As with most autobiographies, my story begins when I was born: 28 February 1969.

Unlike Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (a Catholic mystic in the 18th-19th century), I had no clear recollection of my day of birth. I probably cried quite a bit and may have burped and gurgled a fair amount, but that is neither here nor there.

Slightly more than a week later, I was dunked in the baptismal font and christened "Kelvin" (a name which, I subsequently found to my chagrin, was a rather popular choice in the 1960's).

I was raised a Catholic. That is to say, my parents sent me to Catechism class and expected me to attend Mass every Sunday. Despite these attempts to "christianise" me, I was not particularly interested in God or religion. There is truth in the saying that "faith should be caught, not taught". I was quite upset to discover that I was expected to attend Catechism until Secondary 2 (ie. until I was 14 years old).