Priest, me, my sponsor Today, I was received into full communion with the Catholic Church. And if you’ve spent any time around church culture, you already know the responses: everything from the well-meaning (but deeply uncomfortable) “welcome home”… to the confused, “Why weren’t you received at the Easter Vigil?” So let’s talk about it. Not just what happened, but why it happened the way it did. A Little About Me (Especially If You’re New Here) My name is Rai. I’m Southern Baptist by upbringing, a theologian by education, and I’ve served as a Methodist lay minister. My story isn’t one of spiritual emptiness—it’s one of a long, complicated, very real relationship with Christ. It’s also marked by church hurt. I’ve walked through pastoral failure, denominational fractures, and the kind of disillusionment that comes when the Church doesn’t live up to what it proclaims. And then, in December, my mom died. Grief like that changes everything. It strips away what’s perform...