Ave Maria Living Magazine | Issue # 1 | September 2016

During this time, they also
decided they were ready to try
for a baby, something Monica
wasn?t so sure about in the
earlier years of their marriage.
After Monica became pregnant,
Daniel started feeling like he
needed to learn more about
Catholicism. That oath from his
wedding day was hanging over
his head now that he had a child
on the way. He went to the local
priest on Sanibel Island and
began to ask some questions
about the issues that are typically
the most difficult for people to
accept about the faith: "What
about all this Mary stuff... and
praying to the Saints, what's that
all about? What's the problem
with contraception and what
about homosexuality?" The priest
asked Daniel two questions:
"Daniel, do you believe that you
have to learn about something
before you discredit it?" Daniel
said, ?yes.? The priest then asked,
"do you believe in God and that
you should pray when you need
guidance?" Daniel said, ?yes, I do.?
So the priest said, "if you do those
two things, learn about the faith
and pray, the Church demands
that you follow your conscience."
This was something he could
accept; no pressure? learn, pray,
and decide for himself.
Just as he began to take steps
toward learning about
Catholicism, Monica miscarried
their first child and Daniel
stopped pursuing Catholicism for
a while. Within another year and
a half, Monica miscarried their
second child. During her second
pregnancy, the local priest had
started a program of one-on-one
instruction and Daniel became
engrossed with the early church
fathers, St. Augustine, the
encyclicals of John Paul II, and
other church teachings. These
interests became part of the
foundation that would guide him
to get his master?s degree in
theology.
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