FOLLOW ME

2000 FOLLOW ME
September
July/August
June
May
April
March
January

Little Notes
Letters

Confessions
Talk About Movies
Roamin' Catholic




Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

I Realized It Wasn't Stupid

William Goldin, 17, became a Catholic last year at Immaculate Conception Church in Old Town, an event his Jewish relatives on the east coast still don't know about. The oldest of two boys and a native San Diegan, Goldin has a Jewish father and and Episcopalian mother.

"I didn't come from a religious family. It was understood that if we ever decided to join a religion, it would be our choice. We celebrated Christmas and Channukah and Passover -- we still do -- but not as religious holidays. I never attended church and very rarely attended synagogue. Most of my relatives on my dad's side are very devout. My grandfather was a rabbi, so when that side of the family hears I'm Catholic, they're going to flip!"

A junior at Coronado High School -- he tranferred there to be in the theater program -- Goldin has been acting and singing since the age of five. His journey to the Church began with a prayer when he was 15. "I just thought that maybe there was something out there, so I decided to pray about it. For a series of months, I prayed in my room, simply, 'If there's anything out there, please guide me."

"To someone raised in an intellectual environment, Catholicism seemed to be blind faith, but God guided me to everything I would need to learn about it. I had never read the Bible, but a Protestant, my math tutor, said I should start reading it. I realized it wasn't stupid, and I became really interested in it. Over time, I believed what I was reading.

"I realized there was a God, but I wasn't sure if he was a personal God, so I asked him if he was Jesus. I had started to read the Gospels and I believed -- which created a conflict, because I was hoping I would go with Judaism. Then my mother bought me a catechism.

"First I called a Protestant church and asked how to become a Christian. The man said, 'Well, you come and make a profession of faith and then we dunk you.' That turned me off so much. I thought, 'Where's the intellect? Where's the commitment?' Then I called Immaculate Conception Church in Old Town and attended my first Mass. I fell absolutely in love with it. It was so devout. Attending it solidified my belief. It was something real.

"Monsignor Alphonsus Moloney, the pastor, told me I had to go to RCIA to become a Catholic. He was shocked that I was interested in becoming a Catholic at 15."

The call to priesthood was the result of a long, inner desire that puzzled Goldin. "Even though I was not religious, I had a desire to become a 'religious leader'. When I started attending RCIA, I began to think that maybe this feeling was God's call to the priesthood. The feeling strengthened as I became more Catholic and started to receive communion frequently. I wanted to see if it was real, so I asked God for a confirmation. I actually asked St.Therese of Lisieux to send me a red rose if I was called to the priesthood and a white rose if I wasn't. I went to a prayer group shortly afterward, and someone handed me a pot of seven teeny pink roses. It just totally clicked in my heart that God was speaking."

Goldin hopes to attend Franciscan University of Steubenville to discern which order to join while studying in the pre-theologate program. Presently, he is most attracted to the Barnabite and Franciscan Orders.

"Actually, I'm also thinking I might want to become a Byzantine. I love their liturgy because it is so devout. I like the fact that it has not changed since 400 A.D. On some Sundays I'll attend the Byzantine liturgy in the morning and go to Mass at night. If I do become a Byzantine, it would have to be as a Franciscan as well. I wouldn't want to become a diocesan priest."

Goldin's parents have not discouraged him. "After they realized I wasn't going through a phase, they were totally supportive." His school environment, however, is less than conducive to faith and piety. "I'm turned off with theater because so many people have become lost. It's wildly immoral -- actually, that's an understatement."

He hasn't had any girlfriends yet. "Honestly, I feel so called to be a priest, I don't feel the necessity to date. It could be because of all the girls I have known at school, there are none that I would want to be with as a girlfriend or spend time with."

TOP