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Sixth Annual Ignited by Truth Conference Fills Church
Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Raleigh hosted the Sixth Annual Ignited by Truth Conference on Friday evening, February 15th. The evening began with the Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Raleigh, leading the Way of the Cross.
Following the Stations, conference attendees listened to two talks from Dr. Marcus C. Grodi, a former Protestant minister who embraced the Catholic Church, and the founder of the Coming Home Network, which seeks to provide fellowship, encouragement and support for pastors and lay people of other traditions who are somewhere along the journey or have already converted to the Catholic Church.
Dr. Grodi’s first talk, “What Is Truth?” detailed his own conversion journey. “It was the Bible and Church history that made a Catholic of me, against my will at first,” he said. Citing John Henry Cardinal Newman’s insight, “To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant,” he urged Catholics to prepare themselves and their children, through Scripture and history, to “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks for a reason for your hope” (1 Peter 3:15).
In a second presentation, “The Verses I Never Saw,” Dr. Grodi outlined a biblical defense of Catholicism, citing and explaining verses in Scripture that he had found were powerful tools in “unlocking the hearts” of potential converts, particularly those from Bible-believing backgrounds. “Few conversions come about primarily through Biblical texts or arguments,” he cautioned, “but these texts can be used by the Holy Spirit. All conversions come about by grace, and so the most important thing we can do to unlock the hearts of potential converts is to pray for them and love them.”