“I look at the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,” he says. “I love everything.” 

According to Leo’s dad, René, his son’s journey began just over a year ago when one of his friends, who attends a nondenominational church, started telling him about God. It piqued Leo’s curiosity, leading him to start asking questions and leading René to do some soul searching.

“It kind of felt like a cold bucket of water fell on me, realizing that I’d taken this wonderful gift away from my son,” says René. “I felt very ashamed.”

René and his wife, Azucena Hernández, were both raised in Catholic families, but they were not practicing and had not gotten Leo baptized. René says growing up in Mexico, his mother always took him to church, but his father died when he was 7 years old, and at age 12, he came to the United States to live with his aunt and uncle. He started working in his uncle’s deli and says making money, rather than Mass, became his priority.

“I started working on the weekends, pretty much full days, and I let go of my faith. It’s really regrettable because that’s not the way my mother raised me, but being that I was here by myself in the States, I didn’t have that instruction to continue on,” he says.

René says he and his wife were married in the Church because they felt it was the right thing to do but says they still did not regularly practice their faith. He credits Leo’s questions and persistence for changing that.

“It was my son asking us about God that drew us to the faith, and it was meeting everyone here in Lewiston that helped solidify our faith and renew our faith in God. Now, we have not missed a single Mass since we started coming to the church,” says René.

“I led him to Christ, so I kind of represent St. Monica, even though I’m not a girl,” says Leo.

Because Leo had so many questions, René and Azucena decided to enroll him in faith formation classes. They began attending Mass, and René began volunteering at Sunday brunch, while Azucena took Leo to faith formation. Then, one day, brunch wasn’t being held, so René decided to sit in on one of Leo’s classes. The result was life changing.

“I started to go to his class. They had a confession retreat, where they teach us about confession, and they teach us about how to do a proper confession. I did not know any of these things. And Tyler [Nadeau] sent us an email with a video from Formed. And I started watching the videos,” says René. “Formed is wonderful because it gives us classes about what each sacrament is and things that I did not know.”

One of those videos was about the sacrament of baptism. René says they had never gotten Leo baptized believing it would be best if he chose it for himself, but after watching the video, he realized that was a mistake.

“I did not really understand what baptism really meant and how it ties in our faith and seals our faith as a Christian,” he says. “One of the things that the video on Formed told us was that in baptism, you’re offering your child to God.”

Leo was baptized, confirmed, and received first Communion during the Easter Vigil Mass.

“I was really happy because I was getting all my sacraments done,” he says.

Leo chose Francis as his confirmation name.

 “My patron saint is St. Francis of Assisi. He loves animals, and I do, too. I love all animals equally, from cats to dogs, goldfish to piranha, a baby elephant to a lemur, and especially a penguin or a piggy,” says Leo.

At René’s prompting, Leo shared a few more things he appreciated about St. Francis.

“What are the things that St. Francis of Assisi preached?” asks René.

“The word of God,” answers Leo.

“Did he show off or was he humble?” continues René.

“He was very humble,” says Leo. “He was all about helping the poor. At school, I share my gum. I wanted to get more to share.”

Azucena says she is happy that Leo was able to receive all the initiation sacraments, saying he has really enjoyed it. 

She and René say they have found a welcoming community at Prince of Peace Parish.

“They’re very open and friendly,” says Azucena. “I feel comfortable coming to church and going to Mass.”

“The community has really brought us in and really embraced us with the love of Jesus Christ,” says René. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I am home.”

René says he now considers it his mission to invite other people to church and to help them learn about God. He says he hopes Leo will do the same.

“One of the things I told Leo is that confirmation is not the end of your education as a Christian. It’s your entire life,” says René. “I want him to lead other people to the faith because I believe that it is right, and it changes your life in a positive way.” 

René says that is what has happened for him.

“It has helped me at work. It has helped me in my married life, in my relationship with my son. We have something that we share, something that we do every Sunday. I joined the men’s group at the church. I plan to go to the ACTS Retreat,” he says.

René and Leo also spend time together, praying the Rosary and reading the Bible.

“I have this mini-Bible, and the reason why it doesn’t have that many stories is because it’s designed to have 101 of the most loved Bible stories,” says Leo. “One of my favorites is Noah’s Ark because of all the animals.”

René, who once regretted how little he knew about the Catholic faith, now wants to be sure other children also come to know Christ. It is why he has volunteered to become a faith formation teacher and why he hopes to inspire other parents to do the same.

“You need that knowledge. You need that reinforcement. You need that guidance from parents,” he says. “We need voices to save the world from this secularism, this fight against Christ because there is a fight against Christ.”