March Madness

Ironically, I watched college basketball this weekend and Fr. Dave did not! But that was because he was in Ireland and then Austria, whereas I was hanging with a cool priest in his basement while being away at a parish mission. I was watching the Arkansas vs. Kansas game where the Arkansas coach, after winning, took off his shirt in celebration… that was a bit odd? Still, I’m really getting more into college basketball than I have before. Obviously, this is discussed in the beginning of the podcast.

Pope Francis made some comments last week about priestly celibacy that Fr. Dave unpacks. The “headline” is that he says celibacy isn’t intrinsic to the priesthood, which made some media outlets jump to the conclusion that he was going to allow married priests. What the headlines didn’t say, however, was how the Holy Father discussed the beauty of celibacy and how important it is in the life of the Church. Fr. Dave shares about his own experience with celibacy, and I talk about the importance of chastity within marriage. (For those of you who have kids listening in the background, you might want to skip this part. It isn’t that we get graphic or anything, but it might cause some questions to be asked. That section is from 16:48 to 23:21.)

Finally, we discuss the upcoming readings for Sunday: John 11, the raising of Lazarus. This was the gospel Fr. Dave chose (last minute) at his brother’s funeral, and we both talk about what that Scripture means to us.

As always, I pray you are blessed by this episode!