Catholic Converts

The Latest

The Right Rev. Richard Pain, who served as the Anglican Bishop of Monmouth, will join the Catholic Church on Sunday, July 2, 2023.

Anglican bishop from Wales will convert to Catholicism to serve as priest

Jun 14, 2023

By Tyler Arnold

The Right Rev. Richard Pain, who served as the Anglican bishop of Monmouth in Wales, will join the Catholic Church... Read more

LyLena Estabine, a junior at Harvard University, is in the OCIA program at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and plans to join the Church at the Easter Vigil on April 8, 2023.

Harvard student finds her answers in the Catholic Church

Apr 2, 2023

By Joe Bukuras

LyLena Estabine is one of 32 candidates and catechumens in the OCIA program at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Cambridge,... Read more

Pope Benedict XVI, May 11, 2010

Catholic converts: ‘Benedict XVI led me into the Catholic Church’

Jan 2, 2023

By Zelda Caldwell

In the days after news spread that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was nearing the end of his life, a number... Read more

Cameron Bertuzzi, a popular Protestant YouTube host, announced online on Nov. 17, 2022, that he is in the process of converting to Catholicism.

Popular Protestant YouTube host announces decision to convert to Catholicism

Nov 17, 2022

By Joe Bukuras

Cameron Bertuzzi, a popular Protestant YouTube host, announced Thursday online that he is in the process of converting to Catholicism.  Read more

Gad Elmaleh / Our Lady of Lourdes

Jewish actor converts to Catholicism: the Virgin Mary ‘is my most beautiful love’

Nov 10, 2022

By CNA Staff

The famous Jewish actor and humorist Gad Elmaleh announced his conversion to the Catholic faith, a process in which he... Read more

Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman

Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman joins the Catholic Church

Sep 14, 2022

By Zelda Caldwell, Jonathan Liedl

“Welcome to our newest Catholic, Marcus Freeman,” read an announcement in the Sept. 11 bulletin published by St. Pius X... Read more

Shia LaBeouf arrives for the Hollywood Film Awards on Nov. 3, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California.

Shia LaBeouf embraces the Catholic faith: Here's what we know

Aug 27, 2022

By Joe Bukuras

To better understand the steps necessary to enter the Catholic Church and the actor's spiritual journey, CNA spoke to a... Read more

"What's the Eucharist?" Kent Shi, a 25-year-old Harvard graduate student, asked that question when he attended eucharistic adoration for the first time. The answer put him on a path to conversion.

Finding faith at Harvard: These 5 Easter conversion stories will make your day

Apr 16, 2022

By Joe Bukuras, Shannon Mullen

This year, 31 people — 17 of whom are students at Harvard — will enter the Catholic Church at a... Read more

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has decided to change the name of the process by which individuals enter the Catholic Church.

Forget RCIA, meet OCIA: U.S. bishops approve big name change

Nov 18, 2021

By CNA Staff

The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, or RCIA, as it has been more commonly referred to, will have its... Read more

Photo of a portrait of Mary Seacole (c.1869), by Albert Charles Challen (original held by the National Portrait Gallery in London.) Public domain.

‘It meant a great deal to her’: the Catholic faith of the woman voted ‘greatest Black Briton’

Jul 8, 2020

She was voted the “greatest Black Briton.” A statue of her stands opposite the Houses of Parliament. Her heroic life... Read more

Elise Amez-Droz (right), after her confirmation at the 2019 Easter Vigil, stands with friend Lauretta Brown. Courtesy photo.

'The Eucharist is only in this Church'- How one 2019 convert found, and embraced, the Catholic Church

Apr 11, 2020

By Christine Rousselle

Elise Amez-Droz’s journey to the Catholic Church began in a place well known for religious fervor, but not exactly known... Read more

The confirmation of Ellen Rogers at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in New York City. Courtesy photo.

Pray-At-Home: How two women were confirmed hours before NYC shut down

Apr 8, 2020

By Christine Rousselle

How two women were confirmed as the coronavirus pandemic took hold in New York City.  Read more

St. Melany Ruthenian Catholic Church, in Tucson, Arizona. Courtesy photo.

How this convert 'fell in love with Jesus' through the Byzantine Catholic Church

Oct 1, 2019

By Perry West

The scandals, she said, are opportunities to pray for Church leaders who have “fallen away, because there's so much responsibility... Read more

What’s going to bring the ‘nones’ back to the Church?

Jun 14, 2019

By Matt Hadro

As the U.S. bishops gathered in Baltimore this week, primarily to vote on proposals to respond to the clergy abuse... Read more

Deacon Drake McCalister, his family, and Bishop Jeffrey Montforton. Courtesy photo.

Deacon Drake: From Pentecostal preacher to Catholic priest

May 14, 2019

By Mary Farrow

Deacon Drake McCalister is many things that most men about to become Catholic priests are not.  Read more

Fr. Donald Calloway. Screenshot.

He was a runner for the Japanese mafia. Now he's a Catholic priest.

Dec 22, 2016

By Mary Farrow

Fr. Donald Calloway could give St. Augustine a run for his money, in terms of dramatic conversion stories.    Read more

Arne and Barbara Sahlstrom.

These converts met the Church through EWTN in the Middle East

Sep 15, 2016

Arne and Barbara Sahlstrom are a Swedish married couple, both brought up as Lutherans, though they were not practicing.  Read more

Clarence Gilyard (top left) as deputy James Trivette on 'Walker, Texas Ranger.'

The little-known Catholicism of a 'Walker, Texas Ranger' star

Aug 10, 2016

By Elise Harris

Clarence Gilyard is the seasoned Hollywood actor who kicked major bad-guy posterior as Chuck Norris' gun-slinging, karate-kicking deputy James Trivette... Read more

Pope Francis gives a book of the Gospels to a catechumen Nov. 23, 2013.

Pope welcomes those seeking entrance to Catholic Church

Nov 23, 2013

Pope Francis stood at the door of St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday afternoon, prepared to celebrate the entrance of over... Read more

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation, in the VPO Feb. 5, 2013.

New Catholics remind us to take faith seriously, archbishop notes

Nov 22, 2013

Reflecting on the end of the Year of Faith, a Vatican official says the witness of those joining the Church... Read more