In 2018, I was nudged by the Holy Spirit to speak openly about my faith. I attended a Cornerstone retreat where I had a willingness to share the Good News of Christ as I had experienced Him in my own life.

At first it was just a hobby. But that summer, while I was home with more free time, I began investing in it. I cleaned up the design, bought the domain acaffeinatedcatholic.com, and started writing more regularly, sharing posts on my personal Instagram and sending people to the full version on my website.

In September 2019, I attended a high school retreat, not knowing it would change everything. For the first time in my life, I didn’t just know about God, I felt the Father’s love personally. That moment rewrote the direction of my life.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been searching for God—but my real relationship with Jesus began when I was 19. In college, I joined a Baptist church, and later I followed my friends to a non-denominational church. I was trying to grow in faith, but deep down I still felt like something was missing.

During that Mass, I truly felt the presence of Christ in the Church. Unlike anywhere else I had been. Seeing the Eucharist for the first time, the tradition, the veneration, everything about it felt right.

I wanted to attend the most Catholic college I could find, so I chose the Catholic University of America, in Washington DC. There I found a vibrant community of students, clergy, religious, and professors who didn't just talk about the faith, they lived it.

 Through storytelling and beauty, I seek to help others encounter Jesus, the source of all beauty and the deepest longing of the human heart.

I was born in Cleveland to immigrant parents from the Philippines. I was raised Catholic, and even as a kid, church gave me a sense of peace I didn’t yet know how to explain.

That Good Friday, I wandered back into a church for the first time. In the dark by candlelight the choir sang: O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam: attendite et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus.

I went from a “frat star” at the University of Delaware to a husband and father of two in the Catholic Church. For years I was a cultural Catholic chasing the dream—money, status, luxury, the finance-mogul lifestyle I thought would make me happy.

I’ve always loved stories. From fairy tales and folktales to sci-fi and fantasy novels, I’d read anything I could get my hands on growing up. There were Catholic books in the mix, too—Bible stories and lives of the saints. But for a long time, I thought all the best stories had nothing to do with God.

I went to Mass for over a year before I converted. Around the same time I attended Methodist, Baptist, and non-denominational churches searching for answers, hoping God would give me peace somewhere other than the Catholic Church.

I did not plan on attending CCO’s Rise Up last year. The year prior was difficult so I thought that it would be better for me to have a lowkey and more quiet Christmas season.

It wasn’t until the second half of my studies at Brock University that I was reintroduced to the Catholic faith through a ministry called Catholic Christian Outreach.

I walked through much of my life in a kind of slumber. I went to Catholic school from the time I was little until I graduated, but the faith was never something I truly lived.

Hey everyone, it’s AJ. I grew up always being the life of the party. I loved sports, and I’ve always been an extrovert.

Everything changed when I met a girl whose peace and joy seemed to indicate that she had found what I was searching for all those years. I asked if we could talk, and long story short I experienced the love of Christ in a real, tangible authentic way through that friendship.

Hi, my name is Grace Foy, I’m 21 years old and I’m from Donegal, Ireland. I’ve just finished three years of mission with NET Canada.