March 25, 2025 • 23 mins
SPONSOR: Briefcase Marketing
Guests: Logan Feldkamp, Youth Minister at St. Christopher and Emily Ahlin, Diocesan Archivist.
Carlo Acutis represents something revolutionary in Catholic sainthood as a relatable millennial teen known for his extraordinary love of Jesus despite his ordinary appearance in jeans and sneakers. Born in London and raised in Italy, he became a catalyst for his family's return to active faith while creating an extensive website documenting Eucharistic miracles in 2001, well before user-friendly platforms existed.
• An extremely typical boy of the early 2000s who played soccer, video games, and created websites
• His goal wasn't to keep people online but to lead them to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist
• Died in 2006 and is entombed in Assisi in his regular clothes – blue jeans, quarter-zip pullover and ordinary sneakers
• Being canonized on Divine Mercy Sunday (April 27, 2024) at 2:30am
• New film about Carlo Acutis releasing in theaters April 27-29, with screenings in Cleveland area
• A relatable role model showing modern teens that saints can look just like them.
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Theology of the Body CLE
St. John Cantius Parish
Join us at St. Christopher Parish in Rocky River for our Carlo Acutis canonization celebration featuring video games, Italian food, and a special Mass with modern worship music on Saturday evening, April 27th. And check out the artwork of Monica Skrzypczak at Outpouring of Trust.
SPONSOR: Briefcase Marketing
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On today's Question of Faith.
What's the fuss about CarloAcutis?
Hey everybody, this is Questionof Faith.
I am Deacon Mike Hayes.
I am the Director of YoungAdult Ministry in the Diocese of
Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I am Emily Ahlen, Director of Archives for the
Diocese of Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm Logan Feldkamp, Pastoral Minister at St
Christopher Parish in RockyRiver.
Woohoo, that's a great parish.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It is a good parish, one that all three of us have
had experiences at.
That's true.
These two are biased.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Not at all.
My pastor totally didn't pay meto say that.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I have been in four parishes here in the diocese.
I am not biased at all in sayingthat St Chris is awesome.
Anyway, I do like StChristopher's Well, thank you.
I'm on staff at St Chris astheir parish deacon, so that's
why we're saying all those whoare uninformed.
But we did get a question insaying from someone about the
(00:58):
about-to-be canonized CarloAcutis.
And they said so what's the bigdeal about this kid?
They said you know, he was ayoung person who did a lot of
work in basically puttingtogether websites about
Eucharistic miracles.
And they said you know, he putall this up on the internet and
so what's the big deal about him?
(01:19):
Why should he be a saintinstead of anybody else?
And so I brought the two of youin who I know have at least
somewhat of a devotion to CarlosAcutis and are planning to do
some things around thecanonization and wanted to see
what you would say.
So what is the fuss about CarloAcutis?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, for me, Carlo is a very ordinary young man
except in one way, and that'shis extraordinary love for Jesus
, particularly in the Eucharist.
When you hear about the storyof his life, you see that he was
an extremely typical boy in thelate 90s, early 2000s.
(01:55):
He liked to play soccer, heliked to play video games, He'd
play around with video animation, making websites and videos
with his friends video animation, making websites and videos
with his friends.
So in all aspects of ourdigital age he was a very
ordinary individual, except hewas the main catalyst for
bringing his family back to thefaith, particularly his mother,
(02:19):
who was baptized and receivedthe sacraments but was never a
strongly practicing Catholic.
So his desire to be in thelocal Catholic church every time
that he walked by led his momto become a catechist and a more
practicing Catholic, and so hisstrong devotion to Eucharist
and to the local church andserving the poor was something
(02:41):
truly extraordinary for his time.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, and one of the things I would say it's also you
know, we say how normal he wasabout you know time.
One of the things I would sayis also we say how normal he was
about putting things up on theinternet.
He did this in the turn of thecentury.
He did this in 2001.
No one was doing anything onthe internet.
That's remarkable on its own.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Just the HTML he had to know to do it because it's
not like you have today.
We have WordPress and Canva.
I'm not 100% sure whenWordPress got its start, but you
had.
I mean, he had to know somestuff to get all that on the
internet.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, wordpress, I think is about 2006, 2007,
because I remember being anearly adopter of that myself.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Okay, so he died in 2006.
So he was doing this likebefore WordPress then, for sure,
oh, yeah, for sure, yeah, Imean even B, this, like before
wordpress.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Then for sure, oh, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, I mean even busted halo,which I founded.
You know, that was well beforewordpress and we switched to
wordpress around, like you know.
Maybe it's 2004 now to thinkabout it, but we have been going
for three years together yeah,exactly we have been going for
about three years and we had ayou know and we didn't know code
or anything.
We had to hire a group ofpeople to do that for us.
So remember this at my causefor canonization, by the way.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
You got it Deacon.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Mike, Because that's going to happen Now.
Emily, you went and visitedCarlo Acutis, right.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I was on the bishop's pilgrimage to Assisi, florence
and Rome, and Assisi was thefirst place we visited, and so I
actually got to see Carlo,because they have.
It was Carlo's request that hewas buried in Assisi, even
though I think he like he wasn't.
He didn't live in Assisi, hewas like, I think, either.
(04:15):
I think the tour guide said hisgrandparents had property there
.
He had been to Assisi a numberof times and that was his
request was.
It was a beautiful place, hewanted to be buried there, and
so he's even going to remainthere after the canonization.
Um, that's just where he is,but he was actually born in
london.
Did you guys know that?
I did.
Yeah, he was born in london andthen, you know, over there, the
(04:39):
various countries are likestates here, but he is italian
and so they, you know, madetheir way back to italy.
I don't remember where exactlyhe lived in italy.
I think it was somewhere in thenorth.
Was it like milan?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I believe he lived in milan.
I think so yeah, yeah, anyways.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
so it's, it's interesting.
You know they're like okay,we're gonna take you to see
because you know there's so manygiants in assisi, right?
So we started with saintfrancis and then we went to go
visit saint Clair, and thenthey're like, okay, we're going
to see Carlo Acutis now.
So we like walk by thiselementary school, it's in this,
you know, little church off tothe side, very plain church.
And you know, I'm walking inand I'm expecting like I don't
(05:17):
know if anybody's ever been tothe Mother Cabrini Shrine in New
York, but you walk into theMother Cabrini Shrine and there
in the main altar is MotherCabrini and she's just there.
And that's what I was expectingin this church.
But it wasn't.
It was, you know, very plain,nondescript.
And then Carlo was off to theside in a see-through.
(05:38):
What's the Plexiglass?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
tomb.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah, that's the word .
Tomb Entombed altar.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah yeah, an entombed altar, um, and you, I
mean you can reach out, likeit's.
They have like a little benchthere, um, and you can like sit
there and like reach out andtouch him, and so we were with a
group of almost 100 people, soI didn't get to spend a lot of
time with him.
So I actually went back laterum to pray a holy hour and then
I went to go visit carlo againbecause I was just I have to, I
(06:06):
have to admit, before I went toassisi I was kind of like I I
was also kind of like, why iseverybody making a big deal
about this kid?
But then you look at him andyou're like, oh, shoot.
And you like think about, likelike he was born in 1991, he's
four years older than me, likehe's not.
He's not, like he's youngerthan me because he died in 2006.
(06:26):
But I mean he's not reallybecause we you know, if we, if
the resurrection is real, wenever stop aging Right, I
thought you can edit that out ifthat's theologically incorrect.
But you never stop, like I waslike you know, he's like what
I'm going to be 30 this year, sohe's 34.
He stop like I was like youknow, he's like what I'm gonna
(06:47):
be 30 this year, so he's 34,he's 34 years old.
Just you know, in heaven and um, and it just hit me.
I was like, oh my gosh, like aplaystation 2 is a second class
relic like this is insane.
I had a playstation 2, um, soit was.
Yeah, it was, it wasinteresting.
But I think that's the wayCarlo would have wanted it right
, because his whole life wasPointing us in the direction of
(07:07):
Jesus.
It wasn't like, hey, look at me, I'm Carlo.
I Designed a website.
It was no, look at all theseEucharistic miracles.
Look at all these Eucharisticmiracles.
Go see Jesus.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And that's one of the things with him is, the goal of
his website was to get peopleoff the internet and into the
church to experience Jesus theway that he did, the way that he
led his family to, and the onething that's so impactful about
I've never been to Assisi, I'venever been out of the country,
but seeing the pictures of himentombed in this plexiglass he
(07:46):
looks like a kid who'd show upto my youth group on Sunday
night.
I think that's the thing that'sso powerful for me, as well as
for the students who I helpminister to at St Chris is like
this is a kid who looks justlike them.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
It's the first time I've ever seen a saint statue
where, I mean, he's like allover a cc, right, like every
shop is selling carlo acutisstatues in various sizes, and
he's always wearing a red poloshirt, jeans and white sneakers.
He's he's buried in jeans.
He's like wearing like thislike blue quarter zip, blue
jeans and then like veryordinary sneakers.
Um, and so yeah, just just asaint statue where, like you
(08:26):
know, he's wearing things that Iwear.
Um, I think is really cool.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
I mean that's always the criticism that we, that we
hear from people.
I say, you know when, when thecatholic church looks at all of
their heroes, you have to goback you know 1500 years to find
one.
You know is that there's nottoo many modern saints.
I mean I've seen two.
I mean I've seen both MotherTeresa and John Paul II in the
flesh, but that's about as faryou know.
When I think about well, whobefore then?
(08:51):
You know not really many.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And even then, not to knock either of them, because I
love both.
Mother Teresa and St John PaulII is probably my favorite saint
of all time and St John Paul IIis probably my favorite saint
of all time.
You know, you buy a statue ofSt John.
Paul II, and he's dressed likethe pope.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Right, he was a pope and Mother Teresa is in her
habit.
Right Like, unless I join themissionaries of charity, I'm not
going to look like MotherTeresa, but I look like.
Like.
I have polo shirts, I have bluejeans, I have sneakers.
Carlo is a saint and I can betoo.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Carlo's pictured with a dog and a soccer ball a lot.
So of course I love dogs.
So I said to Logan the otherday I said I'm buying this
statue and he goes.
Well, I said there's a dog init.
It's like, carlo, you just hada dog and he goes.
Yeah, I was like, okay, cool,I'm a dog.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, I mean that goes to the relatability for the
young people of our communities.
How many of them play a sport?
Carlo loved soccer.
How many of them have a familypet?
Carlo loved his dog.
How many of them wear abackpack to school every?
Speaker 1 (09:53):
day.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Exactly.
He's got aviator sunglasseshanging off the front of his
polo.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I mean, that's how I come into work every day in the
summer.
He's just such an approachablepersona.
Yeah, it's great.
So what are you two planning?
And at St Chris, you know,logan, you're the youth minister
on staff and Emily you helpthem out from time to time.
So what are you planning forthis big canonization day?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah, so we have a couple nice recipes in the cook
pot over at St Christopher.
One of the things that we'repreparing for next month is so
he's going to be canonized atlike 2.30 in the morning on
Divine Mercy Sunday.
So to celebrate preemptively,because I'm not going to wake
students up at 2.30 in themorning is we're going to have?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
a big bummer.
That would be much more fun.
Yes, that would be much morefun and much more taxing on the
poor youth minister.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
So we're going to throw a vigil canonization party
for Carlo Acutis, fullyAcutis-themed.
We're going to have video gametrucks there, we're going to
play Mario Kart on the big100-inch projector in our parish
center, we're going to haveItalian-themed catering to go
along with it, photo booth,virtual reality, and then we're
(11:11):
going to end the night with aspecial Acutis-themed mass.
So one of my good friends,brandon Woods, who's a youth
minister down in the Medina area, is going to be coming up to
play some more modern worshipmusic for that Mass.
We're going to invite theentire parish, but most
importantly, our middle schooland high school students, as
(11:32):
well as their families, to comeand experience this Mass in a
very beautiful and intimate way,which will be exciting and
Emily has a good friend who'sworking on something very
special for that mass, for us.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, so I had no idea.
So I have a friend who runs aCatholic art store online.
Her name is Monica Skripchik.
She's the name of her store'soutpouring of trust and she's
amazing.
So her degree is in technicaltheater, um, and when she
(12:04):
graduated from college she justfelt like the lord was calling
her to open this sacred artstore.
And so she's done like someother, like classes and more
intensive workshops since then,but she's basically self-taught
and does these oil paintings andsells prints of them.
I have oh, I should havebrought my water bottle.
I've got monica stickers allover my water bottle.
She sells stickers but shetakes commissions, and so she.
(12:27):
I had no idea until I talked toher yesterday, but Carla was her
patron and I think has been fora number of years since he was
beatified, and she had a printof him and I've been I don't
know, instagram algorithmfigured me out and I've been
sending Logan things like, oh,we need this, oh, we need this,
(12:50):
oh, we need this, and they'reall like a cutest theme.
So I saw Monica had a print andI was like, oh, this is my
friend, monica, she painted this, we need this.
And Logan was like, actually,can she do a custom painting for
us, and I was like I'll reachout and ask.
And so she's going to do acustom painting of Carlo Acutis
that you're going to put in thesanctuary right for the mass.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah, for the mass we're looking for a nice themed
image, and a lot of the art ofhim is AI generated, which is
such a shame.
So you know, when it comes toart being used in our churches,
it's very important to mepersonally that you know it's
created with human hands andhuman minds.
So we're very excited to getthis custom commission done by
(13:32):
Monica.
It'll be an awesome feature forour Mass.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
That'll be awesome.
Yeah, thank her for doing that.
That's really awesome.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
She is so excited and I was like, oh my goodness,
because she said that her parish, because she lives in Illinois,
her parish is naming theiryouth room after Carlo Acutis.
Oh, very nice, and so she'spainting a mural in there for
them.
I was like, oh my gosh, you'regoing to be so tired of painting
Carlo Acutis.
And she's like, no, I don'tthink I could ever get tired of
(14:01):
painting him.
And I was like, all right, thenthat's great.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
You keep going right yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, she's, she'll be very excited.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So we'll put a link to her work in our show notes as
well, which will be great, soyou could all check out the many
things that she does.
She's she is really great.
I was looking at some stuffwith Logan yesterday that she's
done.
So she's a very talented person.
So thanks for that.
And you know, all right, onSunday, april 27th, surprise,
surprise Bishop Molesik sentthis to us this morning there's
(14:35):
going to be a film out aboutCarlo Acutis from April 27th to
the 29th and they're going to bein, actually here in our local
area it'll be as well.
So, crocker Park and Mentor outin strongsville, all the local
films, so basically the regalsand the cinemarks, I think all
have it, um, and so if you wantto check out that, it's a great
trailer, uh, carloacutisfilmcom,and we'll put that in our show
notes, um, and you can buytickets right there.
(14:55):
So if you have a youth groupand you want to take them out,
that'll be a great place, uh,for them to go for a little
outing for the day, to go seethis film.
It's kind of funny.
Chris Stefanik is in the frontof it and he said hey, don't let
the sneakers fool you.
There's nothing ordinary aboutthis kid.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Well, it's produced by Mark Wall's production studio
and the trailer looks great.
If you have an opportunity,check out the trailer.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
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Speaker 2 (15:36):
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Speaker 2 (16:56):
Oh, that's right, they did.
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I was actually just on therethe other day and it does look
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It's really nice.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
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Church Search our wonderfulparish at St Chris.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
St Chris yeah, giant community of what 3,300 families
out in Rocky River, yeah lotsof young families.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Man, we have a little summer gathering that we have
every year, st Chris Weekend,and I remember looking over at
one portion of our parking lotand there were just so many
young moms and dads with theirkids just hanging out all day.
I was like wow, this is aparish with a bunch of young
families.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Yeah, you know, it's a miracle some weekends that
Deacon Mike can get through hishomily, because the babies are
just consistently crying.
It almost sounds like they'remiked up.
They're so loud.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
You're not crying, you're dying, exactly.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
That's the bottom line, amen.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I've had to learn to tune it out, like just keep
preaching.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Mike, just keep preaching.
No, it's great.
As the youth minister, I hearfuture members of our wonderful
youth ministry.
You know just 10, 11 years downthe line.
But no, we have greatministries.
Job security yeah, exactly Foryoung families.
We have a very vibrant youthministry, supportive pastors and
staff, a great K-8 school, anawesome PSR program, so a parish
(18:47):
that's very much alive andthriving.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Lots of Baptists.
Great softball team.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yes, a good softball team too.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yes, speaking of which, so our softball team is
going to be starting soon.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
So when are we going to start taking registrations?
Yeah, I think we're aiming tohave sign-ups up no later than
April 1st.
Very, nice.
That's going to push that tothe 31st or to April 2nd.
No, we're going to make surethose are open by April 1st and
then those will be closing May1st, hoping to have opening day
I think it's the weekend of June1st, so the way the wonderful
(19:22):
Gregorian calendar fell for usthis year worked out quite well.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yes, very nice, and we might add a team or two this
year.
We're going to see what happens.
Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I think we're going to have a new one forming out of
the University Circle area, theHoly Rosary Parish area.
So yeah, it'll be awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
That'll be good.
So if you haven't playedsoftball with us, you could
check us out.
We do have some stuff up therefrom last season right now on
the website.
Uh, so we'll put that link inthe show notes, but then the
registrations will be startingnext week.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Yeah, it's a blast good way to meet new people.
Low pressure.
Um, you don't have to be asoftball expert to come out and
play and here on this podcasteach week.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
We do a little softball recap every week so we
tell you the scores, we tell youwho did well and the teams will
kind of get to listen to hearwhat happened in the various
games around the league.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So check it out Best thing I do all year Absolutely
Hands down 100%.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And you became quite a first baseman last year.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
I would say I shook off the dust.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
All right.
So fourth Sunday of Lent, andhere's our reading.
So this weekend, a very's ourreading for this week.
This weekend, a very populargospel reading on the prodigal
son, one of my favorites, and sothe part that really resonates
with me the older brother he'sthe one who works all the time
and then this brother of his, ashe says, this son of yours,
(20:45):
comes back and you killed thefatted calf for him because you
never gave me as much as a kidgoat to go and have a party with
my friends.
I always think of the unfairnessof that.
I think I would resonate withthat.
But at the same time the fathersays this brother did squander
his inheritance and I have nointention of giving it back to
(21:06):
him.
Everything I own is yours now.
And so what are you complainingabout?
Come inside and rejoice,because this brother of yours
was dead and now he's alive, andso I like that.
And we don't know whether thebrother went in or not.
They just leave it out.
We don't know if the brotheractually went in or if he stayed
(21:28):
in his own bitterness, and sothat's sort of a call to us Are
we folks who stay in our ownbitterness, or do we go inside
and join the party witheverybody else.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
If the person in the Bible is not given a name, it's
because it's you, so the brotherdoesn't have a name.
He's just the brother, so he'syou.
Do you go in or not?
Right?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Awesome.
Yeah, I really love theresponsorial Psalm this week,
just with with Carlo Acutis onthe mind, you know just just
that first verse um, his praiseshall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the Lord.
The lowly will hear me and beglad.
Acutus was, you know, fed bythe Eucharist and then would go
out and, with his family and hisfriends, serve the poor of
(22:13):
Milan.
And if that little snippet ofthe responsorial psalm just
doesn't perfectly capture thebeauty of Acutus's life, I don't
know what does.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Great, All right.
So carloacutisfilmcom for thefilm.
Canonization will be happeningon Divine Mercy Sunday at the
bright and early time of 2.30 am.
Of course, again, you can watchat any time, but they'll
certainly have it recorded allthe time.
And yeah, if you're at St Chris, you want to join our little
(22:46):
party.
How would they do it?
Just go to stchrisparishcom.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Yeah, we'll have something hopefully getting on
the website later this weekstchrisparishcom, and I think
the Mass is going to be at 9.15pm.
The party is going to run forabout two hours before.
That Party is exclusively forthe youth of the parish.
If you're a youth from anotherparish, you're welcome to join
us.
Mass will be open to everybodyVery nice, all right.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So, logan, thanks for being here.
Thanks for doing that.
Emily, thanks for your goodwork, as always.
Thank you, and we'll see youhere next time, here on Question
of Faith.
On today's Question of Faith.
What's the fuss about CarloAcutis?
Hey everybody, this is Questionof Faith.
I am Deacon Mike Hayes.
I am the Director of YoungAdult Ministry in the Diocese of
Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I am Emily Ahlen, Director of Archives for the
Diocese of Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm Logan Feldkamp, Pastoral Minister at St
Christopher Parish in RockyRiver.
Woohoo, that's a great parish.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It is a good parish, one that all three of us have
had experiences at.
That's true.
These two are biased.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Not at all.
My pastor totally didn't pay meto say that.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I have been in four parishes here in the diocese.
I am not biased at all in sayingthat St Chris is awesome.
Anyway, I do like StChristopher's Well, thank you.
I'm on staff at St Chris astheir parish deacon, so that's
why we're saying all those whoare uninformed.
But we did get a question insaying from someone about the
(00:58):
about-to-be canonized CarloAcutis.
And they said so what's the bigdeal about this kid?
They said you know, he was ayoung person who did a lot of
work in basically puttingtogether websites about
Eucharistic miracles.
And they said you know, he putall this up on the internet and
so what's the big deal about him?
(01:19):
Why should he be a saintinstead of anybody else?
And so I brought the two of youin who I know have at least
somewhat of a devotion to CarlosAcutis and are planning to do
some things around thecanonization and wanted to see
what you would say.
So what is the fuss about CarloAcutis?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, for me, Carlo is a very ordinary young man
except in one way, and that'shis extraordinary love for Jesus
, particularly in the Eucharist.
When you hear about the storyof his life, you see that he was
an extremely typical boy in thelate 90s, early 2000s.
(01:55):
He liked to play soccer, heliked to play video games, He'd
play around with video animation, making websites and videos
with his friends video animation, making websites and videos
with his friends.
So in all aspects of ourdigital age he was a very
ordinary individual, except hewas the main catalyst for
bringing his family back to thefaith, particularly his mother,
(02:19):
who was baptized and receivedthe sacraments but was never a
strongly practicing Catholic.
So his desire to be in thelocal Catholic church every time
that he walked by led his momto become a catechist and a more
practicing Catholic, and so hisstrong devotion to Eucharist
and to the local church andserving the poor was something
(02:41):
truly extraordinary for his time.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, and one of the things I would say it's also you
know, we say how normal he wasabout you know time.
One of the things I would sayis also we say how normal he was
about putting things up on theinternet.
He did this in the turn of thecentury.
He did this in 2001.
No one was doing anything onthe internet.
That's remarkable on its own.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Just the HTML he had to know to do it because it's
not like you have today.
We have WordPress and Canva.
I'm not 100% sure whenWordPress got its start, but you
had.
I mean, he had to know somestuff to get all that on the
internet.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, wordpress, I think is about 2006, 2007,
because I remember being anearly adopter of that myself.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Okay, so he died in 2006.
So he was doing this likebefore WordPress then, for sure,
oh, yeah, for sure, yeah, Imean even B, this, like before
wordpress.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Then for sure, oh, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, I mean even busted halo,which I founded.
You know, that was well beforewordpress and we switched to
wordpress around, like you know.
Maybe it's 2004 now to thinkabout it, but we have been going
for three years together yeah,exactly we have been going for
about three years and we had ayou know and we didn't know code
or anything.
We had to hire a group ofpeople to do that for us.
So remember this at my causefor canonization, by the way.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
You got it Deacon.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Mike, Because that's going to happen Now.
Emily, you went and visitedCarlo Acutis, right.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I was on the bishop's pilgrimage to Assisi, florence
and Rome, and Assisi was thefirst place we visited, and so I
actually got to see Carlo,because they have.
It was Carlo's request that hewas buried in Assisi, even
though I think he like he wasn't.
He didn't live in Assisi, hewas like, I think, either.
(04:15):
I think the tour guide said hisgrandparents had property there
.
He had been to Assisi a numberof times and that was his
request was.
It was a beautiful place, hewanted to be buried there, and
so he's even going to remainthere after the canonization.
Um, that's just where he is,but he was actually born in
london.
Did you guys know that?
I did.
Yeah, he was born in london andthen, you know, over there, the
(04:39):
various countries are likestates here, but he is italian
and so they, you know, madetheir way back to italy.
I don't remember where exactlyhe lived in italy.
I think it was somewhere in thenorth.
Was it like milan?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I believe he lived in milan.
I think so yeah, yeah, anyways.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
so it's, it's interesting.
You know they're like okay,we're gonna take you to see
because you know there's so manygiants in assisi, right?
So we started with saintfrancis and then we went to go
visit saint Clair, and thenthey're like, okay, we're going
to see Carlo Acutis now.
So we like walk by thiselementary school, it's in this,
you know, little church off tothe side, very plain church.
And you know, I'm walking inand I'm expecting like I don't
(05:17):
know if anybody's ever been tothe Mother Cabrini Shrine in New
York, but you walk into theMother Cabrini Shrine and there
in the main altar is MotherCabrini and she's just there.
And that's what I was expectingin this church.
But it wasn't.
It was, you know, very plain,nondescript.
And then Carlo was off to theside in a see-through.
(05:38):
What's the Plexiglass?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
tomb.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah, that's the word .
Tomb Entombed altar.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah yeah, an entombed altar, um, and you, I
mean you can reach out, likeit's.
They have like a little benchthere, um, and you can like sit
there and like reach out andtouch him, and so we were with a
group of almost 100 people, soI didn't get to spend a lot of
time with him.
So I actually went back laterum to pray a holy hour and then
I went to go visit carlo againbecause I was just I have to, I
(06:06):
have to admit, before I went toassisi I was kind of like I I
was also kind of like, why iseverybody making a big deal
about this kid?
But then you look at him andyou're like, oh, shoot.
And you like think about, likelike he was born in 1991, he's
four years older than me, likehe's not.
He's not, like he's youngerthan me because he died in 2006.
(06:26):
But I mean he's not reallybecause we you know, if we, if
the resurrection is real, wenever stop aging Right, I
thought you can edit that out ifthat's theologically incorrect.
But you never stop, like I waslike you know, he's like what
I'm going to be 30 this year, sohe's 34.
He stop like I was like youknow, he's like what I'm gonna
(06:47):
be 30 this year, so he's 34,he's 34 years old.
Just you know, in heaven and um, and it just hit me.
I was like, oh my gosh, like aplaystation 2 is a second class
relic like this is insane.
I had a playstation 2, um, soit was.
Yeah, it was, it wasinteresting.
But I think that's the wayCarlo would have wanted it right
, because his whole life wasPointing us in the direction of
(07:07):
Jesus.
It wasn't like, hey, look at me, I'm Carlo.
I Designed a website.
It was no, look at all theseEucharistic miracles.
Look at all these Eucharisticmiracles.
Go see Jesus.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And that's one of the things with him is, the goal of
his website was to get peopleoff the internet and into the
church to experience Jesus theway that he did, the way that he
led his family to, and the onething that's so impactful about
I've never been to Assisi, I'venever been out of the country,
but seeing the pictures of himentombed in this plexiglass he
(07:46):
looks like a kid who'd show upto my youth group on Sunday
night.
I think that's the thing that'sso powerful for me, as well as
for the students who I helpminister to at St Chris is like
this is a kid who looks justlike them.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
It's the first time I've ever seen a saint statue
where, I mean, he's like allover a cc, right, like every
shop is selling carlo acutisstatues in various sizes, and
he's always wearing a red poloshirt, jeans and white sneakers.
He's he's buried in jeans.
He's like wearing like thislike blue quarter zip, blue
jeans and then like veryordinary sneakers.
Um, and so yeah, just just asaint statue where, like you
(08:26):
know, he's wearing things that Iwear.
Um, I think is really cool.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
I mean that's always the criticism that we, that we
hear from people.
I say, you know when, when thecatholic church looks at all of
their heroes, you have to goback you know 1500 years to find
one.
You know is that there's nottoo many modern saints.
I mean I've seen two.
I mean I've seen both MotherTeresa and John Paul II in the
flesh, but that's about as faryou know.
When I think about well, whobefore then?
(08:51):
You know not really many.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And even then, not to knock either of them, because I
love both.
Mother Teresa and St John PaulII is probably my favorite saint
of all time and St John Paul IIis probably my favorite saint
of all time.
You know, you buy a statue ofSt John.
Paul II, and he's dressed likethe pope.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Right, he was a pope and Mother Teresa is in her
habit.
Right Like, unless I join themissionaries of charity, I'm not
going to look like MotherTeresa, but I look like.
Like.
I have polo shirts, I have bluejeans, I have sneakers.
Carlo is a saint and I can betoo.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Carlo's pictured with a dog and a soccer ball a lot.
So of course I love dogs.
So I said to Logan the otherday I said I'm buying this
statue and he goes.
Well, I said there's a dog init.
It's like, carlo, you just hada dog and he goes.
Yeah, I was like, okay, cool,I'm a dog.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, I mean that goes to the relatability for the
young people of our communities.
How many of them play a sport?
Carlo loved soccer.
How many of them have a familypet?
Carlo loved his dog.
How many of them wear abackpack to school every?
Speaker 1 (09:53):
day.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Exactly.
He's got aviator sunglasseshanging off the front of his
polo.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I mean, that's how I come into work every day in the
summer.
He's just such an approachablepersona.
Yeah, it's great.
So what are you two planning?
And at St Chris, you know,logan, you're the youth minister
on staff and Emily you helpthem out from time to time.
So what are you planning forthis big canonization day?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah, so we have a couple nice recipes in the cook
pot over at St Christopher.
One of the things that we'repreparing for next month is so
he's going to be canonized atlike 2.30 in the morning on
Divine Mercy Sunday.
So to celebrate preemptively,because I'm not going to wake
students up at 2.30 in themorning is we're going to have?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
a big bummer.
That would be much more fun.
Yes, that would be much morefun and much more taxing on the
poor youth minister.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
So we're going to throw a vigil canonization party
for Carlo Acutis, fullyAcutis-themed.
We're going to have video gametrucks there, we're going to
play Mario Kart on the big100-inch projector in our parish
center, we're going to haveItalian-themed catering to go
along with it, photo booth,virtual reality, and then we're
(11:11):
going to end the night with aspecial Acutis-themed mass.
So one of my good friends,brandon Woods, who's a youth
minister down in the Medina area, is going to be coming up to
play some more modern worshipmusic for that Mass.
We're going to invite theentire parish, but most
importantly, our middle schooland high school students, as
(11:32):
well as their families, to comeand experience this Mass in a
very beautiful and intimate way,which will be exciting and
Emily has a good friend who'sworking on something very
special for that mass, for us.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, so I had no idea.
So I have a friend who runs aCatholic art store online.
Her name is Monica Skripchik.
She's the name of her store'soutpouring of trust and she's
amazing.
So her degree is in technicaltheater, um, and when she
(12:04):
graduated from college she justfelt like the lord was calling
her to open this sacred artstore.
And so she's done like someother, like classes and more
intensive workshops since then,but she's basically self-taught
and does these oil paintings andsells prints of them.
I have oh, I should havebrought my water bottle.
I've got monica stickers allover my water bottle.
She sells stickers but shetakes commissions, and so she.
(12:27):
I had no idea until I talked toher yesterday, but Carla was her
patron and I think has been fora number of years since he was
beatified, and she had a printof him and I've been I don't
know, instagram algorithmfigured me out and I've been
sending Logan things like, oh,we need this, oh, we need this,
(12:50):
oh, we need this, and they'reall like a cutest theme.
So I saw Monica had a print andI was like, oh, this is my
friend, monica, she painted this, we need this.
And Logan was like, actually,can she do a custom painting for
us, and I was like I'll reachout and ask.
And so she's going to do acustom painting of Carlo Acutis
that you're going to put in thesanctuary right for the mass.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah, for the mass we're looking for a nice themed
image, and a lot of the art ofhim is AI generated, which is
such a shame.
So you know, when it comes toart being used in our churches,
it's very important to mepersonally that you know it's
created with human hands andhuman minds.
So we're very excited to getthis custom commission done by
(13:32):
Monica.
It'll be an awesome feature forour Mass.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
That'll be awesome.
Yeah, thank her for doing that.
That's really awesome.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
She is so excited and I was like, oh my goodness,
because she said that her parish, because she lives in Illinois,
her parish is naming theiryouth room after Carlo Acutis.
Oh, very nice, and so she'spainting a mural in there for
them.
I was like, oh my gosh, you'regoing to be so tired of painting
Carlo Acutis.
And she's like, no, I don'tthink I could ever get tired of
(14:01):
painting him.
And I was like, all right, thenthat's great.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
You keep going right yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, she's, she'll be very excited.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So we'll put a link to her work in our show notes as
well, which will be great, soyou could all check out the many
things that she does.
She's she is really great.
I was looking at some stuffwith Logan yesterday that she's
done.
So she's a very talented person.
So thanks for that.
And you know, all right, onSunday, april 27th, surprise,
surprise Bishop Molesik sentthis to us this morning there's
(14:35):
going to be a film out aboutCarlo Acutis from April 27th to
the 29th and they're going to bein, actually here in our local
area it'll be as well.
So, crocker Park and Mentor outin strongsville, all the local
films, so basically the regalsand the cinemarks, I think all
have it, um, and so if you wantto check out that, it's a great
trailer, uh, carloacutisfilmcom,and we'll put that in our show
notes, um, and you can buytickets right there.
(14:55):
So if you have a youth groupand you want to take them out,
that'll be a great place, uh,for them to go for a little
outing for the day, to go seethis film.
It's kind of funny.
Chris Stefanik is in the frontof it and he said hey, don't let
the sneakers fool you.
There's nothing ordinary aboutthis kid.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Well, it's produced by Mark Wall's production studio
and the trailer looks great.
If you have an opportunity,check out the trailer.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yeah, high production values, it's very good.
Yeah, all right, and you knowwho has high production values
Our friends at BriefcaseMarketing, who are our sponsor,
and so you know what they do.
Guys, do you know aboutBriefcase Marketing, logan?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Well, you would if you listened to the Question of
Faith podcast with Deacon Mikeand Father Damien.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I know more about Briefcase Marketing than I've
ever known in my entire lifebecause of the oh, they do
marketing and there's websites.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
That sounds really bad.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah, they help you reach all the parishioners that
you know might be fallingthrough the cracks.
You know they'll help with youremail campaigns, your ads, your
social media.
Make sure your website'slooking nice and clean, sleek
and modern.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
That's exactly right All the things.
And they make sure you don'thave scattered messaging either,
that you're really getting themessage to the people that you
want to get your message to.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
People really underestimate the importance of
that.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I think you ain't kidding, and what that does is
that really helps you get peopleto become your advocates.
They start to trust you andthen they say, okay, these guys
know what they're doing, so theywill clarify your message to
make sure that you attract theright audience.
They'll convert visitors intodonors, volunteers, parishioners
and they'll create consistencyto build that trust we were
talking about and to deepen yourrelationships with people
(16:37):
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That's your email, your ads andyour social media.
So visit their website,briefcasemarketing.
We've got their link in theshow notes.
You can also text them at308-627-1262.
And our buddy, Dan First, he'sthe man.
He'll take good care of you.
So briefcasemarketing.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Oh, that's right, they did.
The Theology of the Body,cleveland website.
I was actually just on therethe other day and it does look
sleek, modern and all of thethings we just said.
It's really nice.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
They did St John Cantius's website too and I can
remember that very distinctlybecause I remember going to it
once and saying this websiteneeds an update and the pastor
had told me that they were goingto be updating their website
very quickly.
And then I went to it likemaybe a couple weeks later and
(17:25):
it had already been redone and Iwas like whoa, this is
different, this looks reallygreat.
So they do a good job bottomline.
So briefcasemarketing, danFirst will take good care of you
.
Church Search our wonderfulparish at St Chris.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
St Chris yeah, giant community of what 3,300 families
out in Rocky River, yeah lotsof young families.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Man, we have a little summer gathering that we have
every year, st Chris Weekend,and I remember looking over at
one portion of our parking lotand there were just so many
young moms and dads with theirkids just hanging out all day.
I was like wow, this is aparish with a bunch of young
families.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Yeah, you know, it's a miracle some weekends that
Deacon Mike can get through hishomily, because the babies are
just consistently crying.
It almost sounds like they'remiked up.
They're so loud.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
You're not crying, you're dying, exactly.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
That's the bottom line, amen.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I've had to learn to tune it out, like just keep
preaching.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Mike, just keep preaching.
No, it's great.
As the youth minister, I hearfuture members of our wonderful
youth ministry.
You know just 10, 11 years downthe line.
But no, we have greatministries.
Job security yeah, exactly Foryoung families.
We have a very vibrant youthministry, supportive pastors and
staff, a great K-8 school, anawesome PSR program, so a parish
(18:47):
that's very much alive andthriving.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Lots of Baptists.
Great softball team.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yes, a good softball team too.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yes, speaking of which, so our softball team is
going to be starting soon.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
So when are we going to start taking registrations?
Yeah, I think we're aiming tohave sign-ups up no later than
April 1st.
Very, nice.
That's going to push that tothe 31st or to April 2nd.
No, we're going to make surethose are open by April 1st and
then those will be closing May1st, hoping to have opening day
I think it's the weekend of June1st, so the way the wonderful
(19:22):
Gregorian calendar fell for usthis year worked out quite well.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yes, very nice, and we might add a team or two this
year.
We're going to see what happens.
Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I think we're going to have a new one forming out of
the University Circle area, theHoly Rosary Parish area.
So yeah, it'll be awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
That'll be good.
So if you haven't playedsoftball with us, you could
check us out.
We do have some stuff up therefrom last season right now on
the website.
Uh, so we'll put that link inthe show notes, but then the
registrations will be startingnext week.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Yeah, it's a blast good way to meet new people.
Low pressure.
Um, you don't have to be asoftball expert to come out and
play and here on this podcasteach week.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
We do a little softball recap every week so we
tell you the scores, we tell youwho did well and the teams will
kind of get to listen to hearwhat happened in the various
games around the league.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So check it out Best thing I do all year Absolutely
Hands down 100%.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And you became quite a first baseman last year.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
I would say I shook off the dust.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
All right.
So fourth Sunday of Lent, andhere's our reading.
So this weekend, a very's ourreading for this week.
This weekend, a very populargospel reading on the prodigal
son, one of my favorites, and sothe part that really resonates
with me the older brother he'sthe one who works all the time
and then this brother of his, ashe says, this son of yours,
(20:45):
comes back and you killed thefatted calf for him because you
never gave me as much as a kidgoat to go and have a party with
my friends.
I always think of the unfairnessof that.
I think I would resonate withthat.
But at the same time the fathersays this brother did squander
his inheritance and I have nointention of giving it back to
(21:06):
him.
Everything I own is yours now.
And so what are you complainingabout?
Come inside and rejoice,because this brother of yours
was dead and now he's alive, andso I like that.
And we don't know whether thebrother went in or not.
They just leave it out.
We don't know if the brotheractually went in or if he stayed
(21:28):
in his own bitterness, and sothat's sort of a call to us Are
we folks who stay in our ownbitterness, or do we go inside
and join the party witheverybody else.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
If the person in the Bible is not given a name, it's
because it's you, so the brotherdoesn't have a name.
He's just the brother, so he'syou.
Do you go in or not?
Right?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Awesome.
Yeah, I really love theresponsorial Psalm this week,
just with with Carlo Acutis onthe mind, you know just just
that first verse um, his praiseshall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the Lord.
The lowly will hear me and beglad.
Acutus was, you know, fed bythe Eucharist and then would go
out and, with his family and hisfriends, serve the poor of
(22:13):
Milan.
And if that little snippet ofthe responsorial psalm just
doesn't perfectly capture thebeauty of Acutus's life, I don't
know what does.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Great, All right.
So carloacutisfilmcom for thefilm.
Canonization will be happeningon Divine Mercy Sunday at the
bright and early time of 2.30 am.
Of course, again, you can watchat any time, but they'll
certainly have it recorded allthe time.
And yeah, if you're at St Chris, you want to join our little
(22:46):
party.
How would they do it?
Just go to stchrisparishcom.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Yeah, we'll have something hopefully getting on
the website later this weekstchrisparishcom, and I think
the Mass is going to be at 9.15pm.
The party is going to run forabout two hours before.
That Party is exclusively forthe youth of the parish.
If you're a youth from anotherparish, you're welcome to join
us.
Mass will be open to everybodyVery nice, all right.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So, logan, thanks for being here.
Thanks for doing that.
Emily, thanks for your goodwork, as always.
Thank you, and we'll see youhere next time, here on Question
of Faith.
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Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!