‘I Can’t Wait to Receive the Eucharist’: Tom’s Journey to the Catholic Church, After 20 Years of Marriage

The quiet witness and prayer of a Catholic wife, together with the Holy Spirit, brought her husband into the Church.

(Photo provided)

By Maria O’Malley

For Tom Colclazier, 69, of Northglenn, the adage from the Book of Sirach holds true that “Happy the husband of a good wife; the number of his days will be doubled.”

After witnessing his cradle Catholic wife Irene’s religious devotion over their twenty-year marriage, he converted to the Catholic faith this past year, receiving all three sacraments of initiation during the Easter Vigil at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Northglenn on April 19.

“You could say Irene’s love for God spilled over into Tom’s lap so much that he just had to find out more about Catholicism,” explained Deacon Paul Louderman, who oversees the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA) at the parish.

For Tom, a pervasive sense that the Holy Spirit has watched over his conversion experience is undeniable.

Raised Protestant, Tom wasn’t introduced to the Catholic faith until the mid-1980s, when he met his first wife. But it wasn’t until he met and married Irene, his second wife, that he had his first inclination about becoming Catholic.

Years later, the faithful Catholic and part-time parish welcome desk employee remembers submitting the paperwork for Tom to begin OCIA classes last year, even serving as Tom’s sponsor throughout the process.

“I wanted Tom to understand why I pray the Rosary, attend Adoration, and go to daily Mass,” Irene shared. “[But] I gave him the option if he wanted to withdraw, he could.”

But Tom reported that the classes confirmed his decision to enter the faith.

“I decided if I started the program, I wouldn’t miss any of the sessions. In the end, my participation was 100%,” Tom recalled.

While Irene may have gotten Tom to fill out the paperwork, “it was the Holy Spirit working with us” who inspired Tom’s faith and sustained it as he studied and prayed over the yearlong process of becoming Catholic. That action of the Holy Spirit led to an increase in Tom's curiosity and engagement and brought him deeper in faith.

“I knew something [divine] was going on. I would say ‘I don’t even know what is happening to me,’” Tom remembered.

While Tom experienced several powerful moments of inspiration from the Holy Spirit, two particular moments resonated with him on a profound level.

First, at one Sunday Mass before Tom had joined OCIA, Irene and he were asked to bring the gifts up to the altar during the offertory procession.

“A feeling came over me. It was like a tingling. I felt like I was carrying something special,” Tom said.

Second, Tom remembered a particularly anxious night during his catechesis period.

“One night, I was feeling anxious in the middle of the night and couldn’t sleep with the anxiety, so I asked to have the Holy Spirit come over me. Then I felt a tingling from my head to my feet, and new sense of calm came over me,” he told the Denver Catholic.

The two experiences — along with a slew of other blessings and graces — further confirmed his decision to pursue the Catholic faith.

With Irene by his side as his sponsor, Tom said he had “an immediate support who could answer all my questions,” although Irene found herself re-learning ideas about doctrine she “hadn’t thought about in years.” They still laugh about the time that Tom referred to the “Apollo Creed” rather than the Apostles’ Creed!

Overall, the couple appreciates the opportunity to grow in faith together with the help of great, inspiring teachers.

“At first, I was lukewarm about the sessions, but Deacon Paul and Deacon Jerome were so knowledgeable, and their passion [for Christ] created a passion within me. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn,” Tom recalled of his increasing devotion. He even noticed that, during Mass, “watching people go to communion, I’d think, I can’t wait to receive the Eucharist, too.”

That excitement only continued to build for Tom in the lead-up to the Easter Vigil. One day, he found himself writing a poem in the middle of a workout. A rare experience, Tom hadn’t written poetry since school, yet he found this poem — titled “My First Easter as a Catholic,” and expressing his excitement about entering the Catholic Church — flowing out of him.

“It was the Holy Spirit,” Tom asserted.

His joy at becoming Catholic even spilled over into everyday life, and he found himself reaching out more to people in his community and parish.

“At pickleball, I started sharing with teammates that ‘Hey, I’m going to be a Catholic,’” Tom remembered.

He even shared the good news with a woman, an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, who sits behind Irene and him every Sunday at 9 o’clock Mass.

“A week before Easter, she came up to me after Mass and gave me a crucifix that had belonged to her late sister. I was really touched that she would do that.”

Though excited, Tom couldn’t help but feel nervous ahead of the long Easter Vigil service; he even found himself calling upon the Holy Spirit to give him the fortitude to make it through.

“I have sinus trouble sometimes. I didn’t know if I could handle the four-hour Vigil. I was dreading it, really. But I prayed about it, and on the night of, I had no problem whatsoever,” he shared, reflecting on “the most beautiful Mass” he had ever attended — at least, until about one month later when Irene and he had their 20-year marriage convalidated (blessed and recognized) by Father Ernest Bayer, IHM’s pastor.

The idea came to the couple during a December vacation in Key West, when they saw a sailor get married during a regular Mass.

“We thought we would want something like that. So, we talked to the wedding coordinator [at Immaculate Heart of Mary],” Tom recalled.

Choosing to receive the sacrament of Matrimony during a Saturday evening Mass among regular parishioners, the couple cherished the simplicity of the ceremony, which allowed them to “avoid having the attention on us,” Irene shared. “[It] was about becoming a couple with Christ and not about us.”

Even still, “so many people came up and congratulated us,” Irene remembered. “We felt a real sense of community.”

Now sacramentally united to each other and to Christ, the couple has noticed a shift.

“[Receiving the sacrament of marriage brought] a change in our marriage and changed how we feel about each other. It was very emotional,” Irene told the Denver Catholic. “I felt like I was in a cloud of the Holy Spirit.”

Since the ceremony, Tom and Irene have found themselves wearing their wedding rings all the time. As exercise and outdoor enthusiasts, the couple used to leave their rings at home to avoid losing them. But, after their rings were blessed during the ceremony, they refuse to go anywhere without them.

As Tom enters the Ordinary Time of the liturgical year and the post-conversion spiritual life, he remains committed to learning more about the Catholic faith, planning to continue using Formed videos, enter an intensive Bible study and audit next year’s OCIA classes.

In short, he admits, “I’m still absorbing everything. I also don’t want to lose the excitement.”

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My First Easter as a Catholic, by Tom Colclazier

Today, I stand before the Catholic Church

With hopes of finding a place to perch

I have chosen the Catholic religion

To which no man shall create division

Today, I will be baptized

For which I will not be chastised

Today, I will receive my First Communion

Because Catholicism is my chosen religion

Today, I confirm my devotion to God

To which I openly applaud

I will be forever grateful

to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit