Mr. Graham on National TV

Mr. Graham, one of our beloved teachers here at Cistercian Prep School, was interviewed this past summer on a Catholic network called The Journey Home. During the interview, Mr. Graham primarily talked about his faith life and his “journey” to become Catholic.

Mr. Graham explained that his father was a Baptist and his mother was a Methodist. Though his family didn’t go to church together much while he was growing up, they started going to a Presbyterian Church when he was ten. However, Mr. Graham found that his love of science conflicted with his religion as he started high school. By the time he was a Sophomore, he no longer viewed himself as a Christian.

Farther along in the interview, Mr. Graham talked about a programming class he took because he was very interested in his father’s new Apple 2 computer. Mr. Graham’s friends in that class, Chad and Mike, gradually convinced him to return to a religious life. They took him to evangelical events and brought their Bibles to school for him to read. Mr. Graham spoke of a specific occasion he particularly enjoyed where Mike listened to Christian rock in the car.

Over time, Mr. Graham began to believe that the Bible truly was a supernatural book. He started to reconcile faith with the science he had studied. He began going to his friend’s Bible church and really enjoyed it, but he felt that something was missing – understanding about Jesus. Mr. Graham said that he was uncomfortable with the concept of Jesus until he read the Chronicles of Narnia. He felt he connected with Aslan, who he felt led him to Jesus.

By the time he went to college, Mr. Graham truly appreciated his faith in God, but his friends grew afraid that he would lose his faith while at university. Fortunately, he went to college for engineering and computer programming at Texas A&M, which had and still maintains a major Christian community. He began attending Grace Bible Church to keep his faith alive and was aided by a fellow student to keep going to the church. He kept growing in faith rather than losing it. In fact, Mr. Graham started going to an inter-varsity Christian fellowship group to learn more about Christ. The group, made up of people from many different backgrounds, stayed away from division and focused on evangelizing others. Soon after joining this group, Mr. Graham began attending the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA).

After graduation, Mr. Graham moved a few times due to job transitions, and this movement resulted in his attendance of various churches, including a Calvinistic PCA church in Mesquite, where he was married. While there, he learned about Martin Luther and many other reformers in the Church. Almost by accident, Mr. Graham did some research on the liturgy at Catholic Mass, which he thought involved the congregation in his protestant service. Mr. Graham developed an interest in the Catholic church, which led him to seek answers for some of his questions.

He found these answers in Malcom Smith, a preacher and Anglican priest whom Mr. Graham and his wife encountered on a retreat. He indirectly led them to the Greek Orthodox Church, which in turn led them to a cathedral in Sherman. The whole process took almost two years, but it provided Mr. Graham with answers to his questions about Catholic doctrine and defined beliefs. At the Greek Orthodox Church, Mr. Graham observed the difference between Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic teachings. Finally, he and his wife decided that they would to go to a Catholic Church. At last, for the first time in his life, Mr. Graham felt that he had all the answers through the Church and Pope. Though it would take time to understand the veneration of Mary and the saints, he and his wife were confirmed as Catholics in 2006, a faith they still firmly hold to today.

Mr Graham now teaches a theological elective and computer programming, his two passions, at Cistercian Prep School.