The Journey Home, with Marcus Grodi - The Coming Home Network

Jack Williams – Former Evangelical Christian

mattswaim — Tue, 21 May 2024 17:27:51 +0000

Jack Williams, who serves as General Manager of EWTN Radio, shares his complicated path to the Catholic Church, from an on-fire “born again” conversion as a young man, through family struggles and eventually to the Catholic Church, through the persistent prayers of loved ones who never gave up on him.

Some of you may also be familiar with the work of Jack’s wife, Johnette Williams, host of EWTN’s Women of Grace.

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John Bacon – Former Anglican Priest

mattswaim — Tue, 14 May 2024 11:05:10 +0000

John Bacon was raised Southern Baptist, and went to Beeson Divinity School. That seminary formation introduced him to the Church Fathers, and rather than going all the way to Catholicism, he discerned a call to priesthood as an Anglican.

Several circumstances, including the onset of COVID-19, caused him to reconsider the meaning of his vocation, and where he was truly called to be. For John and his wife, the intercession of Mary and the saints — especially St. Boniface — were the final thing that really convinced them they needed to become Catholic.

Read a written version of John’s testimony

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Dan Venezia – Catholic Revert

mattswaim — Mon, 06 May 2024 21:14:12 +0000

Dan Venezia grew up Catholic, but didn’t pay much attention to matters of faith; he was busier chasing a dream to play pro baseball.

He ended up in the minor leagues with the Twins organization, and made some solid Christian friends along the way, but it was when that dream fell apart — and especially when his world was turned upside down by COVID — that Dan had a major conversion that would make him finally start taking his faith seriously.

Find more about Dan at danvenezia.com.

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Fr. Jeffrey Kirby – Former Nominal Catholic

mattswaim — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 17:39:18 +0000

Fr. Kirby was raised nominally Catholic, with strong sense of right and wrong but no real understanding of what Catholicism was about. At a scouting retreat in his teens, some Evangelical friends started mocking Catholicism and it stunned him, because he had no idea if what they were saying about Catholicism was true, and if it was, how to defend it.

That started for him a quest as a young man to learn not just the facts about Catholicism, but about the person of Jesus Christ. His faith caught fire, and the fruit of that search for a closer relationship with Jesus bore fruit in his discernment of a call to the priesthood.

More information: frkirby.com

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Phillip Campbell – Revert from Pentecostalism

mattswaim — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 19:49:34 +0000

Phillip Campbell was baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant, but his family didn’t really practice the faith. When he hit a low point as a young man, it was the witness and friendship of an Protestant Christian friend that helped lead him back to Christ.

This became a source of friction in his family, and his mother began to ask him why he was exploring other Christian traditions when he came from a Catholic family. Phillip’s desire to figure out the answer to that question eventually led him to return to the Catholic Church.

Phillip is the author of a number of books, including the Story of Civilization series.

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Greg and Jennifer Willits – Catholic Revert and former Worldwide Church of God

mattswaim — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 10:51:42 +0000

Jennifer Willits grew up in the Worldwide Church of God, and had some troubling experiences that led her to ask a lot of questions about God and her purpose. When she met Greg, a cradle Catholic who wasn’t very well informed about his faith, they started to ask these questions together as a couple, and were not only surprised at the riches they found in the Catholic Faith; they felt inspired to dedicate themselves together to sharing its truth and beauty through media.

Many of you know Greg and Jennifer for their work with the Rosary Army over the years– they have a great story!

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Nora Jensen – Former Wiccan

mattswaim — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 13:12:19 +0000

Raised in a Wiccan family, Nora Jensen grew up with an extremely cynical attitude towards Christianity. However, when she became a young adult, she began to have some deeply unsettling experiences with Wiccan and New Age practices, and began to distance herself from them. She began dating a Catholic, and was invited to Mass, which she expected to hate. Her experience there surprised her, and she began a journey of exploring the Catholic Church on its own terms.

Read a written version of Nora’s testimony

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Seth Haines – Former Evangelical Protestant

mattswaim — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 12:34:57 +0000

Seth Haines shares how he and his wife found each other through a desire to grow in faith together, and how medical struggles with one of their children led to Seth’s reliance upon alcohol. He also discusses how this experience led him, as well as his family, to reprioritize their spiritual lives, and eventually to find a spiritual home in the Catholic Church. Seth’s journey is a powerful testimony to how God can work even within the messiness of our lives, and bring beauty out of suffering.

Seth’s latest book with his wife, Amber, is called The Deep Down Things.

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Don McLane – Former Presbyterian and Anglican

mattswaim — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 11:09:04 +0000

Don McLane came from a long line of Presbyterian ministers going all the way back to the Reformation. Eventually his journey of faith would lead him to the Episcopalian priesthood, where he would serve in ministry for 30 years. As he continued to preach and minister, he began to be troubled by passages from Scripture that he couldn’t seem to reconcile, and it led him on a journey deep into history — the Church’s and his own — and he felt led to come home to the Catholic Church.

Read a written version of Don’s testimony.

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Paul Rose – Former Evangelical

mattswaim — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 11:32:38 +0000

Paul Rose was raised in a Christian family, and was always interested in music, particularly singing and songwriting. As a young man, that desire to learn more about music led him deeper into the religious patrimony of the Catholic Church, from the beauty of sacred classical music to the chanting of the Psalms in the Liturgy of the Hours.

He was received into the Catholic Church his freshman year of high school, and has since devoted himself to helping others learn and pray, and especially sing, the Divine Office.

Find out more about Paul’s work at singthehours.org.

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