The Difference
I’d like to begin by apologizing for not combing my hair. It is the kind of thing I only realized after I had edited the video and saw it full screen. I’m essentially trying to pre-empt my mother from making this comment. She will likely make it anyway. And I deserve it.
I suppose I was just so excited to record a Speaking With Deacons episode, I forgot to check!
It has been one year since I’ve been ordained, and I wanted to record a podcast reflecting on “the difference” I’ve felt in ministry. I feel like it has taken a full year to really “feel” like a deacon. It has been an awesome experience, and I’m excited to share these stories with you.
In a way, I feel like this episode closes the trajectory of episodes that began the podcast, when I was in formation about the diaconate and was asking other deacons for wisdom on my journey ahead. I still have a lot to learn about being a deacon! However, I feel like I’m getting the feel of it.
In the next few weeks, I’ll be releasing new episodes of Speaking With Deacons in a slightly different format. Instead of having a different deacon per episode, I will have a few episodes with the same deacon, talking about a specific subject or book. Coming next, Dcn. Mike Welker and I will be going through What Does God Want? by Father Michael Scanlan. In the meantime, enjoy this episode!
Bury Me in Birkenstocks
I’m excited to share that I baptized my first baby! And I got to do my good friends, John Paul and Sarah Von Arx. Miriam Jane was born a few weeks ago pre-maturely, and there seemed to be some potential heart complications, so I did an emergency baptism in the hospital. Thankfully, everything worked out great and baby and parents just headed home a couple of days ago.
This episode focused a bit on the concept of “sportswashing,” which is currently happening in Qatar right now with the World Cup. As a soccer fan, it really sours the experience. But you can hear more thoughts in the episode.
At the end of the episode, we talk a little about Fr. Dominic Scotto, TOR, who passed away on Monday. I have wonderful memories of Fr. Dominic, who was also a professor in the Theology Department. May he enter into eternal rest.
Next week, we are going to begin a four week series on Advent. Enjoy!
Air Quotes
The fun news is that I’ve been in the studio the past few days recording a new album (more to come on that). The bad news? Someone emailed me last night about the podcast video AND I HAD TOTALLY FORGOTTEN IT!
Sorry!
Here it is. Lots of sports. And I share about my retreat experience. Fr. Dave says some good stuff, too.
Philippians SUPERCUT
I’m on retreat this week, so no new episode. However, I did piece together all of the conversations Fr. Dave and I have had over the past couple months about St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians and put it together in a “supercut” for you. I pray you are blessed by it. Rejoice!
Philippians 4:10-23
We didn’t record this late at night, but it certainly seems like we did. Clearly Fr. Dave was still in the time zone in Austria when we did this podcast (he just got back yesterday).
As usual, we talk about sports. For the record, I really did not know that Bryce Harper was once on the Washington Nationals. Yes, the Buccaneers are doing badly, but the Cleveland Cavaliers are doing great! I’m going to my first game this season with my daughter tonight, and I am so excited. At least one of my kids wants to spend time with me (that is a reference to a heartbreaking Halloween story I share around the 7 minute mark).
Speaking of exciting, in this episode we finish our journey through Philippians! I’ve been really blessed by this and I hope you have been, too. We will come out with a “supercut” in the next coming weeks.
Philippians 4:1-9
Fr. Dave calls in from Austria, and so happy we didn’t have any technical glitches! Praise God!
Of course, even if we did, we should “rejoice in the Lord always,” as Paul tells us in this episode’s focus on Philippians 4:1-9. It has been a real blessing going through this letter with Fr. Dave. I think we will wrap it up in the next episode.
But that isn’t all we talk about. Since the World Series is just starting, you know Fr. Dave has to say something about that. We also had an incredible conference on campus about Pope Benedict, and Pope Benedict himself wrote Fr. Dave a personal letter! I’m somewhat jealous. You can see that letter HERE.
We also talk about the potential merger of the Diocese of Steubenville with the Diocese of Columbus. Neither of us have any inside information about the process, but we do ask for your prayers as it is a difficult situation with a lot of unknowns.
Our 100th Episode!
A day late, but hopefully worth the wait! We wanted to do something a little special to celebrate our 100th episode, so we recorded it live in front of students at Franciscan. The result was… a little chaotic 🙂 It didn’t help that Fr. Dave ordered foam baseballs with “They That Hope” on it that he kept throwing around the student center. Honestly, it is like working with a child sometimes.
On behalf of Fr. Dave and myself, we are so honored that you listen and are blessed by this show. You are the reason we do it!
Philippians 3:12-21
Oh, the late night podcast recording! The most enjoyable thing about this episode is to see how loopy Fr. Dave gets by the end of it.
We recorded this on Monday night, the eve of the Feast of St. Francis. I didn’t know that St. Francis actually passed away in the evening before the fourth of October. This really is an “all-star” week of feast days: Archangels, Jerome, Therese of Lisieux, Guardian Angels, Francis, and Sr. Faustina. One of my favorite weeks of ordinary time! My other favorite week is the last week of January.
Our next episode will be our 100th! Just a heads up, we will NOT have a recording next week due to some travel conflicts with Fr. Dave. So you can hear the next episode on October 19th (feast of St. Issac Jogues!). We would love to have a “top ten” moments of the past hundred episodes… and this is where we need YOU! Send an email about your favorite moment(s) to hope@franciscan.edu.
Philippians 3:2-11
I’m thrilled to have an episode for you this week! I’ll be honest, it almost didn’t happen. Fr. Dave and I recorded it yesterday, but we had some serious audio issues. Special thanks to Patrick who was able to pull the audio from my iPhone and make something happen. That being said… the audio isn’t that great. But I hope you are blessed by our conversation!
No Podcast For You (Sorry)
If you listened to last week’s episode, you know that Fr. Dave is leading a pilgrimage right now in Germany. Pray for him and those who are with him! We were once again victims of bad hotel wi-fi. We tried to record the podcast a few times on Monday, but it just wasn’t happening. Every time we started talking about something interesting, or about Notre Dame football, the recording would drop.
So, no podcast for you today, and we hope to be back next week!
My most popular book!
Deacon Bob Rice 