Wow Actor Gary Sinise Reveals his Journey to Catholic Faith and Charity for Veterans

Actor Gary Sinise describes his road to the Catholic Church through the influence of his wife.

Gary Sinise, the actor known for playing Lieutenant Dan in the 1994 movie "Forrest Gump," discusses journey to becoming a Catholic in his new book; "Grateful American". He is also the founder of an organization,  Gary Sinise Foundation's (www.garysinisefoundation.org),that helps thousands of war veterans.

In interview with Catholic News Service, Sinise explained about his wife, Moira Harris;

"At one point, she went to a Catholic church looking for an AA meeting. This little French woman, she asked her, 'Where's the AA meeting?' She looked at her (Moira) and said, 'You should become a Catholic,'" he added. "Something happened to her at that moment — I don't know, something that had been aligned within her. Her mother was Catholic, but she fell away from the church and married a Methodist. She was not raised in any particular faith."

(In this video Gary Sinise speaks to the Knights of Columbus about his Faith and Organization)

After his wife finished the play, she met Sinise in North Carolina,

"There was a hurricane coming to Wilmington," Sinise recalled. "Well, she was telling me this story, and I'm telling here we've gotta get out of here and drive to Charlotte and we'll fly to Los Angeles. While we're driving, the hurricane was blasting behind us. She turns around and says, 'I'm going to the Catholic Church and I'm going to become a Catholic.'

"I laughed and said, 'Wait a minute. We just moved across the street from a public school.' 'Yes, and I'm going to send our kids to a Catholic school,'" he added. "Sure enough, when we go home she went to the RCIA program at our local Catholic church."

For the next year, his wife was in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program. "We started going to Mass," Sinise said. "My wife was confirmed in Easter 2000. ... The following year that little church became a sanctuary, a place of great comfort" following the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001.

Sinise himself joined the church in 2010.

"I surprised my family. I'd gone through the confirmation classes and whatnot myself behind everybody's back and I didn't tell anybody that I was doing it," he said.

"On Christmas Eve 2010 I told the family I was taking them to dinner at Morton's Steakhouse and have Christmas Eve dinner," he said. "And on the way there, I pulled into the church, and everybody asked, 'What are we doing here?' I said come on in. We walked into the church. The priest was there, and he confirmed me. It was beautiful."

Sinise tells this faith story his newly published book, "Grateful American." In the memoir, he details his life growing up in the Chicago suburbs, as well as his many adventures in films and on stage.

The Gary Sinise Foundation's website, www.garysinisefoundation.org, includes a page listing his appearances and visits at military bases and hospitals .
Edited from CNS