The Saint Who Baptized Me [Hindu Convert To Catholicism Tells His Story]

National Review ^ | May 10, 2014 | Kishore Jayabalan

[Steelfish]

MAY 10, 2014 4 The Saint Who Baptized Me A long journey from Flint, Mich., to St. Peter’s Basilica

By Kishore Jayabalan

How does a kid from Flint, Mich., who was raised by Hindu parents, end up getting baptized by Pope John Paul II and working in the Vatican?

This is the sort of incredulous — though mostly respectful — question I’ve had to answer more than a few times during the past 15 years. Usually it is asked with a sense of wonder and gratitude, but sometimes there has been a little envy mixed in — most of the people asking the question are practicing Catholics who greatly admire John Paul II. I must admit I’ve done nothing to deserve the honor of traveling such a journey.

Even though my parents are Hindu, they had enough respect and admiration for Catholic education — and especially for the priests and nuns who ran the schools — to start their two children at the now-closed St. Mary Queen of Angels. My first teachers were Polish Benedictine sisters who did not shy away from discipline and often used the one non-baptized student who did his religion homework as an example for the others.

[aposiopetic]

I met my future godfather, Matthew, in the most unlikely of settings, a graduate seminar on Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra at the University of Toronto.

Can't argue with that.

[kitkat]

BUMP

[livius]

Very nice account.

[Tax-chick]

Excellent article. It’s always interesting to read the stories of my contemporaries. The same people and events had similar influences on many of us.