In 2025, we were privileged to share another year of incredible testimonies on EWTN’s The Journey Home. JonMarc Grodi was able interact with some amazing guests, who are living witnesses to the power of grace and the beauty of following Jesus.
According to site visits, social media activity and your feedback, here were the most popular Journey Home episodes from this year:
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10. Joshua and Teresa Mangels – Former Assemblies of God Ministers
After beginning a personal relationship with Jesus as a teenager, Joshua Mangels felt a call to ministry and eventually became an Assemblies of God pastor. As he studied the Church Fathers, he discovered a sacramental worldview that was completely new to him, and he had to know more. Initially, he and his wife hesitated to dig deeper for fear of risking their ministry. However as Joshua began teaching about the Fathers to his congregation, more of his members became interested in Catholicism. They connected with the Byzantine Eparchy of Phoenix, and some of the Mangels’ congregation entered the Catholic Church along with them. Watch their episode.
9. Michael Garcia – Former United Pentecostal Pastor
Michael Garcia was baptized Catholic, but wandered a bit as a young man. When his brother got involved with a Oneness Pentecostal community, Michael was intrigued, and after exploring it, felt that this was the kind of community God was calling him to. He quickly began to sense a call to ministry, serving in a couple of different United Pentecostal congregations along the way.
However, when Michael visited Europe, he was struck by the ancient quality of Catholicism and began to wonder more deeply about the faith of his youth. He reached out to the Coming Home Network, and after a period of working with fellow pastors who had become Catholic, Michael and his wife came home to full communion with the Catholic Church. Watch Michael’s episode.
8. Bishop James Conley – Former Baptist and Presbyterian
Bishop James Conley was raised Presbyterian, and studied Applied Humanities at Kansas University in the 1970’s, falling in love with the Great Books. That led him to become Catholic his junior year of college. He traveled Europe for a bit after that, considering a monastic vocation, before following a call to diocesan priesthood, and eventually becoming an ordained bishop. He has since become increasingly passionate about the importance of solid Catholic education, and a powerful voice in regard to caring for mental and spiritual health in the context of the sacramental life. Watch Bishop Conley’s episode.
7. Dr. Matthew Levering – Former Quaker
Matthew Levering was not raised in any particular faith, but his mom was a seeker. They had some experience of Quaker congregations, but more as a social movement than a religious one.
It was actually through reading fiction from Dostoevsky and Walker Percy and others that Matthew began to find himself developing something resembling a Christian worldview. In college, those questions were explored more deeply, leading him first to Christianity in general, which he looked into at the library at Duke Divinity School, and later to its fulness and completion in the Catholic Church. Watch Dr. Levering’s episode.
6. Fr. Michael Nixon – Former Hare Krishna
Fr. Michael Nixon was born in Hawaii to parents who were Hare Krishnas. When he was in elementary school, his whole family became Catholic, which was a radical change for him.
He began the process of discovery of the Catholic faith among fellow Catholics his age who had known all this stuff from birth, and that perspective as a child discovering Catholicism in the context of his family’s conversion led him to an openness to a call to the priesthood, and a desire to use his gifts to evangelize through new media. Watch Fr. Nixon’s episode.
5. Tsh Oxenreider – Former Evangelical and Anglican
Tsh Oxenreider was raised Evangelical, and even felt called to do missionary work, but her desire to grow deeper in her faith began to lead her toward liturgy and the sacraments, which she began exploring through the Anglican tradition.
However, she still felt as though God was calling her to deeper roots, and the more she prayed and discerned her way through her questions, the more she felt that the Holy Spirit was leading her to become Catholic. Watch Tsh’s episode.
4. Eddie Trask – Catholic Revert, Former Evangelical
Eddie Trask was raised Catholic, but by college, had fallen away from his faith. When he came back to Christianity, it was through Evangelical and non-denominational congregations, and it was through meeting his wife and going through some significant family struggles together that things really began to turn around. As they began to grow together in faith, they realized they needed a firmer foundation than what they were standing on, and that search for truth and stability led them and their family home to the Catholic Church. Watch Eddie’s episode.
3. Christopher O’Keefe – Former Mennonite Pastor
Christopher O’Keefe’s faith journey led him to give his life to God in service, working in prison ministry, and eventually becoming an ordained pastor in the Mennonite tradition. However, his desire to find a solid and stable apostolic authority, as well as a doctrine that would not change to accommodate cultural norms, led him to find a home in the Catholic Church. He entered into full communion at the Easter Vigil in 2022. Watch Christopher’s episode.
2. Dr. Brian Duncan – Former Baptist Minister
Dr. Brian Duncan graduated high school early and went straight into Baptist ministry training. On fire for Jesus, he was constantly seeking deeper resources to help him teach the faith, which led him to discover the Church Fathers.
Teaching from them caused problems in his independent Baptist congregation, so he spent a little time in a Reformed Baptist church, which also didn’t work out. Disillusioned, he sought a house church environment, at which point he realized it was time for him to stop trying to reinvent and reclaim the Christianity of the early Church; and what he’d been trying to rebuild on his own initiative was present in its fulness right in front of him in the Catholic Faith. Watch Brian’s episode.
1. Justine Callis – Former Non-Denominational Evangelical Christian
Justine Callis was raised in a Christian home, and became a successful gymnast. Her athletic pursuits led her to Arizona, where she plugged into an Evangelical megachurch and her faith began to grow. She also worked in Evangelical campus ministry at Arizona State, where she was coaching.
When she met Catholics who were on fire for their faith, it shocked her; she’d thought Catholicism was a “dead religion.” She began to explore Catholicism, especially the doctrine of the Eucharist and the concept of a Magisterium, and over the course of two years of prayer and study, discerned that God was calling her to become Catholic. Watch Justine’s episode.
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Thank you for joining us for another great year! And we can’t wait to share another one full of great Journey Home episodes in 2025…
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View the Top 10 episodes from previous years: 2016 – 2017 – 2018 – 2019 – 2020 – 2021 – 2022 – 2023 – 2024
