By: Jay Sorgi
Doug Young said he was built by the church. After a lifetime of searching, he’s choosing to live his faith life in the strong foundation of the Catholic Church.
“I just need structure. I need to be accountable, and I wasn’t finding that anywhere,” said Young, who is entering into fullness in the faith through the OCIA program at St. Joseph Parish in Fremont.
“I want these burdens that I have on my heart lifted, and that already is happening.”
Young said that he came to the Catholic Church after experiences in multiple denominations, with an encounter in a church that he said focused more on production of the service.
“We were attending a church, and I kept moving my head, bobbing and weaving, trying to find the pastor around the camera that was going up and down the aisle. I’m looking at cameras on the stage,” said Young.
“[It] became too modern for me, which is kind of ironic because that’s originally why I left the traditional church that I was raised in. I love the modern music and the preaching style, [but] I started asking myself, is this what church was really supposed to be? And so I had gone full circle where I felt like I needed more structure.”
Young may be a familiar face to East Bay sports and concert fans, as the parking manager at the Oakland Coliseum. He credits a colleague of his in his journey toward the Catholic Church.
“She’s a very devout Catholic. She’s very involved in her parish. She helps with communion, and she helps with all these different things that happen,” Young said.
“She just started talking to me about her faith and her walk, and I just started thinking, ‘Let me go to church with her a few times.’”
During his exploration of the Catholic faith, Young said that the liturgical norms of using the same biblical passages at Mass helped him in connecting with his co-worker.
“Whatever the topic, whatever the homily was about on that particular day, I would go into work and say, ‘We talked about this.’ She goes, ‘Oh, yeah, so did we.’ And I’m like, ‘You did what?’ Then the next Sunday, we did the same thing,” Young said.
“I found that odd at first, but then as I started thinking about it, when you have all these millions of Catholics praying about the same thing, basically at the same time. I found that almost empowering. That’s really cool.”
Young comes from a family whose members spread across many denominations, and he has had to help educate them on what the Catholic Church actually teaches compared to what they perceive the faith involves.
He said one family member “had a bit of an issue with me at first, because [of] a lot of misconceptions about the Catholic Church, about the relationship with Mary, and where she stands in this whole big picture, and why the Catholics do what they do and believe what they believe.”
“I sent her a picture of the mission there at St. Joseph, and I wished her a happy Ash Wednesday. That got her thinking about Ash Wednesday,” Young added.
“She started doing a little bit of research. She [told me], ‘I know that Lent is maybe a requirement for you. It’s not a requirement for me, but I think there’s something to it.’ She’s given up social media during Lent.”
He praises the Order of Christian Initation of Adults program at his parish and the fellow faithful joining him in the OCIA program.
“They’re such great people, the group of people that I’ve been going through the classes with. I’ve met a different type of Christian, and I’ve really, really enjoyed it.” he said.
Young also said that the Catholic faith provides a greater opportunity at a relationship-centered faith in Christ, the kind that isn’t always perceived by those outside Catholicism.
“I look at Jesus a little bit differently than I did when I started this,” he said.
“I sense Christ talking to me saying, ‘It’s all right, man. I know what you’ve done. I know where you’ve been. Just keep doing what you’re doing.’ Instead of putting Christ on this pedestal, I just talk to Him like He’s my best friend, or my father, or my brother.”
Young said that people searching for a church home as he did should consider the Catholic faith as a firm foundation and structure where you can truly foster a relational faith in Christ.
“For those who are struggling with where they’re going to church and how they’re worshiping,” he said, “don’t be afraid to step out a little bit, and don’t let the word Catholic scare you.”
