Episode 73: Colleen Vermeulen

Open Door Policy

Colleen Vermeulen, Director of the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan, shares her experience of reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church, how it empowered her faith journey, and how the scriptures keep discipleship grounded.

(0:32) Emily and Fr. Patrick share updates, reflect on the Solemnity of Pentecost, and introduce this episode’s guest, Colleen Vermeulen.

(6:19) Colleen talks about her life growing up in a Catholic family, making her sacraments, and playing violin for her parish. She shares a profound question a friend asked her in high school that inspired her to consider her relationship with God.

(11:39) She reflects on the point when things “clicked” for her, which she remembers most significantly from really listening to the Gloria during Mass one Sunday morning. Colleen also talks about her experiences in both Catholic Masses and Baptist services. Fr. Patrick then reflects on Colleen’s witness to what the Archbishop wrote in Unleash the Gospel about the evangelical fervor of non-Catholic Christians and how that has touched her faith life.

(17:28) Colleen discusses how her Catholic and Baptist worlds came together through a friend from college with whom she was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Another profound question from her friend inspired her to read the entire Catechism, and on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in 2006, she felt a deeper calling to serve the Church.

(26:00) She reflects on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception 10 years later, in 2016, and shares a particularly meaningful excerpt from her 2006 sermon journal, just before her conversion.

(30:10) Fr. Patrick asks Colleen more about her experience reading the Catechism and Colleen reflects on it and the freedom it brought her to discern where God is calling her. Emily then asks about the role of scripture in Colleen’s life and her work with the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan.

(37:29) Fr. Patrick asks about Colleen’s big dream, and she shares her hopes that she’ll keep growing as a parent. She talks, too, about how the scriptures keep her and her husband grounded in the present.

(40:04) Colleen closes in prayer, and Emily gives listeners information for how they can connect with the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan.

Links from this episode:

Catholic Biblical School of Michigan