Show Notes
Pierce Benefield came from an Evangelical Christian family in Georgia, and got some good Bible basics from the Christian school he went to as a kid. As a young man, he became more serious about his faith, and began to explore Calvinism, and even briefly considered becoming a pastor.
During COVID, he was working at the Post Office, and a coworker invited him to a Reformed congregation that began to zero him in on his faith further. For the first time, he started exploring the differences between forms of Christianity, and was startled at how strong the intellectual case was for Catholicism. In the course of this, he became convinced that he needed to come home to the Catholic Church.
More from Journey Home
Jonathan Bieler was born in Switzerland, and came from a strong Swiss Reformed Church background, with multiple family members who had served in ministry; Jonathan even pursued studies in hopes of possibly becoming a pastor himself.
Cary Klivan grew up Jewish in Brooklyn, and though he was culturally observant, he was spiritually agnostic, more along the lines of scientific materialism.
Mark DeYoung came from a Nazarene family, and was heavily involved in church. He went on to attend Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville, and then began work at a Christian music station, where he also hosted the morning show.
David DeAtkine was born into a Baptist family, but they also explored Pentecostal and fundamentalist churches along the way.
Fr. Samuel Keyes was raised Baptist in Mississippi, but became an Episcopalian as a young adult, going on to serve as a priest in Massachusetts, Alabama, and Maryland. His spiritual trajectory continued to lead him deeper on the questions of tradition, liturgy and authority, and he eventually became a Catholic and an ordained priest through the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.