March 2018

          I am Bob Johnston, a member of the congregation of St. Catherine of Siena parish. If a little over two years ago I had been asked if I were a member of a church, I would have said “no.” Church was not a part of my life. In order to understand how I got to St. Catherine it is important to let you know about my background. I was raised Catholic. My mother was a devout Catholic with a strong, simple faith. My father was Methodist, but did not go to church. I went to a Catholic elementary school through sixth grade. The God the nuns taught us about, I came to believe, was very stern and I remember that He probably frowned a lot. I never remember thinking that He was a loving God. After high school I was accepted to Notre Dame, and received a fine education but did not have an improvement in my spirituality. I subsequently graduated from Tulane Law School, married, had three children, had a successful legal career and retired last year after 51 years. During that time I had two successful law firms. I have a wonderful marriage and my children have provided me with six outstanding grandchildren who give us great joy. As the old saying states: my cup runneth over.
          Except for religion. I was an agnostic during my 20s, and was an atheist thereafter. Sometime in my early 30s I stopped going to church, and that lasted for over 40 years until late October 2015. In the early fall of that year I was diagnosed with heart problems, and a cardiologist told me I was headed in the direction of heart failure. I had exercised all my adult life, running a half hour five days in an average week. To be told what the doctor said was devastating. I went into a real depression, and my days were dominated by pessimism and fear.
          I believed I was headed toward death until a day in October that changed my life. I was driving to my office on Poydras Street and had gone over the Carrollton Avenue overpass on the service road from Metairie, and as I began merging into the right lane of the Expressway I heard a strong, clear voice in my right ear say five words: “It will be all right.” My mind had been focused on negative, bleak thoughts, and suddenly the most extraordinary thing had happened to me. I started to pull over to the side of the road, but then kept going, absolutely shocked at what had just happened. God had talked to me! It changed my life in that moment. I kept asking myself, why would God do that to me? I didn’t deserve for that to happen. I had not believed in Him, and could not understand why someone such as I would have had the most extraordinary communication from God. It then slowly came to me with clarity why it had happened. God loved me, but I hadn’t been able to see Him.     
          God’s love led me to go to church and to go to confession to Fr. Ronnie Calkins. I spent a half hour with him after calling him and telling him I had been away from the Church for over 40 years. At the end of my confession we shook hands, and I smiled and asked him: “Am I back in?” He laughed and told me that I was. So that’s my story. Of course what God had told me turned out to be right. Later medical tests showed no progression of my heart condition. I continue to feel well, exercise regularly, and have been told I am not looking at heart failure in the foreseeable future. I regularly attend Mass at St. Catherine’s and my conversion has resulted in my being able to have gratitude and appreciate the many blessings I have received in my life. I also have a feeling of a measure of peace that I never had before. I have been so blessed by what God has done for me.