If there’s one thing Catholics come face-to-face with, it’s that God’s timing is paramount. No one knows that better than Amy Pennenga Ingling and her husband, Chad, parishioners of St. John the Baptist, Allentown.
“I was looking forward to becoming Catholic and receiving Our Lord for the first time at the Easter Vigil,” Ingling said. “However, my water broke during the Holy Thursday Mass, in fact during the consecration! Our baby boy was born the next day, on Good Friday.”
Unable to attend the Easter Vigil, Ingling became Catholic during daily Latin Mass on April 13. Their son, William, will be baptized April 22. The couple has been members of St. John the Baptist Parish for about a year, often attending Mass in the Extraordinary Form on Sundays.
“I’m so excited to be part of the Catholic Church and to be bringing my firstborn son to be baptized as well – all in such a short time!” she said.
The 30-year-old began with a strong Christian background, raised by a Lutheran family and even serving as a missionary for two years in England.
“My faith has always been a central part of my life,” she said, “and this conversion to Catholicism is simply the next step in a lifelong journey of following Christ.”
That journey has been a series of steps and personal influencers, Ingling said.
“My parents, who always encourage me … to be open to where God is leading me, and who continue to support me even though they are still Lutheran; my great-aunt Sister Christine, a Catholic nun of the order of Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, who was a fantastic role model, and my husband Chad [a convert], who from the day I met him has told me about the truth of the Catholic Church,” she said.
Other influential people include Father David Swantek, pastor of St. Martha Parish, Point Pleasant, who presided over the Inglings’ wedding, and “allowed me to ask a bunch of questions and talk through my perceived issues with Catholicism even before Chad and I were engaged.”
“For now, I am excited to partake of Our Lord in Mass and receive the daily graces I need as a new mother,” she said.
By EmmaLee Italia, correspondent