The wondrous story of how two children and a collection of stuffed animals led a young adult to embrace her faith

Siblings Kathryn and John Tiplick share a smile at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis on July 18 after she shared her story of how they—and a group of stuffed animals—combined as children to lead a young adult to the Catholic Church. (Photo by John Shaughnessy)

By John Shaughnessy

A smile touched with joyous wonder and laughter was the natural reaction as 19-year-old Kathryn Tiplick shared her story during the National Eucharistic Congress about how two small children’s love of “playing” the Mass with their stuffed animals led to a young adult becoming a Catholic.

Tiplick was in the first grade at the time, and her brother John was in the second grade when they set up for Mass in the driveway of their family’s home in central Indiana.

“My grandma had made miniature priest vestments for John and a mini Dominican sister’s habit for me,” recalled Tiplick, a member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Carmel. Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese. “We had a unique congregation of daily Massgoers as our congregation always consisted of about 40 stuffed animals: pandas, monkeys, polar bears, kangaroos, elephants, a blue chimpanzee and even Winnie the Pooh.

“One day, we saw our adult neighbor, Amy, outside, so we invited her to play Mass with us in the driveway and asked her to be the lector. As a first grader, I thought everyone was Catholic, but unbeknownst to John and me, she was not. Amy was about 33 years old and sat in a pre-school sized chair next to the stuffed animals in the middle of our driveway.

“When it was time for Communion, I often wonder what went through Amy’s mind. John presented the stuffed bunny on her right and the elephant on her left with a vanilla wafer and a sip from a tiny metal chalice that appeared to contain fruit punch, but was actually warm water with red food coloring. After Mass, we introduced her to adoration and Benediction, where we knelt on the pavement facing a miniature, gold metal monstrance with a ‘consecrated’ vanilla wafer host in the center.

“We later found out Amy had been raised with no faith. She had recently married her husband, a cradle Catholic. After attending ‘our Mass’ she told us she wanted to learn more about the Catholic Church and was interested in becoming Catholic.

“Two years passed, and Amy had still not made a move towards entering the Church. So the night before the RCIA [Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults] class at our parish was to begin, 10-year-old John called Amy on the phone asking if she was planning to attend the next day. And she did! The following Easter Vigil, Amy was baptized and entered the Church!”

It’s a story of evangelizing at any age, but during her talk before an audience in the Indiana Convention Center, Tiplick insisted it wasn’t just the work of two children. She credits her parents for providing the supplies they needed to play Mass—and their grandmother for making their religious costumes.

“And even Amy, who followed her curiosity to play with us,” Tiplick said. “In all of these people, the Holy Spirit was alive and at work in Amy’s journey.”

That’s the way God works in people’s lives when they open their hearts to him, she said.

“God is calling each of us to use the people and situations in the ordinary moments of our own lives to be a witness of Christ. We all have a role to play in introducing those around us to Jesus. If we remain open to his will and allow him to use us as his instruments, God works miracles through the most seemingly ordinary people. We just have to avoid stepping in the way of God’s plan.”

Tiplick’s own journey to draw closer to God has continued through her young life—through her years at her parish school and through her four years at

St. Theodore Guérin High School in Noblesville, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese, where she participated in sports, liturgical music and other activities.

“Fostering a daily prayer life coupled with daily Mass and adoration has truly sustained me during my time in high school,” said Tiplick, who will attend Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind., in August. “I look forward to exploring new opportunities that will continue to deepen my love for our eucharistic Lord as I begin a new chapter of life as a college student.”

Her embrace of Mass and eucharistic adoration as a child not only led someone older to a relationship with Christ, it has also led her to an even deeper commitment as a young adult.

“This practice keeps Jesus at the center of my life by making daily prayer a priority,” she said. “To me, time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is a foretaste of what I imagine heaven will be like. It is my hour away from the noise and cares of the outside world, where I can escape to receive a glimpse of the beauty of eternity.” †

 

(See all of our coverage of the National Eucharistic Congress at www.archindy.org/congress.)