Meet a Catholic who came home

STURGEON BAY — Lent and Easter will always have special meaning for Susie Masi. It was during this time, four years ago, that this cradle Catholic came home to the church after being away for over 20 years.

Susie Masi (Monica Sawyn | For The Compass)

Masi said both sides of her family were Catholic “as far back as you can imagine.” She attended 12 years of Catholic school and continued to practice the faith once she was married. But, when difficulties arose in the marriage, Masi gradually began to drift away — not only from the sacraments, but even from prayer.

After 16 years, in 1985, the marriage ended in divorce and Masi mistakenly thought that meant she was excommunicated. She thought she had closed a door that couldn’t be opened again.

About that same time, Masi moved from Elgin, Ill., to Algoma, where her parents had retired. They helped care for Masi’s two grammar-school-aged boys while she worked. She still wasn’t going to church, but the hunger to do so had begun to grow. When a Lutheran pastor knocked on her door and told her about a new congregation starting in that area, she accepted his invitation and joined his church. That lasted about a year.

“I just didn’t feel right about it,” Masi said. “In the back of my mind I told myself I was baptized Catholic, raised Catholic, and although the Lutheran church was similar, and the people were wonderful, it wasn’t the same. And the Eucharist wasn’t the same.”

So, she stopped going to church again, but she didn’t do anything else, either.

“I was trying to live a good life, but I didn’t pray my rosary, I didn’t say any other prayers, I didn’t even think about it.”

Now that she looks back, Masi said she recognizes that she was probably suffering from depression.

“I felt like I had this big weight on my shoulders. I had moved, left my friends, left my job — sold my horse! There was so much loss to deal with.”

Things continued that way even after Masi moved to Sturgeon Bay in 1996. Then, during Lent in 2010, she began seeing the Catholics Come Home commercials on television.

“It really created a longing in me, and I realized I really missed the church,” Masi said.

She still didn’t think she could come back, however, until one of the spots featured a divorced man who had come “home.”

“I thought, well if he did it, I wonder if I can,” she said.

The promos included an email address for people who wanted more information, but Masi didn’t have a computer. She decided to contact the nearest Catholic church instead, which was Corpus Christi, to see if someone could give her an address or an 800-number.

“It took me three weeks to write the letter,” Masi said. “I kept writing notes and throwing them away. I kept telling myself no one would really care, they wouldn’t answer. … I didn’t even know who the pastor was. I just addressed it to ‘pastor of Corpus Christi.’”

The pastor, Fr. Carl Schmitt, quickly proved her wrong. Within a few days of writing her note, she got a return letter. He encouraged her to start attending Mass, and invited her to make an appointment to see him.

“He scheduled me for an hour, but he spent two hours talking with me.”

Masi made an appointment for the sacrament of reconciliation after a weekday Mass, and then eagerly asked whether she could now return to Communion.

“When I left that church, I don’t think my feet were even touching the ground,” Masi said. “This tremendous weight was off me. There was so much relief, joy and happiness. I can hardly think of the words to describe it.”

Masi told Fr. Schmitt that she wanted to come back quietly because she was concerned about what people would think when they learned she’d been away from the church for such a long time. She needn’t have worried.

“When I started meeting people, and they asked questions, I told them the truth, and there was such a feeling of love and acceptance I was just amazed.” She was also amazed that when she went to Sunday Mass after that first meeting with Fr. Schmitt, “he actually remembered my name.”

“I guess I was just used to the large Chicago parishes where no one remembers who you are,” she said.

Her return to the church brought an ease to her life, she said. She’s aware of walking through her days with a presence at her side, so that even paying bills or dealing with daily issues isn’t done alone. She spends much time in private prayer daily, including the rosary, the chaplet of Divine Mercy, the chaplet of St. Michael, and other personal prayers. She joined the St. Ann’s Society and attends a weekly Bible study at St. Joseph, another Sturgeon Bay parish, and helps out in the kitchen for social functions.

Masi took one other big step that has made a huge difference. She chose to forgive her ex-husband.

“I had resented him terribly for years, and those feelings of bitterness poisoned my life,” she said. “After I came ‘home,’ I began praying for him, and the resentment left. I don’t like what he did (in the marriage) and I don’t have to, but I learned that you can forgive people you don’t like or trust.”

The whole experience for Masi has been one of growth and happiness. Her advice for anyone else considering coming back home to the Catholic Church?

“Don’t hesitate. Do it.”

Your Catholic Neighbor

Name: Susie Masi

Parish: Corpus Christi, Sturgeon Bay

Age: 71

Favorite saint: Francis of Assisi

Words to live by: “Love is patient…” (1 Cor 13:4-7)

Related Posts:

• Where does God choose to meet you?
• Conclave start date might not be known until after March 4
• Diocese announces closing of Holy Name Retreat House
• Catholic Charities makes couple’s dream of family come true
• A case for raising the minimum wage

The post Meet a Catholic who came home appeared first on The Compass – Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Green Bay.