Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Catholic Conversations #175: Navigating Digital Challenges: A Catholic Approach to Parenting

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Catholic Conversations #175: Navigating Digital Challenges: A Catholic Approach to Parenting · Catholic Spirit Radio

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Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Hello everyone and welcome back to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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I'm your host, Paul Garcia, and today I'm joined by David John,
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founder of iCatholic Mobile, a Catholic phone service provider that not only
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helps people stay connected, but also supports Catholic media,
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ministries, and non-profits like Catholic Spirit Radio.
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We'll talk a little bit about that today, but the heart of the conversation
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is an important one. It's how to raise kids in today's digital world.
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With smartphones, social media, and screens everywhere, parents and grandparents
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are facing challenges never before seen.
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David has a lot of insight into this topic as a man grounded in the faith who
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cares deeply about protecting and strengthening families.
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David, welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.
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Thank you very much. Thank you. It's a privilege to be here.
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All the privilege is all ours. So, David, before we go much further,
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can you give us just a rundown of who you are and what led you to start iCatholic
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Mobile for people who don't already know?
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You know, I'm just a guy that, along with my colleagues, by the way,
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there's a few of us that have been in the telecommunications industry for most
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of our careers and brought into the traditional faith and on that journey to eternity and,
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really embraced some doctrines that were new to me or newer in their real meaning,
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and particularly extraeclaseanolosolus, meaning there's no salvation outside of the church.
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And those various interpretations of this, obviously there's one,
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and that's Christ and the church's interpretation.
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But I will leave that to the magisterium to determine how far that goes.
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For me, it means that it's a scary thing when you see all of these beautiful
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people out there, including our Protestant brothers and sisters,
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that really needs to come to the faith.
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And there's only so much, at least myself, as an individual can do,
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but Catholic radio, Catholic media, they save souls.
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Mother Maryam, and going back before that to Bishop Sheen, you know,
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the pioneers in this business, the ones that really were bringing the faith
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out, the airwaves, convert souls.
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Mother Maryam said, pardon me, Mother Angelica is what I meant to say.
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Father Angelica said if you save one soul, it's all worth it.
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Well, we know that EWTN, we know that Catholic Radio has saved countless souls.
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I mean, you know the National Catholic Register poll is a few years old,
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but I'm sure it's not that different.
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That 34% of the people that listen to Catholic Radio have come back to the faith
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or come to the faith from outside.
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So what can we do to support Catholic media? Well, everybody has a phone.
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Everybody uses a phone. why not operate as the ecclesiastical enterprises did
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800 years ago, where everybody who works here is Catholic, they get a living
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wage, we revolve our lives around the faith,
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we revolve our lives around the rosary, and trying to keep each other in sanctifying
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grace, although by 8 a.m. I'm kind of lost, but I try.
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And to do what we can to take our profits, if they're great one year or they're
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bad, whatever it is, we just give them all back to God, and that is to give
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them to the Catholic media and amazing people.
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Stations like yours, Catholic Spirit Radio, which your founders and you folks
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give everything to God because we know that you're not making millions of dollars.
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So we know how much you're giving. What can we do to hold up your arms with
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the work that you do every day?
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And that is to try to support you with what we have and whatever proceeds come
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from the subscribers that we get that come from your channel.
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Right. Well, we certainly thank you a lot. We really appreciate you here at Catholic Spirit Radio.
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And real quick, I'm going to read something and I'm going to jump to another
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question, kind of unrelated, but off your website. I think it's beautiful.
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For people that don't know, iCatholic Mobile is America's only Catholic 5G wireless provider.
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They offer the highest speed data with unlimited talk and text,
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ideal for families and individuals that love great service, of course,
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who doesn't and want the profit from their mobile phone usage to go to the causes that they believe in.
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They give part of every dollar to Catholic media and Catholic religious orders,
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priests, and Catholic media for the salvation of souls.
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And that is truly, truly a beautiful thing. And when I say that,
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the salvation of souls, a lot of us have family members, friends,
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parents, maybe children that have fallen away from the faith.
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And of course, we know that this is the way to heaven, that we all want eternal life.
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And we love others so much, our family members, our friends so much,
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and we want them more than anything to get to heaven.
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We want to assure our own salvation as well.
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And so on that note, I want to ask you for a little bit of advice for our listeners.
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How can we raise children today in such an increasingly digital world full of
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temptations, things like pornography readily available?
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You cannot escape the impure images and videos that are all over social media.
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Any advice that you can give David John would be appreciated.
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Well, you know, it's a big subject. Dr.
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Garendi, you know, Dr. Ray has written a book.
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I forget the name of which book it was that he did. That sounds silly,
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but he wrote a good book on these things.
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Father McKeg does a lot of public service announcements around it.
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But if I were to throw my two cents in, it's managing kids' phone habits while
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ensuring privacy and reducing data costs and limiting the exposure to harmful
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content really is a balancing act.
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My kids grew up right when, you know, by the time they were getting phones,
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it was really early days.
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And it was something that none of us saw coming, you know, with the way that
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the Internet slowly crept onto the phone from being able to just call or text.
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And the way bad stuff finds you. Your kids don't have to be, quote, bad.
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They don't have to be looking for bad things. It finds them.
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So the key to success, in my opinion, is managing the usage,
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setting boundaries, using the right tools and having open communications.
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One, two, three, boundaries, tools, and communications. And we can talk about that if you'd like.
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But make it a family activity to review and to adjust, having open communications,
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making a family activity, setting kind of a regular conversation around it.
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It's not just about restricting access.
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We all know as parents how that works.
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But also teaching your children to make responsible decisions as they grow in
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a world where digital tools are indispensable.
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They're going to go into a career that somehow, somewhere, they're going to
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have access to computers and internet and going to need them perhaps,
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phones. So, you know, how do we how do we bridge that gap?
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And, you know, there's some practical things that we can talk about.
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Right. Well, maybe we could talk about those practical things.
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I know I've heard some people such as Matt Walsh with the Daily Wire.
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He's a devout Catholic, one of the more popular ones in the media world.
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And he says, hey, I do not.
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My kids don't have phones and they won't have phones until they're out of the
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house. And he says, that's crazy, but I don't care.
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Yeah, they're going to see the Internet stuff, whatever. They're going to see
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it, but at least when they come home, they're not going to be doing that.
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Is that too far? What other advice, what boundaries, you mentioned boundaries,
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can parents set for their kids?
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And better yet, how do you make sure that they are respected? The boundaries.
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Well, it's like anything that you need to be respected, like no cookies for dinner.
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But I'm going to do a short plug for, and I don't have anything to do with them,
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and I'm going to pronounce it wrong, but there's a newsletter out there called Alatea.
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If people go into the website, they can type in raising kids with phones or
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whatever, and they're going to pull up a lot of stories.
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There was one that I read that really touched me where there was a young girl,
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18, 19 maybe, that was writing a testimonial about how she didn't have access
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to social media, that she didn't even have a phone until her late teens,
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and then it was kind of a dumb phone.
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She didn't have any social media accounts.
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And at first, you get that peer pressure, for lack of better words.
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But what she said, and it really was a tearjerker, she said,
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this was the best thing I could have ever happened to you.
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Because by the time I was 18 and I got my first really smart phone and had access
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to anything and everything that I either needed or wanted or what have you.
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That she made that she was already programmed to making her decisions with intent.
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And a lot of the great saints talk about that, right? Making your decisions with intent.
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And, and, and I can't, I don't, I didn't write anything down from this article that I could read back.
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And I wish I did because she really goes on with her testimony about living
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a life with intention, intention towards God, intention towards everything she does.
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And it all was rooted in being kind of not living in that here's me with my
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kids, my friends, you know, eating a hamburger.
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So I think that it's a great thing if you've got the strength as a parent to say no.
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Yeah. If you do go to phones at 16 or 17 or whatever age that there is no social media account.
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If you can go to that draconian, your children will grow up better.
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But that takes a lot of strength. It's hard. And it's a two-way street.
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You can, for instance, setting boundaries, which are like clear rules for phone
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usage, limit screen time overall, especially for entertainment apps,
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limit when and where screen-free zones, creating screen-free zones in your home,
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such as the dining room, the bedrooms, the living room, and encourage offline activities.
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Night mode. Nobody has their phones when they go to bed. Everything gets set to do not disturb.
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And if you're really good, everybody puts their phone in a basket.
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No phones at the dinner table. Dad included.
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I remember years ago, I was running a public company and I got some notification.
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And of course, you know, I thought it was a big shot.
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And I told my wife, I got to take this, that the world's not going to end.
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The world's not going to change if you don't take that. And she put it probably
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in a better, more direct way.
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And it really woke me up. And it's probably been now, you know,
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it's been well over a decade that I realized that, you know,
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when you go to that dinner, when you're with your family,
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when you're driving your kids to school, when you're at the dinner table,
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that you as the parent don't be looking at your phone.
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I think it's hard to do what's going on at work, you know, whatever it may be.
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So screen-free zones, night mode, no phones during dinnertime,
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get that interaction face-to-face going again, and establish boundaries.
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Nothing at night, nothing before certain times of the day, and limit screen time.
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What's scary is that the American Academy of Pediatrics says that no more than
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one or two hours of screen time is recommended for kids ages two to five.
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Now, I read that, and I almost fell off my chair.
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Two to five, they're recommending any screen time.
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So, you know, we really can't look to the secular world.
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We can't look to those doctors and those organizations that we've grown up to
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trust. And we have to use our instincts.
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We have to seek the influence of the master, as Catherine Siena said,
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about the Holy Spirit, and really seek the wisdom from God, from church,
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from faith, from being in the sacraments.
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You will know what not to do.
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For me, it's zero. Zero screen time for a three-year-old. But who am I?
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Right. That's right. Well, that is all very, very interesting.
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I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV.
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I like that. limit screen times. It's interesting. I hear the phrase all the time.
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You give the devil an inch, he'll take a mile. And that's what kind of pops
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into my head, even talking about kids, not calling kids the devil or anything,
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but you give them an inch, you say, hey, you can start to have it here at dinner.
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Well, then, uh-oh, they might be like, hey, I have it at dinner.
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And can't we go a little more than that? And it's all very, very fascinating.
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There were certainly simpler times just a few years ago before all this became a thing.
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But I have plenty more questions for you that I want to get to in just one moment.
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But before we dive into those questions, we are going to take a quick break
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and say thank you to our beloved sponsors.
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To all you listeners, stick around. This is an important conversation with David
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John of iCatholic Mobile.
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We will be right back. You're listening to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to part two of three of Catholic Conversations
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on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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I am your host, Paul Garcia, and I'm proud to be joined by David John,
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the founder of iCatholic Mobile,
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a Catholic phone service provider that not only helps people stay connected
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and at great speeds, but also supports Catholic media, ministries,
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and nonprofits like what you're listening to right now. That's Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Anyway, I'm talking with David John. We just had a great first segment.
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We talked a lot about raising kids in the digital world, setting boundaries, things of that nature.
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And real quick, David, I want to ask you, the religious, they benefit from your
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proceeds, nuns, priests, and things like this.
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How do they benefit from your proceeds?
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How do you go about giving them that money? What do they use it for?
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Yeah, just give us a better picture of how you use the profits generated from
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people that use iCatholic Mobile.
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I was coming back from an EWTN conference last year very briefly after visiting
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the tomb of Mother Angelica, and I was on the train. Long story, don't ask why the train.
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And it was another conversation. And I got a call from a sister from Illinois,
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and she was, at the time, she was at Fort Clarke.
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So I figured the poor Clares who was down in AWTN, I must have left,
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you know, my keys or something down there.
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So I took, you know, I talked to her. And after speaking to her,
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she kind of elaborated on how her combat was closed down.
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And she was going to be moving to another cloister, some Dominicans and out east.
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And she wanted to know if I had a discount for religious. And I said,
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no, but that's a great idea.
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Thank you. And being a glutton for, you know, priests and nuns and any of the
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time I can get from them, we talked for a long time.
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And when it was all over, I said, I'm going to get back to you.
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I need to think about this. Right. Plans are complicated.
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They got to be worked into the system and we got to do it. And I have to figure
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it out and consider it done.
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Well, some time went by and I didn't do that.
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I figured that was in retrospect, a gentle nudge by the Holy Spirit.
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So a couple days later, I was listening to a radio program that we sponsor,
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and I heard when iCatholic Mobile, and one more thing, for all of you religious
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out there, they have a great plan for your religious.
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And I was thinking to myself, well, that's news to me.
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And I want to thank Sister Mary D'Angelo, who I've never heard of in my life.
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It wasn't that other sister.
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I've never found sin. I'm convinced to this day it's an angel.
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And I definitely believe in the angels.
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I do my sanctuaries prayers a hundred times a day.
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So what we thought about is that why do we need to make this complicated?
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Why don't we just remove all costs?
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The average religious is paying $700 to $1,000 a year, many of them out of their
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pocket. If they're a religious order, if it's in a monastery,
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if it's a cloister, that's not coming from the basket.
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That's coming from their stipend.
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So we started with certain religious orders.
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We started with the Fraternity of St. Peter, moved over to the SSPX.
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We started doing some great diocesan priests.
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And then we started getting calls from various monasteries, Sisters of the Holy
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Cross, which is dedicated to the Opus Sanctitica Manjurum, the holy work of the angels,
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the Order of the Visitation, which is, for instance, the sales order, and the list goes on.
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And these sisters, these monks, you know, the Benedictine Abbey and Still River,
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you know, they need phones when they go out.
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You know, if they have a retreat house, they need phones to book the retreat.
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We've got an order that makes investments.
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They need a camera phone and Internet. So we just said we're going to provide
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all this free, kind of expand it to Internet for the rectories and parish offices.
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And it's entirely free today. we're probably reducing the cost for religious almost $50,000 a year.
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It's kind of gotten, you know, ahead of us.
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And it's a beautiful thing because they're praying for us.
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There is a benefit to me. There's a benefit to all of us out there that are
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customers like Catholic and that the quid pro quo,
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we're getting better into the deal is that they, you know, each priest that
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gets a free service has to say, well, Not has to, we ask them to,
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you know, remember us once a month in your masses.
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Right now, we have a massive day being said for the intentions of our customers. So we really...
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Scored on this because you can't, that's gold.
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To have those beautiful religious people who have sacrificed and given everything
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to our Lord Jesus Christ to be able to pray for us makes this contribution,
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we'll call it, really a benefit.
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I can't say that we're giving as much as we're getting, but we do support any,
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if you know your priest, if you know a religious order, who are happy to pick
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up all the costs of their phones.
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Some of these monasteries will have one or two. Some of them will have 10.
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And it adds up. You know, there's parishes where we're saving them $3,000 a year.
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We provide all the services free. And as you can imagine, your average religious
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person is not super nimble on a smartphone.
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So we spend a lot of time helping them with all the other elements of having
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to live in this world between this world. And I'll say one thing in closing.
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The prior of a monastery in Chicago said, I want to put you out of business.
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And I thought it was good. He says, why do my priests, let alone my congregation.
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Need to carry the near occasion of sin in their pocket all day, every day?
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Some of us need to have a phone for whatever it is in work or what have you.
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So it's not a condemnation.
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But we really have to reflect on that comment. So I pray that he's right.
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He puts us out of business because, you know, clearly that's not going to happen in the modern world.
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But he really raised a very valid point.
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What are you doing with this thing? What do you need to do with this thing?
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And how can you minimize it, mortify yourself, and make it something that's
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functional and useful from the brainpower that God gave so many engineers that
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invented the technology without leaving an opening for Satan to creep into your life?
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Right. And speaking about Satan creeping into your life, I want to ask another question.
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We're talking about parenting and everything, setting boundaries,
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proper phone usage, social media, things like this.
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My wife and I, we are expecting a little boy in a few months.
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And of course, how should families approach conversations about online safety,
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even things like pornography, cyberbullying?
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How do you recommend that we approach those conversations?
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Because at least my wife and I, we do think that part of defending our kids
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from all of that is informing them before maybe their peers do,
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or as you said, the trouble finds you until they stumble upon it themselves.
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How do you get ahead of it? What can you do when talking to your kids about this stuff?
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Well, I mean, in your case, you've got a whiteboard, so you're fortunate to that extent.
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You know, because when you're raising your kids, you're reading,
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you know, what to expect when you're expecting and all the good books out there,
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you know, there's all these great things that they listen to classical music,
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Baby Mozart, you know, whatever math things that all now are digitized.
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The kids kind of come of age to be able to use their fingers.
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I personally believe that don't do it. Use the analog stuff,
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you know, that, you know, if you spell it, you know, the stuff you get at Target
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or whatever, use the analog tools.
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Watch Baby Mozart on your television.
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Do not hand these people, these young children, these creatures of God a screen
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until you absolutely have to.
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And I don't know when that actually is, but you'll know that in your life and in your world.
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But you definitely, it's so easy now for parents to think they're doing this
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is educational or whatever. or then it becomes educational to babysitting.
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Keep them away from screens. If it's too late, as it is for many of us.
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Then the things we talked about earlier, restricting time.
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But there are tools that you can put on phones that parental controls that allow
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you to control what goes in and out of that device, as well as the monitoring.
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And I think a lot of parents, oh, it's an invasion of privacy kind of thing.
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You really need to separate yourself.
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It takes a lot of strength, but you really need to, you know,
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there's nothing wrong with monitoring it. They go to a website, you get a notification.
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There are tools out there. It could be the Google Family Link or Apple Screen
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Times that limit the screen time.
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There's blockers and filters like Covenant Eyes, NetNanny, FaceWall, Lagoon.
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Even Propersky's got Safe Kids. Any VPN or security software company that you
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use on a computer now has a mobile thing.
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So I think, number one, don't give it to them. When you do, put parental controls on there.
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There's nothing wrong with limiting, locking down, and being notified so you
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know what they're doing.
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You know, there are also child-friendly search engines, Kittle, K-I-D-D-L-E.
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There's the Google Safe Search. I think Google is kind of the evil empire themselves
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with what they do with personal information. But they do have tools.
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And we're all in a Google world. If you have an Android phone,
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guess what? You're in a Google world.
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Social media monitoring. Keep a close eye on the platforms and their exposure.
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There are tools like BARK, B-A-R-K, or Canary that alert parents to potential
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issues, including harmful language, cyberbullying, and other safe concerns.
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So if I had to summarize, you know, conversation, the faith,
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going to church clearly is your bedrock.
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Then don't use, you know, just don't bring the screens to their fingers until
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you absolutely have to. And then when you do, make sure that you have the tools
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on there that are available.
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And you can always find tools, too, by searching.
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Just be really conscious. And don't be pressured by, you know,
25:19
the children saying, well, you know, you know, Billy Next Door has got this or what have you.
25:23
Or the other parents, which are totally secularized, are saying,
25:27
well, you know, don't you, I don't know.
25:29
You know how it is out there in the real world with the soccer moms and whatever.
25:33
Exactly. You really need to carve your own path because God entrusted these
25:38
children to us. They're his children.
25:40
And we're guiding them to eternity. And it really starts now.
25:45
So they're not going to like you. It's a tough thing to do. You need to be really strong.
25:50
I think the balanced approach I'll say in closing is,
25:54
Technology doesn't have to be a distraction. You can use apps or games that
25:59
encourage creativity and learning
26:01
like Tinker or Scratch, which kind of they're like early coding apps.
26:07
If you think you have a kid that wants to learn to code, there's the Khan Academy.
26:10
I think a lot of people, they see them on every corner now. They have a pretty good app.
26:14
So, you know, you just have to put the time and energy into it.
26:19
And there's nothing I can give them as far as advice that's going to be,
26:22
you know, I should have had a V8, as we said in the old days in that commercial.
26:27
But it really takes attention because it creeps up on you and it's too late
26:33
once they start seeing what they really should be seeing.
26:36
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yep. I really loved what you said about you're going to have to be strong.
26:40
People talk. Society is going to kind of trickle into your ears a little bit,
26:44
making you think, oh, am I being a bad parent, not letting my child have access
26:47
to social media? by putting these blocks on social media, these limits.
26:52
Am I draconian, as you might have said jokingly earlier?
26:57
Be strong. Do what's right for your child. Society is largely messed up,
27:01
for lack of a better term.
27:03
And yeah, just be strong. Do what you know is right. God entrusted these children
27:06
to us. We have to be responsible and good parents.
27:09
And so do what's right and don't care about what people are really going to
27:13
say. And yeah, it's going to be tough.
27:15
Your kids are most likely going to get upset with you for a period of time.
27:18
But I bet you in the long run, they very well might appreciate it or very well.
27:23
I think and hope they will really appreciate it and they'll at least be better
27:26
for it. But I have a few more questions for you in just one moment.
27:30
I mean, if I could say, I mean, the Holy Spirit really will illuminate parents
27:34
to know the truth, you know, because, you know, we choose every day to deprive
27:40
ourselves of his reason of life by an inordinate self-love.
27:44
Right. That's the human creature. and one
27:48
thing that social media does is just it's self-love
27:52
on steroids it's everything that
27:55
you know i'm 62 and i am one percent
27:58
of where i need to be and getting to that point of abandoning self that says
28:03
in giving myself completely to god it's a hard thing to do i've made it harder
28:07
for myself we as parents though can help lead our children to make these decisions
28:13
and really focusing on in spite of all the tools and all the speeches,
28:18
that it comes down to the Holy Ghost.
28:20
It comes down to having a prayerful life. It comes down to the daily rosary.
28:25
I know I'm a tech guy and all, but it is fundamental.
28:28
There is nothing. If you really want to know what to do, listen to Fulton Sheen.
28:33
There was no cell phones when he was out there. But you'll listen to Fulton
28:37
Sheen, and he's laid it all out.
28:39
He is the man. I couldn't agree more. Well, we will be right back in just one
28:43
moment, but first, here are a few words from our beloved sponsors.
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Music.
30:41
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
30:46
I'm your host, Paul Garcia, and today I'm glad to be joined by David John,
30:50
founder of iCatholic Mobile,
30:51
a Catholic phone service provider that not only helps people stay connected,
30:55
but also supports Catholic media, ministries, and nonprofits,
30:58
just like what you're listening to right now, Catholic Spirit Radio.
31:02
They are great. We really appreciate them, and the conversation has been wonderful
31:06
so far with its founder, David John. David, we were just talking.
31:11
The main theme of this conversation is raising kids in a digital world,
31:16
an increasingly digital world that's just getting crazier and crazier.
31:20
And my goodness, I think it's so interesting.
31:24
Most people say there's no such thing as coincidences. I think it's funny that
31:28
on the back of a lot of our phones, especially the most capable phones,
31:32
there is an Apple with a bite out of it.
31:34
I can't help but think that reminds me of the original sin, you know,
31:38
the thing that kind of drove us away from God to begin with.
31:41
But anyway, on that note, I would like to talk about things families can do
31:46
together besides being on your phones.
31:49
You mentioned during the break, something about family activities.
31:53
Could you tell us more about that?
31:55
Well, yeah, I can. I think that, well, today children are growing up in a world
32:01
of technology. You know, there's a critical divide on how we as parents are
32:06
guiding them through it.
32:08
I see three distinct groups of parenting or ways of parenting that have created three distinct groups.
32:18
And that is one group has been given a near unlimited access to technology with little guidance.
32:26
Parents are working, kids have phones, and, you know, you get together,
32:29
you know, crossing the hallway, whatever it may be, because that's life going,
32:33
driving the soccer practice.
32:34
But in between, there's unlimited access. And they've been raised with technology
32:39
at their fingerprints, yet the parents often avoid discussions about the potential
32:43
dangers or impact on their lives.
32:46
The second group has been raised with minimal technology.
32:51
Parents in this group have tried to delay their kids' entry in the digital world,
32:55
believing it will protect them.
32:57
But then there's kind of what we would call the middle ground,
32:59
And that's rooted in faith and stewardship.
33:02
The approach requires kind of intentional conversations where you have regular conversations.
33:14
Again, to repeat it with intent, with your kids about the dangers of technology,
33:19
the pros, the cons, whatever it may be.
33:21
Let's hear them out. Let's hear what their thoughts are. But having a conversation with intention.
33:26
And we need to teach our children how to use technology, what dangers to avoid,
33:31
how to be responsible, and how to interact with others online in a way that reflects our values.
33:38
You know, boundaries are key. We talked about that earlier, but so is faith and prayer.
33:44
When we guide our children in tech education through these lenses,
33:50
we help to navigate really what's a complex world with some wisdom and charity.
33:58
And oftentimes the kids are like it is in my home, way more tech savvy than we are.
34:04
But ultimately, it's our responsibility to equip them.
34:07
I like going out of my way even more than we would before phones,
34:13
because I kind of bridge both areas in time.
34:16
And to find this family time where you set aside a movie night,
34:21
and you pick the movies carefully. A Man for All Seasons is timeless.
34:26
It's something that you watch together, and it leads you into discussion about
34:31
having the courage to chart your own course following our Lord Jesus Christ
34:37
in spite of everything and all the pressures around you.
34:41
Right so family movie nights is that something that
34:44
you and your family do it is right it
34:47
is it is you know my kids have grown and and but when
34:50
they're back we still do that you know if it's
34:53
game night we whip out the own monopoly board and i just kind of close my eyes
34:57
as my late 20 something kids are still robbing the bank they're like they do
35:01
when they're eight but you know whatever else but yeah those kinds of things
35:07
you know that are that really force the family to interact with each other.
35:11
If it be board games or if it be finding something good to watch together,
35:16
you know, that we can all agree on that's, you know, not full of all the stuff
35:21
that most movies are full of these days.
35:24
Absolutely. Yep, yep. You'll love a good movie. Movies can be certainly so, so powerful.
35:29
They've been around for a hundred years now, and it's like, you know,
35:31
the good ones can really change your life for the better.
35:34
The Passion of the Christ is a fantastic movie. I think people should watch,
35:38
directed by a Catholic as well.
35:41
Yeah, yeah, I completely agree with you. And as we get towards the end of this conversation,
35:46
to someone, a parent, maybe just anyone who's thinking, man,
35:49
I'd really like to support iCatholic Mobile and support my Catholic values,
35:54
can you just tell us a little bit about why it is important to use our money to support good,
36:00
noble causes like Catholic,
36:02
organizations, like Catholic Spirit Radio even, but more so with iCatholic Mobile?
36:06
Why is that important for Catholics to support them.
36:10
Well, for the same reason, it's critical to support, even more so,
36:14
why they should support Catholic Spirit Radio, because it's for the salvation
36:18
of souls and for an alternative.
36:21
You know, I start listening to Catholic Radio, you know, here and there,
36:26
to the point where eventually I don't listen to anything that's not Catholic.
36:31
And that's a journey to mortify ourselves and to prepare our souls by,
36:36
you know, the way Price spoke about to the Pharisees. and what you put in and what comes out, right?
36:43
So I think that at the end of the day that you support Catholic radio.
36:47
And if you have a phone and you're using it, by joining iCatholic Mobile,
36:53
you're supporting those same causes. For all the reasons you're listening to
36:56
this show right now is the reason you should support iCatholic Mobile.
37:02
And there's the flip side, that chances are,
37:06
not chances, It's nearly 100% if the carriers that you're supporting are funding
37:14
anti-Catholic causes, if it's direct pro-abortion, or if it's,
37:20
oh, you know what, we'll pay for your medical insurance to give you transportation
37:24
costs to leave the state to get an abortion.
37:27
There's a lot of non-direct ways. They may not be on Planned Parenthood's masthead,
37:32
but what are they doing with their health care for their employees?
37:35
What are they doing around the board? And every time you're using,
37:37
you know, a T-Mobile or something like that, it's unfortunate,
37:41
but you're directly supporting to the tune in T-Mobile of $44 million a year.
37:47
Causes and candidates and people and elected officials that are clearly working
37:53
against the faith and coming after you.
37:56
Absolutely, absolutely. And so if I switched, if my wife and I switched to iCatholic
38:01
Mobile, would we have roughly the same rates and the same great service and
38:05
coverage and speeds as one of the other unlimited data providers like Verizon?
38:11
And the answer is about 40% of our customers do come from Verizon.
38:15
Our churn rate, which means customers that have come in left,
38:19
is as close to zero as you get. The average in the industry is 18%.
38:24
One in five people leave the phone company they're with within the first year.
38:28
So that means that people are getting great service. Yes, the answer is that
38:33
we have coverage that is the finest enterprise network that's available to customers.
38:39
We've got 5G, 5G plus quality.
38:42
We control our own switches so that we're able to open up those swaddles and
38:47
provide the best, both customer service, personal service, as well as,
38:52
you know, all the technology you're going to get from Verizon or AT&T or T-Mobile.
38:56
Most of the other resellers out there, whoever it is, I won't get into the names,
39:01
and some of them are good.
39:03
Some of them are decent companies, positioning-wise, but they're using the reseller
39:07
networks, which are slower and not as good.
39:10
So yeah, you're going to get something good. And with us, we really and truly
39:14
and absolutely believe, with all the beautiful religious praying for us and
39:18
all the folks praying for the intentions of our customers, that we include a
39:21
lot of Holy Spirit with our data plan.
39:23
Absolutely. I love that. and that is wonderful to hear.
39:27
And before we end this, David, John, is there anything else you'd like our listeners to know?
39:33
Are you going to keep it? I hope you don't edit this out. Yeah, I would.
39:37
With all sincerity, you know, Ann and John, yourself, everybody at that station
39:46
are an inspiration to us over here.
39:49
We do very little compared to what we'd like to be doing for Catholic Radio
39:52
and for everybody out there and for the faith, we're working on building that every day.
39:57
But if anybody had any idea of how much, what it takes to run a radio station
40:02
on 11 of them or 10 of them, they'd be for it. They'd be for it.
40:08
The love for our Lord and for all of the people listening and the intention
40:14
to save souls of all those folks in Catholic media in general and specifically
40:18
at Catholic Spirit Radio is an inspiration.
40:21
And we all need to be thankful and tune in more. You're too kind.
40:26
Thank you so much. What a great note to end on.
40:28
David John of iCatholic Mobile. Thank you so much for your time and thank you
40:32
everyone for listening to this great conversation between me,
40:35
Paul Garcia, your host, and David John. Be sure to check out iCatholic Mobile.
40:39
Great cell phone provider company, service provider, really love them.
40:44
They are great to us. Until next weekend, God bless you all with a great week
40:49
and we'll catch you next time.
40:51
You've been listening to Catholic Conversations. Download our podcasts.
40:55
Music.