Our Stories: Marilyn Sand

Written by Marilyn Sand, Published on August 20, 2018

I was raised an Episcopalian. My memories include St. Michael and All Angels in Kansas City and Trinity in Muscatine.

My parents were very involved in the church with Mom serving in Altar Guild and Daughters of the King, Dad as lay reader. They also served on the vestry at various times. I even went to church during college and to our Sunday night college group (they fed us when the dormitory food service was closed).

My husband Duane was raised in a small Catholic church in Urbana, Iowa. We were married at the Episcopal church in Muscatine, where Mass was co-celebrated by an Episcopal and a Catholic priest, who worked with the migrant community of Muscatine.

The priests shared the serving of communion -- something that Catholics attending later were told was forbidden. Over the next 10 years, we attended the Catholic Church, only because there were no Episcopal churches in the towns where we lived. At each Catholic church, we explained that I was an Episcopalian, and in each, I was welcomed with no pressure to convert.

When we moved to the metro area, we continued attending Catholic churches because Duane knew the priests from college. Our children were raised as Catholic. Fourteen years ago, after the Catholic priest scandal hit and the continued refusal to allow women to be ordained, we decided to look around.

Upon visiting St. Paul’s, we immediately felt at home with the fabulous music, the friendliness of the people, the diversity of congregants, the food ministry, and the liturgy. We liked that the church attracted people from throughout the metro.

Our main focus at St. Paul’s has been in the food ministries. I am on the Bridge board and spent one term on the Chapter. Duane worked with others on making the rain garden a reality. We have been happy here.