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.

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 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.