Ave Maria parishioner’s conversion story captivates audience at National Eucharistic Congress

By Linda J Oppelt

(Pictured is a screen shot from Ave Maria parishioner Geof Kirsch’s video testimony that was shown on July 19 during the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the video, Kirsch recounts how he overcame alcoholism, experienced a profound conversion, returned to the practice of his Catholic faith, and eventually came to understand the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.)

FRANKTOWN. Who is Geof Kirsch, and how did he come to tell his testimony that began with the simple but profound words, “I’m Geof, and I’m an alcoholic”?

A man who had simply volunteered to wash dishes for the Ave Maria Parish youth group had an important story to tell, and he told that story not only to the 60,000 people attending the National Eucharistic Congress (NEC), but also to an untold number of people who tuned in live, have watched, or will watch the NEC video that aired on Friday, July 19, at Lucas Oil Stadium.

On that night the theme was “Into Gethsemane,” and included a focus on brokenness, healing and repentance. Introducing Geof’s video, Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, said, “Addictions, whatever they are, are our trauma responses to our sorrowful mysteries. And if you are struggling with addictions, that can be a tremendous place of hopelessness…Geof’s going to share his story with you of what it was like to go into those sorrowful mysteries, and to receive the healing power of God.”

Geof Kirsch’s video testimony, in a nutshell, is about his upbringing in a large Catholic family, subsequently falling away from the faith, having a successful business career that quickly descended into alcoholism after his early retirement, followed by his sobriety, the growth of his faith, return to the sacraments, and a deepening appreciation of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

In an interview with The Colorado Catholic Herald, Kirsch shared more details about his story, and how he believes the Holy Spirit was behind it all. “The entire experience has been pretty amazing. From being asked to the present day, the Holy Spirit has been my guide.”

The main cause of his descent into alcoholism, according to Kirsch, was due to his success in starting two large companies.

“I retired at age 47, with all I’d ever need, from a material standpoint. But I’m a mess. I’m a complete mess, because now, I’ve got no identity. My career is over; I was a big deal, traveling all over the world. And all of a sudden that’s all ‘poof!’ And so I started drinking. It didn’t take long before it was a big problem.

“I was very unhappy, very depressed, seeing a therapist, taking pills, and lying to the therapist because I didn’t want her to know I was a real mess even when I’m going there,” he said.

“And so one Sunday afternoon, I’m just getting ready to open a bottle of wine, as I did every day . . . and I just get this urge to do something about it, from out of nowhere. So I picked up the phone and called Betty Ford [Treatment Center]. And I got a bed. And I went out there and spent five months at Betty Ford.”

Although many people fight the process of becoming sober and are in denial about their addiction, Kirsch says he was open to treatment.

“I surrendered, completely. I’m not sure at that point I knew who I was surrendering to, but I was surrendering.”

To be able to maintain his newfound sobriety, Kirsch spent the next several months away from his wife, who was still drinking. But then, another twist in his life occurred — one that was not included in the video shown at the congress.

“I got a call from our housekeeper in New York and she said my wife Maureen ‘just fell on the floor and I can’t wake her up.’ I got back to New York about midnight and went to the hospital.”

Maureen had been diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme, a terminal brain tumor.

“And she went through all this treatment for about a year. And it was an incredible year. Because now it’s becoming clear: You got tapped on the shoulder by who? Because, you’re going to be needed. And it was so powerful. It overwhelmed me, as I started to put that together — you were a mess, and you’re going to have the grace to take care of her. And it was amazing. I was there, with her. But I got this grace and I could do all that, without getting angry, without being selfish.”

“It was this time that we could just sit there. I learned about intimacy. [Previously] I thought it was about sex. I find out it’s about living with another human being . . . all of a sudden I got the grace to be a small person.”

Kirsch was there right up until Maureen’s death about one year later.

In retrospect, he sees the way God worked in his life.

“I got to be the husband she needed me to be. And it changed my life . . . The way I think of it is God got me to AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), and then AA got me back to God.”

In a somewhat surprising revelation that underscores the reason the U.S. bishops saw the need for a Eucharistic Revival, Kirsch admitted that he only recently came to an understanding of the Real Presence — the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

“I didn’t really understand this . . . in Catholic school, when I was going through it — I’m 79 years old, so it’s been a long time — but we did the Baltimore catechism, and we had a Bible, but nobody ever opened it, never read it. And, the sermon was always about hell and sin, and God’s omniscience. He can constantly see you, and I was always terrified of that,” Kirsch recalled.

“But we never learned about the true presence. I was trying to remember, and I asked a lot of people at the congress, because I had so many conversations, ‘When did you learn about the Real Presence?’ And a lot of people, my age are kind of like, ‘well, I don’t know.’ I’ve talked with a couple of priests about it and they’d say that it’s not unusual for my generation to feel like that.”

“As an altar boy, that tabernacle — I wanted to get in there because ‘you’re going to see the face of God!’ So, it was this mystical thing,” he said.

But it wasn’t until just recently that he came to understand the relationship between the tabernacle and the host contained within. The turning point was learning about a Eucharistic miracle in Argentina, Kirsch said.

“A host was dropped on the floor. They picked it up and put it in a glass of water and years later it’s analyzed, and it’s human flesh, and it’s the flesh of the left ventricle. And that changed my view.”

Regarding his invitation to share his testimony in front of tens of thousands of people gathered at Lucas Oil Stadium on July 19, that also has a mystical dimension, Kirsch said. 

“How did I get in this position? I have no idea. Actually, I do. It was the Holy Spirit,” he said. “I was very involved in teen ministry [at Ave Maria]. Every Sunday night, from September to June, we would have a big dinner for all of the teenagers and then they’d have other activities, and I was a dishwasher.”

The woman who ran the teen ministry was Alli Kalina, wife of Tanner Kalina, who happened to be part of the National Eucharistic Congress Team.

“She and I would talk. And so she got bits of my story. And I think, when Tanner was looking for somebody, I think she jabbed him and said, ‘get Geof’. So, I think that’s the connection. But then everything about it just fell into place.

“I get an email from Tanner and it’s in my junk mail . . . I almost overlooked it. And I noticed Eucharistic, you know, NEC or something. So I clicked on it and it said, ‘would you be willing to [tell your story]?’”

In a telephone interview with the Herald, Alli Kalina confirmed that Kirsch indeed made an impression on her when he volunteered to help with the youth group she was running.

“Geof wanted to help, but he wanted to do something humble,” So she told him they could use some help in the kitchen, and he offered to wash dishes.

Kalina said that, as they got to know each other, Kirsch’s story unfolded and “his love for the Eucharist was really amazing.”

At the time her husband, Tanner was developing media for the NEC and was looking for people who could express their love for the Eucharist in a unique way. He had also met Kirsch and agreed that his journey would be worth highlighting, due to his early struggles and great desire for the Eucharist after being away from the Church for a long time.

According to Kalina, “it took a lot of persuading” to convince Kirsch to share his story.

“He is such a humble man,” Kalina said. “But eventually he agreed — ‘I’ll do it for the Lord.’”

A few months before the congress, Kirsch found himself with a film crew, telling his story. In the video, he is only identified by his first name in order not to draw attention to himself. He also wanted to leave Indianapolis on Saturday morning in order not to become the focus, Kalina said. But it soon became clear that many people were deeply moved by his testimony and wanted to speak with him after the Friday night revival session.

“Friday night, I’m walking back to the hotel. [And people were asking] ‘Weren’t you the guy . . .?’ I was out until two o’clock in the morning talking to people,” Kirsch said. “The next morning I met people I’d met the day before who asked, ‘would you pray for our son, Tim?’’

Many others who recognized him from the video have talked to him since that night.

Attending the National Eucharistic Congress also became the occasion for Kirsch to meet Bishop James Golka. On the flight from Denver to Indianapolis, Kirsch spotted a man wearing clerical garb and struck up a conversation.

“He came up and said, ‘Where are you from?’ And I said, Colorado Springs,’” Bishop Golka recalled. “He told me he was from Franktown. I said, ‘you must go to Ave Maria. What’s bringing you to the congress?’ And he said, ‘I have a story to tell.’ I didn’t know if he wanted to tell me a story, right then, or just in general, so then when I saw his video come up on the screen, I thought, ‘oh, he’s telling his story at the congress to everybody!’”

Bishop Golka then told his senior staff members about an Ave Maria parishioner who was featured in a video at the congress, which is how the Herald learned about Kirsch’s story.

Kirsch now sees himself in the Parable of the Sower, especially his openness to talking with people, which he attributes to his experiences with AA and losing his wife.

 “After that, I was so open. My heart just opened. It’s like the parable of the sower. It’s my favorite — then I became fertile soil . . . I’m still active in AA. So I try to talk about, ‘what was I like; what happened; and what am I like now?’

“I am so grateful. If there’s anybody that I can help I will, because that’s the whole deal. The story’s not me. The story’s the story. And I went through this and got to the other side because God helped me. And he can help you too.”

(UPDATED 2024/09/30)

To watch the video, go to: https://relevantradio.com/2024/07/revival-session-3-into-gethsemane/ and go to about 1:20:00 min.