August 23, 2023 • 60 mins
In this episode of The Open Door , without special fuss, and certainly without making a scene, we’ll explore the life and times of the man behind the scenes. Our welcome guest is our producer and, indeed, the producer of the full range of WCAT Radio & Television programs. The President of En Route Books and Media, the peripatetic Sebastian Mahfood, OP, Ph.D., will join us! Though his heart is in East Texas, St. Louis is the launching pad of his projects and peregrinations. He lives there with his wife, Dr. Stephanie Mahfood, and their children, Alexander and Eva Ruth. Among the questions we’ll be asking are the following.
https://www.enroutebooksandmedia.com
https://www.wcatradio.com
https://www.faithscience.org
- Dr. Mahfood, Sebastian, could you tell us about your roots and introduce us to your family?
- How did you become a lay Dominican and what does it mean for you?
- Back in the day, and our audience should hear it directly, you wrestled professionally. Were you, even then, a voice from the periphery?
- Turning away from the distractions of youth, you left the ring for the groves of academe. Your tenure at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary and Holy Apostles College & Seminary was rich: teacher, administrator, and pioneer developer of on-line academic programs. Could you share with us the highlights of your career?
- You’ve authored half a dozen books of special interest. To name a few: Catholic Realism, The Narrative Spirituality of Dante’s Divine Comedy and Missionary Priests in the Homeland: Our Call to Receive. Could you explain their themes to our audience?
- The Open Door, we understand, is your longest running WCAT Radio program. How did it start? What is its future?
- You are not one to let the grass grow under your feet. Could you tell us about your travels, especially in Africa and Europe?
- Before your retirement, what was the nature of your work as a professor of interdisciplinary and intercultural studies?
- How does the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology feature in your professional life?
- What's next for your publishing house and radio station?
https://www.enroutebooksandmedia.com
https://www.wcatradio.com
https://www.faithscience.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You're listening to w c AT Radio. You're hume for authentic Catholic programming to
Welcome to the Open Door, ashow based on the words in Revelation,
I have left an open door beforeyou which no one can close. This
is wc AT Radio's longest running show, which opened the door to the radio
(00:22):
station in October twenty sixteen. It'scurrently offered by Jim Hannink Mario Ramo's Rays
and Friends, and remains open tothe love of God in its call to
build a culture of life and ajust social order. Through the panel's discussion
of the Catholic social teaching principles ofsolidarity, subsidiarity and economic democracy. The
(00:48):
Open Door also explores non violence,distributism and communitarianism. So join us at
the Open Door, where you toocan be part of the conversation. Welcome
to the Open Door. Jim Hannikhere with fellow panelists Mario Ramos, Reyes
(01:11):
and Valerie Niemeyer. Today, withoutspecial fuss and without making a scene,
we'll explore the life and times ofthe man behind the scenes. Our welcome
guest is our producer and indeed theproducer of the full range of w scat
(01:36):
radio and television programs. The presidentof en Route Books and Media, the
peripatetic Sebastian Mafood op pH and Djoins us. Though his heart is in
East Texas, Saint Louis is thelaunching pad of his projects and peregrinations.
(02:04):
He lives there with his wife,doctor stephanem Food and their children Alexander and
Eva Ruth. Let's begin, asalways in prayer. Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful andand kindle in them the fire of
your love. Send forth your spirit, and they shall be created, and
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you shall renew the face of theearth. Oh God, who have taught
the hearts of the faithful by thelight of the Holy Spirit, granted in
the same spirit we may be trulywise and never rejoice in His consolation.
Amen, Doctor my Food, Sebastiancould tell us about your hangover roots and
(02:55):
introduce us to your family. Whywell, first of all, Jim,
thank you and Mario and Valerie forallowing me to be on your show today.
This is quite a pleasure and quitea treat. So my name,
as you've already mentioned, is SebastianMafut. The last name is Lebanese,
(03:17):
and we can trace our roots backto the grand old city of Beirut in
Marja Yune in Lebanon, where mygreat grandfather started off on a boat one
day to Kingston, Jamaica, wheremy grandfather was born, so I can
claim to be Jamaican, at leastin part. He grew up there before
(03:39):
moving to Detroit to marry my grandmother. As you know, Phoenicians move every
generation. My father was born inDetroit and moved down to Texas to Tyler,
where he met my mother at PineTree High School in Longview or at
Kilgour College wherever it was they firstlaid eyes on one another. And I
(04:02):
was born of a union between theLebanese cedar tree and the East Texas pine
tree, so evergreen that I am, if I can, if I can
make that allegory. I grew upin East Texas and met my wife in
(04:23):
North Africa in the Peace Corps,and we settled here in Saint Louis because
I lost a bet who would havethe better position one year after our closal
service, and I've been in SaintLouis ever since, almost thirty years now.
So there you have it. Thestory from when I was a wee
wee wee lad of several generations agoto the present day. I'll just tag
(04:47):
onto that that's the present day inhabitantsof Phoenix hot spot of the US of
Hey are called the nations. Hey, how about that? Yeah? All
right, Sebastian, thank you forthat intro. Mario, what next?
(05:09):
Well? After hearing that you comefrom the Phoenician not explained me give a
lot of light about your activities.But anyhow, you are also a lay
Dominican, which is a very interestingvocation. How they that came about?
(05:33):
So in two thousand and six,I had finished my doctorate and decided I
was done with school. And thatlasted about six months before I realized I
wanted to study philosophy. I knowit. It's a noble, even nobler
(05:54):
profession. Then then then most othersthat one could could pursue. How are
you sure the life of a philosopherin the person of one who understood,
at least in part, the ideathat the examined life was more worth living
than the unexamined. I began studyingat Holy Apostles College and Seminary. They
(06:17):
had an online program, and Iwas hooked from my first metaphysics course,
and I came upon a video ora CD from one of the collections that
they had by father Brian Milady,and Father Milady gave a talk, a
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sixty minute talk on the life ofDominican of study as an act of prayer.
And so it occurred to me,wait a second, I've been praying
all my life because I could neverget away from study, from this desire
to learn. You know, asAristotle says, the beginning of the metaphysics
all men, and that includes womenvalerie desire to learn as is evidenced by
(07:04):
the delight they've taken their senses.So I walked down the hall I was
teaching at Kendrick Lennon Seminary at thetime to my good friend, father Tom
McDermott ope, and said, isthere a way I can participate in the
life of the Dominican? And hepointed me to a Late Dominican chapter in
Saint Louis, And by two thousandand eight I was a member, and
(07:28):
I've I've been a Late Dominican nowfor fifteen years. It's a wonderful anniversary
date to actually to realize I've beena Late Dominican for fifteen years. That's
great, so very good. Jesuitfree. Yes, but I studied at
Saint Louis University, so I liketo balance my pre Reformation and post Reformation
(07:54):
religious orders. There's part of yourpast, and I think Valerie bring So
I speaking speaking of balance, youknow, head with you know, thinking
and then being physically active once youknow, back in the day you were
apparently wrestling professionally. Telling you moreabout that, and doctor Hanning wants to
(08:22):
know were you even then a voicefrom the periphery, I was, as
you know from what Roland Bark tellsus. In the world of wrestling,
the world of wrestling is a spectacle. It is a contest between the powers
of good and the powers of evil. The salt of the earth shows up
(08:43):
as the audience, and they wantto believe that the powers of good will
prevail. Yet they spend their daysgoing into and coming out of factories,
farms, various industries in the GreatAmerican Southwest, or at least some the
(09:03):
Dallas Fort Worth metropolitan area. Andthey want to see the underdog get on
top at least once, and wegave it to him about every six weeks.
The rest of the time, wecheated shamelessly and beat the good guys,
and they knew the good guys werebeaten because of the cheating, and
(09:24):
they knew the good guys won andovercame that cheating because of their virtue and
their valor. I'd like to showyou a clip. We'd like to see
it, dude, one second.I happen to have a clip practically queued
up here, meaning it's not yetcute up, but it's very accessible.
(09:50):
If you go to YouTube to theGlobal Wrestling Federation phantom X from parts unknown
will find a clip of me.Now I'm going to share my screen.
I pulled this up real quick.When the Goal Wrestling Federation, I'm going
on day down ringside? Oh no, Gary, Gary Hard is he on
(10:16):
your ringside with me? Gary?How could you? How could you allow
this to happen? How could allowthis to happen? That's Sebastian right there.
Look he's even got the glasses onit. They're building in his phantom
Ax. I've been looking all overthe guilty all night, the Sebastion.
I've been out of the part.I've been I don't know worries out.
(10:37):
Now wait a minute, look,look right up there on the right.
Let's that's Sebastian. I can't believeit. That's who because I I've told
I can't believe that. I couldnot believe this. Now let me let
me pause for just a minute toshare with you a bit of what's happening.
So this is my first heavyweight matchkinsKit Carson. Now, at the
(11:01):
time, I was an evil wrestlingmanager. I helped Gary Hart, whom
we just saw there with the mustachesheet, shamelessly, and Gary was constantly
trying to pull one over on thegood guys. So he dresses me up
in red tights and sends me againsta bad guy, Kit Carson. So
(11:24):
it's really a fight of two evils. Now, Kit Carson throws me around
for five solid minutes. We hadto practice this just before we went on
the stage, because the original planwas I would take a dive, he
would take a dive. I wouldjump under him and then spray him in
the face. He'd never touched me, but but fortunately we had a way
(11:50):
to make it look better. Ohho, my, this is going to
be a literal This is going tobe a literal massag How could you let
this? How could you allow thisto happen. Rry. Hey, I
didn't even know I was wondering alleven what Sebastian's was het Sebastian, he's
gonna get too. It is,It's it's Sebastian and he's he's going to
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he's going to. Well, you'vegot to stop him. Man, Hey,
everybody, you've got to live withthe choices you make in this world.
Well, there's philosophy for you rightthere, from the mouths of babes,
actually from the mouth of a veryseasoned professional wrestling manager, Gary Hart.
(12:31):
Okay, so you're gonna you're gonnalet him go through with it?
Huh. I don't have the heartto stop him. I mean, he
wants it so bad. He justactually can be anything he wants to do.
Well. He was turned he wasturned down from for a wrestling card
in this match by the commissioner inthe heavyweight division. I don't know if
he's got a wrestling card or howhe did it. He's wrestling under the
(12:52):
name of phantom Ax. He's wrestlingKick Carson. I can't believe Sebastian.
What is he trying to do?Get one hundred and twenty four pounds of
Sebastian soaking wet against the professor.You see there. The first meeting in
the ring is always attended by anattempt to make friends with your adversary,
(13:16):
and sometimes the adversary is not willingto make friends. So you put it
out your best effort, and thatperson simply rebukes you. Professional. Well,
I'll look at that kick. Carsonjust slapped his face. Hey,
not even no reason for the guyto take advant It's a Sebastis Sebasson trying
to live out his dream. Morewisdom, important to try to live out
your dream. I wonder where hewas at all night. I couldn't find
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him. Wonder when he was hidingat getting one out. I'll look at
it. There's there's a lot ofnooks and crannies in this whole building to
hide in. But let me tellyou, I mean, we have to
respect his intestinal for the trufer gettingin the room with an experience wrestler like
this kick person, Sebastian crawling overfor the rope. Soon as he gets
(14:01):
put into that into that hammerlocket,he's he's waving, waving carsonal and Carson
kicks a little. But oh,let's boxing ball on the floor. Don't
hurt your head. Okay. Sothere's maybe a thousand people despiratorium in this
episode of maybe fifteen hundred, andthe real action is not in the ring.
The real action is in the audience. And so you've got a sort
(14:22):
of Berthold Brectian kind of theater happeninghere with the disappearance of the of the
Invisible Wall at fourth Wall, butalso in augusta Bowalian kind of theater.
Will you tear all the walls down? I don't want them to happen to
his brain, that's for sure.Maybe his computer service on the you the
(14:54):
subpession has written done it. Andyou know, I can't believe that that
you are allowing him to I hadno to wrestle, you know, in
this match, it's it's it's it'ssaved. You're not gonna try to stop
him to set up the final arrangementswith you, even the experience the final
arrangements, the final arrangements with you. Every experienced Dick Carson wants a testament
(15:16):
strength with with little Sebastian, Imean phantom X. So I go ahead
and calling conclom X or everybody knowsthat it's sebastands nothing better know him was
long him, look at him downimmediately and Carson stomping on those those fingers
and those toes. Look at him, and I'm sort of proud of sebast
(15:37):
Well, you gotta you gotta givehim credit if nothing else a little bit
old my blank span and Sebastian bodyswam. Oh that what are you doing
up there? Sebastian coming back toyou to the outside. I'm so kind
of surprised that he hasn't come.Oh, look at Carson. Carson looks
(16:00):
like he's gonna get down to businesshere. What are you doing? Okay,
I'm gonna stop for a moment becausethis goes on for another three minutes.
I'm just gonna cut to the chasewhere I win the thing moving around
(16:21):
to the side, so I headlock off Sebastian. That's him up kidding.
Sebastian looks like he's just about outof it now. Somebody has submerses
up because he says, what doyou want me to do with anyone?
Huh do you imagine do the Sebastiancrawling for crawling for the rogues? And
(16:48):
you want hurray s feat down ringside? Well, now here comes, here
comes, here comes very hard,very hard's moving around it from side.
Hold. Look at that semester,the gradual green sate in Carson's eyes.
He spraated in Carson's eyes. Weall saw it right there. And now
(17:10):
he's he's trying to pring Parson bylaying on his back. Turn him over.
Now there's one and two and three, there's a fat where's your official
decision? It off? Couldn't.I can't believe it? And there you
have it, And that that's howyou evil can take on evil. It
(17:37):
just it just fights with all itsgumption. So as I did this for
about a year, UH paid myway to grad school partly UH and received
my first Master of Arts degree incomparative literature at the University of Texas at
Arlington, where where the classics ofDavid and Golia, of Odysseus in all
(18:03):
of Troy came together in this onelittle box of a bounty ring. Or
the true action wasn't in the ringat all. It was in the audience,
and the audience made the spoiratorium whatit was. So so that was
my professional wrestling experience. I'm certainyou have a question. Few a few
(18:29):
questions. So now I see thatconnection between a quinetness and Sebastian and ma
food skills. That's a dis potassio. Right now you move from physical dipotasio
into intellectual di potassio, right,you know, for you, philosophy is
(19:00):
kind of intellectual wrestling. Am Icorrect in my assessment that that is a
beautiful way to think of it?So the intellectual wrestling with philosophy would actually
be so the philosophy itself, Ifound, wasn't that difficult? No offense
(19:25):
to the philosophers in this room,actually, I mean a great deal of
respect, because philosophy itself is whowe are as human people, philosophies for
everybody, as many of a philosopherwould say. But the actual wrestling is
in the synthesis between faith and reason, as Tertullian once equipped, What does
(19:51):
Athens have to do with Jerusalem?What is the relationship between our faith,
which we we see from divine revelationand our reason, which we pursue humbly
as we trod upon this earth totry to figure out things that we can
figure out with our natural reason.So so is it reasonable to be a
(20:18):
man of faith? And how faithfulare we if we rely on our reason
and try to figure out okay,way saying God said this, which is
something we couldn't figure out the Trinity, for instance, or or or perhaps
some other of the divine mysteries.Yet I don't see it. I can't
perceive it with my senses. Thatentire Aristotelian paradigm that man delights in knowing
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because he delights in his reason inhis senses. You know, where does
science come into this? And howcan a scientist also be a man of
faith? So these were questions thatwith the real sling ground of my injury
into a Holy Apostles College and seminaryback in twenty and six as a student
(21:07):
in the philosophy department. That's thisis enough for a lifelong quest you to
try to understand what these things mean. Calorie Sebastian is telling us that he
followed rodd less traveled. Do yousee any other what twists and turns this
(21:36):
evolution that that you'd like to callattention to? Would you like to ask
him he's serious about all this stuff? Well mhm, So you ended up
twisting and turning into the to thegroves of Acaty academy. You know you're
(22:00):
your tenure at Kenrick Glennon Seminary andHoly Apostles College in Seminary was rich.
So you you were a teacher,you were an administrator and a pioneer development
developer of an online academic program.So share with us the highlights of all
those all those journeys in academia.Well, I entered this journey rather by
(22:23):
accident, that is to say,I was sitting around mining my own business
and I was pulled in the directionof theological education quite literally by one of
my wife's mother's best friends, doctorSuzanne Harbath, who taught it Kendrick Glennon
Seminary as a psychologist. She taughtin a pastoral theology in pastoral Studies.
(22:48):
So Kendrick Glennon Seminary had recently benefitedback in the year two thousand from a
Lily grant. Lily Foundation Alton,Crawfordville, Indiana, or the Lily Foundation
in Indianapolis funded the Wabash Center inCrawfordsville, Indiana to give seventy two theological
(23:11):
schools that were associated with the Associationof Theological Schools that were credited by them
to give them three hundred thousand dollarsgrants to develop technology initiatives at their school.
So Kenner Glennon Seminary got a technologygrant, and then they needed somebody
who understood technology. That was partof what their grant was. We'd hire
(23:33):
somebody who knows this stuff and thatwould teach it to our faculty. How
do you use appropriate technologies in ourface to face teaching and learning environments?
That's the wabash lingo. So Iwas teaching at a community college at the
time. I had just moved toSaint Louis a few years before. I
was preparing for my doctoral studies atSaint Louis University, and by two thousand
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I had already finished my first fullyear of those studies. So I was
building for my writing classes, myEnglish one on one classes, and buying
development or writing classes. I wasbuilding websites, and I was building ways
in which those students could interact withthose websites and respond so that I would
(24:18):
receive their responses and be able tosynthesize. So sort of a poor man's
Jerry rigged learning management system. AndI had developed an extensive website. So
I sat down one day when theSuzanne Harvath was over to the computer at
my mother in law's house and Istarted processing some data that I was receiving
(24:41):
from my students, and she happenedto walk behind me at that moment and
just stood there. Now, wheneveryou have a church psychologist, someone who
participates certainly in various high level archdiocesanmeetings standing behind you for a long stretch,
you tend to feel the eyes boringon the back of your head and
(25:03):
turn and say hello, May Ihelp you, at which point she said,
I think you may within a weekor so. I was a volunteer
at Kendrick Glennon Seminary and I volunteeredfor a year. I was on a
teaching research assistant ship, a teachingassistantship, so I couldn't take employment anywhere,
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but for that year I talked fourof their faculty how to use their
computers in their classrooms, how touse the smart room, the smart the
data equipment, how to use thecomputer and the projector. And when I
first entered, there was a tendencyfor people who had just received these tools.
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There was a tendency for them touse them like overhead transparency sort of
data projectors, displays, and oneof the faculty even took his overheads,
had the secretary photocopy them, createdslides and simply use the sixty thousand dollars
set up in the same way hewould have used a fifty nine dollars data
(26:11):
projector, you know, overhead transparencyprojector. So they hired me. They
said, you know, you've gota skill that we need. It's not
just the teachers but the students.How can we create a learning community they
can use these tools seamlessly because thetools they discovered were helpful for teaching and
learning. Fast forward a couple ofyears, the grant money's gone. I'm
(26:37):
preparing to leave because I've done mywork, and they offer me the position
of assistant professor. His father,Edward Richard, said, look, if
you'll stay, we'll make you anassistant professor. I said, okay,
And so three years later I finishedmy doctorate. Finally I get the dissertation
done, and it's on something thatmade me the foremost authority on the use
(27:03):
of Abrahamic eschatologies in radical African writing. You know, among African novelists who
were Marxists for about fifteen minutes,and then people started building on the work,
and I discovered that I had producedsomething useful for the academy. But
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in two thousand and six I receivedmy doctorate and they said, you know,
if you stay, we'll make youan associate professor, And I said,
okay, I'll stay associate professor.I taught intercultural competencies. I taught
writing, I taught a handful ofcourses electives. I taught a course in
Dante's Divine Comedy. But I hadcreated so I was happy, and the
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academic dean at the time, FatherLarry Brennan, asked me if I could
help share my understanding of the useof technologies with other seminaries in the What
began is the Midwest Association of TheologicalSchools, or a bunch of Catholic seminaries
that came together and ultimately turned intothe National Association of Catholic Theological Schools.
(28:11):
So I built something called the CatholicDistance Learning Network again with Wabash money.
They gave us seventy thousand dollars,and I taught eighty six faculty members across
twenty five seminaries how to develop andteach online courses in a three year period.
The grant was only for thirty people, but people kept showing up.
(28:34):
You know, people would say,you know, I've heard this is happening.
Can we do it? And Ididn't want to say no, so
I just let more people into theclass. The Catholic Distance Learning Network provided
me ultimately with about one hundred andfifty faculty before it worked into something different,
and that's what brought me to HolyApostles College and Seminary. They had
(28:56):
a program that was but it's stillin its early stages. It was a
Master of Arts in Philosophy and aMaster of Arts in Theology. And as
I mentioned before, I had alreadyjumped into the EMA and Philosophy program as
a student. By two thousand andnine, I received my degree and I
(29:18):
jumped into the IMAN theology program asa student. And my work came to
the attention of President Mosey, whowas the president rector at the seminary,
and he said, look, we'vegot this online program. We want to
grow it. I said, Ithink I can help. So I took
a program that started out at Ithink it was earning one hundred and fifty
(29:41):
thousand dollars a year in tuition revenues. When I entered in twenty eleven as
the interim director of Online Learning ofdistance Learning. When I left in twenty
one, ten years later, wewere over three million a year in revenues,
and that was simply by my toddlingand adding a few things. In
one hand, I had a wholebunch of students, but I had video
(30:02):
correspondence courses. On the other hand, I had a whole bunch of faculty.
We didn't have any online students.They had taught classes to one another
through reciprocity agreements. But over thecourse of a five year span, I
think we only impacted one hundred orso students, students who wanted needed electives
(30:22):
that other seminaries offered, but thattheir own seminary didn't like. A student,
said Kendrick Lennon. Seminary, forinstance, could take a theology and
science course out of the Immaculate ConceptionSeminary in Huntington, New York, back
before it was consolidated with Saint JosephSunwoodie, and they did it online.
(30:44):
And they did it because the systemI set up allowed them to do it.
So I shifted from priestly formation,which was being done at the seminary
level into lay formation which was beingdone at the Master of Arts level,
and you know he had students comingfrom all over the world at one point
still do a Holy Apostles program isthriving on the building blocks on the foundation
(31:10):
that I created back in twenty eleven, on a foundation that doctor Cynthia Toulin
Wilson, father Brian Milady, andfather Mosey began in nineteen ninety eight when
they invited Ralph mcinnerney of Notre DameFame to share his International Catholic University courses
with them and began what ultimately becamean online correspondence program that morphed into a
(31:37):
sort of flesh and blood fully online, fully fully developed and energized death star,
if you will. That's a dizzydizzy accult of a major contribution.
Yeah. But as the oldest personon this program, I want to go
(32:02):
back to the print media as inbooks. Oh okay, s And it
was almost as old as also goingto jump, Jim, I need to
go, but I ask for anexception, all right, May I ask
(32:23):
a question before leaving, which isnot the one that you are going to
ask, because I want to hearSebastian response, Mario, of course,
I don't want you to miss ameeting with your po Okay, I'm very
curious about the Open Door. Ah, I understand that is the longest running
(32:52):
show in w c a T andradio program. How did it start?
How did you hire doctor Hannick Higher? I pay him in donuts but long
(33:14):
standing debt dunkin donuts. So theOpen Door is very interesting program, and
I'm so incredibly grateful for it andfor for the work that the three of
you, the panelist of the OpenDoor, have done since October twenty sixteen.
So let me step back a moment. W c a T Radio is
(33:38):
a radio station, at least upuntil twenty eighteen. O from October sixteen
to around summer of eighteen, weran live shows. So every two hours,
I would sit down at my computerand I would start a show.
And I did that for over twoyears. You actually had to physically push
(33:58):
a button. I had equipment thatdid the broadcasting, and the Open Door
was the very first program that cameon I think very early, like October
second, October third of twenty sixteen. So after twenty eighteen, I realized
(34:20):
from the numbers it was just adata based research that not only could I
stop pushing a button every two hours, but that if I did and we
shipped it over into podcasting, I'dget a lot more visitors. We'd get
a lot more people who were activelyengaged in watching the shows or listening to
the shows on demand. And wewere radio right up until COVID. When
(34:44):
COVID hit in zoom came about,a lot of the programs like this one
went into video, and so Ibuilt a station on YouTube called wkt TV
to host the video spots. Ithink since twenty twenty we've got about seven
hundred eight hundred videos that we posteda total of nine thousand programs just on
(35:05):
radio shows across seventy five different shows. But the Open Door was the first
and the longest running. And ifthe other show host don't mind my saying
so, the best because you guyscackle the real issues. So why a
radio station at all? Why dowe need wk radio to spread or to
(35:27):
facilitate the Catholic spiritual journey and totalk about a lot of other cool stuff.
The radio station was an outgrowth ofthe publishing house on Books and Media
opened its doors two years earlier andbegan publishing books written by the faculty at
Holy Apostles College and Seminary. Whyeven start a publishing house because in twenty
(35:53):
fourteen, Holy Apostles launched its undergraduateprogramming. We were approved by the State
Office of Higher Education in Connecticut andby the New England or at the time
was New England Association of Schools andColleges. But we had some stiff competition.
(36:14):
Our faculty were not as well knownas other seminary faculties, other Catholic
college faculties. You know, wecouldn't compete with, say, for instance,
Scott Hahn out of Franciscan and Steubenvillein terms of name recognition. So
Father Mosey and I decided, well, there's one way to do it.
We'll make our faculty famous. SoI thought it would be instant success.
(36:37):
I thought we would step onto thestage and body go, oh, there
are the famous faculty of Holy ApostlesCollege and Seminary. It takes a while
to build the fame of a givenauthor. Peter Kraft, for instance,
or any of the other names thatyou may see in the world of Catholic
teaching learning weren't always uh famous names. Uh there was a point where they
(37:04):
were just ordinary people like you andme making their way in the world until
one day they published a book andseveral faculty put it on their syllabi and
another day they gave a talk andit was broadcast r and wide. So
(37:25):
in order to make our faculty famous, we needed a way to interview those
faculty, to have those faculty getinto the public light in terms of Catholic
social media. And so Ronda Cherbinand Bob Olsen and I came together and
we put together this radio station calledWCAT Radio, which short for Why Catholic.
(37:49):
W KAT is Why Catholic Radio andwhy be Catholic? But because it's
a it's a reasonable faith, it'sthe it's the ultimate in helping us understand
that synthesis between faith and reason,and it's time tested for two millennia.
(38:10):
And that's where we come to thevery present moment where we're able to talk
about these things on a radio stationthat took wings as the on air wing
of books and media. Thank you, did I answer the question? That
question Mario glad to ask that question, But still you haven't mentioned when did
(38:37):
you meet doctor hannik oh Well,doctor Hannik was introduced to me through Bob
Alston. As Bob was looking fora show host. He said to me,
you know, I could put togethera couple of shows, and I
said that would be great. Bob, he says, I've got an idea
for a wonderful one. It's calledthe Open Door. We'll get some panelists,
(38:58):
we'll put them together and we'll we'llthrow out interesting topics for them to
discuss. We'll even bring in somepeople they can interview, and we'll have
a great time of it cruising theCatholic airwaves. So, Jim, you
were one of the panelists that BobOlson brought through at one point. I
believe I've met him at a hockeygame, and that would have been where
(39:22):
you would have met him, becausehe was a hockey announcer for forty years.
That's right. The guy was incredible. He told me where I could
get some dentures that I'd never regrethockey players. That's important, right,
Okay, Mario, I'm glad youasked that question. But now I want
(39:45):
to turn to old school stuff likebooks, which I continue to spell b
O O K S and Sebastian despiteall your feats of media. You've also
managed to several important books, andyou mentioned one Dante tell us about the
(40:06):
books at least some representative examples ofthem. Oh sure, Well, you
know, the precursor writing books iswriting articles. I've written dozens of articles,
and it occurred to me one daythat I had written enough in terms
of articles that it were I toassemble these articles together into forms of books,
(40:27):
I would have something that would havea little more composite weight to it,
you know, where I could bringmy thoughts together on a particular topic
in a certain space. So Dantehas been a favorite of mine ever since
I took my first Dante class atthe University of Texas at Arlington in nineteen
ninety one under doctor Simone Turberville.I was a history major and was happy
(40:51):
to pursue the life of a historyprofessor before I stepped into doctor Turberville's Dante
class and discovered the wonderful world ofmetaphor. And it turned me into an
English major so quickly that as Istepped into my senior year, I typic
class. When I was a junior, I ended up having to switch my
schedule around to take six English classesin one academic year in order to double
(41:15):
major, so I ended up witha History and English major, which is
kind of interesting that Italian poetry woulddrive me into being an English major.
But as the language in letters lightsthe path I formed over the years a
fascination with Dante Alighary, and intwo thousand and five I was given the
(41:40):
opportunity to teach at Dante class atKendrick Glennon Seminary, and to prepare for
the class, I put together minilectures in each of the cantos, and
those lectures are still online. Youcan see them. I posted them on
YouTube in twenty ten when when Ibrought them together with video. So I
(42:00):
took those lectures that I brought togetherover the course of a semester of teaching,
where every morning I would get upand I do a five minute talk
and I would send that to mystudents. I took those lectures and I
prepared a book called The Narrative Spiritualityof Dante's Divine Comedy, and it was
(42:23):
really based on the idea that Dantewas a polymath. He drew from a
lot of different authors, but aparticular author from whom he drew that I
was studying at the time was SirSt. Thomas aquinas you know, and
you can see he lays out abibliography of all the people that he's drawing
(42:44):
from. Over the course of theDivine Comedy. He talks about the poets
that influenced him when he's in limbo, and he puts himself a sixth in
their company, and ultimately says,you know, these were my initial influences,
and Virgil was my master in Savior. Well, you can see why
(43:08):
he ended up having to walk throughhell, in purgatory in heaven to make
it to God. The first personthat he clung to was a Roman pagan
whose poetry inspired him. By thetime he makes it into the fifth sphere
(43:28):
of Heaven, he then lays outhis theological bibliography. That's Saint Thomas,
Saint Bonaventure, in a slew ofothers who were there actually in the fourth
sphere of heaven, among the doctorsof the church, and the theologians and
the philosophers who understood the relationship betweenfaith and reason. Beatrice castigates him in
(43:53):
Canto thirty of the Purgatorio for followingpagan philosophy and losing sight of divine revelation
you need. The synthesis is theargument all the way through. And it
was something that attracted me because ofwhat I was learning as a lay Dominican
about the importance of that synthesis betweenfaith and reason. So the book came
(44:16):
out of that the narrative spirituality ofDante's Divine Comedy, how he tells a
story in order to enable our spiritsto grow, and you can see that
growth taking place in a very realway across the stretch of the Paradiso,
where he's coming into greater awareness ofwho he is as a person designed in
(44:42):
the image and likeness of God.So that's that book. But I've got
my start writing books with Ronda Chervin. She said, you know, let's
teach a class together in on theNew Atheism and try to talk about the
influence that authors like Richard Dawkins arehaving on this world and especially in our
(45:07):
college settings. And out of thatthe lectures that we prepared for that class
came a book called Catholic Realism,which talked about the value of the Catholic
faith in the modern world. Andthere's some others I put together with Bishop
Richard Henning, a book a missionarypriest in the homeland, in the United
(45:32):
States, in this country, withdomestic vocations down, we're drawing a lot
on international priest, on missionary prieststo serve in our parishes and in our
diocese and in our seminaries, evenon our faculties. So to what extent
(45:54):
is our call to receive the fruitsof all of our evangelization efforts over the
past several hundred years. And wedo have the Jesuits to thank for this,
in part because they were great missionariesthat planted the seeds of the faith
in what we know is the developingworld, though some people would take issue
(46:15):
with that moniker with that description ofthe world outside of the West. Those
are the areas from which we're drawingpriests Nigeria, Columbia, to other places
in Central and South America, SoutheastAsia. And those international priests who are
(46:37):
coming in some dioceses make up halfthe presbiterate, and it's a growing number.
Back in twenty twelve, I believethere were five thousand missionary priests in
this country and that number has grownsignificantly since that was only a decade ago.
Same with international seminarians. Our seminariesare at a low point their enrollments
(47:00):
to the point that many of thebishops are saying, we have too many
seminaries. When I entered theological educationin two thousand at Kendrick Glenn Seminary,
there were forty seven major seminaries.Today they're only thirty eight. It's a
number that will dwindle like the minorseminaries did when they sprouted up after nineteen
(47:22):
fifty eight all over the place,and then we're relatively solidly in their decline
by nineteen eighty three. So that'sthat book during COVID. As soon as
COVID hit in March of twenty Ibegan organizing webinars for theological faculty. How
(47:42):
do you do emergency remote instruction?They needed to know emergency remote teaching was
the law of the land for therest of the year, even into the
spring of twenty one. So Iformed an organization back in twenty thirteen called
the Faith Based Online Learning Directors.For the past ten years we put out
material that help distance learning programs becomemore authentically themselves. That is, how
(48:08):
do we take whatever school we are, whatever our mission is, and promulgate
that or pursue that in a certainway, in a particular way online to
ensure that we continue to mean ourmission in a teaching and learning environment where
(48:30):
the students and the faculty come togetheronly on zoom, only in asynchronous discussion
boards. So the faith based onlinelearning directors were in an ideal position take
a leadership role in twenty twenty andwe put together a number of webinars and
a number of talks and a numberof papers. We brought those papers together
(48:52):
into a book called Teaching and LearningOnline Teaching and Learning Faith Based Teaching through
the Internet. So some of thesebooks were very easy to put together.
You know, we had a teamof people who already had content, and
(49:12):
I had formed the publishing house infifteen. So at this point I'm publishing
about two books a week. Intwenty twenty two, I published one hundred.
I'll hit one hundred and twenty twentythree as well. I'm already at
number fifty eight or fifty nine forthis year. So producing a book is
like rolling clay snakes. It's incrediblyeasy. It's fun working with the authors.
(49:34):
There's a lot of deadlines in theCatholic world because everybody's trying to meet
a saint's day, like yesterday,we published a book called Cloud of Witnesses
for to make the feast of OurLady of Grace. Two days before I
published a book called the Eucharistic RevivalProject in order to make the date for
(49:58):
the feast of Pope Pius the Tenth, who is the Pope of the Eucharist.
So that's kind of fun and it'skind of exciting. And then the
marketing and promotions that happens afterwards iseven more fun and exciting because the authors
have a great deal of zeal inorder to promote their message, which I
(50:19):
help them learn how to turn intoa product. So in many cases,
many of the authors I receive,our first time Catholic authors, they have
a message and they don't necessarily havean audience, and they don't know how
to turn that message into into incommercial terms or the crass commercial terms we
(50:42):
would call a product, so thatcan then be used measured in sales,
you know, in terms of theextent of the message. And I've gotten
maybe one hundred and eighty authors atthis point and three hundred and fifty eight
total books, three hundred and fiftynine. After today, we're publishing another
(51:02):
one this evening. So that's theway the publishing house has rolled, That's
the way my own contribution in theform of books has rolled. There's a
couple of books I haven't mentioned,but to give you a representative sampling.
The publishing house is also developing areproducing seminary Journal, which was a production
(51:28):
of the National Catholic Educational Association SeminaryDepartment from nineteen ninety five to about twenty
fourteen, when the Seminary Department closed. This journal collects the best thoughts of
formation from the faculties of the thirtyeight remaining Catholic seminaries and disseminates them.
(51:50):
So we got our first Spring twentytwenty three issue with the journal out recently.
This fall will put out the fallissue and then we'll be back in
circulation with the journal and hopefully thejournal and the product book productions, and
these radio shows. The Open Dooris an excellent program. There are seventy
four more excellent programs on w KITradio. These resources, in these materials
(52:16):
are great benefit to anyone studying theirfaith in lay formation or in priestly formation,
so that that may get us tothe endpoint of to the starting point
of the next question, Valerie,are you as dizzy as I am?
It's amazing what you've drawn from Imean, you're just like going around picking
(52:40):
flowers and gifts from the Lord inall corners and putting them together so that
other people can benefit from them.What about what about a book on home
schooling? Valerie, I think welost value materials for that book. My
(53:06):
guess is she'll be back so so. So, to answer Valorie's unasked question,
I draw my inspiration from the saints. Uh. There's a there's a
saint that helps with anything, andif you've got a problem, it's likely
you'll be able to find a saintto whom you can pray for intercession.
(53:27):
And she talked about a gathering flowers, you know, and moving through the
fields of of our rich Catholic intellectualtradition. Well you can. You can
drop a pin on any of thesaints who can help a person with that
(53:47):
kind of endeavor. Saint Francis ofassisi UH is noted for having preached to
the animals, having embraced a lifeof poverty, which is which is very
very much like the life of anintrepid Catholic publisher and producer the ministries that
(54:07):
we pursue or that we assist areall very important. And behind every book
is a ministry, Behind every showis a ministry. So to what extent
can this radio station and that thispublishing house help support the ministries of those
who seek its services in the inthe spread of their message. So that's
(54:32):
a that's something I've been pursuing.For example, for example, the New
Oxford Review with which I've been associatedsince what nineteen ninety or so. Oh,
now that's pre internet. Yes,yes, has as its patrons Saint
(54:55):
Vincent Polote in the Palatine Father andall right. They have a real commitment
to Catholic books, publication and soforth. So there's some some illustration of
exactly the point you were making.And they've reviewed our books, of course,
(55:20):
some of the Onward books that we'vesee very good reviews in the actually
review in other places. Well,Spassion, we've we've come to the end
of the hour, and it's goingto take me the rest of the data
process all the sorts of things thatyou've been laying out for us. And
(55:42):
as you say, we all haveour ministries where we have a call,
a universal call to holiness and certainly, our call to holiness draws on more
than our ambitions, draws on thegospel, the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And we end every showhere on the open door with the gospel
(56:07):
for the day. And this comesfrom Matthew. It's very familiar, and
there's so much to learn from it. Jesus told his disciples this parable the
Kingdom of Heaven is like. Alandowner went out at dawn to hire laborers
(56:28):
for his vineyard. After agreeing withthem for the usual daily wage, he
sent them into his vineyard. Goingout about nine o'clock, he saw others
standing idol in the marketplace, andhe said to them, you two go
into my vineyard and I will giveyou what is just. So they went
off, and he went out againaround noon and around three o'clock, and
(56:51):
did likewise. Going out about fiveo'clock, he found others standing around and
said to them, why do youstand here idol all day? They answered,
because no one has hired us.He said to them, you too,
go into my vineyard. When itwas evening, the owner of the
(57:13):
vineyard said to his foreman, summonthe laborers and give them their pay.
Beginning with the last, and endingwith the first. When those who had
started about five o'clock came, eachreceived his usual daily wage. So when
the first came, they thought theywould receive more. But each of them
(57:34):
also got the usual wage, andon receiving it, they grumbled against the
landowners, saying, these last onesworked only one hour, and you have
made them equal to us, whobore the day's burden and the heat.
He said to one of them inreply, my friend, I am not
(57:57):
cheating you. Did you not agreewith me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go?What if I wish to give this last
one the same as you? Oram I not afraid to do what I
wish with my own money? Areyou envious? Because I am generous?
Thus the last will be first,the last will be first, and the
(58:22):
first will be last. Come LordJesus, come amen. Thank you so
much, Sebastian. We appreciate thisvery very much. We are so much
in your debt, and we thankyou for your stupendous efforts. And we
(58:43):
haven't even talked about your worldwide travels, even though I refer to your peregrinations
at your pari paceticism in my intro. So thanks again. You will have
to hit me back right if wewill. From behind the scenes to on
the front line. Thank you,Thank you, Jim. Hello, God's
(59:08):
beloved. I'm Annabel Moseley, author, professor of theology and host of then
Sings My Soul and Destination Sainthood onWCAT Radio. I invite you to listen
in and find inspiration along this sacredjourney. We're traveling together to make our
lives a masterpiece. End with God'sgrace, become saints. Join me Annabel
(59:34):
Mosley for then Sings My Soul andDestination Sainthood on WCAT Radio. God bless
you. Remember you are never alone. God is always we heard. Thank
you for listening to a production ofWCAT Radio. Please join us in all
(59:55):
the mission of evangelization, and don'tforget Love lifts up where knowledge takes plight.
You're listening to w c AT Radio. You're hume for authentic Catholic programming to
Welcome to the Open Door, ashow based on the words in Revelation,
I have left an open door beforeyou which no one can close. This
is wc AT Radio's longest running show, which opened the door to the radio
(00:22):
station in October twenty sixteen. It'scurrently offered by Jim Hannink Mario Ramo's Rays
and Friends, and remains open tothe love of God in its call to
build a culture of life and ajust social order. Through the panel's discussion
of the Catholic social teaching principles ofsolidarity, subsidiarity and economic democracy. The
(00:48):
Open Door also explores non violence,distributism and communitarianism. So join us at
the Open Door, where you toocan be part of the conversation. Welcome
to the Open Door. Jim Hannikhere with fellow panelists Mario Ramos, Reyes
(01:11):
and Valerie Niemeyer. Today, withoutspecial fuss and without making a scene,
we'll explore the life and times ofthe man behind the scenes. Our welcome
guest is our producer and indeed theproducer of the full range of w scat
(01:36):
radio and television programs. The presidentof en Route Books and Media, the
peripatetic Sebastian Mafood op pH and Djoins us. Though his heart is in
East Texas, Saint Louis is thelaunching pad of his projects and peregrinations.
(02:04):
He lives there with his wife,doctor stephanem Food and their children Alexander and
Eva Ruth. Let's begin, asalways in prayer. Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful andand kindle in them the fire of
your love. Send forth your spirit, and they shall be created, and
(02:27):
you shall renew the face of theearth. Oh God, who have taught
the hearts of the faithful by thelight of the Holy Spirit, granted in
the same spirit we may be trulywise and never rejoice in His consolation.
Amen, Doctor my Food, Sebastiancould tell us about your hangover roots and
(02:55):
introduce us to your family. Whywell, first of all, Jim,
thank you and Mario and Valerie forallowing me to be on your show today.
This is quite a pleasure and quitea treat. So my name,
as you've already mentioned, is SebastianMafut. The last name is Lebanese,
(03:17):
and we can trace our roots backto the grand old city of Beirut in
Marja Yune in Lebanon, where mygreat grandfather started off on a boat one
day to Kingston, Jamaica, wheremy grandfather was born, so I can
claim to be Jamaican, at leastin part. He grew up there before
(03:39):
moving to Detroit to marry my grandmother. As you know, Phoenicians move every
generation. My father was born inDetroit and moved down to Texas to Tyler,
where he met my mother at PineTree High School in Longview or at
Kilgour College wherever it was they firstlaid eyes on one another. And I
(04:02):
was born of a union between theLebanese cedar tree and the East Texas pine
tree, so evergreen that I am, if I can, if I can
make that allegory. I grew upin East Texas and met my wife in
(04:23):
North Africa in the Peace Corps,and we settled here in Saint Louis because
I lost a bet who would havethe better position one year after our closal
service, and I've been in SaintLouis ever since, almost thirty years now.
So there you have it. Thestory from when I was a wee
wee wee lad of several generations agoto the present day. I'll just tag
(04:47):
onto that that's the present day inhabitantsof Phoenix hot spot of the US of
Hey are called the nations. Hey, how about that? Yeah? All
right, Sebastian, thank you forthat intro. Mario, what next?
(05:09):
Well? After hearing that you comefrom the Phoenician not explained me give a
lot of light about your activities.But anyhow, you are also a lay
Dominican, which is a very interestingvocation. How they that came about?
(05:33):
So in two thousand and six,I had finished my doctorate and decided I
was done with school. And thatlasted about six months before I realized I
wanted to study philosophy. I knowit. It's a noble, even nobler
(05:54):
profession. Then then then most othersthat one could could pursue. How are
you sure the life of a philosopherin the person of one who understood,
at least in part, the ideathat the examined life was more worth living
than the unexamined. I began studyingat Holy Apostles College and Seminary. They
(06:17):
had an online program, and Iwas hooked from my first metaphysics course,
and I came upon a video ora CD from one of the collections that
they had by father Brian Milady,and Father Milady gave a talk, a
(06:39):
sixty minute talk on the life ofDominican of study as an act of prayer.
And so it occurred to me,wait a second, I've been praying
all my life because I could neverget away from study, from this desire
to learn. You know, asAristotle says, the beginning of the metaphysics
all men, and that includes womenvalerie desire to learn as is evidenced by
(07:04):
the delight they've taken their senses.So I walked down the hall I was
teaching at Kendrick Lennon Seminary at thetime to my good friend, father Tom
McDermott ope, and said, isthere a way I can participate in the
life of the Dominican? And hepointed me to a Late Dominican chapter in
Saint Louis, And by two thousandand eight I was a member, and
(07:28):
I've I've been a Late Dominican nowfor fifteen years. It's a wonderful anniversary
date to actually to realize I've beena Late Dominican for fifteen years. That's
great, so very good. Jesuitfree. Yes, but I studied at
Saint Louis University, so I liketo balance my pre Reformation and post Reformation
(07:54):
religious orders. There's part of yourpast, and I think Valerie bring So
I speaking speaking of balance, youknow, head with you know, thinking
and then being physically active once youknow, back in the day you were
apparently wrestling professionally. Telling you moreabout that, and doctor Hanning wants to
(08:22):
know were you even then a voicefrom the periphery, I was, as
you know from what Roland Bark tellsus. In the world of wrestling,
the world of wrestling is a spectacle. It is a contest between the powers
of good and the powers of evil. The salt of the earth shows up
(08:43):
as the audience, and they wantto believe that the powers of good will
prevail. Yet they spend their daysgoing into and coming out of factories,
farms, various industries in the GreatAmerican Southwest, or at least some the
(09:03):
Dallas Fort Worth metropolitan area. Andthey want to see the underdog get on
top at least once, and wegave it to him about every six weeks.
The rest of the time, wecheated shamelessly and beat the good guys,
and they knew the good guys werebeaten because of the cheating, and
(09:24):
they knew the good guys won andovercame that cheating because of their virtue and
their valor. I'd like to showyou a clip. We'd like to see
it, dude, one second.I happen to have a clip practically queued
up here, meaning it's not yetcute up, but it's very accessible.
(09:50):
If you go to YouTube to theGlobal Wrestling Federation phantom X from parts unknown
will find a clip of me.Now I'm going to share my screen.
I pulled this up real quick.When the Goal Wrestling Federation, I'm going
on day down ringside? Oh no, Gary, Gary Hard is he on
(10:16):
your ringside with me? Gary?How could you? How could you allow
this to happen? How could allowthis to happen? That's Sebastian right there.
Look he's even got the glasses onit. They're building in his phantom
Ax. I've been looking all overthe guilty all night, the Sebastion.
I've been out of the part.I've been I don't know worries out.
(10:37):
Now wait a minute, look,look right up there on the right.
Let's that's Sebastian. I can't believeit. That's who because I I've told
I can't believe that. I couldnot believe this. Now let me let
me pause for just a minute toshare with you a bit of what's happening.
So this is my first heavyweight matchkinsKit Carson. Now, at the
(11:01):
time, I was an evil wrestlingmanager. I helped Gary Hart, whom
we just saw there with the mustachesheet, shamelessly, and Gary was constantly
trying to pull one over on thegood guys. So he dresses me up
in red tights and sends me againsta bad guy, Kit Carson. So
(11:24):
it's really a fight of two evils. Now, Kit Carson throws me around
for five solid minutes. We hadto practice this just before we went on
the stage, because the original planwas I would take a dive, he
would take a dive. I wouldjump under him and then spray him in
the face. He'd never touched me, but but fortunately we had a way
(11:50):
to make it look better. Ohho, my, this is going to
be a literal This is going tobe a literal massag How could you let
this? How could you allow thisto happen. Rry. Hey, I
didn't even know I was wondering alleven what Sebastian's was het Sebastian, he's
gonna get too. It is,It's it's Sebastian and he's he's going to
(12:11):
he's going to. Well, you'vegot to stop him. Man, Hey,
everybody, you've got to live withthe choices you make in this world.
Well, there's philosophy for you rightthere, from the mouths of babes,
actually from the mouth of a veryseasoned professional wrestling manager, Gary Hart.
(12:31):
Okay, so you're gonna you're gonnalet him go through with it?
Huh. I don't have the heartto stop him. I mean, he
wants it so bad. He justactually can be anything he wants to do.
Well. He was turned he wasturned down from for a wrestling card
in this match by the commissioner inthe heavyweight division. I don't know if
he's got a wrestling card or howhe did it. He's wrestling under the
(12:52):
name of phantom Ax. He's wrestlingKick Carson. I can't believe Sebastian.
What is he trying to do?Get one hundred and twenty four pounds of
Sebastian soaking wet against the professor.You see there. The first meeting in
the ring is always attended by anattempt to make friends with your adversary,
(13:16):
and sometimes the adversary is not willingto make friends. So you put it
out your best effort, and thatperson simply rebukes you. Professional. Well,
I'll look at that kick. Carsonjust slapped his face. Hey,
not even no reason for the guyto take advant It's a Sebastis Sebasson trying
to live out his dream. Morewisdom, important to try to live out
your dream. I wonder where hewas at all night. I couldn't find
(13:41):
him. Wonder when he was hidingat getting one out. I'll look at
it. There's there's a lot ofnooks and crannies in this whole building to
hide in. But let me tellyou, I mean, we have to
respect his intestinal for the trufer gettingin the room with an experience wrestler like
this kick person, Sebastian crawling overfor the rope. Soon as he gets
(14:01):
put into that into that hammerlocket,he's he's waving, waving carsonal and Carson
kicks a little. But oh,let's boxing ball on the floor. Don't
hurt your head. Okay. Sothere's maybe a thousand people despiratorium in this
episode of maybe fifteen hundred, andthe real action is not in the ring.
The real action is in the audience. And so you've got a sort
(14:22):
of Berthold Brectian kind of theater happeninghere with the disappearance of the of the
Invisible Wall at fourth Wall, butalso in augusta Bowalian kind of theater.
Will you tear all the walls down? I don't want them to happen to
his brain, that's for sure.Maybe his computer service on the you the
(14:54):
subpession has written done it. Andyou know, I can't believe that that
you are allowing him to I hadno to wrestle, you know, in
this match, it's it's it's it'ssaved. You're not gonna try to stop
him to set up the final arrangementswith you, even the experience the final
arrangements, the final arrangements with you. Every experienced Dick Carson wants a testament
(15:16):
strength with with little Sebastian, Imean phantom X. So I go ahead
and calling conclom X or everybody knowsthat it's sebastands nothing better know him was
long him, look at him downimmediately and Carson stomping on those those fingers
and those toes. Look at him, and I'm sort of proud of sebast
(15:37):
Well, you gotta you gotta givehim credit if nothing else a little bit
old my blank span and Sebastian bodyswam. Oh that what are you doing
up there? Sebastian coming back toyou to the outside. I'm so kind
of surprised that he hasn't come.Oh, look at Carson. Carson looks
(16:00):
like he's gonna get down to businesshere. What are you doing? Okay,
I'm gonna stop for a moment becausethis goes on for another three minutes.
I'm just gonna cut to the chasewhere I win the thing moving around
(16:21):
to the side, so I headlock off Sebastian. That's him up kidding.
Sebastian looks like he's just about outof it now. Somebody has submerses
up because he says, what doyou want me to do with anyone?
Huh do you imagine do the Sebastiancrawling for crawling for the rogues? And
(16:48):
you want hurray s feat down ringside? Well, now here comes, here
comes, here comes very hard,very hard's moving around it from side.
Hold. Look at that semester,the gradual green sate in Carson's eyes.
He spraated in Carson's eyes. Weall saw it right there. And now
(17:10):
he's he's trying to pring Parson bylaying on his back. Turn him over.
Now there's one and two and three, there's a fat where's your official
decision? It off? Couldn't.I can't believe it? And there you
have it, And that that's howyou evil can take on evil. It
(17:37):
just it just fights with all itsgumption. So as I did this for
about a year, UH paid myway to grad school partly UH and received
my first Master of Arts degree incomparative literature at the University of Texas at
Arlington, where where the classics ofDavid and Golia, of Odysseus in all
(18:03):
of Troy came together in this onelittle box of a bounty ring. Or
the true action wasn't in the ringat all. It was in the audience,
and the audience made the spoiratorium whatit was. So so that was
my professional wrestling experience. I'm certainyou have a question. Few a few
(18:29):
questions. So now I see thatconnection between a quinetness and Sebastian and ma
food skills. That's a dis potassio. Right now you move from physical dipotasio
into intellectual di potassio, right,you know, for you, philosophy is
(19:00):
kind of intellectual wrestling. Am Icorrect in my assessment that that is a
beautiful way to think of it?So the intellectual wrestling with philosophy would actually
be so the philosophy itself, Ifound, wasn't that difficult? No offense
(19:25):
to the philosophers in this room,actually, I mean a great deal of
respect, because philosophy itself is whowe are as human people, philosophies for
everybody, as many of a philosopherwould say. But the actual wrestling is
in the synthesis between faith and reason, as Tertullian once equipped, What does
(19:51):
Athens have to do with Jerusalem?What is the relationship between our faith,
which we we see from divine revelationand our reason, which we pursue humbly
as we trod upon this earth totry to figure out things that we can
figure out with our natural reason.So so is it reasonable to be a
(20:18):
man of faith? And how faithfulare we if we rely on our reason
and try to figure out okay,way saying God said this, which is
something we couldn't figure out the Trinity, for instance, or or or perhaps
some other of the divine mysteries.Yet I don't see it. I can't
perceive it with my senses. Thatentire Aristotelian paradigm that man delights in knowing
(20:45):
because he delights in his reason inhis senses. You know, where does
science come into this? And howcan a scientist also be a man of
faith? So these were questions thatwith the real sling ground of my injury
into a Holy Apostles College and seminaryback in twenty and six as a student
(21:07):
in the philosophy department. That's thisis enough for a lifelong quest you to
try to understand what these things mean. Calorie Sebastian is telling us that he
followed rodd less traveled. Do yousee any other what twists and turns this
(21:36):
evolution that that you'd like to callattention to? Would you like to ask
him he's serious about all this stuff? Well mhm, So you ended up
twisting and turning into the to thegroves of Acaty academy. You know you're
(22:00):
your tenure at Kenrick Glennon Seminary andHoly Apostles College in Seminary was rich.
So you you were a teacher,you were an administrator and a pioneer development
developer of an online academic program.So share with us the highlights of all
those all those journeys in academia.Well, I entered this journey rather by
(22:23):
accident, that is to say,I was sitting around mining my own business
and I was pulled in the directionof theological education quite literally by one of
my wife's mother's best friends, doctorSuzanne Harbath, who taught it Kendrick Glennon
Seminary as a psychologist. She taughtin a pastoral theology in pastoral Studies.
(22:48):
So Kendrick Glennon Seminary had recently benefitedback in the year two thousand from a
Lily grant. Lily Foundation Alton,Crawfordville, Indiana, or the Lily Foundation
in Indianapolis funded the Wabash Center inCrawfordsville, Indiana to give seventy two theological
(23:11):
schools that were associated with the Associationof Theological Schools that were credited by them
to give them three hundred thousand dollarsgrants to develop technology initiatives at their school.
So Kenner Glennon Seminary got a technologygrant, and then they needed somebody
who understood technology. That was partof what their grant was. We'd hire
(23:33):
somebody who knows this stuff and thatwould teach it to our faculty. How
do you use appropriate technologies in ourface to face teaching and learning environments?
That's the wabash lingo. So Iwas teaching at a community college at the
time. I had just moved toSaint Louis a few years before. I
was preparing for my doctoral studies atSaint Louis University, and by two thousand
(23:57):
I had already finished my first fullyear of those studies. So I was
building for my writing classes, myEnglish one on one classes, and buying
development or writing classes. I wasbuilding websites, and I was building ways
in which those students could interact withthose websites and respond so that I would
(24:18):
receive their responses and be able tosynthesize. So sort of a poor man's
Jerry rigged learning management system. AndI had developed an extensive website. So
I sat down one day when theSuzanne Harvath was over to the computer at
my mother in law's house and Istarted processing some data that I was receiving
(24:41):
from my students, and she happenedto walk behind me at that moment and
just stood there. Now, wheneveryou have a church psychologist, someone who
participates certainly in various high level archdiocesanmeetings standing behind you for a long stretch,
you tend to feel the eyes boringon the back of your head and
(25:03):
turn and say hello, May Ihelp you, at which point she said,
I think you may within a weekor so. I was a volunteer
at Kendrick Glennon Seminary and I volunteeredfor a year. I was on a
teaching research assistant ship, a teachingassistantship, so I couldn't take employment anywhere,
(25:26):
but for that year I talked fourof their faculty how to use their
computers in their classrooms, how touse the smart room, the smart the
data equipment, how to use thecomputer and the projector. And when I
first entered, there was a tendencyfor people who had just received these tools.
(25:47):
There was a tendency for them touse them like overhead transparency sort of
data projectors, displays, and oneof the faculty even took his overheads,
had the secretary photocopy them, createdslides and simply use the sixty thousand dollars
set up in the same way hewould have used a fifty nine dollars data
(26:11):
projector, you know, overhead transparencyprojector. So they hired me. They
said, you know, you've gota skill that we need. It's not
just the teachers but the students.How can we create a learning community they
can use these tools seamlessly because thetools they discovered were helpful for teaching and
learning. Fast forward a couple ofyears, the grant money's gone. I'm
(26:37):
preparing to leave because I've done mywork, and they offer me the position
of assistant professor. His father,Edward Richard, said, look, if
you'll stay, we'll make you anassistant professor. I said, okay,
And so three years later I finishedmy doctorate. Finally I get the dissertation
done, and it's on something thatmade me the foremost authority on the use
(27:03):
of Abrahamic eschatologies in radical African writing. You know, among African novelists who
were Marxists for about fifteen minutes,and then people started building on the work,
and I discovered that I had producedsomething useful for the academy. But
(27:25):
in two thousand and six I receivedmy doctorate and they said, you know,
if you stay, we'll make youan associate professor, And I said,
okay, I'll stay associate professor.I taught intercultural competencies. I taught
writing, I taught a handful ofcourses electives. I taught a course in
Dante's Divine Comedy. But I hadcreated so I was happy, and the
(27:48):
academic dean at the time, FatherLarry Brennan, asked me if I could
help share my understanding of the useof technologies with other seminaries in the What
began is the Midwest Association of TheologicalSchools, or a bunch of Catholic seminaries
that came together and ultimately turned intothe National Association of Catholic Theological Schools.
(28:11):
So I built something called the CatholicDistance Learning Network again with Wabash money.
They gave us seventy thousand dollars,and I taught eighty six faculty members across
twenty five seminaries how to develop andteach online courses in a three year period.
The grant was only for thirty people, but people kept showing up.
(28:34):
You know, people would say,you know, I've heard this is happening.
Can we do it? And Ididn't want to say no, so
I just let more people into theclass. The Catholic Distance Learning Network provided
me ultimately with about one hundred andfifty faculty before it worked into something different,
and that's what brought me to HolyApostles College and Seminary. They had
(28:56):
a program that was but it's stillin its early stages. It was a
Master of Arts in Philosophy and aMaster of Arts in Theology. And as
I mentioned before, I had alreadyjumped into the EMA and Philosophy program as
a student. By two thousand andnine, I received my degree and I
(29:18):
jumped into the IMAN theology program asa student. And my work came to
the attention of President Mosey, whowas the president rector at the seminary,
and he said, look, we'vegot this online program. We want to
grow it. I said, Ithink I can help. So I took
a program that started out at Ithink it was earning one hundred and fifty
(29:41):
thousand dollars a year in tuition revenues. When I entered in twenty eleven as
the interim director of Online Learning ofdistance Learning. When I left in twenty
one, ten years later, wewere over three million a year in revenues,
and that was simply by my toddlingand adding a few things. In
one hand, I had a wholebunch of students, but I had video
(30:02):
correspondence courses. On the other hand, I had a whole bunch of faculty.
We didn't have any online students.They had taught classes to one another
through reciprocity agreements. But over thecourse of a five year span, I
think we only impacted one hundred orso students, students who wanted needed electives
(30:22):
that other seminaries offered, but thattheir own seminary didn't like. A student,
said Kendrick Lennon. Seminary, forinstance, could take a theology and
science course out of the Immaculate ConceptionSeminary in Huntington, New York, back
before it was consolidated with Saint JosephSunwoodie, and they did it online.
(30:44):
And they did it because the systemI set up allowed them to do it.
So I shifted from priestly formation,which was being done at the seminary
level into lay formation which was beingdone at the Master of Arts level,
and you know he had students comingfrom all over the world at one point
still do a Holy Apostles program isthriving on the building blocks on the foundation
(31:10):
that I created back in twenty eleven, on a foundation that doctor Cynthia Toulin
Wilson, father Brian Milady, andfather Mosey began in nineteen ninety eight when
they invited Ralph mcinnerney of Notre DameFame to share his International Catholic University courses
with them and began what ultimately becamean online correspondence program that morphed into a
(31:37):
sort of flesh and blood fully online, fully fully developed and energized death star,
if you will. That's a dizzydizzy accult of a major contribution.
Yeah. But as the oldest personon this program, I want to go
(32:02):
back to the print media as inbooks. Oh okay, s And it
was almost as old as also goingto jump, Jim, I need to
go, but I ask for anexception, all right, May I ask
(32:23):
a question before leaving, which isnot the one that you are going to
ask, because I want to hearSebastian response, Mario, of course,
I don't want you to miss ameeting with your po Okay, I'm very
curious about the Open Door. Ah, I understand that is the longest running
(32:52):
show in w c a T andradio program. How did it start?
How did you hire doctor Hannick Higher? I pay him in donuts but long
(33:14):
standing debt dunkin donuts. So theOpen Door is very interesting program, and
I'm so incredibly grateful for it andfor for the work that the three of
you, the panelist of the OpenDoor, have done since October twenty sixteen.
So let me step back a moment. W c a T Radio is
(33:38):
a radio station, at least upuntil twenty eighteen. O from October sixteen
to around summer of eighteen, weran live shows. So every two hours,
I would sit down at my computerand I would start a show.
And I did that for over twoyears. You actually had to physically push
(33:58):
a button. I had equipment thatdid the broadcasting, and the Open Door
was the very first program that cameon I think very early, like October
second, October third of twenty sixteen. So after twenty eighteen, I realized
(34:20):
from the numbers it was just adata based research that not only could I
stop pushing a button every two hours, but that if I did and we
shipped it over into podcasting, I'dget a lot more visitors. We'd get
a lot more people who were activelyengaged in watching the shows or listening to
the shows on demand. And wewere radio right up until COVID. When
(34:44):
COVID hit in zoom came about,a lot of the programs like this one
went into video, and so Ibuilt a station on YouTube called wkt TV
to host the video spots. Ithink since twenty twenty we've got about seven
hundred eight hundred videos that we posteda total of nine thousand programs just on
(35:05):
radio shows across seventy five different shows. But the Open Door was the first
and the longest running. And ifthe other show host don't mind my saying
so, the best because you guyscackle the real issues. So why a
radio station at all? Why dowe need wk radio to spread or to
(35:27):
facilitate the Catholic spiritual journey and totalk about a lot of other cool stuff.
The radio station was an outgrowth ofthe publishing house on Books and Media
opened its doors two years earlier andbegan publishing books written by the faculty at
Holy Apostles College and Seminary. Whyeven start a publishing house because in twenty
(35:53):
fourteen, Holy Apostles launched its undergraduateprogramming. We were approved by the State
Office of Higher Education in Connecticut andby the New England or at the time
was New England Association of Schools andColleges. But we had some stiff competition.
(36:14):
Our faculty were not as well knownas other seminary faculties, other Catholic
college faculties. You know, wecouldn't compete with, say, for instance,
Scott Hahn out of Franciscan and Steubenvillein terms of name recognition. So
Father Mosey and I decided, well, there's one way to do it.
We'll make our faculty famous. SoI thought it would be instant success.
(36:37):
I thought we would step onto thestage and body go, oh, there
are the famous faculty of Holy ApostlesCollege and Seminary. It takes a while
to build the fame of a givenauthor. Peter Kraft, for instance,
or any of the other names thatyou may see in the world of Catholic
teaching learning weren't always uh famous names. Uh there was a point where they
(37:04):
were just ordinary people like you andme making their way in the world until
one day they published a book andseveral faculty put it on their syllabi and
another day they gave a talk andit was broadcast r and wide. So
(37:25):
in order to make our faculty famous, we needed a way to interview those
faculty, to have those faculty getinto the public light in terms of Catholic
social media. And so Ronda Cherbinand Bob Olsen and I came together and
we put together this radio station calledWCAT Radio, which short for Why Catholic.
(37:49):
W KAT is Why Catholic Radio andwhy be Catholic? But because it's
a it's a reasonable faith, it'sthe it's the ultimate in helping us understand
that synthesis between faith and reason,and it's time tested for two millennia.
(38:10):
And that's where we come to thevery present moment where we're able to talk
about these things on a radio stationthat took wings as the on air wing
of books and media. Thank you, did I answer the question? That
question Mario glad to ask that question, But still you haven't mentioned when did
(38:37):
you meet doctor hannik oh Well,doctor Hannik was introduced to me through Bob
Alston. As Bob was looking fora show host. He said to me,
you know, I could put togethera couple of shows, and I
said that would be great. Bob, he says, I've got an idea
for a wonderful one. It's calledthe Open Door. We'll get some panelists,
(38:58):
we'll put them together and we'll we'llthrow out interesting topics for them to
discuss. We'll even bring in somepeople they can interview, and we'll have
a great time of it cruising theCatholic airwaves. So, Jim, you
were one of the panelists that BobOlson brought through at one point. I
believe I've met him at a hockeygame, and that would have been where
(39:22):
you would have met him, becausehe was a hockey announcer for forty years.
That's right. The guy was incredible. He told me where I could
get some dentures that I'd never regrethockey players. That's important, right,
Okay, Mario, I'm glad youasked that question. But now I want
(39:45):
to turn to old school stuff likebooks, which I continue to spell b
O O K S and Sebastian despiteall your feats of media. You've also
managed to several important books, andyou mentioned one Dante tell us about the
(40:06):
books at least some representative examples ofthem. Oh sure, Well, you
know, the precursor writing books iswriting articles. I've written dozens of articles,
and it occurred to me one daythat I had written enough in terms
of articles that it were I toassemble these articles together into forms of books,
(40:27):
I would have something that would havea little more composite weight to it,
you know, where I could bringmy thoughts together on a particular topic
in a certain space. So Dantehas been a favorite of mine ever since
I took my first Dante class atthe University of Texas at Arlington in nineteen
ninety one under doctor Simone Turberville.I was a history major and was happy
(40:51):
to pursue the life of a historyprofessor before I stepped into doctor Turberville's Dante
class and discovered the wonderful world ofmetaphor. And it turned me into an
English major so quickly that as Istepped into my senior year, I typic
class. When I was a junior, I ended up having to switch my
schedule around to take six English classesin one academic year in order to double
(41:15):
major, so I ended up witha History and English major, which is
kind of interesting that Italian poetry woulddrive me into being an English major.
But as the language in letters lightsthe path I formed over the years a
fascination with Dante Alighary, and intwo thousand and five I was given the
(41:40):
opportunity to teach at Dante class atKendrick Glennon Seminary, and to prepare for
the class, I put together minilectures in each of the cantos, and
those lectures are still online. Youcan see them. I posted them on
YouTube in twenty ten when when Ibrought them together with video. So I
(42:00):
took those lectures that I brought togetherover the course of a semester of teaching,
where every morning I would get upand I do a five minute talk
and I would send that to mystudents. I took those lectures and I
prepared a book called The Narrative Spiritualityof Dante's Divine Comedy, and it was
(42:23):
really based on the idea that Dantewas a polymath. He drew from a
lot of different authors, but aparticular author from whom he drew that I
was studying at the time was SirSt. Thomas aquinas you know, and
you can see he lays out abibliography of all the people that he's drawing
(42:44):
from. Over the course of theDivine Comedy. He talks about the poets
that influenced him when he's in limbo, and he puts himself a sixth in
their company, and ultimately says,you know, these were my initial influences,
and Virgil was my master in Savior. Well, you can see why
(43:08):
he ended up having to walk throughhell, in purgatory in heaven to make
it to God. The first personthat he clung to was a Roman pagan
whose poetry inspired him. By thetime he makes it into the fifth sphere
(43:28):
of Heaven, he then lays outhis theological bibliography. That's Saint Thomas,
Saint Bonaventure, in a slew ofothers who were there actually in the fourth
sphere of heaven, among the doctorsof the church, and the theologians and
the philosophers who understood the relationship betweenfaith and reason. Beatrice castigates him in
(43:53):
Canto thirty of the Purgatorio for followingpagan philosophy and losing sight of divine revelation
you need. The synthesis is theargument all the way through. And it
was something that attracted me because ofwhat I was learning as a lay Dominican
about the importance of that synthesis betweenfaith and reason. So the book came
(44:16):
out of that the narrative spirituality ofDante's Divine Comedy, how he tells a
story in order to enable our spiritsto grow, and you can see that
growth taking place in a very realway across the stretch of the Paradiso,
where he's coming into greater awareness ofwho he is as a person designed in
(44:42):
the image and likeness of God.So that's that book. But I've got
my start writing books with Ronda Chervin. She said, you know, let's
teach a class together in on theNew Atheism and try to talk about the
influence that authors like Richard Dawkins arehaving on this world and especially in our
(45:07):
college settings. And out of thatthe lectures that we prepared for that class
came a book called Catholic Realism,which talked about the value of the Catholic
faith in the modern world. Andthere's some others I put together with Bishop
Richard Henning, a book a missionarypriest in the homeland, in the United
(45:32):
States, in this country, withdomestic vocations down, we're drawing a lot
on international priest, on missionary prieststo serve in our parishes and in our
diocese and in our seminaries, evenon our faculties. So to what extent
(45:54):
is our call to receive the fruitsof all of our evangelization efforts over the
past several hundred years. And wedo have the Jesuits to thank for this,
in part because they were great missionariesthat planted the seeds of the faith
in what we know is the developingworld, though some people would take issue
(46:15):
with that moniker with that description ofthe world outside of the West. Those
are the areas from which we're drawingpriests Nigeria, Columbia, to other places
in Central and South America, SoutheastAsia. And those international priests who are
(46:37):
coming in some dioceses make up halfthe presbiterate, and it's a growing number.
Back in twenty twelve, I believethere were five thousand missionary priests in
this country and that number has grownsignificantly since that was only a decade ago.
Same with international seminarians. Our seminariesare at a low point their enrollments
(47:00):
to the point that many of thebishops are saying, we have too many
seminaries. When I entered theological educationin two thousand at Kendrick Glenn Seminary,
there were forty seven major seminaries.Today they're only thirty eight. It's a
number that will dwindle like the minorseminaries did when they sprouted up after nineteen
(47:22):
fifty eight all over the place,and then we're relatively solidly in their decline
by nineteen eighty three. So that'sthat book during COVID. As soon as
COVID hit in March of twenty Ibegan organizing webinars for theological faculty. How
(47:42):
do you do emergency remote instruction?They needed to know emergency remote teaching was
the law of the land for therest of the year, even into the
spring of twenty one. So Iformed an organization back in twenty thirteen called
the Faith Based Online Learning Directors.For the past ten years we put out
material that help distance learning programs becomemore authentically themselves. That is, how
(48:08):
do we take whatever school we are, whatever our mission is, and promulgate
that or pursue that in a certainway, in a particular way online to
ensure that we continue to mean ourmission in a teaching and learning environment where
(48:30):
the students and the faculty come togetheronly on zoom, only in asynchronous discussion
boards. So the faith based onlinelearning directors were in an ideal position take
a leadership role in twenty twenty andwe put together a number of webinars and
a number of talks and a numberof papers. We brought those papers together
(48:52):
into a book called Teaching and LearningOnline Teaching and Learning Faith Based Teaching through
the Internet. So some of thesebooks were very easy to put together.
You know, we had a teamof people who already had content, and
(49:12):
I had formed the publishing house infifteen. So at this point I'm publishing
about two books a week. Intwenty twenty two, I published one hundred.
I'll hit one hundred and twenty twentythree as well. I'm already at
number fifty eight or fifty nine forthis year. So producing a book is
like rolling clay snakes. It's incrediblyeasy. It's fun working with the authors.
(49:34):
There's a lot of deadlines in theCatholic world because everybody's trying to meet
a saint's day, like yesterday,we published a book called Cloud of Witnesses
for to make the feast of OurLady of Grace. Two days before I
published a book called the Eucharistic RevivalProject in order to make the date for
(49:58):
the feast of Pope Pius the Tenth, who is the Pope of the Eucharist.
So that's kind of fun and it'skind of exciting. And then the
marketing and promotions that happens afterwards iseven more fun and exciting because the authors
have a great deal of zeal inorder to promote their message, which I
(50:19):
help them learn how to turn intoa product. So in many cases,
many of the authors I receive,our first time Catholic authors, they have
a message and they don't necessarily havean audience, and they don't know how
to turn that message into into incommercial terms or the crass commercial terms we
(50:42):
would call a product, so thatcan then be used measured in sales,
you know, in terms of theextent of the message. And I've gotten
maybe one hundred and eighty authors atthis point and three hundred and fifty eight
total books, three hundred and fiftynine. After today, we're publishing another
(51:02):
one this evening. So that's theway the publishing house has rolled, That's
the way my own contribution in theform of books has rolled. There's a
couple of books I haven't mentioned,but to give you a representative sampling.
The publishing house is also developing areproducing seminary Journal, which was a production
(51:28):
of the National Catholic Educational Association SeminaryDepartment from nineteen ninety five to about twenty
fourteen, when the Seminary Department closed. This journal collects the best thoughts of
formation from the faculties of the thirtyeight remaining Catholic seminaries and disseminates them.
(51:50):
So we got our first Spring twentytwenty three issue with the journal out recently.
This fall will put out the fallissue and then we'll be back in
circulation with the journal and hopefully thejournal and the product book productions, and
these radio shows. The Open Dooris an excellent program. There are seventy
four more excellent programs on w KITradio. These resources, in these materials
(52:16):
are great benefit to anyone studying theirfaith in lay formation or in priestly formation,
so that that may get us tothe endpoint of to the starting point
of the next question, Valerie,are you as dizzy as I am?
It's amazing what you've drawn from Imean, you're just like going around picking
(52:40):
flowers and gifts from the Lord inall corners and putting them together so that
other people can benefit from them.What about what about a book on home
schooling? Valerie, I think welost value materials for that book. My
(53:06):
guess is she'll be back so so. So, to answer Valorie's unasked question,
I draw my inspiration from the saints. Uh. There's a there's a
saint that helps with anything, andif you've got a problem, it's likely
you'll be able to find a saintto whom you can pray for intercession.
(53:27):
And she talked about a gathering flowers, you know, and moving through the
fields of of our rich Catholic intellectualtradition. Well you can. You can
drop a pin on any of thesaints who can help a person with that
(53:47):
kind of endeavor. Saint Francis ofassisi UH is noted for having preached to
the animals, having embraced a lifeof poverty, which is which is very
very much like the life of anintrepid Catholic publisher and producer the ministries that
(54:07):
we pursue or that we assist areall very important. And behind every book
is a ministry, Behind every showis a ministry. So to what extent
can this radio station and that thispublishing house help support the ministries of those
who seek its services in the inthe spread of their message. So that's
(54:32):
a that's something I've been pursuing.For example, for example, the New
Oxford Review with which I've been associatedsince what nineteen ninety or so. Oh,
now that's pre internet. Yes,yes, has as its patrons Saint
(54:55):
Vincent Polote in the Palatine Father andall right. They have a real commitment
to Catholic books, publication and soforth. So there's some some illustration of
exactly the point you were making.And they've reviewed our books, of course,
(55:20):
some of the Onward books that we'vesee very good reviews in the actually
review in other places. Well,Spassion, we've we've come to the end
of the hour, and it's goingto take me the rest of the data
process all the sorts of things thatyou've been laying out for us. And
(55:42):
as you say, we all haveour ministries where we have a call,
a universal call to holiness and certainly, our call to holiness draws on more
than our ambitions, draws on thegospel, the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And we end every showhere on the open door with the gospel
(56:07):
for the day. And this comesfrom Matthew. It's very familiar, and
there's so much to learn from it. Jesus told his disciples this parable the
Kingdom of Heaven is like. Alandowner went out at dawn to hire laborers
(56:28):
for his vineyard. After agreeing withthem for the usual daily wage, he
sent them into his vineyard. Goingout about nine o'clock, he saw others
standing idol in the marketplace, andhe said to them, you two go
into my vineyard and I will giveyou what is just. So they went
off, and he went out againaround noon and around three o'clock, and
(56:51):
did likewise. Going out about fiveo'clock, he found others standing around and
said to them, why do youstand here idol all day? They answered,
because no one has hired us.He said to them, you too,
go into my vineyard. When itwas evening, the owner of the
(57:13):
vineyard said to his foreman, summonthe laborers and give them their pay.
Beginning with the last, and endingwith the first. When those who had
started about five o'clock came, eachreceived his usual daily wage. So when
the first came, they thought theywould receive more. But each of them
(57:34):
also got the usual wage, andon receiving it, they grumbled against the
landowners, saying, these last onesworked only one hour, and you have
made them equal to us, whobore the day's burden and the heat.
He said to one of them inreply, my friend, I am not
(57:57):
cheating you. Did you not agreewith me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go?What if I wish to give this last
one the same as you? Oram I not afraid to do what I
wish with my own money? Areyou envious? Because I am generous?
Thus the last will be first,the last will be first, and the
(58:22):
first will be last. Come LordJesus, come amen. Thank you so
much, Sebastian. We appreciate thisvery very much. We are so much
in your debt, and we thankyou for your stupendous efforts. And we
(58:43):
haven't even talked about your worldwide travels, even though I refer to your peregrinations
at your pari paceticism in my intro. So thanks again. You will have
to hit me back right if wewill. From behind the scenes to on
the front line. Thank you,Thank you, Jim. Hello, God's
(59:08):
beloved. I'm Annabel Moseley, author, professor of theology and host of then
Sings My Soul and Destination Sainthood onWCAT Radio. I invite you to listen
in and find inspiration along this sacredjourney. We're traveling together to make our
lives a masterpiece. End with God'sgrace, become saints. Join me Annabel
(59:34):
Mosley for then Sings My Soul andDestination Sainthood on WCAT Radio. God bless
you. Remember you are never alone. God is always we heard. Thank
you for listening to a production ofWCAT Radio. Please join us in all
(59:55):
the mission of evangelization, and don'tforget Love lifts up where knowledge takes plight.
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