As Kylie Beatson stood in front of a packed Moorebank parish with her husband Shane and two youngest teens, about to enter the Catholic Church, she couldn’t help but ponder on the journey that led her there.
Although getting to that point came with many valleys and tears, it couldn’t surpass the true joy she felt in “coming home to the church that holds the fulness of the faith” on the night of the Easter Vigil.
This joy was more than a feeling; it was a bookend to her conversion story that began as a seed in the Great Jubilee of 2000 and eventually came to fruition in the most unexpected way in the Jubilee Year of Hope in 2025.
“In my early twenties, I began a long journey of discovery of self and truth,” said the mother-of-three.
“I delved into a pile of New Age literature that promoted self-help and personal truth, all through the power of positive thinking, which I recall reading as I passed through St Peter’s Square in the week leading to the World Youth celebrations with Pope John Paul II in 2000.
“Over several years, I would glance at the barely opened Bible on my shelf, and a thought would come to me … ‘I bet it will all come back to the Bible’.”
“But I pushed the thought away and continued listening to the popular ideas of the culture as the thought of Jesus, the Bible and church was still absurd.”
This continued until Kylie was happily married in her thirties, when for some unknown reason she broke the cycle, dusted off her Bible and began to read the Gospels.
Nothing resonated but she felt that a foundation of faith was important before her and her husband had children.
And as Kylie became open to faith, God began placing Christians in her life.
“I recall praying to God continually to show me the truth,” said Kylie.
“Despite my ignorance on many things regarding religion and faith, the one thing I did know was that there can only be one truth and I was on a mission, whatever the cost, to find it.
“I saw that the Christian people around me really loved Jesus and that was something missing in my life.
“It was then I wrote in my journal that I wanted Jesus in my life.”
Following her family tradition, the then-primary school teacher had her children baptised at a local Anglican church and periodically attended services over several years.
In 2011, she joined the church’s Bible study group and, about a month in, asked, “What does the death and resurrection of Jesus have to do with me when it happened 2000 years ago?”
Her study leader gave her an answer that touched her soul and reinvigorated her spiritual life.
“In that instant I got it, I understood it and I was in awe,” said Kylie.
“From that moment on I was filled with joy and was compelled to read the Bible daily.
“It came alive in a new way. I read all the Bible stories to my children, and we routinely memorised Bible verses and passages as part of their homeschooling.
“We also did voluntary work in the community as an act of loving our neighbour.
“Spiritually, it was a fruitful time for my family and God carried us along for the next ten years through the usual challenges of life in raising children.”
After COVID and during the time of heavy restrictions on the Anglican church, Kylie began attending a local Baptist church which was close to home.
She quickly became concerned about the teaching she was receiving from the Baptist Pastor and questioned why she didn’t feel spiritually satisfied in that community.
Opposing opinions on the interpretation of scripture with her Pastor led her to the realisation that there was no authority that she could appeal to for clarity.
Upon further research, Kylie found that the various protestant denominations had different teachings on the topics of baptism, marriage, communion and the end times.
It was clear that if these churches could not agree on what they believe, then how did they know what they taught was the truth?
Jesus did not authorise anyone to start their own church. Nor did he intend for anyone to draw their own personal conclusions on doctrine.
“Over some time, I discovered that the two foundational tenants of Protestantism, ‘Bible Alone’ and ‘Faith Alone’ were not Biblical. I was stunned and my world crumbled,” said Kylie.
“I could no longer trust what I had been taught and now had to set down my pride and misconceptions to honestly examine its teachings.
“My research was intense, and equivalent to a full-time job, with every moment dedicated towards finding answers to all my questions.
“I reached out to some protestant friends, but they were not open to the concerns I was raising and were quick to avoid the topic.
“Realising the flaws of my protestant tradition shattered me and I felt deceived, foolish and alone in a wilderness with no direction.
“What was my family going to do? We wanted to worship God in church. But where do we go?”
Going back to the source, Kylie began looking to churches that were instituted closer to the time of Jesus.
It was then that she began to genuinely look at the claims of Catholicism and found that Catholic converts like Dr Scott Hahn, John Bergsma, Keith Nester and Kenny Burchard had walked a similar path.
Kylie bought a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and read it from cover to cover, highlighting paragraphs that she took to a Catholic priest in Moorebank for further clarification.
Focused on picking up on any false teachings, Kylie attended a Catholic Mass.
She had no resolve to return to another Catholic Church but she found herself walking into morning Mass more regularly.
“My head was saying ‘No’, but my feet kept walking into church, and I had a yearning to understand it,” said Kylie.
“Months of reading, searching, questioning and praying passed and something was slowly changing in my heart.
“The misunderstandings that I originally had on the papacy, the eucharist, baptism and Marian theology began to fade, and I could see that all the Catholic teachings were solid.
“The Bible was increasingly making more sense and Catholic theology was deeper than I had ever experienced.
“It was evident that the Catholic teaching was faithful to the Apostolic teachings.”
Over the following months, Kylie discussed with her husband and children all that she learned on her quest for truth, and they agreed that it was time for them all to act.
In September of 2024, the whole Beatson family were enrolled in RCIA and, after almost 7 months of formation, were welcomed into the Catholic Church during this year’s Easter Vigil Mass at St Joseph’s Moorebank.
“Catholicism is full of beauty and grace; Catholicism is the pillar and bulwark of truth; Catholicism is the church established by Christ with Peter as prime shepherd; Catholicism is the church that has His perpetual presence in the Eucharist and the church that not even the gates of hell will overcome,” said Kylie.
“God is good and his promises can be trusted. He has sustained His visible, authoritative church just as Jesus promised.
“Yes, there are scandals; Yes, sin will sadly creep into His church; Yes, Satan will continue to attack Christ’s church.
“But none of these things diminish the Church that Christ established and the Catholic Church will endure till the end of the age because Christ’s promises are greater than the fallenness of man.
“From now on, we could only be in the church Christ established.”