Pat Rosengrants

My family has attended Seton since its inception in 1976 when I was a young wife and mom of three busy, little boys. It was easy to become immediately involved in our new parish and we were excited to be on the ground floor of this vibrant community. Like so many others at Seton we were from elsewhere and SEAS became our family.  We fell in love with this community because the people here were so friendly and open.  In the early years I was a Religious Education teacher, directed VBS and other activities that involved my children, as well as, Women’s Club, Marriage Encounter and choir.

The 90’s brought changes to our family dynamic. My husband and I divorced, my children were in college and I was on my own. It was a difficult time and I am ashamed to say that, sadly my faith was affected; I went to Mass but without much interest and lost interest in pretty much anything else that involved Church. The divorce affected our whole family. My youngest son Stephen, who was a year old when St. Elizabeth began, took his own life in 2000. The people of Seton were there, for me and my family. People that I barely knew rallied around and held us up through our crisis. I promised myself to repay these kind and generous actions one day. My son’s death brought me full circle back to involvement at Seton. I had missed my parish family.

Three years later I met a wonderful man, who suggested that I get the annulment I knew I needed if we were to marry in the Church. Today I am an advocate for annulments. He became my husband in 2004. David was a strong faith-filled Baptist, who helped me to start to love the Word of God through Scripture. Whether it has been involvement in Stephen Ministry, RCIA, Giving Tree, Gala Committee, being an Extraordinary Minister, ACTS, the Kolbe Prison Ministry or gleaning yams for Seton Service Days, my involvement at Seton has rewarded me a hundredfold. It has given me an opportunity to serve and to learn and grow in my faith.  It has also enabled me to be with my “Seton Family”, the friends I have made in the last 40 plus years will be with me forever. And by the way, I was able to keep the promise I made to myself when Stephen died. The ministry I am most involved in is Seton’s Funeral Ministry. I have been helping with funerals and funeral planning for 7 years now. It is such a privilege to work with families that have lost a loved one. And I am so very grateful to “pay forward” some of the love and kindness that was shared with me at the time of my great loss. My journey in faith continues to be a work in progress, but I know that I am a “child of God” who is loved and nurtured in this beautiful community of faith.