The Convert

I am a convert to the Catholic Church from the Anglican Church through marriage. And I must say confidently that I do not have any regret for following my husband to the Catholic Church because in the Catholic Church I met, saw and experienced God. I was declared infertile and incapable of having any more children after the birth of my first son by a Russian and French trained gynecologist who treated me on Clomid tablets. Still, there was no conception. After two years, I started another fertility treatment at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) which resulted in the birth of my second child, a baby girl. We then moved to Lagos, where I experienced thirteen (13) years of secondary infertility. In Lagos, we attended St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Yaba, the home of St. Jude Apostolate. At St Dominic’s Catholic Church, I joined St. Jude’s Catholic Women Society where we had spiritual activities like retreats, weekly and monthly prayers and most importantly our novenas to St Jude Thaddeus, the Patron Saint of difficulty Cases as organised quarterly by the church. I religiously attended these retreats, prayers and novenas to St Jude Thaddeus and still does. To my greatest surprise, without fertility treatment and after 13 years of waiting, God blessed me with my third and fourth sons whom I had at the ages of 40 and 44 respectively. Today, I am 64 years old and my sons are 20 and 24 years old. Thus the ‘infertile woman’ has become the mother of four progressive children through the intercession of St Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of difficult and impossible Cases. There are few lessons we can learn from my experience with St Jude Thaddeus, the great friend and relation of Jesus. 1) That God is real and present in the Catholic Church in His Saints. We do not need to move from the Catholic church in search of God and His miracles elsewhere. 2) That God’s love for all His children is great and His grace is sufficient for all of us. 3) That God has the final say in the affairs of His children. Men may give a negative report about you but God’s report is always a positive one. 4) That God is a patient God and we must be patient with Him. 5) That we should not give up hope and faith in God In the midst of difficulties. In the storms of life, He is there and would calm them.

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