John Paul Gamage

John Paul Gamage was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Growing up, John Paul was very intelligent and interested in abstract thinking, but he was also very rebellious, which led to several suspensions from school. His parents raised John Paul and his younger sister as Buddhists.

After a spiritual experience at 18, John Paul converted to Christianity. He became Catholic after experiencing the Traditional Latin Mass in Kelowna, British Columbia, and reading Dante, Russell Kirk, and C.S. Lewis.

John Paul was a candidate in the Dominican Order until he fell in love and proposed to his wife, Anika. The two got married when they were 21 at a large—but very low budget—wedding at the Latin Mass in Kelowna, B.C. John Paul and Anika had their first son, Augustine, when they were 22. Anika baptized Augustine during a life-threatening event at 8 days old.

The Gamage family now lives in the Glebe neighbourhood of Ottawa, ON, and attends an Ordinariate parish.