31/08/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HZUkJ5PkJ/
𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗗𝗥𝗨𝗚𝗦, 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗘, 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗗: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗙𝗥. 𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗗 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗔𝗬
What happens when a young man who wants nothing to do with God suddenly encounters a book about the Blessed Virgin Mary?
For Father Donald Calloway, MIC, it became the beginning of a completely new life.
Today, Fr. Donald is a Catholic priest of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. He was ordained on May 31, 2003, at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
But his teenage years seemed to point in an entirely different direction.
𝗔 𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗥𝗘𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡
Before becoming Catholic, Donald Calloway described himself as a troubled young man who had become deeply involved in drugs, crime, and a destructive lifestyle.
He became a high-school dropout, ran away from home, was institutionalized twice, and spent time in jail. He was also eventually expelled from a foreign country.
His own published conversion testimony describes a period when drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, theft, and rebellion had taken control of his life.
Religion meant almost nothing to him.
He had little understanding of Christianity and wanted nothing to do with the Catholic Church.
In his own words, the Grateful Dead and the Deadhead culture had become his world.
Yet while Donald was running farther and farther away, his mother, LaChita Calloway, was moving in the opposite direction.
𝗔 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗪𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗚𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗨𝗣
During those difficult years, Donald's parents continued to take him back even when he repeatedly left home.
According to his mother's testimony, she continued praying for her children and entrusting her family to Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and St. Joseph.
Donald later recalled that even when he returned home primarily because he needed food or somewhere to sleep, his parents continued to receive him.
His mother refused to believe that her son's story was finished.
Her hope was tested again and again.
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗗 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘
One night in March 1992, Donald unexpectedly decided not to go out partying with his friends.
He remained at home, alone in his room.
Restless and searching for something to occupy himself, he went to a bookshelf.
He wasn't looking for a religious book.
But one caught his attention:
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗩𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗦 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗝𝗨𝗚𝗢𝗥𝗝𝗘.
The book, written by Father Joseph A. Pelletier, concerned the reported Marian apparitions at Medjugorje.
Donald knew almost nothing about Catholicism.
Words such as "Blessed Virgin Mary," "Rosary," "Eucharist," "Communion," and "scapular" were unfamiliar to him.
Yet he began reading.
And he couldn't stop.
According to his testimony, what he encountered in those pages profoundly affected him.
As he read about prayer, Jesus Christ, the Cross, repentance, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Catholic faith, he began to experience a powerful realization that his life was going in the wrong direction.
He later described the experience as a profound conversion.
The young man who had mocked religion suddenly found himself captivated by the person of Mary and by the Christian message she was pointing him toward.
𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗟𝗘𝗗 𝗛𝗜𝗠 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗛𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗧
For Donald, discovering Mary did not become an end in itself.
Instead, he came to understand Mary as pointing him toward Jesus and His Church.
He later explained that if he was going to accept what he was learning about the Blessed Virgin Mary, he also had to surrender himself to Jesus Christ and to the Catholic Church.
He continued reading through the night.
By the early morning hours, his life had been shaken to its foundations.
And then came the moment that stunned his mother.
𝗜 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞 𝗧𝗢 𝗔 𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗖 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧
When his mother came downstairs that morning, Donald approached her.
He struggled even to say the words.
Finally, he blurted out:
"I have to talk to a Catholic priest."
His mother was understandably shocked.
After everything Donald had said and done, she initially wondered whether he was serious.
But Donald insisted.
He wanted answers.
He wanted to understand who the Blessed Virgin Mary was and what he had encountered in the book.
His mother immediately began trying to find a priest who could speak with him.
When Donald asked whether there was a chapel near the entrance of the naval base where they lived, his mother told him:
"Yes, Donnie. Run!"
The young man who once wanted nothing to do with Christianity was now urgently seeking a priest.
𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗗
Donald eventually entered the Catholic Church and began discerning what God was calling him to do with his life.
His conversion was not simply an emotional moment that ended that night.
It became the beginning of a long journey of faith, study, formation, and discernment.
He eventually joined the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.
According to the Marian Fathers, he made his first vows on August 15, 1995, and his final vows on March 25, 2000.
He pursued theological and philosophical studies, eventually earning degrees from Franciscan University of Steubenville, the Dominican House of Studies, and the International Marian Research Institute.
On May 31, 2003, he was ordained a Catholic priest at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy.
The runaway teenager had become a priest.
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗢𝗦𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗔 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡
The Rosary became an important part of Fr. Calloway's spiritual life and ministry.
The Marian Fathers list the Rosary and Divine Mercy among his principal devotions, and he has dedicated several books to the history, spirituality, and practice of the Rosary.
His later ministry has included preaching about the Blessed Virgin Mary, Divine Mercy, vocations, and the power of Marian devotion.
His story has also been published in his autobiography, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy, where he recounts his journey from a troubled youth to Catholic priesthood.
𝗔 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥'𝗦 𝗛𝗢𝗣𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗜𝗡 𝗩𝗔𝗜𝗡
Perhaps one of the most moving parts of Fr. Calloway's story is not only what happened to him—but what happened before his conversion.
His mother kept praying.
She continued loving him.
She continued receiving him.
She continued believing that God's mercy could reach a son who seemed to be moving farther and farther away.
Years later, she reflected on her son's conversion and emphasized that the entire family had prayed, persevered, practiced their faith, and trusted in God.
Her son's transformation did not happen according to her timetable.
But she never abandoned hope.
𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗔 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗔 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧
Fr. Donald Calloway's story is now widely known because he chose to tell it publicly.
His autobiography, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy, recounts the dramatic events of his youth, his conversion, his discovery of the Catholic faith, and his eventual vocation to the priesthood.
The facts of his life before conversion are striking:
From drugs to prayer.
From rebellion to faith.
From running away from home to giving his life to God.
From rejecting the Church to becoming one of its priests.
From a young man who once wanted nothing to do with Christianity to a priest whose ministry has centered heavily on the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Rosary, Divine Mercy, and vocations.
And at the center of his testimony is the conviction that God's mercy can reach even someone who appears completely lost.
As Fr. Calloway's mother expressed it, the road had many winding turns, but "out of the darkness there was always the light of the Lord."
His story became a testimony that a person's past does not have to determine his future—and that, in his experience, the prayers of a mother, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the grace of God can accompany a person even through the darkest years.
𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗗𝗥𝗨𝗚𝗦, 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗘, 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗗: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗙𝗥. 𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗗 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗔𝗬
What happens when a young man who wants nothing to do with God suddenly encounters a book about the Blessed Virgin Mary?
For Father Donald Calloway, MIC, it became the beginning of a completely new life.
Today, Fr. Donald is a Catholic priest of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. He was ordained on May 31, 2003, at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
But his teenage years seemed to point in an entirely different direction.
𝗔 𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗥𝗘𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡
Before becoming Catholic, Donald Calloway described himself as a troubled young man who had become deeply involved in drugs, crime, and a destructive lifestyle.
He became a high-school dropout, ran away from home, was institutionalized twice, and spent time in jail. He was also eventually expelled from a foreign country.
His own published conversion testimony describes a period when drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, theft, and rebellion had taken control of his life.
Religion meant almost nothing to him.
He had little understanding of Christianity and wanted nothing to do with the Catholic Church.
In his own words, the Grateful Dead and the Deadhead culture had become his world.
Yet while Donald was running farther and farther away, his mother, LaChita Calloway, was moving in the opposite direction.
𝗔 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗪𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗚𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗨𝗣
During those difficult years, Donald's parents continued to take him back even when he repeatedly left home.
According to his mother's testimony, she continued praying for her children and entrusting her family to Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and St. Joseph.
Donald later recalled that even when he returned home primarily because he needed food or somewhere to sleep, his parents continued to receive him.
His mother refused to believe that her son's story was finished.
Her hope was tested again and again.
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗗 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘
One night in March 1992, Donald unexpectedly decided not to go out partying with his friends.
He remained at home, alone in his room.
Restless and searching for something to occupy himself, he went to a bookshelf.
He wasn't looking for a religious book.
But one caught his attention:
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗩𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗦 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗝𝗨𝗚𝗢𝗥𝗝𝗘.
The book, written by Father Joseph A. Pelletier, concerned the reported Marian apparitions at Medjugorje.
Donald knew almost nothing about Catholicism.
Words such as "Blessed Virgin Mary," "Rosary," "Eucharist," "Communion," and "scapular" were unfamiliar to him.
Yet he began reading.
And he couldn't stop.
According to his testimony, what he encountered in those pages profoundly affected him.
As he read about prayer, Jesus Christ, the Cross, repentance, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Catholic faith, he began to experience a powerful realization that his life was going in the wrong direction.
He later described the experience as a profound conversion.
The young man who had mocked religion suddenly found himself captivated by the person of Mary and by the Christian message she was pointing him toward.
𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗟𝗘𝗗 𝗛𝗜𝗠 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗛𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗧
For Donald, discovering Mary did not become an end in itself.
Instead, he came to understand Mary as pointing him toward Jesus and His Church.
He later explained that if he was going to accept what he was learning about the Blessed Virgin Mary, he also had to surrender himself to Jesus Christ and to the Catholic Church.
He continued reading through the night.
By the early morning hours, his life had been shaken to its foundations.
And then came the moment that stunned his mother.
𝗜 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞 𝗧𝗢 𝗔 𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗖 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧
When his mother came downstairs that morning, Donald approached her.
He struggled even to say the words.
Finally, he blurted out:
"I have to talk to a Catholic priest."
His mother was understandably shocked.
After everything Donald had said and done, she initially wondered whether he was serious.
But Donald insisted.
He wanted answers.
He wanted to understand who the Blessed Virgin Mary was and what he had encountered in the book.
His mother immediately began trying to find a priest who could speak with him.
When Donald asked whether there was a chapel near the entrance of the naval base where they lived, his mother told him:
"Yes, Donnie. Run!"
The young man who once wanted nothing to do with Christianity was now urgently seeking a priest.
𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗗
Donald eventually entered the Catholic Church and began discerning what God was calling him to do with his life.
His conversion was not simply an emotional moment that ended that night.
It became the beginning of a long journey of faith, study, formation, and discernment.
He eventually joined the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.
According to the Marian Fathers, he made his first vows on August 15, 1995, and his final vows on March 25, 2000.
He pursued theological and philosophical studies, eventually earning degrees from Franciscan University of Steubenville, the Dominican House of Studies, and the International Marian Research Institute.
On May 31, 2003, he was ordained a Catholic priest at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy.
The runaway teenager had become a priest.
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗢𝗦𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗔 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗗𝗘𝗩𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡
The Rosary became an important part of Fr. Calloway's spiritual life and ministry.
The Marian Fathers list the Rosary and Divine Mercy among his principal devotions, and he has dedicated several books to the history, spirituality, and practice of the Rosary.
His later ministry has included preaching about the Blessed Virgin Mary, Divine Mercy, vocations, and the power of Marian devotion.
His story has also been published in his autobiography, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy, where he recounts his journey from a troubled youth to Catholic priesthood.
𝗔 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥'𝗦 𝗛𝗢𝗣𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗜𝗡 𝗩𝗔𝗜𝗡
Perhaps one of the most moving parts of Fr. Calloway's story is not only what happened to him—but what happened before his conversion.
His mother kept praying.
She continued loving him.
She continued receiving him.
She continued believing that God's mercy could reach a son who seemed to be moving farther and farther away.
Years later, she reflected on her son's conversion and emphasized that the entire family had prayed, persevered, practiced their faith, and trusted in God.
Her son's transformation did not happen according to her timetable.
But she never abandoned hope.
𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗔 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗔 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧
Fr. Donald Calloway's story is now widely known because he chose to tell it publicly.
His autobiography, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy, recounts the dramatic events of his youth, his conversion, his discovery of the Catholic faith, and his eventual vocation to the priesthood.
The facts of his life before conversion are striking:
From drugs to prayer.
From rebellion to faith.
From running away from home to giving his life to God.
From rejecting the Church to becoming one of its priests.
From a young man who once wanted nothing to do with Christianity to a priest whose ministry has centered heavily on the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Rosary, Divine Mercy, and vocations.
And at the center of his testimony is the conviction that God's mercy can reach even someone who appears completely lost.
As Fr. Calloway's mother expressed it, the road had many winding turns, but "out of the darkness there was always the light of the Lord."
His story became a testimony that a person's past does not have to determine his future—and that, in his experience, the prayers of a mother, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the grace of God can accompany a person even through the darkest years.
