Terry Paul Broadhurst

He was born and raised a Catholic. Yet it seemed his faith life was more like a black-and-white photograph: the image was there but nothing came to life. He drew away from the Church in his teens and at twenty began to plunge into the darkness that changed the course of his life. In the summer of 1992, he began having terrifying nightmares. In one he remembered seeing his tombstone, engraved with the date of his death: February 7, 1994. As he pursued his career in music, he was lured into astrology and the occult, unaware of the dangers. Society called it “New Age,” a pretty name, which seemed innocent at the  time. The next thirteen months were the most horrifying of his life as he immersed himself in the Zodiac, Transcendental Mediation, Reiki, palm reading, tarot cards, and pendulums. He dwindled into a skeleton-like figure; the occult was eating him alive, physically, mentally and emotionally. As he was in the process of relocating himself to California, he came to on a Greyhound bus. It seemed the end of his life. In a pit of despair, feeling very near death, he tried holding on amidst the multitude of voices shouting in his head so as not to disturb those around him. The woman in front of him, after several attempts at polite conversation said, “Are you into astrology?” Stunned, he answered, “No…yes…why?” She told him astrology was an abomination to God. After a long, agonizing discussion, she asked if she could pray with him. As she took his hand to pray, warmth filled him. That divinely appointed encounter on a bus began his road back to God. It was February 7, 1994, the date on the tombstone of his nightmare. But God, in his mercy, had other plans. Terry went to various Protestant churches and Bible studies. But something was still missing. At his mother’s invitation he went to Mass at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Toronto, Canada. That night he got more from the priest’s homily that he had in 25 years of church going. He had already realized the difference between God and the occult. Now he needed to know the difference between Protestant and Catholic. He discovered that the difference lies in the Eucharist. This realization entered his heart and soul in way it never had before.  Terry realized that the Church is like a family. You can be out all night, or much longer, but the moment you come home, you’re home.  Along with his career as a performer, Terry is an assistant teacher at St. Francis Xavier high school and is working towards his master’s degree in theology. He has written more than 300 songs, 20 of them published, and has two albums on the market.