July 3, 2009
Two sets of twins
Armstead children receive their First Communion at St. John’s
Twelve-year-old twins Lewis and Aaliyah and eight-year-old twins Andrew and Jessica received their First Communion together at St. John Church, Evansville, this year. Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
When Aaliyah and Jessica Armstead were preparing to receive their First Holy Communion this May, they told their mother they felt like brides.
She told them they were her angels. And so were her two sons, Lewis and Andrew.
The four children, two sets of twins ages 12 and eight, all were Communicants this May during the First Communion celebration at St. John Church in downtown Evansville.
Ann Meriweather is the children’s mother. She was raised Baptist by her mother, but her dad’s family is Catholic.
She remembers watching her paternal grandmother looking at her prayer book, and asking her what she was doing. The grandmother explained that she was praying. That sounded foreign to Ann, who says she was taught to “say the ‘Our Father’ and then go to bed.”
She enrolled her children in Holy Spirit School, but she realized she was unable to help them with their religion homework because of her Baptist background. That’s when she talked with Sister Jane Nesmith, a Blessed Sacrament Sister who is the pastoral life coordinator at St. John’s.
Sister Jane encouraged Ann to attend the RCIA classes at the parish, and in them she began to learn about Catholicism.
“I learned how the Catholic faith started,” she said, “and I learned that Catholics can go to Communion every day. I liked that. Baptists can go once a month.”
She felt especially reinforced about her decision to be in the classes one day, one “really bad day,” when she was having a struggle with her son. “I was frustrated with him, and as a punishment, he had to go to class with me.”
That night, as the class talked, she realized that she had approached the problem from all sides — except one. She hadn’t prayed about it. “I started crying because I hadn’t thought to give it to God and pray about it.”
That night, her son was an active participant in the class, thanks to lessons he learned at Holy Spirit School, and since that night “we have gotten closer. We pray together,” Ann said, adding, “We pray as a family.”
Ann was received into the Catholic Church this year during the Easter Vigil. She was confirmed and received her First Communion as her twins watched. “They were excited for me.”
She became a member at St. John’s, a church that she likes because it’s “small and close knit. Everybody helps everybody.”
During one RCIA class, Sister Jane mentioned someone who needed help with their utility bill, and “we all gave a contribution to help. You really feel like family.”
This May, when it was time to prepare her four children to make their First Communion, there was four times the preparation and four times the primping. The girls received new white dresses, and the boys wore new suits. The girls told their mom they felt like “brides.” She told them they looked like angels to her.
That morning was “overwhelming,” she said, “with so much to do. We had to get everyone dressed, and the church was so pretty. They walked down the aisle, and all went up together.
“It was a very happy day, a very overwhelming day. There was a lot of emotion. It’s something I’ll never forget, something I’ll be able to tell their kids.”
She added, “Giving yourself to God is a very important event.”
Twelve-year-old Aaliyah said the anticipation of the day was “sort of scary. I didn’t know what would happen. It felt good too to be with God.” She was happy to share the experience with her siblings “because I didn’t want to go by myself.”
Over the years, Ann heard her dad talk about being raised Catholic and attending daily Mass. “Those lessons stayed with him, and that’s what I want for my children. They are fifth generation Catholic now.”