Let's respect our churches

Douglas Hyde, a statesman, a once dedicated Communist and former editor of Britain's communist paper, was converted to Catholicism. But prior to that, he felt there was something blocking his desire.

- FR. BEL R. SAN LUIS, SVD

Relating this experience in his book titled “I Believed,” he wrote:

One day as he was going to work in London, he saw a sign which read, “St. Etheldreda’s Catholic Church.” He decided to get off the train and enter.

He sat in the last pew, wondering what strange power had brought him there.

He saw a teenage girl going straight to a statue of Mary. As he passed, Hyde noticed the troubled look on her face. The girl knelt at Mary’s feet for a long time. Then she got up and left the church. As she did, Hyde noticed that her troubled look was gone. She was totally at peace.

Hyde decided to do what she had done. He recalled, saying: “I heard myself mumbling something which seemed inappropriate. But it did not matter. I knew my search was at end.”

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