Latest / My Brother's Journey / Coming Home: A Young Man's Journey Back to the Catholic Faith

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Coming Home: A Young Man's Journey Back to the Catholic Faith · My Brother's Journey

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, welcome again to my brother's journey.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: As always, I'm part of the tag team.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Greg Joseph Chuk, but in today we have a special um person filling in for my colleague and co-host Baron, and that is my neighbor, Keith Curry.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Keith, welcome again.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's nice to be here.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, great to have you.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And Keith, I am so excited.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Not just because it's an absolutely beautiful day today with low humidity in the middle of August, which is unheard of in the Carolinas, but we have another mystery guest, uh a newer member of our Bible study.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so excited to get to know him.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and before we uh have him introduce himself, as you know, we always start with prayer.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, mystery guests, will you lead us in prayer?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: So in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Dear Heavenly Father, I just want to say thank you for your eternal word.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, thank you for granting us with your grace and everlasting mercy.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: I thank you for the wisdom that you have brought each and every one of these men today.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, thank you for our testimonies, thank you for our knowledge, and I just pray that you bless the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts uh as we continue uh in this podcast today.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh thank you and praise you in the name of the Father, Son, excellent, excellent.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: That was that was fantastic.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, Mr.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: Guest, who are you?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: Please introduce yourself.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: My name is Spencer Jones.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I am 28 years old.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I've been going uh to uh St.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: Philip's the Apostle Church since March of this year.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um I grew up uh in the Charlotte area and actually attended uh St.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Mark's Catholic Church uh for most of my childhood and into my teens as well.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um also participated in St.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Peter's um in downtown Charlotte as well.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um was on a bit of a non-denominational and searching route for a while, and then uh luckily through Dr.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: Dirich's daughter Lauren, she brought me back to the Catholic Church.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, awesome.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh great to have you here, Sponge.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we're excited to have you here.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you raised Catholic, born baptized Catholic.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then um so uh tell us a little about your journey.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and by the way, I just want to say this.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I should mention this right off the off the bat.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: We are so excited to see a young person of your age, uh, not only Jew and our podcast, I think, I think you're probably the youngest person we've had on the podcast so far, but also in our Bible study.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: And um and I think I recall, Spencer, you telling me that uh you work in Charlotte.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh do you live in Charlotte too?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And you do, and yet you're you're you're coming all the way out to Statesville, both for our Bible study and as a parishioner now.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely so uh so we love that.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: But um tell us about your spiritual journey.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us about you know life uh from the beginning, I guess.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so uh I guess the spiritual journey obviously started when I was a baby, was raised uh in the Catholic Church, which was great.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um when I was on my own after high school in college around people of the world, um I kind of had this constant thought in the back of my head of what is God?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: I knew what the church was, I knew what going to mass was, the sacraments were, uh, but I didn't really have much experience reading the Bible, and I didn't really have that answer to that question of what is God, who is good, or who is God, uh, and how does he kind of uh fit into my life outside of the day-to-day church.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so a lot of people um were in world religious classes while I was attending Central Piedm Community College, um, and that piqued my curiosity.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to figure out who this God guy was uh because I knew who Jesus was, obviously he died for our sins, but um I believe at that point I was mainly believing in Jesus because I was told to.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the church told me to, but I didn't really have that turning of the heart or circumcision of the heart, as the Bible would put it.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so then from that point, uh read a lot of text into the Eastern faiths, um, really tried to have my own type of relationship with God, and then hit like a really big brick wall in my life, and that caused me to pick up the Bible finally.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then at that point, it almost felt like God's arms were almost like shielding me from this immense pain that I should have been feeling at that time in my life.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: That caused me to continue reading scripture, even if I had issues with the scripture or any conflicting thoughts.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, one of my buddies would always just tell me, keep reading, keep reading, and I would find the answers, find the comfort through reading the Bible.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I finished it last year and I'm still reading it to this day.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so it was actually through reading the Old Testament that I had my coming to Jesus moment.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: It was through reading the book of Isaiah.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I hadn't even got into the gospels at that point um until I was really preaching, yeah, Jesus is the way.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then I got re-baptized uh in a non-denominational church.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I had the contemplation of just settling with my uh um infant baptism, but I saw that as a new shift and a new change in my life, and that's something that I really wanted it to continue further.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so from that day forward and to this day now, I just continue reading scripture every single day and just trying to build my faith closer to God.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, what kind of I guess religions did you explore or study or I mean what Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: I actually went to a mosque uh to study the Islam faith a bit just to see what they were all about, uh considering how popular that is.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um recently bought the Book of Mormons so I could understand just where they're trying to come from and uh see how that kind of conflicts with the Bible and see why there's such a such a divide there.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm not gonna end up Mormon or anything like that, but um, but yeah, just uh want to at least have that knowledge base so that if I'm ever around people who do practice their faith, I know exactly where the contradictions lie um and uh why their word is not above the Bible.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it seems like um so this I don't know if you want to call it a re-energized uh uh focus on getting back to your Catholic faith.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um was this was this after school or while you were still at CBC?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, this was after school.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: This was after this as well.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I graduated back in uh 2021 from UNC Chapel Hill.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um and at that at that point I was in I was um going to non denamic non-denominational churches every now and again.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I had owned a Bible at that point, but couldn't make it past past Genesis.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um I would say like I really came to Christ um fully um and eternally uh since honestly last year.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: And um now did you I think Chapel Hill has a Newman's Center there.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: I believe they do, yeah.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Did you attend Newman Center or not?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I did not.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: You did not, okay.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: I was just curious.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I was in the computer science program.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, awesome.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: Never got there.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: So since that time, it seems like you have really um gotten very deeply involved back into the Catholic faith.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: At least, and I'm just looking at it from the outside.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've I'm just getting to know you.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, right.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I mean, clearly you're at our men's Bible study, clearly you're coming to mass.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um you attended the Knights of Columbus to potentially are you thinking of becoming a knight?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, signed the paperwork uh last or the last meeting.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um so just waiting to hear back from them.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, awesome.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I can't wait for that.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking forward to that, of course.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Having you as a brother knight, so that that's awesome.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um so let me ask you this.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um people your age, right?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think that uh that they have like fallen away significantly from the church and it's not as attractive to them?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or do you think it's do you think do you see people your age coming back to the church and and and and and recognizing that maybe something's missing in their life and maybe the the church is is a source of of what they're looking for.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean we're can you give us some insight because clearly Keith and I are we're in our 60s.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're old man.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're Keith and I both just recently got on Medicare, so we're all excited about that.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: But uh you got a way to go yet.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, unfortunately.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, give us some insight as to what people your age, what you're kind of what you're seeing and as you talk to them.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, especially living in Charlotte, there's just an uphill battle, I feel like, for everyone living in that city.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there's just so much temptation everywhere you go.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, whether it's in social media and seeking that external validation, which is kind of ironic uh considering the chapter we're reading for 2 Corinthians, uh just constant external validation.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and then even when you get to the church, like some of the most popular churches I see are uh elevation where they tend to preach this prosperity gospel that so that when they get there they're not even getting the full truth.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I think the main thing that's like keeping uh the youth from experiencing God is this constant distraction from uh of comfortability that they're constantly seeking, what the wor the world tells them to reach out for.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because everything that applies to scripture goes against what the world says to do.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and social media being so prevalent, AI being so prevalent, we're constantly taught to rely on those things as opposed to sticking to the Bible.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so whether you're in church, whether you're in the clubs or drinking or just constantly on your phone in social media, there's just these constant distractions that uh keep uh people from their faith.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why I always tell everybody I have a book of Bibles in the trunk of my car so I can hand them out as much as possible.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: The best way to have that relationship with God is based on my experiences with it, and that's just by reading the scripture.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so that you bring up uh an interesting point.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: You have a uh a box of Bibles, and have you been handing them out to in husbands?
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me a little bit about that.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how how does that how does that interaction start off or go?
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: It can definitely be tough.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh especially like last Christmas uh with my family, uh I think like five or six Bibles were handed out, uh, which was which was really awesome and a blessing to see.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but of course, then you see the reactions from it.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh for the people in my family that aren't necessarily turned to uh Jesus at this point saw it more of a joke or just not something to necessarily be taken seriously.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but I see it more as planting a seed so that even if you get a bad reaction from it, at least it's in the back of their mind.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: Something like that.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Is this immediate family, brothers, sisters, or brothers and sisters.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so okay, you're not talking like cousins or second cousins or anything like that.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, all right.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, but uh talking to friends even about uh the gospel can also be tough too because I'm no longer the same guy I used to be back when I was uh 24, 25.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not drinking as much as I used to, going out as much as I used to, so I'm not the friend that they expect me to be whenever I go out.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um and that puts some people off.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I get invited to less things now.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's probably why I'm able to drive here every every week twice, uh, which is which is also great.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but yeah, it it keeps me out of some social circles, but then I hear uh of people like pulling me aside, being like, hey, ever since you started posting scripture on your on your stories, or even just talking to other people about it, I've started to have my own type of revelation.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: So just being used as a tool for that, even if it just ends up saving one person at the end of the day, it's all worth it.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we're um I I have a son your age, and and and I'm already seeing some similarities here.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um he lived in Charlotte for a while.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh I mean he lived right right in Uptown.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh about that age, uh I would say 24, 23, 24, 25, um, you know, he was uh going to the clubs, you know, partying, you know, doing all that kind of stuff.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um and um so you know it it seemed for a while that was attractive.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then like for him, he had an event that he ran into some not really good people and figured out that like he could have literally probably been killed by them.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: And uh was fortunate that that didn't happen, but it it kind of scared him straight from getting himself back into that situation.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: But but for you, what was there a was there a any kind of particular event that was like, okay, I'm just I've had it with this, like this is not the lifestyle I want, or can you maybe speak to that a little bit?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean uh at that time I was trying to find a relationship at that time, and of course there's the dating apps that that everyone's swiping on nowadays, and I just remember looking back on like the previous two years that I had living in Charlotte and just seeing where I was and like how far I got being able to rely on these things.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then at that point I just decided to give up and just focus on reading the Bible instead.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it was just from realizing that I had everything that I thought I wanted and that still not being enough, and I had a choice to make whether or not I wanted to dig deeper and like keep trying to find some sense of of eternal comfortability, or if I can just let everything go and just focus on what the scriptures are saying for just a little while.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then from that point forward I just fell, fell in.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: So you're just it seems like you you took that leap of faith to say, you know what, I'm just gonna put in your hands, Lord, and yeah, just wherever you go, uh you know, wherever you lead me, I'm gonna I'm gonna try to follow.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Correct, yeah.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is that yeah, is that it?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Keith, you got any questions for him?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're gonna probably wrap up here.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: I can't believe how well this is won.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, not that no, no, no, you've done a great job.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: So you're younger than 30, I guess, right?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm t I'm 28.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: I turned 29.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Very good, very good.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's always impressive to me to see someone that's young uh embrace their faith wholeheartedly into the fact that you're driving all the way from Charlotte to Statesville.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm guessing.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: What part of Charlotte do you live in?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: I live in Plaza Midwood.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Plaza Midwood.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Great area down there.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when I was a kid, I grew up on Nassau Boulevard, right there off of uh there.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm familiar with the area.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um so where do you work?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: I work at Principal Financial uh in the U University campus.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so it's like a financial insurance company.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: So are you living by yourself or you're still with family?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, all I've been by myself since I graduated college.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: So you graduated from UNC Chapel Hill.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Correct, yeah.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: And uh you've been living in Charlotte in the mid-1980s.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I actually lived in Cleveland, Ohio for two years, um, and then I moved back in Charlotte um in May of 2023.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Tell about Ohio.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: What was that like?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it was flat.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Being a Charlottean and moving north.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, I mean, it was great.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: So my uh father is actually from Ohio, Michigan area, uh, was uh born in Ohio and then raised in Michigan.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I would visit uh his his parents, my grandparents, uh from time to time in Michigan.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: Never got to experience like a real north winter until I was in in Cleveland, and it was wild.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like I had to buy snow plows, which was crazy in itself.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I had a two-wheel drive car.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, it was front-wheel drive, and I couldn't go to work, and people were still going to the grocery stores and stuff like that.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, it was wild.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: And luckily, I was working fully remote at that point, uh, but I could never see myself moving north.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Being a good southern boy moving north is never easy.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: I had the same problem.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then going from the Carolina Panthers to the Cleveland Browns was saying these days.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I might as well go somewhere back.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I went from the Carolina Panthers to the Bills.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: On the bills.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: So Buffalo Bills.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: I got to watch them lose four Super Bowls.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's tough.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, I'm still a Bills fan.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's good.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's just uh, I gotta tell you, it is so encouraging to see uh someone your age exhibiting such great faith.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: You're handing out Bibles, you're you're doing what you can, but the main thing is you're driving all the way to Statesville to be part of a men's Bible study.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: I've been coming to the same study since I think February, and um it's been very encouraging, and I do appreciate the honesty, and there's a transparency and an honesty that you get in this group that you don't see in a lot of places, and I do respect that.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, thank you.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I I love it.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: I remember when Dr.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: Dirich told me about it, I was absolutely ready, and then um Father Bernard also encouraged me to come to as well.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, because I participate in a co-ed Bible study in Charlotte, uh, and I'm also leading the men's Bible study uh now, too.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: So yes, it's just great to hear all the wisdom.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: I remember the first time I was at the men's Bible study, I just wanted to sit there and listen because it's just so great being around a bunch of men that are committed to their faith and um having a different experience than I have.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a different vibe here than maybe some of the other parishes, I think.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and and and I'm not, I mean, I'm not an expert.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like I I haven't gone to, you know, I haven't attended Mass at St.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Mark's or some of the other parishes, but I just believe that there's a different vibe here and and uh uh a closeness with this with this parish community, which is really cool.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: But uh we're so delighted.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Spencer.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for doing the podcast and thank you and coming in.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so hey, thank you for tuning in and being part of my brother's journey.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, seek Jesus in all you do and be fishers of men.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: God bless you, and please join us again, viva Jesus.