Hello friends!
Thank you for being here. Here's a little bit about me and what I hope to do with this community.

I am a newly confirmed Catholic as of March 31st 2024 who is passionate about apologetics and our Faith. The biggest issues of our time, drug use, suicide, identity confusion, depression, anxiety, porn addiction, and so much more, are all symptoms of a hole in our hearts once filled by God. Of course, it wasn't God who left our hearts, but us who evicted Him. And contrary to popular belief, everyone is religious. It is only the object of worship that changes. If not God, we will inevitably worship short term pleasures at our own demise.
I experienced this first hand while I was an atheist for 8 years. Rather than focusing on loving God and my neighbor, I focused on loving myself. This meant being wrapped up in my public image. I desperately wanted the approval of others. To me, success meant commanding the respect of others and inspiring envy.
One day while at work I came to a realization. Menial, repetitive work has a way of bringing about epiphanies. The realization was this: even if I met my standard of success (commanding the respect and envy of others) perfectly, one day I would die and so would everyone who ever respected or envied me. It would all have still been pointless. This thought filled me with panic. My stomach felt as if I was falling endlessly into a pit. Without God there could be no point to anything we do in this life.
Strangely (for me at the time, at least), my first impulse was to download the Bible app and start reading the Scriptures. Like a person drowning, I felt the need to grab ahold of something solid and fast. From there I began to look into Christian apologetics. Up until this point I had only heard arguments in favor of Christianity in their straw man form from other atheists. But now that I was hearing arguments for Christianity from actual Christians, I realized there were solid intellectual reasons to believe there is a God and that this God is the God of Christianity.
This marked a dramatic turning point in my life. I began to live for others rather than for myself. Even my girlfriend (now wife) said I became much more helpful around the house and much more enjoyable to be around after converting. From within I felt a major shift in how I thought about everything and I was significantly happier.
All of this and more is credited to the prompting of the Holy Spirit which compelled me to start reading the Bible, and the Christian apologists who demonstrated the evidence and logical arguments in favor of Christianity. If one of these were lacking, I would not have converted.
I knew very early on in my conversion that I wanted to spread what I had discovered. Only the Holy Spirit can make someone open to learning about Jesus Christ, but there must also be resources from which to learn. If I could be a resource for someone to learn about Christ in a way that is enjoyable and relatable, there is no other job more fulfilling.
That is my goal with my TikTok account and with this Locals page, to be a resource and community for those who are considering the Catholic Faith and those who are already part of it.