As I reflect on the threads of my life, I am struck by a pattern that provides the most succinct answer to why I am (still) Catholic: friendship.
I grew up in a household where my siblings and I received our sacraments and attended Mass on Sundays. I went to public school and a secular university with a small Newman Center community. I worked in professional theater, an industry that can be particularly contrary to a faith-filled life. In short, none of the early environments I found myself in naturally lent themselves to a vibrant, active faith life. And yet, in each phase of life there have been friends — Catholic and not — leading me back toward the Church. God sent me exactly who I needed to draw me to him.
Examples include:
- The friends from community theater who unexpectedly came to my parish and gave me the confidence to start going to youth group events and retreats in high school.
- The friend I met the first week of college who walked with me to the Newman Center when I didn’t have the courage to go alone.
- The agnostic friend who challenged me on the Church and her traditions, driving me toward soul-searching, researching and praying to make the faith my own.
- The Newman Center friend who, as I spiraled in the aftermath of being challenged, asked, “Do you still believe that Jesus is present in the Eucharist? Because that’s why I’m still here.”
- The man who eventually became my husband, who received me with all my questions and stood up for truth while also giving me space to grapple with whatever I needed to.
- The friends I met through Missed the Boat Theatre when I moved to Minnesota, who showed me for the first time that it was possible to integrate my faith life with my work in the theater. In particular, those who introduced me to the writings of St. John Paull II, Jacques Maritain and John Crosby, and taught me what it means to have a vibrant intellectual curiosity about the faith.
- The friend I met through the Catholic Studies master’s degree program at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul who became my co-writer of an original play about the saintly Martin family of Lisieux, with whom I have spent many hours talking about the human, emotional side of vocation and loss, helping me to remember God’s goodness even when I was in the midst of wrestling with him myself.
God gave me a heart for the pursuit of deep friendship, and as a result, he has always taught me more about himself through encounters with the individuals he puts in my life. Whether it lasts a season or a lifetime, each friendship is another twitch upon the thread that pulls me into closer union with Jesus and his Church.
Vargo, 31, studied entertainment and arts management at Drexel University and worked in professional theater, both in Philadelphia, until she relocated to the Twin Cities in 2019. Today, she and her husband live in St. Paul, where they are parishioners at St. Mark. Vargo is the executive director of Missed the Boat Theatre in St. Paul. Her original play, “The Martin Sisters” can be seen this fall in the theater’s New Works Festival. When not putting on a show or spending time with her friends, Vargo can be found swimming in the nearest body of water, planning an adventure or training for a marathon.
