Why Be Catholic?
Tim Staples was raised in a Southern Baptist home in Virginia. Although he somewhat fell away from serious faith during his adolescent years, the preaching of several TV evangelists motivated Tim to give his life to Christ at the age of 18. Shortly thereafter Staples joined the Marine Corps to gain some much-needed discipline and get some help financing his college education. During his tour of duty he had the opportunity to participate in several Protestant ministries and bible studies. Before long, Tim enrolled in the Jimmy Swaggart Bible College and with an eye towards becoming an youth minister for the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination. However, during his final year in the Marines, Tim met a fellow soldier named Matt Dula who really challenged Tim to examine the Catholic Faith from a biblical and historical perspective. Tim's friendship with Matt sparked a two-year search for the truth. Though Tim was determined to prove Catholicism wrong, he wound up studying and praying his way right into the Roman Catholic Church! After converting to Catholicism in 1988, Staples spent six years in formation for the priesthood. Tim began his journey towards ordination by earning a degree in philosophy from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, Pennsylvania. He then went on to study graduate theology for two additional years at Mount St. Mary s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. In 1994 Tim discerned through prayer and counsel that his calling was not to be a Catholic priest, but rather to be a lay Catholic apologist and evangelist. He has been hard at work ever since producing materials to help Catholics and non-Catholics alike understand the meaning and the biblical foundation of the Catholic faith.