Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC

October is Support a Catholic Speaker Month, being sponsored by Fallible Blogma. Check out the site to learn more; there are still Catholic Speakers who aren’t being represented. You too, can be part of Support a Catholic Speaker Month!

Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC is a convert to Roman Catholicism. Before his conversion, Fr. Calloway had been a high school dropout, drug user, and runaway. He was kicked out of Japan, and was arrested several times.

His mother converted to the Church and began praying fervently for her wayward son. (Can you say modern day St. Monica?) After several years, Fr. Calloway had a dramatic conversion to the faith at the intercession of Mary.

He is a member of the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception.

Fr. Calloway has authored several articles, and been the editor of two books; The Immaculate Conception in the Life of the Church (Marian Press, 2004) and The Virgin Mary and the Theology of the Body (Marian Press, 2005). He is author of Purest of all Lilies: The Virgin Mary in the Spirituality of St. Faustina (Marian Press, 2008), and is author of his forthcoming spiritual autobiography, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy which will be released in January 2010. Dr. Peter Kreeft of Boston College (we won’t hold that against him!), said the following about Fr. Calloway’s memoir:

“This is an amazing, captivating story, because The Divine Mercy is an amazing and captivating reality. The power of Jesus and Mary move through this story like the power of a ten foot Pacific wave. Read this book and watch the same wave lift Donald Calloway that lifted Paul and Augustine, Francis and Ignatius, from “incorrigible” and “impossible” to “radically converted.” It’s the old, old story and it’s irresistibly new every time. Here, it’s told with winsome candor and simplicity by an ex-druggie, ex-criminal surfer-priest.”

Peter Kreeft, Ph.D.

I read an article by Fr. Calloway about his conversion to the faith in a book about Medjugorje called, The Fruits of Medjugorje: Stories of True and Lasting Conversion by Elizabeth Ficocelli. This first introduced me to Fr. Calloway and his amazing story. Then a friend in Chicago lent me The Virgin Mary and the Theology of the Body, which he is editor of and contributes writing to. It is a very interesting book examining how we can understand the theology of the body by understanding the life and fiat of Mary.

I am so fascinated by conversion stories, and Fr. Calloway’s is no exception.

The following video is from AirMaria, and is an interview of Fr. Calloway about his conversion. It is about seven minutes, but very much worth watching. It’s amazing his peaceful, humble demeanor. It’s hard to believe the man you see in this interview was ever a drug addict, or arrested, or expelled from Japan. Just watch it!

Thanks Fr. Calloway, and especially, thanks be to Jesus and Mary, for this amazing story!