Steve Norman

I grew up in a nominally Catholic home, where we went to Church on Sunday and said grace before meals. I also attended Catholic schools K-12. I'm the youngest of four, with three older sisters, and as a family we participated in a lot of church social events. Outside of that, our family's faith life was limited. We never prayed extra prayers, read Scripture, or talked much about the faith. For me, the faith ended up becoming an irrelevant checklist of things that interfered with weekends.

Simultaneously, my dad was emotionally absent. He was a great provider and a hard worker, but most of my interior life was left to be formed by friends and culture. So, when I was 16, I stopped going to church. I kept busy playing sports and a growing social life that included a lot of drinking and drugs. By the time I went to university, I lacked guiding principles in a meaningful way. I studied psychology and philosophy, most of which was from an atheistic/secular perspective. I absorbed everything as truth, and by the time I graduated, I was a staunch atheist.

After university I moved out west for a stint and back-packed Europe for a while. I was trying to 'find myself' but not having much luck. I found myself fairly lost and struggling to 'get a grip.' This type of experience led me to being more agnostic in nature, so when my sister Jen invited me to go on a retreat, I said yes. It was at this Cursillo retreat that God encountered me in a new, profound way. It was Halloween weekend of 2011.

Since then, I've been continually seeking to encounter Him, or more accurately, put myself in position for Him to encounter me. I ended up going to the Holy Land, becoming a missionary, and now I am studying my Masters in Theology from the Augustine Institute.

As chaplaincy leader, I strive to be a witness to Christ and facilitate an encounter for staff and students. My 'yes' to the Lord emerged once I realized how much He has done for me and how relentless He is in pursing me!