Ruth Rees has traveled many miles. The day Register correspondent Joanna Bogle spoke with the London-based travel writer, Rees had just returned from Spain, where she had accepted two major travel-writing awards. A fine glass model of the Rock of Gibraltar was by her desk, and Spanish and Gibraltarian newspapers were strewn across the table.

But Rees is keen to talk about a different sort of journey to another rock — the Rock of Peter. Born into a Jewish family, she is a convert to the Catholic faith. She is also the author of a new book, The Rosary in Space and Time (Liturgy Training Publications).

How did you become interested in the faith?

I was brought up in a very loving and happy family. My great-grandparents had come to Britain from Russia, fleeing the pogroms. The family tradition was to be devout — synagogue on holy festivals and so on — but not rigidly orthodox. Everyone worked hard, and there was a strong sense of family; it was a very wholesome environment, very good moral values.

But I remember that, even as a child, I wanted to know more — to know what my purpose was in the world. This wasn’t encouraged; the attitude was “Oh, don’t be morbid; go out and play!”

Then, as a student, I went through the usual “isms” — communism, Buddhism and so on. What first introduced me to the faith was studying drama, and meeting lots of Catholics in the theatrical world of London.

You were trained as an actress?

Yes, in London and in Cape Town, where I went into radio. I worked for the South African Broadcasting Company — loved it.

It was at a party in London that a friend — actually an actor who later became a priest — asked if I’d ever read the New Testament. I hadn’t, so I went out and bought a copy and read it from beginning to end. It was a shattering experience, absolutely life-changing. I was angry that I had never been told about Christ before. I realized that people who attacked Christianity simply didn’t really know about it.

But at that stage, I didn’t have faith. I wanted to believe, but couldn’t. So I prayed. And I can only say that something extraordinary happened. I woke one morning and somehow I just knew that things had changed, that I believed.

And then?

I wrote a joyous letter to my parents back in South Africa explaining that I was going to become a Catholic. And the next thing I knew, my mother was on her way to Britain to fetch me, and telling me that I was breaking my father’s heart. It was dreadful — my parents were the people I loved best in all the world.

And there was a further complication, a young man who was a good friend of the family and wanted to marry me, but I just didn’t care for him in that way. It was all terribly difficult.

I felt I needed to get away for a bit, so I went to Johannesburg and found work there. My mother would be telephoning me and telling me that my father was weeping.

But you persevered with the Church?

My parents arranged for me to meet a rabbi — a well-known scholar — who could really talk to me about everything. We spoke for a long time. I remember him saying, “But you mustn’t think that the Scriptures speak of the messiah as a person — it’s simply a golden age, a time of peace and tolerance and joy.”

I realized he simply didn’t believe what Jews had always believed. I told him, “Well, I’m more orthodox than you are!”

Then I was sent to a psychiatrist, who told me that there were various forms of mania — and I had religious mania! After that, I was so angry that I went to the Dominican priest who had been instructing me, and he asked for my father’s telephone number. I don’t know what they said to one another, but my father told me that I could go ahead; he wouldn’t try to stop me any more.

So I was received into the Church. I remained on very close and affectionate terms with both my parents from then on, right up to their deaths a good many years later.

Have you met other Jewish converts?

I belong to the Association of Hebrew Catholics; the founder’s sister was actually a friend of mine. They have all had the same understanding as me, that this is the fulfillment. It’s as if the Holy Spirit is saying: This is the way it has to be.

What about anti-Semitism?

The real target of anti-Semites is Christ himself, because he was a Jew. It has to do with hatred.

My family certainly knew about Oswald Mosley’s marches on Jewish people in London back in the 1930s — vicious attacks on people who just wanted to get on with their lives. And we have to be aware of things.

There has historically been a strain of anti-Semitism in the Church in France, for example. You can’t ignore that.

Why write a book on the Rosary?

I’m trying to show the richness, the largeness, of the Rosary: It’s such a glorious prayer, encompassing the message of our salvation. I’m so keen for people to come to understand it better.

What is your everyday Catholic life like?

It’s extraordinary. Years ago, before my conversion, I went to the glorious church of St. James in London’s

What are you looking forward to in the future?

I’ve earned my living as a writer for a good many years now, and I enjoy it. I give talks about my faith to Catholic groups. I don’t proselytize among Jewish people.

But if anyone asks me about my conversion, that opens things up. We are seeing a steady flow of Jewish converts, very genuine ones.

Joanna Bogle

writes from London.