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| RCIA candidate Tina Saviano stands near a painting of St. Maria Goretti at St. Maria Goretti Church in Madison. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash) |
MADISON — “It’s the best thing ever.”
“I love it. I can’t get enough.”
Those are just a couple of the verbally-expressed emotions from 27-year-old Tina Saviano from Madison as she is just a few weeks away from becoming a member of the Catholic Church.
Life-long journey
It’s been a life-long journey for Saviano, a Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RICA) candidate from St. Maria Goretti Parish (SMG) in Madison.
After being baptized a Lutheran as a child, her life took many turns through foster homes, exposure to many faiths, but no consistent participation in any faith.
“I knew that faith has always been in my heart,” Saviano said.
After graduating from high school, she wanted to be part of a church again, but kept putting it off.
She found new challenges in her early and mid-20s after a marriage that ended, and now being a single mother to two children, a daughter and son, ages three and one respectively.
Prior to finding the Catholic Church, her “life was spinning out of control,” as she put it.
That all changed when she met someone “pretty incredible.”
“He accepted my past, he accepted everything about me.”
Tragically, that friend passed away last summer, just as Saviano was looking into joining the Catholic Church as part of SMG.
While she wrestled with anger at God for taking her friend, she returned to the path to the Church by words said by the presiding priest at his funeral, that “it wasn’t God that took him, it was the accident.”
Saviano then clicked “send” on the email that would change her life and joined the RCIA program at SMG.
RCIA candidate
She now meets with the other candidates and catechumens, along with her sponsor, parish member Joanne Sparks, every Sunday morning before 9 a.m. Mass and tries to learn a “little bit of everything.”
One thing she’s learned through RCIA is about the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
“That’s literally mind-blowing,” Saviano said, and added she “cannot wait” to receive it.
At the Easter Vigil Mass, Saviano will receive the Eucharist for the first time and be confirmed as a member of the Catholic Church.
Saviano encouraged everyone thinking about joining the Church to go for it.
“Don’t ever give up because there’s something bigger than yourself,” she said. “You won’t know until you actually sit down and give it a try.”