Hear the stories of Catholic Converts who served in the military and discover what led them home to the Catholic Church.
“Like many young men in the late 1980s, after watching ‘Top Gun,’ I rushed to the local Navy recruitment office… I visited my parents on the 4th of July, asked my mom to shave my head, and then asked her and my dad to come to church the next morning to watch me get baptized. They agreed. I was baptized in water, and the following morning, I flew to San Diego. By evening, I was finishing my first day of boot camp.“
Kenny Burchard
A FEW GREAT VIDEOS
Nathan Crankfield 56:09
Nathan Crankfield’s parents wanted him to have the best education possible, so they sent him to Catholic school. The stability he found there led him to ask to be received into the Church at age 13. As he grew older, his own struggle with sin forced him to take seriously his commitments, and when he joined the Army, it helped him develop the necessary discipline to apply the principles of his faith to everyday life.
Everett Franklin 6:15
When Everett Franklin was serving in Iraq as a Church of God Army chaplain, he had an encounter with a Catholic soldier that caused him to question how seriously he had been taking the Lord’s Supper. He shares how he continued to wrestle with what Jesus commanded his apostles to do in remembrance of Him, and why he chose to enter the Catholic Church on the feast of Corpus Christi.
Chris Moellering 56:01
Chris Moellering was an ordained military chaplain in the Anglican Church of North America, who began to wonder if the questions of history, liturgy, and the sacraments that had drawn him to Anglicanism were stepping stones to a much larger recognition of their reality in the Catholic Church. He shares how that decision was affected by the fact that he was serving as a military chaplain for his denomination when all these questions came to a head.
A FEW GREAT WRITTEN STORIES
A Navy Pilot
Navigates His
Way Home
Tony Faul
“I enlisted in the U.S. Navy, then managed to get a Navy ROTC scholarship to Tulane University in New Orleans. I remained nominal in my faith during university and through my early years of being a Navy pilot. I would drop into Mass when the mood suited me, but I had no real faith… While I loved my shipmates and reveled in the lifestyle, flying all over the world and living in Hawaii, an emptiness was beginning to be apparent in my life.” Read Tony’s story.
The
“Full Gospel”
Ernie Freeman
“The Drill Sergeant walked into the barracks and yelled, “Who wants to go to church? Be out front in 10 minutes!” Being an eighteen-year-old raw recruit in desperate need of a break from military training, I decided to go. I assumed it would be a Protestant gathering; to my astonishment it was a Roman Catholic Mass.” Read Ernie’s story.
Thankful to be Able to Be Thankful
Jeff Miller
“When I finished high school, I joined the Navy. My motive was to get the education in electronics that I desired and then quit. I worked in avionics, where I troubleshot and repaired ‘black boxes’ at the component level. I excelled at this and enjoyed the whole process of troubleshooting and repair… Consequently, I ended up making a career of the Navy, learning many lessons in the military which would later be helpful for my conversion.“ Read Jeff’s story.
Encountering
the Truth in
Christian History
Lonna Graves
“We continued attending the Protestant service at the military chapel, but never felt that it was ‘home’ for us… A multitude of unanswered questions kept arising… We had taken a Martin Luther tour while living in Germany, and instantly I wanted to know about the times before him, what happened to bring about the Reformation and why it had to occur. What were the teachings of the Church, and why was Luther so against much of it?” Read Lonna’s story.
It’s Time to
Come Home
Shannon Kurtz
“In 1980 we were transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which was considered then to be hardship duty. Remote and desolate, the base had no way off except by plane. I had an eight-month-old infant and was far away from family and friends… As a new mother, I was becoming more aware of the tremendous responsibility my husband and I shared for the spiritual nurture of our daughter.” Read Shannon’s story.
An Epiphany
in Five Parts
Matthew Persons
“I became a Combat Medic, deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in 2008. I was medevac-ed out of Iraq due to multiple injuries, and while I was waiting for the Veterans Administration to process my claims for disability, I was called back to serve in the Army Reserve. My time in the Army and being at war cost me broken marriages as well as many visible and invisible scars.” Read Matthew’s story.
A 20th Century Centurion Swears Allegiance to Christ
Msgr. Stuart Swetland
“I loved the Navy. But over time, I became more and more convinced that God was calling me to a higher form of service: the priesthood. I wanted to share with others the joy I had experienced: the joy of knowing God’s forgiveness, the joy of receiving Him in the Eucharist, and the joy of knowing the truth revealed to us in His Word. So I resigned my commission in order to enter the seminary.” Read Msgr. Swetland’s story.