By Marìa Josè Duràn

Spiritual center’s minister used to be an atheist

Patti Paris, ordained minister of The Vision Center for Spiritual Living, started her professional career as a scientist in the field of biochemistry. Ten years ago, she was researching leukemia when she switched from helping people with the sickness of their bodies to the struggles of their souls.

“I know, it’s kind of weird,” Paris said before she started laughing. The 59-year-old woman believes that most people go through a spiritual “drift” in their twenties. “But then, after that period, they find something that they resonate with.”

And that’s exactly what happened to Paris. She went from an atheist scientist to a minister of God. “I spent years as a staunch atheist. But then, little by little, your soul just calls for things and I started getting those stirrings of ‘there is just something else’,” Paris said.

“God is so good,” were the first words that Paris proclaimed on stage in the Vision Center service held on Jan. 19. The concert-type room was half empty. That particular Sunday the rainy weather wasn’t inviting to go out in, even for a church service.

Uplifting spiritual music filled up every corner in the room. The meditation quote of the day was, “What the world needs now is for each of us to be who we truly are and to bring our gifts into the world.” After five rings of a crystal bowl followed five minutes of silent meditation and prayer.

Vision Center of Spiritual Living is a non-denominational church. “We consider ourselves to be multi-denominational,” said Paris. The Vision faith accepts every other creed in a very open way.

The cornerstone of their belief system is that God exists. They think that the “Spirit Almighty” is everywhere –– and in everyone. There is no book of rules for people to follow. Their teaching concentrates in giving practitioners the necessary tools to be happier.

“The mission of Vision is to awaken humanity to their magnificence, to the good that they are and the good that they can do,” Paris said. During the January services and other events at the Vision Center, the emphasis was on analyzing personal beliefs. Practitioners were encouraged to examine if their thoughts were still serving them or not, and if they weren’t, how could they be replaced.

In an average sermon Paris may cite the Bible, the Koran or Snoopy. “Whatever gets the points across,” the minister said.

Carl Martins has been attending Vision centers for 25 years. This 72-year-old was raised a Methodist, and then married a Catholic in an Episcopal church. “I’ve been with every possible denomination,” Martins said.

Like many other adults, Martins was attracted by Vision’s relaxed religious sense. “I’ve always believed in getting rid of all the doctrine, the guilt, the sin, the crap that is associated with every other religion,” he said.

“We get people from other [religions] that have just been beat up enough ‘till they don’t want to do that anymore,” said Paris.

Bailey Keck is 22 years old. She started attending Vision last August. She came into the non-denominational church after a bad experience with Baptism. “I’m a nursing student, so I needed to know that there was something at the end,” Keck said.

One of the challenges that new faiths like Vision face is how to get people to church in the Internet era. Today, practitioners can stream religious services, watch videos on YouTube or read their prayers online.

For Paris, the solution involves creating a sense of congregation. “What makes us different is we build community here, we get like-minded people to come together and talk to share stories.”

Their church offers many events open to the community to get together. Vision offers Sunday religious services as well as sharing and meditation groups and life counseling classes. But their more popular gatherings flow around music.

John Kurko is the founder of the Vision congregation in Mission Gorge. “Music reaches deep into the soul, it reaches so many levels,” he said.

The second and third Thursday of every month The Vision Center for Spiritual Living presents Folkey Monkey. This acoustic music session is hosted by Joe Rathburn and percussionist Jeff Stasny. The event casts different guest singers and different themes for each performance. On Feb. 11’s sold-out show, the theme was “All You Need Is Love” and featured an evening of Beatles songs as a “warm-up for Valentine’s.”

The show on Feb. 25 is also a “love” theme and features songwriter and troubadour Gregory Page. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased through the Folkey Monkey website, folkeymonkey.com.

Vision’s spiritual services are free. However, donations are encouraged. “It’s about giving back to the places where you’re spiritually fed,” Paris said.

The Vision Center for Spiritual Living will be hosting a “New Home Celebration” on March 6 at its new location, 4780 Mission Gorge Place.

––Marìa Josè Duràn is a freelance writer from San Diego. She can be reached at [email protected].