My journey started over 20 years ago as an armchair quarterback. I married my wonderful cradle Catholic wife, Gretchen, and I stayed a mix of Lutheran and Advent Christian. This allowed me to keep one foot in Catholicism and one foot out. I enjoyed the men’s camping trips, Mass every Sunday, and volunteering at my kids’ Catholic school in Webster, where all five kids went.
But when it came to taking time out of my day to help educate and coach the kids on Catholicism, I bowed out and found something else to do. Super weak!
On our October 2024 “Man Up” camping trip, one of these fine youngish men asked me a simple question, “If you believe in all the miracles of Jesus Christ, then why not in the Eucharist?”
That question lit a fire in me. Even though I had weakly answered it many times before to others, I felt I needed to be more educated. I’m not an avid reader normally. I first grabbed “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist” by Brant Pitre. A man who would eventually become my sponsor had given it to me at least a couple years prior. He planted that seed and it just started seeing light. Understanding the significance of the Eucharist was my biggest hurdle and I took that on directly. I left my selfish belief that I can understand everything with my five basic senses and that anything that didn’t conform, just couldn’t be.
I started reading like I had just learned how all over again. I worked through books by Madrid, Kelly, Dr. (Scott) Hahn, and Vogt, among others. These authors were aligning the puzzle pieces for me, and the typology lessons tying the Old and New Testaments together were great.
I joined an Exodus 90 fraternity in January 2025, and we started on (presidential) Inauguration Day. As everyone else thought the world was crumbling, we were being built up. One week in, I was listening to a Pints with Aquinas podcast with guest Devin Schadt on the way to work and it smacked me right in the face. To be the father my kids needed, I needed to make the decision that all this reading and all the coaching I received so far was really supporting something. I was in tears in the parking lot at work. I drafted an email to our priest, Father Michael Rudolph, about wanting to jump into the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) program that was already running. Before sending, I surprised my wife by having her read the email, “just to make sure it was worded correctly.” She realized what I was saying and she was ecstatic. We both were.
OCIA class a day later was awesome as I sat next to a buddy of mine and his wife and another buddy’s wife is the religious education director. Family is everywhere I look.
I was welcomed into the Catholic Church on Divine Mercy Sunday, 2025, and I haven’t looked back!
Harms, 46, and his wife, Gretchen, are parishioners of St. Nicholas in Elko New Market. They have two boys and three girls ages 7, 10, 13, 16 and 18 who all go or have gone to Holy Cross Catholic School in Webster. Alex works in IT and is a substitute bus driver for Holy Cross. Gretchen is a physician’s assistant and also a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd teacher at Holy Cross. They enjoy traveling the state and rooting for all of their kids’ sport teams.
