Convert: The faith is a ‘never-ending treasure’

Friday, Mar. 04, 2022

INTERLAKEN — God has always been at the center of the life of Justin Hibbard and his family. He grew up in Maryland, in a Seventh Day Baptist congregation where his grandfather was a pastor and his father was an elder. After college he served as pastor of that congregation for two and a half years. When he left that community, he spent 10 years at an Evangelical Christian church, New Hope Chapel, as the worship pastor and then the pastor. He and his wife Karlene went on to attend various churches. However, he became disillusioned with Evangelical Christianity, particularly with the political upheaval in the last few years, and the response of many in that community to the pandemic.

“‘This does not look like good fruit growing from a good tree,’ I thought,” he said.

Hibbard also began to feel something was missing in his faith life, and his quest to fill that void led him and his family to Catholicism; he will be fully received into the Church at the Easter Vigil, April 16.

“I think every person in every family needs a ‘Why’ — why they exist and why they do what they do,” he said. “I want our why, the reason why we do this is that this is what the Lord would want from us, this is how we serve our creator, this is what redemption means. We are charitable because Jesus was charitable. For me, I think it’s a beautiful ‘Why.’”

After the family moved to Interlaken, near Midway, in June 2018, they began attending a non-denominational Christian church. Once the pandemic hit, they decided to forego church for a while. Hibbard began evaluating what he wanted for himself and his family in a church community. This would include a church with a consistent pro-life ethic, one that was charitable and encouraged community giving, was multiethnic, diverse, global, had accountability, “a church that was larger than the four walls that it existed in, that lived out the principles of what it means to follow Jesus” he said.

Due to his upbringing, his mind was initially closed to Catholicism, he said, but with this list he began to consider the Catholic Church, especially after his interest was piqued by an episode of “The 10-minute Bible Hour” that had as a guest Father Martin Diaz, rector of Cathedral of the Madeleine.

To learn more, Hibbard began visiting the website of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish [Park City], where he would listen to Father Christopher Gray’s videos.

“‘This guy seems like a very genuine, God-fearing, Jesus follower who has a sharp intellect and a love for Scripture, a love for the Church and a love for the Lord,’ I thought,” Hibbard said.

After a discussion, he and Karlene started attending local Catholic churches with their children, Annalia, 15, Naomi, 13, and Xander, 11. Their initial Mass experience was the first Sunday of Lent 2021 at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Heber. They then began attending St. Mary of the Assumption, where they have been worshipping ever since.

Over time, the desire to join the Church grew. Hibbard and the children began attending RCIA.

“For me, this has been a real gift; it’s like discovering a treasure,” he said. “I’ve been a Christian for pretty much my whole life, and I’m learning things I never had learned about Christianity before. I’m excited about all the other things I will learn such as the doctrines and Church traditions.”

“This has broadened their horizon as far as what it means to be a Christian,” he said about his children’s experience. “The Catholic Church has created things to help people in their Christian walk; these things have definitely benefitted my family. Now I find even more that the Catholic faith has mechanisms, practices, rituals that are in place, there’s all these different things that make faith more a part of our life.”

While she is not going to be received into the Church at the Easter Vigil, Karlene Hibbard has been very supportive of her husband’s and children’s faith journey, Justin Hibbard said. Their daughters are considering joining their father in that process and Hibbard expects that Xander will probably be baptized. Although their faith has always been important to the Hibbards, it has become even more so through this experience.

“It has been good for the kids to learn and for me to hear [about the Church] in different ways,” he said.  “I was looking for goodness. I was looking for a church that did good things, that focused on good things, that really lived out its faith in a good way, that bore good fruit. What I discovered in the process was truth and beauty.”

Last fall, Hibbard posted a memoir of his faith journey at pilgrimagetocatholicism.substack.com. It has led to discussion and contemplation among family, friends and former parishioners and students, some of whom have decided to join the Church or are investigating it. Hibbard and two friends are working on a podcast that is intended to help people understand Catholic doctrine in a “non-confrontational way,” he said.

“I want to be an instrument of helping people in that journey and understanding Catholicism,” he said. “Our goal is not only to help Protestants understand Catholicism better but also help Catholics to understand Catholicism better.”  

“To me it’s like I’ve pulled this thread, and I keep pulling it, and it’s this never-ending treasure,” he said of  the path that has led him to the Church. “I hope I can be an instrument in helping people who don’t appreciate what their faith means to understand the ‘why’ behind it.”