The story coming home journey of Marco Van der Ryst.
My name is Marco Van der Rÿst, I am an Afrikaans Catholic. I am 26 years old and live in 
Durban North. My family was a very strong Dutch Reformed (NG Kerk) family from the time 
our ancestors arrived in the country in the 1840s–1850s. I am very grateful for my life in the 
NG Kerk because it brought me to God and taught me the right values. When I told my family 
and friends that I had converted to the Catholic Church, I also added that I have nothing 
against the NG Kerk.
I don’t know when the seed was planted, but I learned about the Catholic Church from a very 
young age because I always loved history, especially European history, so I had respect for 
the Catholic Church from childhood. Fortunately, my family was not one of those Afrikaans 
families that had so much hatred for the Catholic Church, so that helped me learn more 
about it through secular history. In 2016, when I was in Grade 12, I went on vacation to Italy. 
We were in Rome and also visited the Vatican. The Vatican Museum was beautiful, but it was 
when we went to St. Peter’s Basilica that I felt something so powerful, as if I was at home and 
as if I was meant to stay there. That was when, from a distance, I saw my first Holy Mass, 
though I did not participate. I then went down beneath the Basilica, where the tombs of the 
various popes are, and I searched for the tomb of Pope Leo X, who was pope when the 
Protestant Reformation began. When I found it, I was alone down there, standing next to his 
tomb, thinking about what my ancestors would say if they could see where I was standing 
(little did I know that I would become Catholic myself)!
A few years passed, and I moved to Durban to study. Then, on April 16, 2019, when I turned 
on the TV, I saw that Notre-Dame had almost completely burned down. I was so shocked 
when I saw it, and I kept watching more and more videos from that night. In many of those 
videos, there was one song that I kept hearing. I did some research and found out that the 
song was called “Je Vous Salue Marie.” I downloaded it onto my phone and listened to it 
almost every day—without realizing that it was the “Hail Mary” in French! At the end of 
January 2020, I felt a very strong pull toward the Catholic Church. I searched for the nearest 
Catholic church in Durban and found Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Durban North. I sent a 
message on the parish’s Facebook page, asking if I could attend a Sunday Mass to see what 
it was like and if I could convert to the Catholic Church. When I arrived and stepped into the 
church, I felt the same way I had felt in St. Peter’s Basilica—I knew I had to be there, and the 
rest, as they say, is history. Looking back on everything, I can say with full confidence that 
Our Mother Mary brought me back to her Son’s Church, and I have never looked back.
I won’t lie—it was difficult for me because I lost all my Afrikaans friends in Durban; they did 
not accept my decision. I am alone here in Durban because my whole family and all my 
Afrikaans friends are still in Newcastle. My love life has also become more challenging 
because I am now part of a completely different culture—an English-speaking culture. I grew 
up Afrikaans, so I want to marry an Afrikaans woman and raise our children Catholic. I know 
this will be much harder for me, but through my conversion, I have learned that anything is 
possible with God’s help. Even though I have faced many situations—like losing my Afrikaans 
friends or struggling more in my love life—I will never leave the Catholic Church because it is 
God’s Church, and this is where I belong.
So if you feel the call to convert—do it! It will be one of the best decisions of your life!