Like many adults who entered the Church as new members at the Easter Vigil this year, Emmilee Ayers didn’t see herself becoming Catholic as she was growing up.
People join the Church for a variety of reasons. Maybe it’s through a friend’s faithful example or possibly something they read in a publication or heard on Catholic radio. Some marry a Catholic and want to share the same faith.
Others have a life-changing experience that shows them God is real. That’s what happened with Ayers, who was prepared to receive the sacraments at the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday, April 8 at Columbus St. Christopher Church with four others after completing her yearlong instruction through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults.
A few short years ago, Ayers, 29, never expected to be standing at the altar of a Catholic Church receiving Holy Communion and confirmation or making her first confession to a priest in the sacrament of reconciliation a few days earlier.
Growing up in Knox County, Ayers said she was not raised in a church environment. In fact, her father was raised Catholic but fell away from the faith and no longer believed in God.
“Most of what I knew about the Catholic Church were some unfortunate stereotypes and things I saw on TV,” Ayers said. “Actually, for my entire childhood and a good chunk of my young adult life, I did not believe in God.
“I thought the whole idea of believing in a higher power was just dumb. And I guess I never really thought to educate myself because I thought it was a waste of time.”
As she grew into young adulthood, she talked with a Catholic friend about his faith, and she began to ask questions. Then an incident that “smacked me in the face, metaphorically, that I do believe in God” occurred with she was 24 years old.
“I was involved in an altercation with another person who physically attacked me, and I was pretty concerned that I might not live that day,” she said without going into specifics about the incident. “I was very scared, and there was nobody around to help me, and I couldn’t access my phone.
“I wasn’t really sure what to do, and I couldn’t talk out loud. So, I remember closing my eyes and thinking to myself – and I’d never done this before – ‘If you are there, God, show me a sign. Tell me what to do. Help me.’
“As soon as I did that, the person took their hands off me and walked away.”
Even before the perpetrator fled, she felt a calmness after calling on God to be with her at that moment.
“I can’t really explain it,” she recounted. “And I believe I was not meant to die that day. And I believe that situation showed me how important it is to seek God and to listen to Him.”
After this life-altering experience, she began searching for a faith community. Ayers attended several churches and was baptized in a Baptist church, but she was confused with how Protestant denominations interpreted the Bible in various ways and lacked consistency in their teaching of faith and morals.
Her Catholic friend encouraged her to learn more about Catholicism, and so she began reading. The more she studied, the more she liked what she was finding out about the universality of the Church and its verifiable apostolic tradition dating to Christ.
Living in the Grandview Heights area of central Ohio after spending several years in Las Vegas working as a teaching assistant, Ayers decided to attend Mass at St. Christopher.
“I had no idea what the priest was saying,” she said. “I just sat in the back and didn’t talk to anyone, but I kept going. I really liked it.”
She liked it enough that she planned to enroll in RCIA, but a series of family and personal issues kept her from starting classes in fall 2021.
One year later, in fall 2022, she joined the RCIA class at St. Christopher.
“The more I’ve learned about the Catholic faith, the more I’ve been putting the effort in to pray the rosary, go to Mass,” she said. “I’ve noticed a major difference in my life. Yes, I still have struggles, and sometimes bad things happen, but I feel my faith has been strengthened.
“Even on my worst day, I know that I have God on my side.”
Ayers has found the welcoming nature and passion of the Catholics she has met at the parish, among young adults and at the Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference to be appealing.
She also has become passionate about the pro-life movement through the witness of her sponsor, Alanna Wills.
“Because of my talks with her, it’s something I feel that’s very important, and I feel more comfortable talking about it and doing things,” Ayers said. “I’ve attended a couple of vigils for 40 Days for Life.”
That’s a significant change from her views as a college student at Bowling Green State University.
She said she considered herself to be pro-choice and lacking in knowledge about fetal development until her senior year when the Columbus-based, pro-life ministry Created Equal came to campus with graphic signs depicting unborn children.
“A lot of people were super-mad at them, myself included,” she said. “How could they do that? I told myself that the images weren’t real, but I couldn’t get it out of my head.
“The more I looked into it, I realized that I was wrong, that this (abortion) is not something we should do. This is a grave wrong.”
She said she has come to learn that the abortion industry not only kills babies and profits from it but also harms women physically, mentally and spiritually.
As an example, Ayers pointed out the recent effort by abortion advocates in Ohio to put before the state’s voters in November a proposed constitutional amendment that would make abortion legal until birth.
“If you want to know more about that, contact your legislator,” she said.
Ayers actually considered a legal career herself but left law school after a semester when she realized it wasn’t a good fit for her. After working at several jobs and then going to Las Vegas for two years, she came back to central Ohio to be closer to family and friends. She’s now working toward a teaching license for middle school English language arts.
A sister, who is not Catholic, will drive to Columbus from Cleveland to attend the Easter Vigil and watch Ayers receive her first Holy Communion and confirmation.
“The fact that she would come anyway even though she doesn’t share the faith makes me hopeful,” Ayers said. “Hopefully, I can eventually guide other people in my life.”
Part of Ayers’ final preparation for the sacraments at the Easter Vigil was going to confession, which for many new Catholics can cause trepidation when revealing for the first time their sins to a priest who acts in the person of Jesus Christ to grant absolution.
“The thing I’m worried about is talking too loud,” she said. “But I know it will be a good experience. It’s one of those things you’ve never gone through before, and you just have to go in and get it over with.
“I’m pretty sure I will cry.”
If the tears do flow, they won’t be because she’s unhappy.
“Long story short, I have nothing but great things to say about my experience,” she said. “I’m going to be Catholic, and I’m so excited about it. It’s been an amazing journey.”