From Catholicism, to Pentecostalism, to New Thought, and Back.

It's been a long spiritual journey and I'm sure it will continue forever.  I was baptized and raised Catholic and went to catechism. When I was 6, I started hanging with my next door neighbors, Perry Vincent and Celia Vincent and I liked them so much, I started going to their Pentecostal Church. I fell in love with church. I just adored the fellowship and the enthusiasm and was baptized again, fully under water and even spoke in tongues quite often.  They are friends of mine to this day.

At fourteen, I began to find the Pentecostal church too strict for me. I decided that I was going to have a personal relationship with God but not be a part of any religion.  While attending John Carroll Catholic High School my junior and senior year, I attended mass as well as played drum set for the charismatic service at St. Anastasia Catholic Church for 2 years.  I was still pursuing my own personal religion and enjoyed being of service to the music program.

Upon graduation, I wanted no more organized religion as it really didn't fit my spirituality. I began reading Wayne Dyer and other spiritual books.  I even designed my own religious symbol which was a star of David, with a cross in the middle surrounded by a circle. I called it "The Oneness of All Religions aka Armandism".  I was dating a dental tech so she made the symbol for me in the dentistry lab. I still have it.

Then in 1984, at 23, a dear friend Pete van der Lugt had gone to a different church and recognized lots of similarities to the philosophies I was studying and speaking of.  I said, "dude, I'm not religious so I'm not going to go to any church."   He said, "dude, you are the most religious person I know."  I said, "Dude, OK, I'll give it a try."  It was the Unity Church of Fort Pierce with Rev. Bob Marshall.  I fell in love with church again. I felt like I had found my home and immersed myself in Unity.  In 1990, I found Religious Science with Rev. Temple Hayes and expanded my spiritual pursuits even more. New Thought has encouraged me to pursue many different paths and practices like Vipassana meditation, Hinduism and Buddhism along with Course in Miracles and many different New Thought teachings, many of which are hybrids of different spiritual paths.  Pete and I are still friends to this day as well.

Then a few years ago, my cousin Hampton Davis, who is a priest in Lafayette LA, invited us to perform at his Gospel Catholic Church, Our Lady Queen of Peace.  We were honored and blessed but were concerned about our song list.  As we looked over the songs, we realized how much Catholicism was in our set list.  Three Ave Marias, Panis Angelicus, The Prayer of St. Francis, Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, Pie Jesu, Amazing Grace, etc. We did three concerts and it was a wonderful experience for all. We also attended one of his masses and I felt reconnected to the church. We also did concerts at Lutheran, Episcopal and a non-denominational Christian Church as well as a very spiritually progressive Catholic Church called St. Joseph of the Forest in Silver Springs, thanks to Sister Diane Lemon who saw us at CSL Ocala and wanted her folks to experience us.  I could feel myself going back in time and embracing my Catholic roots more and more.  It was as if I had left a part of me and was now going back to get him.

Then I remembered a European trip Angelina and I went on in 2007.  We went to many European countries and visited many cathedrals and sacred sites.  We visited Knights of Templar sites and places associated with Mary Magdalene, the Cathars,  etc..  A weird thing would happen when I went into a Cathedral. I would start to weep deeply.  I was overcome by a mix of joy, sadness and reunion.  I never made much of it once I returned to the states.

Now I have been listening to The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr, (a Franciscan friar based in Albuquerque, New Mexico who was ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church in 1970.), and everything is coming full circle for me.  I feel like he has woven my favorite and most resonant teachings of Catholicism, Pentecostalism, New Thought,  and Buddhism into a cohesive tapestry of Spiritual Unity.  

Shift Happens!