Denver Catholic

H O P E F U L WITN E SS From a tap on the shoulder to a life together, complete with twists and turns, Mary Anne and Jim found each other in the Heart of Christ. FINDING LOVE AT MASS IN YOUR 60S God 's Surprising Yes BY ALEXANDRA MULET Social Media Manager Archdiocese of Denver in Minnesota and stationed in Utah. The delays discouraged him, and he eventually stepped away from the Catholic Church altogether. During the next few decades, Jim found himself aimlessly bouncing between jobs and non-Catholic churches. But God never stopped working in his life — or in Leah's. This quiet work of the Holy Spirit culminated on one Sunday in 2018. Jim was now living in Colorado. "I went for a walk at sunrise, and was pretty depressed the night before … I see this guy down a path with a cross on his shoulder — a full-sized cross on his shoulder," Jim said. The man was Arthur Blessitt — the Guinness World Record holder for the World's Longest Pilgrimage. Their conversation so impacted Jim that he had to share it with Leah. ⊲ ary Anne felt a tap on her shoulder. "Do you want to go to a concert tonight?" It was a Saturday in June 2018. Jim, recently returned to the Church after 40 years away, noticed Mary Anne faithfully attending Mass at St. Thomas More Parish in Centennial. He decided this Saturday would be different — and so did the Holy Spirit. Little did Jim know that Mary Anne had uttered a simple prayer just moments before. "This Saturday, my prayer was, 'You know, Lord, I don't want anything special, but it would be really nice to have somebody to go to dinner with. Nothing major,'" she recalled. But it would be an understatement to say their story starts here. M 34 AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2025 | DENVER CATHOLIC 'GOD, SHE'S YOURS': SURRENDERING TO THE CROSS Let's rewind about 40 years from Mary Anne and Jim's first date. Though Jim was not attending Mass at the time, he experienced an encounter with God that planted the seeds of his return to the Church, even if it didn't look that way in the moment. When his infant daughter Leah was diagnosed with a hip condition requiring a cast around her hips and legs until she was fully developed, Jim offered a desperate prayer: "God, she's yours." To the doctor's surprise, the issue disap- peared overnight. Moved by grace, Jim sought Baptism for Leah but ran into frustrating red tape as an Air Force serviceman with residence "Life is a journey, and sometimes you have to wear your boots for support!" M A R Y A N N E

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