09-10-26 Spirit Mornings Show

0:00This podcast courtesy of the Spirit Catholic Radio Network to learn more about Spirit Catholic Radio including how to support Spirit Catholic Radio and other great programs on the Spirit Catholic Radio Network head to SpiritCatholicRadio.com or download the Spirit Catholic Radio App. And a good morning to you so glad to be with you this morning it is Thursday, September 10th, 2026 in the year of our Lord. Before we also like to refer to it as Friday Eve. I'm Timyan Mantez, Jen Brown and you that's what makes up Spirit mornings and again.

1:04So glad to have you with us this morning. We've got a wonderful morning in store for you Dave Van Katz going to be stopping in from Catholic charities of Omaha and just a little bit. We're going to be starting a new book on the good book club Good Morning Jen Brown. Zachariah chapter 1 verses 1 through 6 today right around 810. And to help us out with that father Augustine Rhymers from UNL's Newman Center will join us for that. And those guests and more Miss Jen Brown. Hey guys if you're traveling westbound I 80 today in the greater metro area be careful lots of accidents on there and one of them I just wanted to get in the Omaha metro area here in the Omaha metro area and one of them as we were passing it was around 40 second street they were getting out the the jaws of life they're doing out the saw. And so I just wanted to you know just say quick prayer for everybody involved in that accident there at 42nd and that everything would be okay. And I wouldn't just pray for you if you're traveling this morning you know just angel of God guardian dear to whom his love commits me here ever this day.

2:07Yeah my side to light to guard to rule and guide. So that's just a little prayer that I say every time I get on to the interstate sometimes I'm busy. Well I say that before bed so now I'm ready to go to sleep. That was always my bedtime. Next slide Jen. It is a bedtime prayer but also a little you know kind of just helps me driving but sometimes I'm thinking of other things and then I'm not reminded of it until I see like a car zooming past me or something like that and I'm like oh my gosh I forgot to pray my guardian angel prayer out here or you know run around forgetting that and so just you know what let's just take care of each other on the roadways and pay attention and I wasn't paying attention I mean that accident there at that corner of 72nd you know you come up on it fast when you're coming around that corner so I just hope that there's not you know cars piling up so be cautious out there be careful wherever you're driving wherever you're listening wherever you're driving if you're on especially.

3:09First Australia or wherever. Cutting through neighborhoods and stuff like that you know with kids walking to school and getting out of the car and and running across the street to school or what have you just yeah be extra slow throughout the neighborhoods in the school zones especially. Yeah taking care of those. Yeah. Taking care of those babies. Today we have a special guest Catherine Burrow and it's abortion dialogue academy and Catherine what they do is they go into the campuses and they have dialogues with students as in the campuses and that's kind of special today on the one year anniversary of the death of Charlie Kirk. So I just want to emphasize that we want to talk about being able to be unified by dialogue and I think that that's what we want to emphasize and and then they do such a great job in dialogue and Catherine's going to tell us their success rates and all of that but that will be around 740 this morning that will get a chance to talk with Catherine about the abortion dialogue academy. And then we've got Rich TruePek, Nebraska author going to be telling us about his book

4:13at the Crossroads of Science and Faith and he's part of the diocese of Lincoln Parish. I remember at St. Peter Catholic Church in Lincoln so we'll be talking to him right around 840 so that covers all the guests and plus a good news update that automake is smile and a lot of things going on this morning so we appreciate you hanging out with us checking out spirit mornings weather brought to you by pediatric ophthalmology associates in Omaha, Western Nebraska today partly cloudy with a high of 91 and then the rest of Nebraska. Looking forward to sunny skies hovering right around 85. It is creeping up on 708. Now you're up to date thanks to spirit mornings on the spirit Catholic radio network. We have a high school football game tonight, Crating Prep taking on Miller North and you can catch that game live tonight at 7 o'clock central right here on spirit Catholic radio go junior J's. I'm going to that game because my niece went to the cheer academy for North and she's they get a cheer at halftime.

5:14So Miller North? Yeah. Nice. So I'm going to go watch her do a little, you know, they do that. So you're going to cheer for the cheer squad. Yeah. You're going to be cheering for them. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go watch some family plays on the Crating Prep team. So I'm going to go watch some family plays on the Crating Prep team and then my niece cheering. So I'm going to that game tonight. It's fun. Tomorrow, of course, a massive remembrance and prayer for the 25th anniversary of September 11th and there is a prayer and mass going on at 9 o'clock in Bellevue, St. Matthews in Bellevue and Archbishop, a govern will be the presider for that mass. Massive remembrance and prayer, 25th anniversary of 9, 11. We have a special show for you tomorrow as well. It's 7, 10. We get here morning prayer and then after that an update on how the galow went and how

6:18100 years of service has been going for Catholic Charities Omaha. Right now, take it away. Father Grille. A reading from the first letter of St. Peter, as generous distributors of God's manifold grace, put your gifts at the service of one another, each in the measure he has received. The one who speaks is to deliver God's message. The one who serves is to do it with the strength provided by God. Mass in all of you, God is to be glorified through Jesus Christ. The word of the Lord, thanks be to God. Good morning. Today is Thursday of the 23rd week in ordinary time. My name is Father Loris Grille and I come to you from the parishes where I serve as pastor of St. Mary's in Weymour, St. Mary's in Odell and St. Joseph's in Barnston. Today's passage from St. Peter about speaking about God and serving God makes me think of our spaceship Fulton J. Sheen. He exemplified these traits of speaking and serving in Christ's name.

7:20Sheen will be beodified in two weeks from today. I'm sure that some within the sound of my voice are planning to attend the festivities in St. Louis and Peoria. Fulton J. Sheen was born in 1895 and died in 1979. He came of age as a priest when first radio and then TV became the amazing tools and entertainment which they remain to this day. Many are familiar with Sheen's TV program Life is Worth Living, but he first had a radio show on secular radio from 1930 to 1950. In his radio and TV preaching he delivered God's message in his work as head of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He served with a strength provided by God. It is said that he raised millions of dollars for the missions. Sheen was a true apostle. The original twelve apostles were chosen by Jesus to speak his message and serve in his

8:21name. Jesus told them at the last supper, as the Father has sent me, even so I send you. By God's grace may we speak and serve Christ like the apostles and soon to be blessed, Fulton J. Sheen. God bless you. This is Spirit Mornings on the Spirit Catholic Radio Network.

9:23Always a joy to have Dave Van Cat from Catholic Charities of Omaha in the studio with us. So both Dave and Jen were caught up in the snarl on I-80 Westbound. A couple of accidents there, 40 second and 60th Street. So just be very careful. You might even take an alternate route. Again, it's I-80 Westbound, 42nd and 60th Street. You might look for an alternate route. So Dave and glad you made it in as well. It sounds like you missed most of that mess, but it was still slow going. So thank you so much for stopping in, man. Love to be here. Thanks so much. Yeah, I missed most of the mess and was able to get here in time. Hey, Dave. How was? I know that you guys have been celebrating. Oh, just, you know, like 100 years of service at Catholic Charities of Omaha. Is that all? Yes. It was a fantastic event to our Century of Hope, Gala on August 29th. A wonderful turnout, wonderful crowd. People were very pleased with how the event went. We had lots of dignitaries there.

10:26We had a special apostolic blessing from Pope Leo XIV and Archbishop McGovern presented that to our boards of directors, both our agency and foundation boards. We're there and they were the Gala chair. So it was a full stage. We'll say when we had all of the boards up there with the Archbishop for that, but it was an incredible moment. The first American Pope and we were able to celebrate his apostolic blessing as part of our centennial year. We also had Governor Pillin there who presented a state proclamation for us. And so August 29th was designated the Catholic Charities of Omaha Centennial anniversary day across the state of Nebraska. So that was a nice addition. We had so much fun with all of our silent auction, all of the people and the guests interacting. And then we also had some special things with our 100th anniversary commemorative book,

11:30our coffee table book that was rolled out that night and people have an opportunity if they're still interested to get that history book of Catholic Charities, all the great stories and the faces of the people and buildings that we've been in, all the different things that we've done over the century. So they can look for that on our website at ccmaw.org slash centennial if they are interested in that book. Now talking about stories, I know you shared some stories of impact at the Gala itself. Do you want to give us kind of an idea of what a couple of these stories talked about or discussed? Yes. So we had kind of an overview of all of our current programs, but then we went back into the history a little bit. One of our board members, Dave Trinon, his father was in the orphanage many years ago was actually born in 1926. And so his story of his father's 10 years at the orphanage and the impact of the mercy

12:31sisters on him. And that whole story was one of our vignettes that then he was able to be there and share a little bit more about that. And then we also had stories. And these we just did audio. So we asked people just to be quiet and listen, which was a little unusual, I guess, for some events. But it really made people stop and think and hear those stories. And then we asked people to come up with a story that was about a suicide that occurred in a rural town that we responded to with our behavioral health therapists. And the other was a domestic violence victim who came to our shelter 26 years ago with her children and how her life was transformed from the work of Catholic charities in our shelter. And that kind of ties in with today. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think it's a very, very, very, very important day to have a mental health

13:31prevention week. But this is a special day too. Yes. Today is the international world suicide prevention day. And it's an important day for us to think about all of our mental health and how important that is to maintain, you know, even just day to day. And so, you know, we're through Catholic charity. There's a 988 is the designated hotline for people. If they are having those thoughts or someone they know is having those thoughts, how they may be able to respond. And so it's something that we focus on to try to help people through those situations. But any sort of counseling need, Catholic charity is able to respond. People can always visit cco-mah.org or call 531-213-7396, which is our behavioral health services number. You can get to all of that information.

14:32If you go to the website cco-mah.org, but interestingly enough, very easy to text 988 if you're having an immediate question. So you can text 988 and someone will text you back. Yes. So the other thing that I wanted to note is our Bishop McGovern and his holding mass of remembrance for those who have died by suicide and for those survivors who had a relative or friend or someone they know who died by suicide. And that's this Sunday, September 13th at 2 o'clock at St. Charles Boromano in Gretna for that mass. And you also have your in these, the 17 Catholic schools. How does Catholic charities of Omaha help out the students in the Catholic schools if they're going through something as well? And so we have therapists that are in those 17 Catholic schools around the Archdiocese. And they are in those schools from one day a week to four days a week, depending on the size of the school and the need.

15:33And it is a place where those students and their families is needed in some of the faculty and staff are also assisted. Our therapists are able to meet with them in a comfortable environment so there's not the transportation issues of taking the students out of the classes in some place else to receive whatever therapy they might need for different behavioral issues that they're trying to address. Might be anxiety, might be depression, might be any number of other things that they're trying to work through. And so our therapists are really able to assist those students right where they are throughout the day. And so that's been going on for a number of years now and it really has a huge impact on the school and the ability for those students to be effective in their classwork and not be disruptive in the classroom as well. Back on track, when the kids to be healthy physically, mentally and spiritually and get

16:33back on track, it's also this September, there's so much going on in September, it's always a busy month, it's a national hunger month. What is national hunger month? So is a way that we can focus some attention on food insecurity in our communities. Food is a very basic need. It's something that we can all agree on. The people should have access to nutritious food. And so it's when we try to shine the light on all of our pantries. We have pantry at our St. Teresa of Calcutta campus, the Market Choice Pantry there where people can shop for their food. We also have our St. Juan Diego Center in South Omaha. And then we serve our seniors through our pantry at St. Martin de Poors in North Omaha. So the food insecurity is pervasive across different communities, but there are also places where they call food deserts. Places where there are no grocery stores, there's only gas station food and some dollar store

17:37type of food which does not have as many different things available. Produces, is that? Produces, exactly. So those nutritious foods produce in protein. So we take this opportunity to ask people to think about those who may have less food than you. And help us by providing some of that. We do a lot of different food drives or parishes. St. Robert's does one every month for us, which is fantastic. We have other parishes, St. Gerald's, St. Stephen the Martyr, who help contribute food, St. Vincent de Paul. All of those parish drives and or family drives are just individuals who come and drop off food for us. It's very important to us to be able to have that food available to give to those who are hungry. So if somebody wants to do something at their parishes, is that something they need to do on their own, or should they reach out to you first to help organize something like that? Either or. We're a both-hand Catholic organization.

18:39So people can reach out to us. You know, a lot of the places that we're currently working with, they work through their Knights Columbus Councils. And so that's very helpful. A ready-made group of men who are helped to, ready to help put on that drive. So it's either way that they want to work through, find some people in their parish to put it together. They can reach out to us via ccoma.org. And they're happy to give them a list of items that are most needed in our pantries. And they can do that, like I said, either do their parish, do their school. We have a number of different schools who help us out with various food drives. We have one coming up with Scott Catholic High School. They're doing their tackle hunger food drive for us again. And they do that for two weeks in the school, make it a competition. And then the students bring in the food. And then they also have us there when they do their homecoming game. This year it's Guns Gross High School, my alma mater.

19:41And they can bring that food on October 9th to the game. And we will get that to the people who are hungry. So very, very grateful for all the different types of ways that people support us through food initiatives. I bet that's cool too, because they can reach out to the other school. Obviously another Catholic school and they can say, hey, upon entry into this game, if you want to bring a non-perishable food item, please drop it off at the gate. We're collecting food for Catholic charities, Omaha. Yes. And I'm sure that the other team always oblige. Has Scott done this before? Yes, Scott has done that. I think this is the fourth year now that they've done this drive for us. St. Wencesloss is another great example of the school. They actually do the largest food drive that we have all year long. They have been doing that for over 25 years. And so that's a real fun event for that whole school community. They compete between different grade levels. And I got to judge the shopping cart decorating contest one year.

20:43And it was well beyond my expectations of how you can decorate a shopping cart. Yeah. You could do that shopping cart. Yeah. They did. Well, it was not an easy judging commitment. I had made there to figure out which one of those beautiful carts was the best. I pick up my niece and nephew usually on Wednesdays every Wednesday. My sister has a late meeting every Wednesday. So I pick them up from St. Wencesloss. And I always have diapers in the back of my car, just if I'm going to be going to a pregnancy health organization or something like that. So I always have a couple packages of diapers. And my niece goes, Aunt Jen, she's very dramatic. She's like, Aunt Jen, I need these diapers for our food drive. This will be good. And I think they're decorating a cart or something. They're doing something. She goes, this will be perfect. And I have these diapers. I'm like, absolutely. Those are all yours. She's like, wonderful. Thank you. You know, she just, these will be so perfect. So yeah, because she knows why I have diapers in the car. Because it was onto her at first.

21:45Now she knows why there's always diapers in the car. Well, and we distribute a lot of diapers. So thank you for donating those diapers to, by way of, say, went to sloss to the people coming to Catholic charities. So yeah, Dave and Kat, from Catholic charities, I'm almost how visiting with us here in Spirit Mourning's, you haven't been there for the full 100 years. How long have you been at Catholic charities? No, not close to 100. Just a tiny 100. I've been there for eight years now. But that was another little moment that we had. We did a recognition for Terry Jewel, who is one of our staff who has been at Catholic charities for 47 years. So almost half the time that Catholic charities has been open. Terry has been there in a number of different capacities and a number of different locations. And so she is now the one who takes the calls coming into us. And so she's a wealth of knowledge. She's very loving, compassionate, and helpful person.

22:46And she's, if we don't have a program able to assist them, Terry knows who else in the community might. And so we did a nice recognition for Terry and her many, many years of service to Catholic charities. Of course. And in your eight years, Dave, have you seen anything that, is there been a success story or something that you witnessed that impacted you that kind of hit you in the fields that you weren't prepared for? Well, there's really a lot. It's a very blessing, blessed benefit to be able to see all the different success stories in the ways that people have been able to navigate their different crises. And some of those, again, were long ago. I mentioned the woman who was at our Gala this past week about her DV experience, but we've heard others in the similar vein that they were at Catholic charities many years ago.

23:46And how that moment or that period of their life, Catholic charities was able to help transform them and help not only them, but their children as well. And so it becomes a generational thing. People talk about domestic violence and some of the things that can be sort of a generation after generation issue. And Catholic charities has been there to break that cycle and to help them and their children understand, you know, there's a better way that people can treat each other, how to live together and all those things. So that's one of those that really comes to mind that again, we had, we yet, Catholic charities now didn't have anything to do with that. But we say we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, who for 100 years, not only were there for the people in crisis, but also the donors that were there to contribute the funds because we rely on them completely for our services to be offered. And so those people never knew who they were helping, but they still made the commitment

24:50to follow the teachings of Jesus, support what Catholic charities does to impact the lives of people coming to us. What can our social media warriors post on Facebook, on Instagram, on social media to help Catholic charities of Omaha? What's that one message that somebody listening the next time they log in, they're going to post what about Catholic charities of Omaha Dave? So we would love for them to support the work we do by living mercy. That's what we talk about doing. We're here to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. And if they can not only pray for us, but encourage others to participate, you know, whether that means volunteering, whether that means donations, whether money or food. Or other things, supplies, diapers that we talked about earlier. But if we drive together, all of those different things are very important. And we want people to work with us. However, best fits their organization, their individual reality or for the family. However they want to support us, we're happy to have it.

25:52Figure out, yeah, maybe if there's something that you could do like a Scott Tackle's football food drive or if something that you could do through your parish, any of those things put something together, rally something together or just share what the amazing things that Catholic charities does should be noted that the only domestic 24 hour domestic hotline in Douglas County. Douglas County, that's correct. Catholic charities is the reason that that is there for the women and men of Douglas County. So praise be to God, need to keep that going for the help for the help of those people trying to break that cycle. Dave Van Cat. Thanks for always being with us at least once a month and a given us an update and glad the Gala went so great. It sounds like a wonderful time century of hope, Gala. And there'll be another one next year. It just won't be entire century of hope. It'll just be the 101, 101 Gala of hope. And so if you want any information of what went on or how you can contribute to the Gala or anything that goes on at Catholic charities, go to ccomah.org.

26:54That's ccomah.org. Have a great day, Dave. Thank you so much and you as well. Tell you daughter that she did, if you guys heard the commercial for the century of hope, that was Dave's youngest. What was the name again? Barbara. Barbara, that's not the youngest, but just number nine. Okay, yes. Second. So yeah, Barbara did a great job. And I told her and I'm pretty sure you were there. Put that on your resume because you could be, you could be here talking about the 150th of Catholic charities of Omaha. She could be right behind this microphone. You could be going 50 plus way it puts her right around 60 something, doesn't it? I guess you know, I'm horrible at math. No, he's right on that. I'm right on at the 100th Gala in anniversary of Catholic charities of Omaha. Happy birthday, Catholic charities. Amen. The spirit of mornings. It's 7 30 and it's time for the spirit. Catholic Radio good news update. A heartwarming shift is underway at airport gates. Bring back the simple unforgettable joy of welcoming loved ones.

27:57The moment they step off the plane. That's your good news update next. Spirit Catholic Radio is proud to highlight the God given talent of area athletes whenever possible. Cheer them on while listening to the high school football game of the week. Find the drug casket at spiritcatholicradio.com. This is Sister Mary Claire of the Sisters of our Lady of Mercy. Thank you for listening to spirit Catholic Radio. May God bless you. Thank you so much for supporting Spirit Catholic Radio. It's Catechesis for cradle Catholics. Listen to Cat in the cradle with Father Jeff Loskey and Damien Montez Wednesdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. Central on the Spirit Catholic Radio Network. We are the students of Drugs Catholic High School.

29:17The Eucharist is the beating heart of our faith and you've got questions. Is the Eucharist only consecrated in the Mass? Yes, the Eucharist is only consecrated during the Mass. The consecration where the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ is a central part of the Eucharistic prayer within the Mass. It is during this sacred liturgy that the priest through the power of the Holy Spirit makes Christ truly present under the appearance of bread and wine. We hope this answer ignited your understanding of the divine mystery of the Eucharist, the true body and blood of our Lord, a gift beyond measure. It's now time for the Spirit Morning's Good News Update on Spirit Catholic Radio. Sponsored by Wheatfield's bakery express located at 189th and Maple in Omaha, it's a drive-through option for busy people on the go. So there's a wonderful piece of good news on the horizon for travelers and families in

30:20Omaha. Eppley Airfield has been selected as one of just 13 airports across the country to take part in a forward-looking TSA Transportation Security Administration pilot program. The initiative reopens the terminal gates to non-flying visitors, restoring a cherished sense of connection and warmth to the airport experience. Over the past 25 years aviation security has undergone a massive transformation. What once felt like a sudden shift in district protocols and guarded concourses has gradually evolved through ingenuity and patience and it evolved into a sophisticated system that's built on trust, innovation and streamlined technology. And today we stand at a hopeful milestone which is proof of how far security standards have advanced to keep us both safe and connected. Now for generations, airport gate areas were vibrant, social commons. They were places where grandmothers waited eagerly without stretched arms, parents surprised

31:23returning college students, families stood together until the moment a loved one stepped onto the jetway. Every time you see somebody from the military step off that jetway. The tears of happiness and joy are amazing. Reunions happened right there at the gate door. You didn't have to wait on the other side of the airport for them. The signs, the flowers, the balloons. Right, the reunions were filled with joyful embrace as happy tears before anybody even reached baggage claim. Well, now thanks to decades of technological growth and trusted traveler programs, that uplifting spirit is making a return. The TSA highlighted the uplifting vision behind the policy, calling it an opportunity to bring back the moments that once defined air travel from sharing a coffee during a layover to giving a warm hug. The second someone walks off the jetway. And again, Omaha stands proudly along 12 other leading airports across the country participating in this program. And this exciting launch comes at a perfect moment for Omaha because Eplea airfield has been

32:25undergoing this $950 million terminal monetization project. It's the largest expansion in the airports history and it's scheduled to be done in 2028. So as Omaha's airport grows into a world class facility, it feels pretty good to see that human side of travel is returning along with it. Nothing compares to that feeling of greeting somebody right there at the gate in Omaha travelers can look forward to sharing those unforgettable moments once again. There are generations like my nephew and younger who weren't around when greeting somebody right there at the gate was a thing. You and I remember that until 25 years ago tomorrow changed everything and everybody were taken off our shoes and you know, if you wanted to meet with a family member, yeah, you really had to wait way over on the other side of the airport far away from the gates. Where that slope, as you walked up that slope, there was a little bank of chairs where you would wait. You know, the fact that you know, anytime you stop into a city as a layover city, you

33:27know, if you know a friend, it's like, oh, it'd be nice to be able to see this person while I've got this really long layover, you know, and back in the day, we used to be able to do that. They used to be able to come and join us for a beverage and just hang out until we had to take off to our next destination. And so I like that we're getting back to this almost 25 years to the date of that horrible tragedy that changed everything. The way we look at things and the way we act and the security protocols that happen at these airports. So to be able to see somebody right off that plane and to be able to come off that plane and see that family, they're greeting you. Pretty special moment. So I'm excited for that. Yeah, I hope this goes well for Omaha, Eplea Airfield and several airfields across the United States. It looks like there are 12 other ones. So I hope this goes well. Thanks, Damien. 734, Spirit Catholic Radio Weather. Brought to you by pediatric ophthalmology associates in Omaha in Western Nebraska today, partly cloudy with a high of 91, the rest of Nebraska.

34:27Looking at sunny skies with highs in the mid 80s. It's 737 and a half. Now you're up to date. Thanks to Spirit mornings on the Spirit Catholic Radio Network. In Bellevue at St. Matthews tomorrow, a mass of remembrance for 911. That's tomorrow at 9 a.m. with Archbishop McGovern. I hope that you can make it in Bellevue tomorrow for a mass of remembrance and prayer with Archbishop McGovern. It is 738 and we get to oh tonight. Is there a football game tonight tonight, great and prep taking our milled north seven o'clock right here on the Spirit Catholic Radio Network. We'll get to hear about the Saint of the day. Saint Thomas Villanova will have a prayer at the top of the eight o'clock hour with him and then we'll talk with before that. We'll talk with Catherine Burrow from abortion dialogue academy. This is Francis Canmedia's Saint of the day for September 10th. Today we celebrate Saint Thomas of Villanova. The first time Thomas of Villanova was nominated to become an Archbishop, he declined.

35:31When he was again nominated, he accepted. But he insisted that the money given to him to furnish his new residence would instead go to the local hospital. What does a poor friar like myself want with furniture, he asked? Born in Castile, Spain, Thomas became an Augustinian priest and a leader of his congregation. For years he wore the same habit that he had received as a novice, mending it himself. As a bishop, he welcomed several hundred poor people to his door each morning for a meal and a small amount of money. When criticized because he was at times being taken advantage of, he replied, if there are people who refuse to work, that is for the governor and the police to deal with. My duty is to assist and relieve those who come to my door. Thomas also encouraged the wealthy to be richer in mercy and charity than they were in earthly possessions. Affectionately known as the Almsgiver and the father of the poor, Thomas died in 1555 and was canonized in 1658.

36:33There's more about the saints along with inspiration and Catholic resources at our website, saintoftheday.org. From Franciscan media, this has been Saint of the Day. Saint Thomas of Villanova, pray for us. 739, the Spirit Catholic Radio Network Spotlight Community, is Bedford, Iowa. Good morning to Bedford, Iowa and the forecast in Bedford, Iowa today mostly sunny with a high of 84. So again, top of the morning to our listeners and friends in Bedford, Iowa. Bedford, Iowa and the majority of our friends listening in Iowa. 102.7 FM KVSS, the flagship station that started it all 27 years ago in Bedford. They're driving around, listening at the station, maybe in our homes. You can also go online, listen live at spiritcatholicradio.com or download the app, take the radio, anywhere you go. It's 740 and it next, we're going to talk about the importance of dialogue and how we can be unified through dialogue and this pro-life issue can unify us through dialogue with

37:39Catherine Burrow of the Borschen Dialogue Academy. This is Spirit Mornings on the Spirit Catholic Radio Network. Well, good morning, Catherine. Nice to meet you for our first time from the abortion dialogue academy. So I'm excited. Did you get to know about you in some of the events you have coming up? But first, if you could give me and some of our other new listeners, a little bit of background, the abortion dialogue academy, it's easy to think, well, this is just opening up communication, but there's more to it than that, right? Yeah. So we teach a seven-minute pro-life argument that on average persuades one in six pro-choice people to be pro-life. And so our mission is to try to get that argument in front of as many pro-choice youth as possible. We've got two main programs. We have our college conversations program where the college students go out and have these one-on-one conversations with their peers on the abortion issue. And then we also have a youth presentation where we present that same argument to high schools, middle schools, and youth groups. And so how do you approach a conversation like that? How do you teach these students to do this?

38:39And how do you approach it in a way where it won't push somebody away or they won't shut down or turn off to the idea? Yeah, that's a great question. So there's a couple of things that help the conversation be persuasive. One part of it is really keeping it calm. So when our emotions are heightened, our ability to think rationally decreases. This is why every time you maybe get in a fight with your spouse, I'm not saying I've ever gotten a fight with my spouse, but I've heard. When you get in a fight with that spouse, you know, sometimes you forget, you kind of say gibberish. You can't even think rationally. And so what we teach our volunteers to do is just to do a technique called build common ground where they find areas of agreement with a pro-choice person and they vocalize them. And that helps keep the conversation calm so that the pro-choice person can actually hear the arguments because the arguments are on our side. It's just can we get them to hear them and be able to comprehend them or is the emotion so heightened that the conversation's not even productive?

39:42It's like the truth is out there. But can you get through all the noise and all the noise that we all hear on all different times in order to lay out the truth in a way that it kind of penetrates that wall that they've put up for maybe a long time or so that's the, but it's and it's a seven minute argument as well. You do it in a very short fashion. You have a lot of people, a lot of team members in different college campuses. And the thing that I like is it just is this wonderful dialogue and it's just this exchange and you have like this little book, but this little thing that you show them and there's an X and then a circle and you're just like, well, what do you think about this X circle and they're like, oh, well, that's rational. And then they're like, what do you think about this X circle? Oh, well, that's rational. And then the next rational statement would be, well, that this is a baby and we shouldn't kill a baby or shouldn't kill a human being. And so it just kind of leads to some rational thought processes.

40:42If you can break that down, I've been to the, your events before I've had the, I pray for Liz Beth, she's a warrior in your groups and I have a picture of her and I pray for her all the time because she's out there. Why is this so effective? Yeah. So it's funny. You think of the abortion debate being really complicated, but you're right. It really actually only takes seven minutes to kind of lay out the whole debate because at the end of the day, there's really only three pro-choice arguments. And so what we essentially teach our volunteers to do in the seven minute argument is to show in like a kind and compassionate way, hey, here are the arguments for abortion and here are the arguments against. And do you see how abortion really should be illegal? And a lot of the students that we encounter, believe it or not, have never even met a pro-life person before. Or if they have, they've never had like a good conversation with them. They've just seen kind of a caricature of, you know, some crazy person yelling on social media and that's their idea of what a pro-life person is.

41:45And so when they meet our volunteers that's, you know, appear just like them, who's kind, who's rational, and they present the arguments, it's very easy for them, I think, to change their mind, which is I think why we see so much success on the campus. I see, and I'm getting stuck on the word argument because that can have a negative connotation and some people here that they go, well, I don't want to be in any kind of argument whatsoever. So this is more about a healthy, peaceful and productive dialogue. I mean, that's why it's abortion dialogue academy. So this is not meant to push your views onto somebody or them to push their views on you. This is about you to constructively discuss what's at hand. So my, I think the problem with our society today is that we try too much to find that common ground or that medium point of well, okay? And then the phrase agreed to disagree. And then that's the end of the discussion. And it's like, well, no, that doesn't complete everything. It doesn't, it doesn't help us conquer what we're at hand. We're just going, well, we're just not going to be able to see eye to eye.

42:47So how do we, how do we go against that or how do we prevent that from happening in this kind of dialogue when it comes to pro-life issues? Yeah. So when I say common ground, I mean it more as kind of a first step where you're finding areas of genuine agreement, not to just end there, but to just keep the conversation calm. So it's, it's vocalizing things like we both want what's best for women. You know, now we know that what's best for women is not abortion, but understanding like maybe where the pro-choice person is coming from, you know, if they bring up like, oh, well, the foster care system is so broken, it's just taking once sentence really to say, you know, I agree with you, there are a lot of issues with the foster care system. Before then you dive into kind of breaking down why that's not a good argument for legal abortion. So it's, it's not an agreed to disagree kind of approach. It's more of a just vocalizing those areas of agreement because a lot of times because pro-choice students have never met a pro-life person before, they just have this caricature in their mind, you know, they don't know that we care about women unless we say it out

43:50loud, which sounds kind of silly, but we have to say, you know, like I think, you know, there are really hard situations and we do want what's best for women, which obviously we know as pro-life advocates because we know there's so many pregnancy resource centers and there's, there's so much help, but a lot of times that's not the world view they're coming from because they've not interacted very much with you. Yeah, I don't know about that. So they agree, it's not an agreed to disagree, it's an agree to agree. Like you, you find common ground on things that you truly believe in. Like, do you believe like, if a dog is abused by its owner, that its owner should be punished, the dog should not be put down. Like, can you agree on that? Yes. So, you can't just destroy the dog because the owner is abusing it, you know, and so, like these real common ground things of, okay, so then let's go off of that. And then, and then once you agree on all these basic moral issues, like a lot of good moral issues and you agree on a lot of good moral issues, then the abortion dialogue academy gets

44:53the person to say, because of all of these good moral issues that we've just talked about, we're going to, I'm going to lay out to you, I'm going to show you why that's also applicable. I've said that word right, I'm so happy I said that right. To this issue as well. And what's great about the reason that Katherine, we're having you on, one, you're having an event coming up soon and people can learn more about abortion dialogue academy. You guys have been around for years doing great work. But to today is the one year anniversary of Charlie Kirk being murdered on a college campus assassinated on a college campus. And he was about dialogue as well. People can try to smear his name, whatever they want, but he was about going into campuses and letting people speak, finding common ground and dialoguing with him. And that's what you got, that's what you guys do as well. And that's where I think this is the best way we can heal.

45:54Just showing people what is out there. Like they say they've never met a pro-life person. They think they have an irrational idea of what a pro-life person is. But when we show them, here's the facts man. Like this is a, it's mind blowing to some people. And we've met some people. You have some people that come back, they say, you know what, I met you a few weeks ago or I, you talked with me a few weeks ago and I took this information home and I'm really blown away. Yeah, I want to hear those stories. You know, you bring up the, we just even this past summer when we were training some of the new student leaders, you know, we met a woman on campus, thought abortion should be legal in the case of Down syndrome. Like we're talking eugenics level and we go through the seven minute argument, she completely changes her mind, she thinks it should be illegal in all cases and she does comment to us at the end of the conversation. She's like, yeah, this is the first conversation I've ever had on abortion. And I was like, you took a really intense stance for somebody who's never thought about it or talked about it. We do also see that as well, because our volunteers are on campus so frequently they will sometimes

46:57meet people who, you know, I remember last year, one of our volunteers, Grace, she met a girl who came back and told her, like, oh yeah, I talked to you several weeks ago and you changed my mind. And what's so funny is we talked to so many students that sometimes they don't even recognize the person and they're like, oh, I'm glad that I persuaded you. How much harder is it to start a dialogue with somebody who's been led astray from false narratives that they see on social media and the news? That's got to be tough because they've never had the dialogue. They've never really went and looked for the facts or the information that may not be factual was thrown at them and then they made a judgment call according to what they think is happening or what they've been told to think about it. So how do you start that dialogue with somebody who already has a preconceived notion of this? Yeah, what's so interesting is we track the statistics on the college campuses and the starting position of the protease person does impact how easy or hard they are to persuade. So the persuasion, you know, I say one in six, but that's our average.

47:58It can range anywhere from 55% down to like 5%, just depending on who the person is you're talking to, which this is intuitive to us. Someone who's more approach-oice is going to be harder to persuade. But the way that we approach it is I joke that instead of it being, you know, you're the prosecutor and they're the defense, it's more like they're the judge and you are presenting the case to them. So they kind of get to sit there and, you know, drink their coffee and you can be like, okay, here's the arguments this side, here's the arguments that side. Do you see how, you know, abortion should be illegal? And that's a very effective approach only because it helps the person avoid getting defensive. It allows them to kind of take a step back. They're not necessarily arguing with you. They're kind of just hearing out your case, it takes about seven minutes to present. And then they get to decide if they think it's persuasive or not and they get to judge it, so to speak. And so that approach we found to be very effective. And if people want to hear kind of the full seven minute argument, I'd really recommend they come to our event. We play recordings of it. You can hear volunteer testimonials about it and you can kind of see it in action, which

48:59is I think one of the funnest parts of the event. Plus, it is a free breakfast and it is only one hour, believe it or not. So, yeah. Well, she, what do you, you guarantee seven minute argument? So you thought, I'm going to have this breakfast be one hour on the dot every time it is. It is. We always end a couple minutes early. People joke. We can do a fundraise. We can persuade someone to be per life in seven minutes. We can do a fundraiser in an hour. So, I like that format of how you painted it, presenting it in front of a judge rather than a point counterpoint rather than, here's what I think. What do you think? You know, because yeah, that's where things can get heated. Where if you just kind of present the facts to them, the Nate can actually make an educated decision or choice from what you've given them. So we've got about seven minutes left in this interview. So I had to throw that out there because the seven thing. So I know you've got a couple of events coming up. The very first one is in Lincoln. So tell us about this event and what people can expect if they, if they want to come and just be a part of it. Some of them don't want to be in the dialogue. They just want to kind of see this. So what is this event about in Lincoln?

50:00Yeah. So we have two breakfasts coming up. They're the same event. They're just in two different locations. We have an Omaha and a Lincoln. So whichever location you're closest to, RSVP for that event. So it's a free one hour breakfast. The Lincoln one is on the 7th of November from 10 to 11. And then the Omaha one is on the 21st of November from, sorry, from 10 to 11 for both of them. So they're only an hour. And so for people who want to see the dialogue and action and hear kind of what we're doing on campus, we have, you know, speakers that will be different students so they can, they can really see kind of what's happening. Boots on the ground in the pro-life movement. They don't have to talk to anyone. They can just come and eat if they don't want to dialogue themselves. That's totally fine. We have lots of other ways to get involved. Why did you look at me when she said the eating part, Jen? I did. I mean, I am excited about that. It's hard to say no to breakfast. But it's also one of those that when you go, okay, yeah, I would like to go to this, but I really want my friend who is a staunch pro-choice person to go.

51:02How do you, how do you open up that dialogue to invite a friend to the abortion dialogue academy events? Yeah, so that event is a fundraising breakfast for our program. So I don't know that I would invite a pro-choice friend to that one. Okay. I mean, I say that a lot of our volunteers will be there. So if you did, I would probably just pull one of our students aside and be like, talk to this 19 year old and then let that resolve itself. But yeah, it's probably more something you'd want to invite your pro-life friends to. Okay, we're good. I'm glad you're explaining that because I didn't know if this was going to be one of those where this is a chance to maybe, you know, show the facts to some people that might have a hard time understanding of it. You do have a website or a YouTube page for that, right? Yeah, so we do have a podcast. So for people who are maybe more interested in learning the arguments, they could also go to my podcast, which is pro-life in seven. And then if people want to come to the event, the only thing we do ask to is that they register online because it's totally free, but we have filled halls before. So we do, if you want to come, it's a really good time, but we do want to make sure that

52:04we have a seat for you. So they can register on our website, which is www.abortiondialogueacademy.org slash events. Okay, so this is just a nice breakfast for those who want to support this cause and support your organization. How long have you been with this organization, Catherine? I co-founded it. So the whole time. Yes, I have been. It's a while. We co-founded in 2014. Okay. So you can do the math. Sometimes the students try to guess how old I am now because I feel like, yeah, they're Gen Z, which I am not. So over that time, just from something that you started grassroots, when you look back and you go, wow, we've really covered a lot of ground. I mean, obviously, and I brought this up with our last guest, too. You know, it's a mountain. But every now and again, you get a rock to sit on to kind of rest, look back and see how far you've come and instead of focusing on how far you have to go. So looking back, what are some of those achievements or success stories that you've seen since this started in 2014? Yeah, I think we had a recent one that was really fun because so we do the conversations

53:08on the college campuses, but we also do these youth presentations. And a lot of times people ask us, they're like, okay, you persuade one in six and it's actually higher in the youth presentations. It's more like 32% of the students we persuade and then about 27% we shift more pro life. But people are always like, well, do you know what happens after the presentation or after the conversation? Do they stay pro life? And the truth is, a lot of times we lose touch with these people. So we don't really know what happens. We did have a young lady who it was probably 2021-ish. We gave a talk at her youth group and she was very pro choice. In fact, she was so pro choice that the her catacast would have them pray for unborn babies during youth group and she would want to pray for the mothers instead who were having abortions. Like, that's how pro choice she was. And we did the talk. It ended up changing her mind so radically that she was even willing to be interviewed about how persuasive she thought the presentation was and how she was 100% pro life now.

54:11Well we lost touch with her and I don't know about you. I sometimes assume people stay whatever age they were when I met them. I just kind of assumed she had turned away stayed a middle schooler. Well, she is a college freshman and we had a booth at the UNL Club Fair and they're a young lady walked up the booth and she's like a portion dialogue academy. That organization changed my life and we're like, who are you exactly? Because she'd grown quite a bit since middle school. And so she told us who she was and she was like, yeah, back in middle school, when I heard that presentation and realized I was wrong about abortion, it made me start to question what else was I wrong about? And she got very serious in her faith after that. And so now here she is, this young freshman in college signed up to volunteer with us, freed to vote in her faith all because of this talk she heard when she was 13 or so. So that was just really fun to get to, you know, you don't always see what happens to the seeds you plant. But it was just fun to get to see how the Lord has continued to water that seed even long

55:12after our presentation ended. And I think the Lord gives you those nuggets of that young woman now a freshman to say like this flourished, like this flourished really hard, to let you know like, yes, there's a good majority of the people that have positive effects from the seven minute, the abortion, the presentation in middle school and high school, there's a lot of positive effects from this. And maybe some, you know, just kind of fall on the rocky ground, but some fall on the fertile soil and look what happens. Yeah, and I'm so excited to see her get to go out and have conversations because what an even better witness and testimony of somebody who's like, yeah, I was pro choice. I'm not anymore and let me tell you. Yeah, I thought the way you thought and here's why I don't think that way anymore. I mean, who are you going to listen to? Somebody who can relate to what you're thinking about and why you think the way you are and you go, yep, that's exactly what I used to think. But let me tell you this. And that dialogue ends up changing lives like you did with her when she was in middle school.

56:13Now she's a college freshman. And that's what the abortion dialogue academy is all about. And that's why we need to keep this organization going. And that's why we invite you to these breakfasts, the Omaha Van Anneling kind of pardon me. Go ahead, take over Jen. Yeah, Saturday, Saturday, November 7th in Lincoln, one hour breakfast at Sacred Heart Church. And then on Saturday, November 21st, one hour breakfast at St. Pat's in Elkorn, looking forward to joining you at St. Pat's in Elkorn, Catherine and your whole crew. If you need, if you want to go, you do need your registers. So go to abortion dialogue academy dot org slash events. So Catherine can have enough. Yeah. If you don't RSVP, you're standing there and you're not eating. Yeah. So at least you'll have a seat and you'll, you'll get to eat. So please RSVP abortion dialogue academy dot org slash events. Catherine Burrow was so nice to me with you. And finally, I know you've got a good relationship with this show and look forward to talking with you again soon. Awesome. Thanks for having me. Spirit mornings, it's eight o'clock. And we have a beautiful prayer dedicated to St. Thomas of Villanova next.

57:16Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Spirit Catholic radio would like to wish a happy birthday to Father Patrick Murphy from the Diocese of Lincoln. We thank you for responding to the call of God to serve the church. May God continue to richly bless you in your ministry of service. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. This is Sister Confeiter from the Sisters of our Lady of Mercy. Thank you for listening to Spirit Catholic Radio. Encouraging you to lead your Catholic faith to the fullest. Thank you so much for supporting Spirit Catholic Radio. Be sure to invite your friends and family to encounter Jesus. Tell them to listen to the Spirit Catholic Radio Network. See the program schedule at spiritcathletegradio.com slash programs.

58:41Thank you so much for inviting us to be a part of your weekday morning routine. Damien Montez, Jen Brown and you, that's what makes spirit mornings. Each weekday morning here on the Spirit Catholic Radio Network. Damien, I went to a beautiful visitation last night for a preset. That was 93 years old. Live 66 years of his life serving others as a priest happily. Serving others as a priest. Father Paul Monahan, Council of Iowa. So praise be to God. There's just some people from all the different areas that he served. Humbley, smartly, and there's a student of his and now assistant for both coaches. He now spoke a bit on Father Monahan and the importance that he was for the students for so many years at St. Albert. It was just so beautiful. Father Paul's motto was to live your life as a priest, like direct the boat, take care of all the people on the boat and get them to have an illness.

59:46I'm summarizing it. Everything okay? Oh yeah, no, we got visitors walking through the hallway. So it was just so sweet and I just thought what a great motto to have. Like just make sure that you're good, you know, you're Julie of the love boat, be a good boat director and just, you know, help help other people get to have and be a good servant and work on yourself getting to have into just like St. Thomas of Villanova. Now I know that you probably, first time a lot of people hear about Villanova, they're picking them for, you know, wins for the basketball bracket. Basketball brackets, you know. Basketball brackets, but St. Thomas of Villanova, amazing St. determined and willing to make sure that the poor got taken care of. He was embarrassed by his peers at times because of his love for Jesus. But he did not let them, that's way him at all. Let's pray. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

1:00:49I will love you Lord in every way and without setting limits to my love. You set no limits to what you have done for me. You have not measured out your gifts. I will not measure out my love. I will love you Lord with all my strength, with all my powers, as much as I am able. Amen. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. St. Thomas of Villanova, pray for us. By the way, I'm never rooting for Villanova. I'm always rooting for Craig and her Nebraska. Just when you get that actor right there, there it is. One year it was pretty Catholic heavy in the brackets. And so I did two brackets when I was working in secular radio. And I did an all Catholic bracket, me and another guy that I worked with. We went in on an all Catholic bracket. And we didn't don't go great, but it was kind of fun. We had them all in there was like eight. So we had them all in the coming up in the, what's the eight, the great eight or something before the final.

1:01:51The lead eight, the lead eight. Yeah. So that was kind of fun. I feel like they should also compete for the Pope's trophy. The fictional Pope's trophy. Yeah. They should. And Catholic high schools play each other in sports and spirit Catholic radio. We always say they're competing for the fictional Pope's trophy. St. John's place can play great. That's right. It is eight oh five spirit mornings weather. Yeah, looking at let's see Western Nebraska partly cloudy with a high of 91. And then the rest of Nebraska. Look at Ford to sunny skies with highs in the mid eighties. It's eight oh five. Now you're up to date. Thanks to spirit mornings on the spirit Catholic radio network. Pretty nice night for seven o'clock kick off for high school basketball and get it here baseball football. Pick a sport and he's bored. It's football. Jen's not familiar with football. So I have to explain to her, which makes things awkward at the dinner table with Jackson. What is this sport you're playing again past the gravy? Why is the ball not round? And catch it if it's all fall. What's it, my dog? Yeah, high school football tonight. Crack and prep taking on Miller North at seven o'clock central right here on spirit Catholic radio. That would be a good one. You're going to be at the game.

1:03:01Yeah, I'm going to the game tonight. My knees. Should we do a where where's Waldo? Like if you're going if you're sitting on a crate and prep saying. I find in brown spirit Catholic shirt. So the cheer team for Miller North, they put on a little cheer academy and they invite all the young kids to go and then my little niece will be out there. Oh, so you'll be on the North side. Yeah, I'll be cheering on great and prep. Quietly. Yes. And your niece. Go loud. Go. Yeah. Yeah, massive remembrance tomorrow and prayer of 25th anniversary of September 11th. It is tomorrow at 9 a.m. at St. Matthews in Bellevue, Nebraska. And we if you can't make it to the mass, just be praying for all those involved all the families that were touched by 9 11 and all the things that touched us about 9 11 and as we're going to hear in a good news update at the bottom of the hour, like some of the things that change at 9 11 starting to gravitate away. Yeah, gravitate towards the good and and praise be to God and people healing and renewing from those experiences. So that's what prayer does. Prayer helps us do that. Prayer helps us innovate and move beyond. And that's why massive remembrance tomorrow with Archbishop McGovern.

1:04:13That's taking place tomorrow at 9 a.m. It's 807. We can hear Father Grell with morning prayer. And then after that, the good book club as we open a new minor profit today. A reading from the first letter of St. Peter. As generous distributors of God's manifold grace, put your gifts at the service of one another each in the measure he has received. The one who speaks is to deliver God's message. The one who serves is to do it with the strength provided by God. Thus in all of you, God is to be glorified through Jesus Christ. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Good morning. Today is Thursday of the 23rd week and ordinary time. My name is Father Laura Screll and I come to you from the parishes where I serve as pastor of St. Mary's and why more St. Mary's in Odell and St. Joseph's in Barnston. Today's passage from St. Peter about speaking about God and serving God makes me think of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. He exemplified these traits of speaking and serving in Christ's name. Sheen will be beodified in two weeks from today.

1:05:22I'm sure that some within the sound of my voice are planning to attend the festivities in St. Louis and Peoria. Fulton J. Sheen was born in 1895 and died in 1979. He came of age as a priest when first radio and then TV became the amazing tools and entertainment which they remain to this day. Many are familiar with Sheen's TV program Life is Worth Living. But he first had a radio show on secular radio from 1930 to 1950. In his radio and TV preaching he delivered God's message in his work as head of the society for the propagation of the faith he served with a strength provided by God. It is said that he raised millions of dollars for the missions. Sheen was a true apostle. The original 12 apostles were chosen by Jesus to speak his message and serve in his name. Jesus told them at the last supper as the father has sent me even so I send you by God's grace. May we speak and serve Christ like the apostles and soon to be blessed Fulton J. Sheen.

1:06:34God bless you. God bless you Father. Laura's well. Thank you so much. For morning prayer this week here on Spirit morning. The Spirit morning spotlight community this morning is Bedford Iowa and the forecast for Bedford Iowa. Mostly sunny with a high of 84 so good morning to our friends and listeners and Bedford Iowa. They are listening on one or two point seven FM K B S S on the radio in their home. But if you want to listen anywhere you go you can go online at spirit Catholic radio dot com or you can also check it out. Download the app and take the radio anywhere you go and that app search it at spirit Catholic radio in your app store eight ten. This is the good book club time and we are rounding out the minor profits and I think the minor profits the reason they're called minor profits because they're shorter and they're getting shorter and shorter as we go. Father Augustine Rhymer is the UNL Newman Center we're just talking about how great the Newman centers are. He's going to help us out with this and we're in what we're in. We've got Zechariah chapter one versus one through six. Yeah blank in your message so let's listen together showing.

1:07:42It's now time for the spirit mornings good book club on spirit Catholic radio as we open the Bible let us learn how God's word can provide hope. In the eighth month of the second year of Dorayas the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berrakaya the son of Ido the prophet saying the Lord has been very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them thus says the Lord of hosts return to me says the Lord of hosts and I will return to you do not be like your fathers to whom the former prophets preached saying thus says the Lord of hosts turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds but they did not hear nor heed me. Your fathers where are they and the prophets do they live forever yet surely my words and my statutes which I commanded my servants the prophets did they not overtake your fathers so they return and said just as the Lord of hosts determined to do to us according to our ways and according to our deeds.

1:09:03So he has done to us. From the word of promise audio Bible this is the spirit mornings good book club. Zechariah chapter 1 verses 1 through 6 and here to help us this morning from the Newman Center in Lincoln father Augustine Rhymer's father Rhymer's thank you so much for joining us and yeah before we get to the theme of Zechariah another minor prophet let's if you could please give us kind of a background of what we're seeing here. How is this setting up? Yeah well first yeah good morning it's always good to be here with you on the good book club and just to dive into the scriptures a little bit and see how our Lord is speaking to us today. Yeah so the little bit of the background Zechariah and this actually kind of applies to the prophet Haggai as well but the setting is like the Israelites have just returned from Babylon so they were in exile which we can imagine how it is. We can imagine how difficult that would be and then God has brought them back got his use other nations to defeat Babylon and so now the challenge with rebuilding their entire lives kind of starting over from scratch if you will in Jerusalem but especially building the temple like that's the big mission that God has given them especially because God desires to be with his people he desires to dwell with them and in the Old Testament.

1:10:29This is actually kind of in our present day the temple is how he does that right the temple is a special place of his dwelling just like our churches now our special places where God dwells obviously in a different way because we have the Eucharist now but yeah our churches are like our modern day temple so what the church is to us the temple would have been for the Jews. So we heard in the prophet just before Zechariah when we were just in Haggai there that there was talking at the very end of that about how he reminds the people that as long as they neglected the temple of God that they did not prosper so there was this reminder from that particular prophet and then in Zechariah this prophet he was sent to warn the people of Judah not to ignore the word of the Lord. So there's this their continual reminder from the prophets don't ignore the temple don't ignore the word of God and so this is what we're hearing but what the timing is at the end of this exile.

1:11:37Yeah exactly yeah and you're exactly right I think it's cool to kind of see that comment thread of like maybe a common theme would be putting God at the center of our lives you know that's that's kind of an easy thing for us to take and then ask how do I need to put God at the center of my life how do I need to not neglect the temple by either like coming to Sunday Mass or maybe just making a little visit to the Lord during the day. Yeah things like that how do I need to to not neglect the word of the Lord how can I put God at the center of my life especially through his word. Yeah so that's yeah we're just a really good point but yeah the timing is super important here especially I mean sometimes we read these things in the Bible where it's like in the second month of they're in the second year of Darius in the eighth month and that doesn't really give us a whole lot of context because we might not be sure who Darius is or when he reigns. He was the lead singer of who he in the blowfish wasn't he.

1:12:39Yeah that's exactly right. Sorry I love that. Yeah I've got some music to listen to now but yeah no it's so it's yeah this is important because it situates like it gives us the historical and it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's the end of the 70 years of exile. Like that's what the second year of the reign of Darius in the eighth month tells us which is important because in Jeremiah a few different places but I think Jeremiah 29 is the biggest example that I found. Jeremiah promises the exiles in Babylon like on God's behalf he's speaking for God he promises that that God will visit them and bring them back to Jerusalem after 70 years. So it's important because knowing that this is the second year of Darius knowing that the 70 years are almost up a big question or a big theme for for the book of the Zechariah is will God be faithful to his promises.

1:13:46Will will he actually fulfill them can he fulfill them and also like is this the time the Messianic Kingdom because with especially with the temple the temple is God's dwelling place and the Jews had this strong belief. That as long as God was dwelling with them as long as God was in the temple they couldn't be defeated they couldn't be overcome and so we can imagine like how difficult it would have been for them to to continue believing in the one true God especially after they had been taken into exile and now that they're they're returning from exile things are difficult if you just read Haggai you know that it was not easy for them to build the temple they're all kinds of people trying to do it. People trying to try to fight them and not really prevent them from building the temple but yeah the 70 years are up and so the question is yeah how is God going to fulfill his promise how is God going to get usher in this Messianic Kingdom.

1:14:52Well and Father Rhymer is in verse two of Zechariah chapter one it seems to me like God is pretty angry. Yeah yeah and that's yeah it's always funny to read yeah just hearing about God's anger when human emotions are given to God but anger sometimes we read that we think like it might make us think of like our parents or our teachers or like when we do something wrong people's reaction against us. You know and sometimes people get a little out of control or they're not really thinking rationally anymore like the anguish takes over. That's not that's not what it really means with God because God obviously doesn't have our human emotions because he's not human and Jesus is human but God the Father's not human. So yeah I had a professor in the seminary that would always tell us anytime we came across something that said that God was angry she would always remind us she'd say God is not a psychopath.

1:15:52God is not a psychopath you know so he's well in control of everything so that's not what the Bible's talking about but anger is a biblical way of speaking of God dealing with sin. So if we hear that God is angry it means that his people are standing his people are turning away from him or someone is sitting against his people too and he's about to do something about it he's about to deal with it pretty strongly. Yeah so it's more like he's displeased or disappointed he's not angry exactly like what we know is anger. Yeah and yeah and I would also say that that's leading him to action you know sometimes and this actually applies to human anger too but sometimes people ask me like is anger a sin and the answer is no like it's a healthy emotion when we see something unjust happening we feel angry but that anger is supposed to motivate us to action. And so that's what it is with God is yes he's disappointed he sees his people are living in a way that he is not called them to live in a way that's not good for them but it's like when he sees that he's going to do something about it he's going to act as well.

1:17:02Yeah it moves him to action and he deals with he's dealing with the sin of his people his creation he's dealing with the sin of his people and so then Zechariah he begins with this challenge and he says you know what you guys have to turn back to God don't be like as we were talking about earlier don't be like your ancestors what do they what do they need to do to be in a covenant relationship. Yeah really just be faithful I think is that right says listen to the word of the Lord right listen to God and then do it that is telling us to do and one big thing too that I think this could apply to us as well there's that saying that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it and so like just even just knowing their family history if we could call that their family history like knowing why they got exiled in the first place. That should help them to look back and say all right I don't want to be like that like I don't want to do the things that they did because that's a that's actually a big theme in the Exodus that's that's a big thing that they got them in trouble is they didn't remember they didn't remember the ways that God had worked to save them from Egypt they didn't remember the ways that their ancestors had failed to to live according to the covenant relationship that God desired for them they didn't remember and so when we remember our history.

1:18:24Whether it's reading the book of Zechariah this morning remembering our history like our Jewish ancestors in the faith or even just like our family history or anything like that like how God has been at work in our lives when we don't remember that it's going to be a lot harder for us to be faithful it's going to be a lot harder for us to to avoid sin and to live according to to the way that God is calling us to live and to trust God that that he will provide for us. Spirit morning is on the spirit Catholic radio network it's the good book club with father Augustine Rhymers from the Newman Center in Lincoln as we opened up chapter one of Zechariah and we're discussing verses one through six. So again Zechariah kind of tight in with the other you know what are the minor prophets again only minor because they're shorter but they all have this common thread between all of them that look God is not happy with us. Turn from your your your evil ways so what can we learn from what we heard today in Zechariah you know as far as trying to you know there's always going to be wrinkles in life but we have to to go to confession and iron out those wrinkles but what else can we be doing so we could be following God's word and not have God quote unquote angry at us.

1:19:38Yeah I think one thing that helps me is even just recognizing like what sin is like because that's at the core that's why God is angry with his people right they're sinning they're not listening to him they're doing things that he's telling them not to do or they're not doing the things that he is asking them to do. So I had a different professor in the seminary who's our morality professor Dr. John Haas he founded the National Catholic Bioethic Center just a brilliant man very holy yeah just amazing but he he would ask us what a sin is and so I did this at pious and inevitably my students would always say oh it's when we we offend God or we don't do something we got as much to do or you know it's they always bring God into it but Dr. Haas showed us the catacombs. And the catacombs begins the definition of sin by saying sin is an offense against reason truth and right conscience and it does continue on to say that it's a failure it's a failure in genuine love for God and neighbor especially due to a perverse attachment to certain goods but it's super striking that that in the very first sense of the definition the catacombs doesn't even mention God because we don't really need to it's an offense against reason we're doing something that's unreasonable to fence against truth.

1:20:57Like it's not according to how we're created the truth of who we are and so I think just recognizing that like helps me to see that if the church is telling me something's a sin then it's not good for me and that helps me to want to avoid it even more so yeah just just recognizing like what sin is and then also the effects of sin sometimes it's hard for us to really like feel this or experience it but especially like the way that sin damages our relationship. With God I think that's such a fitting reason that makes it so fitting that whenever the Israelites as a people are sitting against God they're led into exile right he got kind of withdraws his protecting hand so that they can experience like this is this is the fruit of your sin this is this is what you're asking for when you fall into sin and so yeah sometimes we don't really get that experience so much because we're not being so much.

1:21:57We're not being led into exile but you know we might look into the world and see all the chaos and all the things that happen when we're not when other people aren't exactly being faithful to God and then we might be able to then turn and look at ourselves and say all right well what happens to my life what happens to my relationships with others when I'm not living faithfully to God when I'm not pursuing relationship with him above all else when I'm not listening to his word for me. I'm sorry Gaston Rhymer is this is laid out perfectly in this verse five of Zachariah chapter one because their ancestors experienced the fruit of turning away from God and then they died while in exile buried in another land and so it says when we're praying at the end of confession when we pray the act of contrition and it says because I because of my sins against you because what I did to sin against you separate me from you that's why I'm so sad because my sins are so sad. I'm so sad that my sins separate me from you so help me to move on you know do my penance sin no more with your help so I don't want to be separate I don't want to be exiled from you I don't want to separate myself from you and be buried in a foreign land which would be hell.

1:23:10I don't want to be in that foreign land which is separated from you I don't want to choose to exile myself from you be buried in this foreign land and be there forever like the end like my ancestors were and so that's that verse five right here in front of us in Zachariah. Yeah yeah and it's beautiful you bring up confession because maybe that is our experience of of exile you know especially if we feel like maybe a little bit nervous or a little bit anxious about having to go to confession like that that viewing is probably yeah it's a maybe similar in some way obviously not on the same scale to exile but I also love right before the priest gives the words of absolution where he says I absolve you from your sins. The formula for absolution says may God grant you pardon and peace right so to pardon obviously forgiveness of sins but peace especially if we're taking it from a biblical perspective is not just a feeling of like no guilt no shame such as like a good feeling.

1:24:18Peace is actually like reconciliation with God when when the Israelites are at peace it's because they're living relationship with him and someone who doesn't have peace biblically is not in relationship with God so yeah I just love I love pointing it out to people like God isn't just like forgiving your sins and then acting as if like you don't mean anything to him he's like fully restoring that relationship he's not in relationship with God. He's bringing you back to himself and so it's cool that as Catholics we don't have to wait 70 years for the exile to be over the exiles over whenever we decide that we are done with our sin and we're going to go back to God and and confess to him so yeah confess it's amazing. Spear mornings on the spirit Catholic radio network father Rhymers from the Newman Center Lincoln a quick what's new at the Newman Center update with you father Rhymers how are things going since the school year got underway.

1:25:19They're going great yeah it's been a lot of fun it's amazing just to see how yeah how active and present the Holy Spirit is here and yeah just to get you to get involved with the students and. Yeah just to be a part of their lives to go to all the different events that we that we have so that they have something to do so that they can just help build the community it's yeah definitely a special thing to be a part of and yeah feel very for very grateful to be here for sure. We were just talking about the abortion dialogue Academy we had Captain Burrow one of the co-founders of the Academy and she said oh we have students from the Newman Center that volunteer at the Academy we have the best of the best because the Newman Center is just turning out some of the best people she was just giving you such kudos about the Newman Center across the United States basically but really good ones at Lincoln and so you you just started there but it was about dialogue and I think you know we've talked with Rebecca Alec who came into the Catholic Church.

1:26:21She's such a fervent Catholic but because of what was is was happening at the Newman Center because she was invited in and the one year anniversary of the loss of Charlie Kirk is today and I think the Newman Center is just such a wonderful heart of a college campus where people can have that feeling of connectiveness the feeling of love kindness warmth whatever they kind of need they can find it there. And not only can they find it there but there's also students there going out beyond the walls of the Newman Center and saying come get this come receive this we want you to have this. Yeah it is it's incredible and I think the longer I'm here the more God is just making it clear that it's like obviously our work helps him right he uses us as his instruments but that is making it pretty clear to me that like he's definitely a great person. He's definitely my might I always said he got his large and in charge he yeah God is definitely the one who's doing the heavy lifting and so again I mean just like we just read like if we're faithful to him he's going to be faithful to us and so I think that's he's part of it here but yeah I have been very struck just by like meeting especially our students who are converts or students who who might not have been practicing the faith for their first year first month first

1:27:50couple of years of college and just a few like what brought them in for some of them it they have I don't know what I would say are pretty unique or crazy stories were like this one girl who we're going to have an O CIA this year she was saying that she wants to be Catholic because last year during lends someone challenged her to make a holy hour every day in front of the blessed sacrament and she will think Catholic but she did it and she's like yeah this is it wow yeah she came to know that it's through the face through that but a lot of them yeah for a lot of them though it's it's community you know it's like I mean yeah we were created it's not good for man to be alone right and so yeah so a lot of people come here and they experience the community which obviously you can get anywhere but I think especially when when our community is center around our Lord in the Eucharist or when our students are having deeper conversations about like what's truly important in life or really I mean our students are so good about sharing their witness sharing their testimony of how

1:28:54Jesus has been at work in our lives that community then just draws people in and so it's really cool because we'll you know I think there are first two weeks of school we would go out every day on campus and do it focus the focus missionaries called bare handing where you're just meeting random people you're just inviting them to whatever event you have going on that night usually they're pretty pretty simple asks like hey we're having a bonfire tonight or we're having a slip-in slide or you know whatever whatever we're doing and it was always really cool just to see how many people would show up because they didn't have anything better to do they were sitting in their dorms and they were bored or lonely and they're like well I got this random invitation to this group that I know is Catholic but I don't know anything else but I'm just going to go because yeah again I don't have anything better to do you know so yeah it's just really cool to see how the community just keeps building on itself especially because of the quality of our students as you said like they're amazing but again it's all just being driven by God so it's yeah really cool really fun to be a part of well yeah and when a

1:30:00freshman walks under a college campus for the first time they've got that deer in the headlights look like please invite me to something they are they're ready to be a part of something they want to belong to something and so they respond to being invited and of course what and I noticed this with my nephew and nieces are all in their late teens or early 20s they love challenges so when you say the word challenge you know like that young lady was challenged to do holy hour each week and then now here she is she's gonna become Catholic or she's becoming Catholic that challenge that word challenge holds a lot of water with these youths because of TikTok challenges so yeah we need to start thinking on that mindset of how do we challenge our youths you know they they like to be invited but what they love to be challenged so Father Rhymer thank you so much for helping us out on the Good Book Club this morning sure yeah yeah you're exactly right they love challenge they also love free stuff so you can give them something free that doesn't hurt but uh yeah one thing we we do talk about uh no I wouldn't say often um but yeah every once in a while

1:31:04we'll talk about like how do we call people higher in the way that's like coming from a place of love uh and so yeah just issuing that challenge um like hey I yeah I've seen you like or I've heard that you're going up to these parties or you know you're doing whatever and like does that actually help you to find the happiness you're seeking or like do you think there's something more you know and then making that invitation to like give up whatever it is that they're doing and then and come to Newman and and just check it out you know uh just making that that call to to come higher so yeah that's kind of how we we issue uh a challenge in charity here so yeah it's so good Sestica you're the best spot you could possibly be Father Rhymer I'm so happy for you and so happy for the students around you and God is large and in charge that's how it works that's right you dad is so right can we get a priestly blessed yeah for sure yeah through the position of my priestly hands and through the intercession of blessed Mary our mother St Joseph for most chastise bow and terror given seer guardian angels and all your patron saints made a

1:32:09blessing of Almighty God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit come down upon you and remain with you forever amen Amen opening of Zechariah today Zechariah on the Good Book Club and we'll continue through that tomorrow and you can get caught up at spiritmorning.com that's the Good Book Club it's 835 and next let's do a check of weather real quick spirit calthic radio no but we do want to thank Father Augustine Rhymers thank you so much for helping us out on the Good Book Club Father and we look forward to talking with you again we've got our good news update it's a heartwarming shift underway at airport gates taking it back to the the olden days it's in your good news update next hi I'm Roman Wilkum from Christ the King fair in Umaha and you're listening to spirit Catholic radio thank you so much for supporting spirit Catholic radio join spirit Catholic radio for a special broadcast of the massive thanksgiving for Father Edward J

1:33:11Flanagan founder of Boystown on Sunday September 13 at 8 30 p.m. Central Archbishop Michael McGovern of the Archdiocese of Umaha will celebrate the mass from the Dow Chapel tune in as we give thanks for the life and legacy of Father Flanagan for more details visit spiritcatholicradio.com thanks for listening to spirit Catholic radio this is Marcus Graudi of the Journey Home in your listening to the spirit Catholic radio network the Eucharist is the beating heart of our faith and you've got questions why is the Eucharist so important to the church? Eucharist is incredibly important to the church because it is the source and summit of our Christian life it is where Jesus Christ himself is truly present offering his body and blood as spiritual food

1:34:11the Eucharist perpetuates the sacrifice of the cross and is a memorial of Jesus' death and resurrection it unites us with Christ and with each other forming us into one body in him it's the greatest gift Jesus left us allowing us to have intimate communion with him we hope this answer ignited your understanding of the divine mystery of the Eucharist the true body and blood of our Lord a gift beyond measure it's now time for the spirit warnings good news update on spirit Catholic radio sponsored by wheatfield's bakery express located at 189th of maple and Omaha to drive through option for busy people on the go now there's a wonderful piece of good news on the horizon for travelers and families in Omaha this is going to bring back some nostalgia for some of us epileir field has been selected as one of just 13 airports across the nation to take part in a forward-looking TSA pilot program which reopens the terminal gates to non-flying visitors

1:35:18restoring a cherished sense of connection and warmth to the airport experience over the past 25 years aviation security has undergone a massive transformation because of what happened on 9-11 in 2001 and what felt like a sudden shift in district protocols and guarded concourses is gradually evolved and through ingenuity and patience it's involved into a sophisticated system built on trust innovation and streamline technology and so now we're seeing that you know the airport gates are going to become those vibrant social commons that they used to be back in the day yeah they were places where grandmothers waited eagerly with outstretched arms right there at the gate as you came off that that ramp off the plane there's your family right there some of them might be holding balloons or flowers or signs or what have you yeah they happened right there with joyful embraces and now thanks to decades of technological growth and these trusted traveler programs that spirit is making its triumphant return

1:36:22yeah the TSA highlighted the uplifting vision behind the policy they called it an opportunity to quote unquote bring back the moments that once defined air travel from sharing a coffee during a layover to giving a warm hug the second somebody walks off that jetway that's coming back to Omaha and Omaha stands proudly with 12 other leading airports across the nation it's amazing that Omaha is a part of this because the other airports are so huge you know Los Angeles Dallas Fort Worth Indianapolis and San Diego you know every time somebody comes to Omaha has never been here before they go wow your airport is really small you know I got from one side to the other like five minutes and it's okay with me because I've been in those airports where you have to take the subways and the trams and you have to take another plane to get to another part of the airport it's crazy but this one's to get on a bus to get right it's just amazing but yeah now so Omaha has been putting a lot of money into their terminal modernization project you know 950 million dollars and the construction and everything that's happening at Omaha Omaha

1:37:24Epley is scheduled for completion in 2028 so as Omaha's airport grows into a world class facility it's got to be nice to see that human side of travel returning right along with it right there at the gates with your good news update I'm Demian Montez on spirit mornings now probably the construction the huge amount of expansion for the airport the history of the airport and it being a central hub for the United States had a lot of good things going for it I'll be curious to see what the protocol is as far as what documents or which you have to provide because there were times before 911 2001 where it was just nice to be able to go and sit in that area and watch planes take off and land there was just something peaceful about it and that was from a from a Damien that never flew a plane before but I really enjoyed just kind of watching the activities happening on the on the runways and stuff I always thought that was a part of the front yeah well yeah and so to be able to go and maybe bring the kids to show them planes take off and landing you know I don't know if that if it's going to get to that point or if you have to have an exact reason but you know

1:38:27I'm sure those details were come as this starts to open up pretty cool 841 for that spirit Catholic radio weather I I I yell like a child to look at the plane I'm like tattoo from fantasy island the plane the plane all right spirit morning as well the window the lady has to come by and squeegee it again I see there's my forehead nose and chin print right again why is it way up here how old is this person spirit morning's weather brought to you by pediatric ophthalmology associates in Omaha western Nebraska partly cloudy with a high of 91 the rest of Nebraska sunny skies with highs in the mid 80s it's 842 now you're up to date thanks to spirit mornings on the spirit Catholic radio network I tell you what a source of information is our website spirit Catholic radio dot com go to the community calendar at our spirit at our website at spirit Catholic radio dot com and you could be in the know about things going on all the all weekend long lots of things going on but do you want to tell you about tomorrow a massive remembrance and prayer 25th anniversary of September 11th please go to St Matthew Catholic Church in Bellevue at 9 a.m.

1:39:32Archbishop McGovern will be celebrating the mass massive remembrance and prayer 25 years since 9 11 since all those strict protocols were put in place for our safety that's why they were putting in place for our safety and now they've come with up with some new ways to keep us safe it is 842 we get to hear about today's saint of the day saint Thomas of Villanova and then after that faith and reason combined with a Nebraska author this is francescan media saint of the day for September 10th today we celebrate saint Thomas of Villanova the first time Thomas of Villanova was nominated to become an archbishop he declined when he was again nominated he accepted but he insisted that the money given to him to furnish his new residence would instead go to the local hospital what does a poor friar like myself want with furniture he asked born in Castile Spain Thomas became an Augustinian priest and a leader of

1:40:33his congregation for years he wore the same habit that he had received as a novice mending it himself as a bishop he welcomed several hundred poor people to his door each morning for a meal and a small amount of money when criticized because he was at times being taken advantage of he replied if there are people who refuse to work that is for the governor and the police to deal with my duty is to assist and relieve those who come to my door Thomas also encouraged the wealthy to be richer in mercy and charity then they were in earthly possessions affectionately known as the alms giver and the father of the poor Thomas died in 1555 and was canonized in 1658 there's more about the saints along with inspiration and Catholic resources at our website saintoftheday.org from francescanmedia this has been saint of the day father of the poor saint Thomas of Villanova 844 spear candle radio network spotlight community one more time bedford

1:41:36yeah good morning to our listeners and friends in bedford iowa the forecast today mostly sunny with the high of 84 in bedford iowa sounds like a great time to roll down the window and crank 102.7 FM KVSS spirit Catholic radio in bedford also you can listen online in your office in your home at spiritcatholicradio.com it's 844 let's learn about faith and reason this is spirit mornings on the spiritcatholic radio network it's not just an abraska guy it's also a night of columbus saint paedars council 105 10 is that right that is correct awesome i i love when when the night's a columbus represent there he's got the polo on rich true pack thank you so much for joining us so i'm excited to learn about this book because too often you hear that faith and science can't get along but you're not just saying they can get along you're saying they come to a crossroads so you wrote this book at the crossroads of science and faith so what inspired you to start writing

1:42:37this book right well i'm i'm training the sciences i'm a chemist by degree and i'm also a hopefully devout Catholic and there's so much that science discovers that reveals new mysteries that really can only in my mind be reasonably solved and reasonably answered by faith and i think a lot of people miss that because there's this message out there that you have to pick a lane and you don't the the lanes converge and where did you where where did you live before moving to Lincoln i lived in the Chicago area and what made you move to Lincoln um illinois just wasn't for me i i like to say that i didn't leave illinois illinois left me okay um and you know some of the things that were going on with crime and some of the things that my tax dollars were being used for that i just really had a hard time with and my wife Cheryl's family a lot of them are in Nebraska and so i said we spent the first part of our marriage

1:43:43you know around my family let's spend the rest of it around yours how sweet and so then when you moved to Lincoln you started going to St. Peter Catholic Church and did that do something that did that re energize your faith it absolutely did it it was such more of a mass that and any any mass is a good mass right right right Jesus is there yeah Jesus is there and but it was such more more of a traditional mass there were so many more young people at St. Peter our pastor father uh father Eric Clark was so energetic and such a great leader i it really reinvigorated my faith i do you think that that's what led to what you wanting to write this book across the at the crossroads of science and faith yeah it did it did i felt i felt the call to write it i've had it in my head for a couple of decades but i was never really moved to put pen to paper so to speak until i felt that reinvigoration and i felt the holy spirit saying okay

1:44:43it's time to do this and it's funny whenever i've my friends i've told them that my uncle is a physics professor in his catholic they're like wow how can he be both it's like well now rich you've written a book on how this is possible how it is possible to to have a strong Catholic faith but then believe in science and how they all tie together so explain some of the i guess clear up some of the misconceptions as far as how science and faith are different because there are a lot of people that you know the big bang theory and all that is always kind of the the starting point of a lot of debates as far as well which happened did god create the universe or was the big bang so what is it that that that you want people to know how science and catholic faith both tied together i want to understand that science you know uh is is about reason and a quainist famously said that god provided us with the light of reason and god provided us with the light of faith and we have to we have to pay attention to both right and there was a long time where science has

1:45:47tried to say well the world is eternal and it has no beginning and no end but the big bang theory no it had a definite starting point and science has revealed that it's going to have a definite ending point that time is something that is an illusion and and we as people of faith understand that that god is above time and space outside of it and that eventually he'll bring us into that plane of existence and science increasingly says the same thing so that's just one example that's one i try to explain yeah you guys know what apologetics is about and what the allogen would say that that's that the big bang theory would be the great mover so you can't create nothing out of nothing right you have to have something that creates that movement and that would be god that creates that movement you have to have a creator for creation to exist

1:46:48yes exactly and and so i tried to bring those kind of concepts how scientists reveal the mysteries that can only be answered by faith down to a level that is more understandable than i think what a lot of apologetics writing is about i i tried to really simplify it and a Catholic priest is the one who brought about the big bang theory exactly father jurors but they they might say yeah yeah a scientist Catholic priest and the big bang was initially supposed to be kind of a mocking thing you know they said oh was there a big bang and yeah there was kind of like and talk about how science and faith did go together so for so many years or so many well-known scientists that were of the clergy origin or bishops or priests because science i mean the education system universities came out of the Catholic faith exactly and and you can go down the list so many you know from

1:47:51cavernicus through Newton through max plunk of scientists who were deeply deeply faithful who believed in god and and a creator and Jesus and they saw science as an extension of discovering you know what their creator and what ultimately let the Jesus is about and it's only relatively recently that uh we've had this picolane philosophy it's that's for hundreds of years we had nothing like that this your first book rich we're talking with author rich true pic about his book at the crossroads of science and faith is this the first book you've published it is not i i have published a few boring and books about my career in environmental science uh i have published uh one american history that i i did as a uh because i love history and so this is the latest one well this doesn't sound boring at all this is this is hitting right in the heart of what people debate about and talk about all the time at the crossroads of science and faith was there something

1:48:55while writing this book that even surprised you like when you were doing the research for it was there something that you went wow okay that's kind of cool um i i think one thing that really kind of fascinated me was a i dove into a mathematician by the name occurred goadle german mathematician who came up with uh in in what he calls his incompleteness theorem and what he did was he proved mathematically that no system can ever be perfect no human system can ever be perfect no human system can ever be perfect yeah and mathematically he did it mathematically that's that's and again this goes beyond the realm of radio people because you know math is for sure but i am curious how do you tie in math with you know the fact that none of us are perfect as humans um he he basically said it can there be a system that proves that no system is perfect okay i'm simplifying a really complex thing right and the answer to that question is yes there is a system that can prove that

1:50:01no system can be perfect in which case there's imperfect systems or there's not a system that can prove that every system is imperfect in which case there's still a system that proves that there's imperfection this whole paradox that's happening with with this theory yes and it's i again i'm greatly oversimplifying but it convinced even an atheist like Stephen Hawking he looked at goadled into pollutants theorem and said oh yeah we can't we can't figure out everything and if we can't figure out everything there's doesn't that point to a creator who can i mean that's that one really fascinated me as i was writing and our mainstream scientists like anneal de grass Tyson who who were in the news or on you know you come across their his videos on youtube even if you're not searching for him how should we be taking these kinds of scientists who are out there in the public all the time preaching about science what you know how do you take that

1:51:01with a grain of salt as far as what he's talking he's a picolane guy he's the only science guy absolutely i'm right i've heard him and he reminds me a Carl second and i they're they're fellow humans they're on the journey and you guys always talk about the journey right right i think he's wrong but that doesn't make him a bad person that just makes him wrong no yeah and so i would encourage people to look at people like one of my favorite authors is Stephen Barr who who are really good scientists and who say exactly the opposite of what somebody like Tyson says is no you can have both and actually you should have both because the more we learn about science and the more mystery science and covers the more it points to a creator and sorry Neil if you feel different i don't i don't just i don't hate you but i just think you're wrong well that's new for today's society wait you're wrong and i don't have to hate you for wrong things i don't see a lot of that

1:52:03these days but it's okay to be wrong and i still like we could still he's a jovial guy he's funny yeah but yeah we got to get this book and Neil de Grast heisens hands that's right yeah at the crossroads of science and faith written by rich true pack yeah i mean there there was this this fellow Jesus who kind of had that attitude too yeah i can work with the Roman centurions and you know and the prostitutes and the tax collectors and all that stuff you know that's kind of what it were supposed to be about right yes well thank you for it to see how how how this is received and and especially you know if you can get this in the hands of you know as far as age groups that could read this that would be able to understand this is this more for college students that they might want to check out i i i really i'm hoping it's it is more towards young people um i i think it's somehow symbolic we're doing this on the anniversary of of Charlie Kirk's assassination you know that because i think you know he he wasn't a Catholic but he was a good Christian who tried to encourage young people to you know open their minds to faith in general and i'm just

1:53:09really trying to do the same thing i hope people will eventually get to believe in Jesus through Catholicism as i do but i really want them to just take the first step away from atheism and to say there's a creator out there yeah and i want to find him i want to go on that journey that's what i'm hoping it's a very small small how do you get this book yeah um you can get it online through amazon you can get it through kindled direct publishing uh we'll have an audio version available in about a month or so now you're talking my language are you reading it then will you be reading that audio i will me and my wife are both have roles in reading it so okay very awesome i do love listening to books in the car when i'm driving and and i'll be looking forward to this one at the crowdsroads of science and faith from rich true peck part of nights at Columbus council 105 10 we look forward to to hanging out with the nights at Columbus during our carathon coming up in a few weeks and we're so thankful to you and all the nights at Columbus councils for all you do for parishes and for your community thanks thanks what you guys do and thank you so much for having me

1:54:13come bless you rich tomorrow a retired four star general and a retired bishop bishop emeritus william denninger is going to be our guest for mass prep tomorrow pray for us we will pray for you we also invite you and challenge you to pray the rosary for vocations and then stick around for the daily mass all that coming up in the ten o'clock our central time right here on spirit catholic radio you can listen on spirit catholic radio dot com or on the free spirit catholic radio app com slash podcast thank you for being a part of spirit warnings with john brown and Damian montez on the spirit catholic radio network this podcast courtesy of the spirit catholic radio network to learn more about spirit catholic radio including how to support spirit catholic radio and other great programs on the spirit catholic radio network head to spirit catholic radio

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