MEET PARISHIONER Ashley Leiterman: Beginning a Lifelong Journey of Engaging in Our Faith

Born here in Antigo, Ashley Leiterman was raised in the country and has always enjoyed being outside in nature. When she was growing up, her family practiced the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod faith. She was baptized when she was just a week old and grew up attending church services weekly. After going through the RCIA process, Ashley joined the Catholic Church during this past Easter Vigil!

Ashley married her husband, Jake, eight years ago, and together they have two children — Riley, 5, and Layna, 2. She has passed on her love for nature to her family and together they enjoy camping, gardening, canning, and spending any time they can outdoors.

In April 2021, Ashley and Jake were invited to attend “The Search.” This was an eye-opening experience for her, which really motivated her to think about her faith and to desire more knowledge.

“After ‘The Search’ had ended, Fr. Joel reached out to Jake and I and actually stopped by our home to visit with us,” Ashley says. “He talked with us about our current religious situation and our intentions for our religion as a family. He encouraged us to pray together and as a family. And he also encouraged me to consider RCIA.”

Ashley’s son, Riley, was starting 4K at All Saints and she knew that RCIA would be a wonderful way for her to deepen her own knowledge of the Catholic Church — not just for herself, but also for her children’s faith journey.

“When I decided to begin the course, I didn’t have intentions of becoming Catholic,” Ashley says. “But I did have intentions of trying to gain as much knowledge as possible of the Catholic faith. The PowerPoint for the first class began and I was intimidated. For once in a very long time, I realized how little I truly knew. From there on, it was a journey.”

The weekly courses and homework led to Ashley reading and questioning more things about her faith than she ever had. She was studying and developing a closer connection to Jesus at the same time. She learned the true definitions of things that she always thought she knew, learned about the significance of every aspect of the Mass and learned different ways to pray and see Jesus working in her life.

“Having never attended an Easter Vigil before, this Mass was beautiful,” Ashley says. “The lighting of the fire and the procession into the church was a wonderful experience. I would recommend this Mass to everyone. The significance at this Mass is a true representation of the Easter season. Adding the Sacrament of Confirmation into this Mass was an honor for me.”

Ashley plans to attend weekly Mass and to continue deepening her relationship with Christ, so that she can better help her children grow in their faith, as well. She hopes to be involved in another “The Search” program to help give others the impactful, enlightening experience she had.

“I would encourage anyone looking to learn and deepen their faith to attend RCIA,” she says. “It truly builds you from the ground up in your faith. Having attended the course as someone who had little knowledge of the Catholic faith, alongside other parishioners who grew up Catholic, I realized we all had questions. RCIA helped me gain the knowledge necessary to be on this lifelong journey of continued learning and continued worship.”