Faith, persistence bring woman to the church

It’s brought order out of chaos, meaning to a life that had become dry and mechanical, and a closeness to Christ that Chelsie Promes could not have imagined.

 

It’s the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) – entry into full communion with the Catholic Church through months of classes and prayer that culminates with baptisms, confirmations and first Communions at Easter Vigils in parishes across the archdiocese. 

 

“It has opened my eyes to seeing that God is always present,” Promes said of her growth in faith as she prepares to join the church. “He loves me. He is my first love. He’s given me a way of life. I can tell that by living through him, knowing he is at my side.”

 

Father James Keiter, pastor of St. Boniface Parish in Menominee, where Promes and her husband are members, said Chelsie is one of three people he is helping prepare for full communion with the church. Her husband, Jeremy, also is attending the classes. 

 

“She’s on fire! Such a genuine joy as she learns about the faith,” said Father Keiter, who also is pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Fordyce and St. Joseph Parish in Constance. “Her husband is Catholic born and raised, and he has questions, too.”  

 

RITE OF ELECTION

Accompanied by her husband, Promes – and about 470 others – took an important step in the process of joining the church Feb. 18 at the Rite of Election with Archbishop George J. Lucas at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha. They were greeted by the archbishop and publicly declared their desire to be Catholic, at a 2 p.m. ceremony for Promes and others from mostly rural parishes, and a 7:30 p.m. ceremony for people in the Omaha area. 

 

More than 320 of them, including Promes, are candidates – those seeking the sacrament of confirmation and first Communion. About 145 became members of the elect – those who hope to be baptized, confirmed and receive the Eucharist.

 

"It was amazing," Promes said of the rite. "He was very welcoming, very humble," she said of meeting the archbishop.

 

DISAPPOINTING COMPROMISE

Promes said she was baptized as a Methodist, her mother is a Christian who doesn’t go to church and her father attends a nondenominational church. And for years, religion did not have a real place in her life.

 

In 2012 she married – in a non-church ceremony and commitment that left her feeling compromised – and seven months later, she was divorced.

 

Her ex-husband suffered from depression and anxiety, had anger issues and seemed lost, Promes said. She was lost, too, and kept feeling the pull to something with more meaning.

 

 “I thought I was compromising,” Promes said. For example, “we never took marriage classes on kids and money. We should have done that beforehand … I was lost and he was lost as well.” 

 

After her divorce, she asked friends who were Catholic about the church, and then she met her now-husband, Jeremy, who is Catholic and said the faith was important to him, though he was not practicing it as he felt he should.

 

SOLID GROUND

Finding the church and its teachings has brought new meaning to her life, and helped put things into their proper perspective, Promes said.

 

“Before, my life was pretty chaotic. It was unorganized, I wasn’t living for any meaning. I was going through the motions of life: Getting up, cleaning the house, going to bed. I didn’t take time out for prayer, for God. Now, that has become a big part of my life.” 

 

Church teaching and beliefs offer structure and truths, and centuries of faith from the apostles through today’s bishops, Promes said. There are beautiful churches with Stations of the Cross, stained glass windows of symbols and saints, all telling the same story, but in different ways, of finding life in Christ, she said.

 

She and Jeremy dated for three years and married last August. She insisted that religion play a major role in their relationship.

 

“I didn’t want to go through another marriage where God is not the center of our marriage,” she said. “I think it opened his eyes to the need to have God at the center.”

 

FINDING THE WAY 

Determined to adhere to church teaching, Promes strove for and obtained an annulment of her first marriage, but not in time for the May wedding she and her husband had hoped for, the one that would have landed on the 70th wedding anniversary of Jeremy’s grandparents on his mother’s side.

 

The annulment was granted that same month, however, and they married three months later, at St. Boniface Church, with a reception in the parish hall.

 

Father Keiter, who presided at the wedding, said he met Chelsie and Jeremy when they were dating and considering marriage. He was impressed with their faith and patience about the wedding.

 

“She needed an annulment, and they were patient and willing to do God’s will,” he said.

 

Part of their preparation was marriage preparation classes, Promes said. 

 

“That was very important,” she said. “We both had time to reflect … to get to know each other on another level.”

 

RCIA CLASSES

One month after the wedding, RCIA started. 

 

“We get handouts every week and Scripture” readings to reflect on and apply to daily life, Promes said. She and her husband pray together each evening, often from a book of devotions to Jesus. 

 

Wrapped in faith and experienced through RCIA, Advent and Christmas also took on new meaning, Promes said. “It never was this emotional,” she said.   

 

Jeremy said he is learning a great deal, too.

 

“It’s a lot of (information) I went through years ago, things I didn’t remember,” he said. “It’s brought me back, basically, to the Catholic faith.”

 

And Chelsie is excited about the Easter Vigil, when she will be confirmed and receive the Eucharist for the first time.

 

“I will feel a lot closer to Christ,” she said. “And like Advent prepares us for Christmas, RCIA is preparing me to be one step closer to Christ, to that Catholic faith, and being able to live it every day.”