About

“The future for me is to educate Catholic people on what they have in front of them. I would have to say that I want to learn more so I can educate people about their faith, the mission of Jesus, and his Church. To the people who visit this site I hope that you feel the same way!”-Michael Haddad, President of Catholic BattleCry.

My parents were immigrants from Jordan. They both arrived to the United States at different times in their life. My father arrived here at the age of five and adapted to the life style of America very easily. My mother on the other hand arrived at the age of 18. This led my mother to be a very traditional person. My family were members of the 4% of Arabic Christians living in the Middle East. Their faith in Jesus was put to the test by taking the abuse of violent acts and messages directed at them. This impacted my life because my mother took the mistreatment and that made her a better Catholic. My mother expected me to live for the faith and take any punishment they were enforced to take. I am grateful that in America I have never had to face the battles that my family in the Middle East did.
I have two younger sisters, and in my life in the military, college, and church groups I have met many wonderful people. I enjoy knowing that I will meet more people. I have attended Catholic schools almost all of my life. Years after my baptism, I found myself in Catholic grade school. Reconciliation and Communion followed a couple years later and before entering high school I was confirmed. I hate to say it but up until this point I have always been surrounded by Catholics and never knew too much about it. Over my four years in high school, my theology classes were taught by two priests. By these two men of God I started to understand that Christianity in general is something that we must all embrace.
Youth group, attending my parent’s Melkite Catholic Church, and school mass with the bishop opened my eyes to the universal family. After high school I joined the United States Army reserves and missed a school year for basic training, and AIT. I returned home and made the choice to attend college. I have to say going away to college brought me to the worst place I have ever been spiritually, as a person, and as a Christian. Right away I was attracted to a Protestant group who trained me to be a Christian: mentally, spiritually, and knowledgeably of God and his word. However, sometimes people could not get over the fact that I would not change my Catholic view. I must admit I was out of my league. There would have been no way for me to go verse by verse with some people. I was challenged about my faith. In Southern Indiana there are not too many Catholics like here in Chicago. I found myself very upset that many people wanted division over simple things. The list that we disagreed about was very short, but the list of things we agreed upon would be unending. Nobody could see that we have more things in common, so, I was lost, spiritually lost
I was so lost that I questioned my faith and I even questioned who Jesus was. My grades had gone down, my friends I pushed away, and I truly was lost in life and spirit. As I sat down thinking about my life and Christianity problems, a man named Ron Campbell walked over to me and identified me as the “Catholic causing all that trouble at the protestant group.” I responded with a smile and said, “Yes, that’s me.” He handed me his business card and stated, “If you’re Catholic come to the Catholic group.” I was shocked that there was a Catholic group. That Wednesday I walked into a house and there were a bunch of young adults like me ready to go to Mass. We had bible studies, parties, trips to different places, and people to talk with about Vocations. I found myself changed. I realized there is a world where Catholics come together not just on Sunday. That group guided me back to Christianity and back to my Catholic faith. Not only was Jesus back but his Church, scripture, and the Magisterium of the Church were back in my life too. I realized with all of this I was unshakable.
I began to learn my faith working at Catholic Camps over the summer and I realized it was up to me to in that little of time to share the message of Jesus and His Catholic Church. Shortly after, I was activated to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. I was sent and stationed at Fort Bragg, NC and I became a check point for people to clear before they went to Iraq. My twelve hour work days were not as bad as I thought, but I was given a lot of time to read. I began to read books by great authors, the Bible, and the Catechism, I realized that that maybe I can be useful to the people of God by getting an education in Theology. I wanted to be like the priests and the religious who guided me throughout life, how Ron answered questions for me and molded me to understand my Catholic faith and the support of others to stay within the Catholic world. I have to mention that I am glad that I was challenged during my days of college. It made me realize that I should have learned more about my Catholic faith. The future for me is to educate Catholic people on what they have in front of them. I would have to say that I want to learn more so I can educate people about their faith, the mission of Jesus, and his Church. To the people who visit this site I hope that you feel the same way!

“My mother expected me to live for the faith and take any punishment they were enforced to take.”

“I was attracted to a Protestant group who trained me to be a Christian: mentally, spiritually, and knowledgeably of God and his word.”