Sarah Schlitz

Sacred Heart Parishioner Sarah SchlitzJune 2025

“From a young age, I just always felt this draw to Catholicism.” That’s how parishioner Sarah Schiltz, a convert, describes the slow but steady process that led her to the Catholic faith. Born and raised in Southwest Iowa, Sarah began her spiritual journey in a loving Christian family and was baptized in the Methodist church, but as an adult she found she needed more. Fortunately, she could look back on a series of “little mustard seeds” people had planted in her life. When she was ready, those seeds took off and grew.

For example, Sarah’s childhood friend Ann was Catholic, and whenever Sarah came for a sleepover, they would go to Mass. It made a huge impression. From the time they walked through the door, something felt different. “I loved the reverence,” says Sarah, who could tell from all the bowing and kneeling that something important was
happening. “To see someone down on their knees, I mean, Methodists didn’t do that.”

In third grade, Ann gave Sarah her first rosary—another mustard seed—which she promptly hung on her bedpost in the firm belief it would protect her from harm. “I still have it to this day,” she says, adding that she and Ann have remained friends over the years.

Sarah’s faith stayed with her over the years, too, but little girls grow up and life can get complicated. By 2006, Sarah found herself a single mom of two whose “smart, strong, and independent” approach to life wasn’t working. Introduced to Sacred Heart parish by the Schiltz family, Sarah started meeting with Sister Maggie O’Toole, who gave her useful spiritual advice and helped her through the difficult but healing process of annulling her first marriage. This paved the way for her engagement to Matt, a cradle Catholic, in December of that year.

But that was just the beginning. The mustard seeds Sister Maggie had planted also led to Sarah becoming Catholic in the spring of 2007, along with her two kids who were baptized on Easter morning. By the time she and Matt were married in September, the whole family was Catholic, and eager to put their faith into practice.

Looking back, Sarah calls 2007 a huge, God-given year. “It was overdue…God did provide so many times for me, and I didn’t totally get it. So it just felt like a huge thank you. Like, ‘Here, I get it now.’”

Now a mom of four, Sarah has worked since 2023 for Pulse Life Advocates, a job she loves and was led to by—you guessed it—a series of mustard seeds. Between faith, family, and career, Sarah has followed all those little seeds to find a life she treasures, with God at the center. “I just want to do His will. His plans are always better than what I can come up with.”