CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - Today, I spent a good amount of time with a young man with whom I have shared the ancient but ever new Catholic Christian faith for several years. Raised a Catholic, he fell away from the practice of the Catholic faith in his teenage years. He never received the Sacrament of Confirmation.

He will be confirmed the week after Easter by my dear friend, our parish priest, Fr Brian Rafferty. It will happen on the same day I have the privilege of Baptizing the first born son of this man and his wife. He specifically requested the date so that every year his son remembers his Baptism he will also remember the day his father made public his full embrace of the ancient but ever new Catholic Christian faith as an adult. 

I first met this man several years ago when I helped to prepare he and the wonderful woman who is now his now wife, for Christian marriage. I knew back then that he was a man who hungered for the fullness of the Christian faith. I also knew that the Holy Spirit was at work in him and would bring him home. It was only a matter of time.
 
I learned long ago, we can't "convince" people to come home to the Church - or "argue"other Christians into becoming Catholic. Only the Holy Spirit can lead them on this journey to the fullness of truth. We are simply roadsigns along the way.We need to be prepared to "give a reason for the hope that is in us." (1 Peter 3:15)  

When this man and I first crossed paths, he was a participant in a "non-denominational" church here locally. However, like many "former" Catholics, he was not at home. In a naturally supernatural way I simply offered him the bread of life which I have had the privilege of receiving over all these years since I came home to the Catholic Church. His questions were all sincere and his genuine hunger did the work. It was a joy for me to simply be a roadsign and to offer him the fullness of Christianity found within the Catholic Church. 

I am a re-vert to the Catholic Church. I returned to the faith of my childhood after a search for truth as a young man. That search led me home to the fullness of truth which subsists within the Church into which I was baptized as a child. As the years have passed my love for the Lord continues to grow. My greatest joy in life is to help others, like the young man I mentioned above, to find Him and the fullness of His life lived within the Catholic Church. Over these years I have come to understand my own vocation as living in the heart of the Church for the sake of the world.

I am an evangelizer at heart. My service as a Deacon has been deeply involved in the New Evangelization. Perhaps because I am a re-vert, I have often had the joy of sharing the Catholic faith with many "former" or "fallen away" Catholics. Helping them find their way home is one of my greatest joys. I have also had the joy of helping Christians from other communities come into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

I am certainly not alone in experiencing the joy of participating in the New Evangelization. One of its greatest advocates is a very gifted man named Tom Peterson. I met Tom several years ago at a Catholic Leadership Conference. I use to attend the conference regularly when it was chaired by Deal Hudson. I had seen my first "Catholics Come Home" commercial months earlier and became immediately convinced that the work of this non-profit media apostolate was going to become one of the most important resources for the New Evangelization in my lifetime.

Anyone reading this article who has not yet seen a "Catholics Come Home" commercial should go to their outstanding interactive web site by clicking here. Watch these beautifully produced commercials! Read about this fruitful New Evangelization Apostolate. Be encouraged in your own faith and find the courage to give it away to others. Learn to feel good again about being a Catholic Christian. We are living in a new missionary age and we are the missionaries.

I just received some good news from Tom Peterson about the newest missionary work of "Catholics Come Home". They are following Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and Cuba. While many are "questioning" this papal journey, Tom recognizes that this Pope, like his beloved predecessor, Blessed John Paul, is a missionary Pope. He understands that, like Jesus Christ, His Vicar should travel anywhere He has been invited to proclaim the fullness of the Gospel. After all, Pope Benedict XVI has made the "New Evangelization" the foundation of his Pontificate.

Tom Peterson has also made the New Evangelization his Life's mission. He is a man who lives to share the good news of the Christian life as found in its fullness within the Catholic Church. Tom, who refers to himself as an "advertising guy...simple ...