Maria Sinchi tells her conversion story with tears.
“Before that, I never cried,” she said, wiping her eyes dry, visibly grateful for her ability to shed tears on a sunny day in St. Paul. “I was very hard. I was angry all the time. I finally was able to cry. It felt relieving, peaceful, cleansing, necessary.”
The years leading up to her powerful 2017 experience of Christ’s love were difficult. Having a child in 2006 at age 15 and struggling for years with her parents and other issues, Sinchi was lost.
She sought solace in partying and relationships that failed. But certain people, including her uncle and family with whom she shared praying the rosary, sparked a revival of her spirit starting in 2016. She couldn’t be more grateful, said Sinchi, 31, who was born in Virginia as her family emigrated from Ecuador and later moved to Minnesota.
“My uncle had cancer. He held a rosary every Thursday night,” followed by coffee, dinner and conversation, Sinchi said. Through his five-year battle with prostate cancer, Alfonso Bunay never showed weakness and never complained, despite intense chemotherapy and multiple surgeries, right up to his death four years ago at age 50, she said.
The opposite of complaining, Sinchi said, her uncle would proclaim, “‘I’m healthy. I’m with the Lord, and I’m good.’”
Sinchi experienced the love of Bunay and his wife, Carmen, both of St. Stephen in Minneapolis, as she walked with them into a closer relationship with Christ. She was joined by other young adults from St. Stephen who gathered for the rosary with her uncle’s family.
“He (Alfonso) would go deeper in the Word, share his thoughts and ask others, ‘What do you think?’” Sinchi said. “It was beautiful. I got more comfortable to share.”
Conversion: Embraced by Love
This four-part podcast explores the conversion experiences of three local Catholics and is a production of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and The Catholic Spirit. It is made possible by a grant from 1891 Financial Life, where “the heart of our work is the heart of your world.” Listen Now
“I wanted that marriage, a holy marriage,” that she saw in her uncle and aunt, Sinchi said. As her uncle approached death, “the whole community at St. Stephen visited him every day,” she said. “He was so loved, so strong in faith. He’s a saint.”
Sinchi was encouraged by the pastor, then-Father Joseph Williams, now auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, to attend Alpha, an Illinois-based program that encourages small-group conversations about life, faith and the basics of Christian belief. Key topics included Jesus’ life and teachings, prayer and exploring how God guides people.
“When we started going to that, it was beautiful, too, being with people with similar problems,” Sinchi said of the 30 to 40 young adults who participated after Mass on Sundays. “We all have our traumas.”
She also received personal invitations to Mass. A leader in Alpha called each week, encouraging her by asking, “Hey, Maria, are you coming?”
Soon, Sinchi was helping to lead Alpha, and that, with the rosary, Mass, confession and first forays into adoration of the Eucharist, led her to a 2017 parish-led pilgrimage to the 50th anniversary celebration of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement, which traces its roots to Pittsburgh. The trip included a stop at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio.
One day at Steubenville, with a group of about 30 people in a small chapel in prayer and adoration, “the Holy Spirit really hit me,” Sinchi said. “It’s hard to describe. Struggling with my parents, hatred in my heart. My family was just a disaster. I was a mess.
“I just broke down (crying) for the first time. Someone (from the crowd) had come up to me and said, ‘Jesus told me — he wants you to know — that he loves you.’
“It was so simple, but intentional,” Sinchi said. “I felt it. I felt this fire. I felt his love. I was there for hours as people prayed over me. I didn’t ask for it. People just saw me suffering, and they prayed over me.”
“Since then, I know what Jesus’ love is like,” Sinchi said. “And I never, ever want to be away from his love again. Granted, I’ve fallen so many times since then. But his grace has remained. Adoration has meant so much to me. And worship. When I hear music about Christ, it’s all real. It’s all beautiful. I know that’s what it will be like in heaven. Every time I fall, I go back to that occasion, when he picked me up out of my sin, and wanted to love me. And hold me.”
Her life changed in big ways from that day forward, Sinchi said. She has forgiven and is working to reconcile with her parents. She and her daughter, MaryJose, now 16 and a sophomore at Chesterton Academy in Hopkins, have grown close.
“Our relationship has changed dramatically in six years,” Sinchi said of her daughter. “Learning about Christ, I am sharing it with her. She is the most amazing person. The Lord gave her to me for a reason. Having her is an amazing gift.”
Now attending St. Mark in St. Paul, Sinchi said she has gravitated away from helping lead groups like Alpha to forge a quieter home life, the “domestic Church,” something to which she feels called. “I love confession every Sunday,” Sinchi said. “The grace that God gives me and my family. It’s not something you take lightly.”
Sinchi also wants to share with others the love that Christ has shown her.
“If I have that, and can expand that love for Jesus, knowing what I was, and the potential that I have, I want to share that,” she said. “I want to share that with everybody. I am so grateful.”
Conversion: Embraced by Love
This four-part podcast explores the conversion experiences of three local Catholics and is a production of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and The Catholic Spirit. It is made possible by a grant from 1891 Financial Life, where “the heart of our work is the heart of your world.” Listen Now
