Adopted into a Catholic family at the youthful age of three months, I have never known anything else. 

From teething on an oversized wooden rosary, to sitting in on the RCIA classes my parents taught out of our living room, Catholicism is in my DNA.

I thank God for the blessing of being adopted into a Catholic family, and for one incredible story in particular about my family’s faith history that I still think about quite often. 

My grandfather was a great man. He was hard working, honest, tough but fair, and very proud of his Catholic faith. I wouldn’t go so far as to say he was anti-Protestant, but let’s just say he wouldn’t have been a big fan of “ecumenical dialogue.”

Catholicism was the truth, and that was that.

Imagine his excitement when he got the opportunity late in life to travel to Ireland, the old country, to learn more about our family history and walk in the footsteps of our ancestors!

He toured around the local communities, spent time enjoying life with the regulars at the area pubs, and even got the opportunity to visit a castle that at one point belonged to our family.

As he toured the archives, however, he found some historical records that knocked him off his feet. Baptismal documents at the castle showed that our family was (insert gasp here) actually Protestant!

My cousin, who was with him on the trip, noted that he immediately lost all the color in his face, looked like he’d had the wind knocked out of him, and had to be helped over to the nearest chair before he passed out.

Protestant?!

How could this be?!?!

After a long life of being a faithful Catholic, this was certainly a blow to my Grandfather’s pride.

Thankfully, for all of us, the story didn’t end there.

Noticing the deep spiritual pain my grandfather was feeling, the docent at the castle filled in the details of our family’s journey.

As the story went, my great-great-great-grandfather was given land in Canada for a job well done, and moved his family across the Atlantic to the new and exciting opportunity. It was a much-needed fresh start for the family, given the death of a young daughter that left everyone reeling and devastated by grief.

Once they made it to Canada, something incredible happened.

My great-great-great-grandfather was awakened in the middle of the night, and visited by his deceased daughter. She came to bring him the comfort that only comes with a parent having assurance that their child is safe, as well as to bring him a very important message.

She told him that she was indeed in Heaven, and (brace yourselves) that the Catholic faith was the one, true faith.

This visitation led to my great-great-great-grandfather immediately taking action. The family converted to Catholicism, were baptized, initiated into the faith, and the rest is history.

The story delighted my grandfather, and made him even surer of his Catholic faith than ever before.

All these generations later, we continue to cling to the Catholic Church thanks in large part to this visit from the great beyond.

Was the experience real? Did the visit actually happen as it was told to my grandfather?

In some ways it didn’t matter.

The tale instantly became a part of our family’s lore, destined to grow into an even bigger and more incredible story as the generations go on.

Either way, my family is home in the Catholic Church – supernatural visit or not – and we feel blessed to be here.


Tommy Tighe is a Catholic husband and father of four boys. You can find out more about him at CatholicHipster.com.