Journey Home

Deacon Matt Halbach grew up Catholic but wasn’t very well formed. As a young man, he began to struggle with depression and anxiety, and was even thinking of suicide at one point. In the midst of that, a coworker began to share his Catholic faith, and invited Matt back to Mass. Finally, he agreed to go, and went back to Confession. Everything changed for him from there, and he had a major conversion. He went on to do youth and family ministry, and eventually discerned a vocation to the diaconate.

After beginning a personal relationship with Jesus as a teenager, Joshua Mangels felt a call to ministry and eventually became an Assemblies of God pastor. As he studied the Church Fathers, he discovered a sacramental worldview that was completely new to him, and he had to know more. Initially, he and his wife hesitated to dig deeper for fear of risking their ministry. However as Joshua began teaching about the Fathers to his congregation, more of his members became interested in Catholicism. They connected with the Byzantine Eparchy of Phoenix, and some of the Mangels’ congregation entered the Catholic Church along with them.

Bishop James Conley was raised Presbyterian, and studied Applied Humanities at Kansas University in the 1970’s, falling in love with the Great Books. That led him to become Catholic his junior year of college. He traveled Europe for a bit after that, considering a monastic vocation, before following a call to diocesan priesthood, and eventually becoming an ordained bishop. He has since become increasingly passionate about the importance of solid Catholic education, and a powerful voice in regard to caring for mental and spiritual health in the context of the sacramental life.

Fr. Michael Nixon was born in Hawaii to parents who were Hare Krishnas. When he was in elementary school, his whole family became Catholic, which was a radical change for him. He began the process of discovery of the Catholic faith among fellow Catholics his age who had known all this stuff from birth, and that perspective as a child discovering Catholicism in the context of his family’s conversion led him to an openness to a call to the priesthood, and a desire to use his gifts to evangelize through new media.

Fr. Scott Wooten grew up firmly Anglican, but attended Catholic school. As he continued toward ordination as an Episcopal priest, he persisted in the belief that the Anglican, Orthodox, and Roman churches were all legitimate branches of the true Catholic Church, so he didn’t feel that there was ever any need for him to become a “Roman” Catholic; he considered his form of Anglicanism to be legitimately “Catholic." Eventually moral questions in the Episcopal church forced him to decide whether to stay Episcopalian or join the Anglican Church of North America. Pondering this question about the ultimate character of Christian authority, Fr. Wooten finally felt fully convicted to become Catholic, being received and eventually ordained a Catholic priest through the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

Dr. Matthew Wiseman was raised with strong Baptist roots, and even as a young child, he was constantly reading and studying the Bible. His family attended progressively smaller churches, and even a house church, determined to live the Scriptures as faithfully as possible. Their ongoing study of the Old Testament story led his family toward the Hebrew Roots Movement, a form of Messianic Christianity. As he grew older, he began to discover that some of these elements of Jewish patrimony had been preserved in traditional Christian liturgies, and this led him to a brief time in the Anglican world. He continued to immerse himself in the study of Scripture at St. Andrew’s in Scotland, and it was there that he finally realized that all the threads of his life had been pointing toward the Catholic Church all along.

Rhonda Gruenewald fell in love with the Church through her husband, and went on to found Vocation Ministry, which equips diocese to promote and nurture religious vocations.

After working on ecumenism initiatives as a Lutheran, Dr. Michael Root’s convictions led him to Catholicism in 2010 where he continues to be an important voice of Christian unity.

Matthew Levering found himself developing something resembling a Christian worldview through reading Dostoevsky and Walker Percy. This foundation led him to the Catholic Church.

While studying for ministry as a pastor, Keith Kiser and his wife met Scott Hahn in a Bible study. Shortly after they became Catholic and now lead youth ministry and family camps.

Fr. Brad Elliott was raised Lutheran, and pursued formation in music, finding success as a jazz drummer. Feeling compelled by beauty and truth to enter the Catholic Church in 2002, he continued to play drums professionally for a number of years, before feeling a call to pursue a religious vocation. In his discernment process, he felt God calling him specifically to the Dominican Order, where he was eventually ordained to the priesthood.

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.