Finding her life partner led one woman to fully embrace Catholic faith

Taylor Lyons poses with her husband, Matt, after she was fully received into the Church at the Easter Vigil Mass on April 8 at the Evangelization Center at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison. They are expecting a baby boy in August.

Raised in a non-religious household, Taylor Lyons enjoyed the times when she attended services alongside her Catholic grandmother and cousins. As a child, she was taken by — and yearned for — the rich ceremony of Catholic liturgy: the prayers, hymns, and rituals.

“I admired the religious lifestyle of my Catholic family members. I always wanted to join [the Church],” said Taylor, 31, a family and consumer sciences teacher. But those religious yearnings dissipated as a student of Wayne Hills High School and later at Montclair State University. “I was more concerned with good grades and working. Still, something was missing.”

That changed in 2020 when Taylor [ne: Wapelhorst] started dating Matt Lyons, 41, a cradle Catholic from St. Cecilia Parish in Rockaway. A special-education teacher, he inspired and encouraged her — without being pushy — to seek a relationship with Christ and become Catholic. They married last Oct. 19 — the month she started the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults [RCIA] program at the Evangelization Center at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison.

Matt has been walking the faith journey with Taylor, who was fully received into the Church at the Easter Vigil Mass at St. Paul’s on April 8. Now, this Bedminster-based couple is ready to teach the faith to their unborn baby boy, due in August.

“I started to feel connected to the Church more and more each Sunday morning after Easter Vigil,” Taylor said. At St. Paul’s, they went through Pre-Cana marriage preparation. Even though she was not in full communion with the Church yet, she was excited to get married in a Catholic ceremony at St. Vincent Martyr Church in Madison.

Taylor met Matt through a dating app on her phone. A teacher at East Brunswick High School, she liked that they had a common interest: history.

“On the first date, I knew he was ‘the one.’ He has a good heart,” Taylor said. Matt was an altar boy at St. Cecilia’s and attended the parish school. “We talked about how to raise our children. Matt talked about the peace his faith brings him. Again I felt that same admiration I felt as a child.”

“The Church was something Taylor wanted in her life. We had deep talks. Catholicism rang true for her,” said Matt.

Matt went to Mass while studying at the University of Rhode Island but stopped attending services.

“Faith still gave me a sense of purpose and an underlying foundation to my life,” Matt said.

Helping Matt see the value of faith was his friend and mentor, Father Paul Manning. He was the pastor of St. Cecilia’s when Matt was younger. The priest guided them through pre-marital counseling. A former executive director of St. Paul’s, he is now diocesan vicar for evangelization. Father Manning helped teach RCIA to Taylor and another candidate, Conor McCluskey. He also married the Lyons.

Father Manning called Taylor “an eager, faithful participant in her preparation for the sacraments of initiation through our young adult RCIA. She continues to be an important part of our young adult community.”

A teacher at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, Matt, said, “Now that Taylor has entered into the Church, we can raise our son with Catholic values — to live the Golden Rule, accept others, and be a good Christian.”

Taylor said their baby already feels God’s love through homilies and hymns at Sunday Mass. “We will support him in his journey and answer all the questions he may have,” she said.