Candace Owens on Her Catholic Journey, Broken Bones, Mary, and Charlie Kirk's Assassination

[00:01] Hello. Thank you guys. Please be Please

[00:03] be seated. And yes, I uh broke my foot.

[00:06] First time I've ever broken a bone in my

[00:07] body just ahead of this event on Friday

[00:10] the 13th, no less. It's just amazing.

[00:13] Uh so much I actually I I consider that

[00:15] to be just kind of an analogy for my

[00:18] entire experience being a Catholic.

[00:20] There's You're in the middle of Lent.

[00:22] I'm already giving up breakfast and

[00:23] lunch and meat on Fridays. And then it's

[00:26] how about your right foot? How about

[00:27] walking for the rest of Lent?

[00:30] And it's so funny. I kind of reflect on

[00:32] my uh Catholic journey and being

[00:35] baptized I I guess it's been 3 years

[00:37] now. I got baptized 3 years ago. And I

[00:40] remember

[00:43] for whatever reason I was so deluded and

[00:45] I thought that the baptism when I got

[00:48] there like that was the finish line, you

[00:50] know? Like this is yes, I've made it.

[00:52] I've I figured it out. The battle is

[00:54] spiritual. I've

[00:56] um I've now entered into the Catholic

[00:59] faith and I had no idea how backward I

[01:02] had it. It was It was really the battle

[01:04] was just beginning, you know? Someone

[01:06] said to be a Catholic is is to suffer.

[01:08] And I really saw how immediately true

[01:12] that was.

[01:13] Almost to the minute becoming baptized.

[01:16] And I promise you when I was Protestant,

[01:19] I went around the world. I spoke about

[01:21] my faith. I talked about Christianity. I

[01:23] spoke about the Bible. And nobody Nobody

[01:26] batted an eyelash. The moment that I

[01:29] became Catholic, it was just game on. It

[01:32] was

[01:33] um

[01:34] I think the Vanity Fair took the the

[01:36] first stab and they they drew It was

[01:39] actually quite an interesting little art

[01:41] piece. And uh they had me up there and

[01:44] J.D. Vance up there, Russell Brand up

[01:47] there. And the piece was about this

[01:50] whole Catholic conspiracy. I think they

[01:52] called it the Catholic Industrial

[01:54] Complex.

[01:56] They had worked through some conspiracy.

[01:58] Why are all of these people Why is Why

[02:01] is Russell Brand uh playing the rosary?

[02:03] Why is J.D. Vance Catholic? Why is

[02:05] Candace Owens suddenly Catholic? As if

[02:08] there were you know, something happening

[02:10] in in the vaults of the Vatican where

[02:13] people were conspiring to turn everybody

[02:16] into Catholics. And

[02:18] you know, my journey was it was right

[02:19] there. Vanity Fair was right there. I

[02:22] married a Catholic actually. So,

[02:24] it was pretty obvious that I might land

[02:27] uh there myself someday. There certainly

[02:29] wasn't any conspiracy. But it was

[02:31] amazing to see that. I I never I didn't

[02:33] understand why it was um it it created

[02:36] so much drama. Why uh you couldn't be a

[02:39] Catholic, so to speak, or why people had

[02:41] more questions about uh what made you

[02:44] turn toward it. And my um

[02:47] my journey I think really is just kind

[02:50] of been lifelong in that way. I have

[02:53] always been a person on the pursuit of

[02:56] the truth, right? I want to know what

[02:59] the truth is. Uh from the time I was a

[03:01] toddler at my mother growing up to me uh

[03:05] would say, you know, one day you're

[03:06] going to get a kid just like you.

[03:08] And I think she meant that as a threat,

[03:10] by the way. [laughter]

[03:11] Which isn't great, but um I do know she

[03:14] would always remark that when I was a

[03:16] toddler, my father and her would have to

[03:19] sort of when they would reprimand me,

[03:21] they would say something and then they'd

[03:23] sort of close the bedroom door and laugh

[03:25] because I had I had to reason with them.

[03:27] I had to debate the idea to understand

[03:30] where they were coming from. Uh sort of

[03:32] saying things to them like, you know,

[03:34] Mommy, that doesn't really make sense. I

[03:35] don't really understand. That doesn't

[03:37] make sense. And I think my entire life

[03:39] I've been trying to make sense of things

[03:42] that never really went away. That desire

[03:43] to to understand how things work, uh how

[03:46] the world is working.

[03:48] And I think at a certain point I I

[03:50] really thought that I had sort of landed

[03:53] on truth when I engaged in politics. And

[03:57] you go, okay, now I'm I'm sort of in the

[03:59] belly of everything and I get this and

[04:01] it's left versus right and

[04:04] um I have to go back and sort of

[04:06] understand the debates

[04:08] uh that were being had by the founding

[04:10] fathers. And you feel like you have such

[04:12] a grip on things. And you've really

[04:15] figured things out. And you're you're

[04:17] flying high.

[04:19] And then you sort of you wake up one day

[04:21] and you realize, no, there's there's

[04:23] something way bigger than this. It

[04:24] actually it's not about politics. You

[04:27] know, the the expression that you

[04:30] culture sits above politics. There is

[04:33] something that sits way above that,

[04:35] right? And what's happening in this

[04:37] world is has always been spiritual. It

[04:40] has always been theological. And when I

[04:42] began to examine those things and uh

[04:45] realize love America 250 years, rah rah

[04:49] rah. But there's a lot of stuff that

[04:52] happened before those 250 years

[04:56] uh that you have to get your hands on

[04:57] and to to fully understand these things

[05:00] of the world and to recognize that these

[05:02] debates that we are having um they're

[05:04] not new. They are not new.

[05:07] And so I um I've approached it that way.

[05:10] And And when I was baptized, the option

[05:12] was given to me to do my confirmation at

[05:15] the same time. And I thought about it

[05:17] and I said, no, I I

[05:19] I want to take that that sacrament the

[05:21] right way, you know? And you're you get

[05:22] baptized, you're very much in your

[05:24] infancy. A confirmation signals more

[05:27] maturity. I certainly didn't feel that I

[05:29] was there. I wanted um to just

[05:32] do a couple of years, learn the missal,

[05:34] understand what was happening. Uh why

[05:37] are the priests wearing those vestments?

[05:39] Why these colors? Not to feel uh like

[05:41] such a newbie to ask all of those

[05:43] questions. And uh the which I will be

[05:47] asking for a very long time, you know?

[05:49] You could I could take years off to to

[05:51] study the history of the church and um

[05:53] still wouldn't be there.

[05:55] But there was another component of it

[05:56] that I wanted to discuss with you guys

[05:58] that I that made me a bit nervous about

[06:01] becoming a Catholic. And it was kind of

[06:03] this quiet anxiety that I had about not

[06:06] feeling connected to Mary, right? I just

[06:09] was like I don't feel this connection to

[06:11] Mary. And And Catholics have this

[06:13] connection to Mary. And I know that

[06:14] sounds really typical. Uh Dr. Scott Hahn

[06:17] has written about that. That's kind of

[06:18] the standard Protestant uh operating,

[06:21] you know, what what about Mary? You guys

[06:23] worship Mary.

[06:25] But it wasn't like it wasn't in that

[06:26] way. I I understood I understood it

[06:28] intellectually. I understood it

[06:30] theologically. I could have the debate

[06:33] about Mary. But I didn't feel it

[06:35] spiritually. And when I would speak with

[06:37] other Catholics and and uh

[06:40] to hear their their their passion and

[06:42] they're speaking about Mary, I was like,

[06:43] man, I really I want that, you know? I

[06:46] really envy that. I want to have this

[06:47] closeness, but I don't I don't feel it.

[06:50] I want to be perhaps Maybe I should be

[06:52] more intentional about that.

[06:54] And um

[06:55] an interesting moment came at mass when

[06:57] a a woman approached me. And she just

[07:00] handed me a book and it had a letter

[07:02] inside of it. And it was I think it was

[07:06] entitled 33 days to glory.

[07:11] Everybody knows it. There we go.

[07:13] Still in my infancy.

[07:15] And uh

[07:17] the letter that she wrote was so

[07:18] beautiful. And she said, you know, you

[07:20] you read these prayers every single

[07:22] night and you learn about the thoughts

[07:25] of various saints and you time it so

[07:28] that it lands on a Marian feast. It's a

[07:30] Marian consecration. And she had written

[07:32] how this had sort of changed her life.

[07:34] And uh that I should do it. And I said,

[07:37] great. This is a perfect opportunity.

[07:39] This This is what I had been looking

[07:40] for.

[07:41] I mean, my husband did it. It was

[07:42] fantastic. Every night we sat down

[07:45] um and we did our prayers together. I

[07:46] mean, it was also, you know, the

[07:47] opportunity to speak through it. And for

[07:49] me to ask these questions. More time

[07:52] with my husband. We got to day 33.

[07:55] And

[07:57] you know, I don't know if I wasn't

[07:59] expecting like a magic carpet to come in

[08:01] and and take me out of the room. But I

[08:02] went

[08:04] I want to feel the thing. And I I I I I

[08:07] felt so not great about the fact that I

[08:09] still didn't feel this connection. I

[08:11] guess the only way to give you the

[08:12] analogy of how I felt about it is uh I

[08:14] have two sisters and we all had kids

[08:17] at the same time. Our first child was at

[08:19] the same time. We all had boys. And

[08:22] about I would say 7 months after my

[08:25] little sister had her son, she told us

[08:28] she had never expressed this to us. She

[08:30] was like, you know, he was very colicky

[08:31] baby. Just one of those babies that

[08:33] never stopped crying, screaming.

[08:35] And she said, you know, I I feel like I

[08:36] can say it now, but I just

[08:39] I didn't have a connection to him. I

[08:40] just was like doing doing the thing for

[08:43] 7 months. And we were like,

[08:46] You didn't like your own baby? Like, you

[08:48] know,

[08:50] You didn't feel the thing you're

[08:51] supposed to feel as a mother? You didn't

[08:53] have a connection to your own baby, you

[08:55] know? This is you're his mother. And um

[08:59] By the way, where's Johnny at? I felt I

[09:01] felt this way when I said I told Johnny

[09:03] I was like, you know, I struggled a

[09:04] little bit with Mary in the beginning.

[09:05] He's like,

[09:07] That's Jesus' mother, right?

[09:11] It was sort of this like embedded shame

[09:13] of I'm supposed to feel the thing. I

[09:15] know everybody feels the thing, but I

[09:16] don't feel the thing. Um and uh and I

[09:19] mean, again, I was in the infancy. So,

[09:21] it was kind of a reversed analogy.

[09:23] And so we we sat down at night and I

[09:25] went I kind of sort of resigned myself

[09:26] to the fact that, okay,

[09:28] this is this is just what it is. And I'm

[09:30] just not going to announce that or say

[09:32] anything to anybody about it.

[09:35] And it's funny now in the retrospect

[09:36] because when you think about a mother a

[09:38] mother

[09:39] a mother is something is is someone that

[09:41] you need, right? It's someone that you

[09:43] need. Babies need their mother. Right?

[09:46] It's It's less about want and more about

[09:48] need.

[09:50] And of course uh months later, I would

[09:53] find myself in a state of need. And it

[09:55] was just the most

[09:58] uh you know, trying time I I would say

[10:01] in my entire life. And most trying time

[10:03] in my entire life uh when when Charlie

[10:05] Kirk was assassinated. There were

[10:07] I I don't think that there has

[10:10] and I hope that there will never be a

[10:11] moment like that, you know, where

[10:14] you sort of you question everything.

[10:16] You question everything.

[10:18] And those moments are sort of

[10:21] magnified when you're a public figure

[10:23] because there is this you're not really

[10:25] seen as a human being when you're a

[10:27] public figure. There's an avatar of you

[10:29] that's out there and people think they

[10:31] know the avatar and um

[10:34] there was so much to process. I think I

[10:36] think the entire world obviously was

[10:38] impacted by it and and and to know a

[10:40] person and to see a person lose their

[10:42] life uh when it is not expected in

[10:45] circumstances like that

[10:46] uh

[10:48] it you go through

[10:50] something that words fail. It it for

[10:52] words fail to describe.

[10:55] And I found myself truly almost broken

[10:58] by this. It was uh those following weeks

[11:02] feel like a haze to me. I I felt very

[11:04] directionless. I

[11:06] I also want to say I I

[11:08] think I failed spiritually, you know,

[11:10] there was so much

[11:12] so many emotions uh anger, disbelief, um

[11:15] upset, the bargaining that goes with

[11:18] that. I spent

[11:19] uh a lot of time speaking with my priest

[11:21] and we we spoke through these these

[11:24] emotions and

[11:25] you know, through our our our seven sins

[11:28] as illustrated by Pope Gregory and uh

[11:31] he's always said, you know, like yours

[11:33] is you have to deal with the anger, the

[11:35] thoughts, you know, we say we sin in

[11:36] thought and in word and indeed.

[11:39] Me, thought and thought and thought and

[11:42] thought again and thought again.

[11:45] At some point in uh that those weeks

[11:48] that followed my husband uh

[11:50] egged me to go to confession which was

[11:52] the last thing that I wanted to do.

[11:55] The very last thing that I wanted to do.

[11:58] I was doing I was like being a teenager

[12:00] trying to get out of this

[12:01] responsibility, you know, and he's like,

[12:03] "Oh, we can go." And I'm like, "Oh,

[12:04] well, you know, it's not going to be

[12:06] open." And he's like, "Oh, we can go to

[12:07] this church. It's okay."

[12:09] We we get to a different church. The

[12:10] kids are in the car. I'm like, "The

[12:12] line's really long, you know, we can't

[12:15] we can't we can't make the kids wait in

[12:16] the car as long." He's like, "Oh, it's

[12:17] okay. I'll just take them to go get

[12:18] gas." He's just making it more and more

[12:20] convenient and I'm like, "Okay.

[12:22] I'm not getting out of this. I'm going

[12:23] to I'm going to get in the car and I

[12:27] I went into the the church and it was

[12:31] a kind of a bit of a gloomy day. It's a

[12:32] darker church, a lot of wood in the

[12:33] church and um

[12:35] it was just this moment where the

[12:38] just the way the sun came in

[12:40] and it happened to hit a a sculpture of

[12:44] uh

[12:44] of Mary cradling Jesus.

[12:47] And it was the first time

[12:50] throughout the

[12:50] the from the incident until that moment

[12:52] that I felt any peace. It was just a a

[12:55] warmth that came over me and um

[12:58] I feel like it was the first time that I

[12:59] genuinely smiled waiting for confession

[13:01] and

[13:02] I just thought to myself

[13:04] I just I know it's going to be okay.

[13:06] I felt and then I remembered uh this

[13:08] discussion that Johnny Epp and I had uh

[13:11] week before Charlie lost his life in my

[13:13] house and how we were discussing how we

[13:16] felt Mary was bringing him close because

[13:18] he had just done his show and was

[13:20] defending Mary and speaking about, you

[13:23] know, Catholics really get this right

[13:24] and Mary and Mary.

[13:26] And I was like thinking of the last

[13:28] discussions, what are some of the last

[13:29] discussions I had with him where I was

[13:31] egging him. I was like, "Take the step."

[13:32] Cuz I saw the clip. "Take the step.

[13:34] Become a Catholic. You

[13:35] Come on. You're too smart to be a

[13:36] Protestant." And I was just like, you

[13:38] know, egging him. That was

[13:40] This is

[13:41] exactly what I said, actually.

[13:43] >> [applause and cheering]

[13:48] >> And so I had this peace. I had this

[13:50] peace and I was like, "This is amazing."

[13:53] And then it became even even more

[13:54] amazing. There was um you fast forward

[13:56] to the December and it was the Feast of

[14:01] the Immaculate Conception

[14:03] and we went to

[14:04] uh mass at a time that we don't normally

[14:07] go to and I had prayed in a way that I

[14:09] hadn't prayed before.

[14:12] Um

[14:13] sort of asking for something to be

[14:15] revealed to me and on that very evening

[14:18] when I got home, I had an email with the

[14:20] exact information that I was looking for

[14:22] and I went, "Wow. That is just

[14:25] incredible that this is uh

[14:27] that this happened on this night."

[14:29] And then I

[14:31] had this email that had come in. I get

[14:33] about 50,000 emails in this inbox and I

[14:35] had this email that I sort of filed away

[14:38] that had come in from someone from

[14:39] Lemont, Illinois where Charlie was from

[14:41] and where Johnny Epp is from in this

[14:43] little town and uh it was just a really

[14:46] sweet email from a Catholic uh you know,

[14:49] who was impacted by the death and

[14:53] I wrote her back and Monica is here

[14:56] tonight. I know she is here tonight

[14:57] somewhere.

[14:59] And um

[15:01] There she is.

[15:03] >> [gasps]

[15:03] >> We sort of just began speaking and

[15:06] discussing

[15:07] um

[15:08] how she had gone to the memorial event

[15:11] and how she had learned about the

[15:14] Catholic Church that Charlie had been

[15:16] attending

[15:17] um sometimes daily mass had been going

[15:19] there and how drawn he had been to to

[15:22] the church toward the end. You know, he

[15:24] obviously did not take that final step,

[15:26] but having those conversations, it was

[15:28] very warming to me.

[15:29] And I don't to this day I I don't know

[15:32] what possessed her to to send me this

[15:35] message, but she sent it to me in

[15:37] February. She said

[15:39] I was a photo of the Miraculous Medals

[15:42] and explaining every step of what a

[15:45] Miraculous Medal is and she said "My mom

[15:48] always encouraged me to wear the

[15:49] Miraculous Medal for protection. I

[15:51] didn't have it on tonight and as I was

[15:52] organizing, I saw two. So I put one on

[15:55] and I was inspired to share. I pray for

[15:58] all the protection and graces of our

[15:59] good Lord that our good Lord can give

[16:01] us. Have a blessed and restful night."

[16:04] And so I opened up to her. I said, "It's

[16:05] so funny you say this because I I had

[16:07] struggled to have this connection to

[16:08] Mary and and since Charlie's passing,

[16:10] there have just been random like little

[16:12] miracles that have happened and I I feel

[16:15] like I feel her presence. Like she's the

[16:16] person she she she is what I needed."

[16:19] Anyway, she goes on and she says a

[16:21] simple prayer that I like to say every

[16:22] day and vision is to ask Mary to wrap me

[16:25] and my kids and my family, all I'm

[16:27] praying for under her mantle just like

[16:29] we'd embrace and protect our kids, she

[16:31] does the same. And this quote always

[16:33] moved me as a mom to fathom how deeply

[16:35] we are loved by her.

[16:37] "If you put all the love of all the

[16:38] mothers into one heart, it still would

[16:40] not equal the love of the heart of Mary

[16:42] for her children." It's beautiful.

[16:44] Um and that's from St. Louis Marie de

[16:46] Montfort.

[16:48] I promise you she sent this at

[16:53] >> [applause]

[16:56] >> She sent this at about 9:00 my time and

[16:58] I said I I'm going to go find uh you're

[17:01] right. I should be wearing Miraculous

[17:02] Medals.

[17:03] Went to bed. Woke up the next morning

[17:06] and I homeschool my kids and I do a

[17:09] micro school of sorts with the McCue

[17:12] family.

[17:13] The two little girls uh ages five and

[17:17] two got out of the car that following

[17:19] morning with Miraculous Medals

[17:23] in that they had made little little

[17:25] toddler Miraculous Medals. They said,

[17:26] "We have a gift for you. We have a gift

[17:28] for you." And I said "This is

[17:31] incredible." I mean, I I I was brought

[17:33] to tears over this toddlers holding a

[17:36] gift Miraculous Medals and I just went,

[17:38] "Okay.

[17:39] Mary has a way.

[17:41] >> [laughter]

[17:42] >> Mary has a way."

[17:45] >> [applause]

[17:49] >> I sent uh Monica the photo. I went and

[17:52] you know, told my husband, "Where are

[17:53] the Miraculous Medals? We must get the

[17:54] Miraculous." I took the Miraculous

[17:55] Medals out.

[17:57] And it is it is it has been um

[17:59] it

[18:00] the most um

[18:02] it it has been in many ways a miraculous

[18:03] experience, you know, to to to really

[18:05] feel uh like you've been broken in a

[18:08] million ways and that there's not much

[18:09] that can pick you up and and to

[18:11] recognize that when you are spiritually

[18:14] broken, where else where else can you

[18:15] turn to but the church? Where else can

[18:17] you turn to but the church? And um

[18:20] you know, I do I would be remiss if I

[18:22] didn't say this. Just as Johnny

[18:25] illustrated

[18:27] there's a lot going on in the world

[18:28] right now. There was a lot that Johnny

[18:30] had to go through to put this event on

[18:33] tonight because there is this bizarre

[18:36] energy about Catholics coming together.

[18:39] And the words uh that are are said about

[18:43] Catholics carry pre-jean uh who you'll

[18:45] hear from later at

[18:47] you wonder where it comes from and it

[18:49] can get you can get into a place where

[18:50] you get frustrated about it, but I want

[18:51] you guys to know that

[18:53] for the first time ever in America,

[18:56] there is a a true Catholic youth

[18:58] movement that is on the rise, okay?

[19:02] >> [applause]

[19:07] [applause]

[19:08] >> And we should be encouraged by that. We

[19:09] should be encouraged by the struggle. We

[19:12] should be encouraged by the fight. Um if

[19:15] you are making a difference, it

[19:17] naturally brings you into a state of

[19:19] conflict and I was really warmed by

[19:21] Bishop Strickland. He published an

[19:22] article and um I just want to read the

[19:26] first couple of sentences. He wrote, "In

[19:27] these days of great confusion, many

[19:29] faithful Catholics are feeling

[19:30] unsettled, some even shaken by the

[19:33] intensity of political pressure, public

[19:35] accusations and the growing hostility

[19:36] toward those who simply hold to the

[19:39] perennial teaching of the Catholic

[19:40] Church. Let me speak clearly as a

[19:42] shepherd of souls. If you feel that the

[19:45] ground beneath you is shaking, it is not

[19:47] because truth has changed, it's because

[19:49] many have unknowingly anchored

[19:51] themselves to things that cannot hold.

[19:54] Political parties cannot save us.

[19:56] Governments cannot define truth and no

[19:58] earthly movement, no matter how

[19:59] powerful, can replace the kingship of

[20:01] Jesus Christ. And

[20:05] >> [applause]

[20:09] >> Yeah, in closing I just want to say that

[20:12] as this movement rises, I I I want you

[20:14] guys to be encouraged and and not

[20:15] fearful, you know, to to fight for it.

[20:18] This is what it means to be a Catholic

[20:20] is to suffer. Our reward is not here. Um

[20:23] and I can't tell you how encouraged it

[20:24] is with all of the fighting that happens

[20:26] every single day to be in a room filled

[20:29] with people who share that same heart.

[20:30] And I just want to thank you guys so

[20:32] much for welcoming me and allowing me to

[20:34] be in my infancy, hopefully maturing and

[20:38] toward my confirmation, which will be

[20:39] next month. God bless you. Thank you so

[20:42] much.