Richard Evans on His Return to the Church

"Many of you reading this are familiar with much of my journey and story. If you are, you likely know that I have had more than my share of struggles in my pursuit of Catholicism at her core. That core is chasing holiness. To quote the Baltimore Catechism, which I was raised on, in question 6 of the very 1st lesson: 'Why did God make you? God made me know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.' Simple and obvious, right? Yet it seems to have somewhat eluded me for over 60 years. Or to be more honest I did much of the eluding, at least in large part. . . .

"Prayerfully and humbly I expect that to change going forward. You might ask, as I, in fact, do at times, why I should believe this time to be different. Yet prayerfully it is. In the past, my dalliances were with other forms of what I still considered to be 'catholic' Christianity. I would leave for 2-3 months and come repeatedly back. Then after more mind-bending and overthinking, I would step away again. This time though I was determined that nothing and no one would convince me otherwise, and I relied solely on the gift of reason, which is valid if used properly and not in a vacuum, to bring me forward. I stepped away for nearly a year, studying all types of alternative spiritualities, something I have been familiar with in the past but digging far deeper than before, and they made sense to me. Or at least to my brain. . .

"A few months ago, things came crashing, and in some very unexpected ways. For weeks or even months, I had repeated and vivid nightmares, 2-3 times weekly, about being back in the Church, or at very least being the devoted Christian I once had been. I would often awaken trembling and sensing such loss inside, missing the only place I had ever spiritually been at home - Christ and Rome. A few of those times I nearly came back to my senses upon waking but after a few moments of brushing the cobwebs away, I reasoned my way out of those dreams and rejected the message and warning behind them. In other words, upon awakening, the pursuit of holiness was not so much."

In a recent commentary, writer Richard G. Evans reflected on his return to the Catholic Church

To access Mr. Evans' complete post, please visit:

Catholic Stand: A Foolish Dreamer Awakens in the Church at Last (13 NOV 18)