Journey Home

Erika Bachiochi was not raised in a religious household, and her reaction to divorce in her family, as well as suicides among friends, led her to a dark place spiritually. Seeking truth and meaning, she was befriended by pro-life intellectuals, who helped her see that life was meaningful, and faith could be reasonable. She came home to the Catholic Faith in 1997, and has been active in the Catholic intellectual tradition and the promotion of Christian anthropology.

Monique Ruberu was raised Catholic, but picked and chose what aspects of Catholicism she was going to prioritize. In 2012, her marriage began to experience crisis, and she knew she needed to take her faith much more seriously if her marriage was to survive. That search led her on a deeper journey of love for the Eucharist, but also into a renewed understanding of the sanctity of life, and she began the path toward becoming a NaPro Technology trained OB/GYN.

Chad Nelson grew up Catholic, but his faith caught fire as a teenager when he encountered Pentecostalism, and he eventually became an ordained Pentecostal preacher. Eventually, through studying history and scripture, he began to discover that many of the things he loved most about Pentecostalism — a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, the power of miracles, and the reality of God working in power through His Word, all had their fulness in the Catholic faith he’d left behind in his teenage years.

Jeromy Darling was a deeply devoted Christian, who got into church planting and the house church movement through his dad’s pastoral ministry. When that community completely collapsed, it caused Jeremy to ask some serious questions for the first time: what did early Christianity actually look like? What kind of communities did the apostles found? How did we get the Bible in the first place? The answers to all those questions kept leading him to the same place: the Catholic Church. He now seeks to share his faith through music and film.

Deacon Michael Nixon had a deeply troubled home life, and after a few years of homelessness, joined the Hare Krishnas at 13 and started selling drugs on the side. When he met his wife, they began a journey of spiritual exploration together, and in the most unexpected fashion, found a home in the Catholic Church, entering with their very young children. One of them, Fr. Michael Nixon, was a guest on The Journey Home in August 2025.

Dr. Lisa Heerema came from a Reformed Christian background, and became interested in the Catholic Church through history, liturgy, and the sacraments, but had many questions, including about the saints, and her background in Calvinism was a significant hurdle in understanding the Catholic perspective. Attending a Coming Home Network retreat was key in helping her feel more at peace about her journey to the Catholic Faith. She was received into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in 2023.

Fr. Allan Phan grew up in a family with Buddhist roots, but they sent him to Catholic school in Nebraska, where he began to flourish, and develop spiritual connections with all kinds of elements of the Catholic life, including and especially with St. Francis of Assisi. Despite some objections from loved ones, he made the journey home to the Catholic Faith, and discerned a vocation to the priesthood, learning even more lessons about the life of faith through his experience of cancer and COVID-19. He is a priest of the diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Garrett Hines was raised in the non-instrumental Church of Christ, but had a renewed excitement for Evangelization through a nondenominational congregation, and became a missionary to Indonesia for a few years. That ended poorly, and shook his faith. During COVID especially, he began to explore other ways to renew his Christian commitment, and became fascinated with the Catholic Church. He became Catholic, and began to use his artistic gifts to train as an iconographer.

Brenda Caster was raised SDA, and even went to an Adventist boarding school. She rebellled a little in her teens, but ended up staying SDA, and eventually married a man who became an SDA elder. When she found a network of ex-SDA people trying to help people out of the church, it opened her eyes to a whole new way of looking at the world. Brenda shopped around Protestant congregations, but was intrigued by the Catholic faith, which seemed both foreign and familiar to her. She discovered The Coming Home Network, and suddenly many of the questions that had been unanswered in her SDA background found fulfillment in the Catholic Church.

Patrick Correa’s mom was Pentecostal, but his dad was an atheist. At age 15, after his brother’s suicide, Patrick decided he was an atheist as well. In 2004, at the age of 29, he hit rock bottom and had a born-again experience, going between different churches, and in the course of that, felt God strongly calling him to commit to RCIA at the Catholic parish his wife had been attending. His faith caught fire, and now he helps lead men’s ministries and retreats in his parish.

Steve Sjogren had an encounter with Jesus as a young man that led him to become involved with the pioneers of the Vineyard movement, eventually planting one of the most successful Vineyard congregations in the country in Cincinnati. However, a combination of burnout in ministry and dissatisfaction with whether or not he was doing Church the way Jesus intended led him to go deeper, and the more he looked into the riches of the Catholic Faith, the more he realized that everything he was trying to invent in his churches had been there in a fuller sense in the Catholic Church all along.

Matt Daniels was raised Baptist, and his dad was a football coach, which meant he moved around a lot. When he was in college, his dad had a heart attack, and it forced him to lean on God and turn to prayer. Around this same time, he was also studying in Rome, and while there, decided to try to pray the Rosary for the first time. It made a profound impact on him, and began to connect him with the spiritual riches of the Catholic Faith. He went on to become a coach and a teacher himself, and is now Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Shaun McAfee, contributor to Catholic Answers and the National Catholic Register, discusses how the experiences he had during his military service and the development of a relationship with a Catholic counselor played into his decision to join the Church. His wife, Jessica, discusses how her own formation in Evangelicalism was challenged by the things she was discovering in Catholicism as well. They also discuss the unique ways they’ve been able to share their gifts in the Church since becoming Catholic.

Deacon Stephen Nash was baptized Catholic, but several of the family members who had been anchors of faith in his life passed away when he was young. There were sparks of faith along the way that caused him to pop in and out of Church occasionally, especially in college, when he became friends with a classmate at Princeton who was discerning the priesthood. When he married his wife, he started going to church regularly with her, but when their second child became ill, he really began to get serious about faith. That experience, combined with the persistent prayers of his Catholic family, were pivotal in him finally coming back fully to the sacraments, and eventually discerning a vocation to the diaconate.

Lee Sondeno was a Pentecostal worship leader, and Dr. Marcus Peter was an evangelist and preacher in the Assemblies of God. They share the stories of how each of them became Catholic, and look at some of the main differences between Pentecostal and Catholic theology. They also explore some of the key experiences and practices that Catholics and Pentecostals share in common, as a way of helping Catholics to have more fruitful conversations about the Church with their Pentecostal loved ones.