'It's not me who makes up the rules'

In fall of 1979, Clarence "Bro" Cope and Steve Michaels preached Christianity in front of Penn State's Willard Building. Some students ignored them, some listened with fervent interest and others stayed for the sole purpose of taunting the preachers.

One student who witnessed the event recalled exactly what he was thinking when Michaels was hit in the face.

"I thought, 'Why are they out here doing this? Nobody wants to hear this stuff,' " said the former student.

The student was Gary Cattell.

Cattell has been preaching Christianity outside Willard Building for 15 years. He now understands why Cope and Michaels put up with the harassment Cattell often receives now.

So how did this man go from not understanding why someone would preach to becoming a fixture in front of Willard? Well, the truth is much different than many of the rumors that frequently portray Cattell as "flipping out one day" or "crying about Jesus in a corner."

Cattell was raised in an atheist home. His father, Newton, played a major role as a Penn State lobbyist in setting up the Commonwealth Campus system. His mother, Madelon, stayed home to raise Gary, his brothers Jeff and Tom, and his sister, Katy.

Cattell started wondering about his purpose in life in his senior year of high school. This was also the time he began experimenting with marijuana.

"I was influenced by the '60s and '70s movement," Cattell said. "Timothy Leary (Harvard professor and '60s LSD guru) said drugs would expand your mind. That, combined with adolescent interests, got me into it."

Cattell started his collegiate career at Penn State's Behrend Campus. There he met people who were taking drugs on a regular basis, and he quickly joined their inner circle.

After his freshman year, Cattell transferred to University Park, where he lived in Hartranft Hall. "The whole floor I lived on was full of partiers," he said. "We used to all chip in and buy a pound of weed for the floor to smoke."

Cattell's drug use intensified when he began using cocaine. "By my junior year, I was doing lines of cocaine to wake up in the morning," he said. "The whole time I was doing this, I was still searching for God and a purpose."

His parents were growing frustrated with Gary and gave him what he called a wake-up call after the fall semester of junior year. Penn State had a trimester system then, and he buckled down during the winter semester.

"I cut out a lot of the drugs and partying and ended up making the dean's list in the winter," he said. "But once spring came, I was right back on the drugs."

During that semester, he dropped his classes and ended up living in an apartment, using welfare money to support his drug habit.

"I rip people now who do what I did, but I know where they're coming from," he said. "I do that to help them understand. You gotta shake some people to wake them up."

There was a small period of time after college when Cattell tried to stop doing drugs and believe in God.

"I was trying, but it just wasn't real yet. I had no direction when I first started really wondering," he said. "There's different stages: You have to know there's a God, who he is and what he wants from you."

Cattell completed all three stages in August 1982. He was on South Pugh Street between Easterly Parkway and Atherton Street when God revealed himself to him.

"I was walking down the street and wondering about what I should be doing," he said. "It wasn't feelings or visions, it was knowledge. Once I decided to go with God, it was an uplifting of a burden. I finally knew I was right with God."

Cattell stopped doing drugs and began living his life by the Christian morals set forth in the Bible. When he told his family about being "saved," he was met with different reactions.

"I was really skeptical at first," said Gary's older brother Jeff Cattell. "Afterwards, I was very thankful because he was heading down a very dangerous road. It probably would have killed him."

The change was welcomed by Cattell's parents, who were becoming estranged from their son at the time.

"Initially, I was favorably im-pressed. In school, he was not doing what he should, but he was committed to this and he needed that," he said. "With his conversion, he's been able to structure his lifestyle around his beliefs, and not many people can do that. He's the most dedicated man I've ever known."

Cattell's mother partially blames herself for her son's troubled youth.

"Raising them in an atheist home was probably a very big mistake," Madelon Cattell said. "I think we regret that a lot."

Still, Madelon Cattell was pleased with her "new" son.

"He and his brother (Jeff) were rotten kids to begin with," she said in a tone only a mother can use. "For a while, we didn't want to know what Gary was doing because we knew he was doing drugs. However, now he is just a wonderful person."

Before his revelation, Cattell's roommate moved out and left Cattell with no money for rent. Cattell was left homeless with only a sleeping bag to his name. He was still living on the street

after he was saved. However, Bro Cope, who became somewhat of a mentor for Cattell, let him stay at his apartment while Cope was on the road preaching.

In 1982, Cattell's life took a turn for the better when he met Karen Hood. Karen, already a Christian, provided a stable influence in Gary's life. He and Karen married on Dec. 10, 1983.

"It wasn't love at first sight," Cattell said. "It was a process. We sort of grew to love each other."

Karen said she remembers her first impression of Gary vividly.

"We went to a Christian fellowship conference and I saw this guy with hair down to his waist and a bandanna," she said. "He's got his hands up in the air and he had no rhythm. We ended up being best friends. We did everything together."

The Cattell's decided to raise a family in the State College area, and Gary began preaching in 1984. The Cattells have four children: Rachel is 12, Joshua is 10, Rebecca is 9 and Micah is 3.

"We planned on having three, but the Pirates lost the playoffs (in 1992)," Cattell joked.

Karen, who majored in early childhood education at Penn State, home-schools the children. Gary and Karen decided to home-school because they believe children are exposed to poor morals in public school.

- Gary Cattell
Willard Preacher

The Cattell children study all the general subjects a public school teaches. Rachel and Joshua also study Latin, and Rebecca studies French. Karen takes the children to a home-schoolers' school twice a week to learn science and languages. So far, the Cattells have found that home-schooling works well for them.

One concern many people have with home-schooling is that it does not teach children social skills. The Cattells combat that danger by getting the children involved with sports and other activities. Rachel doesn't think she is missing out on anything.

"If I went to public school, I would probably know more people, but my friends are real friends," she said.

One question asked regarding Cattell is how he supports his family while preaching every day. Cattell receives tithes from people. Tithing is an Old Testament concept in which people give 10 percent of their yearly earnings to a religious ministry.

Bro Cope has been Cattell's major supporter. Others donate money, but Cope's money, along with money from part-time jobs Cattell has had, is enough. Cope has recently had financial problems, and the Cattell's sent a letter to friends requesting money for the first time. But Cattell is confident God will provide for his family.

"I know as long as God wants me to preach, he'll provide for me," he said. "If he wants me to stop preaching, he'll have something else for me to do and it would be wise for me to do that."

Cattell feels that if a person does not know God and does not dedicates his or her life to serving God, he or she will go to hell. Cattell said no one is above that law.

"My kids believe in Jesus mainly because Karen and I do, but they have to find it for themselves," he said. "I pray for them to find their ways, but ultimately we can't control what they do. If they reject God, they will ultimately go to hell. It's not me who makes up the rules."

Cattell said many people misunderstand exactly what he is saying when he proclaims, "You're going to hell."

"I never make the ultimate decision about someone because you never know what happens at the point of death," he said. "If someone were to ask me if Hitler went to hell, I would say 'more than likely, yes,' but you just can't tell."

After 14 years, Cattell has become somewhat of a fixture on campus. He is one of the major attractions for nearly every Lion Ambassador tour. Jacob Krawitz (senior-finance) said although he disagrees with a lot of what Cattell says, he respects his right to be there.

"Gary's a big part of Penn State, and free speech is a big part of Penn State," Kravitz said. "Arguing with Gary is on the list of top 25 things to do to become a real Penn Stater. He should be able to come out and tell us how he thinks."

Jon Feinberg (senior-political science), president of the Penn State chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, described Cattell as "a mixed bag."

"He's very entertaining and he makes me feel a lot better about the way I think," Feinberg said. "Free speech should always be allowed even if it's wrong, because if it's wrong, the right will come out."

Feinberg, who wholeheartedly disagrees with most everything Cattell says, said the ACLU would defend Cattell if anyone ever tried to stop him from preaching.

"The most important part of healing social problems is open discussion, and he initiates that," he said.

Feinberg said one thing that offends him most about Cattell is his mock "Going-To-Hell-Coming-Out-Day" to coincide with National Coming Out Day for gays.

"He definitely riles people up and that's dangerous," he said. "If someone is mildly homophobic, they may be negatively affected by seeing this guy speaking out against homosexuality and getting in people's faces."

Part of his rebirth led Cattell to pray for people's salvation.

"I pray for people I know who have problems. I pray to God for Penn State students," he said. "I pray for an awakening, or religious revival across the United States. Basically, I pray for anything one can be concerned about."

When Cattell preaches, some people may think he believes he is without sin, but that is not the case.

"My sins aren't necessarily like getting drunk. My sins are more character flaws," he said. "I'm not kind enough, gentle enough or loving enough. I sometimes get irritated at my wife or kids when I shouldn't."

Praying is part of Cattell's daily routine. He usually gets up early and runs about four miles, three times a week. After he returns home, he usually goes to the attic to pray or read. The attic, which is so cold that he usually lies in a sleeping bag, is the place where he can concentrate. When he's not praying, he spends most of his time reading. From about 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., he preaches. He debates issues religious beliefs, abortion, homosexuality, evolution vs. creation and other issues.

He is confronted daily by people who disagree with his opinions and he challenges nearly everyone listening to debate. His preaching is somewhat like a talk radio show in that it has themes. "Going-to-hell-all-request-Friday" is one of the more popular antics Cattell uses to draw a crowd. He will simply say, "If you think you're going to hell, if you think I think you're going to hell, which includes most of you, you can request to talk about anything."

After preaching, Cattell returns home and plays with the children for most of the night until they go to bed.

"He does a lot of stuff with us. When our friends are over, he'll come out and play football with us," Rachel said.

Karen Cattell said Gary is wonderful with the children. "Gary is intuitively aware of what the kids are going through and he deals with them really well," she said.

Once the children go to bed, Cattell searches the Internet for "going to hell" articles and other subjects.

Before going to bed himself, Cattell returns to his attic to pray. He feels praying lets him know God better. It is his quest to know and serve God better that drives him.

Although many things are important to Cattell, he values his relationship with God most of all.