April 26, 2025 - Mike Di Iacovo Testimony for Catholicism

The fourth Saturday is usually a lot more fraternal, more hanging out, spending time with good men and the rest of us. But for this one, because we're having it at St. Mary's and I have always wanted to hear his story, I asked Mike Diacovo to entertain us with his story for a few minutes.

So we're going to listen to his story, and then otherwise we're just going to have fraternal time.

MC: Adam Hohn

Parochial Vicar: Tyler Arens

Presenter: Mike Di Iacovo

Deacon: Rick Freedberg

Brought to you By: The Knights of Columbus

participantOne:(200-22580): Morning, everybody. I am Joseph Gruber. You may call me Joseph. My apologies on several levels this morning. One, we were supposed to be at Cascades Manor. This is not Cascades Manor. They weren't available when we thought they were.

participantOne:(22920-52940): Two, I think we thought that there would be more food here, and there isn't. I think a fruit tray just got dropped off, so there is at least fruit. Is that true, Adam? Awesome. And the third apology is that you have to listen to me for a moment. My apologies, yeah. I know, I know. I know, I know. I'm sorry, too. Shall we begin the morning in a prayer?

participantOne:(53500-77840): In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Direct, O Lord, our actions by thy holy inspiration, and carry them on by thy gracious assistance, that every word and work of ours may begin in thee, and by thee be happily ended. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. This is the fourth week of the month of April. This is a core meeting. Core is for prayer, formation, and fraternity.

participantOne:(78100-98000): The fourth Saturday is usually a lot more fraternal, more hanging out, spending time with good men and the rest of us. But for this one, because we're having it at St. Mary's and I have always wanted to hear his story, I asked Mike Diacovo to entertain us with his story for a few minutes.

participantOne:(99100-112380): So we're going to listen to his story, and then otherwise we're just going to have fraternal time. Sound good? Mike Diacovo is the current Grand Knight of Queen of the Miraculous Medal, Knights of Columbus Council.

participantOne:(112840-140480): He is a man of many talents, whether it is in the realm of homesteading or in the realm of the world of cyber beings. Yeah. Uh-huh. And I am honored to call him a friend, and I invite you all to listen to his story. That was nice, sir, and I had anticipated, so give me a moment. Thank you, Joseph. Thank you.

participantOne:(141120-169560): So I'm just going to come up to tell my conversion story, which is funny because a former Protestant, that's something that I'm very used to, but have not been asked to since I became a Catholic, really. So it's kind of weird, full circle there. I have a handout that's being passed around. My printer's dead. I managed to squeak out, like, enough for an outline for me. So for as much as I'm good in the cyber realm, I don't really deal a lot with paper. So my wife's in Boston. Normally she handles all the...

participantOne:(169920-199120): logistics of our entire family, that's why I was late. Anyways, the handout's going around. Sorry, there's only one. It's just a cool picture that I created and kind of like some extra info and some quotes about what I'm gonna talk about today. So like I said, I'm just gonna share my story. My name is Michael Diacovo. My middle name is Anthony, which is kind of cool because my father and my grandfather both had the middle name of Anthony. And also he's a cool saint that I learned much later on in my life. So that's pretty cool.

participantOne:(199340-228940): It started off in my life being born early on to a couple parents that didn't really want me. My mom told me, I don't know how old I was, maybe like, how old are you in kindergarten? Like five or six, seven, something like that? I got to hear the story of how my grandparents forced her to have me at like 23, 22, something like that because she said you're lucky, how did she put it? You're lucky that coat hangers were illegal

participantOne:(229380-244440): back when you were born, because you wouldn't be here without it, and thank your grandparents for that. She was really mad at me one day and let that slide, so I asked my papa, and I don't know what that meant, which was an interesting conversation to have with your grandparents about why a coat hanger would be such a great threat to you.

participantOne:(245140-273659): So, yes, very loved, very wanted, started right off. That's not to say my life was all garbage, but my parents were split when I was really young, both chemically dependent. My father, a crack, and this is drug of choice. I believe he said he was addicted to anything at all, was what he liked to say, which later on means literally anything that gets you high, is what his thing was. My mom's was more sophisticated, cocaine and alcohol, so at least she had that going for her.

participantOne:(274180-287320): So my understanding of Christianity was if my mom had a bender, that meant I had to go meet Jesus, not physically, thank God, but logistically at church. She would come...

participantOne:(287820-309200): Like six in the morning after being out all night, wake us up and make us go to church. Whatever church was nearby, we would go and we would ask God forgiveness to forgive our sins. It's a very confusing relationship as a child for understanding what that meant for God and why was God so mad at my mom? And why did I have to apologize? I was sleeping. Very confusing earlier on.

participantOne:(309520-340640): But that was that. My mom did teach us the Hail Mary and the Our Father and the Blessed Soul Lord dinner prayer. I don't know why those three prayers were prayers that she decided to teach us. I don't know if she just memorized them as a kid. She didn't grow up Catholic. But we got to say those whenever she needed some. We were like her priest, I guess. We were giving her forgiveness. Very strange for a child to be able to do that. And we were also helping her get through tough times, me and my sister.

participantOne:(341060-373140): I probably should have mentioned that. I had a sister, just the two of us. So apparently I wasn't so bad she decided to have another one of us. That's good. Yeah, so they struggled. They had a confusion of faith. And it led me to have like a really big fear of death for some reason as a kid. I remember one time being absolutely terrified of closing my eyes and thinking about I'll be in the dirt. The worms are going to touch me. Am I going to feel that? You know, like all the kid stuff, right? The physical part of death, not the spiritual part, not the emotional part. But like is it going to hurt?

participantOne:(373360-398620): Are the worms going to itch me? Like, what's up with that? My body's going to rot there? I smell death, it stinks, right? And so I went to my mom and complained about it. And she basically said, you're never going to die, you're going to live forever. Don't worry about it. Good advice. My dad, on the other hand, said, you have to die at some point. What are you going to do? You're going to be a crotchety old man, screaming at everybody with a cane on your lawn, tell them to get off your lawn and be a million years old? Nobody wants that for you. I would hate you if you were like that. I was like six.

participantOne:(399000-414540): So the idea of being an old man was... The idea you were dependent on other people and couldn't do a lot of things for yourself, I was used to that already, right? So those are the two advices I got from my parents. It did not help at all. Either I wasn't ever going to die or I had to die for the sake of not upsetting everyone else.

participantOne:(415060-441700): That's a terrible way to look at life. Yeah, so that was their help for me. And my mom also said, well, you can say prayers about it, make yourself feel better about it. I was like, okay. That had mild to no effect because I didn't know what I was praying to exactly or why. Fast forward to like the awkward years of life, puberty, all that stuff that happens to humans. And I got really involved in the occult. Tried to do...

participantOne:(442340-463740): Try to find something. Try to grasp at something out there that exists. St. Augustine says, You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts restless until it rests in you. I feel like this quote really goes over what was going on in my life at the time. I was looking for something spiritual, something to fill this void in my life. And so...

participantOne:(464360-493600): Mr. Crowley and the Hermetic study or Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn, which is a absolute horrible group Was welcoming with open arms teaching me about high ritual magic teaching me about asking angels for help None of those angels are angels. You should ever ask for help There's not one st. Gabriel among them. Let's put it that way and so I got involved heavily in that started seeing That I was getting things in life that I wanted so it felt good and

participantOne:(494060-524740): as such as all the traps of the enemy, right? Give you just enough to make you feel good, but not enough to make you feel whole, and have terrible costs associated to it that you didn't understand. So doing that for a while. Graduated high school, went into college, and I was like any young red blood American male, very interested in women at college. Met some young ladies who were part of a like Jesus light group, or like we love Jesus group,

participantOne:(524939-555540): Not so much like well-formed Christian group, but like we love Jesus and that's enough group. I call them Christian light. You may have never turned for them. Protestant group, very anti-anything organized group. And the girls were hot. So they're like, hey, we're going to this Christian retreat. You want to go? I was like, you want to go with me camping somewhere and we're going to all hang out together? In my mind, it had nothing to do with what God had intended for me, I'm sure. Yes, I was glad to go to a cabin with you in the woods and hang out with you.

participantOne:(556060-570720): fully unsupervised for 72 hours. That sounds fantastic, right? Sorry, that's the reality. So we went there, and God has this amazing thing that he likes to do for me, where he will allow me to fall...

participantOne:(571219-598280): And like, you guys ever seen that commercial where the guy holds a dollar in front of the person? Right? And he's like, oh, got you a dollar. And the lady's trying to grab the dollar from the insurance company. I feel like God lets Satan do that to me and then replaces the dollar with something actually useful. Or like a sucker punch that God likes to give me that helps me walk away from the trap. I don't want to say injured, but like knowing I done messed up. In this case, the lady I was going to see to see didn't go. Okay?

participantOne:(598740-626740): Instead, I got a ride with her friends, got there, and had no ride out, no way to leave. And it was a bunch of people I didn't know. And there was this gentleman there named Bart who was giving a talk. And he was up on stage, and he was explaining. It was like this big deal. There was, I don't know, thousands of people there. It was in the middle of the woods at some camp. And I want to say it was the UP, like beginnings of the UP, somewhere up there.

participantOne:(627480-639740): And so I remember listening to him, and he was pointing at everyone in the audience, and there was a particular high point in this conversation. He was talking about that the world is a stage, and it's a play, and we all have roles that have been signed to us by the director, meaning God.

participantOne:(640219-670780): And so let's say I'm handed my role, and here's my lines and everything, and I just start going off the walls and doing my own thing, and everyone else is doing their own thing. And God's like, that's not the role I had for you. What are you doing? What are you doing? And so people boo the play. It's terrible. It's garbage. This play sucks. And God's like, that's not what I told them to do. That's not the play. That's not my thing. And then he sat down, and he pointed at us, and he said, you know, God has a role for you, God loves you, and God wants you. And they're like...

participantOne:(671439-701740): It was like a spiritual punch to me. I don't know if you guys have seen Avengers, where Doctor Strange thinks he's a badass. He gets punched out by an old lady. He gets his spirits and stuffings knocked right out of him. That's pretty much what it felt like. And it leveled me. Big, strong Mike. I was much trimmer. I used to squat 1,000 pounds. I was like pretty... I just got done doing stone masonry work. I was a huge ripped guy. And like 18. So like...

participantOne:(702740-730000): many years ago, 20 something years ago. I'm old now. And okay, I'm old for me. This is the oldest I've ever been. This is the oldest I've been. This is the oldest I've been. And so after that, it was an invitation to come and talk to Jesus and, you know, go off on your own and really have a conversation. And I was bawling. I was crying. He had us turn around and get on our knees and like put our hands on the chair and like pray to God. It was the first time we were praying to God.

participantOne:(730300-751920): And I wasn't alone. There was a bunch of people. But my going there was to get booty, not to find Jesus. So that was a very unexpected twist. And the pastor there at the time, his name was Eric. And it's a place called His House. If you're familiar with the campus ministry, Joseph might be from all the other campus ministries he's dealt with. It's just a Christian light, guitar, hippie, Christian group, whatever.

participantOne:(752660-772140): He tried talking me out of being... Because they were offering baptism. And he tried talking me out of baptism, saying, you know, you really don't want this. Does God really love you? Does God really want you? Which is really confusing, because I just was told two things. God wanted me, and God loved me. Which is way cooler than anything my parents ever told me. Right? So here's this...

participantOne:(772600-802080): super spiritual sucker punch. Here's this guy that I was trying to look up to saying God doesn't love you and God doesn't want you. Very confusing, very emotional rollercoaster. I got mad at him, and when I was going to take a swing at him, he's like, look, I'm just trying to talk you out of it because if I could talk you out of it, that means somebody talked you into it. I want to make sure it was true because I don't know you, and I don't baptize people unless I'm sure that that's what they want. There's a, what do you say, there's a responsibility to it. Didn't really go over that responsibility. Probably should have.

participantOne:(802280-831060): If you're going to change someone's life from here on forever and put an indelible mark on them and change their spiritual authority from Satan to Jesus, maybe give them a heads up, maybe explain that to them somewhat. Nah, we're just going to throw your ass in a pool. Pardon the language. So there's a quote from, or there's a scripture, Hebrews 11.6, that says, and without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists

participantOne:(831360-860860): and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. And it kind of covers that whole experience for me. So I got baptized, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A legit baptism, just outside the church, just really bad order of things. Became a Christian, tried to figure out what that meant. I don't know if you guys are familiar with what a new Christian is like, a born-again Christian. They are jerks. Everything they want to do, they have this huge change in their life. They wake up the next day, the Holy Spirit is there, they're feeling good, and the first thing they want to do is change everyone else.

participantOne:(861459-890620): which is the opposite of what you should be doing. You should be changing yourself to make sure you're doing right. But no, I want to make sure my environment was good. I went after my friends. I went after my parents. I went after anyone who was drinking, smoking, whatever I deemed as a non-Christian act and told them that God hates them because they're not doing the right stuff, which, again, complete opposite of what you're supposed to be doing. But morning of Christians, when they first become baptized, they're annoying. They make the Jehovah's Witnesses seem like nice people or people that come to your house to say nice things. Super annoying. I was that guy.

participantOne:(891040-912460): Luckily none of you will be that guy. Don't be that guy. And then in college, I went to Japan, met a guy who's a cool guy. We did Bible study there. He was Catholic and he was a thing called MoCA, which is like men's something Catholic. Something something, fancy term MoCA.

participantOne:(912720-938640): We hung out and then his brother was a guy that I worked with at the university. And so those two guys were really close and they did a lot of rock climbing. There were two fit individuals who also did like capoeira and like a bunch of really cool stuff. Super smart, into cyber stuff, into IT, both wicked smart, strong guys and one day his

participantOne:(938860-964900): The brother, Steve, the younger brother, was holding the rope for his older brother as he climbed. And they did this like a million times. That's probably an exaggeration, but thousands of times. And this time he tied the knot backwards. And I don't know much about rock climbing, but if you don't tie the knot right, instead of stopping the person, they just free fall like a stone. So at Planet Rock, he jumped 60 feet and was ready for his brother to catch him. His brother did his best to try to catch him, but there's no, you can't catch something if it's not tied right. And he...

participantOne:(965560-990500): hit the ground, broke his back, had a bunch of stuff. And this is a guy who's like the most fit person I know. He could do a back handspring, stand on his head and, and like flip over a car without any trouble. And now he can't move. And so his brother calls me up. I'm in the hospital with him and he's devastated. I just killed my brother. Basically it's how he feels. I robbed his life. He's going to be paralyzed, like all these terrible things. And so we have some heart to heart and, uh,

participantOne:(990939-1019460): At that point in my life, I had gotten... So this was, I said college. I should preface that. In college and then after college. This was like a big span of my life here because I worked at the college that I went to. And there was a brief span where I didn't. But most of that kind of all blends together for me. And so at that point, I had already gotten married. And at that point, I was going to, in some ways, a God church. Very Pentecostal. So praying over people is what we did. And so I prayed over him. We talked about it. And this little...

participantOne:(1020400-1045160): this little dude in the midst of all his pain and suffering said, I'm glad you're praying over me. Do you mind saying a rosary? Do you mind introducing Catholic stuff to me? And I was like, sure, no problem. We can say Hail Mary's. I know that prayer. And then he slowly started teaching me about Catholicism. Not sure why that was the opportune time, but we had long talks like until 4 or 5 in the morning at the hospital. I was there with him a whole bunch while he was waiting for his brother to come out. His brother...

participantOne:(1045660-1074440): By the time his brother was coming out and recovering, I was in line to join the RCIA as his sponsor. It's funny because the things that got me in was the church history. I'm a huge history buff. I like learning the authenticity of things. I don't like following fakes. I don't know anybody that would or why you would. And so there's this quote by St. John Henry Newman that says, To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.

participantOne:(1075399-1103040): That's about as accurate a statement as I can get. When I realize that the words that I can speak and the prayers that I can learn and the way Mass is done and learning the history of that, why wouldn't I want something that's been around for 2,000 years plus? Why wouldn't I want that? Very easy to convert on that basis alone. However, we talked about the inconsistencies in my faith, health and wealth and blessings type of things.

participantOne:(1103920-1121220): type of, what do you call it, belief or type of dogma. It doesn't really hold up well when you look at things like Job or other stories, right? And so he really pointed out some inconsistencies in my faith and we talked about those and that helped as well. And then...

participantOne:(1121660-1146880): While I was discerning if I wanted to join the Catholic Church or not, I had a supernatural encounter with Mary unexpectedly. I was, I'm a super nerd, so I used to LARP, if you don't know what that is, it's live action role play. We dress up as elves, wizards, knights, whatever, we go out in the woods, we beat each other up with fake weapons, and we have a grand old time doing it. It's like sports with nerds, and there's a story element to it too, so if you're someone who likes acting or pretending to be someone else, it's great times.

participantOne:(1147280-1171040): It's a great place to go and learn about how to lead people or how to deal with others, how to deal with conflict with a sword in your hand. So much easier than the old fake world. You just beat the snot out of them if you disagree with them. Anyways, it was good for me. And so I always had a love of like fantasy stuff, Dungeons and Dragons, whatever. That kind of goes hand in hand with how occultism and magic kind of got me, right?

participantOne:(1171980-1201120): I had a dream, I guess, where I was walking through this old pathway that was a place I'd been before but didn't recognize, and it was all old stone, and it was cold with water. Kind of reminded me of some of the places we went to in Japan, some of the old temples. And kind of like where you drop down the stairs and the temperature drops 20 degrees as you go down this small flight of stairs, and you can see your breath. And I got tossed up in the air. I'm a really big guy. I'm like an elephant. If I jump, I break my legs. I don't like being in the air, but I wasn't scared. Super weird.

participantOne:(1201740-1228400): And I heard a voice from a lady, and she said that this is the first thing that God gave me. And I was like, that's weird. What God gives you is tossing you up in the air. I'm like, that's kind of weird. And then she showed me love. After that, when I came down, she held me and said, this is the second thing that God gave me. And then after that, I had this card, kind of like this, only on it were three words.

participantOne:(1229460-1243420): like strangely opaque, kind of milky-looking drops on it. And each one was with a chain in between them, and it had a crucifix at the end. And she explained that...

participantOne:(1243680-1268380): All three gifts that God had given her, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, were gifts that she was bestowed with. One, that she was stronger than everyone else, thus the tossing my big ass in the air. Two, that she loves and that she was loved first. And then three, turning that around to others, basically. And this thing, so I was like, I don't know what any of this means, but it felt good. And I woke up totally unafraid of death.

participantOne:(1268800-1296620): which is the first time in my life. And so I talked to my friend about it, and he was like, I don't know what to think of that. That could have been a fever dream. That's kind of weird. And I was like, I agree. I don't know what to think about that. Turns out St. Gertrude was one of the first people introduced to the Three Hail Mary chaplet. Mary came to her and said, if you pray the Three Hail Marys, one for each of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or one for each of the gifts the Trinity gives to me, I will protect you, and you have no need to fear in your hour of death. I'll be there for you. And so that's a thing.

participantOne:(1296720-1316000): And so when I went through the RCA class, and I usually have one, but I gave one away at my Crescio to a friend of mine. And so I haven't replaced it yet because I was unemployed and didn't have money. So that's going to be replaced soon. Rugged Rosaries has a really nice one if you're interested. And so it's just a three-hill Mary chaplet, and the beads on it are milk-colored, strangely enough. And...

participantOne:(1316379-1346480): So yeah, you play the Three Old Marys when you're worried about death, and you go over and focus on each of the gifts that Mary received from the Trinity, and she'll take care of your fear of death, and it's worked great. So if you're afraid of death, it's a good trick. Also, it's really easy to believe in Mary when she comes to you and says, Believe in me. That makes things way easier. So just have all your friends that are thinking about converting, just have them do that. Just have Mary come to them. It's so much easier. St. Bernard of Clairvoy, is that right? Good? Good.

participantOne:(1346740-1366860): Clairvaux. Thank you, Joseph. In dangers and doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary. Call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips. Never suffer it to leave your heart. That's not the only supernatural encounter I've had in my life. I've had a bunch. That was just the first one in...

participantOne:(1367700-1387340): Still not the only one with Mary. The most vivid one that I remember, probably one of the most critical times in my life. And there's another quote I'm going to quote. This is St. Maximilian Kolbe. Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin Mary too much. Or it says, Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did. I love that quote because every time I think I'm being weird about it, I'm like, oh, right.

participantOne:(1387560-1412760): God's way cooler than me in Hebrew, so that's okay. Good person to imitate. So then I joined the Catholic Church in all her majesty and glory, and now I'm here talking to you lovely folks. And I still suck. I'm still working on it, but at least I'm in the right place now, so that's good. And then just a couple conclusion things as I look back on my journey. Every one of my steps were not things that I predicted. They were things that kind of

participantOne:(1413720-1436880): God, God, toro, toro, ole, like a matador facing the bull, me being the bull. I recommend as you go through your life to be open to the Holy Spirit and to God. Do something in your life that's unexpected. So if you're going to do something on a daily basis, just be open to having your plans changed because it may not be the worst thing.

participantOne:(1438020-1452880): Maybe you're planning on going to the grocery store and your car breaks down. It's not so bad. Someone could actually need you right there in that moment. I've learned to try to be open to that. And as frustrated and as stupid and pig-headed as I can be, when I remember that and I think of my conversion, I think if I had...

participantOne:(1452880-1475780): If I had only focused on myself and not been open, I wouldn't be where I was today. I'd be somewhere else. And everyone who helped me along the way also was in a similar place where they didn't have to help me. But no doubt, God put them there to slap me upside the head and to lead me like a stubborn goat. Yes, that's me, stubborn goat. So just be open to that plan. And along the way,

participantOne:(1476420-1506860): It's amazing how much God will bless you with gifts, specifically any charism that you feel you're lacking in your life or you need help with, asking for those. And then just be expected to use them. So be careful when you ask for them because you will get them, and you'll be expected to use them. But always do so because it's made such a big difference in my life. So those are the things. I just want to have a quick closing prayer, if that's cool. And the handout's being passed around. So in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

participantOne:(1507660-1540260): Lord God, we thank you for the time we shared in reflection and fellowship. As we move into our day, we ask for your grace to listen deeply and speak truthfully. May the spirit of Carmel, with its focus on contemplative prayer and intimacy with you, inspire us to seek your presence in our life. Help us to be attentive to your voice and open to the guidance of your Holy Spirit. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. Thank you all. 22 minutes. Thank you, Mike.

participantOne:(1540900-1566640): All right, we don't have anything else for the morning other than the invitation to spend time with one another, to have good conversation, and to have so-so coffee. It's not the worst coffee I've ever had, or maybe I'm just used to it, but it's also not the best coffee. But the fellowship is also... Oh, the fellowship is top notch. Oh, yeah, that's what I meant. Yeah, that's what you meant.