Meet Parishioner Joey Crane

In 2018, Joey Crane attended a Mass at Queen of the Holy Rosary for the first time when his thengirlfriend, Liz, asked if he would like to come to Mass with her for Ash Wednesday. The Holy Day just happened to fall on Feb. 14 that year, and St. Valentine must surely have been smiling down on the couple that day. For now, less than three years later, not only are Joey and Liz husband and wife, but Joey is also a member of the Catholic Church!

Joey was raised in the Methodist church but had drifted away from the faith during his college years. When he attended Mass at Queen with Liz, however, he was drawn in by Fr. Bill’s authenticity and the welcoming atmosphere of our parish. He began coming to Mass with Liz every week, and by the summer of 2019, he was excited to sign up for our Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process, or RCIA. Before the RCIA classes began, Joey was blessed to experience a pretty remarkable “preview” of many Church teachings in a very special place — Vatican City.

“Liz and I got married on Aug. 31 and had our honeymoon in Rome and the Vatican,” Joey says. “So I kind of joked that my pre-RCIA lesson was going to the Vatican and spending three days doing tours. We had a papal blessing as a new married couple, and the whole experience was just amazing. The trip was mind-opening and made RCIA a different experience for me because I had physically seen so much of the history of the Catholic Church.”

Attending RCIA classes after his trip to Italy, Joey was even more impressed by the historical perspectives offered, as well as the complex connections that Fr. Bill made between Scripture from the Old and New Testaments. With so much to learn, it was reassuring to hear from Liz and his good friend and RCIA sponsor, Brian, that adults who have been raised in the Church often have just as many questions about the faith.

“Both Liz and Brian said that it was great as lifelong, born-into-the-faith Catholics to go through the RCIA process because there is so much that they had forgotten or took for granted,” Joey says. “So they thought all lifelong Catholics should go through RCIA. It was refreshing to me to know I’m not supposed to know it all. I’ll still be learning until I die.”

Even as he realizes that there is always more to learn, Joey is thankful to now have a stronger foundation in the faith.

“I had never been comfortable talking about faith because I didn’t have a good base in it,” he says. “So just reaffirming that basic knowledge of where our Christian faith comes from has made me feel like more of an active participant. I’m part of this again. Having faith back as one of the priorities in my life has helped me with giving a little bit more grace and mercy towards others.”

In March, our parish RCIA classes moved from in-person to Zoom meetings. Even in this unforeseen circumstance, Joey was able to find the hidden blessings.

“I feel fortunate to have done RCIA this year through the pandemic,” he says. “It made me realize just how important physical community and the ability to shake a hand and give someone a hug is. When the church closed, I was missing going to Mass, even with not being able to receive the Eucharist yet. So the physical Mass and that community are things we take for granted, and it hit home to me even more just how important community is.”

Since our candidates and catechumen were not able to be received fully into the Church at our Easter Vigil Mass, Joey received the Sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation on June 28. Thrilled to become even more a part of our close faith community, he looks forward to getting involved in parish life as things continue to open back up. Currently, he and Liz enjoy participating in a small faith-sharing group with some fellow parishioners, and both plan on seeking more ways to share their gifts with the Church in the years to come.

Life has certainly changed for Joey since he first set foot in our parish on that Ash Wednesday-Valentine’s Day less than three years ago. Reflecting on where the Lord has led him, Joey is grateful for the path.

“My wife, Liz, is my biggest supporter,” Joey says. “She has definitely changed my life. I’m glad it took me 40 years to find the right person. My mom always told me, ‘God has someone special picked out for you.’ I may have lost that belief in my 20s and 30s, but He won, He got me, He had my back — and I’m very grateful that He had someone special for me.”