Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90550 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 130 pages

Customer Reviews

Awesome Book for Catholic Youth!!!
"I strongly recommend this book to all who are interested in the spiritual journeys of today's youth and to all who seek inspiration for their own spiritual journey."--SCOTT HAHN

"An impressive array of faithful young Catholics has contributed to this honest and heartfelt collection of conversion stories. In their triumphs and tragedies, struggles and epiphanies, we see glimpses of the new springtime of faith unfolding in the church and in the hearts of young adults across America."--Colleen Carroll Campbell, author, THE NEW FAITHFUL

"The raw honesty of the testimonies is exactly what this generation needs but is sorely lacking in the media, some classrooms and on most campuses... A great read for any young Catholic..."--Mark Hart, Life Teen
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When I saw that Scott Hahn had endorsed this book, I was intrigued (Scott Hahn even wrote the foreword to the book). I picked it up in a cool Catholic bookstore near my home town. I flipped through it and figured why not give it a read.

I am glad that I did!!!

The testimonies are awesome! It's a lot like a SURPRISED BY TRUTH, but just for young people. I had heard of Chris Cuddy before and it was awesome to see how he became Catholic after hating the Catholic Church. Basically, the dude was a Protestant and read tons of books about Catholic stuff and that's what opened his eyes to the faith. I had seen Fr. Donald Calloway's way awesome conversion story DVD, and it was cool to read his story too. He's such a cool priest!

The story about the girl who had an abortion and eventually found healing in the Catholic Church was amazing. The story by Therese was also incredible: this girl was at Columbine High School when the shootings happened, and her story about how she found Jesus in the Catholic made me really think about how much God loves and protects me, too.

Anyway, there are a lot of different stories in here from young people who either became Catholics or rediscovered how amazing it is to be Catholic. There are a lot of stories from people with different backgrounds: football players, partiers, jocks, alcoholics, homosexuality, lust, and others. I'm a young Catholic myself and I was waiting for a book like this for a long time. I'm glad that it's finally here. Sometimes it's hard to follow Jesus. Sometimes we feel like we're alone. But the cool thing is is that were not alone. God is with us. And there are other young people out there just like me who want to love Jesus.

This book was very helpful. I can't recommend it highly enough to any young person or even adult who wants to know how to help someone love Jesus more!

Young adults discover the fullness of truth in the Catholic Church
As the mother of three teenagers and a Catholic youth group leader in my parish, I loved the powerful message of Chris Cuddy's and Peter Ericksen's book! Since reading it myself, I have highly recommended this book to many parents of teenagers and to teens themselves. Growing up in a religious household or not, there comes a time in each person's life where they have to decide to follow Jesus or not. They have to choose for themselves. For this reason, the stories contained in this book are like a valuable treasure that I love to share with others, just as the authors so effectively have done.

The twenty one stories (each on a different chapter in the book), show the universal search for truth and meaning in life that each one of us undergoes. The problems experienced by these young people are things that we can identify with that have happened to us or people that we know.
Although this book has been written for people aged 18 to 34 years of age, as a parent I was shocked to read the last chapter and learn of the dangers of pornography when the author admitted to being exposed to it at age eleven and hooked on it by age fourteen. It taught me that we can never begin too young to speak to our children about the love of God and the dangerous lies of the world.

Thankfully, the young adults here have all come to a deeper faith in Jesus Christ and have discovered on their journey the beauty of faith and the fullness of truth lived out in and through the Catholic Church. At the conclusion of each story, each person's love for God and their joy is evident and is something that we are happy to share with them! The book is an eye-opening experience for all of us whether you are someone who was baptized a Catholic, or not. God calls each one us to holiness. We need only to put some thought and effort into examining who we truly believe Jesus Christ is and how this knowledge can effect our lives. As Andy Swafford in chapter twenty of the book says after spending time in prayer and reading all four of the gospels over Christmas break from college, "The Holy Spirit poured a fervor into me that burned deep within my bones. Finally, for the first time in my life, I had found something that was truly worth living for-indeed, something even worth dying for." You can't ask for anything more honest than that!

Vibrant Faith of Today's Catholic Youth
The common theme in most of these stories led me to the term "hybrid Catholics." As hybrid cars are powered by gasoline and electricity, these individuals are powered by two different and equally important sources: evangelical Christian roots and traditional Catholic teaching. The authors' stories are typical. Ericksen was a cradle Catholic who began questioning his faith in elementary school when his best friend had an accident that left him comatose. Like many of the others represented here, Erickson found his way to a Protestant summer camp leading to six years as "a fired-up, nondenominational, evangelical Christian." He continued his involvement in Protestant youth organizations on the campus of his Catholic college, but came to rethink his "biblical position" during a theology course. Co-author Chris Cuddy started out as a "Catholic-hating evangelical Protestant." During college, he turned to the Catholicism after a crisis of faith during which he met Scott Hahn, Ph.D., a former Protestant minister who is now a Catholic theologian.

The remaining 19 stories often include conversion experiences involving death of someone close or personal crisis such as abortion, addiction, and questions of sexual identity. Christian camps and youth groups figure heavily in many stories, as does influence from Catholic friends. All of the writers express their conversion and commitment to Jesus with evangelical zeal, and many tell of dedication to spreading the word and serving others. As Dr. Hahn says in his foreword, these young people and others like them "give us a personal glimpse into the vibrant faith, hope and love of today's Catholic youth."