by Katie Vasquez
When Johnny Chavez walks around South Williamsburg, he’s reminded of another life.
He grew up here with his parents and two sisters, but his life turned upside down when his parents divorced in his teens.
“I had to find some sense of gratification, some sense of belonging. and my friends were my, my refuge,” said Johnny Chavez, a member of the Neocatechumenal Way.
Johnny got involved with a gang, started selling drugs, and at 17 was arrested for armed robbery. Johnny was going down a bad path, and his godfather, Eduardo Mendoza knew he needed help.
“I saw that Johnny was suffering,” said Mendoza in Spanish.
Eduardo invited him to a mass for the Neocatechumenal Way, a spiritual movement that aims to deepen the faith of its members through ongoing formation.
Eduardo has been a member of the Neocatechumenal Way for three decades, and he says this community sparked something for Johnny.
“He looked at this and said this is the family, this is a family and that is what he wanted to continue,” said Mendoza.
Allowing God to open the door for Johnny to find a new life.
“Some of them were talking about drugs, about alcohol, nobody was judging them,” said Chavez, “So I felt like I belonged there.”
Johnny is now also part of the Neocatechumenal Way, raising his 8 kids in the Catholic faith.
His former pastor, Father Manuel Rodriguez, says Johnny’s growth is a powerful testament.
“Before knowing the church, before experiencing his conversion, you know, thinking of him like a father of eight children, it was something that he would never even dare, you know, to to to to to consider,” said Rodriguez.
Johnny also devotes his time to showing others the right path, through catechesis.
“We help them so that this, calling, which is very fragile, can maintain a sense of spark so they don’t lose a spark,” said Chavez.
it’s a calling some say he is specially equipped for,
“Since he has this background, he sees things that we are not able to see, you know,” said Rodriguez.
“It proves the power of God,” said Mendoza.
Despite that past, Johnny says he has no regrets,
“So if you ask me, what would you want to change of your life? I would say nothing. because if i was to tell you that if my parents could be together, that means that i wouldn’t. I would have missed the encounter of Christ.”
Because he knows it was all part of his journey, and God is with him every step of the way.