CV NEWS FEED // Catholic converts and “reconverts” from Arizona are sharing their testimonies about what drew them to Catholicism in a recent article for the diocesan of Phoenix newspaper.
Reconverts, also sometimes known as reverts, are individuals who were raised Catholic (or Catholic for a time), stopped practicing the Faith for some time, and then “reconverted” back to practicing the Faith regularly.
The Catholic Sun, the newspaper for the Phoenix diocese, highlighted some of their stories in an April 16 article written by Joyce Coronel titled, “Conversions, reversions to Catholicism: The winding paths that lead home.”
Jim Nahrgang, a convert, shared that he and his wife Cindy raised their children in the Methodist Church growing up but no longer attended. When his son converted to Catholicism as an adult and entered seminary to become a Catholic priest, Nahrgang and his wife began attending Mass to learn more about what their son was pursuing.
“His ordination, basically, pushed me,” Nahrgang said. “If he’s going to give up his life for Christ and live a life in Christ, then I need to figure out what this is all about. Am I missing something? So that was really why.”
Nahrgang entered the Catholic Church in 2019, and his wife did the same in 2023. The Catholic Sun reported, “Fr. John Nahrgang was on hand to administer the sacraments of initiation.”
Dina Ortiz, a reconvert, shared that during the 2020 pandemic, she began watching videos on Marian apparitions and was drawn back to the Faith through the Miraculous Medal. She decided she wanted to go on a pilgrimage, but decided that because she was living in an invalid marriage, she would first go to Confession.
The priest in the confession encouraged Ortiz and her now-husband to seek the Church’s help with receiving the sacrament of Matrimony validly. The two did so after going on the pilgrimage, receiving both marriage preparation and confirmation preparation.
“It was just so joyful and enriching,” Ortiz said. “I can’t even tell you what a blessing it was to get married in the Church. It was a dream for both of us.”
Ortiz and her husband “were received back into the Church in the spring of 2022,” the Catholic Sun reported, noting that now, “the couple serves as catechists.”
Another reconvert to the Faith, Megan Mastro, shared that she struggled with anxiety and a lack of peace after having an abortion at age 16 and becoming involved in New Age spirituality.
After trying to find peace in tarot cards, crystals and other New Age practices, she began to search for true peace–which led her to the Bible, Eucharistic miracles, and the sacrament of Holy Eucharist.
“I really knew that it was true because I was disappointed in the outcome,” Mastro said. “I was disappointed that the Catholic Church was true because I had to then had to put to death the life that I was living. And I realized that everything would have to change and that there was no other option because it was either live in rejecting what I know to be true or embrace the truth.”
Mastro went to Confession for the first time in 12 years. She shared that after this, other family members, including her father who had been away from the Church for 34 years, began returning to the Faith as well. Now, Mastro said that she has found peace through Christ, and does pro-life work.
Joyce Coronel’s article for The Catholic Sun featured the testimonies of six other Catholic converts and reconverts from the diocese. To read their stories, click here.
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