My journey with Step-In began with a decades-long restlessness in my soul that asked, “Am I missing something?” Along my spiritual journey, I had already transitioned from “non-denominational Evangelical” to Anglican. However, due to the nature of my military service around the globe, we often found ourselves nowhere near an Anglican church. This reality kept us in a period of transition from one Protestant church to another. This constant transition revealed the myriad beliefs, dogmas, and doctrines competing against one another in the non-Catholic tradition. The disunity was glaring and frankly tiring.
However, God used this journey to direct us to the Holy Catholic Church. Growing up in an overwhelmingly Protestant environment, one of my first exposures to the Catholic Church was as a young adult when I came across the EWTN show called the The Journey Home back in the early 2000s. I was intrigued with the guests’ questions, their journeys, and ultimately their decisions to enter the Church.
Like many others, my lack of knowledge of the early Church and the Church Fathers is slightly embarrassing. My blind acceptance of the many misguided tropes about Catholic doctrine and teaching is even more embarrassing. But God’s grace and mercy have removed the scales from my eyes and those of my family. I now see the continuity and unity of God’s Church on earth, undergirded by two millennia of apostolic succession.
God planted the seeds along the way. Many of our closest friends – including two sets of our children’s godparents – are Catholic. My wife, Jessica, was employed at several nonprofit legal organizations throughout the years, that were dominated by conscientious Catholics living out their faith. This pattern of friendship and mentorship continued into 2025, where, after becoming disillusioned with another Protestant non-denominational church, my wife Jessica visited St. Anthony’s website. She noticed the advertisement for Step-In, and we decided to visit the first evening event. From there, God sparked something in both of us. He drew us to this course. We continued to attend, asked questions, studied, and carefully listened to the wonderful Sycamore video series produced by Father Stephen Wang. After years of a very busy travel schedule, we found ourselves at a place in life where we were home more and able to fully commit to Step-In schedule.
Throughout this journey, I cannot overstate how God used one of our parish priests, Father Joe Antony, to lead us, to guide us, and to answer our simple and difficult doctrinal and practical questions. His intellectual prowess combined with his leadership skills are a potent combination through whom God has given us peace and confidence to continue our journey into the Catholic Church.
Our journey culminated with our reception into the Catholic Church, partaking of the Holy Eucharist for the first time, and confirmation. This journey has drawn us closer to our Lord Jesus Christ and given us a sense of belonging. Confession was freeing, and our connection with the communion of saints has been encouraging. Our wandering has ceased, and we now enjoy a new and increased level of richness and depth.
We still have much to learn as we finish the catechesis process. We are eager to learn. And I would encourage others to also “step in,” even if just to explore or to ask questions. That is where we started, and it changed our lives forever.
Interestingly, knowing now that our Sage (LeSage) ancestors were most definitely Huguenots who fled France due to their spiritual convictions in the 16th century, the reality is that the Protestant experiment for our family has now concluded after five hundred years. We are optimistic about the next five hundred years, in accordance with God’s will, back in the Church created and ordained by Christ himself.
