By Theresia Titus
It was with the supportive encouragement of her husband that Leeming resident Amy Gonsalves, now a parishioner at Willetton Parish, took the leap of faith to pray to God.
“I was in my early 20s when I started thinking of joining the Church, but the whole process seemed intimidating and I didn’t know any Catholics personally,” Amy said.
“I was having a difficult time, feeling very lonely and I wanted to meet a person that I could marry and have a Christian life with and it wasn’t happening for a while as I wasn’t meeting the right person. So I decided to pray and talk to God.
“When I met my husband, Richard, he told me that he was Catholic and he went to Mass every Sunday, which further awoke the desire in me to join the Church. I felt like God was listening to me and sent him for me,” she continued.
Originally from London, England, Amy moved to Perth in August 2018 and married Richard in December 2019.
Amy explained that meeting Richard has confirmed her wish and desire to be baptised.
“I always wanted to enter the Church and when I happened to fall in love with Richard – who is Catholic, I was certain that he would be the person who could help me to navigate the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) process,” she expressed.
Coming from an atheist upbringing, Amy continued saying that her baptism journey has been a long conversion process.
“I am still getting to know Jesus slowly – it’s not an overnight epiphany, but a gradual process,” she said.
“I was somewhat scared to come out as a Christian at first because I was in a very secular community and none of my friends were religious – it was just something that was in my heart but I didn’t have anyone to guide me.
“I didn’t have any kind of formal prayer life, and it was just a personal thing at first. Then I joined RCIA classes which have explained everything and since then, I have felt so much more committed and involved with the Church,” she added.
Amy mentioned that she was feeling sad and disappointed when she heard her baptism had to be postponed following Coronavirus-led restrictions.
“I was just so excited for my baptism day and had been building up to it for almost a year,” Amy uttered.
“But then I thought of the delay as a blessing in disguise because it made me realise how much I wanted to be baptised and how much I miss going to Church.
“The delay just gave me more time to enter into my faith life without rushing into it. I’m glad things have happened that way,” she added.
Amy told The Record she originally was interested in Buddhism, however, the longing she had to have a conversation with God and the Catholic education she received in high school affirmed her decision to become Catholic.
“[Jesus] is just an amazing person, that’s how I see Him. I feel like I can get to know Him on a personal level and once I let Him into my life, He immediately started to work in me and my life,” she said.
“I have always tried to become a better disciple of His throughout this whole journey.”
Amy believed that the Catholic liturgical traditions have “grounded her prayer life and gave substance to her faith”.
“I love the Catholic community and hope that I can be a part of it, have Catholic friends and hopefully will be able to raise our future children in the [same] faith as well,” Amy expressed.
“[I believe] in the Catholic teachings and that I can apply them in my life as a framework [for me] to live a good life.”