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• Detroit Parish Festivals team leader • with SPSE since 2013 Please tell us about yourself I’m a cradle Catholic who didn’t know much about my faith growing up despite receiving all my sacraments, going to Mass every Sunday, and even being an altar boy. When I was 16 or so, my mom got tired of fighting with me to go to Mass every Sunday, so she told me that she wasn’t going to do that any more. I was happy about that because I didn’t get anything out of Mass. For me, Mass was just a series of meaningless rituals. I had no idea why we did what we did. So, I quit going. As a teenager, I got into gambling and eventually became addicted to it, and it consumed my life. My life consisted of betting on sports, playing cards, going to the casino, and betting on pretty much anything. I would just crave the excitement of it, and I would keep falling into debt and trying to gamble my way out of it. Then, near the end of 2007, I had a severe panic attack. I thought something was wrong with me because I started to experience myoclonic jerks while falling asleep. These freaked me out. I thought that I may have some dreaded, deadly disease, and if I did, I could be dead soon and then gone forever. Thinking about this scared the heck out of me. I came to find out that these jerks were harmless, but back then I had never experienced them before and they really bothered me. This episode did make me realize that I would get old, and my body would eventually break down and that I would, in fact, die. I was always horrified, as a child, at the prospect of not existing after death. I wasn’t an atheist or anything. I wanted God to exist, I just wasn’t sure that He did. And even if there was a small chance that He didn’t exist, that was enough to scare the daylights outta me. So I was in a dark place for a long time. I went on a quest to get answers to those big questions in life. Does God exist? Does He care about me? Is there life after death? If so, what church should I join? And it took a long time, but lemme tell ya, God wasn’t lying when he said “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” It took a couple of years of study and prayer before God led me back to the Catholic Church. It turns out that my anxiety was a great blessing from God because it made me focus on what was important, and that’s my relationship with God, overcoming sin, and performing works of mercy. I’m not totally cured of my anxiety, but now I can do something about it. I can pray the rosary, receive the sacraments, or go to adoration and feel better. And evangelizing, believe it or not, brings me great peace, after I got over that initial fear, that is. That’s my story. Being reconciled with God delivered me from despair and gave me hope for the future. Please tell us a little bit about your team We evangelize at parish festivals in the Archdiocese of Detroit. When we get a request (or permission) to evangelize at a festival, I post the event on Facebook, and whoever wants to come is welcome. I only need one person to commit to show up and we’re good to go. We average one outing per week from May to October. What motivates you to evangelize? I started to evangelize for selfish reasons. It gave me peace and made me feel good. Now, I evangelize out of love for God. He saved me, so I want to love Him back. We love God back by being obedient to Him, and one of his commands is to make disciples. What is the relationship between evangelization and your spiritual life (prayer)? Prayer is essential. The goal of evangelization is conversions, and conversions are the work of God. So to evangelize without praying is foolish. I make sure I pray before and after an outing. Is there a scripture passage that you turn to often, or a favorite part of Mass? And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6 People think that faith is something you either have or you don’t. They don’t realize that faith is like a muscle. It gets stronger when you exercise it. If you don’t have faith and wish you did, start asking the Lord in prayer to give you the gift of faith, and then start to obey what the Catholic Church teaches and you will grow in faith and confidence in God’s love for you.
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