Young Men, Against All Odds, Are Awakening to the Sacred, by Jack Rigert

By Jack Rigert, Crisis Magazine, April 29, 2025

Jack Rigert is a co-founder of the John Paul II Renewal Center, the host of the “Become Who You Are” podcast, a writer and speaker. Jack was a professional chef and entrepreneur who owned restaurants, real estate, and a financial service company. Dramatic “encounters” with Jesus Christ at his dying brother’s bedside and again in the Eucharist at his brother’s funeral, brought him back into the Church after a twenty-year absence.

As societies around the world continue down the suicidal path of moral relativism, Catholics can and must make an appeal to the Divine Mercy of God.

“The Glory of God is man fully alive.” —St. Irenaeus

By the time I was nearing high school graduation in the 1970s, my friend Jimmy Patridge, a young Marine, had already returned from Vietnam—missing both of his legs. The sexual revolution of the 1960s was in full swing, abortion had been legalized, and the Church seemed as confused as I was. At the same time, I became aware of two opposing forces: a dark presence in the world, and the voice of my conscience. Rebelling against what I could not understand, I left home, diploma in hand, searching for truth and a way to live my life with purpose.

Today’s young people face a culture in even greater crisis than the one I encountered. It is an era that has largely forgotten God—one in which 90 percent of young people embrace moral relativism, denying the existence of objective truth. This rejection of absolute truth has led to a culture of death, where human life is devalued and moral confusion reigns….

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