“I hadn't become Catholic, but I was going to church regularly,” she recalls.

That all changed on December 18, 2022, when she was received into the Catholic Church at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, in Homosassa during a Mass presided by Pastor, Father Glenn Diaz. 

“When I was holding the candle, it almost brought me to tears,” she recalls. "It felt like I was whole now," she said. 

Prefer grew up Methodist in England but after moving to the United States, she felt most at home in the Catholic community.

She married her husband, who was Catholic, in 2000, and the couple attended Mass together. Still, something was missing because she was not able to receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

“I wanted to receive Communion. That was one of the main things,” Prefer recalled of her decision to enroll in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process, or RCIA. “In 2022, I just decided it was time. I should officially become a Catholic.”

Now in her retirement years, joining the Church has ignited a small flame in her. Welcomed fully into the Body of Christ and receiving the Eucharist, Prefer feels more confident in sharing the gifts of her servant's heart. 

Instead of volunteering only occasionally, she now commits two mornings a week to helping in the parish office as a receptionist.

“I'm pretty good with a computer, so I told them I could,” she said.