- Feb 5, 2002
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Raised without faith, Stephen Williams embraced Zen Buddhism before a surprising encounter led him to Catholicism and Opus Dei.
Stephen Williams has been on quite a journey.
Coming from a broken home, he ended up seeking refuge in the British Army, where the order and discipline provided exactly what he craved. However, decades later, his return to civilian life triggered a personal crisis — one that led an agnostic to become a Zen Buddhist monk, then a Catholic, and eventually part of the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei.
Today, now recently retired, Williams lives with his wife and son in Macclesfield, a town in the northwest of England, and it was from there he told his story to the Register.
Born in Stockport, Cheshire, in 1959, he describes his childhood as “unhappy — my father was distant and prone to violence. My mother, a loving and gentle character, was afraid of him.” When he was 14 years old, William’s parents divorced, an experience he describes as “heart-breaking.” Thereafter, his life was split between time with his mother and time with his father.
Continued below.
www.ncregister.com
Stephen Williams has been on quite a journey.
Coming from a broken home, he ended up seeking refuge in the British Army, where the order and discipline provided exactly what he craved. However, decades later, his return to civilian life triggered a personal crisis — one that led an agnostic to become a Zen Buddhist monk, then a Catholic, and eventually part of the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei.
Today, now recently retired, Williams lives with his wife and son in Macclesfield, a town in the northwest of England, and it was from there he told his story to the Register.
Born in Stockport, Cheshire, in 1959, he describes his childhood as “unhappy — my father was distant and prone to violence. My mother, a loving and gentle character, was afraid of him.” When he was 14 years old, William’s parents divorced, an experience he describes as “heart-breaking.” Thereafter, his life was split between time with his mother and time with his father.
Continued below.
From Zen Monk to Catholic: A British Soldier’s Remarkable Conversion Story
Raised without faith, Stephen Williams embraced Zen Buddhism before a surprising encounter led him to Catholicism and Opus Dei.
