Authors


Present Contributors


bryan  
Dr. Bryan Cross (Academic Editor) – Bryan was raised in the Pentecostal tradition, then became Reformed shortly after completing his bachelor’s degree in cellular and molecular biology at the University of Michigan. He then received an M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary. In 2003 he and his wife and two daughters became Anglican. On October 8, 2006, he and his family were received into full communion with the Catholic Church. He has previously taught at Saint Louis University, Lindenwood University, and Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. He is presently an associate professor of philosophy at Mount Mercy University. His personal blog is “Principium Unitatis.”

jonathan  
Dr. J. Andrew Deane – In 1994, Andrew became a Christian in Southern California through the ministry of Calvary Chapel. Six years later, he became Reformed, first attending the OPC and then the PCA after moving to the East Coast to conduct postdoctoral studies on the immune system. On September 27, 2008 his family entered into full communion with the Catholic Church. He and his wife Susan live in Southern California, and they have five children. His personal blog is “Prayer of Saint Ephrem“.

tomr  
Tom Riello – Tom graduated with a Masters of Divinity from Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte Campus) and has a Bachelors in Theology. Tom was an ordained minister in the PCA prior to his return to the Catholic Church. He currently teaches theology at a Catholic High School. Tom and his wife Christine have five children.

 
Dr. Barrett Turner – Raised United Methodist, Barrett was heavily influenced by Reformed University Fellowship and Trinity Presbyterian (PCA) at the University of Virginia. During his time at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, he and his wife began a period of discernment and eventually were received into full communion with the Catholic Church by Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis at the 2010 Easter Vigil. A month later he received the M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in moral theology and ethics at the Catholic University of America, writing on the development of the Catholic teaching on religious liberty under Dr. Joseph Capizzi. Barrett is currently an assistant professor of theology at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD. He and his wife have four sons.

 
Beth Turner – Beth was raised in a non-religious home in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Her brother’s conversion to the Christian faith inspired her to seek baptism, which she received in an Episcopal church in 2003. She met her husband Barrett at the University of Virginia. They married in 2006 and spent four years in St. Louis, Missouri while Barrett studied at the PCA’s Covenant Theological Seminary. They entered the Catholic Church at the conclusion of Barrett’s study there, in 2010. She currently resides in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where her husband teaches at Mount St. Mary’s University. Her conversion story can be found at “Saved by Love Alone: A Seminary Wife’s Journey.”

 
Dr. David Anders – David was raised in the PCA. He and his wife completed their undergraduate degrees at Wheaton College in 1992. He subsequently earned an M.A. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1995, and a Ph.D. from The University of Iowa in 2002, in Reformation history and historical theology. He wrote his dissertation on John Calvin. His dissertation is titled “Prophets from the ranks of shepherds: John Calvin and the challenge of popular religion (1532–1555).” He has taught history and religion in Iowa and Alabama. He was received into the Catholic Church in 2003. He currently resides in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife and five home-schooled children (ages 1-14).

Tom  
Tom Brown – Tom was raised in the home of a Christian Reformed Church (CRC) pastor, and attended churches of the CRC and later the Presbyterian Church of America after graduating from college in 2000.  In mid-2004, during conversations with a Catholic colleague, Tom was challenged by the issues of ecclesial authority and canonics.  Several moves and PCA churches later, and after two goes at the RCIA process, Tom and his wife entered the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, 2010.  They have four sons and one daughter, and live in Silver Spring, MD.  Tom is a military lawyer.

Jeremy  
Jeremy Tate – Jeremy is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington D.C (M.A.R). He first experienced a conversion to the Christian faith through the ministry of Young Life as a senior in high school. At Louisiana State University Jeremy explored a variety of campus ministries before discovering Reformed University Fellowship (RUF). Through RUF he came to understand the necessity of the Church for living the Christian life. While in seminary he gradually came to believe that this Church can only be found in its fullness in the Catholic Church. He currently lives in Annapolis, MD where he teaches U.S. History and leads Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Jeremy and his wife Erin are expecting their fourth child.

 
Marc Ayers – Marc was raised in the ARP denomination and grew up within the Reformed and Christian Reconstructionist circles through college and during a short stay at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. During that time and through law school, Marc taught philosophy and apologetics in various PCA settings. After law school Marc and his wife Donna (who was heavily involved in PCA campus ministry) began a multi-year study of the Church Fathers, Church History and the sacraments. After being drawn to the authority, historicity, beauty and necessity of the Catholic Church, they were received into the Church on Easter 2005. Marc, Donna and their children live in Birmingham, Alabama, where he practices appellate litigation with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP.

 
Deacon Jason Stewart – Deacon Stewart was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) before he and his wife Cindy entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in January of 2011. He earned his Master of Divinity from Mid-America Reformed Seminary (Dyer, IN) in 2005, and subsequently served for 5 1/2 years as pastor of Trinity OPC in eastern Pennsylvania. He and Cindy live in Rockford, IL, and have four children. He recently completed a two year course of study with the Diocese of Rockford’s Diaconal Program, and was ordained as a deacon on September 27, 2014.

 
Casey Chalk – A revert to the Catholic faith, Casey received the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation and Holy Communion, before leaving Catholicism with his parents for evangelicalism. After graduating from the University of Virginia, he enrolled at Reformed Theological Seminary (Washington, DC), and joined a PCA congregation. However, the conversion of several close friends to Catholicism inspired him to study more seriously the Church of his youth. He returned to full communion in October 2010, and was confirmed in 2011. He and his wife Claire have two daughters and one son. Casey has a B.A. in history and Masters in Teaching from the University of Virginia and an MA in Theology from Christendom College. He is a columnist for Crisis Magazine and New Oxford Review.

 
Jason Kettinger – Jason first believed in Christ in 1998, and received baptism in 2001 in the Presbyterian Church in America. He was a fruitful member of Reformed University Fellowship until his graduation in 2005. In the fall of 2005, he entered Covenant Theological Seminary with the intention of becoming a pastor. Questions of ecclesiology and interpretive authority eventually led to his reception into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in 2011, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. In 2014 he completed a Master of Theological Studies through Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology (IPT). He lives with his family and four dogs in Wildwood, Missouri.

Former Contributors


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Dr. Neal Judisch – Neal was raised a mainline evangelical and gravitated toward reformed theology in his late teens. He was affiliated with several PCA and OPC congregations until he was received (with his wife and six children) into the Catholic Church on the Vigil of Pentecost 2008. He is a professor of philosophy at the University of Oklahoma, where he specializes in metaphysics and philosophical theology. His personal blog is “of Towers and Tongues.”

Profile Picture (July 25, 2014)  
Andrew Preslar – Andrew grew up in an independent Bible church. He attended Appalachian Bible College, Southern Evangelical Seminary, and was enrolled at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary before his decision to attend a Presbyterian church (OPC) prompted him to reconsider his educational goals. After a year in Reformed circles, Andrew joined a traditional (“continuing”) Anglican denomination. He was studying for Anglican orders before being received into full communion with the Catholic Church (Byzantine Rite) on February 3, 2008.

John Kincaid  
John Kincaid – John is a graduate of Geneva College, Covenant Theological Seminary (MA), and Duke Divinity School (ThM). John is in his fourth year as a doctoral candidate (PhD) at Ave Maria University, where he lives with his wife Kristen and their three children, Natalie, Jack, and Evie. After being raised in a broadly evangelical home, John embraced the Reformed faith during his time in college, and for a period of five years sought to discern a call to the pastorate in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). While at Covenant, John’s journey toward the Catholic Church began, and under the direction of … read more

matt  
Matt Yonke – Matt is the son of a non-denominational Bible church pastor. He was drawn to Reformed doctrine while attending New St. Andrews College in Moscow, ID. After college, a friend’s conversion to the Catholic faith and a growing unrest about Reformed answers to Catholic questions started him down the road to full communion with the Catholic Church. Matt and his wife Erin were received into the Romanian Rite of the Catholic Church in November of 2006. Matt lives in Aurora, IL with his wife and three sons, Ambrose Peter and Joseph, and works in communications for the Pro-Life Action League.

sean  
Sean Patrick – Sean was born on US soil at Yokuska US Navy Base in Japan. He was baptized as an infant in the Episcopal Church but later his family joined the PCA where he was raised in the Christian faith. He was confirmed in the Catholic Church on the Easter Vigil 2007. He is married and has two daughters.

 
Fred Noltie – Fred was in the Presbyterian Church in America for twenty years, attending both Covenant College and Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. On the Easter Vigil of 2005 he and his family were received into full communion with the Catholic Church at St. Lawrence parish in Monett, Missouri. His personal blog is titled “Aquinas, Etc.

 
Joshua Lim – Joshua was born and raised in the PCUSA. He spent a few years in college as a Baptist before moving back to a confessional Reformed denomination (URCNA) prior to entering Westminster Seminary California, where he completed an M.A. in historical theology in the Spring of 2012. That same year he was received into full communion with the Catholic Church on April 21st, the feast day of St. Anselm. He told his story in a guest article at Called To Communion titled “Joshua Lim’s Story: A Westminster Seminary California Student becomes Catholic.” He subsequently earned an M.A. in theology from the Dominican House of Studies, officially the Pontifical Faculty of Theology of the Immaculate Conception, in Washington D.C. He is currently a doctoral student in historical theology at the University of Notre Dame.

 
Stephen Wilkins – Stephen grew up Presbyterian (PCA) but also spent time in Baptist and non-denominational circles before college. He became increasingly agnostic during his undergraduate studies and eventually left graduate school with a fist full of post-structuralist conviction and an excruciating crisis of faith. Stephen and his wife attended Presbyterian churches until 2007. That summer, they somewhat skeptically visited mass at the local Catholic Church and were unsettled to discover that the liturgy is entirely Christocentric. They were welcomed into full Catholic communion on August 30 of 2008.

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Dr. Taylor Marshall – Taylor was a member of the PCA and an Anglican clergyman before becoming Catholic. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Dallas. His dissertation was: “Thomas Aquinas on Natural Law and the Twofold Beatitude of Humanity.” He is also a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary (M.A.R. in Systematic Theology) and Texas A&M University. He is the author of The Crucified Rabbi and The Catholic Perspective on Paul. His family entered the Catholic Church in 2006. Taylor and his wife currently live in Dallas, Texas with their six children. His personal blog is “Canterbury Tales.” Read More.

 
Jason Stellman – Jason was born and raised in Orange County, CA, and served as a missionary with Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa in Uganda (’91-’92) and in Hungary (’94-’00). After becoming Reformed and being subsequently “dismissed” from ministry with Calvary, he went to Westminster Seminary California where he received an M.Div. in 2004. After graduation he was ordained by the Pacific Northwest Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America and called to plant Exile Presbyterian Church in the Seattle area, where he served from 2004 until resigning in the Spring of 2012. He is the author of Dual Citizens: Worship and Life Between the Already and the Not Yet (Reformation Trust, 2009), and The Destiny of the Species (Wipf & Stock, 2013). In 2011 he served as the prosecutor in the trial of Peter Leithart in the Pacific Northwest Presbytery of the PCA. He currently resides in the Seattle area with his wife and three children. He was received into full communion with the Catholic Church on September 23, 2012. He traces the narrative of his journey to the Catholic Church in “I Fought the Church, and the Church Won,” and in an audio interview titled “How the Church Won: An Interview with Jason Stellman.”

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Tim Troutman – Tim was raised in the PCA from childhood and entered the Catholic Church in 2006. In the years preceeding his conversion, he experienced a growing discontent with Reformed answers to central questions like Church authority, sacramentology, and above all, the canon of Scripture. His first mass was the funeral of a co-worker’s husband and one week later, he started RCIA. He lives with his wife and son in Charlotte, NC where he works fulltime at a homeless shelter. His personal blog is “Army of Martyrs” and he is the Executive Director of the Philippine Aid Society.