Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Catholic Conversations #183: Pilgrimage to Mother Angelica’s Shrine: Miracles, Adoration & Renewal

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Catholic Conversations #183: Pilgrimage to Mother Angelica’s Shrine: Miracles, Adoration & Renewal · Catholic Spirit Radio

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Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio,
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Hello everyone and welcome to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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I'm your host, Paul Garcia, and today's show is a special one.
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We are joined by some incredible people who recently returned from a very meaningful Catholic pilgrimage.
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But before we dive in, I'd like to introduce my friend and co-host,
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someone you'll be hearing a lot more from very soon, a great man of faith,
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and a fantastic addition to this program, and his name is Will Tadro.
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Thanks, Paul. I'm really excited for today's show.
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In August, Catholic Spirit Radio organized a pilgrimage to Alabama,
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where a group of listeners and volunteers visited the Shrine of the Most Blessed
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Sacrament, home of Mother Angelica's Monastery, and the EWTN Studios in Irondale.
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It was a great trip over a year in the making, and from what we've heard,
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it was spiritually powerful, joyful, and even life-changing for many.
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One of the key organizers, Kathy Fulton is with us, along with other pilgrims
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who will share their personal highlights, reflections, and maybe even a few answered prayers.
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Right now with us, we have Kathy Fulton, Sandra McEnroe, and Sherry and Bob
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Parris. Thank you all for being here. We're glad to have you.
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Thank you very much for the opportunity. Of course. So we'll go ahead and start with Kathy.
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If you could just go ahead and give us just an overview of what this pilgrimage
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entails and how long it took you to plan. Well, we started in probably May, the year before we left.
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And one board member in particular that was helpful in planning it was Jerry
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LaPiccolo. And so we started praying.
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The board was, we looked into it, the board approved it, and we started advertising.
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And Jerry personally invited so many pilgrims on that trip.
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And I really felt his presence during the pilgrimage. Yeah.
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I appreciate you inviting us here today.
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Well, of course, it's an honor. And that sounds like you had a lot of good help on the way.
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So I guess what inspired you really in the first place to organize this group trip?
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Well, when we had done other pilgrimages, we sent out a survey.
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And one of the questions is, where else would you like to go?
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And the Shrine and EWTN Studios was always top of the list.
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But it was a little bit difficult just because of the expense.
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We were wondering if we could make it go.
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Well, it's good to see that it went ahead and everybody got down there.
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I guess we'll go ahead and jump right in, Sandra, if you could tell us a little
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more about the shrine itself and if you have any history on it or any special
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details you have on that.
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The shrine is absolutely beautiful.
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For me, it's what I remember Mother Angelica for, saying the rosary there in that chapel.
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It's very, very different.
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It's able to have the sisters on one side because they're cloistered and have
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the rest of us also able to see the monstrance.
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It's something I had really wanted to do for a long time, to go down there.
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So the pilgrimage was my answer.
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And I felt like it was every bit worth what we put into it.
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The sisters, they built this because they felt called to pour out their life
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in prayer and thankful adoration to Jesus in the most blessed sacrament on behalf of the Holy Church.
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So even though we couldn't see the sisters, we could hear them.
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We could share something very special. There's a crucifix. And I thought, this is strange.
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It doesn't, you can't see it. we're seeing a side view, but actually it's because
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the sisters see the full view.
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Another interesting thing about it, it's not Jesus who has died,
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but it's the suffering Jesus.
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And I had never heard of that crucifix before.
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So as they pray and sing, that's what their eyes are drawn to,
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as well as the blessed sacrament.
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It was a very holy place.
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No one can take pictures. It's really held as a very, very special place.
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Very, very interesting. So these are, just real quick to clarify, cloistered nuns.
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Is that right? So you didn't get to shake their hands? You just heard them, you said. That's right.
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Okay. We were there when they said the rosary. So we were able to hear that.
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And we also heard them sing, I believe, at some time. Although I've heard them
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other times, so, you know.
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It was just beautiful. And if you ever get a chance to go, it's well worth it.
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And so, Sherry, I'm going to ask you a question here, although you can both
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probably answer it. My wife and I, we just went to Florida not long ago,
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and we went through Alabama.
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When I think of Alabama, the last thing I think of is Catholic.
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I think of Southern Baptists and things like that. I can't remember seeing a Catholic church.
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What was the Catholic culture like down there?
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Did you see? Am I wrong? Are there more Catholic churches in Alabama,
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or was this kind of one little area kind of out in the middle of a bunch of Baptist-y areas?
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I wasn't aware of any other churches. I was, you know, sort of concentrating
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on, focusing on where we're headed.
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But I will say that when we got on to the property and we were heading towards
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the shrine, some of it must have been private homes, and they all had things
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to show they're Catholic.
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So they had statues of Blessed Mother and just all sorts of things on the way,
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which made it really, really special. And that was probably for a couple of
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miles that that happened.
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Very, very interesting. Yeah, so I just wanted to hit on the property a little bit more.
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So I guess either of you can answer this if you're able. I've heard it's 400
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acres of grounds down there.
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So I guess do you guys have anything else to say about this beautiful and intentional
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architecture down there?
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I've never seen such a long white fence.
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We drove and drove and drove, and this fence was all along the property.
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Apparently, it started with the $200, and then someone donated the other half of the property.
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But it's very, very welcoming.
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And I know, oh, did you want to throw something in there? Well,
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I just wanted to say that the drive itself felt holy to me because,
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of course, we were in awe on the bus and nobody was talking or anything.
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But it's so quiet and peaceful.
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And I use the term there wasn't even a gum wrapper, you know,
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on the grounds. It was immaculate, just so beautiful.
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And you just knew you were in a holy place. That's the way it felt to me.
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Absolutely. Immaculate is a very fitting word. I don't know if you intended
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that pun or not, but you mentioned, Sherry, something about your friend.
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You had a friend in an accident, something about powerful prayers.
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I was wondering if you could tell us that story.
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Before we left on the trip, we had notification of a family friend whose daughter
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was in a motorcycle accident in Sturgis.
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And she had four brain bleeds as well as other injuries.
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And so she had to, of course, go to the hospital there in Sturgis and a lot
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of difficult things along the way, of course, she couldn't eat.
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They wanted to move her to Craig, Colorado, where all of the expert physicians
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were, But she couldn't because she had to eat first and she could not eat.
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But they ended up moving her after they put a feeding tube in and she made it to Craig.
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And so there is more to the story along the way.
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But we've been getting updates about her.
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And I just spoke with her sister today who's always by her side.
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But the thing that struck me the most is that on the bus, you know,
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we prayed at the beginning, she was in our intentions.
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And we got a message from the sister that she said, I can see prayers being
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answered right before my eyes.
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My sister is doing so well.
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And that was the first thing for me that I realized, you know, they do work.
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And it isn't just our prayers, you know, people all around the country were praying for as well.
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Absolutely. That's the amazing thing. And sometimes people who aren't Catholic
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don't quite understand this.
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But for whatever reason, our Lord grants that these shrines in their presence
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and with sincere devotion, which is exactly what it takes to make the long trip
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to these shrines, just to worship,
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just to be around that, just in hopes of receiving grace and being closer to
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God and things like that.
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The reason these shrines are so important and so many people have miracles associated with them,
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I mean, I don't know if I can explain exactly why or how it happens,
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but it's certainly not uncommon that your prayers almost more quickly,
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more powerfully get answered.
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And that's just kind of God's way, I think, of saying, hey, you really showed a lot of devotion here.
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You trusted me, right? You don't just make that long trip on a maybe this is worth it.
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And I don't know that any of you went with hopes of getting a certain miraculous
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prayer answered or a request answered, but for Pete's sake, we got Our Lady
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of Lords, Our Lady of Champion.
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I forget what the shrine is in the United States where so many people,
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my sister and many people I know have gone who can't conceive children for years and years.
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They go there, they pray, asking for Mary's intercession, and boom,
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they have kids and even a lot of them sometimes.
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I just think it's so cool, really, And it's just a tale as old as time that
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so many prayers and requests to God are so powerful when you're on these pilgrimages to these shrines.
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And I'm doing a lot of talking here. Will, I know you wanted to say something.
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You're doing a great job.
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And hitting on that, I mean, especially a pilgrimage down to somewhere where
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you're praying before the blessed sacrament as much as everyone did.
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And you guys have a lot of time for adoration.
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And I think a lot can happen when you sit with our Lord and you have time with
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him and you pray before him. I think that's the beauty of this site specifically.
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Did you guys have a lot of time or experience down there with praying and adoration
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and maybe have anything answered during adoration or during those times?
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I think the whole trip was well planned.
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So we had times when we could pray, times when we could just be there in the presence of our Lord.
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And then we did the other things also. Yeah.
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Emphasis was always being able to go to the chapel. We were also at the mass, the other site.
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So it was a good blend.
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So I think that we benefited religiously, spiritually, and also made friends.
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Where did you stay? Where'd you sleep? We had motel reservations.
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So each night. That's very nice. And they were all very, very good.
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Yeah. Okay. And Sandra, I know, so in my notes here, you want to talk a lot
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about the beauty of the shrine.
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And you've already touched on it a little bit. Can you tell us what exactly was the shrine?
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And maybe I missed it and you already said it, but what was the shrine?
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What did it look like? What was so beautiful about it?
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Well, I remember Mother Angelica being very upset about what had happened to
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the churches after the Second Vatican Council. how so many of them had been just torn apart.
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This is the absolute opposite. It's gold. It's gold and gold everywhere.
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It's like everything that you could give to the Lord is there, the best.
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And even though we didn't know what each symbol meant, there's so much symbolism
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in each of the designs of what's there in a chapel.
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They explained some of them, but I'm sure we missed some. And when you look
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at EWTN on television, you do see this chapel, and it's more beautiful than it is on the TV.
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You just can't even begin to imagine how beautiful.
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So the sisters, they spend their time because they desire to offer our Lord
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in the Holy Eucharist a heart full of gratitude for His abiding presence with
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them and to thank Him in reparation for those who ignore the gift of His Eucharistic love.
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And we really felt that, I believe.
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And you mentioned Vatican II and Mother Angelica not being happy about that.
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She's not alone, especially not in this studio here.
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But, you know, that's a whole topic we could really get people riled up about.
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But one of the great tragedies when it comes to Catholicism in America in the
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last half century or so or century is a modernization, in my humble opinion,
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the modernization of cathedrals and churches in general.
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They just they're not there is something timeless and beautiful about the way they looked.
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There's still some older ones. And I'm sure this shrine, this chapel looked
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that way. But it's supposed to kind of look like heaven on earth.
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It's supposed to look extremely important. It's supposed to show the reverence
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we have for our Lord with the gold, with the architecture, that Gothic style.
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So I love what you were saying there. I think I'm on the same page as Mother Angelica.
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Another thing, in our diocese, many churches have really been renovated, and they're beautiful.
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Sacred Heart in Peoria, St. Mark's, many of the churches.
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One parish even tore down their church, which was more modern,
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and built a church which is much more in line with what we think of a Catholic church.
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And that's St. Jude's. They built a huge church, and it's just beautiful.
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Absolutely, absolutely. And I can't wait to talk more about this beauty once
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we come back. We're going to take a quick break.
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We're talking about the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Alabama.
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You are listening to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio,
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and we are here with pilgrims from a recent pilgrimage to the shrine of the
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Most Blessed Sacrament in Alabama.
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So we were talking about some of the beauty of the site itself,
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and I would like to hit on, I think the beauty runs a little deeper than just the site.
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There's nuns here of perpetual adoration who have committed their lives to adoration for this shrine.
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What was it like to see and interact with these women who have become so immersed
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in something bigger than themselves and who have ultimately chosen the divine spouse?
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Either one of you can take the mic on this one. We didn't actually see any of the sisters.
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We actually heard them, but because they are cloistered, we didn't interact with the sisters.
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With the priests, we did, and with.
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Especially Brother Leo. How did you not see them?
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How did you hear them but not see them? Were there walls between you or screens?
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The way the chapel is built, we look forward and they come from the right side
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as we look at the Blessed Sacrament.
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So they're behind their screen and they see the crucifix and they see the Blessed
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Sacrament, but we don't see them.
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Well, that's very interesting. Did you learn any bits about why that is,
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that you're not to see them and they're not to see you?
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That is just the way the cloister is. It's actually giving themselves so totally
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that they don't interact with the world.
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Some of the sisters do go out to get things, so there is a name for them.
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Mother Angelica had to go out because of the very building and what she was doing.
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She actually came to Peoria many years ago, and she was on television.
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And because a neighbor worked at the station, I was able to take my teenagers
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and go when she still had her braces on.
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So I did meet her, but her life was different because when she was with her
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sisters, she was within a cloister.
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Otherwise, she had to be in the public.
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That's something I guess I appreciate more than anything about the Catholic
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faith is that we try to veil as much as possible.
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And that makes more sense now that you explain that because priests,
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they wear their garments to veil themselves so the pure beauty of Jesus can show through them.
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And same as ladies who veil at Mass, they want to cover up themselves so they can be more holy.
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And I guess so, since the Eucharist, another thing I appreciate about our Catholic
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faith is the Eucharist, how did your guys' time at the Shrine deepen or appreciate
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the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist during this trip?
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And just so you know, Sandra's pointing at you, Sherry, just so you not wait
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for her. I've talked enough.
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It's always a realization when you go to your own church and you receive,
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but it's something else when you see it in such a magnitude and you're looking at this golden...
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What are we calling it? Monster. Altar. Well, the altar, too.
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I just, when I first got there, I mean, we were in awe as soon as we went through the door.
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And I feel like that has to be what it's like up in heaven. It was just so beautiful.
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But I just think that the realization hit us more just being there.
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The reality of everything, you know, is deeper.
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And a lot of the pilgrims, some
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of the pilgrims that I talked to afterward said to me, I feel different.
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I really feel different now. We kind of all feel that way because we had that experience.
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And if I could, I'd like to say something about the priest. Absolutely.
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Our priest from Pontiac was able to go, and he can celebrate it and was part of the radio station.
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And, I mean, it was just so special for him and for us to have him there and
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do all that he was able to do.
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And I know it humbled him a lot, Father David. Yeah.
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Awesome. Well, you talked about the studio visit a little bit.
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Would you want to talk more about your guys' visit to EWTN?
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I know you talked and heard from Dr.
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Carlo Broussard about his new book. How was that experience?
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That was, it was fun to be a part of that and finally see Father Mitch and just
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see him in the reel, you know, because we see him on TV, but he's just so down
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to earth and everything.
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But it was really a fun, good experience, fun experience.
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And somebody made a comment from the audience.
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We're talking about Sherry's husband, Bob. He is here as moral support and he is sitting close by.
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Well, it was just a fun time and we were enjoying ourselves.
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And so Father Mitch said, are there any questions? And he said, where's the popcorn?
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And Father Mitch just followed along. He said, oh, it's at home.
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It was just fun, relaxing time for that. Well, it sounds like a truly remarkable trip.
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And we're very excited to have you in studio talking about this.
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And you know what? So many people went that we have a whole other group of people
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coming in in just one moment. But I want to say, Sherry, Sandra,
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and Bob, thank you so much for your time.
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It's been an honor talking with you, and we'll bring in the next guests here shortly.
20:05
But thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you for letting us be here. Oh, our pleasure.
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You're listening to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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ICatholic Mobile is a 5G mobile phone company dedicated to supporting your faith
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and values, offering unlimited talk and text, reliable data,
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and plans that support Catholic causes.
20:24
A portion of every dollar helps sustain the mission of the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
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More information is available at iCatholicMobile.com.
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You are listening to Catholic Conversations, and we are back with two new pilgrims
20:48
from the recent trip to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Alabama.
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We are joined by Bob Castillo and Caroline Winning.
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Thank you both for making it on the show tonight. Thank you, Will.
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Okay, so I guess I will hit on Caroline first, since you were the co-organizer of this event.
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Could you just give us a little rundown of what you did with planning and how
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this all came to be? Yeah.
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Well, with me, the planning was I helped find the hotel, and I, you know,
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promoted the pilgrimage by sending an advertisement out to about 100 different
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churches in and around McLean County.
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And actually, for the pilgrimage, we found out that a lot of people heard about
21:32
our pilgrimage through the bulletin.
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We had about 12 different towns represented on our pilgrimage,
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and I thought that was fascinating because I was actually one of the people
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that had the first pilgrimage for our radio station back in 2018.
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And ever since then, we've never had that wide variety of coverage throughout Illinois.
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But I helped Kathy mainly towards the end too. She had some family visiting,
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so I was helping confirm everything with everybody.
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I helped, like we had some catered meals that I had to help with.
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And the restaurants, you know, had to call some restaurants.
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But, and I had to call the pilgrims a lot because we had to figure out,
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sometimes we had to figure out what food choices they needed for the catered
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meals and just to confirm everything.
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And I sent out the reminder letter and I used text. I called,
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I did email, sent letters, and I did a lot of the background things,
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but I was glad to finally meet the pilgrims when we had our pilgrimage,
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because I talked to a lot of them.
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We had a total of 41 pilgrims besides Kathy and myself, and so that's kind of what we did. But.
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Yeah, so that was pretty. Oh,
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I forgot. I had correspondence with the EWTN people and with the Shrine.
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I talked to the outreach manager at the Shrine, the lady who was in charge of
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the pilgrimage department.
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I talked to a lady at EWTN, and actually they helped us plan our itinerary, which was very nice.
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And so that was very helpful.
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That's good to hear. I heard it sounds like a lot of large planning that went
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into this trip, And it seems like you had a lot of good hands to help with that
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and a lot of communication going out and about to get people joining.
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I guess, Bob, as far as you hearing about this, how'd you hear about this pilgrimage?
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How'd you get? I have two really wonderful friends that we travel a lot with.
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And one of the guys is a huge EWTN viewer.
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And the other one, you know, like my wife's best friend now that we're in normal.
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And we heard about it and we said, we got to do this. This first time as a pilgrim.
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And now we got two more trips planned with them that are pilgrimages.
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And it was, you know, Kathy and Caroline did an amazing job putting it all together.
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Caroline, I should know. But they both had it planned out. Did you just go on
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this pilgrimage with her?
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Well, I have two neighbors, Carolyn, and like an adopted niece,
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Caroline, and my mother-in-law's Carol.
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I can't tell you, everyone who has the name Caroline or Carolyn,
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I think they go through the same struggle for sure.
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But sorry to jump in there. No, that's all right. That's all right.
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But, you know, I got a lot out of it.
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It's hard to nail it down to one thing. I think just the whole back story,
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seeing the studio for EWTN, hearing the speakers,
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was a great inspiration. Mitch Pacwa and the other two people.
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Father, what is it? It was Father Joseph Mary.
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He did the televised mass for us. We had Father Mark Mary, who did a healing service for us.
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We had, let's see, oh, I keep forgetting, Brother Leo, he was our guide.
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And he also drove the little club carts or golf carts for people who had mobility issues.
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Then I don't want to miss out on Christy Ramis. She helped us at EW10 with organization
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and helped me go get some food from the nearest publics.
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Yeah, they catered to us so well.
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We felt like family and they were very good about making sure we were all fine and everything.
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But I'm trying to think if there was anybody else. But, you know,
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just the whole story of Mother Angelica and how she started selling fishing
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lures and built this amazing shrine and the castle that we had lunch and breakfast in.
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And then the whole grounds that they have, you know, she, what a force.
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Absolutely. And when it comes to our industry, radio, we have Mother Angelica
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to thank a lot for, well, I mean, really, without her, Catholic Spirit radio
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ultimately probably would not be a thing.
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She's done so much good and her prayers are so special. And I want to ask you
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both kind of an easy question when we come back from the break.
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And you might wonder, well, that was pretty quick.
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But we had to split up the second of three segments in half for our first guests
25:59
and now you wonderful guests.
26:00
So we'll be right back in just a moment, listeners.
26:03
But when we get back, I'm going to ask about Bob and Carolyn's favorite part of...
26:08
Of this whole trip? Basic question, but I'm excited to hear the answers.
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Music.
27:47
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
27:51
I am your host, Paul Garcia, alongside the one and only Will Tatro,
27:55
and we are glad to be joined here by a couple of guests who just got back from
28:00
a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament down in Alabama. Bama. What a trip it was.
28:05
Carolyn, one of the guests, is with Bob, but Carolyn just showed me a moment
28:09
ago the jam-packed itinerary. My goodness, they did so many things.
28:13
Every hour was filled with something special.
28:16
But Bob, I'm going to start with you here.
28:18
Go ahead and tell me, if you can narrow it down, what was just your favorite,
28:22
maybe the most moving part of this entire trip for you?
28:26
And you got a lot to choose from, so take your time. You know,
28:29
we touched on the healing mass and I, you know, we had two other masses,
28:33
one at the chapel, one in the shrine, but the healing mass, we were down in
28:37
the lower level of the shrine and they gathered us all around and then they blessed us all.
28:43
And I had a special experience during that.
28:46
And I know there were a couple other people on the trip that had testimonies
28:50
after the healing mass that, you know, really get you. Well,
28:54
if you wouldn't mind me asking, I wouldn't be doing my duty as an interviewer.
28:58
I didn't ask. What was your special thing that happened?
29:03
Well, when they put the monstrance in front of us, it glowed.
29:08
And it was, you know, it was just one of those things that, how did that happen?
29:12
Well, that's really incredible. So what you saw, it glowed. It lit up.
29:17
And you never know what those things, it's so fascinating. There's kind of a
29:20
science behind miracles.
29:22
Also miracles, they don't need to be world changing. They can just be your world changing.
29:28
They're little things from God that kind of don't make sense necessarily.
29:33
Don't follow the laws of physics sometimes. It can be a very small thing or
29:37
it can be parting the sea, you know, but that's really interesting.
29:40
Who knows? I guess only God knows why he allowed that to happen to you.
29:45
And it's apparent that it stuck with you. So that's really, really interesting.
29:49
And I shared it with my wife. I really didn't share it with people on the bus
29:53
or anything, but it was like, wow, what happened? Oh, that's amazing.
29:58
But Will, I know you had some questions as well. What a great experience you
30:02
guys have had. And I feel like a pilgrimage is a perfect chance for something
30:06
amazing to happen. And I extremely encourage all of our listeners to go on a
30:11
pilgrimage if you haven't already.
30:13
Carolyn, you said you went to a visit to the shrine, but you've also now gone on this pilgrimage.
30:20
How do the two compare? And you said you enjoy the pilgrimage more, correct?
30:24
Yes, that's correct. The thing about the first one, like I said,
30:28
it was in 2018. 2018 there was four of us actually from the radio station who went on that.
30:32
We drove all the way to Alabama for the EWTN Catholic radio conference.
30:38
We met a lot of the EWTN people and stuff but one day we went to the shrine.
30:42
We were on our own and there wasn't really totally a guided tour like we were for this pilgrimage.
30:48
This pilgrimage was kind of like a one-on-one type situation and we learned
30:53
a lot more than on this pilgrimage than we did in 2018 because we had a one-on-one
30:59
type situation and had time to ask questions.
31:02
And Brother Leo, the one that we referred to earlier, he took us all around,
31:06
but he explained everything to us. And then I
31:09
Well, yeah, that was at the shrine, and we also had the Mass,
31:13
but then we also were able to pray the rosary with the nuns,
31:17
and the nuns you do not see.
31:18
They are behind the scene because they're discalced nuns of Mother Angelica's
31:24
order, but that was a beautiful thing to do.
31:29
And then at EWTN, we had a spiritual talk from Father Joseph Mary,
31:35
and he talked about Mother Angelica in the start of EWTN, and he did touch,
31:41
you know, about or talked about his friars and all that.
31:44
And so we got more of a behind-the-scenes type tour thing as compared to in 2018.
31:50
I mean, 2018 was still nice, but we were kind of like on our own and got to
31:53
go to, you know, different places.
31:55
But at the Shrine, too, they also have the Pope John Paul II Eucharistic Center,
32:01
and And that's a nice thing.
32:03
But, you know, it was, I don't know, it was just sad. It was more personal.
32:07
And I just felt like, yeah, more personal, more inspirational this time.
32:11
And we were able to share our experiences with everybody.
32:14
We had great interactions between the pilgrims, between the people at the shrine,
32:17
and like I said, they treated us like family.
32:20
And everybody was happy. We, you know, very happy with all the total experience that we had.
32:26
That's amazing. I like how you hit on the personal experience,
32:30
how the pilgrimages really, really take that true.
32:34
And the relationships, especially while on the pilgrimages, I think that's a beautiful thing.
32:38
And could you both hit on that? Maybe start with you, Carolyn,
32:41
if you grew any relationships through this pilgrimage, or maybe had some new
32:45
relationships founded, and maybe even a relationship with the Eucharist improved
32:49
through this experience.
32:51
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Going to both the masses, being able to pray with everybody
32:55
together. and, well, we did prayers also on the bus too.
32:59
But yeah, yeah, it was a very inspirational journey.
33:04
Religious type of pilgrimage. I mean, it wasn't just, you know,
33:07
relationships with people themselves, but I, you know, I felt like I developed
33:13
a personal relationship with everybody at the Shrine.
33:15
Actually, I had contact with some of these people before I even came to the
33:19
Shrine, and so, or even EW10, and so I felt like some of them even came up to
33:23
me like, oh, you're, you know, you're Carolyn Winning.
33:26
I'm the one that talked to you on the phone, and, you know, things like that.
33:29
I didn't have, and the thing about the people on the bus, I sat way up front,
33:34
but a lot of people, when they came on the bus, they're like,
33:36
I said to them, really glad to meet you, I'm really glad to meet you,
33:39
because I had talked to them on the phone a lot.
33:42
But we had time, yeah, at the Shrine and EWTAN, we had time for adoration, so that was really nice.
33:49
And then they had time for confession, so it was nice to be able to do that,
33:53
not just always be running around, you know, we were able to contemplate,
33:57
do our prayers, and so that was very nice.
34:00
I think it's important to grow those relationships during this time,
34:03
and especially with the Eucharist and with Jesus.
34:06
And it's nice to give you time during these pilgrimages to hit on that.
34:09
Bob, do you have anything on that? I really enjoy the bus trip because,
34:13
you know, even though you really get to know the people that sit right by you,
34:18
when you sit down for lunch or breakfast or dinner, then you have more conversations.
34:23
And they're like-minded people that went on the pilgrimage for a reason.
34:27
And then the same with Brother Lee. You know, you have the time in between things
34:31
when you get to talk to the people that work there.
34:33
You get to explore things.
34:36
You know, just these people dedicated to what we believe in,
34:41
you know, that's part of it that I enjoy.
34:43
And I had to say one more thing. Because we're an EWTN affiliate,
34:46
they gave a special service, I think, because I know that with the spiritual
34:50
talk, it was really supposed to be at the Shrine, but they did it for us at
34:54
EWTN, Father Joseph Mary.
34:56
And we requested Father Joseph Mary because everybody loves Father Joseph Mary.
35:00
And, you know, we actually, when I'm at home, if I can't make daily Mass, I watch the EWTN Mass.
35:06
And I thought it was really great that we were able to be part of the televised Mass.
35:10
Finally, I was actually, I didn't see the chapel the first time I went in 2018.
35:14
So I saw the chapel, I went to the gift shop.
35:16
We were there at night at EW10 in the studio when we went in 2018.
35:21
It was Father Mitch Pacwa interviewing Scott Hahn.
35:23
And then this time it was Father Mitch Pacwa interviewing Carlo Boussard,
35:28
who I just want to throw this in.
35:29
He's actually a friend of my daughter, Teresa, and family in Oklahoma,
35:33
and she's had him, he's come to her house to do talks.
35:37
Wow. Very cool. He was actually on the radio coming here. Really? Yeah.
35:42
Talking to whoever. He's a staff apologist for Catholic, I mean,
35:48
for, all of a sudden I got Catholic answers. I'm sorry. Sure. Yep. Yep.
35:53
Yeah. That, what a smart man. Oh. He's great.
35:57
Well, I asked both, both of them, how do you guys know, you know.
36:00
This stuff yeah when we were at the
36:03
taping you know it's kind of nice sitting behind the
36:06
scenes of the taping yeah and then actually having a
36:09
chance to meet both of them after it was all over and just like you got you
36:14
know they have a time set time they have to get all the questions in and finish
36:17
the broadcast and just to see that how that's done at EWTN and then we we did
36:24
have a a little tour of the studio and the backstory.
36:29
And when you talked about Father Joseph, was it? Father Joseph Mary.
36:33
You know, his backstory, he came there as an engineer. And now he's a father, a priest.
36:40
That's incredible. Yep. You never know the journey of your life that God has
36:44
in store for you. You only know it looking backwards.
36:46
I think Fulton Sheen might've had some kind of quote on that,
36:48
but not even going to try to remember it.
36:50
I want to ask you both, Bob and Carolyn, as we wind down this conversation,
36:55
we're getting towards the end of it,
36:56
what, and Bob, we'll start with you, what is something that you want listeners
37:02
to take away from this conversation you just want to leave them with,
37:06
let them marinate on this thing, or just to keep this in mind?
37:10
Anything, any last words to the listeners?
37:13
I think, you know, I think we're all on our own faith journey.
37:16
If you ever get a chance to do a pilgrimage, you know, take it.
37:21
Is that powerful for you? Yes.
37:24
Yeah. And they actually, I'm going to Rome October 5th.
37:29
With the diocese, and then after that, well, we're doing the 150th pilgrimage
37:35
that Kathy organized for St. Mary's.
37:38
Wow, and hey, Will, are you going to see them there? I know you're going to
37:41
that area around that time. Yeah. He's getting married, everyone.
37:43
Yeah, you might run by me in Rome. I'll be in Italy for most of October coming
37:48
up here after my marriage, so good time to go to Rome, I guess. Well, look us up.
37:52
I'll let you know where we're going to be at, but there's a group of 95 of us
37:56
going there with the bishop.
37:59
And that should be awesome. Yeah, awesome.
38:01
We're planning on being at the canonization at the end of October.
38:04
And we're going to try to get our marriage blessed as well at a papal audience.
38:09
So I might see you there. Well, you know, the other thing that they did,
38:13
which was great, you know, they had videos, documentaries, Carlo Coutis.
38:18
Yeah, right. Is that who's being canonized? So he's already been canonized,
38:21
but there's another group, I think, of seven or eight individuals that at the
38:25
end of October, they're being canonized. But we are going to see Carlos' tomb in Assisi as well.
38:31
So we're super excited to see that now that he's been canonized.
38:34
Oh, my word. This sounds just like the craziest trip ever. I mean,
38:37
first of all, it's ironic that you're both going and you're getting your marriage blessed.
38:41
Hopefully, fingers crossed for that. That's incredible.
38:44
Going to Rome, the capital city of our faith.
38:48
There's so much amazing stuff going on. What was the other thing? Oh, yeah.
38:52
I'm embarrassed I didn't know Carlos was canonized recently.
38:55
I've been busy. We got a little one coming up.
38:58
So, but Assisi, you're going to Assisi. I'm sure there's lots of cool stuff
39:03
there with St. Francis Assisi.
39:05
That's amazing. And anyway, I'm getting off track. I'm blown away by your trip.
39:09
You got so much going on. But Carolyn, we'll finish with you here.
39:13
What is something you want listeners to take away from this talk or just to
39:16
walk away with after this conversation?
39:19
I just want everybody to know that Kathy and I, we're experienced with planning
39:25
pilgrimages, and we're always asking people for suggestions.
39:29
And we have had a few suggestions, and we take those, you know,
39:34
we keep track of all that.
39:35
But we're, I mean, we don't know what the next one will be. But I know that
39:39
when we had this pilgrimage,
39:40
everybody is like, oh, are you going to make this a yearly thing going to EWTN
39:44
because there were some,
39:45
or to the shrine, because there were some people who had never been there before
39:48
and there were some people who had been there, you know, and everybody thought,
39:52
you know, they were glad that we had done this and maybe they know other people who want to come.
39:57
But actually, on our radio station, we are advertising about the shrine because
40:02
the gentleman that I work with from there, the outreach manager,
40:05
he does, you know, he wanted us to promote it for him.
40:08
But I know that we would, it would be a good idea, you know,
40:11
if we could do another pilgrimage like this eventually, because I thought this was a great one.
40:15
And it was, you know, everybody was very interested.
40:18
But I think that, yeah, it's a great thing to do for people to want to go on
40:22
a pilgrimage if they haven't done it already. Yeah.
40:25
Absolutely. Absolutely. And well, so guys, I wish we could talk for even longer.
40:30
It sounds like it was an absolutely amazing trip. You guys are ambassadors for
40:34
this trip and it sounds like it was an amazing time.
40:37
And I'm so glad God has blessed you with an amazing time, lots of memories and
40:40
even some life-changing things and even a miracle if I can say that.
40:44
But thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience.
40:47
Thank you to the previous guests as well, Sandra and Sherry, as well as Bob.
40:52
And it's a great reminder of how powerful this pilgrimage can be,
40:55
not just in where we go, but in how God moves during that journey.
41:00
So I couldn't recommend it enough.
41:02
Yeah, if you're feeling inspired, look into visiting the Shrine of the Most
41:05
Blessed Sacrament or EWTN Studios. Both are incredible places of prayer,
41:10
beauty, and Catholic identity.
41:11
And thank you, all you listeners, for tuning into Catholic Conversations on
41:15
Catholic Spirit Radio. and we'll be right back in just a moment.
41:19
You're listening to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
41:22
Catholic Spirit Radio invites everyone for an outdoor rosary and song event
41:26
on Tuesday, October 7th, which is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
41:31
The event parking lot opens at 6 p.m. with refreshments, fellowship,
41:34
and tours of the radio station. The rosary begins at 7 p.m.
41:38
With Marian songs interspersed throughout the prayers.
41:41
Bring your rosary lawn chair family and friends to 108 Boykins Place in Normal.
41:45
Let's pray and sing for Mary's intercession for peace and to unite our nation under God.
41:50
Tired of your phone bill supporting who knows what?
41:53
ICatholic Mobile is a 5G provider that supports what matters to you.
41:58
With iCatholic Mobile, every call, text, and even that endless group chat helps
42:03
support the mission of the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
42:07
It's a network that connects you to what's good for both your soul and your wallet.
42:11
More information is available at iCatholicMobile.com. iCatholic Mobile,
42:16
underwrites for Catholic Spirit Radio.
42:19
Did you know there's an app for Catholic Spirit Radio?
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Listeners with phones, tablets, and other devices can tune into our programs and podcasts anytime.
42:25
Just go to the Google Play or Apple App Store to download the app,
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42:30
It's free! Get all the quality programs you know and love. Welcome to our new
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listeners in Charleston, Illinois.
42:36
Tune in on 90.5 FM Radio or use our app, Catholic Spirit Talk Radio,
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or go online to catholicspiritradio.com or ask Alexa. Charleston,
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we're so glad you're part of the Catholic Spirit.
42:46
Music.
42:54
We are back, and you are listening to Catholic Conversations,
42:57
and we are here with Shirley Sputztoser and Kathy Fulton as our last segment today.
43:03
And Shirley, I want to start off and ask, what inspired you to go on this trip
43:08
down to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Alabama?
43:12
Well, I'd like to say that I was inspired to go, but quite frankly, a friend asked me.
43:18
I knew about Mother Angelica generally, and I said, hey, I'd like to know more about that person.
43:24
So we went and I am coming back inspired by her.
43:29
Well, that's good. It's amazing to see that you take those leaps when you want to know something.
43:34
And I think all of us in our Catholic faith can always strive to learn more
43:38
and can jump on opportunities like that. You hit a little bit on Mother Angelica.
43:42
Are you inspired by her quite a bit?
43:44
Well, I really am. And I'd like to just read something that she wrote.
43:50
She says, you want to do something for the Lord? Do it.
43:54
Whatever you feel needs to be
43:56
done, even though you are shaking in your boots, you're scared to death.
44:01
Take that first step forward.
44:04
The grace comes with that one step, and you get the grace as you step.
44:09
Being afraid is not a problem. It's doing nothing when you're afraid that's the problem.
44:15
And those words that I read that she had said, and then as I learned more about
44:22
how she built, you know, the entire EWTN,
44:26
when you think of it, she was a nun who had taken a vow of poverty.
44:31
So, how do you build a multi-million dollar network?
44:35
Well, she did it. But over and over, as you read what she says.
44:40
She trusted that the Lord would do his part and she would do her part.
44:45
Absolutely. And I know when we're doing the fundraisers here at Catholic Spirit
44:49
Radio, every single year, every single day of these multi-day fundraisers,
44:53
I'm telling the story of Mother Angelica.
44:56
I believe it was something like she purchased, took out a loan and purchased
45:00
a giant, not a satellite, but some type of transmission sending thing.
45:05
And what are those things called? Looks like a satellite. they go outside of a radio station.
45:09
$400,000 that thing cost, and she didn't have a penny. She said, look, I trust God.
45:16
What amazing faith that is.
45:18
I mean, Jesus says, if you said to that mountain, move with a sufficient faith,
45:22
it would move. And she said,
45:24
I mean, figuratively speaking, she really did move mountains with EWT and all the good that she did.
45:29
$400,000. She bought it. She had no money. She bought it on a loan.
45:33
And all of a sudden, someone gave a check to her whatever she was doing for $400,000.
45:39
Hopefully, I got those numbers correct. But, man, that is amazing.
45:42
That woman was not fearless. I'm sure she was scared, but she was courageous in doing it anyway.
45:48
I love the quote that you just said. Well, and another experience that she had
45:54
and that she was able to somehow,
45:57
I guess I would say, survive is when she first moved to Alabama with a very
46:03
small number of sisters.
46:05
And they were living in the beginnings of a small monastery because they had,
46:10
of course, to have a home just outside of Birmingham.
46:14
And in the middle of the night, shots were fired into their house. their living quarters.
46:21
She was the type that ran to the door to see what was going on out there.
46:27
The rest of the sisters more wisely got under their beds.
46:31
But she handled it by the newspapers came the next day.
46:36
She said, I know this is not typical. It's just something that has happened.
46:40
And the next night, it happened again.
46:44
And again, she was interviewed. She said, you know, oh, if this keeps happening,
46:49
I'm going to start to enjoy it.
46:50
And that was her way of humor. But the way she handled it was to invite the
46:56
public in to see their new home, to explain what their home was about,
47:02
to explain what they were about.
47:04
Because at that point, the Catholic population in Birmingham was about 2%.
47:10
People didn't know what a Catholic was.
47:13
What were these ladies who wore these unusual outfits.
47:17
So by inviting them in the home, and they came in droves, a thousand immediately.
47:23
And she was able then to make that first beginnings of a friendship with the local community.
47:29
So she sent out this invitation you're saying, and I feel the majority of it
47:34
came from strictly from God's grace and him working through her specifically
47:38
and a lot of courageousness with that.
47:41
Is there any way you can try to imitate that through your life?
47:45
Do you try to be like Mother Angelica in a way through this courageousness and open-heartedness?
47:51
I think so. I'm trying to think of an example, but I think I would go more toward
47:56
what I call the little ones, little ways.
47:59
If someone asks me to do something, I'm,
48:03
In general, I'll try to, if it's something that makes sense or that seems to
48:08
be helpful to the person.
48:10
Right now, I'm actually, I am from Urbana, St. Patrick's Parish there.
48:16
When they ask for a volunteer to lead the rosary, as they are doing now in October
48:21
coming up, I go ahead and volunteer for that.
48:24
I do lead the marriage prep classes, and those are in the evening.
48:29
So I just get out of my little warm, comfy, easy chair and get myself out there and go ahead.
48:35
So I think we all need to, and I hope I do, follow her in doing at least little things.
48:41
It definitely sounds like you do. It sounds like making the hard choice is usually
48:46
the right one. And it sounds like you try to do that as much as you can.
48:50
And I just lost my train of thought. Hey, I wanted to jump in here as well.
48:54
I think that was such a great story just to go back to the thing where there's
48:58
shots fired. into Mother Angelica and her sister's home.
49:04
And I asked someone else earlier in this whole episode about, was it interesting?
49:10
My wife and I just went through Alabama not long ago and it didn't seem like Catholic territory.
49:14
And of course, EWTN started there,
49:17
but it doesn't mean that that's not a heavily Southern Baptist area.
49:20
I was asking them a little if they noticed that.
49:23
They said, not really, because we were strictly on this pilgrimage.
49:26
But did you hear any more about, Did people ever come around,
49:30
warm up to this new Catholic population in Alabama?
49:35
Did you hear anything about that? If there's more resistance even after that story?
49:40
I tend to think that her influence—,
49:43
personally, right there, from my feeling.
49:47
And by the way, now I believe the Catholic population down there is about 7%,
49:51
which, you know, a little bit is growing. It's fine.
49:54
But I think that what she did then, starting EWTN and getting the word out so
50:02
that people who would flip their radio dials would start hearing,
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and that's where they were able to warm up to her.
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Her first radio studio was just part of where she was living,
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and it only broadcast a few hours a day.
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She was a super salesman. She was a talker, as we know. She had humor,
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she had the right words, but she had that faith in God.
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And people started to donate money to her projects.
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And of course, with money, you can do things, which she did,
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as you've referred to the antenna and so on.
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And if I can jump way ahead, even into EWTN as it was developing and she got
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the license, FCC is that the name of the license, to be able to broadcast.
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At that point, she was the driving force.
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Her sisters would help and a few people. But then she started to get famous
50:57
people on board to help as a lawyer, which would be needed.
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Eventually, a group of lay people to be able to give extra advice and to go
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out on the speaker circuit.
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Of all things, she was able to get on Pat Robertson's, and of course,
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he's a Protestant preacher, but his network, Jim Baker, Tammy Faye,
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let's see, what time may be, what's his wife? There we go. Yeah, his wife.
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She was on their stations, which is unusual that she was able to do that,
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but she was able to do that.
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Became very popular and became known.
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And once you get known, you can ask for more money.
51:41
Anyway, to kind of bring what my point is, she was at that point still the driving
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force, the, shall we say, CEO. old.
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But as she got older, she started to think, I am going to pass away. I'm not here forever.
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I need to kind of build a way of having EWTN perpetuated.
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She didn't think having one person as the final authority was going to be the best way.
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So she went to those who were by then her board and said, you know,
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I need to get off as the person in charge. I need to be just one person voting.
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At first, they said, no, mother, you are the driving force. She said, I know that.
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But look what happens if somebody gets into this that just might lead it in
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a direction that we really don't want. And so they agreed.
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And at this point, his name, Michael Warsaw, I believe he's the CEO now.
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He's like everyone. He has one vote. And that's because of her thinking ahead
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to say, we need to have a broader power base here.
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It works. It does work, and she definitely took the road no one had ever traveled
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before, and she definitely left her legacy with EWTN and with us even.
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She helped out her community tremendously, and I heard you have been helping
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out your community quite a bit when you got back from this pilgrimage.
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Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
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I've made a PowerPoint using my pictures and a few excerpted,
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you know, what I needed from other sources.
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And have, in October, I'll have my first chance to speak to a group,
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showing the PowerPoint.
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Giving a narrative, and from there, hopefully, expanding to be able to talk to other groups.
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And I'll start with my own parish, and I already have a friend in another parish
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who's going to organize some talking arrangements there.
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But I think, yes, getting the word out is important, and just saying her leadership
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was important, our leadership is important.
53:45
How beautifully said. Had you had any thought about this,
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opportunity to evangelize before you'd gone on this trip, or was it strictly
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because of Mother Angelica?
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Pretty much Mother Angelica, and I will say the atmosphere on the trip. Our leaders were great.
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The experiences as we would go, of course, with the friars gave us the tours
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of the EWTN studios in Irondale, and of course it was Mother Angelica,
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again, who started the organization of the friars such that they could then
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take on leadership roles in the EWTN studios and be out in the public, talking to the public,
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talking with groups, leading groups.
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So I guess we're back to leadership is important.
54:35
Absolutely. And as we wind down this conversation, we're right at the end here.
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You spoke about leadership and Kathy Fulton, you're here with us.
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You were the one who organized this, if I understand, or at least you played a large role in that.
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Any words to our listeners before we wrap up this interview?
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Anything you want them to know?
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Taking a pilgrimage is a great opportunity to grow in holiness and to gain friendships.
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So, if you have an opportunity, jump at it.
55:02
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, it's been great speaking with both of you, Kathy and Shirley.
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And before you guys, it was Bob and Sherry. And before that, it was Sandra.
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And I I think I might be missing someone here. And Carolyn, of course, Carolyn.
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Well, it was a great conversation with all of you. It sounds like it was an
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absolutely wonderful pilgrimage that it really bore fruit as well.
55:24
And we're just so happy that you guys went on. And I hope the numbers go up for next year.
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But all that said, thank you to all you listeners who have tuned in for this
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great episode. And thank you to everyone who came in and shared their experience.
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It's a great reminder of how powerful pilgrimages can be. It's not just where
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we go, but it's how God moves in us during that journey.
55:44
If you're feeling inspired, look into visiting the Shrine of the Most Blessed
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Sacrament or EWTN Studios.
55:50
Both are incredible places of prayer, beauty, and Catholic identity.
55:53
And thank you again for tuning in to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
55:57
Until next time, may God bless you all with a great week. You've been listening
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to Catholic Conversations.
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Download our podcasts at catholicspiritradio.
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Music.