Deacon Gene Fadness: From Latter-Day Saint to Catholic

I recently interviewed Deacon Gene Fadness on Catholic Re.Con. His story is so good, I had to post it here.

Interested in his testimony video? Part 1 is here.

Interested in his written testimony? See the preview below. For his whole journey, click here.

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In early July 2001, I was getting ready to attend Mass at my home parish in Boise, Idaho. I realized it was exactly 20 years to the day of my conversion to Christianity from Mormonism. 

And as a Catholic of less than two years, I was still finding that there was always some part of the Mass that causes me to for a lump in my throat or my eyes to well with tears. I wondered which part of the Mass would strike me most on this special day: receiving the Eucharist? Singing a particular song? The homily?

It turned out to be none of those. Instead, I choked up a little when we started the Creed: "We believe in ONE God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, of all that is seen and unseen. We believe in ONE Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten from the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God...”

Reciting that ancient creed, written to protect the church from the very heresies that I had formerly believed, brought tears to my eyes. By God’s grace, I had indeed come a long way from polytheism to monotheism and from the doctrines of men into the bosom of the church "of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth." (I Tim. 3:15)

My journey to Rome, my final destination after 26 years of traveling, starts in Salt Lake City, headquarters of a worldwide religion whose creed acknowledges the existence of many gods and declares that Jesus, though divine, is not God.

After eight years in Mormonism, my journey then takes a “circuitous route” through the evangelical and Lutheran branches of Protestantism. Looking back on my story, I can see now how God was drawing me into Catholicism almost immediately from the moment I became a Christian, even though that leg of my journey took another 18 years after leaving Mormonism.

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