Catching Foxes

SHOW NOTES Pride is the disordered love of self. Listen in as Luke tells the tale of his ranting and raving at his wife at how all these Catholic podcasts are stupid crap. It's awesome. Also, Gomer really hates it when people say, "A personal relationship with Jesus is too protestant." So he unloads on a guy who wrote a Catholic Answers post saying it's bad theology and bad youth ministry. Gomer contends, with an EPIC Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI quote, that this article is horse shit. THANK YOU Thanks to our two sponsors, Kreager Consulting and The Catholic Card Game, for sponsoring our show. Please see the sponsor notes below for the links! Thank you to our PATREON Supporters. Without you, think couldn't be possible. A new episode is coming next Monday, now that Gomer's throat has mostly healed. $10+ Club: Sarah Schweitzer, Bradley Stiver, Kyndall Jackson, Catherine LeBlanc, Eric Ambos, Zach Jarrell, and Kevin Fenter!

SHOW NOTES Death is here. It comes for us all. Luke, a post-stroke human person who cannot ride roller coasters or lift weights due to his stroke, was in two car accidents, saw a drugged-out neighbor, and then had to rush to the emergency room because he thought was about to die from a stroke-related problem. He didn't die. And while I am a little upset that he didn't take one for the team, I'm still happy he's alive. Really just so he could introduce me to the "Fat Betty" song.

Sponsored By:The Ultimate Catholic Comicbook: The Ultimate Catholic Comic Book is a collaboration of work from Tomics, Jason Bach, Pat Cross, and John Smillie. It was kickstarted in 2016 and now is a living and breathing document of funny pictures. Promo Code: CFSupport Catching Foxes

Meetup and Live Show: February 9th at 7:00 PM. Location is still TBD, but stay tuned to https://www.facebook.com/catchingfoxespodcast/ for more! February 10th is the Facebook Live "Coffee with Luke and Gomer" with Guadalupe Roasters' coffee.

SHOW NOTES: Claire Swinarski was raised near Madison by a feminist who taught her to love and value her femininity as well as the fight for women's rights. Then she converted to Roman Catholicism in college, but her feminism didn't die, it was transformed. Annoyed by what's being offered ("tea cups") to so many Catholic women, she launched her podcast to challenge this. *Here are some great interviews: * Therapy, Waiting, and Sharing Yourself Online ft. Christina Dehan Jaloway Conversions and Comparison ft. Sr. Miriam James Heidland Living and Thriving on the Sexuality Spectrum ft. Anna Carter Eschewing Gender Stereotypes and Embracing Complementarianism ft. Shannon Ochoa Women's Healthcare and Natural Family Planning ft. Leah Jacobson

New Year’s Themes For myself For my co-host For the Church For Some Public Person For the Podcast To be a Servant of All, where there is no lower place left to fall. DONE. I need to not just start shit, but end it. New things are too tempting. Bilocation. Put all your effort into things. Retreat. Carve out more time for your spiritual walk to rejuvenate The Rhythm Method. Grace and Nature in a marriage to be in rhythm together. Let’s Get Physical. Discipleship cannot be institutional. It must be personal. Mr.-Carey’s-Call-You-Out-on-Your-BS-but-do-so-with-charity-and-love Taylor Swift on a Dating Fast. She needs a detox. Vulnerability and Humility over Popularity. Expansion! CF gets big...ger.

We discuss family drama, Christmas fun, the legitimacy of depicting the dark side as moral instruction, and then the main topic on Christian forgiveness. Donate on Patreon.com/CF for 30 additional minutes of this show where we talk about Taylor Swift on Vinyl, her latest album, and some books we are reading. www.Patreon.com/CF

Greg Iwinski, a comedian, film reviewer (he gave Balboa 5 Stars), and podcaster, comes on the show to attack all those who think Rian Johnson's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" should have serviced the fans' expectations more than made a great movie (minus the casino scene) and set up a world-class franchise for decades to come. Film, art, and culture are all explored. What does a corporation, or an artist, owe to the fans that support and love and even identify with someone's art? George Lucas gave us Star Wars, then tried to mess with it. As an artist, he's allowed to. But as a fan, I beg him not to mess with the originals (which he's said the original film footage is even lost). "Special Editions" should be just that, and not replacements for the originals that now connect to our cultural Zeitgeist. That said, our expectations of who Luke Skywalker is and is not is informed by decades of fan-fiction and the expanded universe of books and comics, setting the stage for the rage-monster nerd reaction against Rian Johnson's fantastic new film. So many people came to the movie expecting one thing and Rian Johnson wanted to give us something new. Insert conflict here. Even a rant about maintenance-mode Catholicism comes in to play! The frog-nuns are caretakers of a dead religion and are fussy when young blood is messing with the buildings. Luke wants to burn down the sacred Tree, but find that he cannot, until Pope Yoda does the thing himself. Yet! The sacred texts survive and endure. So with the Jedi. Fascinating.Special Guest: Greg Iwinski.

SHOW NOTES: *This one has chapters! Use your podcast player to skip chapters. * John Boy and Billy BS is the official name of our opening segment. This is where people who loved our witty banter can indulge themselves, and those who don't can skip it. Think about it. What if our uptick in friends' side hustles is more than the economic downturn, but is, in fact, the relationship between our buying and our experience of buying. We demand "Always Low Prices" and hate the resulting experience surrounding it: the lack of customer care, big-box stores lack of community care, throw-away products, and more. At least with multi-level marketing, it's friends selling to friends in a (hopefully) friendly way. Hmmmmmmm? Sponsor Thanks: Videos.Church Check out: Guadalupe Roasters!

Show Notes! We talk about Circadian Fasting, which is a thing Gomer is doing. NO, it's not a fad diet. He's just trying to impose some order in his life and join it to a fasting discipline. And no, it's not a life hack TIM FERRISS! Matt shares the joys of marriage when becoming a Free Agent and living the dream (and various levels of nightmare). A THING WE ARE DOING If you head over to www.Patreon.com/CF and donate at least $1 to us (Friday only), then Matt Fradd will personally call you in the next week or so and say "Thank You!" Special thanks to Videos.Church for sponsoring this episode. Use the coupon code "CF" for %15 off your purchase.Special Guest: Matt Fradd.

SHOW NOTES Whenever Taylor Swift breaks up with someone, we benefit from her awesome songs. Whenever Arleen breaks up with someone, we benefit from her awesome articles. Leah Darrow, on the show for her second time around, talks about her new book and we agree it is great. Gomer did his homework and plowed through 3/4ths of it in 24 hours. And, though the book was written for women, I loved it. Although, I have to admit that I would love the audiobook more if her husband was the narrator.Special Guests: Arleen Spenceley and Leah Darrow.

from their website, EdenInvitation.com: Eden Invitation celebrates ordered integration for young Catholics culturally defined as LGBT+. We invite people to encounter an authentically Catholic anthropology and equip disciples for resurrected life in Christ. ANNA CARTER Chronologically speaking, Anna loved books, exploring the outdoors, boys, Hanson, the Eucharist, girls, and, finally, an integrated life. After earning Theology & Catechetics degrees from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Anna spent seven years in active ministry with teens and young adults. She has led retreats across the United States with NET Ministries and speaks locally throughout the Midwest. Anna is an aspiring novelist, a lover of road trips, and a horrible cook. SHANNON OCHOA As a young girl, Shannon spent Sunday mornings in the pew eating contraband pretzels out of her dress pockets. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in Social Welfare and Gender & Women's Studies. She has fallen for men and for women, but ultimately she fell for the beauty of Christ and His Church. Ever since Shannon has equipped college students for the new evangelization through her work with The Evangelical Catholic and Brew City Catholic. If you're looking for her, try the shore of the nearest body of water.

SHOW NOTES We discuss the myth of overwork, thinking that working hard and working a lot are the same thing. Read the links for some amazing content on everything we discussed today, including to the lyrics of some sweet songs. Gomer shares the disgust he has with himself for overbooking his October/November schedule, every weekend for 7 weekends in a row. Luke then talks about one of his heroes, Louis CK, and what it means for him in the wake of the accusations against him. What about the victims? What about the problem of empathy? What does these sexual assaults teach us about the cross of Christ?

I'm happy we can bring you this episode with my friend David Garcia. He was married to Katie, a buddy from my ol' FUS days and a friend of my wife's for years. When she died, the light in the world got a bit dimmer, but her work wasn't done. From high school sweethearts to 10 years of marriage with 4 kids, a failed fight with cancer, and life without her, David shares all. Obituary of Katie Garcia Katherine Lorine Garcia was born January 10, 1983, to Paul and Tina Hoffman. Kate was the second of three children along with her older brother, Joseph Hoffman and younger sister, Lisa Loftice. The family grew up going to the lake, and Kate loved the lake best of all places. It was for her a refuge, a retreat, and a second home. Weekends and summers at the lake were mandatory, for it was there that she could truly relax and simply enjoy time with her family. On August 11, 2007, she married David Thomas Garcia, her high school sweetheart. In 2010, they welcomed their first-born, John David, followed in 2011 by Lilia Marie, Thomas James in 2013, and Andrew Paul in 2014. In February 2016, Kate was diagnosed with appendiceal cancer, and after a brief remission in the fall was diagnosed with stage IV in December. On April 5, 2017, while holding David’s hand, she entered into her heavenly rest. Kate loved Jesus and his Church with a passion that could be felt by all who knew her. In public, she could be the life of the party or a quiet confidant, often switching from one to the other at will. Despite her gregarious nature and ability to befriend anyone she met, she was strongly introverted and maintained a healthy balance of time with friends and time alone at home with just her children and David. She loved watching TV and movies, and would often spend nights at home, snuggled on the couch with David, enjoying a show. She loved to write and kept a daily journal for most of her life. Katie took her vocation to marriage and family life seriously, and worked tirelessly for her marriage and children. For Katie and David, marriage was like a garden: beautiful to see in bloom. And like a garden, it took work to keep it pruned, to pull out weeds, to water, and feed. Kate was always reading and researching ways to be the best mother she could be for their four children, and she was an incredible mother: kind but firm, gentle even when disciplining, and purposeful in decision making. Throughout her illness, Katie wrote and shared her thoughts and reflections online, touching hundreds, even thousands of hearts and drawing them closer to Jesus. That was always her driving force - to bring others closer to God. While at Franciscan University, Kate joined a sisterhood of faithful women - Stella Mariae. Their household greeting, though short, seems fitting as she departs us for her final reward: “It is the deepest desire of my heart to see you in heaven.”

Show Notes We talk Pope Francis, poorly. Prophets make messes, but no one doubted that Jeremiah was a prophet and not a mess himself. We're not saying Pope Francis is teaching heresy or promoting immorality, but there sure is a lot of, PERHAPS, intended ambiguity. Why? No idea. Maybe to make it easier to lay the ground for further future nudges in one direction or another. One thing we hate is the hyper-American-Politcalization of Pope Francis. We try our darnedest to get around it, or address it for what it is, but we can't help but remember JP2 more fondly.

Your questions answered, poorly! Facebook Questions Why does Catholic social media hate Fr. James Martin so much? Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or a thousand duck-sized horses? -side note 1: STRANGER THINGS SEASON 2!!!! -side note 2: READY PLAYER ONE! (and Spielberg) -side note 3: WIL WHEATON -side note 4: The Fall of White Male Hollywood because of Harvey Weinstein -side note 5: Matt Fradd and the tide against pornography What are your thoughts on Purity Culture? Slut-shaming? Why do we only talk about the virtue of chastity? What about human formation? etiquette? Thoughts on Star Wars 8: "The Last Jedi" Gomer goes on vacation with his wife on December 14! Shot out to Matt Field Jr. and Clare Kane and the beer they got me (with Dane) while I was doing a Philly parish mission! Another shot out to Theresa Willaims and her aggressive posting on Facebook! SUPPORT THE SHOW Patreon.com/CF: Donate $10 or more a month and get a bonus weekly episode of CF every Monday! Thank You, Facebook followers!

Today we interview Pastor Joey Svendsen from the BAD CHRISTIAN podcast, which describes itself as Post-Christian, or Post-Evangelical, or maybe just Post-Bible-Belt-Evangelicalism. We start off talking about the annoyance of Small Talk, problems with having 80 inboxes and managing expectations for all those inboxes. Then we turn towards post-evangelicalism, emergent church, and other things that Joey is wrestling with openly on the show. What happens when our community's standards are more political and less biblical, and thought gets clamped down? We end talking about a pastor's authority vs the priesthood and Apostolic Authority vs Sola Scriptura, especially as it stands out in Post-Evangelicals wrestling with major moral issues, like homosexuality and gay marriage, or major biblical teachings, like eternal conscious torment in Hell. ===== Thanks to you, our dear listeners, all of those Syrophoenician Women out there looking for the scraps from the Master’s table, we have reach an epic milestone in the show: 1 MILLION DOWNLOADS! Thank you for inviting us, week after week, into your earholes. If you like the show and want more witless banter between Luke and Gomer, we just launched our “BONUS SHOW” on Patreon. Every Monday we will release 20-30 minute episodes for our $10 or higher subscribers. You can find that on PATREON.COM/CF.

Show Notes We interview the team over at "The Threshold Podcast" about their threshold conversations, the validity of the Benedict Option and the Church, and Catholic education, especially in high school. Connect with us! Join us and the other Syrophoenician Women on our Facebook page. Support Us! We post 30-minute fun shows for our $10 supporters. Join us on Patreon, which connects artists with fans so the stuff they enjoy can keep being produced! Created Book Gomer and 50 other artists, authors, and chefs write 5 words that summarize their art, then explain it in 300 words. Mine was on prophecy. Support this book. You'll see why. (it's awesome!)

Notes Luke explains what happens when you drink that you're a twentysomething, but wake up realizing you're a thirtysomething. We talk about whether we're getting more virtuous or just getting older. Encounter Houston was a blast. Friends, food, fun, a Presidential Suite, Gomer leaving early to teach RCIA classes, and all that jazz. Gomer will be a speaker at Encounter Milwaukee in November if you still want to attend a great young adult conference. From the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, literally hundreds of shots rang out, killing 58 people and causing hundreds to be injured. He was a white male, a successful businessman, and had no reported mental illnesses or extremist ties, yet he caused the worst shooting massacre in US history. This is now a near-monthly occurrence in America and it shows no sign of stopping. What is the answer? The man legally owned an arsenal of weapons. Something should be done and we discuss some options. *THE "CREATED" BOOK! * www.created.co/cf Go here to buy your own copy of "CREATED" and reread my 300 words every day! Your buddies at Catching Foxes get a 30% cut if you use our link to the Kickstarter, soooooo...

Sister Miriam is a professed religious sister with the Order of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, which serves the Church and the World through collaboration between priests, religious, and laity. Her call to religious came through a holy priest who walked with her as college came to an end. She speaks to us about brokenness, healing, and recovery, as she entered AA dealing with her alcoholism. Sr. Miriam's honesty is a game changer, as she has moved past shame and fear and is more concerned with bringing people hope. GO HERE "Created" It supports the creators and Catching Foxes! www.createdbook.co/cf FIND US Facebook.com/catchingfoxespodcast Twitter.com/cfoxespodcast @theLukethe @LayEvangelist SUPPORT THE SHOW "If everyone who downloaded gave us $2, we could quit our jobs!" Patreon.com/CF THANK YOU TO OUR SEPTEMBER SUPPORTERS! Katrina Siebels, John Neilson, Julia Fears, Fr. John David Matherne, Grant Wyatt, Maggie Wilson, Daniel Miller, Duncan and Kate Smith, Thomas O'Leary, An Anonymous Babyboomer, Fr. Tim Grumbach, and John Lilly!

We talk about the iPhone for like 10 seconds, then we get into video, audio, and dreams of human formation. This leads us into thinking about how Luke isn't challenged or mentored to grow and develop into the butterfly that he is. Gomer sees this all over the Church, as parish and diocesan workers are hardly competent, let alone striving to grow and get better.

We were talking about evangelization when Luke and I stumbled onto something better: how our fears of being alone, of being unlovable, of never being accepted, motivated stupid, manipulative, and destructive relationships with women when we were single.

We invite Jonathan Alexander of Adore Ministries and a personal friend to us both on to the show to talk about INSIDE JOKES and how Adore is serving and saving lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Amazing stories, personal growth, watching people come alive- all a part of a missionary's life who's now doing disaster relief.

Gomer talks about going through Hurricane Harvey, what it's like being in a constant state of sheer anxiety for 4 days, and the experience of helplessness watching your friends' unable to evacuate because the roads are flooded in every direction.

Luke sings to me. We talk Game of Thrones and how much it sucks this season. Then Marvel's Defenders. Around 38 minutes is when the content heats up. We talk about why people on the internet can be so absolutist over nothing. Gomer's walk of penance in his office. Then ...my dad... then I change the subject to how I was on Jen Fulwiler's Show and not Luke. So, net win.

We bring back Ike Ndolo to create a safe space so he can blow us all away. We start with him WHINING about wedding planning, wildly inappropriate sex stuff and Ike bringing "The Drama", and then unleash Ike on Charlottesville.Special Guest: Ike Ndolo.

We've talked about the "anima technica vacua" a bunch of times in the past, but now we do a deep dive, especially how the empty soul of the modern West affects our patterns of thinking.

Anthony D'Ambrosio of Catholic Creatives hops on the shows from a trailer park filled with Evangelicals to discuss life, art, creativity, the New Catholic Renaissance in beauty, and how to deal with insecurity, self-doubt, and envy. Apparently, Anthony is a punk-rocker turned seminarian turned artist turned event planner!

After listening to our show on the Convocation of Catholic Leaders, Brandon Vogt reaches out to us to explain and to reach some common ground between what was presented on the "Nones" panel and Luke's take away. Gomer, for his part, doesn't do the nice small-talk thing, and just makes them argue, which is fun.

Luke and Gomer talk... well... we talk about a lot of stuff. Why does it seem like there are a lot more chill nuns than priests, emotional manipulation in youth ministry, Sister Miriam is incredible, diet fails, and, of course, GAME OF THRONES. Come on, moralizers, do you really think that God approves of you watching literally anything on TV? Would Mother Teresa watch any of your crap? Oh, so it's just stuff you already don't like that you got to get all preachy about. Got it. Thaaanks. #notbitter

Have you ever watched a movie and fallen in love with it, while the guy on the couch next to you thinks it's just OK? What separates us out like that? Why does Luke love Tarantino, while Gomer thinks him a coked up 17 year-old? Why does Wes Anderson do nothing for Luke, but the Cohen Brothers get his gears grooving? This conversation revolves around Spider-Man: Homecoming and the Marvel Cinematic Universe but broadens into a much more important discussion on the appeal of filmmaking as such.

Luke, representing 500,000 Catholics, attended the convocation and he represented Catching Foxes well. We explore the suckiness of treating the crisis in the Church as a sociology/statistics problem, the lack of God, when God showed up in the preaching of Sister Miriam, SOLT, and Gomer shares a prison ministry heartbreak. Also: IS SINGLENESS A VOCATION?

We invited our friend, Danielle Noonan, to talk about her love of music, what it means to be adopted, to be a childhood victim of abuse, and how cheap consolation really, really pisses her off. Danielle has been producing music, first in ministry with my old parish in Sugar Land, Texas, and now as a recording artist who travels to Nashville regularly and has "people".

It started with a description of the great book, "The World Beyond Your Head" and took us quickly around the anima technia vacua, from gambling to porn to social media, we look at how the psychology of being spent is destroying us. STOP BUYING THE CHEEP CHICKEN EGGS!!!!

There are few things more annoying to than people who seem to peddle inspiration. You find them on Facebook encouraging you to follow your dreams, chase the rainbow, and change your life. The reason, I've found, why these people are so damned bent on inspiration is because they have discovered this wonderful thing called "energy" that I lacked because I'm a damned couch potato. Well, for the last two weeks, I've greased the groove to break myself of this addiction to crappy foods and sitting, replacing inaction with Prayer, Study, and Exercise. And, honestly, it's freaking sweet.

We talk about work-as-email and Gomer's conflict with research reading. Youth Ministry, and the parish's constant tendency to segregate family, especially by age. We talk about the Art of Life and morality as taught by the Church. This leads us back to the community problem, but focusing on the demise of "The Lodge" and the American Legion type places. Then we talk about The Great Casualization (see show notes), Wonder Woman, The Marvel Cinematic Universe, and how Gomer is still scared to work out with Luke.

Ben Walther is a legend in our Household, AMDG. Ben is a man's man who is insanely positive and deeply prayerful. We had a great conversation about what it means to be a man, initiation rites and our lack thereof, dadlessness and the Father, and then we take a hard right turn into music. Luke brings up his new fave that he found out is both Christian and Queer and what that means. We end with me yelling at Ben to build something great online.

10 Minute Topics! We call it 10-minute topics, but we rarely stay within the 10-minute limit. I start off talking about my beautiful daughter who has a huge anxiety issue at the age of 5 and how I have no idea how to deal with it. Second, we thank the XLT Atlanta folks for an amazing time. Then we talk about Catholic Schools and their struggle with discipleship, finances, and Catholic identity. Next, I bring up the topic of sex, especially how much work it is to do it right. Seriously, people, it is exhausting sometimes. We also bring up the shenanigans at UST, gay vs. Same-sex attraction labels, and more!

Sarah Nickel works with children, generally ages 3-15, who have autism. She also applies developmental psychology and behavioral analysis skills to manage her friendship with Luke. Yes, they are besties. No, it's not ALL inside jokes about their time together in Denver. But there is this one part about 35 minutes into it where we discover Luke cheated on a food competition.

I politely asked Luke to leave his own apartment so that I could interview Mr. Carey from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Apparently, HR won't let them in the same room. Anywho, two church workers have an intelligent conversation about spiritual life as the center of the workplace. Yes, even meetings. ESPECIALLY MEETINGS!

Luke grew up in the great place of Dayton, OH. It's a town that is a great place to be from, but not really be in. Luke talks about driving home for his worky work, but has no one in Dayton to go home to and no friends to visit. Plus, there's the crap about high school life. What was it with those people in high school who are just jerks for no reason? Well, after working with youth for years we realized everyone's got a reason.

"If you're going to break up, Ash Wednesday is a great time to do it!" Luke and Arleen (no Gomer this week) talk about their cooky lives, the fun of dating, and the strange intimacy that comes with breaking up. Luke and Arleen trade breakup stories, but this is NOT a pity party. This is more about lessons learned and experiences reflected upon. Luke throws in some comments about maturity and Arleen talks about a profound healing experience after her first devastating breakup as an adult.Special Guest: Arleen Spenceley.

Luke and Gomer interview a buddy they knew while at college, but who wasn't a student. Yes, he was a townie. A dirty, dirty townie. If you listen to this I think you'll get why the Incarnation and the Sacraments are oh so necessary to a real, and really human, faith. And you'll see why we humans can totally screw things up.

We do a quick and exhausting follow up to Katie Garcia's Visitation and Funeral that Gomer was able to attend. Then we talk a lot about how much we need God in our lives. We finally end it all by talking about ourselves- fitting- because IT'S OUR TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!! April 20 (yes, 4/20 potheads) in 2015 kicked off the Catching Foxes experiment and boy have we got a deal for you! In return for a Follow on Facebook, a Donation on Patreon, or a Review on iTunes, from you, our dear new listeners, we are giving away a brand new, fresh, and exciting 3 copies of friend-of-the-show Matt Fradd's new book, The Porn Myth by Ignatius Press. Matt is the friend that keeps on giving, and we're open to taking. Constantly. So thank you, Matt Fradd and Ignatius Press for celebrating our 2 year anniversary!

This is an interesting episode. We start off being stupid, as is usual, then Luke takes us to a serious turn as we discuss the end-of-life of our young friend, Katie Garcia, whom we knew from college and who lives here in Houston about 30 minutes from me with her truly amazing husband and four kids. Luke mentioned A Severe Mercy, which reminded me of several scenes from the movie Shadowlands, which is about CS Lewis, AKA Jack and the passionate poet, Joy, that he marries knowing full well that she will die very soon from a terminal illness. Woven through the center of this episode, the movie tracks his life, his falling in love with Joy, and his time dealing with her death, especially with her son Douglas that she is leaving behind with Lewis. Apparently, at the time while we were recording this episode, Katie Garcia breathed her last. When I woke up the next morning Facebook posts came pouring in announcing her death. May perpetual light shine upon her. From our thoughts on her story, we move into discussing our culture’s experience of death and then getting older in general, and how that relates to our career decisions and restlessness. Finally, we end where we should, complaining about ministry and whining about how sucky everyone is compared to us, or at least compared to our delusional self-image. Please donate to Katie funeral fund, found in the show notes, to help her amazing husband handle the experiences, which will be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Thank you for walking this road with us.

We talk about Lent. Luke's is going pretty well, but then he visited me and I ruined it. Then Gomer shares his amazing experiences inside the Ferguson Unit prison during the Kolbe Prison Retreat Ministry. And Gomer got a prison nickname. My Facebook Post on the Kolbe Prison Retreat Ministry The experience of going to the prison was intense and amazing. The men in white (MIW) who were there for the three days of the retreat (Thursday-Saturday, 7am to 7pm) come from a variety of religious backgrounds- most were lapsed Catholics, some were anti-Catholic and some were agnostics or Muslims. The retreat followed the format of an ACTS retreat as closely as possible. We had four testimonies followed by table discussions, two by the outside team and two by the MIW. They were powerful, to say the least. Each table had 5-7 MIW, plus one member of the outside team and one member of the MIW as table stewards/facilitators. The discussions were open and honest. I was tapped as the answer man, so if men had complex questions at any of the tables, I'd get a tap on the shoulder and go and try and answer them. In the end, we had 3 or 4 Q and A sessions with the MIW peppering Deacon Bradley and me with questions. "Why do you pray to dead saints?" "Why do you believe in Purgatory?" etc. I gave a talk on the Sacraments and another on the Mass/Eucharist. Deacon Bradley tag-teamed with me on the Sacraments. We did things like Rosaries, Divine Mercy Chaplets, two daily Masses, and we even had an Adoration chapel set up in the prison chapel where each one of us took two holy hours, and the MIW team took holy half-hours from the beginning to the end of the retreat. We had Fr. Sebastine led a Healing Mass, which was very powerful for a lot of the men there. The people in the Ferguson Unit are gang-affiliated, life-ers, or long-timers. Almost all are there for drug-related violent crimes. These are men who know they are sinners but also know little else about themselves. They are labeled "prisoners", "Offenders," and "Inmates", but we call them the Men in White, reminding them of their dignity. Fr. Sebastine preached against the word "Prisoner", reminding them that Saint Paul did some of his best work in prison. If you are a child of God, no prison can define you. At the end of the retreat, they had an opportunity to express what the retreat meant to them. One man stood up and explained why he did not get his feet washed. "I was scared. My whole life I've only experience chaos, violence, and negativity. I never knew love. Here, I experienced the love that I never had before, and it scared me. I didn't know people could love like that, and I didn't know how to receive that love. I couldn't believe you would wash my feet and even kiss them. Who am I? I've never seen a man do that for another man before." I found out while praying before my Life Teen talk last night that a Man In White slipped his name tag into my Scriptural Rosary book, with the words, "Please remember me." scrawled on the top. He's currently in the prison's RCIA program. One of the funniest moment came at the end, where a man in white was thanking us for our work, then turned to me and said, "You have one minute to win me over on one issue that is killing me about you Catholics. We at a bus stop. The bus is coming in one minute. Before we get on explain to me this: Mary." So I plowed through as fast as I could (took me about 1:20). He looked at me, smiled, and said, "That makes sense. You won me!" Everyone jumped up and started cheering, hooting, and hollering, and then I led it into a "USA! USA!" chant. Then we all collapsed into our chairs laughing. One man was 70 years old. He will never leave prison. At the age of 7 he married a Baptist who told him he's not allowed to be with her and be Catholic, so he left and never looked back. This Friday he went to Confession and is now fully reconciled to the Church. One of the most bizarre parts of the weekend was how normal it was: men talking about their wives and their kids, talking about friends and faith. It seems so normal. I'm looking around at all these men sitting at tables and thought, "This could be at any retreat site." I was so nervous going into the retreat because I have no experience of prison life. But that ended after 10 or 15 minutes. It became totally normal. It was weird how normal it was. That said, we were dealing with convicted felons and men with violence in their past. They were in there for a reason, and many of those reasons were heinous. First Rule: You never, ever ask them what they did. Let them tell you. In fact, after that initial curiosity burns off, you kind of don't want to know. They are trying to change their lives here and now. We all know they have a past, but we do not want that preventing future conversion and the sacra

SUPPORT OUR PATREON CAMPAIGN!We get to talk with America's favorite Catholic, Leah Darrow, as we explore her roots in farm country, Oklahoma, what conference life is like for an introvert, and how she balances this stuff with family and fashion, which is still a good part of her life, but in a human way. We talk about some super interesting stuff like Slow Food, Slow Fashion and the whole Slow Culture. Fascinating!https://www.facebook.com/leah.darrow/https://leahdarrow.com/Reject McFashionThe True Cost - fashion documentary on NetflixSpecial Guest: Leah Darrow.

OUR FIRST LIVE SHOW! Thank you to everyone who attended on March 8 at Deacon Baldy's Food Truck Park and Bar!I tried my best to edit the crap out of this, thinking from your perspective, dear listener who wasn't in attendance. There's some gold in here!

Aaron Gillespie, a drummer and vocalist for Underoath, talks to us about the industry, life, family, sex and faith. He ends up asking more questions of us than we do of him, which is a blast!

I got to interview Aaron Weiss, lead singer of mewithoutYou, a band that literally defined this podcast's title. It's a 35-minute interview on their tour bus, which Aaron was super-gracious in allowing me on board. I met his lovely wife and little daughter they nicknamed Birdie (and you'll hear her in the show!). We talk all things lyrics: inspiration, spirituality, Thomas Merton, and more. At the end I hop on a phone call with Luke and Deacon Colin Parrish, who helped arrange the whole thing with their amazingly accommodating manager. I recap how the interview went down and Colin expresses why he got involved.