The Early Years
We all have a spiritual journey, and all journeys are equally important. My own has been surprising and totally unexpected. To paraphrase Blessed Fulton Sheen, “There are not 100 people in the United States that hate the Catholic Church. However, there are millions who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church.” This certainly applied to me! I was adopted into a very loving Protestant family. I was baptized as a teenager, and church was very much at the center of our lives. We attended Sunday morning, often Sunday evening, and often Wednesday evening. Much of our social life revolved around our church. I was very active in the youth group and was in the church scouting program. As I became an adult, went to college, and married, my faith remained strong. My wife was raised as a Christian Scientist but converted to “mainstream Christianity” soon after we were married.
My parents and extended family were extremely anti-Catholic. I was taught to believe that the Catholic Church was a cult and that the Antichrist most likely would be a sitting pope. Virtually every day I drove by a local Catholic parish and had very negative thoughts about it. (It is interesting to note, though, that after converting to the Catholic Church, I attended Mass there, and it was an extremely moving experience. I had a tremendous amount of guilt that God lifted from my shoulders.)
The Catholic Church Was Like a Magnet, Drawing Me In
The Holy Spirit began using a series of life events to draw me into the Catholic Church. When then Pope John Paul II died in 2005, I read that there were over 1 billion Catholics in the world. I literally thought wow; that’s a lot of people to be really messed up spiritually. In addition to that, our oldest son, who is not Catholic, suddenly transferred from University of Texas law school to Notre Dame law school. While visiting him on the Notre Dame campus, I spent time at the Grotto, which is a replica of the Grotto in Lourdes, France. I watched people pray, and despite what I’d thought about Catholics, a sense came over me that something very special was happening.
However, it was visiting some California missions with my wife, which we loved to do, that perhaps made the biggest impact on me. While at one of the missions, I suddenly began crying. My wife asked me what was wrong, but I had no idea what was going on. Later on, during RCIA, our leader would tell me that Jesus was there in the form of the Eucharist speaking to my heart. Around the same time, my closest friend—who was a very strong Catholic—was gradually dying of cancer. I was so impressed with his faith. He invited me to Mass for the first time, and while I didn’t understand all that was happening, I knew that something holy was taking place—something like I had never experienced before.
Additionally, my wife and I were involved in a couples’ Bible study group at Scottsdale Bible Church, and a Catholic couple was part of our group. I’m not sure how or why they were there, but I was extremely moved by their knowledge of the Bible and their strong Christian witness. It was not what I expected.
All of this moved me to learn more, and so I went to Barnes & Noble to buy a copy of Catholicism for Dummies. I learned a great deal from reading it. Our middle son and his girlfriend came to visit me in Burbank. He saw that book and asked me, “What in the world is that?” I was embarrassed and wished I had hidden it somewhere. I was confused and worried. I didn’t know how to tell my family what was going on. I finally confided in my wife, and she was surprised but very supportive. As my journey continued, that same son asked my wife if “dad was going through a midlife crisis.” Pam said maybe.
I eventually worked up the courage to call the local parish in Burbank, Saint Robert Bellamine, initially dialing several times and hanging up before completing the call and leaving a message with their RCIA Director. Several weeks went by and I didn’t hear anything, so I began to think that this was a dead end. I was very disappointed but decided that it was not meant to be. Then suddenly, I received a call. She apologized for the delay as she had been sick, but said that the RCIA class had started a week or two earlier. I briefly told her about my spiritual background, and since I’d been involved in church a lot and was baptized, she told me I should come and join them to see what I thought… with no obligation.
It’s hard to describe how nervous I was at that first class. I felt like a fish out of water. I never thought I would finish the series of classes. I had so many misconceptions about the pope, Mary, the Catholic Church in general, and so on. However, at each class these barriers were knocked down one by one. Regardless of the topic, I thought “yes, that makes sense.” One evening at class I came to the realization that Jesus jump-started the Catholic Church, and that the Catholic Church is His Church on earth. From that point on, I couldn’t wait to learn more, finish the classes, and join the Catholic Church! I joined Easter Vigil 2008 at the age of 60. In the afternoon leading up to it, Pam and I went through a Catholic marriage ceremony, a convalidation, at St. Robert Bellarmine, and that evening I officially became a Catholic.
My family and friends were supportive, although some friends really challenged me wondering how I could join a Church that had so many problems. I told them that I believe Satan attacks good things, and the fact that the Catholic Church has had struggles reinforced my belief that it is God ‘s Church on earth. My wife, Pam, saw what a difference it made in my life and she went through RCIA at Saint Patrick’s in Scottsdale, Arizona one year later. You obviously can’t force someone to join the Church, but I was thrilled that she chose to do so, and it’s been a blessing for her as well.
My Life Since Entering the Catholic Church
A couple of years later, I took a demotion so I could return to Arizona, but was very unhappy with my new position and ended up retiring. I had a great deal of business experience and thought that I might be able to apply it somehow within the Catholic Church but had no idea how. I responded to a job posting on the Diocese of Phoenix website for a business manager at Saint Simon and Jude Cathedral. I was hired in April 2010, and I’m still there. This is the longest stint I’ve ever had in one position, and it is by far the most wonderful job that I’ve ever had. Looking back on my life it’s now clear that this was part of God’s plan for me all along. It’s been a tremendous blessing!
I’ve been blessed to experience a number of exciting events in my life, but aside from my marriage and family experiences, joining the Catholic Church has been the most exciting and rewarding event in my life. The Catholic Church is like a precious gem that was right in front of my face, but I never saw it for those 60 years. Every time I return to the pew following communion, I thank God for “bringing me into His Church.”
