John Jay Hughes

Born in New York City in 1928 as son and grandson of Anglican priests, and through his mother a direct descendant of US Founding Father and first Chief Justice, John Jay, John Jay Hughes was an Anglican priest himself for 6 years before becoming a Catholic in 1960. A Church historian and priest of the St. Louis archdiocese, he describes his difficult journey to the Catholic Church in his autobiography "No Ordinary Fool: A Testimony to Grace", which is also the story of a man who, 59 years after ordination, is still in love with priesthood.

- "A most dramatic life." - George Weigel in his 1000-word Foreword.

- "A piercing, wise memoir, written by a priest who has prayed and thought

deeply about matters of both head and heart. Hughes is admired across

ideological fault lines because he cuts to the core of things, to the

restless need of the human heart for a love that lasts." - John Allen.

- "John Jay Hughes is among the most distinguished and able writers in the

English-speaking world. His memoirs, relating the moving story of his

conversion, his Harvard education, and association as a student with

Prof. Joseph Ratzinger, should indeed find great interest in a wide

audience." - Emeritus Archbishop John R. Quinn of San Francisco.

- "The most profound memoir of a personal spiritual search since

Merton's Seven Story Mountain." - Eugene Kennedy

Hughes is also the author of 12 more books and of 3 audio programs on CDs from NowYouKnowMedia,com: "A Journey Through the Parables"; "Columns of Light:30 Remarkable Saints"; and "Seeing him who is invisible: Nourishment for the Pilgrim Way."