Everything Changed at the Font: How Baptism Changed the Lives of Three New Catholics
- André Escaleira, Jr.
- 6 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Three adult converts share their journeys to the Catholic Church and the new life they found in Jesus Christ.
Most Catholics, baptized as babies, don’t remember their spiritual birthday, when they became children of God. It’s a far-off thing, existing only in dusty scrapbooks on dark shelves in chilly basements or garages. But for some — a growing amount, to be sure — the Lord calls a bit more slowly but no less emphatically.
For these adult converts and thousands more across the country, Baptism is a gift a long time coming, a game-changing treasure in their hearts, lives and families. While their journeys to the baptismal waters might differ, one thing remains the same: their new life in Christ is everything.
From Lack to Love
Growing up in a Protestant family, Aleah Ponce de Leon left the Church at 12, feeling resentment and a lack of love.
After marrying her high school sweetheart, though, she was left asking big questions about family and faith, especially when her Catholic in-laws eventually had the “Baptism talk” with their adult children.
“We were talking about the importance of getting the kids baptized, and it kind of made me realize what a significant thing it truly is in your life,” she said. “I started to think about my position with my spirituality and where my faith really was, so I had to start considering these very real aspects of our lives.”
The couple began looking for churches and found St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish in Denver, where they felt profoundly welcomed. As someone who battles polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), Aleah is used to people staring at her because of her appearance. But at that Mass, she was instead greeted with a massive smile.
“It was the most welcoming experience that I had had in a long time, because I’m used to the opposite,” Aleah shared. “But now these people were looking at me, and they wanted me to know that they were smiling at me. That was really nice and welcoming in my heart. So I felt a little bit of nervousness, but I honestly felt like I was really welcomed right away.”
From there, Aleah began the process of becoming Catholic, finding a welcoming place to ask questions, meet new people and fall in love with the Catholic faith.
Now, having been baptized, she says her “heart has been completely opened.”
“I really did not comprehend a lot of aspects of Jesus Christ’s love, and now I know that I am capable of his love, even for my enemies,” Aleah said. “It’s definitely given me a lot more patience as well, being able to stop and really comprehend my actions because now I’m going to have to confess for them.”
From TV Star to her Savior
Dee Walker first met Jesus as a child, on a small TV screen in Vietnam. The cradle Buddhist was captivated by Charlton Heston’s Jesus of Nazareth and would watch it every Easter and cry.
Here’s the catch: she knew nothing of the Bible or of Jesus, other than that he’d suffered tremendously. But she respected that suffering and was curious because of it.
Decades later, she and her family had resettled in the United States. Now married, she struggled to support her husband through a difficult time during the COVID pandemic. In that difficulty, she turned to the man she’d met each Easter as a child.
“I believe there was a seed that had been planted in my heart long before. As a young teenager, I was already curious about Jesus, and my heart had been quietly open to him. When I reached out at one of the most painful moments of my life, God, in his love and mercy, met me there. He reached down, wrapped his arms around me and offered the comfort, peace and strength I so desperately needed,” Dee shared. “Looking back, I see that it was not a sudden turning, but the unfolding of a relationship God had been patiently nurturing all along.”
That difficulty led Dee to seek more. She joined a Protestant Bible study, where she learned to talk with Jesus and even ask him to be our Savior. Her heart was then ignited in faith, leading her to seek Baptism.
When she shared that news with her cradle Catholic husband, they decided they would both go through the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA) at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Steamboat Springs.
“With him by my side, I felt comfortable,” Dee said. “He’s my support. It’s been wonderful. And studying God’s Word is amazing.”
Now newly baptized, Dee says her life has “been elevated tenfold.”
“If you come across my friends and family, they will say Dee’s always been a happy-go-lucky girl,” she shared. “I’ve always been happy, but I feel so much happier and more at peace. I can tell you I’m 100% at peace because of what God’s been teaching me to do. I just want to spread the word.”
From Pain to Peace
For Ryan Sherman, faith came slowly — even painstakingly. Raised in a nonreligious household with an excess of difficulties, she had no interest in faith. But due to a providential and painful turn of events, she found herself in Colorado, looking for a job, and ended up at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Denver.
Now surrounded by Catholicism, she found herself slightly more open to faith and “dabbled” in Christianity at a megachurch. They periodically invited members to be baptized, which nagged at Ryan — but she wasn’t yet ready.
One day, out of the blue, a Catholic Charities coworker went out of her way to deliver a message she felt she had received from God: “Keep pursuing him.” That interaction and the faithful, loving accompaniment of several coworkers — clergy and lay alike — over 20 years devotedly cared for the seeds God had planted.
“I work amongst people who truly embody what living and working in the name of Christ is and what it would remind me of,” Ryan shared. “So I’m surrounded by people who just exemplify living in the name of Christ.”
Eventually, that Christlikeness broke through, and Ryan — along with her husband and son — began OCIA at Christ the King Parish in Denver.
Newly baptized, Ryan’s heart has been set ablaze by faith.
“It has changed me and moved me so much,” she shared. “I want to give that to my child. Because I didn’t have that growing up, and I spent so much time wandering aimlessly, I’m desperate to give my child that moral compass, that guidance, that life. If the one thing that I can give to him is a life in Christ, then I’ll have done my job.”
In short, Ryan said, she’s just filled with tremendous awe and gratitude.
“I just feel so blessed and so grateful to have made it, finally, to this place where I do have that sense of peace,” she said.
