Servant of God Cora Evans died a devout Catholic in California but she was born and raised a devout Mormon in Utah. She was thirty before she converted to Catholicism and although she was surrounded on every side by Mormons she shared her fledgling faith with all of those in her circle. Her conversion not only led to the conversion of her husband and daughters, but also of many in her Mormon-dominated community. She led so many people to Christ that her family eventually had to relocate to California to escape the persecution they faced for abandoning Mormonism for the truth of Catholicism. We have much to learn from Cora’s brave and enduring faith. She can inspire us all to heed Christ’s call to carry the good news to the ends of the earth. 

Cora’s Conversion 

Cora and her husband, Mack, both came from Mormon families. A year after a civil marriage they were granted permission to be married in the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1924. After this experience, Cora became disenchanted with Mormonism. Though her husband remained a high priest, she could no longer hold to the beliefs of the Mormon religion. She drifted for the next 10 years trying to find God’s presence on Earth. She believed in God but felt as though she could not find Him anywhere. One day in 1934 she had a flare up of arthritis so bad that she could not move when the Catholic hour came on the radio. She listened indignantly to the broadcast on Mary. 

She was so indignant she confronted the local parish priest whose demeanor was so gracious and patient she ended up agreeing to having instruction from him once a week on the Catholic faith. Her husband, Mack, agreed to this on the condition that a Mormon representative came once a week to refute Catholic doctrine. This representative voluntarily discontinued his visits. Cora was baptized at St. Joseph’s Church in Ogden, Utah on March 30, 1930 with her two young daughters, LaVonne and Dorothy.

Converting Others 

Mack joined his wife and daughters in the Church six months later. Not long afterwards Cora’s mother and two sisters also converted. Through Mack and Cora’s gentle probing, Cora’s cousin, Hattie, and her husband also converted. Although several family members joined them the Evans family also received great personal consequences for their conversions. Some people refused to even acknowledge Cora’s existence anymore. Her daughters were rejected from playdates. The family contemplated moving and eventually would relocate to California.

While still in Utah, Cora received a message from the Lord asking her to bring a thousand friends before Him in the Blessed Sacrament. Cora didn’t know how to proceed with this request. She started by inviting her cousin, Hattie, and her friends to come and tour the Catholic Church. Parish priests always were on scene to answer questions. Cora and Hattie persisted in this open invitation to tour the parish for two years. In the first year it resulted in 80 converts. In the second year it resulted in 50 converts. Most of these converts became daily communicants. 

Cora and Hattie also prayed a year-long novena for a man involved in Cora’s temple marriage ceremony. On the very last day of the novena they found out he had started receiving instruction in the Catholic faith. 

Fighting Heresy 

Part of Cora’s disenchantment with Mormonsim came from a great desire to find God’s presence on earth. She thought she would find it in the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City, which has so much mystery around it since so few people are admitted to enter it. However, she did not find God’s presence there. Cora then received countless mystical visions and words from Our Lord and, under obedience, wrote them down. They have slowly been published over time and reveal a woman who saw part of her mission as fighting the heresy of Mormonism through bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to all the world. 

However intense her experiences, Cora was a subdued and gentle creature. She didn’t go shouting from the rooftops or insisting on people listening to what she had to say. In fact, the author of An Introduction to the Life and Writings of Cora Evans recounts,

It is Cora’s opinion that we should not take the initiative toward potential converts if they have already heard about Christ. Rather we do better to preach only to the real pagans who have never heard of Christ. 

Cora’s main mission was fulfilled through her being faithful to writing down her experiences, which are being shared worldwide today. 

Bringing the Truth to the World

With the converts in Ogden, Cora and her cousin Hattie invited others to learn but they didn’t shove the faith on them. They allowed them to see and to ask questions at their own initiative. To evangelize is to share the good news. This can be done simply by inviting others into your own experience of Christ, of sharing the good things that He has done for you. It can also mean directly sharing the gospel with them: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. But Cora shows the impact one woman can make simply by invitation and being available for conversation. She was willing to open up the door of her parish church and walk people through. She was willing to ask her parish priest to help her in this simple endeavor. It did not take much time or much effort, but the effect was over a hundred lives changed forever. Let us be inspired by Cora, and seek ways to invite others to find Christ.