From questions to Communion: one man’s journey home to the Catholic Church

Hayden Larson is baptized by Father Nathan Dail, chaplain, during the Easter Vigil this year at St. Paul's Student Center at Boise State. (Courtesy photos/Grant Smith)

By Emily Woodham

Staff Writer

Hayden Larson never thought it was odd to skip Christmas until he was 10.

“Christmas just was not something my family celebrated,” he said.

His parents came from the Seventh-day Adventist and Church of God (Seventh Day), often referred to as “CoG7,” denominations. They rasied Hayden and his sister in CoG7, a fundamentalist, non-doctrinal church that observes Old Testament traditions and holidays through a Christian lens.

“We lived in a small town in Oregon, and everyone in the CoG7 church was tight-knit,” Hayden told the Idaho Catholic Register. It wasn’t until he was 8, when his dad almost died from a stroke, that he discovered not everyone had the same view of religion.

“My dad worked in California and traveled a lot,” he explained. “I’ll never forget when my mom got the phone call that he had a severe stroke and was in the hospital. It was petrifying. My mother immediately left for California to be with my dad. They stayed there for almost a year while he recovered and then went through rehabilitation. I had to grow up fast.”

During that time, Hayden and his older sister stayed with different families, often apart from each other.

“I didn’t see my sister for about six months,” he said.

Hayden, now 23, stayed mostly with families who were part of the same church. However, for a time, he stayed with a family from a different denomination.

“They invited me to go with them to church, and I would hear things about the Bible that I had never heard before,” he recalled. “I became more independent in my beliefs and started praying on my own.”

When he was 10, his family moved to Southern California. Because there were no churches that were part of their denomination, they began attending an evangelical megachurch and often visited other churches and revivals. Hayden was ultimately sent to a private evangelical school.

The experience of the evangelical churches was very different from his childhood church. From the music to the preaching to congregations of thousands of people, he found the evangelical churches bewildering and exciting.

“When we began going to church there, I was kind of entering a new era where I wanted more truth, and I wanted to seek that for myself. At first, it was so awesome: the music, the festivals with bands, lights and smoke machines. I remember going to a massive evangelical revival at Angel Stadium and wondering if this is what it means to worship God. But then I began facing questions I never really thought about before: What does ‘God’s judgment’ mean? What is hell? What does it mean to be saved?”

In his old denomination, they took literally the Protestant tenet of sola scriptura (“Scripture alone”). They used this as a foundation for rejecting many traditional Christian dogmatic teachings, such as the Trinity and eternal consequences for sin. Although the Protestant churches he attended in California were not complete in their theology, they were closer to traditional Christianity than the church in which he was raised.

Hayden believed he was doing well in his relationship with Jesus, despite his struggles, until he returned from Christmas break in fifth grade.

“The teacher asked the students what they got for Christmas. As the kids around the room answered the question, I became more and more uneasy,” he said. “When she got to me, I had a sense of dread, but I told the truth: ‘I didn’t get anything for Christmas. I don’t celebrate Christmas.’ Everyone in the room was in shock.”

The teacher and other students questioned Hayden about his faith because he didn’t observe Christmas.

Hayden is confirmed by Father Nathan Dail. His sponsor, Joe Patti, prays with his hand on Hayden's shoulder. (Courtesy photo/Grant Smith)

“They asked: ‘Aren’t you a Christian? Don’t you believe in Jesus?’ I didn’t have an answer for them. Even in my own head, I questioned myself. I thought I believed in Jesus, but I thought maybe I don’t.”

When Hayden asked his dad about it, he didn’t have any answers. Hayden called his grandfather for answers, who could only give comfort but no explanations. Hayden made a promise to himself that he would find all the answers to his questions. He wanted to ensure that when his children asked him anything, he would know.

As Hayden researched, he struggled not only with the beliefs from the denomination of his childhood, but he also developed a growing distaste for evangelicalism.

“After some time, it began to feel like a big performance and all about prosperity. I didn’t see any depth to it anymore. It also seemed to have a lack of reverence for the Lord,” he said.

In 2017, his family moved to Idaho. Hayden began attending an interdenominational, hybrid classical school in the fall.

“I was surrounded by Calvinists, Baptists, Messianic believers, non-denominational members and Catholics.”

Hayden’s parents returned to their former denomination, but Hayden asked not to go with them. His parents respected his wishes.

At his classical high school, he learned about the Church Fathers and the Reformation.

“I was becoming more militantly Protestant because I thought that was the right thing to do,” he said. “But I couldn’t shake that without the Catholics, we wouldn’t have the civilization that we have today.”

Despite his Protestant convictions, two of his closest friends at the school were Catholic.

“One kept telling me about this guy, Father Nathan Dail, and the wise things he’d say. She also told me about this thing called ‘Adoration.’ She would just go and sit with the Lord in adoration in peace and quiet, and she would cry with the Lord. I never heard of anything like that in my life.”

The idea of sharing emotions with God especially seemed foreign to Hayden. As he was developing his own beliefs, he embraced a more stoic and rational version of Christianity.

“I had never had a moment with God like that, where I could just share my feelings,” he explained.

Hayden graduated in 2021, and returned to California to pursue a career in film production.

“I was driving all the time. I was constantly listening to books and podcasts,” he said. The more he learned about history, theology and philosophy, the more curious he became about the Catholic Church.

He also discussed the Catholic Church with his girlfriend, Ellie, and her family, who still lived in Idaho. Ellie’s mother is Lutheran. Her father was raised Catholic but left the Church as a young adult.

While visiting Ellie’s family in Donnelly for Christmas in 2022, it was a surprise when Ellie’s mother suggested they attend Christmas Eve Mass at St. Katharine’s in Cascade.

Hayden was immediately impressed when he entered St. Katharine Drexel Church in Cascade on Christmas Eve.

“It was really snowing out, but the church was still crowded. The dedication of the people really struck me. The priest had so much conviction, devotion and strength in everything he did, from the rituals to the homily. I had never experienced that before.”

A few days after Christmas, Hayden returned to Boise to catch his flight back to California. However, his flight on Dec. 30 was canceled. He went for a walk downtown in the evening along Hays Street, past St. John’s Cathedral. As he passed the old rectory, he saw several men sitting around a fire pit, smoking cigars, talking and laughing. At first, he decided to continue on.

“As I start to cross Ninth Street, this feeling hits me like a ton of bricks,” Hayden said. “I knew I needed to turn around and talk to the guys back at the rectory. I had never had such a strong feeling before, and I thought, ‘Is this the Holy Spirit?’”

Hayden turned around and walked up to the young men. He asked if they were Catholic and if he could ask them some questions. They eagerly invited him to join them.

Their conversation began around 10 p.m. and lasted until 4 a.m. Hayden and Joe Patti, who at the time was a seminarian for the Diocese of Boise, formed an immediate friendship over their shared love of Western civilization history.

“In our conversation, Joe reinforced that it was actually the Church that safeguarded our civilization for millennia,” Hayden said.

Joe invited him to see the rectory library and chapel.

“When Joe took me into the chapel, it was the first time I felt the true presence of Christ,” he said. “Before that, the only time I could really feel the Lord was when I was alone in nature.”

Joe then invited him to daily Mass at the cathedral at 8:30 a.m. Hayden got only a few hours of sleep before attending, but he knew he couldn’t miss it.

“Joe greeted me and stayed right next to me and guided me through the whole Mass.”

Hayden also saw the mother of one of his friends from high school.

“She came up to me and gave me a hug. She said she was so happy to see me there.”

After Mass, while having coffee together, Joe told Hayden that all of his questions and uneasiness would ultimately come down to faith and trust in the Lord.

“I didn’t want to believe that, though,” Hayden said. “I wanted to believe that faith could be completely rational.”

As they walked back to the cathedral, Joe said he wanted Hayden to meet a “Father Nathan.”

Although the name “Father Nathan” was familiar, it wasn’t until he saw Father Nathan Dail that he realized it was the same priest his friends had admired in high school—and the priest who celebrated the Christmas Eve Mass in Cascade.

“What were the chances that this Father Nathan was the one in Cascade and was the same priest I heard about for four years of high school? So I spoke with Father, and I went back to California a changed person,” Hayden said. But he still wasn’t ready to begin the process of becoming Catholic.

Hayden receives his First Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil Mass. (Courtesy photo/Grant Smith)

In California, he attended a Dutch Reformed church in the morning on Sundays and then went to Mass in the afternoon. During visits to Boise to see Ellie, he attended St. Paul’s Student Center. In the summer of 2025, he decided to return to Idaho. However, he was still hesitant about starting OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults).

Hayden still wanted to have all the answers to life’s questions before getting married and having children. Years earlier, a friend had tried to set him straight, telling him that many of the answers he sought were incomprehensible and beyond even the most brilliant theologians.

His years-long struggle finally came to a head when he realized the truth of what Joe Patti had said: he needed to put his faith and trust in the Lord.

“After reading St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine and others, I realized that at a certain point I couldn’t see past God’s mercy,” Hayden explained. “This led me back to what Joe said. I need to have faith and trust.”

Hayden moved back to Idaho in the summer of 2025 and entered OCIA that September.

“At every single Mass leading up to becoming Catholic, I prayed, ‘Lord, I trust You. If this is the path I’m supposed to be on, if You are guiding me on this path, I trust You. If I’m not supposed to be here, please take me somewhere I’m supposed to be. Please put me on a path I’m supposed to go down,’” he said.

“I’m so thankful for everyone who helped me on this path. I am where I’m supposed to be. I am home. I eagerly await to see how the Lord uses me.”