When Josh first met Raul at Catholic Charities’ Samaritan House, he didn’t expect much more than a work friendship. They both worked similar hours and in similar positions to help the women living in the shelter. What started with casual conversations about movies like The Dark Knight and The Godfather gradually became something deeper.
“I saw he had a crucifix on him,” Josh remembers. “And he told me he was Catholic. That kicked off some really good conversations.” Josh and his wife had been part of a confessional Lutheran church, having left a non-denominational background but Catholicism had always intrigued him—even if it was negatively presented to him growing up.
Raul never pushed; their conversations were organic and thoughtful. “It wasn’t debates,” Raul says. “Josh just asked what Catholics believed about different things—like Mary, the Pope and the saints. I just shared what I knew.”
But the timing was providential. At the same time, Josh was taking a Christian history class at the Denver Seminary that dove into the formation of the Bible, the early Church and the role the Catholic Church played in it. “It was like this domino effect,” Josh says. “Everything I had questions about growing up was suddenly lining up—and Raul was helping me connect the dots.”
Josh had been wrestling with some foundational questions: Did baptism actually do something to the soul? Was it symbolic or salvific? Could there really be a church that carried the fullness of truth?
He found himself reflecting more deeply. “I realized that the same arguments I used to justify being Lutheran—tradition and connection to early Christianity—they applied even more to Catholicism.” What struck him most was the unity, the historical continuity and what Catholics call “the fullness of the faith.”
He and his wife talked often about the shift in their hearts. Josh thought she might be hesitant but after a month of learning and watching his excitement grow, she asked to come with him to RCIA. “She just said, ‘I want to join too,’” Josh says. “We were both like—this is it. This is where God’s leading us.”
Josh and his wife Sierra will be receiving their baptism and confirmation into the Catholic faith this summer.
At Catholic Charities, our mission is clear. As the former Archbishop of Washington, D.C., James Aloysius Hickey once said, “We serve the homeless not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic. If we don’t care for the sick, educate the young, care for the homeless, then we cannot call ourselves the church of Jesus Christ.” That identity forms the heart of everything we do. Just as the case with Josh and Raul, faith at Catholic Charities is never forced, but is gently and joyfully made available. Regularly scheduled Masses, prayer opportunities and optional formation events are just some of the ways employees are invited to grow in their faith.
Looking back, he’s grateful for the unexpected journey. “It’s wild to think that a couple hours of overlapping shifts and a conversation about The Godfather led to this,” he says. “But God works like that.”
Raul smiles: “I was a Protestant once too. I understood where he was coming from. I just tried to share what I had come to believe—and I’m just really honored to have walked with him on this road.”
And now? Two coworkers and a lifelong friendship rooted in faith and a journey home to the Catholic Church.