Book "When Mary Calls" Released Today!
New Interview with Tammy Peterson: "Mary Led me to Christ, and Christ Led me to the Church"
Today, May 5, 2026, is the official release date of my new book, When Mary Calls: Surprising Encounters with the Mother of God! Whether you are a Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox Christian, or a seeker, I have no doubt you will see your own life mirrored in the stories of this book in some way that enriches your understanding of God.
In this recently released interview with Tammy Peterson, which has 22K views on YouTube in less than a week since it was posted, we move slowly through the seven stories (including hers) that are the heart of the book.
I love how the YouTube thumbnail Tammy put up simply states: “Mary is Real.”
I have to admit that I looked at the comments on YouTube with some trepidation, as I know this topic generates strong opinions. But to my delight, when people expressed the typical concerns about Marian beliefs and devotions, they were met by faithful Christians who quoted Scripture, the church fathers, and church teachings.
But what struck me was that the truth of those teachings resonated with many deep personal experiences people have had with Mary. Mary is a person we can relate to in a variety of ways, trusting in her not to lead us astray.
An important part of this project for me was understanding and defending the love of Mary using Scripture, the church fathers, church history, church teachings, liturgical prayers, hymns, and icons of Mary. I buried myself in the library, then agonized until I realized I didn’t need to write a book summarizing all the sources I'd read. I could, if I wanted to, answer every single concern or objection about Mary by drawing on Scripture and tradition. Anyone who wants to know more can jump to the appendix of my book to find great resources and start reading.
But I want people to read stories like Tammy’s so they can see Mary is really present today. When she was facing a life-threatening illness, a Catholic friend taught (then non-Christian) Tammy to pray the rosary, leading her through the Scripture verses that go with each decade of Our Fathers and Hail Marys. In my private conversations with Tammy Peterson, which are now published in my book, Tammy stated clearly, “Mary led me to Christ, and Christ led me to the Church.”
Tammy was seeking God fervently, but she needed to be formed so she could receive more light. Although the rosary certainly expresses love for Mary, the formative power of the rosary is that its prayers order our attention to the life of Christ in the Gospels from the Annunciation to his glorious resurrection. When documents like Pope Paul VI’s 1974 letter Marialis Cultus talk about devotion to Mary being subordinate to Christ, that does not mean love of Mary lessens our love for Christ, but rather, love of Mary is meant to bind us to Christ and his church, as it did for Tammy.
Perhaps we can think of the formative power of prayers like the rosary and other devotions to Mary like hiking up a mountain. Climbing a mountain to hear God speak has deep Biblical resonances. Moses heard God’s word on a mountaintop. Christ ascended a mountain at the Transfiguration, so filled with light that the disciples fell to the ground.
When I visited Tammy in Arizona, I followed her quick steps up Camelback Mountain. The view got wider, and my sense of anticipation for anything and everything was heightened. At the edge of earth and sky, creation seemed miraculous.
I’m keenly aware that the ability to achieve any athletic feat requires daily exercise. This is especially true for me since I was injured by being hit by a car when walking across the street nearly seven years ago; now I have to work out regularly just to avoid pain. Humans are a unity of body and soul, and our hearts and our intellects need to be formed as much as our bodies.
We are all fallen and in need of grace. Who among us does not need to be formed to see Christ as we should? Who has not struggled to join a church or stay in church? Who does not need guides so we continuously stick to the path we have called to follow?
As Tammy remarks in the foreword she wrote to my book When Mary Calls: “So many people in the world today are confused about what it means to be a person and to be a mother. Feminism, digital isolation, broken families, psychological pain, and fragmentation of all kinds have left many people cynical that life can be anything more than an endless competition or a series of pointless struggles…Each person’s story in this book reveals that wisdom [of Scripture] in powerful, personal ways. Most importantly, the Mother of our Lord, who is too often forgotten, is powerfully present in these pages. You will read about various ways Mary touches people, heals them, and carries them to God. This book will help you know that Mary is calling you, too.”
“Holy Mary, Mother of God…” Those powerful words from the second part of the Hail Mary are not word-for-word in Scripture. But they do point us back to the Incarnation of Christ through a human mother, and to Mary as the one whom all generations will call blessed (Luke 1:48). Such beautiful words are easy to repeat, easy to memorize, as Tammy did in the hospital years ago, freeing our hearts from fear, isolation, and doubt to ask for a clearer vision of how God’s plan for our lives.
It's been great to see how this project has developed since you first had the idea of a book about Mary for all Christians!
Congratulations!!!