Joining the Catholic faith is long journey for 80 year old

His wife calls him a “pretty good non-Catholic Catholic.” Among 90 other catechumens in the sanctuary of St. Joseph Cathedral, Andrew Calderon prepared to join the Catholic faith.

“I should have done this a long time ago,” he said.

Calderon, who celebrated his 80th birthday on March 9, the day of the Rite of Election, was born to a Jewish father and non-practicing Catholic mother. Religion was never pushed on him. Unlike his brother, he never had a bar mitzvah or celebrated the tenets of Judaism outside of holiday gatherings.

His first wife was Catholic and he agreed to raise their three children in her faith. “I wanted to make sure if we had children, I wanted them to have a religion,” Calderon explained.

It was he who took the kids to Mass and religious instruction while his wife, Evelyn, worked. Still, he felt an allegiance to his father, who he respected and admired, and his Jewish heritage.

“I went to church with my kids. I made it a point that I wanted them to have religion, so they had all the classes and the confirmation, the Communion, the sponsorships and everything,” Calderon recounted. “It was like I should have done it then, you know? And of course, I didn’t. And after thinking about it, I said, nobody’s going to ever take any respect away from what I have for my dad. He came over from Yugoslavia, him and his brother and my grandfather and grandmother, and he raised me, you know. I got an education from him. So, I still have a ton of respect for my dad, and that’s one of the reasons why it took me this long to decide. I had to make amends with my dad, and I did, and I feel good about it, and here’s where we are now.”

Although his father had passed away, Calderon found a way to make peace with him about his conversion.

“He really believed in the Jewish religion. I said, I kind of have to step away from it because of my children. I hope you understand. And I don’t know. It’s just a feeling come across me. It said, ‘Go,’ you know, like it’s just a funny feeling, and that’s kind of a way I made amends with my father.”

Even after Evelyn passed away, Calderon continued to attend Mass. And now continues with MaryElizabeth, his wife of nine years.

“He always went to Mass with me. Never failed. If I happen to be out of town or something, he’d still go to Mass,” she explained. “We talked about different Catholic issues. He was definitely a practicing Catholic.”

To prepare for initiation into the Catholic Church, Calderon took part in instruction meetings via Zoom from their Grand Island home with others in the Light of Christ Roman Catholic Community of the Northtowns Family of Parishes.

Now he is on fire with his faith.

“The Holy Spirit has definitely been working in him, and I just see it in so many different ways that he may not even see, but I do,” MaryElizabeth said. “He participates in Mass in a different way now and when he’s sick and we can’t physically go to church, we do it on television. He’s right there, and his prayer life has increased, and all on his own. It’s not anything that I say, ‘Well, maybe he should do this or try that,’ or it’s part of the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults). It’s the Holy Spirit working within him.”

Calderon has received support from his children and stepchildren. In fact, his stepson, Michael, agreed to be his sponsor at the Rite of Election. So, Michael is now his stepfather’s godfather.  

The next step is receiving the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and first Communion  during the Easter Vigil Mass at St. Stephen’s.