Journey Home - 2018-04-23 - Katie Wing

[Music] good evening and welcome to the journey home by Marcus Grodi your host for this program our guests that we have on this program over the years not only come from a great variety of backgrounds sometimes they start in the church and then they go away for a while and while they're away for a while sometimes they explore maybe one or maybe two some of them explore a whole bunch of things and it might be the case tonight our guest is Katie wing and for want of a better word we call her a revert but she's here to share her story Katie welcome good journey thank you so much Marcus it's good to have you here thank you so much I don't know your story yet I'm looking forward to it but I do know a little bit and that is you the night the cross pass a little bit in the good old town of Boston well I'm excited here about your time there so let me step back and invite you to start us on the journey well thank you so much well I grew up in New York after my father got out of law school he took the family to the suburbs of Rockland County and so I grew up Catholic I went to Mass with my family every Sunday went to confession as it was called at that time every two weeks and things were fine it was just a sort of normal Catholic upbringing can I ask though I don't want to date you too much of these issues but what was the state of the Catholic Church in your childhood was at the post vatican ii stuff just just okay and so and i'm wondering - that was have an effect in your local church you know what i mean what with the changes that were happening you probably were oblivious to it right well when I went to Mass it was in Latin the priest was facing you know away from us and we knelt at an altar rail and it was it was fine I mean it was just this is what you did alright this is what you did and you know just to step back a little bit my father I mean I was born Catholic so I'm a cradle Catholic but my father was born in Germany and his father was Jewish and his mother was Lutheran and they went through the whole Holocaust experience they had to leave Germany and they were really rescued by a Christian group so to speak that eventually brought them to the United States but they converted to Catholicism so that's why I'm a cradle Catholic because my father and my mother both converted to Catholicism so again I was brought up in you know sort of this you know conventional nice Catholic Church I mean nice Catholic home and so the problem was though that it really didn't go in it really didn't go into my heart and so as soon as I went to college it wasn't that I consciously said oh I'm not I don't want anything to do with the Catholic Church it just didn't really crossed my mind quite frankly I didn't think about going to church I just knew that something was really missing in my life and I I guess the word is I became a real seeker and so Catholicism was something you were in terms of your identical Chur yes you did but not what you believe that's correct yeah that's exactly correct and it's amazing when when the faith is not discussed in the home when it's really not alive in the home if it's something that you just do but like you said it's not something that goes in and you really can believe you you really don't have or I didn't really have it and you're surprising me a little bit of your parents being conference to the faith usually they're on fire than or for making that decision right well I think also the culture at the time you know you just didn't talk about it I mean most of my friends in the neighborhood came from Catholic homes and it was very similar nobody really talked about God and religion you know you went to the classes you know after mass and but it's it's amazing how you know it didn't really go in in the deepest sense of going in and what it just rites of passage yes yes exactly exactly so when I went to college I still I was there was a real void in my life and so God even though I didn't consciously know that God was so important and that was really who I was looking for I I began to seek and so I would take classes you know when I had a chance to take electives I would take classes in you know history of the Bible and it was taught by Unitarian Unitarian professor and you know all these kinds of things and I really began to look into Eastern religion and that's when I became very involved in meditation and Eastern religion and it made sense to me because really at the time I was looking for a relationship with God and I didn't have one so that's why I started looking in Eastern religion and a lot of what they did made sense to at least part of my brain it seemed like you know it could answer questions that I hadn't had answered before you know these sort of obscure questions you know what what's our purpose in life what who is God you know and you begin to learn these things like well God really is in you and God really dwells in you and and and all these sort of obscure sort of notions but they make sense and so I spent a lot of time in in in that and then absolutement say a lot of it again isn't in many ways they're not so much religions about God they're more about yourself again you are in relationship to the being or but it comes back to you isn't isn't that what a lot of East I didn't spend much time myself I've dabbled it a little bit but a lot of it is I don't want to say self-help that's a real put-down I don't mean that but no it is I think that's actually a good point it's very self-focused and that's the thing that's so ironic is you you think you're searching for God and you're actually just becoming more and more focused on yourself but it doesn't appear that way it's really very deceptive you know getting more involved in meditation you know it really is self focus emptying rather than a feeling with God it's an empty it is and it's also which it's kind of interesting because it's also saying that ultimately your God that's that's what you're supposed to discover is that your God and you know when it all comes down to it you really don't need anybody other than yourself which also brings it right back to the Garden of Eden because that's exactly the deception that that and it's amazing because it's couched in these very elaborate sort of philosophies and really all it is is just different ways of sprucing up the Garden of Eden or making it sound you know it's it's a very seductive kind of way to go but I didn't and that's why it wasn't satisfying but nevertheless after I got out of graduate school I did all of my college in Boston and after I got out of graduate school I went to California of course well of course this is the height of self yeah I mean forgive me for anybody who lives in California not everybody not every field everybody feels that way but certainly for the circle that I would be a magnet for that yes and so I I got a call from a friend who said why don't those I don't want mean right but your studies we're in counseling and in that which kind of connects also with your journey yeah often when people go in to study counseling it can be a search for self - right sure yeah absolutely absolutely my background is in my well my master's degrees and counseling and community mental health so so thank God he was able to use the part that he was able to use later in my life but yes it was it was and I think part of the part of the journey is Who am I You Know Who am I Lord who am i God I have no idea who I am nothing is really making sense I know I'm going through these you know you know obligations that I'm supposed to do but I don't it's not connecting with me as a person who I might I mean it really leaves a lot of a lot of fear and a lot of doubt and so I think it's a desperation and trying to find who am i and who am i in relation to anything that's beyond me so our guest is Katie wing when you say you go to California I'm hearing this song what's that song about the sand friends just go remember that this was Santa Monica though okay but you know it's this magnet it's like an exodus yeah but but the wrong way away from the promised land you know so yes you're right I mean there was I didn't know it then I understand it better now that it was really pride was was so much woven into this whole you know it's like this determination to find out who I am and you know and how does how does God fit into Who I am you know it's it was just it's mixed up it's really mixed up in the world supports that supports that mix up so when I went to California I had a good friend who said Oh Katie there's a guru who's coming to town you're gonna love to hear him in all this so I I did I went to an ashram I started meditating and I started meditating and doing all the things that you know you meditate and all the things he was from India of course and got very involved got very involved in in meditation and yoga and all of that all of that world so I'm moving further and further away from the roots of my Catholicism that's and if a person's knows somebody like you were and they're interested in evangelization and they're sitting there thinking how could I ever break through the walls that so many years you had built around yourself how would you ever reach that one for Jesus Christ right right awful would be all right I remember walking into the ashram and there would be people standing on the sidewalk Christians you know like can we talk to you for a minute we thought god bless you poor poor person you know I mean it was it was you know it really was a real break a real break and so you know the good news is is I met my husband at the ashram who was also a seeker he was brought up Episcopalian and it seemed kind of very similar you know kind of you know nothing really going in and so he and I got together and we just we moved back east and we know we were married and we started having children or beautiful Amanda and Andrew and still do practice the when you came back we're still meditating okay we're still meditating and took our little ones to the ashram and they met the Guru and all sorts of wonderful things and it was just that whole life and you were counseling you were at that time I was a stay-at-home mom at that time I was a stay-at-home mom so anyway so then and so this is where things really do begin to shift it was about eight years into meditation and I was meditating and I saw an interior vision of Jesus so you thank God he comes I mean thank God he comes to the sinners he will come wherever he needs to come and he knows when the exact time is right where you can receive you know anything that in your life that you look back that was an invitation to him to come it was it wasn't coming from you was somebody else praying for you oh I'm sure I well I for many people were praying and I know that there was intercession I know I mean certainly intercession Blessed Mother Saint Faustina there's no doubt in my mind you know my father probably for sure was praying because he was devout and even though I didn't have a strong emotional connection with him early in my life he was a devout he was an Augustinian recollect he was a devout Catholic he was really devout but so I had this interior vision and it is absolutely because people prayed but it's the grace of God and I came now to realize that it was the Lord as the Divine Mercy but I didn't know that then I just after the meditation center session was over I said to my husband I said I saw Jesus I said I was meditating and Jesus came to me and he said you know it's really interesting because I am not feeling okay about being here I mean it was just like I praise God so much so great so grateful because he started working with us simultaneously I mean there's so many people where one is this way and one is the other and so all of a sudden I said you know the blinders start coming off and I was just starting to think about the Lord I would do some creative writing that's an outlet for me creative writing and I would start writing about Jesus I mean you know it just it was almost like you know you do something and you say it's it's it's amazing that this is happening but he really broke through the darkness he really broke through the darkness and so we started studying and started reading and so I started reading non-denominational Christian you know I started reading people in that vein and so I was like just I started really having a deep desire for and I realized again a relationship and now nondenominational Christianity they talked about a relationship and so that's what started drawing us so we started moving away from meditation and and Eastern religion and we started moving to non-denominational Christianity which makes sense in this at the time and your journey and then by God's grace she discovered Jesus it made it it makes sense to me that you wouldn't necessarily automatically go back to your thousand because at the time you would have maybe said well it didn't work right they didn't bring me to Jesus right you're not wondering if any that was your thinking at the time exactly that was exactly my thinking that was exactly my thing I didn't even think about Catholicism I mean it wasn't even on my radar really wasn't even on my radar and so we got very involved in nondenominational Christianity and you know it was like yes I'm gonna pray the prayer the prayer and you know it was very emotional it was a real breakthrough you know it was a real real breakthrough so I was excited to have this relationship and so we began living this life in non-denominational Christianity and then you know it's the same kind of a thing I mean things are just sort of these bizarre offshoots of things that start happening you know and there are these groups of people and you know just this these a lot of bizarre sorts of things and then you start questioning that you know and so we started questioning that and of course it was the Holy Spirit the whole time you know allowing us to move through the stages that we needed to move through in order to even get close to making our way home because we move from nondenominational Christianity to Messianic Judaism and the reason why that happened was I was talking to some some believers in a meeting and I told them about my father my grandfather being Jewish and how I really embraced the Hebraic roots of the faith and they said oh you should go to a Messianic Jewish congregation just for a visit so we went to one that was in Albany New York and we said oh this is even better it's just this constant seeking and never quite being satisfied but elements of each stage touched on something deeper touch done something that was very very important so if our Lord reaches out to you as he did and then you say okay where do I find our Lord in non-denominational ISM at first it may not I'm wondering it at first it doesn't this is Christianity so you start but in time where do you land right because there are you very different from one not just one church to the next one denomination for the next and I can see how Messianic Judaism might see wool this one's got roots this one's really got roots in it because this is the continuity right of our Judaism and Christianity wow I don't hear that do these other ones before here the roots right exactly exactly and you know especially having a family history of you know it connected me more to my family but of course and then Yeshua being Jewish Jesus being Jewish you know I mean it all fit perfectly so this must be happy with that totally on board okay that's the grace of God I mean because this journey was you know and I I mean it was a real thing you know like several different but that's his mercy too so we said we were very involved and at that church we you know we would I smile now but I mean we took it very seriously we were deacons you know I mean it's just so you look at it now and in in the light of Catholicism and you know it's so it's you know people who are really sincere but but you know you know when you come back to the Catholic Church you just understand things much differently so you know so it's a long were you involved with the missing about eight years well Pat eight years and so then again we were at a Messianic Judaism they'll they'll have it's more like a Christian Seder so it's the Passover Seder but acknowledging Jesus Yeshua as as the Lamb of God so you so that acknowledgement is there it was beautiful but it's like an this stirring of the Holy Spirit and this is after eight years so one of the priests from our local one of the Catholic churches was there with a group of Catholic people who loved the Hebraic roots of the faith but they're totally Catholic but they just loved so they came and they had a nice relationship this priest had a nice relationship with the pastor and his wife and and he was very supportive you know very loving but I was again and my husband - that's stirring so I feel like every the Lord was like okay you've been in this long enough you also need to see what that there's you need to feel that I'm not there I'm not fully there I'm there but not fully and so I went over to this priest and I literally leaned down and whispered father I think I'm being called back to the Catholic Church I whispered it like if anybody heard me say that they would you know like start praying over me and laying hands on me you know kind of a thing and he said he says and I smile again because I'm sure a lot of people have heard this I recommend you get Scott Hans book the lamb supper so went out and got the lamb supper immediately and devoured it and I know God has in Scotland a lot but read it and it started really and again my husband my husband he said you know I've been feeling such a deep desire for the sacraments I mean this is you know it seems kind of like but this is how the Holy Spirit works I mean God works with each of us exactly how we need him to work and so I was wondering as you know the priest shows up and you want to whisper this in his ear what what led to that you know I'm saying was it was just spur to the moment you saw the priest no no no there was some dissatisfaction that was raising raising up within my heart within my soul also certain things were taking place once again that you know in other words there was no accountability and we started talking to the pastor and his wife and saying you know we just noticed that there's really no accountability there's really no board or there's no accountability and it started really bothering my husband he said you know even though we're very involved you don't really there's really no accountability and and that became an issue for my husband yeah and I was very close to the pastor's wife and she said you know and they were and I think the pastor said to my husband well you know some are like st. Peter some are like st. Paul I mean you do you know you say tomato I say something like you know certain people feel it's important to do things and and my husband it didn't sit well with him he said well you know we need to you know as a people that are close to you you know we need to have more awareness of certain things and we're you know we're we're I mean the economics where money's going what are we getting decisions that are being made and so forth did that that question the line of questioning didn't sit well and there were certain things that were going on when the women would get together in women's group the emphasis started being on not just the intimacy of the relationship that we have with Jesus but it started crossing lines that I started saying this doesn't seem right you know like it was just kind of like those kinds of things that didn't weren't concerning before again the Lord just starts removing one more layer one more layer and you start seeing things differently and I started seeing things differently so by the time this Passover Seder was taking place there was you know something isn't right and I was like again again something isn't right well often again I would mention dissing for a moment for the show I've heard a bunch of stories over the you right and what when I look at interesting patterns often there's two things that will come sometimes it'll be problems where you are but often there will be things that will then be in a positive way that will start opening here yes you know I mean you were seeing problems where you are but where you were being led by the Spirit was not back to one of those non-denominational try something was opened you to the Catholic Church of all things I mean had your dad mention something where there's some reason why you were thinking or was it just the presence of this priest all of a sudden that awakened you maybe it's the Catholic Church I have to say honestly I feel like it was it was the Holy Spirit it was absolutely the Holy Spirit you know in prayer you know consider my son Jesus consider my son Jesus again and it was like well aren't I considering your son Jesus you know I'm in this church what am I not considering consider my son Jesus you know and my father would talk to me about the church what about the church what about the Catholic Church and it was like oh can't be that you know yet yeah it can't be that and I think also for me again when you talk about select self analysis and things I think for me the Lord it is incredible mercy knew that I needed to have these experiences so when he brought me home to the Catholic Church I wouldn't question again I wouldn't I mean he was so merciful to you know here I'm gonna let you have these experiences so you know that when I bring you all the way home that this is where the truth is you know so you know it's it's interesting so this dissatisfaction so and then I started talking to the pastor's wife and I said you know and she was brought up Catholic by the way had converted to Judaism for her husband who was Jewish and then they came into Christianity so that's why they were involved in Messianic Judaism so she was Catholic you know and I said you know to her I really feel like God's calling me back to the Catholic Church and she said Katie there is no way God would call you back to a dead church this is the devil and in the warfare I had never really experienced spiritual warfare because now I didn't know it but now I was getting close and so the warfare would you know if I was going from here you know Eastern philosophy nomination all you know yes I was moving in the right direction but what's still ok no and so the warfare this is the devil I mean it was really brutal and and they for the grace of God and the mercy of God and the Holy Spirit you know just really keeping that strong sense of this you're doing what's what God's asking you to do yeah it was brutal it was brutal and you know a lot of Tears a lot of a lot of agony why don't we pause there Katie that's a good time for a break here because I want to find out a little bit even more about that spiritual battle which i think is very real that many of us take for granted but I think it's very real it's very important to this I also want to find out your husband didn't have a Catholic background now so we'll talk about that we come back in a moment parking see that [Music] [Music] [Music] welcome back to the journey home I'm Marcus Grodi your host and our guest is Katie wing and I've rudely interrupted her in the story and before I even allow us back into the story I want to take just a moment to remind you about a wonderful book that EWTN in fact published called from atheism to Catholicism nine converse explain their journey home it was edited by Brandon McKinley and I wrote the foreword for it these are nine former journey home guests that came from atheism to Catholicism and tell their story so if you like the stories in the journey home this is a great book for you to enjoy yourself as well as pass along and it's available at the EWTN religious catalogue again that's from atheism to Catholicism all right Casey so I mean it sounds like you're ready to come into the church well so so yes so this this you know went on for for several months and then in the year of Jubilee and I didn't you know know the significance at the time but in the year of Jubilee because we didn't live that far from the shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge Massachusetts we started going there started going there I mean talking to the priest telling them what was going on this is you know the grace of God this is I mean it was just such as such welcoming and support but I had not been to confession to reconciliation in 30 years I was petrified I mean I thought for sure when they hear what I have to say and it wasn't just being away from the church it was I mean I mean I'm just on so many levels you know it wasn't that I was particularly pro-choice but I you know didn't think you know I didn't understand human life and you know when when life begins I didn't think about it you know personally and being a post abortive woman myself you know and having that experience I didn't I just thought that for sure when I go into the confessional I'm going to hear you know what sorry but I think you're you're you you're gonna be excommunicated own Tevan we're not gonna welcome you back and I was really scared I was terrified so I went in and I start I was like you know bless me Father for I have sinned it's been 30 years since my last confession and I begin to talk about my life I mean and there was a lot to it and so I finished and he says and it was a it was a priest from I think Poland of course and he had an accent and he says this is a miracle those were the words that he said it's a miracle look what God has done well of course the tears I mean sobbing and of course the the confessionals are right at the back of the little chapel there and I mean I literally had to put my hand over my mouth to receive I mean it really is the story of the prodigal child to receive you know everything that I've done I've turned from you Lord I didn't know it I didn't know I didn't consciously do it I didn't know how blind I was but to go through all of these things but I you know I have to say you know it's it's still there were questions but it was just such a it was miraculous it was just so beautiful but even before just before I'm trying to think the time if it was just before just after I remember I think it was just before I was struggling because it was like Catholicism and God's calling me back to the Catholic Church and I'm reading now these books and Scott Hahn and you know Jude and I was watching you I was watching the journey home I would turn on EWTN and I would see and the time Pope John Paul and tears would be down my face and I feel this and I would look at your this program which is such an incredible grace to be here with you and to say I'm one of those you know but I was still struggling there were questions that I had about Mary I mean you know Mary and so and and but what about everything that they were saying in Messianic Judaism so the person that I am I did two things one I called I found out the association of Hebrew Catholics and I called David Moss and I said David Moss my name is Katie wing and this is what's going on in our lives in my life for me and my husband but and this is what's going on for our family why are you not a Messianic Jew why are you a Catholic you know because I could and he said Messianic Judaism falls under the umbrella I'll never forget this falls under the umbrella of the Reformation it's just another nondenominational congregation or faith it's just another nondenominational faith and even though it's beautiful that the Hebraic roots of the faith are embraced it is under the umbrella of the Reformation and and I said cannot can we get to can I speak to you so at that time he was in New York so we got together and we you know talked about you know my husband and I you know talked to him and it was interesting because we went to a Passover Seder with him and the Catholic you know and and it was just like I started seeing here with somebody who really could help me link you know why why he wasn't a Messianic Jew and it was like I you know and then we called I called Rosalyn Moss mother Miriam I called her Catholic answers you know why aren't you you know and you know and just amazing their testimony and and Rosalynn I mean my mother Miriam she had I think she had it in an article in the magazine Catholic Answers but she said you cannot be more Jewish than to be Catholic and then I started seeing every time going to Mass it's the Passover Seder it's the Shabbat it's just right there the whole thing you cannot the difference is the Messiah is there that's the difference it was like it all started coming together you know the kind of left brain right brain stuff that needs to happen you know grace and and the Holy Spirit but yet I understand that's making sense so then going down to the shrine of the divine mercy and having this confession and then being there when on Divine Mercy Sunday when John Paul said you know Pope John Paul when Saint Faustina was was canonized and to just be a part so for me the Lord as the Divine Mercy is everything to me he he truly is you know so merciful that here this this you know prodigal prodigal who turned away from the gift of the Catholic Church not knowing you know and he watched me go through all of these things and still in states of unfaithfulness to him you know really and yet he still is is saying you know I love you and I have bestowed total mercy on you and I want you back you know and it was just like the relationship that I had always dreamed of and needed and wanted and he did it and so all my you know it's kind of like all my dreams came true you know so very same thing for my husband oh my husband you know it was the same thing and then our children Andrew and Amanda you know we all came into the church Amanda made a decision to come into the church five years later she reminded me a lot of myself and still does in many respects Andrew our son is a captain in the Marine Corps and he and his wife have three children and very devout Catholic and it for Andrew it was like finally finally you know it's like they felt home for sure and Amanda you know is really continues to be on that journey and she's newly engaged and so I'm you know them they'll continue that journey together there's a famous poem called the Hound of heaven which always portrays our loving God pursuing us but often when I hear stories as well as my own i flip-flop it I almost get this idea that God has a in his divine mercy a very long leash on us yeah and sometimes he lets that lease leash way out so that we're so far away that we don't even feel were connected to him anymore we always are yes we always are sometimes that long leash is allowing us to experience unique things so that we're equipped so that when he slowly brings us back with his lover equipped and that's what I was wondering about your background training and psychology training and constantly experiences got all this other stuff but with divine mercy how is divine mercy the answer to all the counseling stuff you know I mean that the necessity of God's divine mercy to the needs that humanity has well the way I look at it is that say for example when people come to first weighed Pregnancy Center I'm the director there in in Phoenix Arizona and when people come there when clients come there all of the people who work there are are they happen to be Catholic yeah non-judgmental they really understand mercy and they understand meeting people exactly where they are and helping them to get where they need to be and so that's the same way that the Lord is with each one of us and I lived in you know that he met me right where I was and brought me where I needed to go where I needed to be back into the Catholic Church you know our home but he knew you know what was what would be successful so when we meet with clients many are in crisis you know they are unplanned pregnancies and so we don't want to you know come out there and come at them with anything but love just like the Lord does with us but at the same time we want to help them move where they need to be so mercy is all about what we do and you know really truly without God's divine mercy I honestly don't know where I would I would be and so I look at the clients you know it's there but by the grace of God go I you know and that all becomes very very real it just it's not you know sort of a cliche it's just that we really are all connected and I do see you know just what you're saying that you know I have asked the Lord why didn't you open my eyes sooner you know why did I mean I I I did things that you know were painful they were harmful they were harmful to you they were harmful to you know to our relationship to to me why didn't you and it's exactly the reason I understand now you know what you just said is that I can meet people who are in these different places and you know talk to them with a lot of love and you were a devoted member of an ashram yes a devoted member of an ashram and so I really get it I really get it but you know that God really has something great and and the Holy Spirit you know so grateful because you know he blesses us with things to say and what to do at a given time and sometimes you go into things you know with a lot of depth and sometimes you just listen well your little statement you just said a little bit ago was not the exact words but it was with Saint Agustin once said to you know why it's a long Lord why so long well look where he was it always goofy things even bother with and the Lord brings him back and then because of what he was out there it equipped him to be able to write and to lead yes yes but that was part of the reason the leash you know was for a purpose you didn't mention though that you struggled with our lady I did I did first I think there were more theological questions you know how can the Messiah be born of a woman you know who needs a messiah you know like the you know the basic there I mean they're pretty basic but how you know and then and then simple things where you know understanding that God's salvation God's saving grace transcends time transcends space it is the merits of what he he's done and who he is can go in any direction he wants it to go so to preserve her from sin I understand it's within I mean he can do whatever he wants I mean it's as simple as that and he did so there was there was that kind of a thing but really you know even more than the theological I was so devoted and clung so desperately to the garment of our Lord you know and always wanted to be at his knee that I almost felt like I can tryst another relationship because I don't want to leave you know it almost felt like I had to you know somehow leave this relationship or it had to you know I had to move away somehow and it was just an emotional thing it was really very emotional but that again Blessed Mother and her incredible love and through lots of Prayer you know just begins to touch the heart and also studying you know you I read about her and studied and but I'm touching you know she just touched my heart in prayer and now really understanding her as my mother and that the Lord Himself from the cross really consecrated us to her by saying behold your mother so another big issue in the and the Marian a barrier for so many in the Marian issue is that if you look back on your whole life even out there and in Eastern religions and there's never a time in there where you're asking the intercession or someone who's passed on that's right and so that was a new thing for you and that was had a hard thing for you to enter into yes yes because it's you know what do you mean that you know they they pray yes absolutely absolutely and also in New Age and Eastern and other other you know walks of life females you know there's a lot of you know like the the goddesses you know the gut you know it's kind of like you know it's like you're a little bit like well you know shy away a little bit from that so I came to understand yes the whole intercession you know and it's it's so much more simple now that it's like if I ask you to pray for me you say yes I'll pray for you where our heavenly family how much more so I understand that now but it was a struggle it was a father so many so many but what about then again making the transition there you were in faiths that had these goddesses that's right I gotta clarify that so you understand our lady correctly what about in prayer itself because you would very much involved with mysticism and meditation and all that making the transition into Catholic prayer was that a problem at all well maybe it was a help it was actually a help because I went right to the mystics of Catholicism pretty quickly so I was like the Holy Spirit and these mystics and they were having interior visions and they were having things that were very interior and so that started happening you know to me you know it's like I would pray in the Lord would you know that interior presence really seeing him and seeing you know Blessed Mother and and starting to see you know in that very interior not you know exterior but in that very interior way so the Lord was preparing you for the very deep part of Catholicism yes yes and so I that was that was very comfortable it was like it was like oh yeah this is wonderful so yes he was he was preparing and I'm grateful okay we've got an email let's try this from Brian from Washington and he writes my teenage daughter has begun being interested in New Age practices and ideas she says it's harmless and she is finding peace should I be concerned or just happy that she is interested in spiritual things it's an interesting question when I was going in that direction my mother and father didn't really challenge it they didn't really challenge it my father told me later that he prayed a lot he prayed a lot and so he didn't challenge it so you know I think it's really okay to ask questions one I find that one of the most successful things to do is ask questions and you can know that there's a motivation to your question you know you want to lead in a certain direction without being manipulative but I would say to him that start asking your daughter questions you know what do you mean you're finding peace what does it exactly mean and start asking questions I wouldn't be interested to know if she was brought up Catholic how is she in the Catholic you know was she brought up Catholic but ask started asking her questions and and drawing the parallels to Catholicism because the mystical there's there's the Mystics in Catholicism that can really help would direct those questions yeah the hard thing is just a panic right and then to come on so strong right that in the end you drive and drive them far that's right but definitely definitely pray and ask questions just start asking questions because what it does is it makes that person it'll make his daughter start thinking you know because sometimes we'll just make comments or we'll just say things but we really haven't thought about it well let me ask you a question what does that you know and so I pray and start asking questions you know just to help her you know start reflecting yeah the hardest thing that wanted for me when we're doing a program like this is I know I wasn't the most perfect father or husband ever was I want be by grace so but for the grace of God all three of my sons are very faithful Catholics so when we think about the example that they're giving their the first thing that should happen is a little bit of self-examination in other words has my child seen Catholicism and me have they heard it faithfully from me am i active praying for my child so instead of panicking quickly yeah it does begin with a little bit of wool in my model of 2004 him or her and how can I be a better model for them so that as you say the right questions so the information is transferred is my life a model and even as your father was doing am i actively praying for my children right well you know you make a very important point as I said earlier is that the faith wasn't really talked about when I was growing up so when you say it was modeled to the extent going to mass going to reconciliation doing all the right things but it wasn't really modeled in the sense that it was really alive in a daily sense in the home so prayer is essential and we know that but that's so important because if it isn't modeled if it isn't just a normal part of everyday life that's that's a big big issue so that's that's huge that's huge and I would say for anybody who has young children start talking about it and I would say that one of the ways that the non-catholics pull Catholics out of the church is often when Catholics do things as young people but they don't know why am i doing this and then when someone on the outside says this is why you're doing absolutely you're really you're really worshiping Mary or you are these you know you don't know how to respond back that's right that's right that's why this kind of a program and you know just everything it's it's essential one more email at least Tammy from Wisconsin writes my husband is a fallen away Catholic and I think he would be open to returning to the church but can't come to grips with the fact that he needs to go to confession first how can I help encourage him it's one of the most beautiful things though that a person can do I really understand I mean he may not have been frightened or he might need not be frightened but I was but I would say you know if it's just it's just a it's a beautiful thing and if in some way he can you know hear from you that it's really a beautiful thing and and it's a very merciful merciful thing to do so to just encourage him to just say it's really it's really about God's mercy you're not talking just to a priest it's just a time for God to bestow his mercy upon you so it's a beautiful I was thinking that if you've either never done confession or - haven't done it in a long long time there's a lot of steps between here and there getting there I mean you got to get your car there you gotta Park it there you got to get in the church gift for me it almost you almost need somebody to go with you you know I can see in some cases where you know I'll go with you yeah and you know where you're gonna stand when you get into the church sometimes it's not always obvious where the line for confession is or how they do it in that so I mean that's why it isn't just say you need to get the confession is hey tell you what why don't we go and then you go with the person and you can help them know here we stand in line and then you know I'm saying I mean yes that's not changed no that's that's that's a beautiful thing it's like the logistics but also to understand you know both it's like it's again it's both it's like the logistics and also understand it's a really positive experience it's not and the church was different for you when you came back yeah talk about what it was when you heard I think that's why I was scared I thought you know I was a little bit scared it was a little bit more or I interpreted it as a little bit more rigid and I didn't understand a lot of a lot of now there's so much more you know you know there's a lot more talking about it and evangelizing and and and you know just a lot more books and a lot a lot it's talked about a lot more than it was so another email Pete from Florida writes what would Katie say is the single most powerful way her faith life has changed for the better since returning to the Catholic Church having a deeply deeply personal relationship with Jesus Christ with the Divine Mercy and our Blessed Mother I mean truly having a true relationship with Jesus Christ it's that's the most profound thing I can say I mean it's just I I love him I adore him so I would say that's what's most profound is it's a real relationship the relationship that I had always been seeking for has has come true we we wanted to be as absolutely charitable do our brothers and sisters outside the church who love Jesus oh absolutely absolutely one of the dangers outside the church is when we talk about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ part of the problem is is that all these different churches have a different understanding of what that means that's right how do you determine which of those do you know do you have to speak in tongues right and all these great things how do you understand it and unfortunately by grace they have a relationship with Jesus Christ praise God yes but often this confusion leads to exploring around as it did for you in the church we have the boundaries of the church's teaching to understand this is what it means yes right doesn't mean all Catholics get it right because you don't always listen but well we have the boundaries we have the fullness we have the fullness and you know when it says in Scripture you know it's interesting because you know many non-denominational Christians you know talk about Sola scriptura and it's that's it and I say well just what you said well you interpret it this way you interpret it this way you interpret it this way who's gonna make the call and and I'll say well one of the things that is clear in Scripture that the Lord says unless you eat my body and drink my blood you have no life so what do you do with that what do you do with that oh well we have communion once a month or we have communion and you know and I said well it's a little there's a little bit more to it you know and so and only the Catholic Church has that sacramental life and you're touching on the Eucharist I was going to say that that's a new thing for you and your journey oh yeah oh yeah it's such for for three years you know when we were coming back into the church for three years you know I didn't receive Holy Eucharist my husband was going through you know our CIA the children were going through our say our ia and my husband we didn't know this there was an annulment that had to take place we didn't there were so many things we didn't I mean that's another thing a lot of it they were even cat you know some people who would say you know we'll be very encouraging it would say things like no you know you're hanging in there and you know but for three and a half years when we were back in the Catholic Church I did not receive Holy Eucharist until some things were in order and it was like by that time it was like you just want to do it all his way all his way so you know the blessings that come with doing it his way there's nothing that can compare you know one of the questioning is with your work that you're doing the from the time we were children to now it seems our culture has become even more non-christian and the women you're seeing coming to your are you seeing the ladies coming with less faith needing help or people on their own seeking a deeper walk with Christ both we're seeing both and one of the things also that's incredible about first ways we talked to the men the men we have a comprehensive men's program but many of the people that come to us indicate that they were Catholic because you know that they were Catholic at one time and so we find ways of you know talking about that and saying you know you know you're always welcome back to the Catholic Church and when they're there that's the Lord bringing that Leisha yes you know to get them good relationship with you Katie thank you so much so much for joining us on the journey home early and before I say good bye to all of you I do want to remind you of the coming home network's website CH network.org if you connect to that you'll find out more about our work as well as many more conversion stories and I do pray that Katie's journey is an encouragement to you god bless you see you next week [Music]

Channel: EWTN

Views: 25,456

Rating: 4.8984127 out of 5

Keywords: JHT, JHT01611

Id: 49aQK08XNiY

Length: 56min 10sec (3370 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 25 2018