Like all later-in-life converts, the backstory of how this originally Lutheran kid became Catholic is a long one, with a few stops along the way. How did I come into
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“That they might be one.” These are words from the prayer of Jesus the night before He gave His life on the Cross. “…that they may all be one, as
It’s been thirty years since I stood at the “holy fire” of the Easter Vigil outside Holy Family Catholic Parish in South Pasadena. I can still feel the brush of
Each of us exists in two realms at the same time, the physical and the spiritual. It is akin to walking through a swimming pool in water that is just
Creepy Catholics It couldn’t have happened at any other point in my life. Let me explain. For most of my adult life, Catholicism had given me the creeps. As a
“I have called you by name, you are mine!” (Isaiah 43:1) Thinking back, I imagine that my twin sister and I were among the most alienated little children in New
I grew up in a big family that fit every Catholic stereotype except one — we weren’t Catholic. We attended church every Sunday. Mom stayed home, ran the household, and
I wasn’t searching. We were doing fine spiritually, our kids were happy, and we were doctrinally settled. There was no need to rock the boat, and I certainly had no
My spiritual journey began when I was baptized at 13 years old at the non-institutional church of Christ in Starkville, Mississippi. I’d felt a pulling on my heart to be
It was 2018, and I was catching up on life with a college friend. For a brief time after graduation in 2016, we had both been youth ministers at separate
I lay face down on the floor before the altar as the Litany of Saints was being chanted. Part of the lore of some of the priests who encouraged me
I was raised in a very structured Calvinist, Presbyterian home that included Sunday school and church, choir practice, handbells, youth group, Wednesday night suppers and vacation Bible school, Bible camps,
