Thomas Howard was raised in a prominent Evangelical home (his sister is well-known author and former missionary Elisabeth Elliot), became Episcopalian in his mid-twenties, then entered the Catholic Church in 1985, at the age of fifty. Dr. Howard is an English professor (recently retired, after nearly forty years of teaching), who taught at Gordon College and then at St. John’s Seminary. He is a highly acclaimed writer and scholar. He has written the following books: “Evangelical Is Not Enough”, “Lead, Kindly Light”, “On Being Catholic” and “Dove Descending: A Journey Into T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets”.
Born in 1921, the son of an Anglican priest, Msgr. Leonard was raised a devout member of the Church of England. He was ordained an Anglican priest in 1947. Faithfully serving his communion for many years, he became the Bishop of London, in 1981. For many years he was an outspoken critic of the novel doctrines and practices, which were arising in the Church of England. After his retirement, he was received into full-communion with the Catholic Church, in 1993. He was conditionally ordained a Catholic Priest in 1994 and granted the title of Monsignor, by St. John Paul II, in 2000. Msgr. Graham Leonard departed to the Lord on January 6, 2010.
Reared in a faithful Fundamentalist home. Kristine accepted Christ at the age of five. After attending Biola University, She and her husband, Marty, became missionaries to Guatemala to “rescue Catholics from the darkness of their religious superstition and man-made tradition and bring them into the light of Protestantism.” On the mission field they experienced many doctrinal disputes between the missionary groups, eventually bring them to question the Protestant dogmas of “sola Scriptura” and private interpretation, thus setting them on the road to Rome.
Steve was reared by good decent Presbyterian parents, but “not a whole lot stuck.” After a couple of very wild years at the University of Florida, he dropped out and joined the Navy. While in port he bought a Bible and underwent a deep, classical evangelical conversion to Christ. Steve was attracted to the Calvary Chapel, in California, and worked with their youth ministry. In 1978, he was ordained by an interdenominational charismatic church. After attending Gordon-Conwell Seminary, he led his congregation, in Florida, into an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church in America. A further ten years of prayer and study of the Scriptures and Church Fathers brought Steve and his entire family into the Catholic Church in 1990.
Reared in a Protestant home, in his late teens Dr. Howell had a deep sense of the grace of God in his life and loved to read the Sacred Scriptures. He attended Westminster Theological Seminary, in Philadelphia and was ordained a Presbyterian (PCA) pastor, in 1978. In 1988, he began teaching at Reformed Theological Seminary, in Jackson, Mississippi. It was there, while teaching a course on the Eucharist that his journey to the Catholic Church began, being received into the Church in 1996.
Fr. Ray & Ruth were both brought up in the Desciples of Christ denomination. After serving in the Pacific during World War II, Fr. Ray attended seminary and was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1950. Ministering in that denomination for over a decade, both he and Ruth were led by the Holy Spirit to seek Catholic unity. In 1963, along with their five children, they were received into the Catholic Church. Fr. Ray was ordained a Catholic priest in 1983. He received his eternal reward on March 20, 2014. He is survived by Ruth, his wife of nearly 69 years.
Rosalind was reared in a Jewish home in Brooklyn. At a young age he became an agnostic. In the mid-70’s, through the witness of her brother and other Jewish Christians, she accepted Jesus as the Messiah. In the 1990’s, again through the witness of her brother, she began her journey to the Catholic Church, which she entered in 1995. Since this airing, Rosalind has founded the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Israel’s Hope and is now known as Mother Miriam.
Marcus and Colin answer open line questions on Purgatory and Indulgences. Colin is Vice President for Theology at EWTN. He has a Licentiate in Sacred Theology, with a specialization in moral theology, from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (The Angelicum), in Rome. He earned a BTh from the Seminary of Christ the King in Mission, British Columbia.
After the untimely death of their son, Bob and Penny drifted away from the faith. God called them back to himself through a Marriage Encounter weekend, which changed their lives. Bob and Penny are the hosts of “Journeys of Faith” on EWTN. Penny went to her heavenly reward on January 21, 2014. Bob, her husband of 55 years, survives.
Reared in Rockville, Maryland, Michael went to California to work for five years after high school, where he found an interest in Christianity, converting from Zen Buddhism. After moving to Florida, he was drawn to the Catholic faith, particularly through two very influential people: a Catholic gentleman he met at work who mentored him that he and his wife prayed a Rosary for Michael’s conversion every day for a year. Also a Catholic youth minister who shared the riches of the Catholic faith with Michael.
Curtis was brought up in a devoted Catholic family. He experienced all the rites of passage as other Catholic children, but they didn’t touch his heart. While in college he began to read the Bible seriously. After making friends some Evangelical students he rejected all things Catholic. Continuing to read Scripture, Curtis began to see passages that could only be properly understood in a Catholic context. By following this path he found his way Home to the Catholic Church.