When 56-year-old Steve Lia casts his fishing line into the waters of Parramatta River, the avid fisherman isn’t waiting for the tug of the hook on his line, but the tug of God’s voice in his heart.
“What I love about fishing is the silence. And I’m a big believer in finding God in the silence. You know, Psalm 46 says, ‘be still and know that I’m God,’ and that’s what I’m waiting for,” he says, reeling in his line.
As a fisherman Steve finds solace in nature and the rhythms of the sea, but once upon a time, this connection was devoid of the divine.
It was just over a decade ago that Steve described himself as a “God believing atheist” who firmly held onto his belief that faith was unnecessary.
“I remember not that long ago my wife, Julie-Anne, thanking God for all the blessings we’d received as a young couple raising a family in our new home,” he explained.
“I replied: ‘is it God that gets up every morning at 5am to put food on the table? Is it God that deals with the stress of raising a young family and running a small business?’
“God wasn’t part of my life from day to day. I never thought of God,” Steve admits.
Despite his Catholic upbringing in a Maltese family, he had yet to cast his nets toward the Lord.
“I was a man who lived his life contrary to everything God taught and only went to church to keep my wife Julie-Anne, happy. I left it to my wife and the kid’s teachers to instil in my children the Catholic faith.”
That was until he met a former assistant parish priest, Fr Chis Higgins, who challenged Steve in a way no father would want to hear.
“He challenged me on the fact that I was living my life contrary to my very baptism. No man likes to be told that he could be a better father,” he said.
“No one likes to be told that they are a bad example, especially to their sons and daughter. So that was the turning point.”
It forced Steve to look inward, to his own failings.
“Father Chris’ words had put a chink in my armour, and that’s all the Holy Spirit needed. And over the next weeks and months, he started working in me in ways that I never thought possible,” he recalls.
It led Steve to dig deeper into his faith, through the RCIA program, which he completed 13 years ago.
“I learned more in those three months than I had in the previous 45 years,” he said.
“I learnt that we won’t be remembered by the house we live in or the job that we do, or how much money we bring in, but by how we love our Lord and how we love our neighbour.”
In casting his nets towards God, the keen angler says he learned how to be a positive example of Catholic masculinity for his family and in so doing, became an example for other men in his parish and the archdiocese.
Today Steve brings this message to the many men he speaks to as a regular speaker at men’s ministry events and to his parish at St Ambrose in Concord West, where he has become a leader and popular figure.
“What’s happening within the Archdiocese of Sydney gives me hope. I’ve been involved for the last ten years, and I’ve seen a massive change in my own parish and in surrounding parishes where men like me are enthused to be bold and to evangelise,” said Steve.
As he casts another line out, Steve is aware of how his two passions, fishing and evangelising, are working in harmony.
“Going from a fisherman to a fisher of men, I enjoy both. I enjoy speaking about it with men about our faith. And the good thing is, when they’re on the boat, they can’t escape you!”
His two-decade journey back to the faith is a powerful testament to the power of faith and the possibility of change.
“I’m far from being perfect. You know, Jesus is just waiting to take us on the adventure and, there’s always the next step, to see where the good Lord will take us.
Throw your nets to the other side. Just as Jesus asked. Cast them wide and with God’s grace, you’ll pull them up full!”