Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
Jun 5, 2002
Iowa author to share his conversion story at local parishes
David Perata, author of `The Orchards of Perseverance,' to give talks June 9 and 23
Iowa author David Perata, a fallen-away Catholic who returned to the Church after a 15-year absence, will speak about his dramatic conversion and the way the Holy Spirit has worked in his life when he appears in Denver at two local parishes this month.
Perata will give talks at Holy Family Church 2 p.m. Sunday, June 9 and at Notre Dame Church 3 p.m. Sunday, June 23. He also will speak at the parishes' Masses those weekends.
Presentations last about an hour and include a slide show about a group of Trappist monks who live at the Abbey of Our Lady of Clairvaux in Vina, Calif. There is no cost to attend the talks. Book signings will follow his presentations.
"I represent the common sinner who has had (a) change of heart," Perata says. "My story is every person's story with the potential for change and being born again into the Spirit."
Born a cradle Catholic in 1953, Perata attended nine years of parochial school in the San Francisco Bay area. He attempted a career as a rock musician and fell away from the Church before experiencing a profound conversion during a visit to a Trappist monastery while researching a book.
The book, "The Orchards of Perseverance: Conversations with Trappist Monks about God, their Lives and the World," is the oral history of 10 monks who live at New Clairvaux Abbey.
"At some point in a person's life, the basic tenets of the faith that we learn as children must either come alive in us or stand the chance of withering on the vine," Perata says. "For many, this conversion opportunity usually comes in time of personal crisis, or perhaps through some national horror such as Sept. 11. This conversion is an instantaneous realization that we are helpless without God and that we are sinners and need God. And what I am here to bear witness to is the fact that we are all given this opportunity for our faith to suddenly come alive. And when the opportunity comes, we are free to choose to say `yes' to God or `no.'
"What I do is basically no different than what the early Christians did when they gathered together, witnessed to what they knew of Jesus Christ and shared the Eucharist," he added. "Our Church was evangelized through this type of witness long before the New Testament was ever written. Our Catholic tradition was passed on orally for years through the simplicity of one person telling another of their spiritual experiences."
For more information about Perata's talks, call Holy Family at 303-455-1664 or Notre Dame at 303-935-3900. Holy Family is at 4377 Utica St. Notre Dame is at 2190 S. Sheridan Blvd.
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