JOURNEY HOME

Rae-Mi LeRoy was baptized Catholic, but never went to church. She had no experience with any particular faith until college, when she studied world religions and became interested in Buddhism. From there, she became fascinated with Yoga and went on to work as an instructor, but still felt something was missing spiritually, and so she left a career in Hollywood to move to the Arizona desert to continue her search for meaning. While on a Buddhist retreat, she had a dream about Jesus, and for the first time she began to seriously consider the Catholic Faith she'd been introduced to as a young child.

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.

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.

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.

Mike Iversen came from an Evangelical background, and after getting degrees in English and Earth Science, he felt called to bring his skills to youth ministry, going on to get an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Seminary. During his studies, he also spent many years working with Young Life. His study of apologetics, Church history, and more helped him realize the need for a solid authority in a world plagued by relativism. He was also drawn by the reality of Christ's power in the sacraments, and knew he had to come home to the Catholic Church.

Fr. Andrew Crabtree grew up Baptist, but got involved in more nondenominational congregations as a young man. He began touring as a Christian musician, having radio success with his band "Calling Glory." His experience of playing concerts in different denominations got him thinking about the divisions in Christianity, and he began to long for Christian unity. While studying at a Wesleyan university, his concept of sola Scriptura began to crumble, and he felt deeply drawn to the Catholic Faith. He entered the Church in 2015, and shortly thereafter began formation for the priesthood.

Fr. Scott Woods' family wasn't Catholic, but because they sent him to Catholic school, he developed some strong associations with Catholicism, and especially the priesthood. He began telling everyone that he wanted to be a priest, even though he wasn't yet a Catholic. He began attending daily Mass in high school, and his parents, seeing that he was so serious, allowed him to enter the Catholic Church. He continued to pursue that vocation, and eventually was ordained for the Archdiocese of Washington.

Rhonda Ortiz had roots in Evangelical experience, including some in Pentecostalism, but a search for a Christian home during her college years led her to begin exploring the Catholic Faith. Her love for and study of the “Great Books” of history helped further point her toward Catholic ideas, and meeting her husband, who was going through the same kind of awakening of faith, was a crucial step in her decision to enter the Catholic Church. She now uses her gifts as a writer and editor of novels and other forms of literature.

Ashley Stinnett attended numerous Evangelical congregations growing up, and even explored RCIA in the early 2000's before dropping out due to family medical reasons. His wife was the daughter of a Protestant minister, and when COVID hit, it caused them both to completely re-evaluate questions about authority and Christian unity, and the purpose of worship. They began to see the Eucharist as the center of Christian life, and took the steps necessary to complete Christian initiation and come home to the Catholic Church.

Lucas Koach came to faith as a teenager through Young Life, and pursued a call to ministry, entering Denver Seminary. That trajectory eventually led him to the Anglican Church of North America, where he served as an ordained priest for several years. Drawn by Catholic Social Teaching, a desire for Christian unity, and the thought of St. John Henry Newman, Lucas eventually became convicted of the truth and beauty of the Catholic Faith and made the journey home.

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.

Phillip Seeberg grew up in a Reformed Jewish household, but stopped attending synagogue after his Bar Mitzvah. In college, he met some Christians who were handing out New Testaments, and he began to read the story of Jesus. Powerfully moved by what he read, he became a Christian, and joined InterVarsity Fellowship, but the divisions between denominations led him to seek the historical roots of the Christian faith, and to find his true spiritual home in the Catholic Church.

Debbie Capen came from a Catholic family, but was not well-formed in her faith. An unplanned pregnancy in college, followed by an abortion, led to a dark turn in her life. Searching for answers, she began to pray the Our Father, the only prayer she remembered from her Catholic childhood. That opened a door for her to make a slow and steady return to the sacraments, beginning with Confession. Debbie now works full time in pro-life ministry, supplying college students in unplanned pregnancies with the resources they need to help them choose life.

Justus Hunter's dad was a Methodist pastor, and he himself decided to pursue academic study in theology, attending Asbury College and Seminary, where he encountered Church history in a way that made him want to learn more about the world of the early Christians. After getting a doctorate from Southern Methodist University, he went on to teach theology at the seminary level, and it was during this time that all the threads he'd been following regarding history, liturgy, and the sacramental life came together, and he and his family felt led to enter the Catholic Church.

Sr. John Dominic Rasmussen, O.P., grew up in Nashville, and her dad worked in the country music industry. Though not always serious about questions of faith, it was while she was in high school that she felt called to enter the Catholic Church, and began to discern a vocation to religious life. She would go on to help found the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, a teaching order that has also found major success with their recordings of sacred music.

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. He has since gone on to found Catholic Fightwear, and work as a martial arts instructor.

Amanda Martin came from a strong Christian background, and her husband became an Episcopalian priest. Not coming from a liturgical or sacramental Christian experience, she experienced significant opposition from family who thought she was making a huge mistake and overcomplicating Christianity with rituals and external piety. She shares some of the ways she prayed and discerned through that process, and how she and her husband eventually moved together toward full communion with the Catholic Church.

Fr. Doug Martin grew up in a Godly United Methodist family, but didn't start taking a call to ministry seriously until college, where exposure to various Christian traditions led him to research Church history. At that time, he became Episcopalian, and eventually was ordained an Episcopal priest. After realizing the need for a stronger way of understanding of Christian authority, he gravitated toward the Catholic Church, entering itin 2001 as a layman. Several years later, he revisited the idea of his call to ministry, and was ordained a Catholic priest in 2019.

Deacon Lee Ashton was raised Episcopalian, but when he joined the military, he felt a disconnection from that faith tradition, and began to search for a new Christian community. For 27 years, he got involved in Evangelical congregations, having some great experiences with them along the way. However, he began to realize that different churches were preaching differently on different passages, and that caused him to yearn for a deeper and more authoritative interpretation of Scripture. He began to research the Reformation, and what he found in his study of Church history began to surprise him. When Pope Benedict XVI issued Anglicanorum Coetibus, allowing a new pathway for those with Anglican backgrounds to become Catholic, he knew this was his opportunity to come home to the Catholic Church.

Dr. John Bruchalski of Divine Mercy Care and Kerstin Pakka of Project Rachel in the Diocese of Toledo share the stories of how they came from believing in a right to abortion, to having a radical encounter with the forgiveness of Christ that has since empowered each of them to work to build a culture of life and promote access to the kind of care that leads others like themselves to heal from the wounds of abortion.

Deacon Lester Loh came from a Presbyterian family, but by early childhood was already completely tuned out of anything related to faith. Over the years, a couple of his siblings became Catholic, which caught his attention, but he didn't take it too seriously. He ended up dating ad eventually marrying a Catholic, observing her faith from afar until eventually he began to feel convicted to take the extra step to see what God would do if he opened the door to his heart. He ended up going through RCIA together with his wife's mom, who also had been on the fringes of Catholicism for years. He joyfully entered the Church, and a few years later, discerned a vocation to the diaconate.

Reza Akhtar was raised Muslim in Canada, but was not particularly observant. At a private elementary school, he became exposed to basic Protestant Christianity, but it was in college that he began to explore it more deeply. He married a Catholic, but wasn't quite ready to make the full leap into the Church, so he spent a few years in an Anglican congregation, before he felt God calling him home to a full sacramental life as a Catholic.

Taylor Kemp was baptized Catholic, but early in his life, soccer effectively became his religion, taking up not only all his time on Sundays, as well as all his attention and affection. The more success he found, the more inadequate he felt, realizing that he had made himself and his soccer skills the measure of everything. By the time he had become a professional player in the MLS with DC United, he had developed a spiritual hunger that eventually began to be fulfilled when he met his future wife, a Catholic who encouraged him to take a look at the Church he'd left as a kid. Taylor went through RCIA and was confirmed, and is now on fire for his faith, working to to develop faith formation programs with the Augustine Institute.

As the son of a pastor, Luke Nelson grew up surrounded by people of deep faith. Following his own call to ministry, he attended Bible college and served for 25 years in the Wesleyan Church. There were several issues that began to trouble him, but among them was the question of the Lord's Supper. In his Wesleyan/Methodist tradition, it was considered important, but he couldn't articulate all the aspects of why that should be the case. Digging deeper into the history and tradition of Holy Communion compelled him to take seriously the case that the Catholic Church made for the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Dino Remedios grew up nominally Catholic, absorbing much of what he knew about the faith from the Filipino culture he came from. In his teenage years, he began to drift more into relativistic lines of thought, becoming a practical agnostic. Over time, however, he found that the answers offered by materialism were dissatisfying, and through a discovery process that involved philosophy, beauty, and even a Marian conversion, Dino found his way back to the Catholic Church.

Joe Ward was adopted from foster care in New York, and attended a number of different churches growing up, including Presbyterian, Methodist and Mennonite congregations. In his college years, he became extremely interested in Calvinist theology, and explored it deeply while also doing work with InterVarsity Fellowship. After graduating, Joe went on to teach music, and became part of the worship team at an Evangelical Free church. When the leadership team there encouraged him to take membership classes, it got him thinking about differences between denominations and what it meant to fully declare membership in one. His study of that question led him to begin exploring Catholicism, but when that became public, he was asked to stop being on the worship team. That forced Joe to reckon more seriously with the question of Christian authority, eventually leading him to the conviction that he needed to become Catholic.

Seth and Julianne met each other in small town Ohio, and even though Seth was raised Catholic, that took a bit of a back seat as he focused all his attention on using his skills as a kicker to try and break into the NFL. They eventually ended up in a Presbyterian congregation together, but they began to struggle with the question of how they should approach receiving communion in the various churches they visited. At one point, there was conflict in the Presbyterian church they were part of on major moral questions, and it got them back to the core question of authority. After years of wrestling and discerning together, they became convicted that they both needed to come home to the Catholic Church.

Megan Thomas grew up heavily involved in her Baptist world, steeped in Scripture, prayer, mission trips, and more. However, she still felt like something was missing in the way she understood Christianity. As she grew older and she began to take greater ownership of her faith, Megan realized that a lot of the arguments she was using to defend her faith had their greatest roots in the Catholic intellectual tradition. That revolutionized her Christian worldview, and helped her complete the incomplete picture of Christianity she'd been struggling with for years.

Dr. Kent Hill has had a front-row seat to some of the most important ecumenical moments in American Christianity over the last several decades. Along with his roles in international development, Kent also served as president of Eastern Nazarene College, and was an original signer of the 1994 document "Evangelicals and Catholics Together." He shares the story of the relationships, prayer, and reflections that eventually led him home to the Catholic Faith.

In Eduardo Faria's experience as a Presbyterian pastor in Brazil, he was deeply in love with his faith and passionate about teaching it. But when some significant questions about the nature of the early Church and Christian authority led him to explore Catholicism, it also raised many questions about what this might mean for his ministry, his family, and where God might be calling him now after years of Protestant ministry.

Fr. Jerry Byrd was raised Baptist, and had a strong interest in music. When a high school friend announced they were becoming Catholic, he decided to go to Mass to see what it was all about. Having played music in his Baptist church, he was drawn immediately to the beauty of the liturgy, and the truth of the Eucharist. He decided to enter the Church, and ended up discerning a vocation to the priesthood.

JonMarc Grodi and his guests address the personal obstacles, doctrinal objections, and the irresistible attraction to the Church Jesus founded 2,000 years ago.

A strong Christian who served as a pastor in the Church of the Nazarene and nondenominational settings, Chuck Gaidica was also a successful TV anchor who began to understand the truth and beauty of Catholicism, and eventually, through questions about the nature of ministry, and the influence of fellow Catholic journalists, felt called home to the Catholic Church.

JonMarc Grodi and his guests address the personal obstacles, doctrinal objections, and the irresistible attraction to the Church Jesus founded 2,000 years ago.

Jeremy Rivera was raised Catholic, but left the faith at 18. In college, he was at a low point when he was invited to an Evangelical church; he ended up plugging into a Bible study, and began to experience a major turnaround in his life. Jeremy went on to attend seminary, and eventually pastored in Hawaii, California, and Denver. However, he began to be troubled at all the different expressions of Christianity he saw around him, and knew there had to be a true, authoritative version of Christianity. His desire to seek that out led him back to the Catholic Church.

Becca Dickerson always knew she'd be using her gifts to serve God in some way, but as an Evangelical Christian, she had difficulty discerning what shape that might take. Some of her friendships and experiences in ministry, especially during her time at Asbury College, began to open her up to the idea of the Catholic Faith, to the point where she could no longer sit on the fence about it; she knew she had to enter the Church.

Trapped in an abusive marriage, Pam Mings questioned her Baptist teachings. A friend turned her on to Catholicism, where she discovered St. Maria Goretti, patron of abused people.

Ellen went to Presbyterian, Baptist and nondenominational churches, while Gregory was an unenthusiastic Catholic. Their marriage resulted in his vocation and led her to the Church.

Fr. Ken Geraci grew up Catholic, but left the faith as a young man. He chased after fortune in the business world, eventually founding a highly successful software company. Unable to find happiness in all the ways he though would bring fulfillment, he revisited the idea of faith, coming back first to belief in God, then in Christianity, and eventually back to the Catholic Church. As part of that journey back, he recognized a call to the priesthood with the Fathers of Mercy.

Lee and Valiree Sondeno share how the COVID shutdowns caused them to reconsider the life of Pentecostal music ministry they'd devoted themselves to and begin to consider the claims of the Catholic Church.

Monica Anyango grew up Catholic in Uganda, but drifted from her faith. When she found herself a single mom in the United States, her desire to create some kind of structure in her life led her to revisit the disciplines and teachings of the Catholic Church she'd walked away from. The role of Mary was especially important in helping Monica establish a new spiritual compass and a new perspective on motherhood.

JonMarc Grodi and his guests address the personal obstacles, doctrinal objections, and the irresistible attraction to the Church Jesus founded 2,000 years ago.