Father Ed Gorny

Father Ed Gorny, pastor of Saint Paul the Apostle mission in Cleveland, Ga., is looking forward to May 29th. That's when six young people from his parish will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation. For one of the youngsters, 15-year-old Mark Cooper, the moment of committment will bring a special satisfaction to Father Ed.

You see, Mark Cooper's journey to Confirmation is rooted in a very warm story of one family's re-discovery of their Catholic faith!

Mark and his eight-year-old brother Timmy are the sons of John and Diana Cooper, a young couple who have spent much of their lives together living in Texas and traveling extensively throughout the country to sell craft items at shows, fairs, and suburban malls. Then, a little over a year ago, the Coopers returned to northeast Georgia and White County, where they settled in to help John's parents, who own and operate the small factory that manufactures the craft items the young couple sold during their travels.

John and Diana both had been baptized as youngsters and sort of lived around the Catholic Church, but neither had been confirmed . . .and their marriage had taken place outside the Church.

The two boys were getting older now and began asking questions about religion. John and Diana decided it would be good for their family to establish some kind of religious base. Since their roots were in Catholicism, they contacted Sister Toni Kevlahan, Father Ed's pastoral associate.

"We conducted a rather extensive preparation process to get them re-acquainted with the Church," Father Ed recalls. "It was true John and Diana had been baptized, but they had never been fully instructed in the Catholic faith . . .and, of course, the boys had never been baptized."

Eventually, the time of commitment arrived. On Holy Thursday of last year, Father Ed stood before the congregation at Saint Paul and proclaimed the Church's blessing of the marriage of John and Diana Cooper. Just two days later, at Easter Sunday Mass, the couple celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation and Mark and Timmy were welcomed into the Catholic Church through Baptism.

"I can remember the faces of the parents," Father Ed says. "There was the look of peace and joy. In fact, you could sense a spirit of joy, not only within the family, but also within the parish community.

"I stood there watching all of this and thinking how grateful I was—grateful to God that this young couple responded to His grace and His love," Father Ed says. "Something like this, where you have reintegration of parents into the Church and the baptisms of the children—all within a matter of a few days—just doesn't happen in everyday ministry. It was a truly unique experience for all of us!"

"The family is still involved in their craft business," Father Gorny reports, "but they seem to have a good, wholesome sense of being a Catholic family now."

This article originally appeared in the May 1991 Boost-A-Month Club Newsletter