After an anti-clerical childhood and adolescence, filled with hatred for the Church, Father Juan Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez says he discovered \u201cthat God exists and wants me as his priest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSunday mornings I would peer out of the balcony of my house, and when the people were going by on their way to Mass, I would spit on them. I told them that the Church was a sect that wanted their money,\u201d explained the priest, who ministers in the Diocese of Almeria, Spain.<\/p>\n
Fr. Juan Jos\u00e9\u2019s parents were not believers, and he had received no religious formation, but he said they did not raise him to be intolerant. In fact, he says he does not know where he got all those ideas, because the perception he had of the Church and God was that of a \u201cmultinational corporation with branches in every neighborhood to extract money, like a sect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was absolutely anticlerical, I was the first student in my school and the town of Carboneras, Almeria Province, to never be taught Religion because when I was 8 or 9, I chose the alternative course which was Ethics. In the following years, I went on convincing my friends to quit Religion classes and to take Ethics with me. In the end, my whole class ended up being taught Ethics and none of them Religion.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what he never imagined is that the end of his journey would be to help his friends to come back to the Church. Fr. Juan Jos\u00e9 remembers quite well that the first day he went into a Catholic church, \u201cI went to make fun of those who had invited me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was in January 1995, some friends from class invited me to a Catholic Charismatic Renewal prayer group at the parish. Obviously I told them I wasn\u2019t planning on going because I didn\u2019t want them to brainwash me. For a whole month they persisted. I finally gave in \u2013 it was a Thursday in February 1995 when I went into a Catholic church for the first time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Read what happened.<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A remarkable and unexpected vocation story: After an anti-clerical childhood and adolescence, filled with hatred for the Church, Father Juan Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez says he discovered \u201cthat God exists and wants me as his priest.\u201d \u201cSunday mornings I would peer out of the balcony of my house, and when the people were going by on their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":261867,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11252],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-open-mind"],"yoast_head":"\n
'Sunday mornings when the people were going to Mass, I would spit on them'\u2014and now he's a priest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A remarkable and unexpected vocation story: After an anti-clerical childhood and adolescence, filled with hatred for the Church, Father Juan Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Sunday mornings when the people were going to Mass, I would spit on them'\u2014and now he's a priest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A remarkable and unexpected vocation story: After an anti-clerical childhood and adolescence, filled with hatred for the Church, Father Juan Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-28T18:54:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/\",\"name\":\"'Sunday mornings when the people were going to Mass, I would spit on them'\u2014and now he's a priest\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-28T18:54:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-28T18:54:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"A remarkable and unexpected vocation story: After an anti-clerical childhood and adolescence, filled with hatred for the Church, Father Juan Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"‘Sunday mornings when the people were going to Mass, I would spit on them’\u2014and now he’s a priest\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Sunday mornings when the people were going to Mass, I would spit on them'\u2014and now he's a priest","description":"A remarkable and unexpected vocation story: After an anti-clerical childhood and adolescence, filled with hatred for the Church, Father Juan Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'Sunday mornings when the people were going to Mass, I would spit on them'\u2014and now he's a priest","og_description":"A remarkable and unexpected vocation story: After an anti-clerical childhood and adolescence, filled with hatred for the Church, Father Juan Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2017-12-28T18:54:24+00:00","author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/","name":"'Sunday mornings when the people were going to Mass, I would spit on them'\u2014and now he's a priest","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-12-28T18:54:24+00:00","dateModified":"2017-12-28T18:54:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"A remarkable and unexpected vocation story: After an anti-clerical childhood and adolescence, filled with hatred for the Church, Father Juan Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/12\/sunday-mornings-when-the-people-were-going-to-mass-i-would-spit-on-them-and-now-hes-a-priest\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"‘Sunday mornings when the people were going to Mass, I would spit on them’\u2014and now he’s a priest"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}