The Tablet
@ May 25, 1958
We conclude this year's series of convert-stories with an account by on the converts who will be confirmed on Sunday. Though it tells of the conversion of only one individual, it is representative of the stories of all the men and women who recently have become Catholics and now will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in ceremonies conducted by the Brooklyn Diocesan Apostolate for the Instruction of Non-Catholics. With different backgrounds and coming to the Catholic Church in different ways, all these people have one thing in common. They are converts and happy in the new-found truth of their Catholic religion.
This completes ten years of publication of "I Became A Catholic And Found Happiness." We thank at this time not only the converts who have contributed to the column this year, but also the many who have sent us their conversion stories since 1949. We thank, too, the readers who so kindly have written letters of comment on particular stories or on the series as a whole.
These convert-stories have helped many non-Catholics in their search for the True Church. In fact, the writer of today's story told us the other day that he started reading this column almost ten years ago. Now, after many years, his own story appears the week of his Confirmation.
Sunday's Diocesan Confirmation of Converts is a reminder of the need of prayer in all convert work. Remember to pray for these new converts and all converts. Pray for all non-Catholics. Pray for conversions. Pray that God will continue to bless the work of our Brooklyn Apostolate for the Instructions of Non-Catholics.
ONE OF SUNDAY'S CONVERTS
By Arnold E. Brandt
This coming Sunday, May 25, I will be one of the converts to be confirmed at St. Joseph's Church, Brooklyn. Last Saturday I received my first Holy Communion when my six-year-old daughter (Sigrid) received hers. Anyone who has received these Sacraments knows what a happy week this has been for my family and myself.
Both my parents were born in Sweden, but they were brought to this Country when they are quite young. Living in a small Connecticut city (Hartford), they first met when they joined with other young people of Scandinavian background in a program of building a new church. The church, of course, was Lutheran, because the Swedes have been Lutherans for many centuries.
My father (Eric Brandt) at one time had though of entering the Lutheran ministry. In preparation for entering a seminary, he finished two years of college. But then he decided not to go on for the ministry.
Worked for Government
The home in which I grew up with my brothers and sisters was a religious one, which mirrored the deep faith and devotion of both my parents. Sundays in my family meant attendance at church service. And among my earliest recollections are the small cookies, tasting vaguely of perfume, which my thoughtful mother would slip from her purse, to quiet a small boy who sometimes squirmed in the pew when is concentration on the services began to waver.
My mother died the day after I graduated from high school (Hartford Public HS). With her death and my preoccupation with finding a career, I gradually drifted from any steady religious practice.
After moving from job to job, finally I was accepted for a government post in Washington, D.C. Anxious to improve myself, I applied for admission to Georgetown University while working in the capital. Previously my attempts to enter other schools had been frustrated by lack of money. The Jesuit Fathers at Georgetown raised no such barrier.
This new effort to continue my education was applauded in many quarters and, in particular, by one of my fellow workers (name? Could this be Fr. Shannon?) who himself resigned to take "a better job." He entered the seminary and is now a priest.
War interrupted the cycle of work and education for me. After the war, however, I was back in the same pattern. As I continued At Georgetown, I learned a great deal about Catholicism.
Upon graduation, I received a very fine promotion on my job, which brought me from Washington to New York. My first date in New York was with a beautiful girl (Marcella) who worked in the same office. This wonderful girl was a graduate of a Catholic college. We continued to date. We often discussed religion. And I talked and talked over again about the Catholic Church.
Well, we were married by the priest (Rev. Philip Shannon). We have been blessed with three wonderful children.
Early in our married life we attended Mass together. But with the arrival of babies it seemed a pleasant arrangement for me to stay home and take care of the family while my wife went to church.
Our oldest girl entered a Catholic school. I was impressed with the training she is receiving. I knew that soon she would be receiving her first Holy Communion. I decided that I must receive mine along with her.
Accordingly, I made the special effort required to get to early Mass on Sundays, so that I still would be able to take care of the little ones when my wife would go later. I learned to follow the beautiful action of the Mass by use of a missal which my wife had given me. I read the Latin, a language which I first had been able to decipher almost forty years earlier when I stumbled across a Latin grammar among my father's old books.
Thought I already knew quite a bit about the Catholic religion, I realized that I still needed some systematic instruction. And so, I attended one of the instruction centers of the Diocesan Apostolate. Happily I became a Catholic in time to make my First Communion the same day my little girl received hers.
I have many friends who have been Catholics all their lives. I had to find my way in the Church for myself. With my heartfelt thanks to those many friends, who prayed for me, I now can tell them that at last I have found my way into the Catholic Church. I have been helped to this complete conversion by the grace of God, the good example of my wife and the blessing of my children.
__________________
This article was originally published in The Tablet, a Catholic faith newspaper published in Brooklyn. This article was copied from a yellowing proof version that I found among the possessions of my late father, Arnold Brandt, the author of the piece. I have determined that the article was written in 1959 during the week of May 25th, the date that he was confirmed.
This was a proof copy that had obviously been sent to my father by the editor for final revision. The article is attached by transparent tape to a white piece of paper. There are several notations on the paper requesting additional information. In most cases I have been able to add that information to this version (noted in brackets).