Dana Jonas was baptized 55 years ago in Czechoslovakia; will be confirmed alongside 18-year-old son with autism
PORT HURON — For Dana Jonas, it will be the continuation of a journey that began 55 years ago on another continent.
For her 18-year-old son, Eric, it’s the start of a journey of inclusion and community.
Both will come into full communion with the Catholic Church this Easter Vigil at St. Joseph Church in Port Huron, part of Holy Trinity Parish. The celebration that will take place on April 19, 2025, is all the more special because it is 55 years to the day when Dana Jonas was baptized in Czechoslovakia.
“I grew up in Czechoslovakia, where religion was oppressed, of course, because it was a communist regime until I was 18 years old,” Dana Jonas told Detroit Catholic. “So in the most crucial era when a person is spiritually formed, there was a lot of oppression. However, I was baptized because my mom was a secret believer. She didn’t tell anybody, she couldn’t, but she had me baptized.”
Communism collapsed in Czechoslovakia with the Velvet Revolution in 1989, and Dana Jonas made her way to the United States in 2005.
She married an American, a Baptist, and had a son, Eric. But faith was missing in her life as she was going through challenges.
“Something was really missing in my life, and then I went through a very drastic divorce — a civil marriage; we never married in the Church,” Dana Jonas said. “I was kind of healing from that process, which was very long and very painful.
“When I actually found out who Jesus really is, and everything he was doing in the background, I realized it all happened for a reason,” she continued. “Even me coming here (to this church), all of it happened for a reason.”
The impetus for the change in Dana and Eric’s lives happened when Dana’s sister was coming to visit her from Czechia (the name of the country after it separated from Slovakia), and asked to go to a Catholic church for Christmas in 2023.
“My sister, who was already a practicing Catholic for some time, she was coming here for Christmas and said, ‘It’s the second most important holiday of the year. If you’re not going to find me a real Catholic church, I’m not coming,’” Dana Jonas said. “So that’s how I found St. Joseph’s. Basically, the minute I stepped in the church, I realized, ‘Yes, this is what I was missing.’”
Dana and Eric, who is diagnosed with autism and has difficulty communicating verbally, became regulars at St. Joseph and St. Stephen (Holy Trinity Parish’s other worship site), usually sitting in the front row so Eric could better follow along during Mass.
After going to church for a few months, Dana made the decision that she wanted to enter into full communion with the Church, along with Eric, who wasn’t baptized.
“Because you need to be in complete communion with the Church, you cannot just do it halfway,” Dana Jonas said. “It’s nice to go to the church, but when you go and aren’t able to receive Communion, it’s like going to church as a visitor. You’re not part of it.”
Dana and Eric met with Karen Clor, director of adult religious education at Holy Trinity Parish, to discuss how they could further their journey toward entering the Church.
“We met in February (2024), where I got to know both of them,” Clor said. “I encouraged them to keep going to Mass, move up front with Eric so he’d be more comfortable, and then join us for OCIA when our program started in September.”
Dana and Eric were part of an OCIA cohort of 10 people from Holy Trinity Parish this year. Clor said Eric learned at a different pace and style than the rest of his group, but his presence in the classroom made everyone’s formation all the richer.
“What Eric usually does when it comes to class is he looks at ‘Journey of Faith’ (the catechism material Holy Trinity Parish uses from Liguori Publications),” Clor said. “We usually have a video on the topic and then go through the workbook. He pretty much grabs ‘Journey of Faith,’ and he looks up the reflection questions, looks up the answers and just writes everything down.”
Eric, writing away in his notebook with pristine penmanship during his interview with Detroit Catholic, proudly interjects exactly what will happen this Easter vigil.
“This Easter, the priest will pour holy water on me in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen,” Eric Jonas said. “That’s the moment I’ll be baptized and be ready to receive Jesus, who is wholly present in the Eucharist.”
Dana Jonas said Eric usually anticipates Fr. Bradley Forintos’ movement during Mass, and since they have become regular Mass attendees, they have been praying at home more and establishing a spiritual routine.
“And because he follows a specific pattern, it’s sometimes difficult when we go to St. Stephen’s, because he used to go to St. Joseph’s, and we have our one pew, so once the pew was occupied, he was very unhappy,” Dana Jonas said. “His (verbal) communication needs some work, but you should see him in the Mass. He pretty much knows what the priest will do before he does it.”
Fr. Forintos works with Clor in catechizing Eric one-on-one, guiding him on a tour through the church and Eric explaining different elements of the church and liturgy.
Having Eric’s presence enhances the spiritual formation of the entire OCIA cohort, Clor said, a sign that the Body of Christ is meant to build one another up in formation.
“It may take him a little longer than some of the other participants, but there is a community aspect to this in we’re here to build each other up and learn together and support one another,” Clor said. “Some may come in and say, ‘OK, I want to be baptized for me,’ but then they realize this community aspect of what’s going on and what Jesus intended. Jesus wanted us to be in community with one another, and it’s a neat awakening that’s fun to see as an OCIA coordinator, the team witnessing together and meshing with one another.”
Clor, as director of adult religious education, said there never is a “black-and-white” indicator of when a person has acquired enough knowledge and foresight to be ready to receive the sacrament. There is always room for the Holy Spirit to provide more graces and to prepare people to continue their formation.
But in working with Eric, she knows he’s ready.
“I know he has trouble communicating and articulating an idea, but there is one thing early on he told me that he constantly said,” Clor said: “He wanted to be baptized so he could receive Jesus in the Eucharist, and he has said that almost consistently, which to me is so amazing. So there is a draw there, you see the Holy Spirit working in a way bigger than I am.”
When Eric is baptized and Eric and Dana both are confirmed and receive their first Communions, it’s not the end of a journey, Dana insists, but a continuation of a journey that started in Czechoslovakia all those years ago and continues in Port Huron with a parish community that has embraced them, their story, and who they are as brothers and sisters in Christ.
“It’s a journey that continues, and Eric and I will continue it together,” Dana Jonas said. “But a very important part of the journey, for both me and Eric, is we are showing that even a handicapped person, even a person who has gone through difficulties like I have, even we can be part of the community.
“I just hope that we will have an opportunity to welcome more people, regardless of their handicap and situation, into the parish because we are here to spread the word, regardless of our setbacks and struggles. We are here to share Jesus, whom we encounter on a regular basis.”
