The John-Henry Westen Show - Catholic Conversion SURGE Among Young Men： Meet Wade Searle

00:00:00.000 What their goal is, and by them I mean the elites, they're recognizing this trend among young men.

00:00:05.760 Maybe the goal in the future is going to try and make the Catholic Church unappealing to guys like

00:00:11.360 me. And I think they've been trying that for a while, and I really don't think it's working.

00:00:18.040 Hello my friends, welcome to the John Henry Weston Show. You know, we've been tracking

00:00:21.400 one of the most encouraging developments in the Catholic Church in many decades, and that is this

00:00:27.620 incredible influx of particularly young men into the Catholic Church. Even the mainstream media

00:00:34.280 is talking about the unbelievable surge in numbers of converts, new baptisms this year and last year,

00:00:44.280 especially among young men. What is going on? We've got with us today someone who really

00:00:51.660 perfectly embodies that. He's Wade Searle. And many at LifeSite will know Wade because he's

00:00:56.460 our influencer. He is our Pentagon correspondent. He entered the church this Easter, actually after

00:01:02.580 having attended for three years OCIA in different parishes around the country. He's able to share

00:01:09.800 with us some very interesting insights into what is driving this, because he's been exposed not

00:01:16.440 only in his own experience, but to all the people in his OCIA classes for three years now. So he'll

00:01:22.820 be able to share with us in depth what went on both in his own personal journey and what's going

00:01:28.160 on in the hearts and minds of many entering the church. We're going to bust down some of the

00:01:33.040 theories running around right now. Wade, welcome to the program. Yeah, thank you so much for having

00:01:37.480 me on, John Henry. It's an honor to be here. Let's begin, as always do, with the sign of the cross.

00:01:41.200 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Let's start with you.

00:01:47.360 Tell us what happened. Congratulations, by the way. I know the whole staff has wished you that,

00:01:51.560 But on behalf of the show and all of our guests or all of our audience, I want to wish you congratulations.

00:01:57.480 Welcome home. And in your case, it's been quite a while.

00:02:00.760 You've been thinking about this for a few years.

00:02:02.520 Yeah, thank you so much.

00:02:03.360 So I grew up a non-denominational Protestant, and I attended a lot of those churches as a kid growing up in Arizona.

00:02:10.020 And as I entered my adult life and really as I entered my late teenage years, what I found was, you know, and it was really because of the Internet was where I got started.

00:02:18.900 And I'm not ashamed to say that. 0.98

00:02:20.880 I know a lot of people make fun of these online e-caths or whatever, but I think it's a good thing. 0.91

00:02:26.240 The Internet's very popular with my generation, and so that was a huge part of my upbringing. 0.93

00:02:30.500 And so I learned a lot about the Catholic Church.

00:02:33.240 I was introduced to Catholicism really through the Internet.

00:02:36.440 And as I got involved in politics from a very early age, I started interning for Congressman Paul Gosar when I was 18.

00:02:44.440 And he is a Roman Catholic.

00:02:46.560 All the staff are Roman Catholic.

00:02:47.960 and so instantly I'm thrown into the political machine and I'm asking my co-workers who have

00:02:55.000 become my friends I'm asking them about Catholicism I'm learning about Catholicism

00:02:58.780 I moved to DC a couple years later and I learned you know really like at this point all of my

00:03:04.900 friends in my adult life are Catholic and they're all young men and they're all very traditional

00:03:09.740 they all prefer the traditional Latin mass over the Novus Ordo and eventually they start bringing

00:03:14.280 me to mass. And, you know, so I go to a lot. I go to pretty much like every parish in D.C.

00:03:20.600 I've been to several. And what I've noticed is that at every single Novus Ordo mass, it's really

00:03:27.120 all like old people. And that was always peculiar to me because I had heard of Novus Ordo before. 1.00

00:03:33.060 And I always thought that this is the thing that's supposed to appeal to like the Protestant

00:03:38.140 evangelicals like myself. So if there's anything in the Catholic Church that's supposed to be an

00:03:43.040 introduction to the church for guys like me it's supposed to be this but i go here and it's like

00:03:48.800 no one here is my age like i'm the youngest guy in the room and you know i don't really like feel

00:03:54.980 like i there's like a huge community here and so i would go to my friends to traditional latin

00:04:00.100 masses there's a couple if you know where to look in virginia and dc and this of was you know these

00:04:06.320 are packed with young men in particular young men and women but mostly men especially in the

00:04:13.320 dc maryland virginia area a lot of the traditional latin masses are packed with young men who work

00:04:19.940 in the government or work in surrounding ngos or think tanks or they work on k street

00:04:25.500 and so particularly this trend among young men you'll find and this is what the even the mainstream

00:04:31.600 media has been forced to pick up on now is that this trend is concentrated in cities of influence

00:04:37.280 such as dc or new york or chicago which are huge you know finance cities huge cities for politics

00:04:43.920 and really the levers of power are located within these cities and so as young men replace the older

00:04:50.800 people who are uh holding the reins of power and government as they sort of cycle out and these

00:04:56.960 younger people cycle in, what you're finding is a lot of the people that are working their way up

00:05:02.460 the ladder, so to speak, are traditional Catholic young men. And so this fascinated me. And so I

00:05:10.080 tried RCA for a bit at St. Peter's in DC, I believe it was, tried it for a few months. And

00:05:17.140 it was, you know, the class was, of course, young men, young men and young women. And I had to move

00:05:23.800 So I couldn't really like finish it out there.

00:05:26.020 And then I moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I'm located currently.

00:05:29.960 And so I did RCA for one year at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Parish in Grand Rapids.

00:05:37.480 And I loved it, but I didn't finish it that year either.

00:05:40.680 And that's because personally, in my personal journey, I know I was just delaying the conversion.

00:05:46.060 I was thinking like, you know, there was something really holding me back.

00:05:49.600 I think a lot of that was just fear and pride, which, you know, I've thankfully gotten over.

00:05:54.740 I went again in 2025, and I finished it this year at the Easter Vigil, and I was honored to be welcomed into the Catholic Church.

00:06:04.340 I received my first communion, and that was a big moment for me.

00:06:08.260 I released a statement on Twitter.

00:06:09.640 I said it was the most important and the most consequential day of my entire life, and I truly believe that it will be and that it was.

00:06:17.020 So I was confirmed to the Catholic Church. And when I saw it, all three RCA classes that I attended over the past three years, I saw, you know, a huge desire from young people for truth and order.

00:06:30.380 And I think that's something very specific. And I think that's something they're not getting elsewhere at other denominations, you know, like with Protestantism and evangelicalism.

00:06:38.900 This is one of my big problems with it was that the doctrine really changes depending on what church you can go to.

00:06:45.660 and so you can go to some protestant churches where for example there's like a rainbow flag

00:06:50.560 right outside the church and the pastor's gay and they they teach you know that because god's

00:06:56.080 love is infinite that there's no like rules basically and then you can also go to a protestant 0.69

00:07:01.000 church where there's like a trump flag outside and it's like totally the opposite way and like

00:07:06.100 i've been to many protestant churches that are one way or the other and what i found is that people

00:07:10.580 tend to really just like bring their own pre-existing beliefs with them and then just

00:07:15.180 pick whichever church already agrees with them. And for me, that kind of like threw me off that

00:07:19.980 kind of, um, you know, I didn't really like think that made a whole lot of sense growing up. And so

00:07:25.700 what I really loved about the Catholic church, this was the appeal to me initially was the

00:07:30.040 tradition and the order and the fact that, you know, no matter who the Pope is, the doctrine

00:07:35.560 has remained fundamentally unchanged for thousands of years. It's existed since 33 AD. And there's a

00:07:43.340 direct line of succession to Peter. So I thought that was incredibly compelling. And the more I

00:07:49.940 learned about the Catholic Church, the more compelling I found it. And I think that's true

00:07:54.200 with a lot of young men is they're looking for, you know, especially in America, a country that's

00:07:58.840 so young, we really don't have much here in terms of tradition. And I say this as a proud American

00:08:05.200 patriot, like I love this country, but it is, you know, only like 250 years old. So there's really

00:08:11.380 not a whole lot of history and tradition and culture there that is something that is thousands

00:08:19.000 of years old, like the church. And so I think that's what's really attractive to a lot of young

00:08:23.840 men. There's a lot of theories going around. Because for one thing, you've presented a picture

00:08:29.320 that I think there are a good number of people who would contest it. They would say, no, no, no,

00:08:35.040 you know, it was really Pope Francis. Pope Francis has finally opened the door to homosexuality and 1.00

00:08:42.280 having a lighter touch on, you know, welcoming the immigrant. And it's this kind of openness to

00:08:50.560 the world that has finally unlocked the door of the Catholic Church. And people are seeing it now

00:08:57.120 as the field hospital that it really is. And now they're coming in droves because we've finally

00:09:02.480 done away with the sort of rigid attitude of the naysayers you're going to go to hell folks

00:09:10.060 you're you know basically we know hell doesn't really exist if it does nobody goes there

00:09:15.300 and this freedom has allowed people to once again embrace the church your take on that

00:09:20.540 not only you personally but also maybe those who've you seen come in i think it's really actually

00:09:26.120 more in spite of leadership that this trend is occurring and i think you know it's interesting

00:09:32.040 with both Pope Francis and Pope Leo like yes they are I guess politically in a sense they would be

00:09:37.900 considered more liberal especially Francis and what's what's interesting is the young men that

00:09:43.600 are coming in you know they're not going to the Nova Sordos and they don't really appreciate the

00:09:49.080 restrictions on the Latin masses they're huge fans of the Latin mass and they go there every week

00:09:54.020 I lived with a guy who went every single day you know he was a great friend of mine and what was

00:09:59.120 I think what's really appealing to the young men is actually the rules and it is actually

00:10:05.260 the clear hierarchy and it is you know the clear order with a clear authority and so I think you 0.68

00:10:12.820 know I think it's it's a mistake that Catholics sometimes make where they see Protestants and 0.82

00:10:18.100 evangelicals you know they don't like take the social consideration seriously they don't really

00:10:23.520 take seriously the teachings of Jesus in terms of, you know, what the Bible says about abortion 0.95

00:10:29.680 and what the Bible says about contraception, even. Contraception is extremely popular with

00:10:35.060 Protestants and evangelicals, you know, with gay marriage even. And I think a lot of young men

00:10:40.640 have had everything taken from them in a certain sense, especially in my generation. You know,

00:10:45.980 I grew up during COVID. So my high school years were largely tainted by that. And for all my

00:10:52.260 friends, that's true as well. They either were in high school or college when COVID happened.

00:10:57.200 And so what you saw was, you know, firstly, you got like a decade of wokeness at its peak. And so

00:11:04.320 you got all this anti-white rhetoric, you had all this anti-male rhetoric. And this is really what

00:11:09.480 we were kind of forced to grow up in, in the world. And then you had COVID hit. And now it's

00:11:14.280 like, okay, well, now you can't even see your friends, right? Now you have to attend every

00:11:18.500 class on zoom and you're socially isolated and you have nothing to do other than like look at

00:11:24.300 the internet you know and something with with our society as well as pornography is so uh ubiquitous

00:11:32.380 in america today and in the world um a lot of a lot of young men were first exposed to pornography

00:11:38.400 ages like 10 11 or 12 and it's something that's totally sickened and darkened our country and the

00:11:45.540 collective hearts and minds of everyone in this country has been darkened by pornography the

00:11:51.020 society has become totally sexualized and i think enough young men are looking at what society has

00:11:57.820 to offer and they're saying this is not fulfilling like there is a god-shaped hole in my heart

00:12:03.580 society is not really offering me fulfillment it's not offering me meaning and it's not offering me

00:12:10.780 the true conditions and I think the true fullness that Christ can offer you. They're looking to the

00:12:17.100 church for answers. They're looking to the church for this purpose and fulfillment. And they're

00:12:22.460 really not finding it at a lot of these Protestant evangelical churches. I think the reason especially 1.00

00:12:28.320 that it's so concentrated in cities like New York and DC and Chicago is as well that Chicago or not

00:12:34.400 Chicago, that the Catholic church is seen as more intellectual because of its history. And so I

00:12:41.340 think there's also, I think unfortunately there's a little bit of like a status and maybe like a

00:12:46.360 social aspect going on, which is, you know, it's good if it saves souls. But I think there may be

00:12:52.400 sort of like a bit of, it may be a factor that some guys just want to like be in the social club.

00:12:58.520 So I think those are the main factors that are driving young men towards the church.

00:13:02.560 It's interesting. You mentioned there was an online influence that especially some of the, basically the world has gone so crazy, the wokeness reached its peak, as you said, that people are just looking from some kind of order.

00:13:17.420 You mentioned the traditional Latin mass or a mass that is sane relative to the sort of disorder, even in liturgy that is seen in a lot of different places.

00:13:29.000 Why young men? Why is it men as opposed, not opposed to women. There's lots of young women 0.63

00:13:34.120 coming in too, but why young men specifically? Was there any thought you had as to what that's

00:13:40.300 all about? Well, I think young men and honestly, in particular, young white men have been treated

00:13:45.460 the worst by this current liberal order. And this current liberal social order in particular really

00:13:52.460 hates them. And I think the reason why is because, you know, you look throughout history and it's

00:13:57.980 always been young men who have been shaping and changing the world and propelling humanity

00:14:03.420 forward. You know, Alexander the Great was 23. So I think it's always really been this young

00:14:10.260 male demographic that's always willing to take the risk and they're always willing to, you know,

00:14:16.740 give their lives to something, give their adult lives to a cause they believe in. Honestly, I

00:14:21.660 think they're not as easily controllable as the elites would want them to be. And so rather than

00:14:27.440 try and like offer them something or maybe bring them in give them a slice of the pie we look at

00:14:32.600 like the democrat party there's room for anyone in that coalition except young white men and i think

00:14:39.680 a lot of that group is starting to ask themselves like why is that what their goal is and by them i

00:14:45.320 mean the elites they're recognizing this trend among young men and they're seeing where the

00:14:49.760 young men are and that's in washington dc in all these cities that have the levers of power

00:14:54.720 And they're saying, you know, this has to be stopped at all costs.

00:14:58.200 And so I think maybe the goal in the future is going to try and make the Catholic Church unappealing to guys like me.

00:15:05.160 And I think they've been trying that for a while.

00:15:08.200 And I really don't think it's working.

00:15:09.880 Going back sort of to your personal story, what is it in terms of the faith that you mentioned that you were sort of struggling with it?

00:15:20.780 And then sort of for reasons perhaps of pride or whatever, you decided, no, I'm not going to do it now.

00:15:30.100 What really moved you to finally take the plunge?

00:15:34.100 Originally, I had a lot of the standard Protestant hangups, such as like, you know, why do Catholics pray to saints?

00:15:39.840 Why do they worship Mary?

00:15:41.600 And a lot of those are concerns that I've addressed doing my shorts for LifeSite News.

00:15:46.080 You know, I'll do these, like, explainer videos, and I'll explain, like, you know, here's what holy water is.

00:15:51.180 Like, here's what blessed salt is, and then here's what intercession is, you know.

00:15:55.260 And I have comments full of Protestants who, like, really learned something.

00:15:59.300 And I think that's, like, very valuable for people to know.

00:16:01.720 You know, as far as catechesis goes, I think even there's a lot of Catholics who maybe don't know their own faith as well as they should.

00:16:08.700 And I think that's a shame.

00:16:09.700 But I think because of that, there's not a whole lot of answers for Protestants who are looking with these questions and they're searching.

00:16:17.920 And so I think there's a lot of organizations out there that do a good job at answering these questions.

00:16:22.700 And I was just excited to contribute to that.

00:16:25.640 As far as me personally, though, I think really the hang up was just the nervousness, right?

00:16:32.180 Where it's like, you know, once you're confirmed into the Catholic Church, it's like, okay, now you're in the fight.

00:16:38.220 Like now you are a soul who is in the fight for the soul of the church and for the world, really.

00:16:44.840 And once you become Catholic and once you fully denounce Satan and you firmly place yourself on the side of God, well, now evil knows you are an enemy of evil, right?

00:16:57.160 Satan knows you are his enemy.

00:16:59.420 And so that's a little intimidating.

00:17:01.320 That's a little intimidating for like a guy in his early 20s.

00:17:04.080 And so for me, I think it was something where for a couple of years I was maybe delaying it. I was saying like, well, maybe this is something I could do later in life. But especially with recent events, you know, recent political events we've seen as far as the elites go, you know, the Epstein files have not been released. And there's a lot of protection going on there.

00:17:24.640 A lot of people who were responsible for these kinds of things and like a real conspiracy, they've been being protected.

00:17:32.360 And I think there's a lot of strange things going on within the church as well.

00:17:37.040 And really, like, evil is at work, I think, in the world.

00:17:40.880 And so at a certain point, I just had to, you know, look at myself in the mirror and say it's really now or never.

00:17:47.080 Like, there is never a better time to get into the fight.

00:17:49.380 There is never a better time to join the side of good and start pushing against evil, which has made, unfortunately, so much progress in the last few decades.

00:17:58.580 A lot of people are worried for different reasons. I don't know if it's particular to young women or what, but we had someone come into the church as well in my family. A lot of the concern was what are my parents going to think and stuff like that.

00:18:11.880 did you have any of that or your colleagues around you who also entered the church how did they

00:18:18.040 overcome that kind of thing because it can be daunting when your your parents are from a

00:18:22.900 different religion and you're doing this sometimes you you're threatened to be cut off from your

00:18:27.280 family any of that play a part either of yourself or those you were with well although my parents

00:18:32.200 are not catholic and i'm working on that one they were very supportive of me actually and i'm very

00:18:38.300 happy that they were. I didn't have to deal with that personally quite a bit, but I do know some

00:18:43.380 others where that was a huge concern of theirs. And that's something that's really stopping them

00:18:48.060 from progressing in a lot of ways is, you know, my parents have these hangups about Catholicism

00:18:53.700 and, you know, I'm scared to convert because I don't want to distance myself from my family.

00:18:59.200 I don't want to create that distance. And the truth is, you know, Jesus said in the Bible that

00:19:03.920 he came to divide households this is the work of the lord and it is a very tough thing um but at a

00:19:11.720 certain point especially with adults that are entering ocia you have to sort of realize at a

00:19:18.020 certain point you're going to have a family of your own hopefully that means as an adult you

00:19:22.540 really do have to make your own decisions for yourself especially a lifelong decision such as

00:19:27.480 what religion am i going to follow you know am i going to prioritize my own soul ahead of what

00:19:33.660 other people might think of me even if it even if it's my friends or my family I think people have

00:19:39.500 to make that decision for themselves but of course for me I eventually just realized you know no

00:19:44.900 matter what this is my the fate of my soul we're talking about like eternally you know I'm only

00:19:50.720 on this earth for a short amount of time but the afterlife is eternal and so I really need to be

00:19:56.600 thinking about and prioritizing that and where I go when I die and I think that's something a lot

00:20:02.300 of people need to be thinking about more I think it's a fault of modern society that you know

00:20:06.680 people want to live forever now and they think they're going to like you see the actions of

00:20:11.040 people and they think that this is really like all there is and that their 20s are going to last

00:20:16.460 forever and they're going to be young forever I think that's a lot I think that's the mindset of

00:20:20.860 a lot of people in my generation is that we're just going to be young for like a thousand years

00:20:24.900 I think expanding your mindset in that way and realizing your own mortality is going to put to

00:20:31.540 a lot of those concerns. And for me, you know, for me, I like to think that I may be working

00:20:38.060 on my parents in some way, or maybe the people around me, my friends through the work that I do.

00:20:43.140 And so that's been extremely fulfilling for me. For U.S. residents, creating a will has never

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00:21:18.080 I remember when I was converting or reverting, you might say,

00:21:21.400 I had in my late teens, early 20s sort of left and come back in my early teens,

00:21:26.800 excuse me, in my early 20s again.

00:21:28.240 But nonetheless, I left for a number of years.

00:21:30.640 It's interesting because when I was contemplating coming back, that was one of those questions.

00:21:34.460 It wasn't so much my parents or my dad always wanted me to revert to faith.

00:21:38.120 It was about, huh, I'll have to give up like my whole life.

00:21:42.420 I can't do what I've been doing.

00:21:44.160 And you had to decide, no, this is more important than anything.

00:21:49.720 And in fact, our Lord, he has one in this line that is very harsh, some people think.

00:21:57.040 But he basically says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother,

00:22:02.160 wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

00:22:07.340 And obviously he's not talking about hating these people, but it's how you regard them

00:22:11.940 and your own life in comparison to Christ.

00:22:15.200 So if you're not ready to abandon everything for Christ, then you're not worthy of him.

00:22:22.040 And really that's what you were speaking to when you said, basically, you got to decide

00:22:25.160 for yourself.

00:22:25.640 it is it's about recognizing you got to put your soul first and it's about loving christ above all

00:22:32.020 else and that even means your parents your spouse your children your own life that's what martyrdom

00:22:39.960 is all about and it really does come down to that decision um wait final thoughts for us on this

00:22:45.900 whole phenomenon and uh of your entering the church i think that was very well said but you

00:22:50.720 reminded me it was actually the day after i converted i had a conversation with a friend

00:22:55.400 of mine who grew up mormon and his whole family is in the mormon church and he told me that he

00:23:01.500 you know hasn't believed in mormonism since he was 14 and he's very attracted to catholicism he

00:23:08.040 wants to convert and he told me exactly what uh you've outlined there which is you know i know

00:23:15.120 that if you know my parents are extremely skeptical of catholicism they really don't like it

00:23:21.120 And if I convert to Catholicism or if I tell them that I'm attending RCA classes, you know, I may be disowned.

00:23:30.520 I may be, there may be great distance, but between me and my family, who I love very much, you know, he is an older brother he loves very much, who feels the same way as his parents about Catholicism.

00:23:41.940 And I told them that, you know, really at a certain point, you have to hope and pray that blood is thicker than water, right?

00:23:52.020 That eventually they'll come to realize, you know, despite this conversion, you are still my son and we still love you.

00:23:59.660 And if they don't feel that way, then that is, of course, extremely tragic.

00:24:04.800 But at a certain point, as a young man, you have to make your own decisions for yourself.

00:24:11.200 And you have to have 100% confidence in the decisions you make for yourself.

00:24:15.140 I think this is extremely important.

00:24:17.120 And I think this is something that, you know, is what is essential about becoming a man in the first place.

00:24:23.660 Is that eventually you have to realize you're going to have your own family.

00:24:27.480 And you're going to have your own wife, your own kids.

00:24:29.680 And you're going to have to lead a household.

00:24:31.800 And to do something like that is actually extremely tough.

00:24:35.440 And so it requires you to get used to making tough decisions.

00:24:38.680 You know, something like that is, of course, a very hard thing to ask of a lot of people.

00:24:43.700 But like I said before, it is just a decision that you eventually have to make for yourself.

00:24:48.460 And you have to decide that, you know, if I'm going to save my soul and if I'm going to work on my family, that does eventually mean that I have to make a firm stand.

00:24:59.180 And I have to say, yes, I'm planning on becoming Catholic.

00:25:02.240 Yes, I'm attending OCIA classes.

00:25:04.760 Yes, I plan on converting.

00:25:05.780 when we believe in jesus christ and he's the truth the way the truth in life there's no way

00:25:10.400 to the father but by him you also have to believe everything that he promises us he told us my grace

00:25:16.740 will be sufficient for you i will never give you a cross greater than you can bear with my help

00:25:20.740 so we gotta rely we gotta hang our hats on that truth even if we don't get it even if it's gonna

00:25:27.120 be hard how do you think the martyrs did it not many martyrs who went going yeah i'm a tough guy

00:25:31.840 they're gonna try and like flay me and i'll be fine no no no they went in going yeah i don't

00:25:36.900 know how i'm gonna deal with this but i trust you uh and so go for it i don't care i'm just gonna

00:25:42.420 stick with the truth and you're gonna have to help me because i don't know what i'm gonna do but

00:25:46.720 go for it anyway that's i think for a lot of people there might be some really tough guys who

00:25:51.260 can just take it whatever but for the most part no for the most part it's gonna be well i'm gonna

00:25:56.500 rely on your promises i'm gonna do it anyway because i know you're real i know you're true

00:25:59.740 and that's it but i do think on the other side once you've made that decision for christ and

00:26:05.600 his church and his truth it does come back because i'll give you an example my wife is a convert she

00:26:11.580 was an evangelical protestant i remember her conversion it's very very difficult because

00:26:17.260 uh a we're already married uh and she was totally convinced i would become an evangelical

00:26:22.340 um but then when she converted she wondered if she had to tell her parents

00:26:27.380 um and her priest basically said well not to start but you can't be a closet catholic forever

00:26:32.820 so it basically didn't tell them until after easter after she entered the call with her parents

00:26:40.680 uh was like you know why aren't you coming down for easter oh we're just busy this easter which

00:26:47.840 was true uh but not the fullness of the truth i guess you could say and then afterward it was all

00:26:54.320 about how I knew it, you know, and it was very, very upsetting. But interestingly, because there

00:27:00.200 was all these thoughts of, I mean, it's so new, that's it, no more, and so on. But it's interesting

00:27:04.740 because what happened after the fact was really beautiful. We had already, at that point, had

00:27:10.600 three children, our fourth on the way. And these are very grandparents, very close to us and our

00:27:16.280 children. And so eventually it was, yeah, okay, whatever, you know, still don't like it, but

00:27:24.580 we're not going to make a big deal of this because this is where you've gone. We want access to our

00:27:28.820 grandchildren and it's still a loving relationship. And then I remember after the birth of our fourth

00:27:37.400 maybe, or maybe pregnancy of the fifth, I can't remember what, it was a really moving conversation.

00:27:41.940 My wife, I was out somewhere.

00:27:44.480 The little kids were with her visiting her parents.

00:27:47.980 And she describes it.

00:27:49.460 Her parents called her into the bedroom.

00:27:51.860 She felt like the little kid going to the parents.

00:27:54.540 They're lying there in bed and talking to her and reminiscent of childhood.

00:27:59.000 Her dad, who's an evangelical pastor, you might say, or an elder in their church, says

00:28:05.420 to her, you know, we really see your faith.

00:28:08.860 we know that you're still a christian and you still love jesus and it for her it was incredibly

00:28:14.600 moving even for me when i heard it i was like wow because from their perspective of course

00:28:20.580 becoming a catholic is like one of the worst things you could ever do you can like you could

00:28:24.720 become a mormon anything but not a catholic so anyway it's a beautiful thing and that beauty 0.56

00:28:31.340 that witness of my wife to her own parents just by living as a catholic it's not she's not a big um

00:28:37.220 you know, proselytizer, if you will, which doesn't like to debate all that much. But 0.54

00:28:42.460 her living out of the faith and in the difficulties of having a large family and doing the Catholic

00:28:49.700 thing, if you will, spoke volumes by itself. So while it is hard, it is true also that the

00:28:57.040 graces are there, do accompany you, and our Lord will see to your needs.

00:29:00.980 I think it's very important that, you know, this is very comforting for my generation,

00:29:04.880 actually this is what i've seen i've seen this sentiment with a lot of young men that are coming

00:29:08.960 into the church is that we're kind of all going through this together right like we were all born

00:29:13.240 in the same generation we were all dealing with the same things you know the liberal order and

00:29:18.520 everything that they've done to us has kind of ruined all of our lives right like we've all 0.72

00:29:23.480 been dealing with mass immigration we've all been dealing with the sexual revolution and its 0.99

00:29:29.340 consequences. And we've all been dealing with the modern world, really. And so we're all going 0.91

00:29:35.440 through these classes. We're all learning about Catholicism. We're all falling in love with Jesus

00:29:39.740 and with the church. And I think it's something where, you know, if you're looking for a family,

00:29:44.140 there's one right there. And for me, I think that was very comforting for me. And I think

00:29:48.940 that's very comforting for a lot of young men is the idea that we're really all in this together

00:29:53.980 as a group. Wade Searle, thank you so much for joining us. Go check out Wade's programs at

00:29:58.440 LifeSite News. God bless you, my friend. Of course. Thanks so much for having me on. God

00:30:01.900 bless. And God bless all of you. And we'll see you next time.

00:30:08.600 Hi, I'm Liz Yor. I'm really urging all the audience to continue to follow LifeSite News

00:30:14.860 for all information news about life, for a great perspective on all the breaking news

00:30:22.880 in the world.

00:30:24.180 Thank you for watching and continue to watch and follow LifeSite News.

The John-Henry Westen Show - April 22, 2026

Catholic Conversion SURGE Among Young Men： Meet Wade Searle

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