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March
21, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 6Oakland,
CA
The phrase, “All Roads Lead to Roma,”
has a dual meaning for Stuardt-Mikhail Clarke. It is the name of a website
he created to help advise and educate prospective travelers to the Eternal
City; it also represents a signpost in his ongoing journey of faith.
That journey, which began in Rome in 1988, will be marked by a welcomed
entry to his travelogue when, on March 26, Clarke, 58, receives the sacrament
of Confirmation during the Easter Vigil liturgy at St. Paul Church in
San Pablo.
The Hollister native was baptized a Baptist. His mother, who turns 95
next month, is a devout Baptist and Clarke said her steadfast belief in
God has been “a tremendous source” of his spiritual heritage.
“She is such an important part of who I am.”
As a youth he sang in the church choir and later he became the organist.
As an adult, he joined the Unity Church, but sensed that his journey was
not complete. “I still felt that was just not for me,” he
said.
Then, in 1988, Clarke’s world was rocked when several friends died
in a tragic house fire and a number more perished of AIDS. Devastated
by the losses, Clarke quit his job and traveled to Rome for the first
time to seek comfort and healing.
“That was the only place I felt I wanted and needed to go for solace…
to be as close to God as possible,” he recalled.
When he arrived in Rome, he immediately felt at home. “It was quite
strange when I got there because I didn’t need a map to get anywhere.
I seemed to know where almost everything was, like it was a return trip
or something.”
Of the 25 days Clarke was in Rome, he spent 13 in St. Peter’s Basilica.
“I found peace the minute I walked through the Basilica’s
entrance and looked at Michelangelo’s Pieta,” he said.
The unintentional pilgrim also found great comfort at the funerary monument
to Pius VIII with its sculpture of Christ Enthroned. “The sculpture
of Christ Enthroned with the gold halo looking down at you just gives
one such a sense of peace and how much he understands our suffering,”
Clarke said.
He was drawn to the left transept, to the left of Bernini’s Canopy,
where daily Masses are held. “In that transept are the confessionals
as well as three separate altars – Altar of the Crucifixion of St.
Peter, Altar of St. Joseph, and Altar of St. Thomas,” he explained
“I spent an enormous amount of time just sitting and reflecting
there.”
Since that first visit Clarke has returned to Rome 10 times. His favorite
stops are St. Peter’s and two other patriarchal churches –
Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major) and San Paolo Fuori le Mura (St.
Paul’s Outside the Walls). He claims to have visited all but 27
of the over 800 churches in Rome.
Although he admits that his conversion to the Catholic Church began the
moment he first stepped into St. Peter’s Basilica, Clarke said it
took several years before the notion sunk in.
Ironically enough – one could say divine intervention – it
was a tour guide who helped Clarke find his way during a trip he took
in 2001 with his daughter Tami.
While the two were on a tour of the Pre-Constantine Basilica and City
of the Dead (the Necropolis), Clarke kept adding to the tour guide’s
comments “when he’d forgotten
something I thought was important,” he recalled.
Finally the tour guide, Msgr. Joseph Marino, told Clarke that he should
be giving the tour because of his immense understanding of Vatican lore.
When the priest learned that Clarke had taken the tour eight times, he
invited Clarke and his daughter to dinner. The two men became good friends.
Whenever Clarke returned to Rome, the two would have dinner and Msgr.
Marino began to ask his friend when he was going to become a “full-fledged
Catholic.”
“He knew from my vast knowledge and love for the Church that I was
already Catholic in my heart,” Clarke said. It wasn’t until
April 2004 that he decided to formally convert to Catholicism “because,
I too, felt that this is where I belonged.”
That sense of belonging as well as the enormous amount of information
he has gathered on Rome and the Vatican led Clarke to establish a website,
“All Roads Lead to Roma” at www.stuardtclarkesrome.com.
“I wanted to combine what I knew with those of travel guides into
one comprehensive and free place for people worldwide to experience what
I had come to love – my favorite city in the world,” he said
of the award-winning website that has over 5 million hits.
Although the seeds for his conversion to the Church were planted in Rome,
Clarke’s spiritual journey also took him to St. Paul Parish in San
Pablo where he continued his faith formation and growth. “I absolutely
adore my parish and find myself there way before Mass on Sundays just
to sit and pray.”
Clarke said his pastor and parochial vicar, Conventual Franciscan Fathers
Paul Fazio and Masseo Gonzales, have been “beacons of light”
during the last several years.
He also praised his RCIA sponsor, Lois Gribneau, for her support. “Her
knowledge, devout spirituality, and her giving and caring nature have
been a very important part of my conversion process,” he said.
“I am truly blessed,” he said. “I have found Rome right
here at home. God is truly good.”
Stuardt-Mikhail Clarke stands in the plaza in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
