Endorsements

Dearest Steve and Janet Ray and Amer,

Wow! I don’t know how to start. I promised you a “love letter” and after having spent a week with all of you on the most incredible spiritual journey on this blessed Earth, well, I’m left with profound introspection. I cannot even begin to describe the transformative powers of your Holy Lands Pilgrimage.

I was a bit of relapsed Catholic up until about about ten years ago. I wasn’t going to Church because even though I took up a whole semester of it at Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan, I was still quite dismissive. However, it was in that same class that began the quiet seeds of my journey back to the Catholic faith. I’ll return to this in a bit.

About ten years ago, it was my Mom who got us back into the faith in a vigorous and joyful manner. She was constantly telling us tales of the Catholic mystics who were able to have visions of our Lord and were commanded to write them down. She collected books and books of the Catholic saints. She bought the Catechism and read through it. She attended Bible study groups and was shocked to hear that a certain priest was being heretical in his sermons and my mom observed that people were soaking it up. So she would stand up for the true Faith at those Bible study groups. They would be left in shock about the things she said about that priest.

She then took a pilgrimage with another group arranged by Cosmos and moderated by a robust and experienced Filipino Catholic priest who has been to some of the most bloody places in the world: Afghanistan, Serbia, Bosnia, and Iraq. It’s a good thing she went with him because she had no intention of wasting a good trip learning absolutely nothing about Catholicism, which was the attitude of some of the people she went with. She took that trip fully bent on learning more about her Faith. Boy, she came back a pursuer of the Catholic Faith. And she wanted her two boys to be just as strong.

So she told me about her experiences with Cosmos and then heard about your pilgrimage. She researched who you and Janet were and how your journey to become Catholics touched her immensely. My brother and I were already quite active with our parish for the last six or seven years in various ministries. I am a Lector, Eucharistic Minister, Usher (Hospitality Minister), Treasurer for the Knights of Columbus, and now, heading up the newly started Altar Acolyte Service. I also help my mom administer Holy Communion service at a Senior living facility. My brother is active with the Gift Store and Manna Cupboard – a food bank for the Church.

But she felt while we were doing God’s work, she felt we needed a pilgrimage as well. I never understood pilgrimages at first, but I do know that the Knights of the Crusades were often hired to guide and guard the pilgrims of medieval times on their journey to the Holy Land. That part I knew about, but being a pilgrim itself? I was clueless. What do I do? Other than pray at the Holy Sites, what do I really need to do?

One of the things that mom told is that Catholic dogma offers indulgences for those taking on pilgrimages to the Holy Land with the understanding that it is a faith-filled, prayer-guided journey. So mom offered us Cosmos and your pilgrimage packages to compare. She did HIGHLY RECOMMENDED us to take Footprints of God Pilgrimage based on your reputations and recommendations from people who actually wished they’d have taken your pilgrimage instead of someone else. I did my own research and found your videos on your website. I was intrigued. I looked at the others and found none of them had the comprehensive package that you offered. Plus, it was a chance to learn what was the driving force behind Venerable Fr. Michael McGivney’s to start the Knights of Columbus and become the Strong Right Arm of the Catholic Church.

I decided to take your pilgrimage emphatically. I went into this experience with an open mind to receive the Holy Spirit. Your Conversion Story still moves me to tears, Steve and Janet. I had ample opportunities to learn more about the places where Jesus’ missions took place. You and Amer tied in everything perfectly and I feel like what one other pilgrim said, “This is like taking a Master’s Course in Catholicism in just nine days.” I am armed better to defend my Faith and to lead a loving life that glorifies Our Lord Jesus Christ. The way you spoke about the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Church of the Visitation made me weep in the heart with joy. And you told it with such fervor and devotion that I couldn’t sleep. So I would find myself hours early awake and in the Chapel at Notre Dame praying the Rosary and crying my eyes out because now, they really mean something truly extraordinary.

Amer’s historical knowledge can humble an Antiquity professor’s training. He has no filter about the alteration of Biblical history done by so-called New Age professors. I loved that! Without being bombastic, he has literally shut down every doubt I had about the providence of the Holy Land and Jesus’ existence as a real historical figure. The guy should be on a tour in every Catholic cathedral in the United States. He should be up in the faces of the Cardinals and Archbishops who dare to rewrite Catholic Biblical history. If you and Janet have become my Spiritual anchors, Amer is the boot that firmly stomps on everything that defies Biblical History. And for that, I hope he lives forever.

That seed that I mentioned earlier was dormant in my heart, my soul, and my mind and now, it has fully blossomed into something I could scarcely wrap my mind around. I would never have believed this could happen to me. Of all the great things I remembered about that priest so long ago at Madonna University, it was his calmness in the face of the punishing whips of the highest levels of collegiate cognitive reasoning. I never understood how he was not able to fight fire with fire when all signs pointed that he should have done exactly that. I NOW realized why. That priest just gets it and he did it with valor from the Holy Spirit and great love by God.

I promised you a love letter. I hope I’ve delivered because this past Christmas in the Holy Land Pilgrimage is truly the absolute standard for all American Catholics. They must take your tour and I will fight for it. From the lukewarm to the fervent, it has appealed to every level of a Catholic’s journey in their Faith. Even when I thought I was in the Graces of God being an active minister in my Church, after this amazing and prayerful pilgrimage with both of you and Amer, I truly feel like I’ve only just begun.

Thank you Steve and Janet Ray and Amer for all your graceful hospitality and amazing content. I really feel like I’ve received something immeasurably fulfilling. Every moment you gave us as pilgrims, I ate it and drank it and prayed it. The consistent opportunity to pray at every site increased my most deepest appreciations for what prayer truly means. it has changed me as a minister for my church in ways I could never have imagined. All of you and the stouthearted Christians who remain in the Holy Lands as testimony to the history and message of Jesus Christ in the Holy Land, well, I can’t help but to do my part to bring more Catholics to the Holy Lands.

God Bless you both and Amer forever,
Catalino and Peter