[David Clayton is provost for Pontifex University, which offers a Master of Arts Degree in Theology of the Body and the New Evangelization in partnership with Theology of the Body Institute.

David will be a featured speaker at the May 8-10 Theology of the Body Virtual Conference. Registration for the conference is free and gets you access through the weekend to pre-recorded videos by David and nearly 70 other speakers and artists. More than 30,000 attendees are registered as of April 28. Get full details and register at TOBVirtualConference.com.]

Some of you will remember that in a recent conversation with Christopher West for my Way of Beauty podcast, he mentioned that he had been reading the story of my conversion in my book, The Vision for You, and had found it inspiring.

In this blog post, I describe how the desire to discover my true purpose in life led me to the Church, even though I began as an atheist who had no interest in Christianity. 

Over 30 years ago, a chance meeting in a cafe in the King’s Road, Chelsea, west London led to my undertaking a series of spiritual exercises on the promise that I could be an artist if I did them.

A gentleman called David Birtwistle offered to show me how to follow my dreams. This led not only to my becoming an artist but to my conversion to Catholicism and, eventually, being a writer and teacher. I truly believe I have found my personal vocation.

What is all the more remarkable about this is that I was an unhappy and bitter atheist when I met David, yet he convinced me to take spiritual actions in order to change my miserable life for a happy one. I consider this to be a model exercise in evangelization. Wisely, he didn’t tell me he was Catholic or indicate that what he was giving me was based in Christian faith.

To read the full article follow this link.

David Clayton is Provost of www.Pontifex.University, an online Catholic university, and his blog and podcast can be found at thewayofbeauty.org. An exciting partnership has developed between the Theology of the Body Institute and www.Pontifex.University — a unique graduate degree program called Master of Arts: Theology of the Body and the New Evangelization. Learn more here.