For our first ‘Conversations at the Center’ this semester, we were privileged to hear of three conversion stories of young men who live in the house here in Brighton. Sharing their faith journeys were Ian Parelius, a lay resident, Bro. Jonathan Adams, A.A., an Assumptionist novice studying at BC and recently professed Bro. Ryan Carlsen, A.A., also a student at BC.

Ian was baptized into the Lutheran Church in Norway and later moved to California at the age of six where he was raised in a non-denominational church (Calvary Chapel). He attended a Catholic high school prep and then St. Mary’s College where he met a Christian brother who was to have a profound effect on his life. Ian later began reading St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas and experienced a conversion of heart. After two years of attending Mass and studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the classics in philosophy and the Fathers of the Church where he discovered the Catholic intellectual tradition, Ian entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in January, 2013 and is now doing a graduate degree in theological studies at BC.

Bro. Jonathan was born in Istanbul, Turkey. He came from an Alevi-Turkish family but his parents did not practice or believe in any religion. He seriously began his faith journey at the age of fifteen by way of his favorite hobby which was a short wave radio that put him in touch with a Christian radio station in Monte Carlo and the world beyond home. Bro. Jonathan was baptized at the age of eighteen while belonging to a Baptist group that used a Catholic church for their services in Kadikoy, Istanbul. Over a period of many years, he explored many faith traditions, such as the Armenian and Greek Church and Southern Baptists. These explorations happened during his travels which took him far and wide. He did meet the Christian Brothers and the Assumption family as a young man and was drawn to the Mass immediately. However after arriving in England, he was also attracted to the Quakers because of their involvement in social action and the Hindu culture for their profoundly spiritual outlook on life. But it was his experience of living with a Benedictine community in Devon, South West England that left its mark and where Bro. Jonathan felt most at home. This was also reinforced when he reconnected years later with the Christian Brother in France, who had been a dear friend all along. He settled on Catholicism in 2007 and entered the Church in 2008. Bro. Jonathan had known the Augustinians of the Assumption in Kadikoy (Chalcedon) Istanbul. He reconnected with them first in France and then in London where he joined the community in 2009. He is now a student at BC while living in Brighton.

Bro. Ryan, also of Lutheran background, grew up in Colorado. He learned well the importance and love of scripture, faith and grace and eventually attended a Lutheran seminary for a year and a half after college but found that his questions were not being answered. Bro. Ryan began attending Orthodox liturgies and moved to the Ukraine as an English teacher. A chance meeting with a Catholic teacher resulted in his attending Mass, the beauty and simplicity of which touched him deeply. After talking to a priest, he developed a devotional prayer life, especially praying Rosary, read as much as he could  about the faith and became a Catholic in 2009. Upon moving back to the United States, he wished to do volunteer work and by searching the internet he got in touch with the Religious of the Assumption in Worcester. It was through them that he met the Assumptionists. Now a professed brother, Bro. Ryan is doing theological studies at BC.