Fr. John was raised by a dad who wanted nothing to do with religion, so when he started to attend Evangelical youth groups in his teens, his father strongly disapproved. Eventually Fr. John experienced a conversion to Christianity, and it was while visiting Europe in college that he found himself drawn both to the Catholic Church and the ministerial priesthood. In this episode, he talks with Marcus about the idea of being “spiritual but not religious,” and how the scandals that rocked the Legion of Christ helped teach him to place his trust in God in a deeper and more complete way.
Fr. Bartunek is the author of Spiritual but not Religious: The Search for Meaning in a Material World
He also has an active presence at rcspirituality.org and spiritualdirection.com.