Why St. David's

Why St. David's,  by Jo Joubert

I grew up on a farm in a small town in Northern Maine. My mother was born and raised in Boston. Her family were all belonged to the Episcopal Church. When she moved to Maine she continued with her Episcopal faith. Every Sunday was church day. Dinner was at the dinning room table and I was expected to be there on time. Also, my mother always thanked God for the food.
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When I graduated from high school and moved away, I took a “vacation” from Sunday church attendance, Until I met my husband, Paul. He was fresh out of the miliary but was planning to stay in the reserves. He wanted to stay in the area so that he could serve at Westover.
Paul was devote Catholic and asked me to go to the Catholic church. I lived in Agawam and Paul lived in Indian Orchard, so we joined St. John’s Catholic church in Agawam. Fr. Shannon was the priest there, and we really liked him so we were married at St. John’s. We bought a house in Southwick and joined Lady of the Lake. That is where Traci, Paul jr., and Martin were born and baptized.

We sold and moved closer to Paul’s job in Springfield. Joined Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church where Marie and Dina were Baptized. Paul changed jobs again so we moved again and joined St. Thomas in West Springfield. The priests there not pleasant. I was told because I was Irish and Paul French & Native American were a mixed marriage and belonged at the Church on Main St. Needless to say that was the end of St. Thomas. By this time I was not pleased with the way things were in the Catholic Church; too much problem with child abuse.

So we stopped going to Church. Then we had downsized and bought a house in Feeding Hills. We both missed going to Church but were not interested in following the Catholic way. One day we were driving by St. Davids on the way home and saw the sign that a Santa Breakfast was being held and everyone was welcome. Paul and I thought that our granddaughter, Michelle might like to see Santa. I called the Church and signed up for us to come to the breakfast. The day of the breakfast we entered the Narthex and Carol Miller was sitting at a table, signing guests in. We had brought some canned goods for the basket, Carol thanked us and asked if we had ever been to St. David’s before. We told her no, we just happened to see the Santa Breakfast sign and decided to bring our granddaughter. Carol was very pleasant and engaged me in discussion about St. David’s. She talked about the community dinners and what a great priest was at St. David’s.

About a month later I decided to go to the 10 0’clock service. My daughter Dina came with me and we sat in the back of the church. I have to say the first experience was not too welcoming. I was uncomfortable and couldn’t get out fast enough . So Paul said lets go to the 8 o’clock service; we did attend the 8 O’clock and enjoyed it. When we were leaving a gentleman came running after us as we went out the door and introduced himself and thanked us for coming to “his” church. That man became a dear friend, his name was Ted Kopyscinski, (RIP) Because of Ted we met with Fr. Harvey and joined St. David’s.

Paul is gone now, but he always said that Fr. Harvey was the reason he agreed to join St. David’s. I too say “Fr. Harvey, you are a wonderful Priest.” Enjoy your sermons and especially your down-to-earth sense of humor. So I guess I will stay here and hang out with all the GREAT MEMBERS OF ST. DAVID’S.