JAMAICA — While thousands of catechumens are welcomed into the Catholic faith during the Easter Vigil, a handful of young faithful gather the following Sunday at St. John’s University’s St. Thomas More Church to receive their sacraments as part of the university’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) program. This year, one of those who received their sacraments of initiation was freshman Priscilla Ortiz during a Mass celebrated by Bishop Robert Brennan at St. Thomas More on April 27.

Ortiz, 20, was one of 19 catechumens who stood among her peers as she found her home in the Catholic Church. The Florida native’s journey to the faith was paved on a Christian upbringing much different than the one she found in Queens, but it showed her the necessity of dedication in both her religious and professional life. During her college journey, Ortiz’s professional aspirations have remained consistent.

Upon graduation, she plans to enlist in the military and eventually become an intelligence officer for the United States Army. She currently serves as an Army cadet for St. John’s ROTC, and feels honored every time she puts on her uniform. “In four years, I will be giving my life to serve the country. That’s something I always had in my heart, giving back, and in that way, to serve the people of this country. I have just always felt patriotic,” Ortiz said.

“I feel so proud to be able to honor the people of the nation with my future service, and I want to do that in a way that is glorifying as well to God and what he desires.” Ortiz said that although she has always been interested in learning about various religions, she never felt a calling to become Catholic because she didn’t feel inclined to convert to a faith she wasn’t raised in. “But I ended up going to Mass,” she added.

“I don’t even remember how I got there, [but] when I entered, I remember feeling super calm, and this peace that came over me.” Though both of Ortiz’s parents were raised Catholic in Queens, Ortiz grew up as a non denominational Christian, attending branches of the Church of Christ in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She started attending services at 6 months old, and alongside her three siblings, found herself in a traditional nuclear household.

They went to church together constantly, always moving as one unit. She studied the Bible, participated in Sunday school, and spent her summers at church camp. However, Ortiz said something always felt off. Although both of her parents had been baptized in the Church of Christ, she said she was hesitant and turned down all of the opportunities she had to do the same. What she had been learning at her former church was not advancing her faith, she noted.

“There was always this pressure of church culture to be baptized, I felt like there was never really an under- standing of what it meant to have a relationship with God,” Ortiz said. “I always had that foundation, but I felt like I never really felt what it was like to have a relationship with God.” Ortiz’s family had a falling out with the Christian church when she was in middle school. She said from that moment onward, her family was never the same.

“It was very traumatic, because from that moment on, my family completely broke down,” Ortiz said. “That really broke a lot of relationships that we had made in the church. That dynamic of going to church every Sunday and being together as a family, all that was completely gone from that moment on.” Changes continued to happen in Ortiz’s life. Her mother got a job abroad in Spain, and the family moved there when she was in high school.

It was a hard time, she said, and while her family tried to offer her support, she turned away  from them. “I adapted naturally to just being in high school. But spiritually, I struggled so much through those years with depression, body image issues,” Ortiz said. “I was so critical of myself all the time. There was nothing that I could do right.” The decision to attend St. John’s, she said, was for her to find herself.

One day, she attended a Mass at St. Thomas More Church, and everything changed. “I started praying a lot,” Ortiz said. “I started going to church during the week on top of [Sunday] Mass, and I would just go and sit there. Honestly, there were times that I would just cry.”