In 1969 I was studying for teaching at De La Salle Roman Catholic Teacher Training College at Hopwood Hall, Middleton, Manchester. I was in my third and final year. The college was run by the De la Salle brothers, Vatican 2 was in progress and there were welcome winds of change blowing through the institution.
I had been baptised as an infant and had attended Catholic schools throughout my education from convent to grammar school. I had been told that I was a child of God and a member of God’s true church on earth. I had faithfully gone to mass each week but had begun to question the church’s teaching after meeting a Brethren couple a few years before.
I never read the Bible, but when I realised that my Christian friends were always talking about Christ and reading the Bible I thought I would follow suit. They challenged me frequently about my faith and testified to Christ’s salvation by telling me of their conversion and the fact that salvation was by grace not by works. I never attended their meetings, but they prayed for me and gave me several books to read.
