Who is the Nomad Catholic Family?

My Conversion Story to Becoming Catholic

When I was in college to become an engineer, I was taught to think through everything logically with facts. During this time, I realized the faith of my youth had a lot of logical holes in it. I knew I couldn’t be honest with myself and believe in something that I knew deep down wasn’t FULLY true. So, I decided to start from scratch. I decided that I would believe only in things that I could prove with facts. With this thought process, I became agnostic (though I couldn’t help but pray most nights, “If you’re real, God, prove it.”). Thus, my search for Truth began.

With the laws of physics proving that the universe had a beginning, I knew that there had to be something that made it begin. Therefore, the idea of a Creator was logical. I slowly looked through every explanation that I could find about who or what this Creator was, and I spent time studying many religions and philosophies. After looking at them and ruling things out based on logic and facts, only one religion remained. Christianity was the only one that didn’t defy logic. But, somehow, somewhere between the time of the early Christians to the faith I had been raised on, something had gone astray. What once was logical had become illogical. So, I began my research into Church History. I realized after my studies that the early Christian faith that was logical still exists today as the Catholic faith. I decided then that I must become Catholic.

Meeting Julia

After I chose to become Catholic, I needed to go through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (please ask me about it if you are interested in becoming Catholic). While I was working my first engineering job in the Gainesville, FL area, I signed up at St. Augustine’s Catholic Church. It was here that I met Julia. She was sponsoring another person joining the Church, and we slowly started getting to know each other. I became Catholic at the Easter Vigil on April 20^th, 2014.

Raised as a “Cradle Catholic,” Julia began taking her faith more seriously half-way through college. The great community at St. Augustine’s had a lot to do with it. She had just finished a 2-year dating fast and was becoming interested in religious life when I met her. St. Augustine’s is kind of a religious vocations factory. Quite a few men have gone to the seminary, and many women have become sisters. She hoped at the time that God would call her to be a sister, like so many of her friends. Julia loved the idea of giving every moment of her life to the service of God and His Church.

God Had Other Plans for Julia

One afternoon that summer, Julia had just finished reading an article posted by then seminarian, now Father Keegan. The article told men to man up and stop asking women to “hang-out.” Instead, make your intentions clear by asking them on an official date. Right after she finished reading the article, I called and asked Julia out on a date. It seemed like a sign that she should say yes. We enjoyed a really lovely date. Yet, privately, Julia still longed to become a sister. She hesitated to go on another date, but I offered to take her out for sushi (her favorite food), and she said yes. On the way home, she told me that she was seriously discerning religious life and just wanted me to be aware. Nonetheless, I kept pursuing her. She eventually agreed to be my girlfriend as long as I was open to the possibility of her getting called to religious life. I agreed and we started dating.

We Got Serious

After dating for several months, a friend of Julia’s (now a Sister) had a heart-to-heart with Julia. She reminded her that she couldn’t seriously pursue two vocations at once. She told Julia that she needed to be in the relationship wholeheartedly if she was going to be in one, just as she would completely pursue the religious life if she were living in a convent. Since Julia hadn’t felt the call, she started seriously pursuing our relationship. Three months later, I proposed, and she said yes!

A little over a year after that, we celebrated our marriage in St. Augustine at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine and started our life together.

 

Nomad Catholic Life

Shortly after we got married, I was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to work in Naples, FL. My lifelong dream had been to move to Naples, and so we moved from where we were living near my family in Ohio. Through that move, we learned some unexpected things about ourselves. Julia and I realized that even though Naples was great, we really love exploring new places. After Naples, we moved to Chicago, IL, then Jacksonville, FL, back to Naples, back to Ohio, back to Chicago, and now we are in the Space Coast of Florida. During that time, our two children (Victoria and Dominic) have blessed our life.

 

Before we know it, we will be on our way again. We love seeing new places, as well as revisiting places that we love and miss.  As of now, we have no intentions of settling down for the foreseeable future.

Our Goal

As Catholics trying to live out our faith as best we can, we want to do something to give back to the Church. As we travel, we plan to share images and clips of beautiful churches, shrines, pilgrimage sites, etc. to help everyone get a glimpse into the beauty the Catholic Church has to offer across the world. We hope you will join us for our adventure around the world to see our Church in all of its glory!

-Frank