When it comes to sharing God’s message, Gloria Purvis is not
afraid to speak her mind.
“I’m no shrinking violet,” she said. “I never have been.”
That outgoing personality has proven to be invaluable for
Purvis, a parishioner of Christ the King Church in Silver
Spring, Md., who has dedicated much of her life to sharing
church teaching on life and sexuality in the public forum. As
a public speaker, she’s given talks at youth conferences and
on television news shows. And, in 2012, she helped host the
EWTN television show “Authentically Free at Last,” which
discussed societal issues like marriage, abortion,
contraception and forming a Catholic conscience.
Though living her faith in public was never something Purvis
planned, she strongly believes she’s in the right place.
Looking back, she can see how God has led her every step of
the way.
Faith at a young age
Though Purvis did not grow up in a Catholic family, she
converted at an early age after a powerful experience while
attending a Catholic elementary school in Charleston, S.C.
When she was 12 years old, she remembers a food fight
breaking out one day during lunch. Though she and her
classmates cleaned up the mess following the fight, their
teacher – a religious sister – was furious. Instead of
teaching religion after lunch, she brought the children to
the chapel for an hour of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
That hour laid the groundwork for a lifetime of faith for
Purvis.
“At that time, I had what I would call a mystical experience
with the Eucharist,” she said. “I remember just coming to
know it was real, that it was alive, and feeling like I was
consumed with a fire all over my body, but it didn’t burn.”
Shortly after that afternoon, Purvis remembers that same
teacher making an announcement about confirmation
preparation. At that time, Purvis asked if she could become
Catholic. Her teacher told her to ask her parents.
“I went home and didn’t ask them, I told them,” Purvis said.
In exchange, her parents told Purvis she would have to do
everything Catholics do – attending Mass on Sundays and holy
days of obligation, praying the rosary, and fasting on
Fridays. They never thought Purvis would stick with it, but
she did. Because she had been so convinced during her
adoration experience, Purvis practiced the faith regularly in
the years that followed. Though her parents never converted,
her sisters later did and her family always was supportive.
Purvis brought her faith practice with her to Cornell
University in Ithaca, N.Y., where she studied human
development and family studies. Though her university was
liberal and Purvis was not involved in any kind of campus
ministry, she said she never felt much resistance to her
Catholic faith.
“Part of it was my own naivete, how little I knew of evil and
understood the challenges to living a Christian life,” she
said. “I was just very unaware of how there were people that
hated the church and hated Jesus. I was very naive for a very
long time.”
She graduated from Cornell in 1990, married her college
sweetheart in 1996 and moved to Washington. As time passed,
she became aware of the many cultural and social challenges
facing the church. Today, she looks back on herself during
that time as an “in the pew Catholic” who didn’t put her
beliefs into action. It wasn’t until several years later that
a second conversion experience would stir her into action
once and for all.
A call to action
Purvis attended St. Augustine Church in Washington. One day,
while at Mass, she remembers having another “mystical
experience” while reciting the creed.
“I was chased and struck down to be convicted,” she said. “I
thought, ‘How can I believe this when I’m doing nothing to
protect the gifts of life that are being obliterated?’ I fell
to my knees and let’s just say that from that moment, I had a
hunger and desire to learn what the church taught about human
sexuality and marriage and it set me seeking to learn why the
church teaches what it teaches.”
Newly convicted, Purvis and her husband got to work educating
their fellow parishioners about church teaching on life and
sexuality. They worked through the parish social justice
committee to plan pro-life discussion groups and activities.
They also took control of the young adults’ community, which
grew under their leadership from eight people to 100.
“The Lord blessed our ministry work,” she said. “I think God
was telling us, ‘Don’t let the people stay in darkness. Let
the light shine on them so they can understand.’ He blessed
everything we did so that it just expanded and expanded.”
The more she dedicated herself to ministry, the more doors
opened up for her. She remembers many occasions where random
encounters or meetings – sometimes on planes or even in
fast-food restaurants – led to new career or ministry
opportunities.
In the years to follow, Purvis became involved with many
pro-life and Catholic organizations. Among other things, she
became involved with the Northwest Pregnancy Center and
Maternity Home in Washington, the Maryland Catholic
Conference’s Respect for Life Department, the National Black
Catholic Congress’ Leadership Commission on Social Justice,
Black Catholics United for Life, and the Sisters for Life.
Purvis also became a public speaker, presenting at youth
conferences and on Catholic Answers Live Radio, EWTN’s “Life
on the Rock” and ABC’s “World News Tonight” with Peter
Jennings. A video of one of her talks, as part of an
all-woman panel at the Catholic Information Center in
Washington following the HHS mandate last spring, has
received more than 40,000 views on YouTube. In 2012, Purvis
teamed with Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers and Damon Owens to
host “Authentically Free at Last” on EWTN. The show aired 13
episodes.
Because she speaks on human sexuality and life issues, Purvis
occasionally faces resistance or hostility. She sees these
experiences as positive opportunities to share church
teaching in an intelligent way with people who may have never
heard it.
“Honestly, rewarding for me is when someone who disagrees
with the church’s teachings starts to ask you questions in
this public forum and it’s like, they’re hearing what I’m
saying and those people who don’t agree get to hear an
intelligent response to whatever it is that has deceived
them,” she said. “I’ve been to places where I’ve been yelled
at. I’m like, ‘Good. That means they’re hearing what I’m
saying.'”
Though the work is challenging, she enjoys making connections
with other Catholics and trying to lead them to God.
“(I enjoy) talking to people afterward to hear, ‘I’m going
through this, please pray for me,’ and being able to do this
spiritual work of prayer and sacrifice,” she said. “The work
is hard. You toil for love of God and love of neighbor. What
we do is confronting evil and that is a very tiresome task.”
Though none of her involvements or accomplishments were in
her plans, Purvis believes she was led to them all by God.
“From seeking and searching, I think God really took a step
toward me,” she said. “None of this was calculated, it all
just sort of happened. … I was making friends and from
there trying to do this service to the Lord and things just
started falling into place. This is something only God could
have done.”
‘Run toward the Lord’
Though Purvis is not afraid of the spotlight, she has no
interest in becoming a Catholic personality or celebrity
spokeswoman.
“I don’t like being recognized anywhere because then it’s
about me and not about Jesus,” she said. “It’s not about me,
none of it is about me. I’m not anybody special at all, I’m
struggling just like anybody else in my journey toward
heaven. If anything, we are all in this together, so let’s
hold hands and run toward the lord.”
Still, she is open to following God’s will for her life,
whatever that may be. Right now, she is embracing her new
role as a stay-at-home mom after working for years in the
finance industry. Her daughter, Lourdes, is 28 months old.
Becoming a mother has changed Purvis’ perspective on the
faith and given her much to contemplate about God’s love and
the unique roles of men and women.
“It made me really contemplate the love of the Father in ways
I can’t describe, and the love of Mary and how in her body
she carried God, how she was a mom to God,” Purvis said. “I
know the tremendous love I feel for my daughter and the
desire to protect her and keep her safe. Definitely Mary had
that instinct as well, but how she also loved the rest of
us.”
For other Catholics trying to grow in the faith, she
recommends spending time in adoration and frequent
sacraments.
“You have got to avail yourself with the sacrament of
reconciliation,” she said. “Go once a week if you can. If you
can go at least once a month, that’s great.”
In her faith life, Purvis said she’s received great
inspiration from spiritual reading , especially the works of
St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Sienna and St. Francis
de Sales.
“These books are like they’re talking to you about the
spiritual life and growing in holiness,” she said. “I get
lost in these books. Especially when they talk to you about
sin, it fries my wig. It’s almost like they’re smacking me in
the face.”
More than anything else, she suggests prayer and offering
your life up to God.
“Say, ‘Lord, I don’t know how you can use me, but You do and
I offer myself in that way,'” she said. “He understands our
weaknesses and He won’t plunge you into something if you’re
not ready so say, ‘Help me with my fear, help me with my
anxiety,’ and then just go, just do it, just trust.”
Bahr can be reached on Twitter @KBahrACH.
