During the Easter Vigil at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Cedar Park, she received three sacraments: baptism, Holy Communion and confirmation. This event was the culmination of almost nine months of study, prayer and consultation through the parish Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults program, commonly known as RCIA.

Jones said a kind of peace like she’s never experienced came over her that day.

“I can’t explain the excitement I felt. I knew that Christ was with me. That was the first time I had felt like that ... I was so euphoric,” she said. 

Jones was motivated to enter the RCIA program when her daughter, Suzannah Tuttle, converted to Catholicism at the 2023 Easter Vigil. Her daughter planted the seed, but it was Deacon John McCardle who watered and fertilized the young sapling.

Deacon McCardle has led the RCIA program at SMM for almost 10 years. He said about 25% of the students drop out, and some merely go through the motions with no passion or fervor for the faith.

“When we asked her for any information, she gave it to us. When we asked her to show up at retreats and class on Tuesday night, and Scripture sharing, she was there. She was not afraid of telling us her opinion or what she got from what we were teaching. And when she did that, the rest of the class kind of followed suit,” Deacon McCardle said.

As a youngster, Jones attended Sunday school and youth groups at a Protestant church. She was a secretary at another church in Houston for many years. But she often felt like something was missing. She was looking for a deeper and more profound relationship with God. 

After watching her daughter at the 2023 Easter Vigil, she thought the RCIA program may lead her down the path she was looking for. After some research, she was convinced that although she was christened as a newborn, she was never truly baptized, a feeling that unsettled her.

So, she enrolled in the fall RCIA program. 

Jones’ sponsor was Rose Goodwin, a mother, grandmother and active parishioner at St. Margaret Mary. The two met standing in line on the first day of class. They hit it off right away, Goodwin said.

“It worked out very well. She’s a lovely woman. Still very engaged in life at 82. A good role model. She’s always unfailingly pleasant, and she wanted to be Catholic,” she said. “She came to every lesson, every Sunday Bible discussion, and she was happy always, and grateful and pleasant. It was sweet to see how happy she was the night she was baptized and confirmed.”

Looking back on where her long faith journey has brought her, and the people at the RCIA program who helped her along, Jones said there is a vast difference between knowing something intellectually and feeling it in your heart. The euphoria she experienced at the Easter Vigil remains with her today.

“It’s the knowledge in my heart that I know where I belong when I take Communion and Jesus is with me,” Jones said. “I have learned more about what being a Christian means in my heart, not in my head. It’s not a study to memorize things. It’s what you innately feel. I’ve never felt like that before.”

RCIA, is a nine-month program that coincides with the school year, late August to May. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, during the sessions students undergo a “conversion as they study the Gospel, profess faith in Jesus and the Catholic Church, and receive the sacraments.”

RCIA has recently changed names to OCIA, Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, but the program is virtually unchanged. For more information, and how to enroll in OCIA, contact your local parish.