Wednesday I visited St. Joseph's parish at mass time (7:30 AM). My daughter, mid-week, had asked me why I didn't go to a Catholic church. My wife has always claimed that I am "really" a Catholic, not a United Methodist, though up until two and a half years ago we had attended a UM church for over thirty years straight, missing Sunday worship rarely, if ever. This had come up because I said to her that I believed that I could receive the sacraments in a Catholic church though my wife could not, since I was born, reared, baptized, confirmed, and attended a Catholic church for my first 18 years. It's not true.

St. Joseph's is an inner-city Hispanic congregation, whose entire church, including its awesome collection of statuary and stained glass, was refurbished by Historic Denver recently. The church is staffed by the Redemptorist order of priests: vigorous, masculine older men with a tangible intensity of faith and intellect. On my quest to establish my Roman Catholic bona fides, I found myself in a confessional with Fr. Tim after mass. I had not received the Eucharist, but I wanted to. I began my confession as I remembered from my childhood, "Bless me Father, for I have sinned...it has been many years since my last confession." He stopped me there. "How many?" I told him. Then, "Are you married?" Then, "In the church"? When I said "No", he said, "Let's talk first," and offered me a chair around the corner from the kneeler and screen where I knelt.

Here I found out that my membership in the Methodist Church had invalidated my Roman Catholicism. My marriage "outside the church", was not recognized as valid. He got to hear the story of my youthful apostasy, and he filled me in on many problems with my current status, fully, confidently and without guile. He was talking to a fallen-away brother, not an unrepentant sinner. He was kind and firm, like the priests I remember from my youth.

We visited for about thirty minutes. He told me what my options were to restore a right relationship to the church. He told me what needed to be done to true my marriage to the requirements of the church.

After our discussion, we discussed the new pope, Benedict XVI. This priest was both orthodox and aware of current prophecy. He gave me a book on the Vassula Ryden sessions, a mystic who journals conversations with Christ which she has had nearly daily since 1986. He told me that she was accepted by the church, though not endorsed. Vassula is an attractive Greek woman, athletic looking, with long blond hair, and nearly fifty, who is a member of the Greek Orthodox. She was approached by an angel while living in Bangladesh in 1985, who prepared her for a visionary relationship with Jesus. I have read about 12 pages of the book he gave me so far. I will report back on it when I am finished. There is also a website here: www.tlig.org He also introduced me to www.spiritdaily.com , a website which is a Drudge Report for prophetic postings from around the web. I have read some of the postings. He suggested we talk again and indicated that I might profit from saying the rosary. He said that "some of us" believe that the fifth Marian prophecy (of Fatima) is about to be revealed by this new pope and that we were nearing the ending of the age. Later on Wednesday, one of my co-workers, a young apostate Catholic woman who has never evidenced any spiritual or religious life in the two years I have known her, out of the blue, handed me a rosary!

OK, Lord, you have my attention.