First Communion moment adds a chapter of faith and family for great-grandmother

Betty Ripberger experiences the joy of being with four of her great-grandchildren—Camden, left, Emarie, Joel and Leah—on the day they received their first Communion at St. Mary Church in Rushville on May 4. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

As an early Mother’s Day present, Betty Ripberger couldn’t have asked for a better gift than the one she received from four of her great-grandchildren.

At 88, Ripberger has always considered her Catholic faith as a great gift that her parents gave her, a gift she also shared with her five children.

So on May 4, Ripberger was filled with joy and anticipation as she entered St. Mary Church in Rushville. She smiled knowing she was there with so many members of her extended family—everyone sharing in the special occasion of Camden, Emarie, Joel and Leah Ripberger all receiving their first Communion together.

When she saw her four great-grandchildren—Emarie and Leah in their white dresses and Camden and Joel in their dark suits—a heartwarming feeling filled her.

“How wonderful, how beautiful they looked. The boys might not like me saying that, but as their grandma, I can get away with that,” she says with a laugh. “There were 15 little ones who made their first Communion, and all the boys had suits, and all the girls had white dresses.”

She also savored the interaction that St. Mary’s pastor, Father Dustin Boehm, had with the children during the celebration of the Mass—the way he talked with them and asked them questions, which led all the children to raise their hands, wanting to answer.

Then came the moment when each of her four great-grandchildren received their first Communion.

“It was very, very special to be there—just to see that they love the Lord,” says Ripberger, a mother of five who has 14 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

The memories of other first Communions came back to her, too, including her own nearly 80 years ago in St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in Cambridge City—the same church where her parents, Wilbur and Rose, had her baptized.

“My mom and dad were very active in the church,” she recalls. “They were farmers. They were a team, and they always went to church. So did my husband’s parents, Adam and Eleanor. They had a farm, too.”

That lifegiving combination of faith and farming also marked her 59 years of marriage to her late husband, Gene. They were married at St. Elizabeth and were involved in the parish. They also watched proudly together as their five children—Chris, Tom, Glen, Neil and Carol—received their first Communion at St. Elizabeth at different times.

She remembers all those first Communions as scenes of joy that were celebrated with a family get-together after the children had received the Eucharist. And the joy and the celebration flowed again for Camden, Emarie, Joel and Leah, who are all 8 years old.

Now the four children share the closeness of another sacramental bond with their family, with their great-grandmother.

“It was special because I got to take the real body and blood of Jesus for the first time. And it was cool that we got to do it together as a family,” Joel says. “A lot of kids don’t have their great-grandparents still around. It was good she got to be there and see us receive Communion. I think it made her happy.”

There’s no doubt that it did. Weeks later, she still beams about that special day of faith and family.

“The Catholic faith has always been important to us,” she says. “It was wonderful to see them make their first Communion. They want to be a Catholic and make their parents proud, and I know they did. They’re very special. It was a wonderful day.” †