From the editor

I marveled as former Protestant pastor Dave Lewis detailed the times he’d drive his white Ford pickup into the parking lot at Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edmond, daring himself to duck inside for confirmation that his discovery might be true.

Could Lewis, as the passionate Catholic apologist and Protestant-turned-Catholic Steve Ray titled his pivotal book, soon be “Crossing the Tiber”?

Indeed, he was, joining more than 1,000 others in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City in entering the Church at Easter, mirroring renewed zeal for the faith across the country and the globe.

For Lewis, it was a deeper dive into theology that led him to the Church. For others, the reasons varied – a rosary gifted by a grandmother, searches for “truth,” shepherds taking a prominent role in lives, and more.

What a fun and important story to tell.

And there were many others: Pope Leo XIV – the first American pope – emerging as the 266th successor to Saint Peter. Our own Archbishop Paul Coakley elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The celebration of 150 years of the Catholic Church in Oklahoma. Twenty-five seminarians on stage at the annual Archbishop’s Dinner for Seminarian Education in August. Thriving Catholic schools and parishes. And that’s just to name a few.

There were stories of sadness, too, including the passing of Archbishop Emeritus Eusebius Beltran and several beloved priests and sisters.

Our communications department relishes sharing compelling stories, through the written word in the Sooner Catholic, through photography and video, in podcasts and across social media.

The telling of our rich Catholic stories stands vital in sharing the faith, in evangelizing and in carrying out our role in Archbishop Coakley’s mission to “Go Make Disciples.”

And thanks to wonderful supporters across the archdiocese, we’re able to not only share the Good News, but aim higher in how we deliver it through emerging technologies.

We hope that you will continue to support these efforts, or perhaps begin in doing so, with a gift to the Sooner Catholic Communications Appeal. As we all know, inspiring Catholic stories are limitless across the archdiocese. And we will strive to tell them.

Thank you for your consideration. And may God bless you.
 
John Helsley