Catherine Clegg was baptized Catholic as a child before her family left the Church; now 66, she is eager for her first Communion
ROCHESTER — Catherine Clegg’s journey back to the Catholic Church traverses state lines, spans career moves and bridges a timespan that began when Hudson’s was still on the corner of Gratiot and Woodward in downtown Detroit and ends with her finding wisdom in a podcast, a method of media that didn't exist when she was first baptized.
Her journey to Emmaus was a particularly long one, admits Clegg, who will be confirmed and receive her first Communion at St. Andrew Parish in Rochester this Easter.
“I guess my story is kind of a long story, given how I just turned 66, and I’m about to be confirmed, after I was baptized in the Catholic Church,” Clegg told Detroit Catholic.
Clegg is the youngest of four children born to a cradle-Catholic father and a mother who was raised Methodist before converting to the Church before their marriage.
Clegg’s parents divorced when she was 3 years old, leaving her mother to care for four children as a single parent. Clegg’s mother still took her children to their Catholic parish, with Clegg’s oldest sister getting confirmed and her brother and other sister receiving their first Communion.
But by the time it was Clegg’s turn to pick out a first Communion dress at Hudson’s, her mother had decided she couldn't continue raising her children in the Catholic Church.
“It was the mid-1960s, and there was some stigma attached to divorce at the time, so maybe it just was too hard for my mom to keep going, you know,” Clegg said. “I can remember exactly where I was standing, maybe 8 years old, shopping for my first Communion dress at Hudson’s basement store, and my mom was just like, ‘I can’t do this,’ and so we just left.”
Clegg’s mother took her children back to the Methodist church where she was raised.
“I was confirmed in the Methodist church, grew up in the Methodist church, and at the time, it was very similar to the Catholic Church — with the exception of the Eucharist,” Clegg said. “I was comfortable and familiar. I got married in the Methodist church, and I had both of my children baptized there. It was where we found our home.”
Clegg and her husband were both advancing in their careers, raising two children, driving them back and forth to school, sports, and everything else, and the family eventually drifted away from practice of their faith.
The family moved to Indiana in 2001, and never really connected with the Methodist community there.
“We moved several times through the course of my career, so we just never connected to anyplace,” Clegg said. “Then we finally had a spot where we stayed for about eight years, the kids were in middle and high school, and they were making friends, we were making family friends. We started going back to church, and my husband and I went to the Catholic church because our closest friends were Catholic.”
Walking back into a Catholic parish, Clegg said she rediscovered something she thought she had long forgotten.
“It was kind of shocking to me that having not been in the Catholic Church for a long time, it was very comfortable for me. It felt more like home than anywhere else,” Clegg said. “We tried going to the Methodist church before that, and it just wasn’t what we were used to.
“It’s hard to describe, because I was pretty young, only 8 years old the last time I was in a Catholic Church,” Clegg added. “But I could remember standing next to my brother in the church, when the Mass was in Latin, and listening to hymns sung in Latin. But when I was back in the church, I could feel a presence there. My heart felt different. I guess I felt closer to God than in any other church experience I had.”
Clegg and her husband enrolled their children in the local Catholic school, impressed by the small class sizes and the community that supported the school. While getting involved with the school, they became increasingly in contact with Catholics in the community.
Clegg started reading books by Dr. Scott Hahn and was considering joining RCIA, but once again her career called her to move.
“In 2009, I got transferred back to Michigan,” Clegg said. “My youngest had just graduated from high school and was going to college, my oldest was already in college, so my husband and I moved back to Michigan on our own. But then the financial crisis happened, and everything in our lives became a whirlwind with the job, our careers, families, and we just fell apart without finding a parish here.”
Clegg and her husband settled in Rochester. While she wasn’t attached to a parish, she explored different Catholic media outlets, particularly the Pray 40 Challenge sponsored by the Hallow App, and later Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” podcast.
It wasn’t until she struck up a conversation with a teammate on her women’s hockey team that she made the leap to join OCIA.
“I remember talking with someone I play hockey with, and she was talking about St. Andrew and how she really liked it,” Clegg said. “I then got sick with pneumonia last spring, and I had to literally shut it down for two and a half weeks. And I know this sounds silly, but I binged-watched 'The Chosen,' just all the seasons in a row, so I picked up the phone and called my teammate.”
Clegg remembered asking her teammate if she would be her sponsor in OCIA, to which the teammate graciously agreed. Clegg began OCIA classes in September, learning even more about the faith and finding fulfillment in the Church’s teachings.
“At first, I had to temper myself because I wanted to receive the Eucharist right away. I started stressing out about it,” Clegg said. “But then I learned, God wants us, He’s inviting us to grow closer to Him, and that takes time. So in OCIA, I learned to grow more patient, to really know what it means to desire Him.”
Clegg’s husband, Chris, attends Mass with her as she prepares to be received into the Church.
“We went together on Ash Wednesday to receive ashes, and he’s been super supportive, just like the rest of my family,” Clegg said. “For Christmas, my family got me all these Christian-related materials, and it’s been great. They’ve been hugely supportive.”
As Easter draws closer, Clegg looks forward to receiving Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, something she had intended to do as an 8-year-old, standing in the basement of Hudson's all those decades ago.
“For me, it’s all about receiving the Eucharist, truly knowing in my heart that I’m receiving the Body and Blood of Christ,” Clegg said. “That to me is everything. When I go to Mass and listen, I just have this ultimate hunger and desire to be so much closer to Christ.”
Clegg said that hunger has been intensified by the witness of the Catholics she has known throughout her life, who lived with a knowledge and a willingness to serve Jesus Christ.
“Just seeing how they lived; that’s what convinced me,” Clegg said. “It wasn’t about arguments or trying to win me over; it was just seeing the light they had in their lives and wanting that for me. They seemed happier, just more at ease and comfortable, and I wanted that in my life.
“And as we get closer to Easter, after all the years of my journey — I mean, I’m 66 years old, you know — this is what God has intended for me all along,” Clegg added. “And maybe that’s how I will bring others along the way.”
