It took a while, but this convert finally accepted the invitation

Brian Blaney fully entered the Catholic Church last April at the Easter Vigil at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha. Though the event lasted just one evening, Blaney’s conversion was a half-century in the making, the 78-year-old said.

Blaney first had to overcome some doubts, mostly about himself. But with age, he said, he realizes that he’s now where God wants him to be, at home in the Church, despite his shortcomings.

His journey, he said in a recent interview, began more than 50 years ago, when he married a nice Catholic girl named Beverly. Blaney – who was baptized as an infant in the Lutheran faith and was raised as a Baptist – was committed to his wife and helped her raise their three sons as Catholics.

Over the decades, he himself increasingly began to resemble a Catholic. He started going to Mass every Sunday with his family at St. James Parish in Omaha. Together, he and his wife helped at Marriage Encounter weekends.

After Beverly’s death in 2015, when his sons were grown and married, Blaney continued to worship at Mass.

In 2017, during one of his daily visits to his wife’s gravesite at Calvary Cemetery in Omaha, he noticed someone praying the rosary and decided to copy that practice when he prayed for Beverly and other deceased loved ones. Then he added the Chaplet of Divine Mercy to his cemetery prayers.

FILE PHOTO

Blaney felt an urge to pray for all the souls in Purgatory. He participated in the Stations of the Cross and other devotions, too.

While many people assumed Blaney was a Catholic, he said didn’t feel ready to become one.

He had received invitations to join the Church many times over the years, gentle urgings from his wife, clergy members and others. But the perfectionist in him told he wasn’t worthy. The mathematician in him told him the faith had to be provable, in step-by-step detail.

Twice before – once in 1985 and again in 2016 – he had participated in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA, now called OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults). But each time he stopped short of actually becoming Catholic.

More recently, one of his sons asked him: “What are you waiting for, a golden invitation?”

God persisted, though, and so did Deacon Jim Tardy, an outreach manager for Catholic Cemeteries, who also leads the OCIA program at St. Cecilia. The two would talk occasionally when Blaney stopped at Calvary Cemetery.

“I have known Brian probably eight years here at the cemetery,” Deacon Tardy said, “by his visitation to his wife and family and his constant rosary – rain, snow or shine.”

Blaney is pictured praying at Calvary on a wintry day in November 2019 and on a warmer day in May 2022. FILE PHOTO

Blaney’s graveside dedication was the subject of a Catholic Voice article in 2022, though Blaney chose to remain anonymous for that story. Deacon Tardy convinced him to share his story more openly now.

“I don’t remember how I found out he was not Catholic,” the deacon said about his friend recently. “That was a number of years ago, but I said ‘You’re one of the most Catholic men I know.’ And he smiled.

“He said ‘A lot of people didn’t know I wasn’t Catholic. When I tell them they’re surprised.’”

For years, the widower would tell the deacon that he’s not worthy to enter the Church.

“This came from an incredible, humble heart,” Deacon Tardy said. “I told him ‘None of us are worthy of any of this, but you are invited.’ So I would invite him every year.”

And the deacon kept gently inviting. “I’d say I have another place at St. Cecilia’s for you.’”

“He was very instrumental,” Blaney said of Deacon Tardy, “because he believes what he is telling me. A lot of people, you can tell if they believe what they’re saying or not. And the staff at the cemetery, they’re all very good: good examples, good Christians. It’s hard to be a good Christian today.”

The continuous invitation – from the Lord and Deacon Tardy – finally won over Blaney.

“It wasn’t golden,” he said, “but it was enough.”

For much of his life, Blaney has struggled with pragmatism and perfectionism. They were helpful in his career as a construction cost estimator, which he retired from just three years ago, but were a hindrance to his faith.

“I’ve always been in construction,” Blaney said, “doing estimating and budgeting, detailed math work basically. So everything had an answer and was provable, and I could trace back reproducible results of everything I’ve ever done.

“I don’t know how religion fits into that,” he said. “From childhood, everything had to be logical, and it had to be a sequence of things. It’s like when you learn geometry, there’s a theorem to prove the next theorem. It’s building a ladder basically.”

“Sometimes God doesn’t fit in that kind of framework,” he said. “I can’t see it most of the time. So I’m very, very grateful that He doesn’t give up easily.”

The perfectionism also hounded him.

“I’ve always tried to do my best at everything I did,” Blaney explained. “And it was never good enough, no matter how hard I tried or how many hours a week I worked.

Over the last couple years, he said, “I found that I’m not the only one.”

“You have to start to realize that you’re human, I guess. It’s up to God to do what He can for you, as far as that end of it.”

“For too many years,” Blaney said, “I didn’t think that God could care about somebody like me. I’m nothing.”

Now, he said, he sees things differently. “It’s not about me. It’s not about me at all.”

In his third time attempt at entering the Chuch, Blaney seemed genuinely excited, Deacon Tardy said. He told his friend “Now you’re going to get the greatest gift that God’s been waiting to give you all your life, the gift of the Eucharist.’ 

“And he wells up,” Deacon Tardy said. “If you are with him, you can’t help but well up, too. He is a really good man.”

Two of Blaney’s three sons and their families, along with several friends, were in attendance at the Easter Vigil and were able to witness his First Holy Communion and Confirmation. The other son, who lives out of town, wasn’t able to go.

His wife is at every Mass with him in spirit, Blaney said, and she would have been proud. This year would have marked their 54th wedding anniversary.

“I got lucky,” he said. “I got married to a good Catholic girl, and although I wasn’t able to join the Church while she was alive, I hope she’s happy.”

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