CATHOLIC PRIEST HILARION HEAGY LEAVES EASTERN CHURCH TO CONVERT TO ISLAM
Eve Edwards
14 hours ago
Father Hilarion Heagy, an Eastern Catholic priest based in the US, converts to Islam this February, describing it as “coming home.”
Having only celebrated the start of Lent mere days ago – this solemn religious period of observation started on Wednesday, February 22 – Father Hilarion Heagy shifts into a new phase of his religious life.
Let’s take a look at his time spent dedicated to the Catholic Church and how the former priest’s views have altered over the years.
This February it was announced that Father Hilarion Heagy had officially converted to Islam. However, the priest has been publicly exploring his faith and religious views over the past few months. He stated his intentions to convert in October 2022.
Last December, Heagy shared his “ongoing thoughts as a priest-monk becoming Muslim” in a lengthy Medium blog post. The former priest was, at that point, on a journey eastwards, both geographically and spiritually. Heagy was a month and a half into a road trip east from California, moving away from his life in a Catholic monastery. He explained that the “physical move [was] necessary.”
“In order to begin my new life as a Muslim, I felt it important to head back east — to go home,” Heagy writes. “To the place where my journey into Islam began some twenty years ago at a little Islamic center in a university town in the rust belt of Appalachia.”
Upon renouncing his Catholic faith and converting to Islam, Hilarion Heagy will no longer be known by his old name. He now is to be known as Said Abdul Latif. This is the name under which he wrote the Medium blog post.
When converting to Islam, it is not a requirement to change your name. However, some choose to do so to reflect the change they are undergoing. It symbolizes a new start.
Oftentimes, names are selected taking inspiration from an inspirational Islamic figure.
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/02/27/catho...nvert-to-islam/
