Anthony Correnti, 35, grew up a churchgoing Catholic in Salem, Massachusetts, but he drifted from the Church as a young man. He says as a student at Arizona State University he spent much of his time partying.

In 2019 a friend persuaded him to attend a Catholic conference at Holy Rosary Church in nearby Winthrop, where he had a conversion experience after Father Tom DiLorenzo, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston who is active in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, laid hands on him in prayer. Not long afterward he felt called to preach the word of God to people on the street.

The Register caught up with Correnti on Essex Street in Salem in late October 2024, where he spoke into a microphone over the sound of worship music to thousands of pre-Halloween revelers. At one point he had an 11-minute conversation with a young woman who identified herself as a satanist, as described in a story the Register published Oct. 30.

The questions and answers below are based on an in-person interview with the Register and subsequent email correspondence, edited for length and clarity.

Why preach in Salem?

Well, simply first, this is where God placed me, Salem is where I grew up. Salem is my city — but more importantly Salem belongs to Jesus, and God has given me a voice and I have the honor to tell people.

In Salem, everyone knows there’s a spirit world. You know, it’s easier to convert a satanist or a witch sometimes than it is to convert someone just in the world, making lots of money, working for a job because they don’t think they need God. God himself said it is better to be cold or hot than lukewarm [Revelation 3:15-16].

But even a Satanist, they know there’s another realm. They just need to — once they see a power greater than the one they’re working for, once they understand Jesus is King, I’ve seen many Satanists or witches come to the Lord. Jesus said, "These signs will accompany those that believe: they shall lay hands on the sick and they will be healed" [Mark 17:17-18]. So many times, if they have an ailment in their body, I will pray that the healing power of Christ not only flows into their souls but also into their bodies; and God always shows up.

When a Satanist, a witch, someone trapped in the occult sees the power of God in us, as Catholics, is so far greater than the occult power they are working with, and the love and the exuberant life that the Holy Spirit brings, a lot of times it is an easy conversion.

Jesus was irresistible to each and every person he encountered outside the church, and as Catholics we have that same Holy Spirit working in us. The last words Jesus said upon this Earth before he ascended back to the Father was, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses” [Acts 1:8]. Jesus has given all of us power as believers if we are ready to partner with Heaven and receive the power of the Holy Spirit. As Catholics we should be making everyone want who we have living inside of us: Jesus!

What does street preaching accomplish?

There are some people that their hearts are closed.  But you know, we plant the seed, God waters. So who knows what that’s going to do?

All these people have a destiny and a calling to heaven, to be children of God, they’re created in the image of Jesus. And we need to release that love, and bring them in.

Why play Christian music?

We’re creating the atmosphere for God to move. We’re playing the music, God’s glory music, and we’re speaking over it. We’re speaking God’s heart, and we’re speaking the love of God. People are going to encounter a dimension of God’s glory and feel a shift in the atmosphere as they walk by, because the Scriptures say, “God inhabits the praises of his people” [Psalm 22:3], and we are praising God in song and honoring Jesus in word and testimony.

God created me to do this. God created all of us to testify to the love of Jesus.

God gives you a supernatural peace. So there are a lot of times people yell at me, get angry. But like, it’s just, I’m in a level — I’m covered in the Holy Spirit. And it’s just God gives me the supernatural love for them.

A lot of time the worse they are the more I love them, and the greater witness it is for Jesus Christ.