Episode 182, Led by the Spirit: The Conversion Story of Barbara Heil

This podcast episode follows the remarkable faith journey of Barbara Heil. Her full testimony is beautifully recounted in her book, Journey into His Heart: How the Holy Spirit Led Me into the Catholic Church, available at the Sophia Institute and Amazon.

Barbara Heil was raised without any particular faith or religious background. However, at the age of sixteen, she experienced a powerful encounter with the love of Jesus Christ that changed her life. She soon began attending a Protestant church and later became a missionary and pastor, traveling to more than fifty nations to share the Gospel. Her zeal for the Lord was contagious—she wanted everyone to know and love Jesus as she did.

At one point, Barbara attended a Bible school in Washington State, where her training included evangelizing Catholics. She was told that Catholics worshipped images, treated Mary as a goddess, and prayed to saints instead of to God. Those misconceptions stayed with her—until one day, a Catholic priest was invited to speak to her group. Barbara had mixed emotions about his visit, uncertain whether Catholics were even Christian. But to her surprise, she was deeply moved by the priest’s evident love for Jesus Christ.

Later, she was given a book about the saints and doctors of the church. Reading the writings of St. Teresa of Ávila and St. John of the Cross stirred something within her soul and began what she would later recognize as a slow but steady journey toward the Catholic faith.

In the opening chapter of her book, “Holy Thursday,” Barbara recalls being invited by friends to attend a Holy Thursday Mass. At the time, she was still an ordained Protestant minister, yet she felt the unmistakable presence of God during the liturgy—though she did not yet understand its meaning or significance.

As a Protestant pastor, Barbara’s life was filled with prayer, worship, and Scripture study. Occasionally, she would encounter passages that puzzled her. Once, she asked her pastor, “How could Jesus be sinless if He was born of a human mother who herself was born after the Fall?” When he could not provide an answer, her curiosity deepened.

Over time, the Lord continued to work in her heart. She once heard Ralph Martin of Renewal Ministries speak, and his words stirred her soul in a profound way. Gradually, the pieces began to fall into place. Still, Barbara wrestled with familiar questions: Do Catholics worship Mary? Why pray the Rosary? Why pray to the saints? What is papal infallibility?

The more she prayed, read, and studied Church history, the more she discovered that the Catholic Church’s teachings were not what she had once been taught. She came to believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and to recognize the beauty, depth, and truth of the Catholic faith.