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Christopher Zehnder (�87) was a recent guest on EWTN�s Journey Home, where he told the story of his conversion to the Catholic faith, and the invaluable role that a fellow alumnus, Kevin Long (�77), played in it.

The friendship began when Mr. Zehnder was a sophomore in high school, and Dr. Long was his Latin teacher. �He was a student at Claremont Graduate School in political science, and I found out he went to a rather strange college � called 91����� Aquinas College in Santa Paula,� Mr. Zehnder recalls. �After a while he and I began to have conversations.�

When Mr. Zehnder exhausted his high school�s Latin curriculum, Dr. Long offered to continue teaching him on the side. �He thought I might want to translate some medieval Latin, so he brought in the first question of the Summa Theologiae,� says Mr. Zehnder. �Our Latin classes became more than just Latin classes. They became philosophy and theology classes, and we began to discuss all sorts of things � all tending toward the Catholic faith.�

One evening, when Dr. Long and his wife, Martha (Schaeffer �76), had Mr. Zehnder over for dinner, the teacher and the student got into a theological argument. �I was going to prove to him that Purgatory was contrary to Scripture,� says Mr. Zehnder. The conversation didn�t go as planned. �He presented me such arguments that Purgatory wasn�t contrary to Scripture; in fact, does it make any sense that a soul that is stained with sin would go into the next life, in the presence of God, stained with sin? There has to be some purification.�

At Dr. Long�s recommendation, and after attending another college first, Mr. Zehnder enrolled at the �rather strange� alma mater of his mentor. �When I went to TAC, it was as if it was in a different world,� he says, �and I also was received into the Church there.�

Since then, Mr. Zehnder has dedicated his professional life to Catholic education. He is the general editor of the , which aims to create a new generation of textbooks for parochial schools that accurately, beautifully, and engagingly reflect the Church�s contribution to human history. A high school teacher and former headmaster, he has authored three of the project�s books: From Sea to Shining Sea: The Story of America; Light to the Nations II: the Making of the Modern World; and Lands of Hope and Promise: A History of North America. He has also recently begun a series of novels set during the Reformation, A Song for Else, the first two installments of which, and , are available from Amazon.com.

Thanks be to God!

In gratitude for Mr. Zehnder�s conversion, please say a prayer for Dr. Long, who passed away in 2014. May his soul and those of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.