Mostly, yeah, there’s some young people. I’ve been going. I’ve been going downtown to the basilica there. There’s just a lot of folks that they don’t really quite understand certain social cues. And so it’s. Yeah, there’s some. But, you know, Alabama is not. Not very Catholic, so that’s. That’s another hard part, too.
Cy Kellett: Yeah, right. That’s a great point. So, Emily, I’m going to dump this one over to you. So, I mean, because I. I’ll be honest with you, Sarah. I think this is more of a problem than we make out that, like, there’s. There are some parishes that are not highly functioning right now. And so sometimes a person experiences the church through the radio or television or social media, goes and is like, wait, what is this? And then there are other parishes that are hitting on all cylinders where there’ tremendous community, there’s beautiful liturgy, all of that. So I think you are not alone in this. So I really do want to hear what Emily Denneny has to say. Help her out.
Emily Dinneny: Yeah. Sarah, you are not alone. When I joined the church, it was during COVID so I also was excluded from community because we just couldn’t gather. And, you know, in person, at least, I had my OCIA classes over Zoom. So it was. It was difficult. I will say it was very difficult at first. I was on social media at the time, so I was able to connect with other Catholics that were also in the process of converting, and that helped me to not feel as alone. But I have two pieces of kind of advice or consolation for you. The first would be that your fears are 100% valid. However, I think that if your conscience truly is convicting you to join the Catholic Church, you believe in your heart that the Catholic Church is true and that’s where the Lord is calling you, then I think you have to follow that, and you have to trust that the Lord is good and he’s going to provide for the needs that you have and the desires that you have. And it might not happen immediately, it might take some time, but that’s just part of the process. And I would encourage you to not let that be the one thing that would hold. Hold you up from joining the church. But I will say, you know, I’ve. I’ve joined three different cities now. I’ve lived in three different cities since I joined the church. Every city has its own quirks and, you know, pros and cons. Like, for example, when I was living in Chicago, you know, there were a decent amount of. Of young people that were involved. However, it was hard to find younger Catholics that were also, you know, fully in line with church teaching. Many of these Catholics were also pro choice, were pro LGBTQ marriage and things like that. And so it was hard in that sense to find community because I felt like I couldn’t connect with truly, you know, with Catholics that truly obeyed the church completely. And so I will say it is hard. Depending on where you are, there’s. There’s going to be, you know, certain flaws kind of in it. Any situation that you’re in. Can I ask, like, is there a near. Like, is there another city near you that you could drive, like, that’s not, you know, insanely far that you would be able to, like, go to their parish or go to events in. In their town? Is that feasible?
Caller: Yeah, I could probably do that. That’s. That’s an idea. My other thought was, well, maybe I’ll just have the saints. I’ll just talk to the same.
Emily Dinneny: You should definitely do that.
Caller: Yeah, no, I. I think that’s given me a really good perspect, the purpose of saints. But, yeah, I mean, I could try other parishes. I’m just kind of far in. The basilica is already kind of far for me, so. Yeah, but no, you have some good points.
Emily Dinneny: Well, I. I know some people that even if it’s, you know, once every few weeks, they’ll drive to this other city to go to, like, an event that they have. So, you know, I would recommend going on Facebook, going online, looking at other, you know, parishes near you that you would be willing to drive to and seeing what events they’re hosting, because even if it’s once a month, you’ making that drive. Right. Like, that’s still great community that you could be connecting with. So I. I would say, you know, try to find that. And if that is still difficult, then, you know, perhaps join a Catholic online space. I know there’s plenty of Facebook groups that are for Catholic women that I’m even in. Right. Because it’s nice to have community even from people all around the country and around the world. So I would encourage you to kind of look into those options, but keep praying for those friends. And you be the not. You be the first one to not be weird. Be the first person that can show these people, like, how to, like, actually have a Conversation and to engage with other people. And God willing, other people will follow suit. And hopefully there will be people that join the church and then they’re comfortable because you’re there. Right. And they’re not alone now. They’re not in the situation you’re in where like, oh, gosh, there’s no one, like, normal that I can talk to. So you could be that person. And I think that’s also very beautiful.
Caller: What do you.
Caller: Oh, sorry.
Brayden Cook: Well, I was just gonna say, in that environment, can change overnight.
Emily Dinneny: Yes.
Brayden Cook: I’m from Oklahoma. It’s like the buckle, the Baptist Bible Belt. We see. Me and my wife, we joined our parish and there was not that much community. There weren’t these young adult gatherings that we are now constantly going to. And we have this beautiful community of young families in our same stage of life. But when we first joined the parish, there’s nothing. And all it takes is one person to initiate that. And you’ll see a lot of other people are probably thinking the same thing that you are.
Caller: Right.
Emily Dinneny: Yeah.
Brayden Cook: All it takes is that one. That one person to start it up and it can change very quickly.
Cy Kellett: Sarah, I want to come back to you and see what you think of all this.
Caller: Yeah, thank y’. All. That’s really good. I think I’m gonna just try a little harder. And I love going to Mass. You know, that’s not the problem, is not actually the mass, so. Or the church, but yeah. Thank you all.
Cy Kellett: Well, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do because I have been doing this a long time, so I know what’s going to happen. Now in a few minutes, somebody’s going to call from somewhere near you in Mobile, Alabama and go, oh, no, no, they are. They’re gonna. So stop inside. No, they are. Somebody’s gonna call and say, we’ve got a young adult group or she should come to this place or that place.
Emily Dinneny: Oh, that’s nice.
Cy Kellett: Going to Beaverton, Oregon, where Tayla is on the line. Tayla, welcome. Why aren’t you Catholic?
Caller: Well, actually, I just converted in April.
Caller: Yay.
Caller: Congratulations.
Caller: Thank you. And I was actually calling in response to Sarah. Unfortunately, I don’t live in Alabama, but one of the hardest parts for me for converting to Catholicism was not finding, like, community because I did not grow up religious at all. I considered myself an atheist, like, through high school. And thankfully for me, like, in college, I had some friends who guided me and brought me into my faith. Now. And going off of Sarah’s comment about the struggle of finding community, I Actually, this last Saturday, me and my husband, we got married in June. We just started a young adult group at our parish and had our first event. And instead of us, we didn’t really want to leave our parish because we do have community there, but we wanted to start something for other people who were searching for the same thing we were. And we actually had a really good showing of people and we’re really excited, excited to wonderful there. But it was your comment about, I mean, if you can’t find community, you can make it.
Caller: Yeah.
Emily Dinneny: 100. I’m so proud of you for doing that because, you know, there are so many people that, and I’m not saying Sarah is one of them, I think that, you know, community should be readily accessible, but sometimes it’s not. And so what are we going to do about it? And I love that you just took that initiative and you went and did that yourself. That’s beautiful.
Caller: Yeah.
Brayden Cook: And chances are like, like I said earlier, like, there are a lot of people thinking the same thing.
Caller: Yeah, right.
Brayden Cook: Who might not even under. Understand kind of the logistics it would take. Right. And it doesn’t take much. Right.
Emily Dinneny: Yeah.
Brayden Cook: You know, someone willing, inviting them over for dinner.
Caller: Right.
Brayden Cook: So, yeah. Good on you, Taylor.
Cy Kellett: You had a big year. You became into the Catholic church, you got married, and you started a young adult group at your parish. Are you having a big year, Taylor?
Caller: Yeah, I also graduated from college, so.
Emily Dinneny: Oh, my goodness. Praise God.
Caller: Should we send her a present or
Emily Dinneny: no, let’s do it.
Cy Kellett: You sound like a natural evangelist to me. So I’m going to send you a copy of our book, how to Talk about Jesus with Anyone. All you have to do is hang on the line, give us an address, and we will send you how to talk about Jesus with Anyone. Tayla, thank you for that beautiful testimony and again, congratulations and welcome home to the Catholic Church.