Welcome to the Campfire: Where the Frontier Meets the Faith

Welcome to Wild West Catholic

WESTERN FICTION

John C Prejean Sr.

5/27/20263 min read

If you look out across Southwest New Mexico, some folks see nothing but dust, cactus, scattered yucca, and dry mountains. They see a harsh, empty place and think it’s an ugly land to live in.

I see it differently. Where they see barren desert, I see history. I see untold stories etched into the canyons and carried on the desert wind. This landscape is alive with lore, and it has shaped the very marrow of who I am.

My roots are a deep, contrasting mix— Cajun French (father), Mexican (mother), born in Louisiana, but raised here in the Southwest. That blend of cultures, combined with the rugged beauty of this region, has always been the quiet engine behind my writing. But for a long time, the pieces of who I am were scattered. This website, under this specific moniker, is about bringing them all together.

Some of you might remember the name Wild West Catholic. I first used it about a decade ago, and consider this its next incarnation—older, wiser, and more focused. Anchoring this new space is a familiar companion: my blog, Mi Viaje - My Journey. I’ve used this blog on and off throughout the past two decades. The inspiration for the name came years ago from the movie The Way, a powerful story about a father finishing the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain. It reminded me that life itself is a pilgrimage, a sacred trek toward something greater.

The Road to the Horizon

I have been Catholic all my life, but for a long time, it was more of a habit than a heartbeat. It wasn't until I truly came back to the Church in 2012 that everything shifted. That was the year I stopped just going through the motions and finally began a real, living relationship with Jesus Christ.

Everything I do now flows from that center: my deep love for God, my beautiful bride, our children, and the stories I feel called to tell.

Those stories started tracking their way into my mind a long time ago. As a kid, the moment the theme music for The High Chaparral echoed through the house, I’d drop whatever I was doing. I’d run inside and plop myself right in front of the television, waiting to see if Big John Cannon was going to save the day, or what kind of shenanigans Buck, Blue, and Manolito were going to get into.

Strangely enough, I wasn’t much of a reader back then, or even as a teenager. It wasn’t until my twenties that someone introduced me to Louis L'Amour. Immediately, I was hooked. That spark led me down a trail where I eventually discovered Zane Grey, Larry McMurtry, and Cormac McCarthy. To me, those four belong on the Mount Rushmore of Western fiction. They captured the grit, the sacrifice, and the untamed spirit of the frontier like no one else.

A New Kind of Frontier Fiction

But as I immersed myself in those worlds, I realized something was missing. The historical West was deeply spiritual, often brutally so. It was a place of profound testing, redemption, and grace. So, I decided to do something a little different: I decided to insert Catholicism directly into the grit of Western fiction.

My goal is to share stories from that era that don't pull punches—stories that will make you run the gamut of emotions, from the sorrow of the trail to the triumph of grace. While Westerns are my home base, I do like to tip my hat to other genres from time to time, too. You’ll see some of that variety here, like my short story "Any Other Day."

Pull Up a Chair

Whether you’re here for the dust and gunsmoke, the historical deep-dives, or the reflections on faith and family, I want to welcome you. Thank you for taking the time to cross my threshold and visit this digital homestead.

So, go ahead. Pull up a chair. Grab a cup of hot coffee, or whatever drink pleases you, and mosey on up to the campfire. Let’s share some stories together.

The story continues, my friends. Buen Camino.