Alena Cavan and Mairim Medina

About a year ago, fifteen-year-old Alena Cavan started praying and reading Scripture on her own at home. This past summer, she asked her mom, Laura, if they could start going to church, and the following Sunday, they came to Mass at Sacred Heart. Now Alena is preparing to become Catholic at this year’s Easter Vigil and Laura has returned wholeheartedly to her Catholic faith. How awesome is that?

Alena’s motivation came from her need for something more. “At some point you stop listening to yourself and your parents and you need a higher power to guide you through your own life. When I started reading the Bible, that’s what I needed to continue moving forward and growing as a person.” 

She likes what she’s learned in her classes so far and is excited about what lies ahead. “I think getting Baptized is a really big deal,” she says. “Going to Confession is also very exciting.” Alena looks forward to the concreteness of having her sins forgiven by a priest, as opposed to the forgiveness she can already pray for on her own.

Although she isn’t nervous about becoming Catholic; Alena worries sometimes about staying close to God—both before and after she receives the sacraments. “When you try to get closer to God, you always have setbacks because your path isn’t always going to be straight.” She feels confident, however, about overcoming those setbacks. “That’s what faith is. You have to keep walking and being strong with your faith, and that’s why I chose to become Catholic and get Baptized.”

As for sixteen-year-old Mairim Medina, although she isn’t completely sure what to expect, she has no doubts about becoming Catholic. The North High School sophomore, who has been coming to Sacred Heart for several years with her mom and grandma, says she is happy to follow her mom’s wish and study the faith. She’s getting ready to receive the sacraments this spring.

But why now? Mairim’s mom, Miriam, explains. “I want her to make sure that she wants to be a Catholic, and I want her to learn why she is doing this, because when we’re little, we don’t know.” 

Miriam goes on to explain that although she grew up Catholic, her family went to a different church for a period of time. “We didn’t like it,” she adds, saying that they missed the feeling of being Catholic as well as the devotion that Catholics have to Our Lady of Guadalupe. “It didn’t feel right…As a Catholic, you feel the Spirit.”

That Catholic Spirit is what she wants for her daughter, and while Mairim is a bit nervous about all she has to learn over the coming weeks, she feels welcome at Sacred Heart and thinks the Catholic Church will be a good fit. “I actually get to learn something about God, and about the Virgin Mary.” 

So far she feels optimistic about the challenges that lie ahead, and if it gets more difficult along the way, she has a simple plan to work it all out: “I will try my best.”