St. Callistus Roman Catholic Church

Left to right: Curtis Martin, founder of FOCUS, and his son, Brock Martin, vice president of parish outreach at FOCUS, sit down for an interview with CNA on Dec. 10, 2025. | Credit: Francesca Fenton/EWTN News

Jan 3, 2026 / 08:00 am (CNA).

For nearly 30 years, FOCUS has been known for its missionary work on college campuses. Earlier this year, the ministry began to expand its reach with a new branch — FOCUS Parish.

FOCUS Parish brings FOCUS missionaries into Catholic parishes to help revitalize the parish itself and the parishioners, and to form missionary disciples — laypeople who effectively spread the Gospel message in the local community and diocese.

Founder of FOCUS Curtis Martin and his son, Brock Martin, vice president of parish outreach at FOCUS, both agree that FOCUS Parish is a response to the need of sending missionaries to “where the people are.”

“If we’re trying to bring the Gospel to every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth, the vast majority of people don’t currently live on U.S. college campuses,” Brock told CNA in an interview. “The Catholic Church has amazingly already done this work — every inch of the globe is already mapped out into a parish structure. So, FOCUS’ move into parishes is really a response to the fact that we want to take this mission seriously. We need to send missionaries to where the people are.”

Curtis added: “Everybody lives in a parish, as Brock said, and evangelization takes root when there’s real transformation. It’s going to take place in families and in parishes. That’s where Catholics live. And so we want to be with them to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them in the midst, as Brock said, in the midst of friendship.”

Parishes who take part in FOCUS’ new ministry will receive two full-time missionaries who become part of the parish’s leadership team, help advise and lead parish ministries, and work to create small communities where the Gospel message is shared and spread to all parishioners.

“These missionaries are imbedding into the parish culture,” Brock said.

FOCUS Parish is currently in 25 parishes and plans to expand to an additional 25 parishes in 2026.

When speaking to the fact that FOCUS Parish has become the fastest-growing part of the apostolate, Brock credited the current “landscape of the parish in the United States.”

“Right now there’s about 16,000 parishes [in the U.S.],” Brock said. “I think the number of parishes who are waking up, the number of pastors who recognize that business as usual is not working, we have to, with new ardor and new methodologies, try to figure out how to live the new evangelization. I just think there’s a unique moment where as pastors and finance councils become aware of the opportunity, we’re seeing more and more people start to raise their hand at a faster rate.”

Curtis highlighted the retention rate of FOCUS Parish missionaries leading to the success of the ministry.

“We’re seeing greater longevity with our missionaries because they’re not walking with 18- to 22-year-olds, they’re walking with people who are of their same age, maybe older, maybe younger,” he explained. “The retention rate for FOCUS missionaries in Parish last year was 100%. Nobody left. By way of comparison, probably 25% of the missionaries left on campus; that’s part of our cycle. And so to be able to recognize, we can grow because of the longevity.”

With the growth to 25 more parishes in the new year, FOCUS is looking to hire an additional 50 to 55 missionaries — considering both moving campus missionaries to parishes and hiring individuals who have never been FOCUS missionaries.

As for his hopes for the future, Brock said: “My deepest hope in FOCUS Parish is that this would be a simple and repeatable gift that we can offer to the Church.”

Curtis said: “My hope for FOCUS in the parish is actually hope. I think a lot of leaders in the Church are good people but they’re discouraged and they’re kind of managing a slow decline. And that’s not the way Christianity works. Christianity has grown in every generation since the time of Christ. We’re living in a very abnormal time, at least in the West. It’s shrinking. That’s not the way it should be.”

He added: “There’s a resurgence of faith — articles are being written about this all over the world — FOCUS is just participating in a little way. Millions of people awakening to Christ. We need to welcome them and to be able to recognize the Church ought to be growing. This can work. And when you have hope you start to make decisions based upon that and all of a sudden you see the Church should be a place of growth.”

Nicolás Maduro captured and transported aboard the U.S. Navy ship USS Iwo Jima / President Donald Trump during his address to the nation, Jan. 3, 2026. | Credit: Donald Trump / Truth Social - White House.

Jan 3, 2026 / 07:05 am (CNA).

President Donald Trump announced Saturday that U.S. forces have “captured” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro following a “large-scale strike” on the South American nation.

• “The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country,” Trump wrote.

Colin and Eithne Bell with Micheál Martin, Irish Taoiseach. The Bells founded the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust (KBRT) in 2013 after the death of their son. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust

Jan 3, 2026 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Christmas season in Ireland is marked by the return of family members living abroad and by the strong tradition of visiting family graves.

Those themes of returning home and respect for the deceased lie at the heart of the work of one of Ireland’s most remarkable and humane charities, the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust (KBRT). Since it was founded in 2013, the trust has brought home the bodies of more than 2,000 Irish people who have died abroad in sudden and tragic circumstances. The trust typically has three or four repatriations underway at any given time.

The trust was founded by Colin and Eithne Bell and their family in memory of their son Kevin, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident in New York on June 16, 2013. To help the Bell family with the substantial expense of repatriating Kevin’s body to his family, the local community in the town of Newry rallied around the family and raised over $202,000 toward the costs.

Colin Bell told CNA: “Kevin was 26 years old, who loved life, enjoyed travel. He had been in Australia and Thailand. He had gone to New York. He enjoyed everything about New York. He went out on a Saturday evening for some drinks, took a cab home, and when he got out of the taxi, he was struck by a speeding white van, which knocked him into the road, where he was struck by another vehicle. Both vehicles drove off.” He was killed instantly.

Colin added: “I suppose mercifully, Kevin would have known nothing about it.”

“And when Kevin came home, it was obvious that Newry too had lost a son with the reaction to the news that broke,” he continued. “I can only describe it as Newry came around us like a blanket. In the space of a week, 150,000 pounds [$202,000] was raised to bring Kevin home.”

Coincidentally, at this time, the son of a Belfast family, Steven Clifford, was killed in Thailand. “We contacted the family and said, ‘Look, we have this money; we’ll pay to bring your son home.’”

The following week, a young man from Sligo died in Las Vegas. “So again, we reached out to the family. Because we had 150,000 pounds, which really wasn’t ours. We thought we would use this to help other families who had been visited with the same devastation. We thought once the 150,000 pounds was gone, that would be the end of it. But the parents of another young man killed in Perth heard that we were doing this and they had something in the region of 75,000 pounds, which they gave us to continue our work.”

“We decided then that we would make this Kevin’s legacy,” Bell said.

Gaining charitable status in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland led to Irish embassies and consulates worldwide asking for details so that when a bereaved family contacts the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, they are given the trust’s number.

The repatriation process is complicated and expensive. To bring somebody from Australia can cost 8,000 or 9,000 pounds ($10,500 to $12,000). From mainland Europe, it is generally in the region of 5,000 to 6,000 pounds ($6,700 to $8,000). Bringing a body from the U.S. to Ireland is anything up to to 10,000 pounds or more ($13,500+) depending on what part of the country the body is repatriated from.

The Bell family understands what bereaved families are experiencing.

“Obviously if you get a cold call and you are told that you’ve lost a son or a daughter in Sydney, for example, what do you do? Who do you turn to? How do you go about getting your loved one home? I think that’s probably the biggest part of the work that we do because when a family does contact us we’re able to say, look we’ll take it from here, you don’t have to do anything. We’ll organize it and we’ll get your loved one home.”

Bell further explained: “From a faith perspective, one of the corporal works of mercy is to bury the dead, and the spiritual works of mercy ask us to comfort the sorrowful, which the trust does. It doesn’t matter if you’re at home or abroad — loss is loss and pain is pain, but particularly Irish people want their loved ones home. To want to be able to give the family a way to see their loved one is most important. I know it was very, very important to us.”

Bell said he remembers when his son’s body arrived home and his coffin was carried into the house, there was “a sense of peace that came with knowing that he was home. That was so important to us, especially his mummy [who] was able to hold his hand and speak to him.”

Bell described the work as therapeutic, especially as it keeps his son’s name alive.

As far as he knows, KBRT is the only repatriation organization in the world. The trust’s logo is an image of a bird.

“The last Christmas before Kevin went away, the last present that he got for his mother was a bird table. As Eithne says, birds come home to nest or to roost,” Bell said.

And what might Kevin have made of this work of mercy done in his name?

“Kevin was a big character who loved life and always said that he would be famous. So in a way his name is out there and it’s well known throughout the world. I’m sure he’d be very pleased with that fact.”

Mount St. Mary’s University Physician Assistant Program Director Mary Jackson, MMS, PA-C, CAQ-EM, demonstrates hands-on ultrasound techniques with students at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Mount St. Mary’s University

CNA Staff, Jan 3, 2026 / 06:00 am (CNA).

In response to Maryland’s growing health care crisis, Mount St. Mary’s University is launching a physician assistant program later this month. 

The private Catholic liberal arts university, located in Emmitsburg, Maryland, is partnering with the Daughters of Charity — the religious order founded by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton — to bring more students into the field of health care.

Amid a staffing shortage, Maryland has had the longest emergency room wait times in the nation for nine years, averaging more than four hours. The number of serious medical mistakes that have resulted in death or severe disability for patients has risen each year in Maryland for the past four years, according to a report published in September 2025.

A recent projection found that Maryland needs to increase the number of primary physicians by 23% by 2030 to cover the gap in primary care providers.

The Maryland Department of Health has cited staffing shortages — among several causes of rising medical errors — as something that Mount St. Mary’s program hopes to mitigate.

The program — part of the college’s recent move into the health care arena — will welcome its inaugural class of 43 students on Jan. 20.

The school’s new program includes resources for students to prevent burnout through its Center for Clinician Well-Being.

CNA spoke with physician assistant program director Mary Jackson about the new program.

CNA: What inspired the launch of the new physician assistant program? 

Mary Jackson: The Mount made a very intentional decision to enter the health care education arena as another way to live out our mission. As a Catholic university, Mount St. Mary’s graduates ethical leaders who are inspired by a passion for learning and who lead lives of significance in service to God and others. 

Preparing future health care clinicians is a natural extension of this mission, one that allows our students to serve individuals, families, and communities at moments of greatest vulnerability. 

We chose to launch a physician assistant program because the PA profession consistently ranks among the top careers nationally, with strong student interest and growing workforce demand. 

With a growing health care shortage in Maryland, how do you hope this program will address this crisis?  

Maryland, like much of the country, is experiencing a significant health care workforce shortage, marked by long wait times, limited access in rural and underserved areas, and an aging population with increasing medical needs.

Physician assistants play a vital role in expanding access to high-quality care. By educating future PAs who are clinically excellent, compassionate, and mission-driven, our program aims to strengthen Maryland’s health care workforce and ensure that more patients receive timely, patient-centered care.

How does your mission as a Catholic university drive the physician assistant program? 

Our Catholic identity shapes every aspect of the physician assistant program. The Mount’s commitment to service, compassion, equity, and well-being calls us to prepare clinicians who go beyond transactional medicine.

We aim to form PAs who care deeply for all patients, especially those who are underserved, while also tending to their own well-being so they can flourish long term in their calling to health care.

How did Mount St. Mary’s work with the Daughters of Charity to build this program?   

The Daughters of Charity have been extraordinary partners in bringing this vision to life. Their legacy of caring for the poor and vulnerable has inspired the program’s mission and helped us ground our work in the values of humility and loving service.

The Daughters have generously provided both tangible and in-kind support, enabling our inspiring facility, helping fund our Care for America scholarships, and working with us as thought leaders in this work.

Fires are seen in Caracas, Venezuela after the U.S. launched what President Donald Trump described as a "large scale strike" that included the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2025. Credit: STR / Getty

Jan 3, 2026 / 02:50 am (CNA).

President Donald Trump announced early Saturday that U.S. forces have “captured” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, flying them out of the country following a “large-scale strike” on the South American nation.

“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country,” Trump wrote in a post shared by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

Trump stated the operation was conducted “in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement” and announced a news conference for 11 a.m. ET at Mar-a-Lago.

Explosions and chaos

The announcement followed reports of multiple explosions rocking Caracas and other cities around 2 a.m. local time, accompanied by military aircraft flyovers.

“The explosions were so strong they made the windows of my house shake. When we looked outside, numerous plumes of smoke were rising over Caracas,” said Andrés Henríquez, a correspondent for ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “There were many, countless. Then, videos and reports began to emerge of explosions in other cities.”

Amid the chaos and prior to the reported capture, Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto announced that the regime had declared a “State of External Commotion” — a constitutional emergency measure granting sweeping wartime powers.

Citing Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, Gil Pinto denounced the “extremely grave military aggression” and called on citizens to mobilize against an “imperialist attack.” It remains unclear who is currently commanding the regime’s forces.

Church context

The apparent fall of the socialist leader follows months of escalating tensions. The U.S. recently designated Maduro as the alleged leader of the “Cartel of the Suns” narco-terrorism ring.

The Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference (CEV) has long warned of the country’s “turbulent national reality.” In their recent Christmas message, the bishops cautioned that the “joyful experience” of the season was “overshadowed” by the country’s “generalized impoverishment.”

Tensions between the Church and the regime have spiked since the disputed July 2024 elections. The episcopate has repeatedly demanded the release of political prisoners — including minors — while Maduro recently accused Cardinal Baltazar Porras of conspiracy during the October 2025 canonization of Venezuela’s first saints.

Analysts told CNA recently that the Church would likely face “ more persecution” in 2026 as the regime becomes increasingly isolated.

This is a developing story. Updated Jan. 3, 2026, at 4:45 a.m. ET.

Father Mike Schmitz before his show in Vail, Colorado, as part of his Parables Tour. | Credit: Daniel Milchev

Jan 2, 2026 / 20:17 pm (CNA).

The existence of hell as an option for human beings at the end of life is proof of God’s goodness, according to Father Mike Schmitz.

“At the end of our lives, he simply gives us what we’ve actually chosen,” Schmitz said during his talk, titled “...And at the Hour of Our Death,” at the SEEK 2026 conference in Columbus, Ohio. “I think this is incredible to realize, that if I want not God, I get not God.”

“At some point, if with my choices, I’ve said, ‘God, I want not you,’ he lets me have not him — which is another way to say, hell,” he continued. “That’s what hell is. Hell is existence apart from God. If that’s what I want, God, in his goodness, in God’s justice, he’ll give that to me.”

Some 26,000 attendees have gathered through Jan. 5 in Columbus, Denver, and Fort Worth, Texas, for the SEEK 2026 conference organized by FOCUS.

Schmitz addressed various ways Christians think about death, noting that what we believe tells us a lot about how we see life and the degree to which we trust God. He then highlighted a theory that posits that God reveals himself at the hour of our death in his full glory, so that it becomes impossible not to choose him and, therefore, for anyone to go to hell.

This theory, Schmitz said, “is B as in S.”

“That is, bologna sandwich,” he clarified.

“Not only is it false, but it makes God a tyrant,” he said. “God tolerates our evil choices to preserve our free will. God doesn’t want any of us to sin. He tolerates that. God allows us to do that to preserve our freedom. Why? Because God’s saying, ‘You matter, your choices matter.’”

Schmitz pointed out that if at the end of life, “after allowing us to go through an entire life, lifetimes, where our choices hurt people around us,” God were to overwhelm human capacity to choose God, it would be “slavery.”

“If God, at the moment of our death, is going to force us to choose him because of his love, he’s a bad God,” he said. “Why? Because if God has known this whole time that the last, greatest, most important choice of our life, he was going to strip away from us, rendering our entire previous life meaningless, why did he keep us in this world of suffering?”

“The fact that God preserves our freedom even if we don’t want him demonstrates to us that he is still good,” Schmitz said. “The existence of hell, the reality of hell, the fact that our choices matter are the only thing that preserves God’s goodness.”

Ultimately, Schmitz told conference participants, “all of this starts right now.” Referencing “The Grinch,” he pointed out that while purgatory serves as a sort of “plan B,” life “is meant to be the place where God grows your heart two sizes two big.”

“You guys, purgatory has already started,” he said in conclusion. “Which means heaven has already started every day.”

Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, speaks to CNA during the SEEK 2026 conference on Jan. 2, 2026. | Credit: Amira Abuzeid/CNA

Jan 2, 2026 / 20:00 pm (CNA).

Bishop Michael Olson, whose diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, is hosting the SEEK 2026 conference, said he is praying for unity in Christ.

Olson said he has observed that young people attending the conference have “a real openness to God’s call. They very much want to make a difference for Christ” with their lives.

“There’s a sense of communion that the Church has that postmodern reality undercuts. Young people, however, want to be disciples of the Lord. They want to belong, but they want to belong in the way he calls them to belong.”

Regarding what is moving him spiritually right now, he said in an interview that “the heart of my prayer is the prayer of Jesus: That all may be one, as he and the father are one.”

He said he is praying that “we all find communion and unity in Christ, as his Church, which is his intention.”

“With all differences that we’re tempted to be divided over, especially in the sacraments and the liturgy,” he said he prays to help foster a sense of communion among people within the Church.

Immigration

About immigration, a prominent issue in Texas, Olson said that along with the majority of the U.S. bishops, he affirms the rule of law and the integrity of borders, “because without that, there is no sense of peace; there’s chaos and lawlessness and the most vulnerable suffer.”

He said we all have to stop “defining ourselves by partisan ideologies, which feels like the dominant ‘religion’ in the U.S., for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.”

“We have a responsibility to lend comfort [to immigrants] and to provide security. As an international issue and as a nation, we must help other nations to ensure their borders,” he continued.

“Some of the challenges for the leadership of other nations are gangs. The most vulnerable are paying the price, terrified by the tyranny of the gangs,” he said.

“We have to look at ourselves and say, how have we promoted [those challenges] in areas of foreign policy? We’re reaping what we’ve sown,” Olson said.

“What we faced before with abortion and the death penalty, we now face with immigration: The dignity of the human person must be focused on, as well as the primacy of family life as the basis of society,” he said.

Parish and school security

Asked about how security at parishes and Catholic schools is handled in his diocese following recent violence at Catholic schools, he said for the past seven years, the diocese has employed the Guardian ministry, which involves fully vetted, trained, and armed parishioners in partnership with the police.

Those in the ministry are “proactive in cultivating a spirit and practice of deescalation, in the spirit of discipleship with Christ, in order to protect the vulnerable and weak.”

Olson said at the rest of the SEEK conference he plans to spend time with the young people, giving a talk to the seminarians on prayer and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Dozens of priests help distribute Communion to the 4,500 attendees at Mass on opening night of SEEK 2026 on the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Jan. 1, 2026, in Forth Worth, Texas. | Credit: Amira Abuzeid/CNA

Jan 2, 2026 / 19:25 pm (CNA).

A raucous rock concert by a priest, a special video message from Pope Leo XIV, and prayers for the repose of the soul of the 5-year-old son of a Catholic social media influencer were all part of the opening night of SEEK 2026 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Some 26,000 attendees have gathered through Jan. 5 in Columbus, Ohio; Denver; and Fort Worth for the SEEK 2026 conference organized by FOCUS.

More than 4,500 conference attendees participated in the opening Mass in Fort Worth on the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, concelebrated by Bishop Michael Sis of the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, along with three of his brother bishops, including Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth.

Dozens of priests also attended the Mass and helped distribute Communion to the thousands of attendees.

In his homily, in which he encouraged the thousands of young people to go away from the conference praising God for what they “have heard and seen here, like the shepherds of Bethlehem,” Sis told his listeners: “You’re not useless. You’re not insignificant. You are a beautiful child of God. As a child of God, you can influence your surroundings. You can connect with your generation in ways that others cannot. You are just getting started as a missionary disciple.”

An intention during the Prayers of the Faithful was for the repose of the soul of young Micah Kim, the son of Catholic social media influencer Paul Kim. The boy passed away on Dec. 31, 2025, after more than a week on life support following a rare medical emergency brought on by a severe case of the flu.

After the Mass, which was also attended by dozens of priests from all over the country and projected on several enormous screens throughout the Texas ballroom at the Gaylord Convention Center, attendees were treated to a special video message from Pope Leo, who asked: “Dear young people, what do you seek? Why are you here at this conference? Perhaps your hearts are also restless, searching for meaning and fulfillment and direction for your lives.”

The answer is found in the person of Jesus Christ, Leo said.

The evening’s first speaker was Father David Michael Moses, who entered college at age 14, was ordained a priest in 2019 at age 25, and has more than 2 million followers across his various social media platforms.

He walked on stage with a guitar and sang a song he wrote about funny, true stories that happened to him as a priest. Each time he crooned the refrain “Take it from me, I had to learn, if you become a priest, you’re gonna get burned,” the crowd erupted in laughter.

In his talk, Moses echoed Pope Leo’s words, asking attendees: “What are you searching for?”

He continued: “The purpose that you’re searching for is in the things that you are avoiding. What are you avoiding? So many of our unhealthy habits are the avoidance of something, not being willing to face something.”

At the end of his talk, he encouraged attendees to run up to and gather in front of the stage as he belted out a rock song about living a Christian life. He took a selfie from the stage with the young people cheering behind him and ended his performance by doing “the worm” dance on the stage as the crowd went wild.

Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, of the podcast “Abiding Together,” gave the second keynote address. In a soft voice, she began by telling attendees she had been “carrying you in my heart for a while.”

She said: “We don’t just need forgiveness from God. We need union with God. The word ‘union’ expands our hearts and makes our hearts ache because we know that’s what we are made for.”

Pope Leo XIV. | Credit: Vatican Media

Jan 2, 2026 / 18:07 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV expressed his closeness and compassion to the families of the victims of a fire that broke out in the early hours of Jan. 1 at a bar in the ski resort of Crans-Montana in Switzerland.

Nearly 300 people were celebrating New Year’s Eve at the Le Constellation bar when the fire spread rapidly from the basement to the upper part of the establishment, causing a subsequent explosion that left at least 40 people dead and 115 injured.

The causes of the tragic incident are still unknown, although authorities believe it was an accident.

In a telegram expressing condolences addressed to Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey of Sion and signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy Father joined in mourning with the grieving families and all of Switzerland.

The pontiff also prayed to the Lord to “welcome the deceased into his dwelling place of peace and light, and to sustain the courage of those who are suffering in their hearts or bodies.”

“May the Mother of God, in her tenderness, bring the consolation of faith to all those affected by this tragedy and keep them in hope,” the telegram states.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Dr. John Bergsma, a former Calvinist pastor, tells SEEK 2026 attendees about his path to the Catholic Church. | Credit: Gigi Duncan/EWTN News

Jan 2, 2026 / 18:05 pm (CNA).

John Bergsma grew up convinced that the Catholic Mass was not merely mistaken but “abominable idolatry.”

Speaking Jan. 2 to thousands of college students and young adults at SEEK 2026 in Columbus, Ohio, the former Calvinist pastor described how that belief slowly unraveled, leading him into the Catholic Church. Some 26,000 attendees have gathered through Jan. 5 in Columbus, Denver, and Fort Worth, Texas, for the SEEK 2026 conference organized by  FOCUS.

Bergsma, a senior biblical scholar at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, titled his talk “Mass Conversion: How I Discovered the Eucharist and the Catholic Church.” His story, he said, begins in a Dutch Calvinist upbringing that was “ethnically Dutch, theologically Protestant,” rooted in the teachings of John Calvin.

“In our doctrinal documents, there was a section on what we rejected,” Bergsma said. “And in particular, we rejected the Catholic Mass.”

He explained that he was taught Catholics committed idolatry by worshipping bread and wine as God. “If you worship the creature as the Creator,” he said, “that is idolatry.”

Following in the footsteps of his father, a U.S. Navy chaplain, Bergsma became a Protestant pastor in western Michigan in his early 20s. But it was there, he told the SEEK audience, that cracks began to form in the theological framework he had always defended — especially the Reformation principle of sola fide, or salvation by faith alone. 

While participating in door-to-door evangelization with an older pastor, Bergsma used a popular method known as “the Roman Road,” a series of biblical verses meant to present salvation through faith alone. 

One afternoon, the men visited a woman who welcomed them into her apartment and responded to their message positively. They prayed with her, and Bergsma recalled feeling a “real sense of peace and the presence of the Holy Spirit.”

Then, he said, the conversation took an unexpected turn.

“My mentor asked her, ‘If you go out tomorrow, rob a bank, and skip town, will you still go to heaven?” Bergsma recounted.

When the woman hesitated and answered no, the pastor corrected her. According to the logic of salvation by faith alone, he insisted, she would still be saved — “once saved, always saved.”

“At that moment, I agreed with the woman,” Bergsma said.

Scripture immediately came to mind, he explained, including Christ’s warning that “not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,” and Jesus’ call to take up the cross daily. “It didn’t fit,” he said.

The encounter forced Bergsma to confront what he actually meant by “faith alone.” After four years of study — examining Scripture, Protestant confessions, and the Catholic catechism — he concluded that either sola fide was incorrect, or it required so many qualifications that it ultimately converged with the Catholic understanding of salvation.

Bergsma’s doubts deepened as he wrestled with sola scriptura, the belief that Scripture alone serves as the ultimate authority for Christians. While ministering in a single neighborhood, he observed at least six struggling Protestant congregations, all professing the same principle but disagreeing on core teachings ranging from baptism and the Eucharist to marriage and morality.

A decisive shift came when a Catholic graduate student encouraged him to read the writings of the early Church Fathers. Bergsma began with St. Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of the Apostle John, whose letters spoke unmistakably of episcopal authority and the Eucharist as “the flesh of our savior Jesus Christ.”

“There was no symbolic way around that,” Bergsma said.

After months of resistance, he entered the Catholic Church in February 2001. Now a Catholic theologian addressing SEEK, Bergsma said his journey ultimately hinged on the Eucharist — the doctrine he had once condemned. His testimony resonated with the conference’s young adult audience, many of whom are navigating questions of faith, authority, and conversion.

“There’s a lot of young people who are on the back end of a cultural disaster and growing up in cultural chaos,” Bergsma said after his keynote address. “They’re looking for something solid and lasting that can give them hope for the future.”

Referencing the number of young converts in various dioceses across the country, he added: “They’re coming back to the Catholic Church specifically because the Church has remained steady during that whole time, and that’s a real testament that we’re on the right track.”

“We’re getting a revival of interest in tradition and in something stable amid the instability and chaos of the modern world,” Bergsma said. “Young people are saying, ‘I want to get married. I want to have a family. I want to have a future. So, what am I going to build on?’”

The answer to that question, Bergsma emphasized in reflecting on his own journey of conversion, is the Catholic Church.