By Jessica Easthope
Greg Montgomery’s life has all the makings of a Hollywood epic. War, a whirlwind romance, the challenges of new fatherhood, second chances—it plays out like a movie, fit for the pews of what used to be the Loews Woodside movie theater, now St. Sebastian Church.
“When we adopted our son, it became more—I want that faith in our family,” Montgomery said.
Greg has been attending Catholic Mass for more than 20 years since he met his wife Jen Faith Brown-Montgomery, a singer, actor and performer and the cantor at St. Sebastian. The two had a cinematic meet-cute.
“My car broke down and Greg stopped to fix it,” Brown-Montgomery said. “I really just fell in love with him instantly.”
At the time Greg was recovering—he had broken his back in combat.
“I did six in the Navy, six in the Army, six in the Air Force,” he said. “Wind up breaking my back in my 18th year.”
“A lot of those children had birth defects, that were in his particular unit because of the exposure to the chemicals in the Gulf War,” Brown-Montgomery said. “So we knew we wanted to adopt.”
They adopted and when Damian came—so did Greg’s “come to faith moment.”
“The mother chose us,” Montgomery said. “She had OD’d on Percocet with heroin and Damian was born three months early, he died twice in the NICU. But kept coming back. Kept fighting. And he’s walking and talking.”
Damian was baptized Catholic. After experiencing all the blessings and fielding all the challenges of having a child with cerebral palsy—Greg wanted their faith to match.
“It’s hard to see, like he’s excluded from some birthday parties or kids don’t want to play with him,” Montgomery said. “I don’t think you could do it without faith.”
At the Easter Vigil Greg will receive his sacraments and officially become Catholic.
“He has been one of our best models for the other people in our class,” said Karin Sweeney, OCIA coordinator at St. Sebastian Church. ”
And he has done so much for our parish. We need people like Greg.”
Greg’s life has been an adventure—but soon a new one begins and he can’t wait for the sequel.