Originally from Springfield, Mass., the priest fell away from religious practice in his teen years after confirmation.
While he was attending college at the University of Massachusetts, he began to pray, to read the Bible, and to seek God in his life after the “pain and emptiness” he felt at the end of his relationship with a woman.
At the age of 19, he had what he characterized as a “near death experience.”
“I left my body, I had that sensation of going through a tunnel, I came before the light of God, and God spoke to me. What God said to me was I needed to change, I needed to be justified, that my life was not turning out well.
“He told me that he loved me, that he would protect me. I came back to my body changed. I became a Catholic priest, and the rest is history,” he told CNA.
His bestselling book “Death: A Final Surrender” talks about what happens after we die.
“We will all go and stand before God, and God is very gracious and loving, but he is certainly the God of second and third chances. That’s exactly what I got in my life.
“This has really colored my theology. It’s colored my life experience, and certainly changed my life.”
The priest made a special appeal to those who need second chances in life.
“God is there for you. No matter what you’ve done in your past, God will forgive you, if you simply come in humility, come in surrender. And God will give you another chance.
“That is what the Gospel is all about. Jesus really reached out, not so much to the religious people, but he reached out to those who are broken, hurting, the poor, the marginalized. And he gave them a new chance.
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Fr. Pisegna cited Jesus’ own words: “I’ve not come for the healthy, but for the sick.”
His website, www.frcedric.org, lists airtimes for his television show as well as information about his books. It also contains his daily blog and links to his Facebook page.
Kevin J. Jones is a senior staff writer with Catholic News Agency. He was a recipient of a 2014 Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship.