‘I thank God he brought me here’: Recovery house was a centre of healing that drew 4 men to Christ

Christ is present everywhere, but he might spend more time in some places than others. That’s what it feels like talking to some of the clients at Luke 15 Recovery House in Surrey. 

Despite its legal definition as a “recovery house,” program manager Clark Umengan prefers to think of the centre, which opened in 1992, as a “place of healing.”

Like some of the centre’s employees, Umengan was once a client. He grew up Catholic in the Philippines, but, looking back, he wonders how much he actually knew Christ. “I thank God he brought me here,” he said. “His heart is here.”

The practice of hiring previous clients speaks to the centre’s care for each man who comes through its doors. 

Luke 15’s executive director Nigel Vincent speaks about another employee at the centre, Jordan Berry, whose interview is published below. The decision to hire him is about living authentically as a Catholic, Vincent said.

“I have seen the transformation in his life,” he said. “I think we as Catholics need to give people the opportunity. Though they have made these changes they face so many challenges.”

These challenges are both social and practical. There is a lot of stigma around addicts, recovered or otherwise, and Berry lost his driver’s licence and accrued a large number of fines because of his addiction.

“I just felt that nobody was giving him a chance, and we are his adopted family. We need to extend that opportunity to him,” said Vincent.

Below are four interviews with Luke 15 clients, past and present, who made the decision to become Catholic because of their experiences at home. Two of them, Jason Kirupakaran and Jason Penner, were baptized this past Easter at Immaculate Conception Parish in Delta. Jordan Berry was their sponsor.

Luke 15 House is supported with funds from Project Advance. 

Jordan Berry

Jordan Berry has been working at Luke 15 House for several months and this Easter he sponsored two men who were baptized at Immaculate Conception Church in Delta. Looking at him today it’s hard to believe that only a few years ago he tried to kill himself.

Before he was baptized in 2012, Berry had been an addict from the age of 13. Still, even with that first taste of God’s freedom, he says he lacked a real appreciation for God’s gift.

Initially, he cleaned up, left recovery, met a girl, and they had a baby. He remembers thinking it would all work out - that he would marry her one day so living in sin was fine. Somewhere along the line Berry started using again, and before he knew it, he stopped praying.

“I hadn’t talked to God in five years,” he said. “I didn’t think he loved me – I tried to kill myself behind a bank in White Rock.”

While unconscious, Berry said, “God showed me my funeral. I thought it would be empty. The people who were upset changed my mind.”

God also showed him his son, his wounded relationship with the boy’s mother, and his parents burying his body. He woke up two days after the attempted suicide, half frozen with a collapsed lung.

After a month in hospital, he went to see his parents for Christmas. The next day he checked back into Luke 15 House.

“God showed me I can’t do it on my own,” Berry said. “I know it’s nothing I’m doing. I’m selfish and stubborn – I thought I didn’t need him anymore.”

Now that he’s working in the same place where he was saved, he said, “It’s wild.”

“You get to see people come and see the transformation,” he said. “I am overwhelmed by God’s love. When I feel I don’t deserve it,  I give it away in service.”

Berry has been employed at Luke 15 House since last year. He lives on site, does work around the property, and helps the men with their recovery. 

One of the men he sponsored this Easter, Jason Kirupakaran, attributes part of his recovery to Berry. “I look up to him, he’s been a huge help – the house wouldn’t be the same without him. He’s a great role model,” he said.

Berry admits he sometimes feels tempted toward the worldly life. “The Devil has a lot of lies,” he said: “I need to get married. I need a child. I need to make money. I’m getting old.”

He offers it all up to God. “I bring God the good and the bad. I had this big encounter with God – now nothing is too small. The relationship he wants with me is beyond anything. He can handle anything. I can’t overload him.”

For Berry, there is no morning or evening prayer. “I spend all day with him,” he said. “He makes everything manageable.”

Jason Penner

Jason Penner speaks with slow, careful sentences and is a great storyteller. His life before coming to Luke 15 House was hard. As a child, he dealt with violence and neglect, and even as a man, he has been a magnet for misfortune and violence.

Most of his life he had spent drinking and smoking weed until several unfortunate events landed him in prison. His lawyer told him he should consider applying for recovery after he spent three months in the medical ward from being nearly beaten to death by some other inmates.

Perhaps providence made Luke 15’s phone number jump off the page, but he called and Nigel Vincent picked up the phone.

After speaking with Penner, Vincent asked him, “Do you believe in God?”

“Yes,” Penner replied.

A second question: “Would you be willing to believe in God a little bit more?”

“Yes, I would,” Penner replied.

Two weeks later, he was sleeping in a bed at the centre. “It gave me a real sense of freedom,” he said, “freedom from the persecuted life, from being in jail; being scared – being stuck in a room.”

“I was in rough shape. I had lost my house, my pets, and my friends. I had been poor, suffering, hiding out all the time – leading an isolated life.”

Within a few weeks, he accepted the offer to attend Mass, and he described the RCIA program as “a godsend.”

Penner said he deeply appreciated learning about the life of Christ and who Jesus is. Just being surrounded by people who wanted him to do well was a new experience for him, and after his baptism, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted.

“I felt nothing but peace and thankfulness for once. I felt hope.”

Things that used to bother him no longer stress him out. More than just healing from addiction, Penner says he is free from the shackles of sin.

“To be forgiven you need to forgive,” he said. “I used to get mad about stupid small things.” 

Now he asks himself, “What would Jesus do?” Whereas before he would feel hurt and confused by what other people did to him, “Now I know that their sins are their problem, but I have to pray for them.”

Without God, he said, “I never would have been able to do a 360 in my life. I have become a brand-new man.”

Danny Castello 

“There is a difference between abstinence and sobriety,” says Danny Castello. “You are either a ‘dry drunk,’ or you are learning to live.”

Before his first visit to Luke 15 in 2018, Castello lived a life defined by drug use. Eventually, like everyone at the healing house, that life caught up with him and he ended up in prison. Somehow, he found his way to recovery and Luke 15 House.

“Luke 15 grounded me,” he said. “I was raised on the idea there was no God. Without God, there was a feeling of hopelessness.”

Through the grace of God, the Eucharist drew him to the faith, and he was baptized in 2019. He fell away after churches closed their doors during COVID.

“Defiance is the characteristic of an addict,” Castello said. “I was angry about lockdown and being locked out; I didn’t lose my faith, but I lost interest in fellowship.”

Still, he remained sober for three years. He found a place to live, got a good job in construction, worked hard, and was even given a company truck.

It all seemed to be going well until everything tumbled like dominos and he burned out. “I overworked myself and indulged in secular things,” he said. One trip to Mexico became eight; he went sky diving, he stopped praying, and somewhere along the way, he started drinking again.

“I stopped doing the work,” he said, regarding his recovery.

He spent the first five months of 2024 drinking and fell into a deep depression. Somewhere amidst the alcoholic haze, he remembered Luke 15 House. He mustered the strength to called Nigel, and he was able to come back. At the time of our interview, he had been dry for 36 days.

Initially, Castello thought he would just go back to Luke 15 for what he calls “euphoric recall,” but he has come to understand it’s more than that: even though he walked away, God never gave up on him.

“To be blessed can also come with painful life lessons – I’ve learned that God loves us, and his love is unconditional,” he said.

“I have the desperation of the drying man,” he said. “I am really grateful for Nigel and everything he does.”

“The opposite of addiction is connection – the existence of this place is proof that God exists.”

Jason Kirupakaran 

Despite his newly minted Catholic Faith, Jason Kirupakaran says he struggled with the faith-based nature of Luke 15 House when he first arrived.

“People say, ‘Jesus will help you,’ but you don’t really know what that means,” he told The B.C. Catholic.

The daily prayers, the routine – none of it felt natural to someone who had been raised in a mixed-religion household where no faith was really practised. His Hindu father had been skeptical of his wife’s Christianity, and Kirupakaran was never baptized.

“First you need to admit you have a problem,” he said.

When he arrived at Luke 15, he relapsed within a few days and was kicked out, but something about the place called him back. For the first time, “I really wanted to change,” he said.

They gave him another chance. 

“I didn’t think it was possible to change,” he said. “Being in that pit, looking up, it felt so impossible.”

Within a few months, he began to feel different, and he remembers a day when he realized the temptation to use drugs use was leaving him. More time passed, and he felt more like himself. “You have to gradually get out of the fog,” he said.

Eventually, he was offered the chance to attend RCIA at Immaculate Conception. Now, his life is dedicated to God.

“Every day I’m asking God for help,” said Kirupakaran. “I wouldn’t have found Jesus if I hadn’t come to Luke 15 House, and I wouldn’t have been able to face my problems without God.”

He said joining the Church was like coming home after a long holiday.

He wants to use his newly reclaimed life to help people. Kirupakaran is working to finish high school. Once he gets his diploma he wants to work in recovery and “help people change their lives.”

“I want to tell people it’s possible,” he said.

Your voice matters! Join the conversation by submitting a Letter to the Editor here.