Season three of CIOT brought conversations shaped by real questions, real stories, and ordinary encounters with grace. In this final episode, Fr Jack reflects on the themes, voices, and moments that defined the season and what they revealed about faith lived in everyday life.

Valerie Stivers built her career in cultural journalism, beginning as an intern at a major fashion magazine and later working as a sex columnist for the Moscow based alternative paper The Exile, editing Time Out New York, and writing as a freelance journalist for numerous publications. Raised in an atheist family, she did not arrive at faith through argument or study. Instead, a personal experience led her directly and without hesitation into the Catholic Church. In this episode, Valerie reflects on that moment, her life as a writer, and what it meant to follow something she did not expect.

Troy never expected to become Catholic. A friendship opened the door. Hearing Bishop Barron teach on the Eucharist pushed it wide. That moment became a turning point in his discernment and led him into the Church. He and his husband later married outside the Church and continue living as Catholics. This episode looks at the steps that shaped his story.

Advent invites us into a kind of wilderness. Not dramatic, just honest. A place where waiting becomes its own teacher. In this bonus conversation, Fr Jack talks about how God meets us when the path feels quiet and unfinished.

Jesse Anderson joins Fr Jack to share his journey from being a lukewarm Lutheran to finding a deeper home in the Catholic Church. His story is honest and down-to-earth shaped by questions friendship and the slow awakening of a faith that finally felt alive.It’s a conversation about searching surrender and discovering a place where his heart could truly burn with conviction.I hope you like this conversation. I certainly did.

Dawn Eden Goldstein joins Fr Jack on Catholics in Ordinary Time to share her journey from the world of rock journalism to a deep and grounded Catholic faith. Her story moves through music, longing, and discovery as she finds her way home in the Church.

It’s a conversation about listening, transformation, and the surprising paths that lead us into the light.

I hope you like this conversation. I certainly did.

MacLean Andrews joins Fr Jack to share the unexpected path that led him into the Catholic Church. What started as “pretending” to be Catholic at a Catholic school slowly became an honest search for truth. Over time the questions deepened the desire grew and what once felt like a disguise turned into a real journey of faith.

From non denominational roots to discerning with the Jesuits MacLean’s story is full of surprises sincerity and the quiet ways grace works on a heart over time.

I hope you like this conversation I certainly did

Cameron Edman’s journey into the Catholic Church began with curiosity and conversation. What started through friendship grew into a search for truth that was met with patience, wisdom, and unexpected grace.

In this episode of Catholics in Ordinary Time, Cameron shares how questions became a bridge and how gentle guidance helped him find his way home.

I hope you like this conversation I certainly did