My name is Aaron Althoff. I was raised Catholic but we never talked about our faith so I never thought about it much. By college, I was searching for the meaning of my life and was looking for spiritual truth. After encountering Evangelical Christians joyfully living out their faith, I fell in love with Jesus. I gave my life to Christ and was saved! I quickly became an on-fire Christian and left the Catholic Church. The Church had failed me. How could I have grown up Catholic and not known the gospel? I was angry and I was never going back.

But a question posed by a Catholic friend caused me to rethink everything. “Do you think Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist?” What does that mean? What had I left? I knew immediately that God was calling me back to the Catholic Church. This was not my plan—I wanted nothing to do with it. But God was patient, and after much doubt, confusion, and searching for the truth, I discovered that the Catholic Church was the Church Jesus started 2,000 years ago. I had to rejoin that Church. My salvation was at stake.

This is my story.