At the Easter Vigil on March 30, 2024 in churches across The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, about 1,350 people entered into full Communion with the Catholic Church, including the elect, those who were not been baptized and were preparing to receive at Easter all three of the Catholic Church’s sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist. Also becoming full members of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil were candidates, those who were already baptized in the Catholic faith or who were baptized in another Christian faith and who were preparing to receive the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Eucharist. Some people who became members of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil shared the stories of their journeys of faith in this series of articles.
Both Elvis Tafoya-Turoldo and his girlfriend Shannon Gallup attended RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) classes this spring in preparation for entering into full Communion with the Catholic Church at the March 30 Easter Vigil.
“We both decided to do RCIA together, it was just a very natural, essential part of our relationship,” he said, noting that while they were dating, they had earlier decided to start going to Mass at a Catholic church together.
But while a search for truth and meaning in their lives had led both of them to that point, they came from different backgrounds and were preparing to receive their sacraments of initiation in different places.
Tafoya-Turoldo, who moved to Washington, D.C., earlier this year to work as an intern for a member of Congress, was baptized and raised as a member of the Baptist Church in California. At the Easter Vigil, he received the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist and became Catholic at St. Peter’s Church on Capitol Hill, where he had participated in the RCIA program.
Gallup, who is studying in medical school in Florida, is also a California native. She was baptized Catholic there but after her parents drifted from the faith, she had not received any other sacraments. After participating in the RCIA program at St. Thomas More Parish in Boynton Beach, Florida, she received the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist there during the recent Easter Vigil.
In a recent interview, she noted, “We were living in Florida and he moved to D.C. last month for the internship. We were in the RCIA program together here. Both of us were coming at it from different angles. He had his path which led him to return to the Church.”
Tafoya-Turoldo, who was also interviewed before the Easter Vigil, noted that both of his parents were raised Catholic and are immigrants from Latin America, with their family roots in Mexico and Argentina. Catholicism ran deep in his family, he said, explaining that his mother had become Evangelical when she was about 12 or 13, so later after he was born, he was raised Baptist.
Then during his college years, he attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he said a Humanist mindset seemed dominant in the culture there. As he worked toward his degree in political science, he stopped going to church, “but I never stopped believing in God, I just questioned the church,” he said, adding, “I kept my mind open. I wanted to know everything out there. I was really searching.”
Tafoya-Turoldo studied various religions and philosophies, including Hinduism and Stoicism.
“It was good for me to search and look at other religions, but (I was) picking the religion that was right for me, not the one that was correct. I should have been searching for the one that was most truthful, not the one that was the most convenient for me,” he said.
Describing his return to Catholicism that was part of his family’s heritage for many generations, Tafoya-Turoldo noted that when he was doing research on his family’s names, he learned that a famous Dominican priest from Italy, Father David Maria Turoldo, shared his mother’s last name. Tafoya-Turoldo learned that priest, a noted author and poet who died in 1992, was from the same town in Italy as his maternal grandfather. As he spoke to his mother and grandmother about their family roots, it turned out that both sides of his family included priests and people who served the church.
“I read about his (Father Turoldo’s) life and his philosophy, and his philosophy spoke to me,” Tafoya-Turoldo said. “His main philosophy was to be in the world but not of the world. And that moved me and started to get me thinking. That was maybe a year before I decided to become Catholic. There came a point in time when I was living in Florida, (around) June 2023, it just hit me like a train, I just decided I was going to do it.”
Another thing that inspired him to become Catholic was listening to classical music, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. After graduating from the University of California, Tafoya-Turoldo had moved to Florida, where he was working in political fundraising.
“I am a huge fan of Bach’s Masses, his choral music, Mass in B-minor or St. Matthew’s Passion. I was already listening to Catholic music for years… I was listening to it so much, for so long a time, it kind of seeped into me,” Tafoya-Turoldo said, adding, “There came a point of time, I was driving home from work, and I saw a Catholic church, I pulled up. I sat in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary, and I shed a tear, and I said, ‘All right, I guess I’m Catholic now.’”
Factors that drew him to the Catholic Church instead of Protestantism, he said, included Catholicism’s emphasis on God’s justice and mercy, and the important role of Mary.
“Another thing is the beauty of the churches. I always thought churches should be beautiful, it shows respect,” Tafoya-Turoldo said, adding, “Another thing is unity. There’s only one Catholic Church, but many Protestant denominations. I respect the Protestant ideal, that every person can read the Bible, (and) have their own interpretation. I like the fact that all the (Catholic) Masses across the world are the same, and I like the fact that we recite the Our Father and other prayers in unison… That fulfills a primal need to want to feel connected to your community… Our society has too much individualism, everyone is disconnected, it’s refreshing where everyone says the same prayer and is on the same wavelength, attuned to the same God, on the same page, vibration (and) frequency.”
Tafoya-Turoldo believes that “a lot of people are joining the Church right now, and I got caught up in that. I would say the Church is having a silent revival.” He noted, “I was raised very Baptist, that’s always going to be a part of me. I think the Protestant and Catholic churches need each other… I definitely have chosen politics in general as a career, and one thing I would like to see is more friendship and cooperation between the Catholic and Protestant churches.”
Shannon Gallup’s return to Catholicism was different but led to the same path as Tafoya-Turoldo, when they were dating in Florida and decided to attend Mass together and later participate in the RCIA program for their sacraments of initiation.
Although baptized in the Catholic faith, she noted that “I wasn’t raised much around it.” Gallup, who hopes to be a family physician someday, said that during her medical training, she was searching for meaning in her life and how that would make her a better doctor.
“The truth of it is, there’s a lot more to life than what you see in a lab,” she said. “When you’re with people who are sick or hurt, you can tell them why a nerve is compressed, but what they want to know is why, am I going to be safe, am I going to be okay? A lot of questions about life can’t be answered in science. Not to say science isn’t valuable. There’s a lot more to life, and I think that, as I was thinking about how I wanted to practice as a doctor and as a person, and deal with things that are hard, what could I have that would help when things are hard? You start getting into situations and talking to different people, you have to believe there’s more to life, you have to believe in God.”
Reflecting on her journey of faith, Gallup said, “I needed meaning, so when Elvis was kind of nervous, (and) sat down, (and) said, ‘I want to go to Mass on Sunday,’ I said, ‘I’m coming’ immediately… It felt like this clicked, he was coming toward things, and I was needing answers. We started going to Mass, and it was really wonderful to join something as a couple, in terms of you’re coming into something new. You come home after class, you can have this discussion about it. When you’re joining something, you’re not doing it alone.”
Noting the challenge of moving across the country from her home state of California and settling into a new life and her studies in Florida, Gallup spoke about what it’s been like for her to go to Mass at her Catholic parish there. “It’s really nice to be in a setting where people don’t just care about your career,” she said. “I go to church, they ask, ‘How are you doing?’ It’s nice to be around people who like you for you and your connection to God. It’s nice to have a community looking out for you. So many people in my generation feel lonely, so many people feel lonely and lost. I feel like I have adopted grandparents at church who keep an eye out (for me).”
And Gallup said it’s been very meaningful for her and Tafoya-Turoldo to go through the RCIA process together and receive their sacraments as Catholics, even while he is now in Washington, D.C., and she continues her medical school studies in Florida.
“One thing faith does when you’re sharing it with someone, it aligns you, because you’re seeking the same thing, you’re seeking God… so it aligns your life path… We’re working on that path together,” Gallup said, adding, “Things come a lot easier when you have a common faith, when faith is the center of your life.”
Reflecting on how he became Catholic, and the faith journey that he shared with his girlfriend, Tafoya-Turoldo said, “To me, it’s like I returned, I came home. It really is in my DNA… I’m home. It’s really nice that she and I who think differently on same things, that we agree on the most important thing, faith.”
