January 17, 2025 • 36 mins
In this episode of Open Seat, we continue the conversation with the Fr. Mike Newman, OSFS, as he shares his journey of faith, from his early years of teaching to his involvement in what would become Holy Family Parish. You will hear Fr.Mike's passion for languages, biblical studies involving monsters, and, of course, Salesian Spirituality. We explore the challenges and blessings of living a faith-centered life in today's changing world, serving as the Assistant Privincial for the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales as well as an inspiring and dynamic pastor in Adrian, Michigan. Join us for an authentic conversation about navigating faith and fostering a spirit of community in a modern world.
This is a podcast of Holy Family Parish, located in Adrian MI. We are a Catholic people, not a place, striving to Live Jesus through celebrating the sacraments and forming disciples in Adrian and beyond.
www.HolyFamilyAdrian.org
Instagram: Instagram.com/holyfamilyadrian
Facebook: Facebook.com/adrianCatholic
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@holyfamilyadrian
Open Seat es un podcast Parroquia de la Sagrada Familia ubicada en Adrian, Michigan. Somos un pueblo católico, no un lugar, que se esfuerza por vivir a Jesús celebrando los sacramentos y formando discípulos en Adrian y más allá.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Fr. Mike (00:00):
here we have a group of people trying to
(00:01):
follow Jesus In a culturethat is ambivalent towards
it, you know, at best andhostile towards it at worst.
So what does thatlook like for us?
Katie Love (00:12):
Welcome to Open Seat, the podcast where we
create a space for authenticconversations about faith,
unfiltered and unapologetic.
Here, we believe thatevery story matters.
Whether you're questioning,seeking, or steadfast in
your beliefs, you'll findsomething relatable in
these heartfelt discussions.
(00:34):
So grab your seat, getcomfortable, and let's
dive into today's storyhere at Open Seat.
Well today on the podcastin the Open Seat, we have
the very Reverend Michael E.
Newman, OSFS.
You have been with, well, St.
(00:54):
Mary of Good Counsel fora long time, since you were
ordained,
Fr. Mike (00:57):
right?
Well, before I came in 2007.
I was then a student atthe University of Toronto, St.
Michael's College, whereall the Oblates at that
point went from ourprovince to study theology.
And we could do fieldplacement, or we could do
clinical pastoral education,CPE.
And CPE is actually theone you probably should do.
Like it's how you dohospitals and stuff that.
But I said, I'm nevergoing to be a pastor.
(01:19):
I'm never goingto be in a parish.
I'm going to be teaching highschool Spanish until I die.
So, I want to do migrantministry, see if I'm any
good at it.
And at that point, St.
Mary Good Counsel wherethe Oblates were in Adrian,
did migrant ministry.
And St.
Mary Good Counsel had thisother priest living here,
Father Bob Schramm, Godrest him, who was very
liturgical, what an innovator.
And I couldn't understanda blessed thing he
(01:41):
did, why he did whathe did, I had no idea.
And I thought, I needto understand this.
Because so many times peopledo something in liturgy or in
life and we just judge them.
Or we say, they're unorthodox,they're a heretic, and
we don't we don't look atthe why.
And I just thought, I wantto understand the why.
So I called Bob up,and I said, Bob, I'd
(02:02):
like to come to St.
Mary of Good Counselfor the summer.
I want to do migrant ministry.
I also want to learn fromyou about your unique
liturgical style, becauseI just don't know anything
about this and I'm judgey.
He goes, well, great.
I'd love to have you.
So I come in for the summer.
It's 2007 and I was herefrom May up until about
August when I left.
(02:22):
And it was a wonderful summer.
I mean, we were at themigrant fields, same
ones we go to now.
We were theremultiple times a week.
Eric Jorge, who's oneof our Oblate priests in
South America was here.
So we became friends.
I met all the Hispaniccommunity here, did a
lot there, taught Englishduring the summer, worked
with migrants, workedwith our own people here.
(02:43):
It was very powerful.
Made a lot of friendshipsI still have today.
Just very powerful.
So when it came two yearslater for ordination,
I called Bob back.
I said, I'm beingordained a priest.
I'm going to be in Toledo at St.
Francis teachingSpanish and religion.
Would you like help atyour bilingual Mass?
Because he didn't like sayingit, It can be stressful
and it's foreign and Isaid, I'd be happy to do it.
(03:05):
He's like, really?
I said, yeah.
I said, when do youwant me to start?
How about next week?
So I said, well, giveme two weeks after the
ordination and we'll do it.
And so during the week, thenI would teach during the week,
and then I would come uphere on Sunday and I would
say the bilingual Mass.
And then at that point,Sacred Heart, we had a
priest there, Father Gaberly.
(03:26):
And so he found out andhe said, you know, we have
these dairy farms in Hudson.
Would you consider comingout at night and saying Mass
and doing some catechesiswith the dairy farmers?
Not every weekend, buta couple times a month.
So I'm like sure that's fine.
So at one point then, we do
mass here at 11 (03:40):
45 and then I would go to Tim Hortons and
grade papers and eat lunchand then drive to Hudson and
we would do Mass and thencatechesis and dinner and I
go get back to Toledo at 10o'clock and, and you know.
So this is a couple yearsand it was great.
I loved it but yeah, I'vebeen involved here 15 years.
Quinceañera year.
Katie Love (04:00):
Oh, I think there's a party coming.
When I hear you talkabout the way it used
to be, some of that issimilar to how it is now.
I don't know if peopleknow this, but you're the
chaplain at Siena still.
Fr. Mike (04:10):
Right.
The chaplainat Siena Heights University.
Katie Love (04:11):
So you have some obligations to them.
Fr. Mike (04:13):
Yep.
Katie Love (04:14):
I don't know who tapped you, but someone
did tap you to do Massout at the dairy farms.
Well, Sacred Heart in Hudson.
Fr. Mike (04:20):
Yes, our vicariate wanted to go back.
The dairy farms wereclosed, and so all the
migrants who were therewent somewhere else.
But they recently reopened,and so the thought was, could
we do Mass out there again?
And I said, let's try it.
We'll do anexperimental on basis.
So once a month right now Igo out there on a Saturday
(04:42):
night and it's basicallythe same thing as before.
We have Mass at seven,not really much catechesis
at this point because thekids all speak English
so they're, you know, inregular faith formation,
but, you know, it's massand then it's dinner, and the
dinner is just as important.
You know, meeting thefamilies as the church.
But yeah, so that'sone Saturday night a month.
Katie Love (04:58):
And you also assist the Diocese when
they need someone to hearconfessions in Spanish in
various locations, too.
Yeah.
and then you're the pastorof Holy Family.
Perhaps the boss of Holy Family.
Fr. Mike (05:10):
Some would say.
I don't think so.
I think cheerleader is probablythe best word use.
Katie Love (05:15):
And then you also have this
extra title of AssistantProvincial of the Oblates.
Fr. Mike (05:19):
Yes, that is correct.
Katie Love (05:21):
So, I mean, a man who wears many hats.
Fr. Mike (05:24):
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
Every week is different.
Every day is different.
The Oblates are family, right?
So, people say, what do you do?
I'm like, well, I'mwith the family today.
So this is the familyresponsibility, the family
obligation.
I like doing work for them.
Katie Love (05:39):
because I'm sure parishioners
here have noticed thatyou're traveling a lot more.
You're doing a lot more.
So, can you explain some ofthis to us?
Fr. Mike (05:46):
Sure.
So the Oblates aregoverned, and governed is a
loose term, but in a religiouscommunity like ours,
you have a province.
So a province is like adiocese, except it's not
geographically based, Soour province right now
would be Buffalo, New York,Toledo, Adrian, and we have
a house in Washington, DC,and technically could go all
(06:06):
the way out to California.
There were people out inCalifornia when I started.
Katie Love (06:10):
Yeah, in Florida, right?
All the way down?
Fr. Mike (06:11):
Yeah, the Wilmington province still
has men in Florida, butin we don't anymore.
But, but it's run by aProvincial and the Provincial
is the equivalent to a Bishop.
So my brother is theProvincial, Father Joe, who
he did our mission last year,
Katie Love (06:24):
Yeah.
And he did a podcast
Fr. Mike (06:27):
So he is the Provincial and
then the ProvincialCouncil assists him.
And so that is myself andthen Father Alan Zobler and
then Father Craig Irwin, whowas here as a seminarian.
Katie Love (06:37):
Yes.
Fr. Mike (06:38):
And so I'm what's called the
Assistant Provincial.
By our constitutions, theonly thing that makes the
Assistant Provincial specialis if the Provincial is
not able to perform hisduties, the Assistant
Provincial takes over.
And, if the Provincialis made the Superior
General, or passes awayor something, Provincial
(06:59):
has to call, the Assistanthas to call an election.
I mean, I don't want tomake it sound less important
than it is, but you know,I read the fine prints.
Sothat's what it is.
But in practice, it's somewhat's whatever Administrative
stuff that my brother wantsto give me or different
projects for the Oblate's thatthat we take on.
So we've been doing a lot oftraveling recently Working
(07:21):
on leadership within ourown provincial council
and with the Wilmington,Philadelphia province talking
about the future.
So that's had me out ofAdrian more than it normally
would.
I give two retreats a yearfor different dioceses,
different places onthe Spirituality of St.
Francis de Sales.
So I did, I had one ofthose this fall that I was at.
(07:43):
I'm a member of theInternational Association
Scholars Seminar.
I think we're reallydesperate when I get on that.
Katie Love (07:50):
That just sounds like
nerding out right there.
I mean, that is your dream andthat is most everybody's
like nightmare.
Fr. Mike (07:55):
Oh, it was, yeah, it was so much fun.
I wrote an academicpaper while here working
Katie Love (08:01):
At 44.
yeah.
Fr. Mike (08:02):
On Synodality and Salesian Spirituality to
present at this conferenceand I could revise it.
We'll see what it's in God'shands right now but
yeah, it was great.
I had a great weekendwith everybody doing that.
And then really it'sjust other various things
that cross my desk.
Right now we start 150years of the Oblates.
It's Jubilee year.
So I'm working with someOblates on celebrations
(08:24):
in Toledo and Adrian andthroughout our province.
I'm also editing a couplelittle booklets that
I would like to see usproduce during that year.
So I'm, reformattingthem, retyping them
editing them, basically.
And all that just takes time.
And then I continuetraveling with Joe and
others as they ask me to.
Katie Love (08:44):
Yeah.
So that's potentially whywe haven't seen you around
a or it
Fr. Mike (08:49):
a lot of it's been that.
Katie Love (08:50):
if people wanna have a meeting, it's kind
of like, oh, I'm sorry,but I'm not available for
a little while becauseof all these other obligations.
Fr. Mike (08:57):
yeah, it's rare.
I mean, people are like,can I meet with you?
I'm like, yes, but we'reprobably looking at next week.
And, it's not a negative, Itry to get as much into a week
as I possibly can.
Katie Love (09:07):
Yes.
I don't knowthat I've met anyone else
who tries to stuff more inWhich is just fascinating
that we're in presenttime spirituality when
your calendar just screams, Ihave 400 things to do today.
Fr. Mike (09:21):
Well, and that's I think that's why I like
salesian spirituality so muchbecause it's a struggle for me
to practice it, right?
Like Francis says payattention to the man walking
through your door and I'msaying I want to but i've
got to take care of thisother thing right now.
And yet the Lord hasput this guy here And or this
Person, here.
So, okay.
How how am I goingto respond to this?
So then okay Lord, giveme the grace to do it.
(09:43):
Let me let go of Whateverpreconceived notion
I have to fitmyself into what you
Have and that's sohard for me to do.
Katie Love (09:51):
I'm always frightened when you say to me,
oh I have this list of thingsI need to get done because
I know then some tornado isgoing to come and wreck that.
I'm just like,oh Lord, please help
him handle this wellBecause inevitably they'll
Be a sick call or an anointingat hospice or something
and then all these plans are.
Fr. Mike (10:13):
But Fr.
Tom Helfrich is nowhere and he has so graciously
said, I'm here to help.
And I accept that help.
Katie Love (10:22):
No, he's been a great addition
Fr. Mike (10:24):
He's been a wonderful help
here for the parish.
I mean, that's been, that'sbeen the biggest gift is
that something comes like,Tom, can you handle this?
Cause I'm on a zoomcall for the next two
hours or something.
And I can't break awayright now.
Katie Love (10:35):
That has been a good gift.
gift
Fr. Mike (10:38):
Yeah.
His coming has been wonderful.
Katie Love (10:39):
And you've been assistant provincial
at the Oblates for a longtime, so.
Fr. Mike (10:43):
Yeah, I've been in leadership 2011, 2012,
I think I started.
But So I think, yeah, threeprovincials, nine, nine
years, ten years as assistant
Katie Love (10:53):
right after you were ordained,
Fr. Mike (10:55):
Yeah, it was two years, yeah, because
I spoke up at a meetingand everybody else didn't,
that's what I think.
Other people mightsay something else.
I was like, no, I just,Expressed myself strongly on the
floor, and then after thatI found that people voted.
when I go to meetings now, I'mlike, I'm not going to say a
word, not going to say a word.
(11:16):
I think it's somebodytalks about Isaiah.
One of the prophets says,this fire wells up in you
and you've got to talk.
And I'm just like, tamperdown fire, like tamper down.
Katie Love (11:25):
Soon we're going to see him turn into the
burning bush in the staffmeeting.
I can't wait.
We'll make sure to take photos
Fr. Mike (11:31):
Yeah.
Make sure to get-.
It will be a greatInstagram reel.
Katie Love (11:34):
Yes, this is a big concern.
Is a good Instagram?
is how we judgespirituality nowadays
in the Catholic Church.
Fr. Mike (11:42):
Unfortunate, but true.
Katie Love (11:45):
So you said, St.
Therese of Lisieux wasn'tyour favorite saint.
So who is your favorite saint?
Fr. Mike (11:49):
Oh, that's a good Question.
I go through, I go throughperiods with saints, right?
so I think for me, saintshit me when I need them.
And then they, not depart,but it's like friendship,
you know, you get somebodywho walks with you for a
period of time and thenthey kind of walk away.
so I would say rightnow it probably is St.
(12:11):
Francis de Salesbecause of proximity.
In my spare time when I'mstill trying to, I've spent
five years in this goal butI'm trying to read about
Francis as bishop, but alsoas pastor.
Because I'm trying to distillwhat are the earmarks or the
signs that he would have done.
So when I do these retreatsaround the country, I'll take
a little bit of this, let'slook at that, or when I did
(12:33):
the paper on synodality,it was, what did a synod
look like for Francis?
And nothing like it looksnow, it's totally different.
But it was just aninteresting way of what is,
what was the pastoral stylelike?
And then what can weglean from that that's
still applicable today.
So I would say at thispoint, probably St.
Francis de Sales.
Katie Love (12:51):
that's, an interesting thing
because, I would think,we'd be talking about St.
Michael the Archangel as yournumber one in this world.
Fr. Mike (12:58):
Well, I do like Michael.
I'm not going to lie.
I use this stuff, when I domy rosary every day, I include
the prayer at the end, I don'twant to say I don't think
about it every day, but it'slike, be with me, protect me.
When I bless cars, Ialways invoke him for
the people in the car, right?
And I always enjoy himfighting the dragon.
it's one of my favorite things.
I wrote a master'sthesis on that,
(13:19):
so that was, yeah.
Katie Love (13:20):
Yeah, you have written some
interesting papers.
Fr. Mike (13:23):
Who doesn't want to study Old Testament monsters?
I can't, oh, Ican't believe that.
Katie Love (13:32):
Well, wasn't just me missed the
audience raising theirhands collectively.
Fr. Mike (13:34):
Can't believe, Oh, I can't believe that.
No, no, no, no, no.
Katie Love (13:37):
I mean, we all live the monsters in manger
homily at the Epiphany
Fr. Mike (13:41):
Oh, that's of my favorite ones.
Katie Love (13:43):
I feel like it's a brief synopsis
of your masters thesis though.
Fr. Mike (13:48):
Well, so here's, here's the
bigger, I'll lay it out.
Here's the big idea andthe small idea.
Big idea is this.
So the Bible Is theinspired Word of God.
Yet there are seamonsters in it.
So how do you deal with this?
cause a lot of times we'll,in the Catholic faith, in
faith general, we will saythings but not think about the
repercussions of what we say.
(14:09):
So if I say this tobe true, that's fine.
But that carries a wholelot of other stuff with it.
It doesn't mean it's nottrue, but there's a whole
lot wound up in that.
Here's an example.
We may need toedit this out but.
So, a lot of times we'lltalk about the creation
story in the bible, right?
Like, there's thecreation story.
It had to happen like this.
Earth is made in seven days,you know, and it's this thing.
(14:29):
Okay, that's Genesis one.
But Genesis 2 has atotally different story.
Now the earth is this flatland and God creates people.
And then sometimes wetry and like, it's called
harmonize, we try toput the two together.
We totally forget Psalm 74,which is also a creation
story, where God splitsthe monster in two and
then makes the earth growout of it.
(14:49):
So there's a whole nother one.
Or Psalm 89 where hedoes the same thing.
So I'm here in collegebut I'm going to dedicate
my life to the faithbut like, is this earth?
Is this a sea monster carcass?
Like, what is this?
And nobody's talking about it,but everybody's on Twitter.
Well, the Bible is, it's 5,000years old cause this, okay.
But like, I'm sorry.
if it's, if it is like,like, what does this mean?
(15:13):
How does this work?
And I had a professor up inToronto, John McLaughlin, who
was really into this stuff.
I said, I want tolearn about that.
He goes, Well, yougot to learn hebrew.
I said, okay.
Well, like I alreadystudied like, okay.
No biggie.
So I enrolled in Hebrew
Katie Love (15:25):
I just saw you say, no biggie.
I just enrolled in Hebrew.
Fr. Mike (15:29):
Well, I could and well and I thought it's I've
never done a language likethis, it's really cool.
Katie Love (15:34):
Next week I'll be doing Aramaic.
Fr. Mike (15:36):
I did learn some of that.
so I did the same thing withSpanish I bought flashcards
I had a very good T.
A.
who helped me out, wasvery encouraging for me.
And I just did the samething with Spanish.
I approached it likea, like a spoken language.
And I loved it.
I got really good at it.
It was just phenomenal.
And reading the Bible, readingthe Old Testament in the
(15:57):
original Hebrew, unlockedso many things that the
English translation,we just don't get
It's just not there.
And that's nobody's fault.
It's just you're readinga translation.
So nuance and stuff.
It's just not there.
and at the same time, I'mreading all this stuff.
So then I'm like, okay,what do I do with this?
I'm reading it in theoriginal language.
It's showing all these changesthat we just don't get.
(16:18):
Which made me see thistext has got to be
inspired by Godbecause I look at some of
these things even how wordflow happens in different
books and stuff and itjust exploded my brain And
looking at the Hebrew going.
This is just amazing And thenwhen it came to the monsters,
I found a lot of thatactually was also Canaanites.
So Canaanites There aredifferent languages.
(16:39):
One's Ugaritic, so you gottalearn a hieroglyphic language.
I wasn't able totake a class on that.
But I was able to do a littlebit with it.
And so I can remember thisTA unrolling these scrolls
for me up in the top ofthe university library.
So we're going throughlooking at this text,
6, 000 years old, right?
and you're looking atit and it's basically
identical to like partof the book of Isaiah.
(17:01):
So it's just a liftingfrom the Canaanite.
They just took astory, Which is like
what I do every weekfor a homily, right?
I take a story from somethingand I use it somewhere else.
And that was justfascinating to me how now
the biblical authors aretaking stories everybody
knew to say something about God.
we all know the story.
(17:21):
I'm going to put itinto the Bible
and it's telling us somethingabout the
Lord, which with the seamonster is that the Lord is
the master of the sea, That'sone example of many, right?
I'm really oversimplifying,but, and that God is more
powerful than the sea.
And that just, that wasjust fascinating to me
or another way to put it,there's chaos in the world.
(17:42):
And in some stories, Godtampers down the chaos and
defeats it, this is likeIsaiah, and then there's
other points where there'schaos in the world and
the Lord delights in it.
And says it's the mostbeautiful thing he's ever made.
Which is the endof the book of joe
with Leviathan.
And that just, as someone wholikes control and lists, and
you know, I thought, well lookat what you've done, Lord.
(18:04):
You've made me study chaos.
And you show methat sometimes God contains it,
and sometimes God lets it go.
All this is found withinthe scriptural text.
All this is within the bible.
So it's not always aquestion of, is it what
we would understandtoday as factually true,
Cause there are differentgenres in the Bible as
(18:25):
much as this story hassomething to teach me.
Am I able to open up, mymind, my heart, my hands,
my whole body to receive it.
And then am I able to act on it?
And that, was justtransformative to me.
I mean, I remember I was,finishing up in Toronto
writing this master's thesison Leviathan, and I was all
geeked out because I was likeI want to go to Jerusalem now,
(18:47):
it's 2009, and I want to studymodern Hebrew because there
are some similarities, and Iwant to learn more Aramaic,
you know, I want to look atthese languages, and then I
want to basically get a PhDin Bible, but language, right?
I want to do linguisticwork because there's so much
we can, there's so many issuesthat we think are issues.
That I think if we wereto say, here's what the
language says, here's whatthe dates are, it would
(19:09):
solve a lot of issues.
So I'm all geekedout about this.
Yeah, I can see your face, yep.
Katie Love (19:15):
I would fall asleep.
But unfortunatelythe camera tell everyone that.
So, uh, you know,bearing with you.
Fr. Mike (19:21):
And I went to the current provincial
this is what I want to do.
And he said no.
Katie Love (19:25):
Well, he probably said, What?
Fr. Mike (19:27):
Well, no, we, we actually had a scripture
scholar in the Oblates aheadof me, Father Tony Ceresko,
whose chalice I have.
The chalice you see in thechurch that's got the wood
on then the mosaic andall that, that was his.
And he was a scripturelinguistic scholar.
He had just died acouple years later.
In fact, the guyteaching me in Toronto
had been his student.
So I said, I'd like to do this.
And they said, no, isnot the time for that.
(19:49):
You're going to be ordained.
You need to go off anddo teach high school
Yeah, do that.
So again, I made alifetime vow of obedience.
And so I said, understood.
Okay.
So I finished up my work.
Katie Love (20:03):
You said this, nobody else would say that.
But yeah.
You're like, yes.
Fr. Mike (20:09):
John, the John, the 23rd had this great line
that I've never forgottenhim where I read it, but
he had this line wherehe said, it might've been
his papal motto, but hesaid, obedience is peace.
And I've always thoughtabout that, like if I'm
going to vow my life to someone,And this is what is
request or asked for.
And I do the best Ican to achieve that.
(20:29):
Then there's nothingmore I can do.
And that's always givenme a whole lot of peace.
Like today, I had to get ahomily ready for Mass today,
and I'm like, all week at home Icannot think about how homily.
I'm driving back herethis afternoon, listening
to Randy's podcastand I'm like, that's it.
So like, I pull the car over,I pull out the notes app.
I put on the voice recorder.
I speak the homily intothe voice recorder or
(20:50):
the main ideas, and thenI, then I drive back
and it's like, okay.
Obedience is peace.
So I went and taught high schooland I loved it.
And then two years later, hecalled me into his office and
he goes, okay, it's time to dothat PhD and I was just like,
I'm not going to lie to you.
None of these ninthgraders care about that.
I tried teachingHebrew ninth graders.
They did not care.
Katie Love (21:10):
I find that hard to believe.
Working with highschool students
myself, I think Hebrews
Fr. Mike (21:18):
We had a song, it doesn't matter, but
but the interestingthing was that the
questions were different.
And in my mind I thought,you know, I know enough
about this to satisfy myown curiosity.
I know what I needed to find.
I don't need to do this anymorefor me.
What I needed to know, I know.
And I still read a lotabout it now, to be honest.
(21:39):
I have a whole sidething where I'm reading.
My Hebrew is nothing likeit used to be, which is sad,
Katie Love (21:44):
I can't believe that won't
get you far in Adrian.
I mean, I hope yourLatin is much better.
Fr. Mike (21:50):
I've been studying a little bit of Latin
because I never took it.
Katie Love (21:54):
How many languages would you say you have more
than dipped your your toe in?
Fr. Mike (22:00):
Spanish and English.
Sign language, wehave an Oblate who's
deaf, and I can sign.
I don't sign well.
In fact, the parts of thebrain that do written spoken
language and sign languagelanguage are different parts
of the brain.
I've done Mass in sign.
I've made tons of mistakes.
The blessing is I'mnot afraid to do it.
And the people are justalways very welcoming.
(22:21):
In fact, Father MikeDepcik I think he
just watches my mouth.
Cause he's very good lip reader.
Like we'll do somethinglike, you're not even
watching my hands.
Right.
Like you're not evenwatching my hands right now.
Right.
And he's like, no, I'mlike, can I just stop?
He's like, Oh no, no.
If I can't read yourlips, I'm going to need
to watch the signs.
[ Laughter] So,I'll, I'll do that.
I do French, but not well,but my French is always
getting every time I go backto France, it gets better.
(22:42):
Now I can listen and pick outwords and general ideas.
Portuguese, but again, justfrom the Spanish.
I can't read it.
But if we're speakingPortuguese and
Spanish are pretty similar.
Katie Love (22:52):
They're close.
Fr. Mike (22:52):
They're close.
Latin, I can kind ofread with a dictionary.
LikeHebrew, you know, biblical,
I was decent at, a littlebit of Aramaic 'cause
they're very similar.
And that's all Ireally could say.
It would just be that.
Katie Love (23:06):
And that's been what?
Over the last 20 yearsyou've studied all those
languages?
Fr. Mike (23:12):
Yeah.
I mean, you figureI started Spanish in
'95 in high and haveschool, and I've
never stopped Spanish.
Katie Love (23:19):
Yeah, but outside of that.
You know, sign language...
Fr. Mike (23:20):
Sign would have been 2000 some.
Katie Love (23:21):
Some biblical language.
Fr. Mike (23:22):
Yeah.
That was a couple years, yeah.
Katie Love (23:25):
I think you need to find a hobby.
Fr. Mike (23:27):
I think that was the hobby.
I'm afraid to go on Duolingobecause I may never leave
it if I've been doing it.
Katie Love (23:33):
That's true.
We definitely need to.
But, perhaps finding a gameor something might be
Fr. Mike (23:43):
Might be a good idea.
Katie Love (23:44):
Well, well you you do Farmville and Candy Crush.
Fr. Mike (23:47):
I do Farmville, Best fiends not Candy Crush.
I just started Farmville, it'svery addicting.
and Best Fiends I'mstill working on, but.
Katie Love (23:54):
That's probably as close to working on
to working on a farmas you're gonna gonna get.
Fr. Mike (23:58):
That's exactly right.
Katie Love (23:59):
You could work at Maria's farm taking care
of the chickens and the,
Fr. Mike (24:02):
Uh, I could, I could.
But it's just like camping.
I was in Cub Scouts untilall of a sudden, Boy Scouts,
they're like, you gotta pitcha tent and sleep outside.
I'm like, you gotta do what?
I was like, oh no, ideaof camping is like going
to the Holiday Inn, right?
Like, that's, that's enough.
This whole outdoor thingfor fun, that's crazy.
Katie Love (24:21):
So I just imagine.
Fr. Mike (24:26):
I didn't last long I I think it was like
two days in Boy Scoutsand I'm like, I'm done.
That's happening.
Let's move on.
Katie Love (24:34):
What would you say maybe the next
10 years hold for you?
Anything different?
Like, is the potential togo study still on the table?
Or is there somethingthat's unfulfilled in what
you're hoping to achieve?
I could see Pope Michael.
I'm not wishing deathon Francis in the
next ten years butwe, we need a little
(24:54):
help getting youto Cardinal status.
That's for certain.
Fr. Mike (24:56):
Yeah, I don't speak Italian so I think
I'm okay not worrying aboutthe whole papal thing, don't
think it's gonna happen.
And I think some of thestuff I've done here, they're
like, we do not want him.
Katie Love (25:05):
I don't understand.
A man who speaks likealmost eight languages
decently and writes papersfor fun in his spare time.
Why wouldn't they want you?
Fr. Mike (25:15):
Oh, okay.
I don't speak eight language.
That's a littleexaggeration there.
I would say Englishand Spanish, a little
bit of sign language.
The others are good.
No, all kidding aside,I think what I'm most
interested in nowhere in Adrian is, you
know, our, our own abilityas a parish at this time in
the Catholic church, likewhat, what do we do now?
(25:35):
Like in the United StatesI hesitate to ever use
words like decline orrise, I just don't think
they're helpful words.
But instead it's like, here wehave a group of people trying
to follow Jesus In a culturethat is ambivalent towards
it, you know, at best andhostile towards it at worst.
So what does thatlook like for us?
(25:56):
And then as we do that, I'mso conditioned to think the
things that we have now we'realways going going have.
Whereas in reality thatmay not be the case, right?
We don't know what's going tobe happening in the future.
I also find thatincredibly exciting, right?
When it's like, we don't knowwhat's coming forward, but
it's going to be something.
And we're still goingto be able to find God
and Christ in that.
(26:18):
If I'm able inpresent moment to pay
attention to itAnd and, realize it.
So that's, that'swhat I think for here.
For me personally, Ihonestly don't know.
I don't have any desire atthis point to go anywhere
than where I I am right now.
Katie Love (26:32):
No, I don't mean leave parish, but, you
did the Salesian Symposiumthis year, which you had
previously not done, buthad some desire to do.
Fr. Mike (26:43):
Scholarship for us, I think, is important.
Us being the Oblates.
I like doing that work tobe able to read that stuff
and think about that stuff.
And my French isstill, it's okay.
It's not good enough, whereI would want to say I could
translate a whole documentand pick out the nuances.
That's not there.
I wouldn't mind somedaygoing and really, I think
it would take a yearor so, just to really
(27:04):
immerse myself in French.
To learn the original languageof the founders and whatnot.
And then to kind of do thesame thing I was saying
about the Bible, right?
You read these documents,you're able to pick up
ideas, what's reallyimportant, what stands out here,
and then to do that kind ofcultural work and spiritual
work.
Francis de Sales has certainwords, that means certain
things in his spiritualitythat don't in others.
(27:27):
You know, how do we bestreappropriate that for today?
That's of a huge interest to me.
Father Brisson had thesame for the Oblates.
How do we reappropriate theidea of the presence of God?
which is talked about inmonasteries and stuff where
they're sweeping a floorto today where there's a
robot that's going tosweep the floor for you.
Like how does that work today?
Where's God found today?
(27:47):
So that's ahuge interest of mine.
Katie Love (27:49):
I feel like studying in France
could happen given yourcurrent provincial.
There could be like alittle pull, if you will.
Fr. Mike (27:56):
Everything is possible.
I think if I were to request,he would probably say okay.
Going back to when I was incollege.
I know it's there when Ihave this burning desire in
Katie Love (28:06):
my heart to do
Fr. Mike (28:07):
it.
And that desire is notyet present.
So when that's notthere, I don't move.
And people go, well,it's intellectual?
I'm like, it's really not.
It's a feeling.
Katie Love (28:18):
Yeah.
For as intellectual asyou are, you're a really
big feeler.
Fr. Mike (28:20):
I'm a big feeler.
Yeah.
it shocks people like,Oh no, like I just
do that by my gut.
really?
I'm like, Oh yeah,I just feel it.
Well, it's like with peoplelike at church, Deacon Len
will say this, he's like, Idon't know why you're going
to have that homily there.
Cause you're just going towalk around and not use it.
And some days he's right.
Cause I've written somethingand I'm looking at the people
when I come early church, talkto people and I'm like, this
is not where we are today.
(28:41):
So I'm going to talk aboutsomething totally different.
Katie Love (28:43):
Yeah, last Sunday you just did that for the
RCIA right of welcoming.
You're like, You know what?
I'm scraping this andwe're gonna go here.
Fr. Mike (28:51):
Oh yeah.
And then Maria made itbeautiful because of the reel
she did, I was like, Oh, Isounded really good there.
Katie Love (28:56):
I know she makes all of us really good.
I'm so grateful to her
Fr. Mike (28:59):
No, but that was it.
Like we had the right ofwelcoming and I had this
wonderful homily on, you know,we have this thing about RCIA
here, which I like, whichis you encounter Jesus.
You know you love Jesus, Youlive Jesus, right?
That's the four stages.
And I had this whole thingout with stories and stuff
and I'm just looking at them,and I can still see them
because I'm looking at them.
They're right
Katie Love (29:18):
here.
Fr. Mike (29:19):
And the thing about it is I don't know
them all really well,but I know their stories.
I know their sponsors, mostof them and what's going on.
And I'm like, This is notgoing to help us right now.
Or that's not the rightword to say.
This is not the word.
Katie Love (29:32):
This is not the right time.
Fr. Mike (29:33):
Yeah, this is not the word that
needs to be proclaimedto these people right now.
Let's just dosomething different.
And then you just say,okay, Holy Spirit,
make something work.
And then you take anidea or two and like,
okay, here we go.
And then poor
Katie Love (29:44):
Kurt,
Fr. Mike (29:45):
because he turns the cameras around.
I try to stay in the ambonow, especially four o'clock
mass, cause we're sendingit to the nursing homes.
And it's just a betterpicture for all of them.
If I just confine myselfand I know it's better on
the internet, I think forpeople when I do that,
cause I'm trying to thinkof the sick, the homebound
those who are at home,they send us messages, like
(30:05):
thank you for broadcastingMass or sending this out, but
Katie Love (30:09):
Yeah, the extended parish.
Fr. Mike (30:10):
Right, yeah.
The extended Parish.
I'm always mindful ofthem, but some days you're
like, I just got to dothis, but it's a gut,
it's a gut feeling.
Katie Love (30:16):
Yeah, I mean, now, it's not just homebound, but
we have people watching inforeign countries, we've got
people watching inNorthern Michigan.
We got
Fr. Mike (30:26):
philippines love us!
Katie Love (30:27):
The Philippines.
I think we could get astrong following in Venezuela
out of having Fiorella
Fr. Mike (30:31):
It's possible, it's possible.
Katie Love (30:33):
Yeah, so, I think, that is important, but I do
appreciate that, the fact thatyou are very intellectual,
but you're also a bigfeeler, I mean, the
balance is striking.
Fr. Mike (30:44):
Oh yeah, nobody cried harder
at prom when I had tochaperone it than me.
be sitting there.
You probably can'tput this in the podcast, but
but, was this one prom, Iprobably should tell
the story, but I will,
Katie Love (30:55):
[Laughter]
Fr. Mike (30:55):
and so when I used to go to chaperone
high school dances, Iwould go with the holy
water bucket, right?
At St.
Francis, we had this balconyoverlooking the dance.
And I would always teachthe kids the Cotton Eye Joe
before homecoming, becausewe had to have at least
one dance that you coulddo by yourself that looked
dignified, and you weren'tlike, smothering your partner.
So then we would get,and I love drama.
(31:17):
So we get the whole groupdoing it, which was always
very enjoyable for me.
Probably more about me thanthe kids, but that's why I
left high school ministry.
Katie Love (31:27):
Yes.
Fr. Mike (31:28):
But then I would go on the balcony with
the holy water and I wouldjust, during some of those
slow dance songs, you know,10 years ago that were just...
there was nothing
Katie Love (31:37):
a little K-Ci & Jojo and yeah.
Fr. Mike (31:39):
That's it.
I would rain down holywater above and they
would all stop andthey would all separate and
they would all look up thenI would just be looking down
at them going like littleblessing and then they would
wave and they would wave andthen we go right back into it.
Katie Love (31:53):
I would just like to ask, is there anything
else you want to share withwith your captive audience?
Fr. Mike (31:57):
I think the biggest blessing, people often look
at the parish and say likethe parish is going so well
because of what you've done.
And what I generallylike to say back to them
is (32:10):
we are all here in a group together right?
And, and that's,why this is going as it's going.
I even hate to put wellor not well qualifiers
on it because that'sall subjective.
Like what's your, how doyou measure success, right?
Jesus is not aboutsuccess measuring like
by Instagram followersor anything like that.
Katie Love (32:33):
Although you did blow up with your
your playboy homily.
Fr. Mike (32:36):
He did.
I want to thank Monsignor.
He's over at st.
Joe's campus.
I see him every time I come
Katie Love (32:41):
Clem kern.
Fr. Mike (32:41):
That's right.
Monsignor Kern.
But you know the LordJesus was really into just
individual conversion,one person at a time And then
moving forward with that.
And so, you know, a lotof times I'll be like, Oh,
I wish, you know, Envy.
It's a key thing.
I always struggle with Envy.
Why don't we like this?
Why don't we have that one?
You know.
And then you can miss allthe grace that actually is
(33:03):
happening because I'm sofocused on something else.
Instead of saying, look atthe wonderful things God
has done here and look whatI'm able to participate in.
Or the line I like to usemost for my life comes from
Henri Nouwen, but Nouwengoes, my deepest vocation
is to be a witness to theglimpses of God that I've been
privileged enough to catch.
(33:25):
And like when I'm saying Masshere and going up the aisle
and I'm looking at peopleand people hate when I look
at them, not everyone, butsome people are like they
looked and I looked down.
Some people are just like,Oh, Hey, you know, and then
we got the kids who love it.
And so I'm like waving at them.
But when I go into church, andI see people I remember, well,
Your mom just died.
(33:45):
You know, you're sick with this.
You just won thesoftball tournament
You just had a baby.
This is the one yearanniversary of RCIA,
you know what I mean?
It's this whole communal thing.
And then to participatein that, to be in that.
God, what a gift, whatan absolute gift.
Katie Love (34:02):
I also think, bringing in the Salesian
Spirituality of unidiversityhas been one of the greatest
blessings that we've had,because I don't think people
had to give up who they wereor a lot of their spirituality
to be able to have HolyFamily come together.
Fr. Mike (34:19):
Right.
Yeah.
We don't need to get rid of.
It's not, it's noteither-or it's both-and
we can do this together.
Greg Boyle is aJesuit priest gangs.
I love his books.
It's very challenging.
He just released a bookcalled Cherished belonging.
And it's all about we belongtogether and we work together
(34:40):
and I can't readthings like that
and not think of the powerof Eucharist, which is seen
sacramentally in the body andblood of Christ on the altar,
and then incarnatedphysically in each and every
one of us in all that we do.
Everything, in a sense,is, eucharistic,
everything partakes in this.
Not everything, but withinthe context of the church.
(35:02):
All this partakes of Christ'sbody and Christ's blood
and the giving, andthe dying and the rising and the
It's just so, it's so powerful.
It's so powerful.
Katie Love (35:12):
One of my favorite things lately that I've been
meditating on is an Instagrampost by someone who said, I
don't want to miss Jesus inall the different aspects
of life the burning bushthe you know, because we
think of it being very cleanand clear cut . But it's
really in the messiness andchaos that the incarnation
happens on Christmas.
That's what we're looking atand it's not in the quiet,
(35:37):
still manger, the meme oflike, Oh, Mary just got Jesus
to sleep and a drummer boythought the best idea he
could do was bang his drum.
It's all of that.
Right.
And that's where Godcomes is in the messiness.
Fr. Mike (35:49):
And flourishes, I think in the messiness.
Flourishes in it.
Katie Love (35:57):
I think if we ever get still, I think
we should be carefulbecause some real issues.
Fr. Mike (35:59):
I'm like, okay,Lord.
understood.
Understood.
Message received..
Help me.
Katie Love (36:06):
Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
I know you're a very busy man.
So to give us this timeand wisdom with everybody
who is listening, whowe're so grateful for
it is just a blessing.
Fr. Mike (36:17):
Thank you.
No.It's, an honor anda pleasure to be here
with you and Maria,and also just to continue
to be here at Holy Family.
It's a gift that God justJust keeps on giving.
And I'm grateful for that.
Katie Love (36:30):
We are grateful for you.
Once again, we thank youfor joining us today.
We hope that wherever youfind an open seat in your
life, you will invitesomeone to join you.
here we have a group of people trying to
(00:01):
follow Jesus In a culturethat is ambivalent towards
it, you know, at best andhostile towards it at worst.
So what does thatlook like for us?
Katie Love (00:12):
Welcome to Open Seat, the podcast where we
create a space for authenticconversations about faith,
unfiltered and unapologetic.
Here, we believe thatevery story matters.
Whether you're questioning,seeking, or steadfast in
your beliefs, you'll findsomething relatable in
these heartfelt discussions.
(00:34):
So grab your seat, getcomfortable, and let's
dive into today's storyhere at Open Seat.
Well today on the podcastin the Open Seat, we have
the very Reverend Michael E.
Newman, OSFS.
You have been with, well, St.
(00:54):
Mary of Good Counsel fora long time, since you were
ordained,
Fr. Mike (00:57):
right?
Well, before I came in 2007.
I was then a student atthe University of Toronto, St.
Michael's College, whereall the Oblates at that
point went from ourprovince to study theology.
And we could do fieldplacement, or we could do
clinical pastoral education,CPE.
And CPE is actually theone you probably should do.
Like it's how you dohospitals and stuff that.
But I said, I'm nevergoing to be a pastor.
(01:19):
I'm never goingto be in a parish.
I'm going to be teaching highschool Spanish until I die.
So, I want to do migrantministry, see if I'm any
good at it.
And at that point, St.
Mary Good Counsel wherethe Oblates were in Adrian,
did migrant ministry.
And St.
Mary Good Counsel had thisother priest living here,
Father Bob Schramm, Godrest him, who was very
liturgical, what an innovator.
And I couldn't understanda blessed thing he
(01:41):
did, why he did whathe did, I had no idea.
And I thought, I needto understand this.
Because so many times peopledo something in liturgy or in
life and we just judge them.
Or we say, they're unorthodox,they're a heretic, and
we don't we don't look atthe why.
And I just thought, I wantto understand the why.
So I called Bob up,and I said, Bob, I'd
(02:02):
like to come to St.
Mary of Good Counselfor the summer.
I want to do migrant ministry.
I also want to learn fromyou about your unique
liturgical style, becauseI just don't know anything
about this and I'm judgey.
He goes, well, great.
I'd love to have you.
So I come in for the summer.
It's 2007 and I was herefrom May up until about
August when I left.
(02:22):
And it was a wonderful summer.
I mean, we were at themigrant fields, same
ones we go to now.
We were theremultiple times a week.
Eric Jorge, who's oneof our Oblate priests in
South America was here.
So we became friends.
I met all the Hispaniccommunity here, did a
lot there, taught Englishduring the summer, worked
with migrants, workedwith our own people here.
(02:43):
It was very powerful.
Made a lot of friendshipsI still have today.
Just very powerful.
So when it came two yearslater for ordination,
I called Bob back.
I said, I'm beingordained a priest.
I'm going to be in Toledo at St.
Francis teachingSpanish and religion.
Would you like help atyour bilingual Mass?
Because he didn't like sayingit, It can be stressful
and it's foreign and Isaid, I'd be happy to do it.
(03:05):
He's like, really?
I said, yeah.
I said, when do youwant me to start?
How about next week?
So I said, well, giveme two weeks after the
ordination and we'll do it.
And so during the week, thenI would teach during the week,
and then I would come uphere on Sunday and I would
say the bilingual Mass.
And then at that point,Sacred Heart, we had a
priest there, Father Gaberly.
(03:26):
And so he found out andhe said, you know, we have
these dairy farms in Hudson.
Would you consider comingout at night and saying Mass
and doing some catechesiswith the dairy farmers?
Not every weekend, buta couple times a month.
So I'm like sure that's fine.
So at one point then, we do
mass here at 11 (03:40):
45 and then I would go to Tim Hortons and
grade papers and eat lunchand then drive to Hudson and
we would do Mass and thencatechesis and dinner and I
go get back to Toledo at 10o'clock and, and you know.
So this is a couple yearsand it was great.
I loved it but yeah, I'vebeen involved here 15 years.
Quinceañera year.
Katie Love (04:00):
Oh, I think there's a party coming.
When I hear you talkabout the way it used
to be, some of that issimilar to how it is now.
I don't know if peopleknow this, but you're the
chaplain at Siena still.
Fr. Mike (04:10):
Right.
The chaplainat Siena Heights University.
Katie Love (04:11):
So you have some obligations to them.
Fr. Mike (04:13):
Yep.
Katie Love (04:14):
I don't know who tapped you, but someone
did tap you to do Massout at the dairy farms.
Well, Sacred Heart in Hudson.
Fr. Mike (04:20):
Yes, our vicariate wanted to go back.
The dairy farms wereclosed, and so all the
migrants who were therewent somewhere else.
But they recently reopened,and so the thought was, could
we do Mass out there again?
And I said, let's try it.
We'll do anexperimental on basis.
So once a month right now Igo out there on a Saturday
(04:42):
night and it's basicallythe same thing as before.
We have Mass at seven,not really much catechesis
at this point because thekids all speak English
so they're, you know, inregular faith formation,
but, you know, it's massand then it's dinner, and the
dinner is just as important.
You know, meeting thefamilies as the church.
But yeah, so that'sone Saturday night a month.
Katie Love (04:58):
And you also assist the Diocese when
they need someone to hearconfessions in Spanish in
various locations, too.
Yeah.
and then you're the pastorof Holy Family.
Perhaps the boss of Holy Family.
Fr. Mike (05:10):
Some would say.
I don't think so.
I think cheerleader is probablythe best word use.
Katie Love (05:15):
And then you also have this
extra title of AssistantProvincial of the Oblates.
Fr. Mike (05:19):
Yes, that is correct.
Katie Love (05:21):
So, I mean, a man who wears many hats.
Fr. Mike (05:24):
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
Every week is different.
Every day is different.
The Oblates are family, right?
So, people say, what do you do?
I'm like, well, I'mwith the family today.
So this is the familyresponsibility, the family
obligation.
I like doing work for them.
Katie Love (05:39):
because I'm sure parishioners
here have noticed thatyou're traveling a lot more.
You're doing a lot more.
So, can you explain some ofthis to us?
Fr. Mike (05:46):
Sure.
So the Oblates aregoverned, and governed is a
loose term, but in a religiouscommunity like ours,
you have a province.
So a province is like adiocese, except it's not
geographically based, Soour province right now
would be Buffalo, New York,Toledo, Adrian, and we have
a house in Washington, DC,and technically could go all
(06:06):
the way out to California.
There were people out inCalifornia when I started.
Katie Love (06:10):
Yeah, in Florida, right?
All the way down?
Fr. Mike (06:11):
Yeah, the Wilmington province still
has men in Florida, butin we don't anymore.
But, but it's run by aProvincial and the Provincial
is the equivalent to a Bishop.
So my brother is theProvincial, Father Joe, who
he did our mission last year,
Katie Love (06:24):
Yeah.
And he did a podcast
Fr. Mike (06:27):
So he is the Provincial and
then the ProvincialCouncil assists him.
And so that is myself andthen Father Alan Zobler and
then Father Craig Irwin, whowas here as a seminarian.
Katie Love (06:37):
Yes.
Fr. Mike (06:38):
And so I'm what's called the
Assistant Provincial.
By our constitutions, theonly thing that makes the
Assistant Provincial specialis if the Provincial is
not able to perform hisduties, the Assistant
Provincial takes over.
And, if the Provincialis made the Superior
General, or passes awayor something, Provincial
(06:59):
has to call, the Assistanthas to call an election.
I mean, I don't want tomake it sound less important
than it is, but you know,I read the fine prints.
Sothat's what it is.
But in practice, it's somewhat's whatever Administrative
stuff that my brother wantsto give me or different
projects for the Oblate's thatthat we take on.
So we've been doing a lot oftraveling recently Working
(07:21):
on leadership within ourown provincial council
and with the Wilmington,Philadelphia province talking
about the future.
So that's had me out ofAdrian more than it normally
would.
I give two retreats a yearfor different dioceses,
different places onthe Spirituality of St.
Francis de Sales.
So I did, I had one ofthose this fall that I was at.
(07:43):
I'm a member of theInternational Association
Scholars Seminar.
I think we're reallydesperate when I get on that.
Katie Love (07:50):
That just sounds like
nerding out right there.
I mean, that is your dream andthat is most everybody's
like nightmare.
Fr. Mike (07:55):
Oh, it was, yeah, it was so much fun.
I wrote an academicpaper while here working
Katie Love (08:01):
At 44.
yeah.
Fr. Mike (08:02):
On Synodality and Salesian Spirituality to
present at this conferenceand I could revise it.
We'll see what it's in God'shands right now but
yeah, it was great.
I had a great weekendwith everybody doing that.
And then really it'sjust other various things
that cross my desk.
Right now we start 150years of the Oblates.
It's Jubilee year.
So I'm working with someOblates on celebrations
(08:24):
in Toledo and Adrian andthroughout our province.
I'm also editing a couplelittle booklets that
I would like to see usproduce during that year.
So I'm, reformattingthem, retyping them
editing them, basically.
And all that just takes time.
And then I continuetraveling with Joe and
others as they ask me to.
Katie Love (08:44):
Yeah.
So that's potentially whywe haven't seen you around
a or it
Fr. Mike (08:49):
a lot of it's been that.
Katie Love (08:50):
if people wanna have a meeting, it's kind
of like, oh, I'm sorry,but I'm not available for
a little while becauseof all these other obligations.
Fr. Mike (08:57):
yeah, it's rare.
I mean, people are like,can I meet with you?
I'm like, yes, but we'reprobably looking at next week.
And, it's not a negative, Itry to get as much into a week
as I possibly can.
Katie Love (09:07):
Yes.
I don't knowthat I've met anyone else
who tries to stuff more inWhich is just fascinating
that we're in presenttime spirituality when
your calendar just screams, Ihave 400 things to do today.
Fr. Mike (09:21):
Well, and that's I think that's why I like
salesian spirituality so muchbecause it's a struggle for me
to practice it, right?
Like Francis says payattention to the man walking
through your door and I'msaying I want to but i've
got to take care of thisother thing right now.
And yet the Lord hasput this guy here And or this
Person, here.
So, okay.
How how am I goingto respond to this?
So then okay Lord, giveme the grace to do it.
(09:43):
Let me let go of Whateverpreconceived notion
I have to fitmyself into what you
Have and that's sohard for me to do.
Katie Love (09:51):
I'm always frightened when you say to me,
oh I have this list of thingsI need to get done because
I know then some tornado isgoing to come and wreck that.
I'm just like,oh Lord, please help
him handle this wellBecause inevitably they'll
Be a sick call or an anointingat hospice or something
and then all these plans are.
Fr. Mike (10:13):
But Fr.
Tom Helfrich is nowhere and he has so graciously
said, I'm here to help.
And I accept that help.
Katie Love (10:22):
No, he's been a great addition
Fr. Mike (10:24):
He's been a wonderful help
here for the parish.
I mean, that's been, that'sbeen the biggest gift is
that something comes like,Tom, can you handle this?
Cause I'm on a zoomcall for the next two
hours or something.
And I can't break awayright now.
Katie Love (10:35):
That has been a good gift.
gift
Fr. Mike (10:38):
Yeah.
His coming has been wonderful.
Katie Love (10:39):
And you've been assistant provincial
at the Oblates for a longtime, so.
Fr. Mike (10:43):
Yeah, I've been in leadership 2011, 2012,
I think I started.
But So I think, yeah, threeprovincials, nine, nine
years, ten years as assistant
Katie Love (10:53):
right after you were ordained,
Fr. Mike (10:55):
Yeah, it was two years, yeah, because
I spoke up at a meetingand everybody else didn't,
that's what I think.
Other people mightsay something else.
I was like, no, I just,Expressed myself strongly on the
floor, and then after thatI found that people voted.
when I go to meetings now, I'mlike, I'm not going to say a
word, not going to say a word.
(11:16):
I think it's somebodytalks about Isaiah.
One of the prophets says,this fire wells up in you
and you've got to talk.
And I'm just like, tamperdown fire, like tamper down.
Katie Love (11:25):
Soon we're going to see him turn into the
burning bush in the staffmeeting.
I can't wait.
We'll make sure to take photos
Fr. Mike (11:31):
Yeah.
Make sure to get-.
It will be a greatInstagram reel.
Katie Love (11:34):
Yes, this is a big concern.
Is a good Instagram?
is how we judgespirituality nowadays
in the Catholic Church.
Fr. Mike (11:42):
Unfortunate, but true.
Katie Love (11:45):
So you said, St.
Therese of Lisieux wasn'tyour favorite saint.
So who is your favorite saint?
Fr. Mike (11:49):
Oh, that's a good Question.
I go through, I go throughperiods with saints, right?
so I think for me, saintshit me when I need them.
And then they, not depart,but it's like friendship,
you know, you get somebodywho walks with you for a
period of time and thenthey kind of walk away.
so I would say rightnow it probably is St.
(12:11):
Francis de Salesbecause of proximity.
In my spare time when I'mstill trying to, I've spent
five years in this goal butI'm trying to read about
Francis as bishop, but alsoas pastor.
Because I'm trying to distillwhat are the earmarks or the
signs that he would have done.
So when I do these retreatsaround the country, I'll take
a little bit of this, let'slook at that, or when I did
(12:33):
the paper on synodality,it was, what did a synod
look like for Francis?
And nothing like it looksnow, it's totally different.
But it was just aninteresting way of what is,
what was the pastoral stylelike?
And then what can weglean from that that's
still applicable today.
So I would say at thispoint, probably St.
Francis de Sales.
Katie Love (12:51):
that's, an interesting thing
because, I would think,we'd be talking about St.
Michael the Archangel as yournumber one in this world.
Fr. Mike (12:58):
Well, I do like Michael.
I'm not going to lie.
I use this stuff, when I domy rosary every day, I include
the prayer at the end, I don'twant to say I don't think
about it every day, but it'slike, be with me, protect me.
When I bless cars, Ialways invoke him for
the people in the car, right?
And I always enjoy himfighting the dragon.
it's one of my favorite things.
I wrote a master'sthesis on that,
(13:19):
so that was, yeah.
Katie Love (13:20):
Yeah, you have written some
interesting papers.
Fr. Mike (13:23):
Who doesn't want to study Old Testament monsters?
I can't, oh, Ican't believe that.
Katie Love (13:32):
Well, wasn't just me missed the
audience raising theirhands collectively.
Fr. Mike (13:34):
Can't believe, Oh, I can't believe that.
No, no, no, no, no.
Katie Love (13:37):
I mean, we all live the monsters in manger
homily at the Epiphany
Fr. Mike (13:41):
Oh, that's of my favorite ones.
Katie Love (13:43):
I feel like it's a brief synopsis
of your masters thesis though.
Fr. Mike (13:48):
Well, so here's, here's the
bigger, I'll lay it out.
Here's the big idea andthe small idea.
Big idea is this.
So the Bible Is theinspired Word of God.
Yet there are seamonsters in it.
So how do you deal with this?
cause a lot of times we'll,in the Catholic faith, in
faith general, we will saythings but not think about the
repercussions of what we say.
(14:09):
So if I say this tobe true, that's fine.
But that carries a wholelot of other stuff with it.
It doesn't mean it's nottrue, but there's a whole
lot wound up in that.
Here's an example.
We may need toedit this out but.
So, a lot of times we'lltalk about the creation
story in the bible, right?
Like, there's thecreation story.
It had to happen like this.
Earth is made in seven days,you know, and it's this thing.
(14:29):
Okay, that's Genesis one.
But Genesis 2 has atotally different story.
Now the earth is this flatland and God creates people.
And then sometimes wetry and like, it's called
harmonize, we try toput the two together.
We totally forget Psalm 74,which is also a creation
story, where God splitsthe monster in two and
then makes the earth growout of it.
(14:49):
So there's a whole nother one.
Or Psalm 89 where hedoes the same thing.
So I'm here in collegebut I'm going to dedicate
my life to the faithbut like, is this earth?
Is this a sea monster carcass?
Like, what is this?
And nobody's talking about it,but everybody's on Twitter.
Well, the Bible is, it's 5,000years old cause this, okay.
But like, I'm sorry.
if it's, if it is like,like, what does this mean?
(15:13):
How does this work?
And I had a professor up inToronto, John McLaughlin, who
was really into this stuff.
I said, I want tolearn about that.
He goes, Well, yougot to learn hebrew.
I said, okay.
Well, like I alreadystudied like, okay.
No biggie.
So I enrolled in Hebrew
Katie Love (15:25):
I just saw you say, no biggie.
I just enrolled in Hebrew.
Fr. Mike (15:29):
Well, I could and well and I thought it's I've
never done a language likethis, it's really cool.
Katie Love (15:34):
Next week I'll be doing Aramaic.
Fr. Mike (15:36):
I did learn some of that.
so I did the same thing withSpanish I bought flashcards
I had a very good T.
A.
who helped me out, wasvery encouraging for me.
And I just did the samething with Spanish.
I approached it likea, like a spoken language.
And I loved it.
I got really good at it.
It was just phenomenal.
And reading the Bible, readingthe Old Testament in the
(15:57):
original Hebrew, unlockedso many things that the
English translation,we just don't get
It's just not there.
And that's nobody's fault.
It's just you're readinga translation.
So nuance and stuff.
It's just not there.
and at the same time, I'mreading all this stuff.
So then I'm like, okay,what do I do with this?
I'm reading it in theoriginal language.
It's showing all these changesthat we just don't get.
(16:18):
Which made me see thistext has got to be
inspired by Godbecause I look at some of
these things even how wordflow happens in different
books and stuff and itjust exploded my brain And
looking at the Hebrew going.
This is just amazing And thenwhen it came to the monsters,
I found a lot of thatactually was also Canaanites.
So Canaanites There aredifferent languages.
(16:39):
One's Ugaritic, so you gottalearn a hieroglyphic language.
I wasn't able totake a class on that.
But I was able to do a littlebit with it.
And so I can remember thisTA unrolling these scrolls
for me up in the top ofthe university library.
So we're going throughlooking at this text,
6, 000 years old, right?
and you're looking atit and it's basically
identical to like partof the book of Isaiah.
(17:01):
So it's just a liftingfrom the Canaanite.
They just took astory, Which is like
what I do every weekfor a homily, right?
I take a story from somethingand I use it somewhere else.
And that was justfascinating to me how now
the biblical authors aretaking stories everybody
knew to say something about God.
we all know the story.
(17:21):
I'm going to put itinto the Bible
and it's telling us somethingabout the
Lord, which with the seamonster is that the Lord is
the master of the sea, That'sone example of many, right?
I'm really oversimplifying,but, and that God is more
powerful than the sea.
And that just, that wasjust fascinating to me
or another way to put it,there's chaos in the world.
(17:42):
And in some stories, Godtampers down the chaos and
defeats it, this is likeIsaiah, and then there's
other points where there'schaos in the world and
the Lord delights in it.
And says it's the mostbeautiful thing he's ever made.
Which is the endof the book of joe
with Leviathan.
And that just, as someone wholikes control and lists, and
you know, I thought, well lookat what you've done, Lord.
(18:04):
You've made me study chaos.
And you show methat sometimes God contains it,
and sometimes God lets it go.
All this is found withinthe scriptural text.
All this is within the bible.
So it's not always aquestion of, is it what
we would understandtoday as factually true,
Cause there are differentgenres in the Bible as
(18:25):
much as this story hassomething to teach me.
Am I able to open up, mymind, my heart, my hands,
my whole body to receive it.
And then am I able to act on it?
And that, was justtransformative to me.
I mean, I remember I was,finishing up in Toronto
writing this master's thesison Leviathan, and I was all
geeked out because I was likeI want to go to Jerusalem now,
(18:47):
it's 2009, and I want to studymodern Hebrew because there
are some similarities, and Iwant to learn more Aramaic,
you know, I want to look atthese languages, and then I
want to basically get a PhDin Bible, but language, right?
I want to do linguisticwork because there's so much
we can, there's so many issuesthat we think are issues.
That I think if we wereto say, here's what the
language says, here's whatthe dates are, it would
(19:09):
solve a lot of issues.
So I'm all geekedout about this.
Yeah, I can see your face, yep.
Katie Love (19:15):
I would fall asleep.
But unfortunatelythe camera tell everyone that.
So, uh, you know,bearing with you.
Fr. Mike (19:21):
And I went to the current provincial
this is what I want to do.
And he said no.
Katie Love (19:25):
Well, he probably said, What?
Fr. Mike (19:27):
Well, no, we, we actually had a scripture
scholar in the Oblates aheadof me, Father Tony Ceresko,
whose chalice I have.
The chalice you see in thechurch that's got the wood
on then the mosaic andall that, that was his.
And he was a scripturelinguistic scholar.
He had just died acouple years later.
In fact, the guyteaching me in Toronto
had been his student.
So I said, I'd like to do this.
And they said, no, isnot the time for that.
(19:49):
You're going to be ordained.
You need to go off anddo teach high school
Yeah, do that.
So again, I made alifetime vow of obedience.
And so I said, understood.
Okay.
So I finished up my work.
Katie Love (20:03):
You said this, nobody else would say that.
But yeah.
You're like, yes.
Fr. Mike (20:09):
John, the John, the 23rd had this great line
that I've never forgottenhim where I read it, but
he had this line wherehe said, it might've been
his papal motto, but hesaid, obedience is peace.
And I've always thoughtabout that, like if I'm
going to vow my life to someone,And this is what is
request or asked for.
And I do the best Ican to achieve that.
(20:29):
Then there's nothingmore I can do.
And that's always givenme a whole lot of peace.
Like today, I had to get ahomily ready for Mass today,
and I'm like, all week at home Icannot think about how homily.
I'm driving back herethis afternoon, listening
to Randy's podcastand I'm like, that's it.
So like, I pull the car over,I pull out the notes app.
I put on the voice recorder.
I speak the homily intothe voice recorder or
(20:50):
the main ideas, and thenI, then I drive back
and it's like, okay.
Obedience is peace.
So I went and taught high schooland I loved it.
And then two years later, hecalled me into his office and
he goes, okay, it's time to dothat PhD and I was just like,
I'm not going to lie to you.
None of these ninthgraders care about that.
I tried teachingHebrew ninth graders.
They did not care.
Katie Love (21:10):
I find that hard to believe.
Working with highschool students
myself, I think Hebrews
Fr. Mike (21:18):
We had a song, it doesn't matter, but
but the interestingthing was that the
questions were different.
And in my mind I thought,you know, I know enough
about this to satisfy myown curiosity.
I know what I needed to find.
I don't need to do this anymorefor me.
What I needed to know, I know.
And I still read a lotabout it now, to be honest.
(21:39):
I have a whole sidething where I'm reading.
My Hebrew is nothing likeit used to be, which is sad,
Katie Love (21:44):
I can't believe that won't
get you far in Adrian.
I mean, I hope yourLatin is much better.
Fr. Mike (21:50):
I've been studying a little bit of Latin
because I never took it.
Katie Love (21:54):
How many languages would you say you have more
than dipped your your toe in?
Fr. Mike (22:00):
Spanish and English.
Sign language, wehave an Oblate who's
deaf, and I can sign.
I don't sign well.
In fact, the parts of thebrain that do written spoken
language and sign languagelanguage are different parts
of the brain.
I've done Mass in sign.
I've made tons of mistakes.
The blessing is I'mnot afraid to do it.
And the people are justalways very welcoming.
(22:21):
In fact, Father MikeDepcik I think he
just watches my mouth.
Cause he's very good lip reader.
Like we'll do somethinglike, you're not even
watching my hands.
Right.
Like you're not evenwatching my hands right now.
Right.
And he's like, no, I'mlike, can I just stop?
He's like, Oh no, no.
If I can't read yourlips, I'm going to need
to watch the signs.
[ Laughter] So,I'll, I'll do that.
I do French, but not well,but my French is always
getting every time I go backto France, it gets better.
(22:42):
Now I can listen and pick outwords and general ideas.
Portuguese, but again, justfrom the Spanish.
I can't read it.
But if we're speakingPortuguese and
Spanish are pretty similar.
Katie Love (22:52):
They're close.
Fr. Mike (22:52):
They're close.
Latin, I can kind ofread with a dictionary.
LikeHebrew, you know, biblical,
I was decent at, a littlebit of Aramaic 'cause
they're very similar.
And that's all Ireally could say.
It would just be that.
Katie Love (23:06):
And that's been what?
Over the last 20 yearsyou've studied all those
languages?
Fr. Mike (23:12):
Yeah.
I mean, you figureI started Spanish in
'95 in high and haveschool, and I've
never stopped Spanish.
Katie Love (23:19):
Yeah, but outside of that.
You know, sign language...
Fr. Mike (23:20):
Sign would have been 2000 some.
Katie Love (23:21):
Some biblical language.
Fr. Mike (23:22):
Yeah.
That was a couple years, yeah.
Katie Love (23:25):
I think you need to find a hobby.
Fr. Mike (23:27):
I think that was the hobby.
I'm afraid to go on Duolingobecause I may never leave
it if I've been doing it.
Katie Love (23:33):
That's true.
We definitely need to.
But, perhaps finding a gameor something might be
Fr. Mike (23:43):
Might be a good idea.
Katie Love (23:44):
Well, well you you do Farmville and Candy Crush.
Fr. Mike (23:47):
I do Farmville, Best fiends not Candy Crush.
I just started Farmville, it'svery addicting.
and Best Fiends I'mstill working on, but.
Katie Love (23:54):
That's probably as close to working on
to working on a farmas you're gonna gonna get.
Fr. Mike (23:58):
That's exactly right.
Katie Love (23:59):
You could work at Maria's farm taking care
of the chickens and the,
Fr. Mike (24:02):
Uh, I could, I could.
But it's just like camping.
I was in Cub Scouts untilall of a sudden, Boy Scouts,
they're like, you gotta pitcha tent and sleep outside.
I'm like, you gotta do what?
I was like, oh no, ideaof camping is like going
to the Holiday Inn, right?
Like, that's, that's enough.
This whole outdoor thingfor fun, that's crazy.
Katie Love (24:21):
So I just imagine.
Fr. Mike (24:26):
I didn't last long I I think it was like
two days in Boy Scoutsand I'm like, I'm done.
That's happening.
Let's move on.
Katie Love (24:34):
What would you say maybe the next
10 years hold for you?
Anything different?
Like, is the potential togo study still on the table?
Or is there somethingthat's unfulfilled in what
you're hoping to achieve?
I could see Pope Michael.
I'm not wishing deathon Francis in the
next ten years butwe, we need a little
(24:54):
help getting youto Cardinal status.
That's for certain.
Fr. Mike (24:56):
Yeah, I don't speak Italian so I think
I'm okay not worrying aboutthe whole papal thing, don't
think it's gonna happen.
And I think some of thestuff I've done here, they're
like, we do not want him.
Katie Love (25:05):
I don't understand.
A man who speaks likealmost eight languages
decently and writes papersfor fun in his spare time.
Why wouldn't they want you?
Fr. Mike (25:15):
Oh, okay.
I don't speak eight language.
That's a littleexaggeration there.
I would say Englishand Spanish, a little
bit of sign language.
The others are good.
No, all kidding aside,I think what I'm most
interested in nowhere in Adrian is, you
know, our, our own abilityas a parish at this time in
the Catholic church, likewhat, what do we do now?
(25:35):
Like in the United StatesI hesitate to ever use
words like decline orrise, I just don't think
they're helpful words.
But instead it's like, here wehave a group of people trying
to follow Jesus In a culturethat is ambivalent towards
it, you know, at best andhostile towards it at worst.
So what does thatlook like for us?
(25:56):
And then as we do that, I'mso conditioned to think the
things that we have now we'realways going going have.
Whereas in reality thatmay not be the case, right?
We don't know what's going tobe happening in the future.
I also find thatincredibly exciting, right?
When it's like, we don't knowwhat's coming forward, but
it's going to be something.
And we're still goingto be able to find God
and Christ in that.
(26:18):
If I'm able inpresent moment to pay
attention to itAnd and, realize it.
So that's, that'swhat I think for here.
For me personally, Ihonestly don't know.
I don't have any desire atthis point to go anywhere
than where I I am right now.
Katie Love (26:32):
No, I don't mean leave parish, but, you
did the Salesian Symposiumthis year, which you had
previously not done, buthad some desire to do.
Fr. Mike (26:43):
Scholarship for us, I think, is important.
Us being the Oblates.
I like doing that work tobe able to read that stuff
and think about that stuff.
And my French isstill, it's okay.
It's not good enough, whereI would want to say I could
translate a whole documentand pick out the nuances.
That's not there.
I wouldn't mind somedaygoing and really, I think
it would take a yearor so, just to really
(27:04):
immerse myself in French.
To learn the original languageof the founders and whatnot.
And then to kind of do thesame thing I was saying
about the Bible, right?
You read these documents,you're able to pick up
ideas, what's reallyimportant, what stands out here,
and then to do that kind ofcultural work and spiritual
work.
Francis de Sales has certainwords, that means certain
things in his spiritualitythat don't in others.
(27:27):
You know, how do we bestreappropriate that for today?
That's of a huge interest to me.
Father Brisson had thesame for the Oblates.
How do we reappropriate theidea of the presence of God?
which is talked about inmonasteries and stuff where
they're sweeping a floorto today where there's a
robot that's going tosweep the floor for you.
Like how does that work today?
Where's God found today?
(27:47):
So that's ahuge interest of mine.
Katie Love (27:49):
I feel like studying in France
could happen given yourcurrent provincial.
There could be like alittle pull, if you will.
Fr. Mike (27:56):
Everything is possible.
I think if I were to request,he would probably say okay.
Going back to when I was incollege.
I know it's there when Ihave this burning desire in
Katie Love (28:06):
my heart to do
Fr. Mike (28:07):
it.
And that desire is notyet present.
So when that's notthere, I don't move.
And people go, well,it's intellectual?
I'm like, it's really not.
It's a feeling.
Katie Love (28:18):
Yeah.
For as intellectual asyou are, you're a really
big feeler.
Fr. Mike (28:20):
I'm a big feeler.
Yeah.
it shocks people like,Oh no, like I just
do that by my gut.
really?
I'm like, Oh yeah,I just feel it.
Well, it's like with peoplelike at church, Deacon Len
will say this, he's like, Idon't know why you're going
to have that homily there.
Cause you're just going towalk around and not use it.
And some days he's right.
Cause I've written somethingand I'm looking at the people
when I come early church, talkto people and I'm like, this
is not where we are today.
(28:41):
So I'm going to talk aboutsomething totally different.
Katie Love (28:43):
Yeah, last Sunday you just did that for the
RCIA right of welcoming.
You're like, You know what?
I'm scraping this andwe're gonna go here.
Fr. Mike (28:51):
Oh yeah.
And then Maria made itbeautiful because of the reel
she did, I was like, Oh, Isounded really good there.
Katie Love (28:56):
I know she makes all of us really good.
I'm so grateful to her
Fr. Mike (28:59):
No, but that was it.
Like we had the right ofwelcoming and I had this
wonderful homily on, you know,we have this thing about RCIA
here, which I like, whichis you encounter Jesus.
You know you love Jesus, Youlive Jesus, right?
That's the four stages.
And I had this whole thingout with stories and stuff
and I'm just looking at them,and I can still see them
because I'm looking at them.
They're right
Katie Love (29:18):
here.
Fr. Mike (29:19):
And the thing about it is I don't know
them all really well,but I know their stories.
I know their sponsors, mostof them and what's going on.
And I'm like, This is notgoing to help us right now.
Or that's not the rightword to say.
This is not the word.
Katie Love (29:32):
This is not the right time.
Fr. Mike (29:33):
Yeah, this is not the word that
needs to be proclaimedto these people right now.
Let's just dosomething different.
And then you just say,okay, Holy Spirit,
make something work.
And then you take anidea or two and like,
okay, here we go.
And then poor
Katie Love (29:44):
Kurt,
Fr. Mike (29:45):
because he turns the cameras around.
I try to stay in the ambonow, especially four o'clock
mass, cause we're sendingit to the nursing homes.
And it's just a betterpicture for all of them.
If I just confine myselfand I know it's better on
the internet, I think forpeople when I do that,
cause I'm trying to thinkof the sick, the homebound
those who are at home,they send us messages, like
(30:05):
thank you for broadcastingMass or sending this out, but
Katie Love (30:09):
Yeah, the extended parish.
Fr. Mike (30:10):
Right, yeah.
The extended Parish.
I'm always mindful ofthem, but some days you're
like, I just got to dothis, but it's a gut,
it's a gut feeling.
Katie Love (30:16):
Yeah, I mean, now, it's not just homebound, but
we have people watching inforeign countries, we've got
people watching inNorthern Michigan.
We got
Fr. Mike (30:26):
philippines love us!
Katie Love (30:27):
The Philippines.
I think we could get astrong following in Venezuela
out of having Fiorella
Fr. Mike (30:31):
It's possible, it's possible.
Katie Love (30:33):
Yeah, so, I think, that is important, but I do
appreciate that, the fact thatyou are very intellectual,
but you're also a bigfeeler, I mean, the
balance is striking.
Fr. Mike (30:44):
Oh yeah, nobody cried harder
at prom when I had tochaperone it than me.
be sitting there.
You probably can'tput this in the podcast, but
but, was this one prom, Iprobably should tell
the story, but I will,
Katie Love (30:55):
[Laughter]
Fr. Mike (30:55):
and so when I used to go to chaperone
high school dances, Iwould go with the holy
water bucket, right?
At St.
Francis, we had this balconyoverlooking the dance.
And I would always teachthe kids the Cotton Eye Joe
before homecoming, becausewe had to have at least
one dance that you coulddo by yourself that looked
dignified, and you weren'tlike, smothering your partner.
So then we would get,and I love drama.
(31:17):
So we get the whole groupdoing it, which was always
very enjoyable for me.
Probably more about me thanthe kids, but that's why I
left high school ministry.
Katie Love (31:27):
Yes.
Fr. Mike (31:28):
But then I would go on the balcony with
the holy water and I wouldjust, during some of those
slow dance songs, you know,10 years ago that were just...
there was nothing
Katie Love (31:37):
a little K-Ci & Jojo and yeah.
Fr. Mike (31:39):
That's it.
I would rain down holywater above and they
would all stop andthey would all separate and
they would all look up thenI would just be looking down
at them going like littleblessing and then they would
wave and they would wave andthen we go right back into it.
Katie Love (31:53):
I would just like to ask, is there anything
else you want to share withwith your captive audience?
Fr. Mike (31:57):
I think the biggest blessing, people often look
at the parish and say likethe parish is going so well
because of what you've done.
And what I generallylike to say back to them
is (32:10):
we are all here in a group together right?
And, and that's,why this is going as it's going.
I even hate to put wellor not well qualifiers
on it because that'sall subjective.
Like what's your, how doyou measure success, right?
Jesus is not aboutsuccess measuring like
by Instagram followersor anything like that.
Katie Love (32:33):
Although you did blow up with your
your playboy homily.
Fr. Mike (32:36):
He did.
I want to thank Monsignor.
He's over at st.
Joe's campus.
I see him every time I come
Katie Love (32:41):
Clem kern.
Fr. Mike (32:41):
That's right.
Monsignor Kern.
But you know the LordJesus was really into just
individual conversion,one person at a time And then
moving forward with that.
And so, you know, a lotof times I'll be like, Oh,
I wish, you know, Envy.
It's a key thing.
I always struggle with Envy.
Why don't we like this?
Why don't we have that one?
You know.
And then you can miss allthe grace that actually is
(33:03):
happening because I'm sofocused on something else.
Instead of saying, look atthe wonderful things God
has done here and look whatI'm able to participate in.
Or the line I like to usemost for my life comes from
Henri Nouwen, but Nouwengoes, my deepest vocation
is to be a witness to theglimpses of God that I've been
privileged enough to catch.
(33:25):
And like when I'm saying Masshere and going up the aisle
and I'm looking at peopleand people hate when I look
at them, not everyone, butsome people are like they
looked and I looked down.
Some people are just like,Oh, Hey, you know, and then
we got the kids who love it.
And so I'm like waving at them.
But when I go into church, andI see people I remember, well,
Your mom just died.
(33:45):
You know, you're sick with this.
You just won thesoftball tournament
You just had a baby.
This is the one yearanniversary of RCIA,
you know what I mean?
It's this whole communal thing.
And then to participatein that, to be in that.
God, what a gift, whatan absolute gift.
Katie Love (34:02):
I also think, bringing in the Salesian
Spirituality of unidiversityhas been one of the greatest
blessings that we've had,because I don't think people
had to give up who they wereor a lot of their spirituality
to be able to have HolyFamily come together.
Fr. Mike (34:19):
Right.
Yeah.
We don't need to get rid of.
It's not, it's noteither-or it's both-and
we can do this together.
Greg Boyle is aJesuit priest gangs.
I love his books.
It's very challenging.
He just released a bookcalled Cherished belonging.
And it's all about we belongtogether and we work together
(34:40):
and I can't readthings like that
and not think of the powerof Eucharist, which is seen
sacramentally in the body andblood of Christ on the altar,
and then incarnatedphysically in each and every
one of us in all that we do.
Everything, in a sense,is, eucharistic,
everything partakes in this.
Not everything, but withinthe context of the church.
(35:02):
All this partakes of Christ'sbody and Christ's blood
and the giving, andthe dying and the rising and the
It's just so, it's so powerful.
It's so powerful.
Katie Love (35:12):
One of my favorite things lately that I've been
meditating on is an Instagrampost by someone who said, I
don't want to miss Jesus inall the different aspects
of life the burning bushthe you know, because we
think of it being very cleanand clear cut . But it's
really in the messiness andchaos that the incarnation
happens on Christmas.
That's what we're looking atand it's not in the quiet,
(35:37):
still manger, the meme oflike, Oh, Mary just got Jesus
to sleep and a drummer boythought the best idea he
could do was bang his drum.
It's all of that.
Right.
And that's where Godcomes is in the messiness.
Fr. Mike (35:49):
And flourishes, I think in the messiness.
Flourishes in it.
Katie Love (35:57):
I think if we ever get still, I think
we should be carefulbecause some real issues.
Fr. Mike (35:59):
I'm like, okay,Lord.
understood.
Understood.
Message received..
Help me.
Katie Love (36:06):
Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
I know you're a very busy man.
So to give us this timeand wisdom with everybody
who is listening, whowe're so grateful for
it is just a blessing.
Fr. Mike (36:17):
Thank you.
No.It's, an honor anda pleasure to be here
with you and Maria,and also just to continue
to be here at Holy Family.
It's a gift that God justJust keeps on giving.
And I'm grateful for that.
Katie Love (36:30):
We are grateful for you.
Once again, we thank youfor joining us today.
We hope that wherever youfind an open seat in your
life, you will invitesomeone to join you.
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