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What Does a Lifetime of Catholic Faith in Action Look Like? · Arena Ablaze Podcast

0:02
Welcome into the arena.
0:04
This is the arena blaze podcast.
0:06
I'm your willing host Marco Sandoval I'm joined
0:09
as always by my fellow son of muck
0:12
Yes Well, I would say we're gonna find
0:17
out but I am well, thank you.
0:20
Very good today.
0:21
We're joined by Bob Powers He's a pillar
0:24
in the Wichita lay Catholic community As always
0:28
we're going to begin by renewing our total
0:30
consecration to Jesus through Mary That we may
0:33
do everything with in through and for Mary
0:37
as her instrument So that she can lead
0:40
us to more perfectly do everything with in
0:43
through and for Jesus.
0:45
I Todd powers a repentant sinner Renew and
0:50
ratified today in your hands.
0:53
Oh immaculate mother the vows of my baptism
0:56
I renounce Satan and resolve to follow Jesus
1:01
Christ even more closely than before Mary I
1:05
give you my heart.
1:07
Please set it on fire with love for
1:09
Jesus Make it always attentive to his burning
1:13
thirst for love and for souls Keep my
1:16
heart in your most pure heart that I
1:19
may love Jesus and in the members of
1:21
his body with your own perfect love Mary
1:25
I entrust myself totally to you my body
1:29
and soul my goods both interior and exterior
1:33
and Even the value of all my good
1:36
actions Please make of me of all that
1:39
I am and have Whatever most pleases you
1:43
Let me be a fit instrument in your
1:46
immaculate and merciful hands For bringing the greatest
1:50
possible glory to God if I fall, please
1:54
lead me back to Jesus wash me in
1:57
the blood and water the flow from his
1:59
pierced side and Help me never to lose
2:02
my trust in this mountain of love and
2:05
mercy With you Oh immaculate mother you who
2:09
always do the will of God I unite
2:12
myself to the perfect Consecration of Jesus as
2:16
he offers himself in the spirit to the
2:19
father for the life of the world Amen
2:30
All right, so Bob Powers He was born
2:35
in 1945 at Camp Lejeune, Louisiana Where his
2:41
father was stationed as a first sergeant He
2:44
was recruited to Wichita, Kansas to play college
2:47
basketball Or Wichita State by Ralph Miller.
2:51
He was a member of the 1964 Final
2:53
Four team He married his wife in the
2:56
newly built Newman Center on the WSU campus.
3:00
His wife's name is Joanne He earned degrees
3:03
in education and psychology of emotionally disturbed children
3:06
in 1972 Bob has developed and started several
3:10
businesses in Wichita He's a member of Blessed
3:13
Sacrament Parish He's was the driving force behind
3:18
the men of the Sacred Heart, Wichita performing
3:20
many in-home enthronements of the Sacred Heart
3:24
He also supported the Catholic Church in Uganda
3:28
Africa by spearheading the completion of several building
3:31
projects including churches dormitories and wells Welcome in.
3:37
Thank you.
3:38
I Think just first we just want to
3:41
start with You know you the seed of
3:43
faith and kind of like your your young
3:46
life Where kind of the faith first touched
3:49
your life as you were growing up Well,
3:54
I live I live kind of an ordinary
3:57
life I Was the oldest of seven kids?
4:04
I did start out as an altar boy
4:06
when I was Seven or eight years old
4:09
and Really that's where my exposure to the
4:15
church started From there I was just an
4:21
ordinary kid going to Catholic schools Catholic grammar
4:25
school Catholic high school My mother wanted me
4:29
to go to Catholic College.
4:31
I Said please mom don't I?
4:34
Had opportunities to go to school in a
4:37
lot of places because of my athletic ability
4:41
but That's just that's just the way it
4:47
it went.
4:48
I was just an ordinary kid growing up
4:50
through Catholic schools Where was this at this
4:54
I started?
4:55
My father was with the Woolworth company after
4:58
he got out of the Marine Corps, so
5:00
we moved quite a bit around the East
5:03
Coast I went to school in grammar school
5:08
in Philadelphia then to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and to
5:14
Washington PA and Then to Atlantic City, New
5:21
Jersey and Then Back to Washington PA, which
5:29
is an interesting story the kids That I
5:32
went to first grade with and then we
5:35
moved out of there I Was gone till
5:38
my senior year my father gets transferred back
5:41
to that Washington PA Woolworth store And I
5:45
end up graduating the kids that I went
5:48
to first grade with I went back to
5:52
the same school to graduate so there was
5:56
11 years between The time that I went
6:00
to first grade in 12th grade, but That's
6:03
that's an interesting thing.
6:05
Those those kids were really nice but So
6:09
that's kind of the way that went.
6:11
So in your mother was instrumental in your
6:14
faith.
6:15
Oh yeah, she she was She was on
6:19
top of the faith.
6:20
We had we went to mass every Sunday
6:25
My father drove us.
6:27
He was non-catholic He was a trooper
6:31
he'd drive us and let us out and
6:33
he'd park in the parking lot and Sit
6:36
in the parking lot and smoke his cigars
6:38
while we were in mass come back out
6:41
to a stinking car and And we'd go
6:44
home eventually dad dad did convert but my
6:49
mother was the going Strength in the house
6:57
One of the stories that I like to
6:59
tell is When we went to bed every
7:03
night my mother Put us to bed every
7:06
night.
7:06
My father was on the road all the
7:07
time So he never put us to bed
7:09
except once in a while And my mother
7:12
would have us say after the last prayer
7:16
she would have us say and please your
7:17
God help make my daddy a Catholic and
7:22
You know, I never realized what that meant
7:26
until I Was older and I realized that
7:29
the times that my dad did put us
7:32
to bed He always got that from all
7:35
of us without Him asking or knowing it
7:38
was coming please dear God help make my
7:42
daddy a Catholic and eventually He converted when
7:47
he was I think around 60 years old
7:49
58 years old Took a while, but he
7:52
did it.
7:53
He did it That's awesome.
7:56
I love the power of prayer Good for
7:58
your mom Slipping that one in there.
8:01
So when the altar serving I'm curious about
8:03
was that something that you wanted to do?
8:05
Was that just the school led you into
8:07
that or your mom wanted you to do
8:10
that or?
8:12
You know It was a long time ago
8:17
I know that we were all we were
8:21
taught by nuns back then and I think
8:26
maybe one of my friends Got me interested
8:30
in being an altar boy that's that's probably
8:33
what it was and then we started to
8:35
take the classes and I Really liked being
8:38
all an altar boy.
8:40
I don't know why I did but I
8:41
You know, it really felt good being up
8:45
on the altar and serving that priest Yeah,
8:48
I just asked because that's something that's near
8:50
to my heart as a youngster I loved
8:52
serving the altar and I think I started
8:55
in second grade and just really felt like
8:57
I was doing something important So that kind
9:00
of kind of hooked me What sports what
9:04
sports did you play growing up and besides
9:06
basketball?
9:07
Well, it's kind of interesting.
9:09
I was a Wasn't a really good student,
9:12
but I Didn't have I Was always working
9:19
I mean from the time I was eight
9:21
years old I had a paper route And
9:25
I had one of the biggest paper routes
9:27
in the city as a young kid and
9:31
then when we moved to Atlantic City, I
9:35
worked on a boat dock when I was
9:36
12 years old a boat rental dock and
9:40
cleaning out rental boats when they can't the
9:44
people families came in from fishing they were
9:46
just Little 12-foot boats that had a
9:50
10 horse Evan Rood motor on them and
9:53
no steering wheel you just steered the thing
9:56
from the motor and I Cleaned out those
10:00
boats and rented the boats and did all
10:03
that kind of stuff and Finally when I
10:10
got into high school I What I never
10:14
played any sports at all nothing and But
10:19
I was out in the schoolyard at lunchtime
10:22
when I was a sophomore and We were
10:25
playing pickup basketball Which I didn't know anything
10:29
about we were just you know, just Sophomore
10:33
16 year old or 15 year old kids
10:35
passing the ball and shooting it So the
10:38
head basketball high school coach comes walking through
10:41
there from his lunch hour And he called
10:45
me aside and he said what's your name
10:48
and I told him and he said You
10:53
want to play basketball for Holy Spirit And
10:58
I said coach, I don't know anything about
11:00
basketball.
11:01
I just he said I'll teach you and
11:04
so That was at the end of the
11:08
season so my junior year was my first
11:12
time touching a basketball organized basketball and the
11:20
My dad said well you could play you
11:23
could play what's that in in school where
11:26
they have another leg kids play Inter murals,
11:32
he said you could play get on one
11:34
of the intramural basketball teams and at least
11:36
have some Knowledge of the game.
11:38
So I did after my junior year We
11:43
moved out of there and so I spent
11:47
my senior year in Washington PA Immaculate Conception
11:52
High School in Washington, PA and Somehow something
11:57
happened to me between My junior and senior
12:01
year.
12:01
First of all, I gained about six or
12:03
seven inches.
12:04
I grew to about six seven six eight
12:07
But something that happened to me mentally that
12:13
made me see the game and I just
12:18
dominated my senior year and I I couldn't
12:21
I didn't understand what was happening I started
12:24
getting letters from all over the country and
12:27
Because I grew up in a the oldest
12:29
of seven at home my dad was a
12:31
Pretty strict guy from the Marine Corps.
12:34
I wanted to get out of that house
12:36
as far away as I could So I
12:39
was looking at I was looking at schools
12:44
All around the country and my mother wanted
12:46
me to go to st.
12:47
Francis and Loretto College in Loretto, Pennsylvania And
12:53
I begged her not To Have me do
12:56
that and they took me to the school
12:58
and I had to interview with the coach
13:01
and do all that And I kept getting
13:05
letters from everywhere.
13:06
And and so finally I Came out here
13:11
to Wichita to take my one of my
13:14
college visits and I just fell in love
13:17
with Wichita, Kansas.
13:19
I don't I don't know what it was.
13:23
I But I didn't know what it was
13:25
then except for the fact that I was
13:28
far enough away from The discipline in my
13:32
house that I was feeling really comfortable So
13:36
that's how I got out here.
13:37
And that's a sport.
13:38
I played I Really didn't want to play
13:43
basketball in college.
13:44
I was a Decent rower.
13:46
I was a lifeguard on the ocean for
13:48
ten summers in high school and college and
13:51
I had several schools Offer me rowing scholarships,
13:56
Wisconsin was the one I wanted to go
13:58
to And unfortunately, they have really strict entrance
14:04
Requirements and I just couldn't pass their entrance
14:07
exam.
14:07
So I had to give up not rowing
14:09
in college and Go for basketball.
14:12
I never really considered myself a basketball player.
14:15
I always considered myself a rower And is
14:19
that why they call you the legend, yeah
14:21
back in South Jersey We go to the
14:24
island and they still know who Mike Powers
14:26
is.
14:27
I will take my family there and we
14:30
will rent a charter boat and the guy
14:33
the skipper on the boat will be 75
14:38
he says yeah my son or I worked
14:40
with your dad on the Beach Patrol Everywhere
14:45
I go Yeah, well anyway, we We got
14:52
we got out of school.
14:53
We did well here.
14:55
I Say we I was wasn't married yet,
14:58
but it didn't take too long and So
15:04
Things just started for me when I got
15:07
out of school.
15:07
I mean everybody in this town knew my
15:10
name because I was on that Final Four
15:12
team and So I was able to work
15:17
anywhere I wanted and my wife Joanne Was
15:24
a special ed teacher.
15:25
She had just graduated from George Washington University
15:29
with her master's degree and I Brought her
15:32
out here right after graduation she said there's
15:35
a need for men in the field of
15:37
special education and I Wanted to do something
15:44
like that, but and and the reason for
15:49
that was We were all drafted back then
15:53
and I was drafted and I couldn't get
15:55
in the service Because I'm blind in my
15:58
left eye from the age of seven Which
16:02
everybody thinks how'd you play basketball with one
16:05
eye?
16:06
went through all that but The point is
16:11
my brother Steve graduated from Virginia military and
16:16
He had had to go overseas and I
16:19
felt Terrible So what would you just back
16:27
up just a little bit?
16:28
What would you say your faith was like
16:30
you were in Catholic schools?
16:32
I know this is something that men struggle
16:34
with today We put our kids through Catholic
16:36
schools and sometimes they come out not really
16:39
Catholic anymore.
16:40
So what would you say your Your faith
16:43
was when you left Your Catholic schools to
16:47
come to Wichita State.
16:48
Were you strong?
16:50
Were you in love with the faith?
16:51
Was it strong for you or I?
16:54
Would just say I was a structured Catholic.
16:57
I mean I I learned all this go
17:00
to confession go to mass Do all the
17:03
stuff pray the Rosary But as far as
17:07
my head was concerned, I didn't spend much
17:10
time thinking about the Lord I was just
17:13
going through the process of doing what I
17:17
thought I was supposed to be doing being
17:20
raised a Catholic and It it really didn't
17:27
dawn on my faith didn't dawn on me
17:29
till we started having children That Like I
17:35
told you before four of them had near
17:37
-death life experiences when you have a child
17:41
go almost die on you that That takes
17:46
you to a place that you'll never be
17:51
until Something like that happens in your life
17:54
and that happened to us four times with
17:57
eight children and So that's really I think
18:02
when my faith when I started to think
18:05
about the Lord and pray hard and want
18:08
to get things done through prayer and have
18:13
And once again a total change from thinking
18:18
about the mechanics of the faith To The
18:24
mentality of the faith The stuff that that
18:30
you think about in and the things that
18:32
you want to do to make things in
18:38
your life change or get better and There's
18:41
a big difference between that like we were
18:43
talking yesterday or Todd was saying You know
18:46
going to Matt and there's a lot of
18:48
people just going to mass every Sunday that
18:50
that aren't getting anything out of it well
18:53
All Catholics learn a structured way of living
18:57
their lives and That in itself will take
19:04
us through a lot of stuff and Because
19:09
of that structure We some of us leave
19:13
for a while and we come back, but
19:15
that structure is so foundational in our brain
19:20
That we know the true way of The
19:25
truth we know the truth.
19:28
We learned it from the get-go and
19:30
you can't get away from the truth You
19:32
can run as far as you want do
19:34
whatever you want be as bad as you
19:36
want.
19:36
The truth is is there and and so
19:40
that's finally what I came to was the
19:44
truth and I just had a I have
19:48
a natural Giving ability not money But just
19:53
helping I've always been like that with everything
19:57
in my life Well, it seems like when
20:00
you got here Maybe there wasn't a strong
20:04
Catholic community in the basketball program, but it
20:07
seemed like you found community of Catholics to
20:11
kind of like brother a brothers to help
20:13
you Continue going to church and being Catholic
20:17
in the athletic program at Wichita State Yeah,
20:20
and I think the Newman Center over there
20:22
had a lot to do with many of
20:25
us Catholics that were in school at that
20:28
time, I mean that was a Church Catholic
20:33
that was a church Catholic facility on campus
20:37
put there for students and they catered to
20:40
students And I got very involved with with
20:45
the Newman Center.
20:46
It was built while you were there It
20:47
was built when I was a junior and
20:51
Joanne and I got married in the Newman
20:53
Center That's a cool story.
20:56
So she you brought her to Wichita.
20:59
She came to Wichita for you and you
21:01
were Married in the Newman Center, which was
21:05
pretty new It was just built And it
21:09
was only about half that size.
21:10
They've added on to that quite a bit
21:12
over the years So then she comes here
21:18
and you get married and you start having
21:20
Children you start getting connected with the community.
21:22
Were you always a member of Blessed Sacrament
21:24
Parish from the beginning?
21:26
We were at st.
21:27
Anne's the first Three or four years No,
21:33
we lived it 30 second Street.
21:37
We lived it.
21:38
We our first place was 902 North Market.
21:41
It was a small apartment downtown, Wichita It
21:44
had one bedroom And we had his crib
21:48
in the hallway So you had to go
21:50
around his crib to get from the bedroom
21:52
to the bathroom to the kitchen Thought you
21:54
said it was a chest of drawers Well
21:57
that chest of drawers was at one of
21:59
my grandmother's houses because she didn't have enough
22:01
beds for you So we opened up a
22:03
drawer and you could sleep in that but
22:08
The the first place we lived was at
22:11
902 North Market And I don't know why
22:14
we started on the first place we live
22:16
what are we talking about Well, it's blessed
22:19
Sacrament Parish.
22:20
When did you start?
22:21
That's a sacrament.
22:23
I Know to North Market was the first
22:25
place and we were just going to mass
22:28
different places for a couple of years And
22:30
we lived there then we moved to 308
22:32
West 32nd Street South which is down in
22:35
st.
22:35
Anne's Parish And that's when we started going
22:38
to st.
22:39
Anne's and we we went there for lived
22:43
there for five or six years and then
22:45
moved into Blessed Sacrament and we lived there
22:50
for 20 years And we were members of
22:55
Blessed Sacrament Church for 20 years and then
22:59
we moved to Where we are Which is
23:04
out of the parish but we continued with
23:08
Blessed Sacrament Church because we had eight kids
23:10
in school over there and There was no
23:13
way we were going to move any of
23:15
our children to another school because they were
23:17
all doing so well at Blessed Sacrament, so
23:20
I have a quick question because I talked
23:22
about my journey My kerygma and part of
23:27
that was my experience with stewardship, so I
23:30
want to hear your Side of my experience
23:34
when you told me do you want it
23:36
when you asked me?
23:37
Do you want to go to Southeast or
23:38
Capon?
23:40
and I Thought I was gonna go to
23:42
Capon and you talked to me about working
23:44
in the yard crew and all that was
23:46
that really a thing Or were you just
23:49
trying to motivate me somehow?
23:51
What what was?
23:53
Your side as a father in that conversation.
23:57
What are you really looking for?
23:59
So when I was 14, I was getting
24:02
I was graduating Blessed Sacrament, and I thought
24:05
I was going to Cape him out Carmel
24:07
and You one day you said do you
24:10
want to go to Southeast or do you
24:11
want to go to Capon and I saw
24:12
I thought I was going to Capon and
24:14
you said well you can go to Southeast,
24:16
but we're not gonna pay for you to
24:18
go to Capon Right.
24:21
What was that something that you manufactured to
24:23
motivate me or were there real financial concerns
24:26
on your your part?
24:27
I'm just interested to know you I remember
24:29
the conversation.
24:30
I know exactly why I said it I
24:36
knew that if you were going to go
24:38
to Capon You were going to have to
24:41
pay your own way and They had a
24:45
way for kids to do that And a
24:48
lot of that was groundskeeping and doing that
24:50
kind of stuff because we definitely I Was
24:56
working for a little nonprofit organization back then.
24:59
I wasn't making a lot of money and
25:03
$900 seems to be a lot of money
25:05
in 1983 84.
25:07
Yeah, well When you went to Cape and
25:10
we had five kids at home So you
25:14
were paying for them to go to Blessed
25:15
Sacrament, right?
25:17
You were and So I told you that
25:24
Story about having to work to go to
25:27
Capon so that you would understand That if
25:30
you wanted a free ride, you could go
25:32
to Southeast But if you really wanted a
25:37
Catholic school, you're gonna have to earn your
25:39
way as you did it That's exactly why
25:43
I told you that had nothing to do
25:45
with anything except my ability to Be able
25:50
to see what it was going to cost
25:51
me if you went to a Catholic school
25:54
when I already had four or five in
25:57
Catholic school And I had a great experience.
26:00
It was I talked about it extensively and
26:04
It really meant a lot to me to
26:06
do that I look back now and and
26:08
really enjoyed those two years that I did
26:11
that I Was just curious if you're gonna
26:15
be in the room, I think it's a
26:17
cool story sometimes there's you know, it kind
26:20
of leads into the stewardship way of life
26:22
and now all the kids basically go to
26:24
Catholic school for Affordable, you know, it's affordable
26:28
for parents.
26:29
So you don't really have to make a
26:31
mindful decision and kids don't get put that
26:36
in front of them because you know, you
26:38
really want to go or Just going because
26:41
your friends are going do you really want
26:43
to put some sweat equity into going?
26:44
That's kind of a valuable thing, especially for
26:46
men and boys You know, our culture kind
26:50
of loses a lot of that these days.
26:51
So I think that's a Interesting now, you
26:54
know, thanks for sharing that.
26:55
Yeah, you had mentioned that Having kids and
26:59
especially like kids that were having health issues
27:02
kind of brought you now I I like
27:05
what you're saying because it does seem that
27:08
is the Catholic way and it's just Human
27:10
way in general a lot of times you
27:12
learn first by physically doing you become a
27:14
physical Interactor with something and then it gets
27:18
into your mind and you start thirsting for
27:20
knowledge about it Maybe you study more about
27:22
it and gets into being more of a
27:24
spiritual or into your heart so when you
27:27
started moving from the physical practice of the
27:31
religion to more into the prayer and For
27:36
others you said that was happening about the
27:39
time you started having kids.
27:41
I'm just curious about kind of Different issues
27:44
that came up.
27:45
I know the men of the Sacred Heart
27:47
Kind of is tied in with that.
27:50
Did that Were you becoming more?
27:53
Spiritually connected to the faith before that or
27:55
is that what?
27:57
The the men of the Sacred Hearts and
27:58
the enthronements did that kind of open that
28:00
up more for you?
28:03
well the first First of all, I grew
28:06
up and if I'm the oldest of seven
28:08
and my folks didn't know what a health
28:10
problem was.
28:11
I mean They had seven perfectly healthy children
28:18
Health was never an issue So I had
28:23
no experience with dealing with health in a
28:26
family the first one was Lauren and When
28:32
she was 16 and became a stage-four
28:35
Hodgkins and the the doctor Was so concerned.
28:43
He came to our house to tell us
28:45
was this.
28:45
Dr. Robinson.
28:46
Yeah He came to the house to verbally
28:51
tell us himself that she was going to
28:54
die and I
29:04
remember getting that phone call coming to the
29:06
house, so The only thing I could go
29:12
to was prayer and so We gathered if
29:19
I gathered the family to tell them That
29:22
we were going to start saying the rosary
29:23
as a family every day and everybody had
29:26
to be in it There were no excuses
29:28
and we were going to do it For
29:32
as long as we had to do it
29:33
and so We started saying the rosary for
29:39
Lauren every day If we were on the
29:44
road somewhere We said the rosary in the
29:47
car we There were no excuses So Lauren
29:52
went through chemo.
29:54
She went through heart surgery.
29:55
She had her chest Cut wide open for
30:01
heart surgery she's 42 today and still has
30:06
that big scar down her chest and She
30:10
went through all of this and Somehow we
30:14
all maintained a level of Trust throughout the
30:20
whole thing and eventually she She was 16
30:26
and she was a great basketball player.
30:28
So she went through she was a Freshman
30:32
or sophomore when she was diagnosed in high
30:34
school at Capon she Couldn't play ball for
30:39
a year.
30:39
And then she comes to me and says
30:42
when she was Through most of her problem
30:45
About a year a year and a half
30:47
later.
30:47
She said I want to I want to
30:49
go back and play and I said, okay
30:51
so she goes back and plays and she
30:53
be she I Can't remember but I know
30:57
she was all state her senior year and
30:59
was recruited by schools to play basketball all
31:02
over the country including Notre Dame and There
31:07
was a guy at UMKC That really wanted
31:10
her really bad and he was a close
31:12
friend of mine, so that was too bad
31:15
for her because I influenced her to go
31:17
to UMKC and She went there and was
31:21
the starting center for that girls basketball team
31:25
The day she hit the floor so she
31:28
played four years of basketball and was the
31:31
starting center all four years Coming out of
31:34
that coming out of that disease That was
31:38
the very first time that I literally used
31:42
prayer to save our lives And it just
31:47
continued on with the next three we we
31:51
just Prayer became the answer to everything that
31:56
was going on.
31:57
Was that the beginning of Daily rosary for
32:01
you.
32:01
Had you used the rosary a lot before
32:03
that or was that when it really?
32:06
Became we didn't use it.
32:08
We didn't use the rosary before that that's
32:12
when we We did it as a family
32:15
and then after she was healed.
32:18
We kind of got away from the rosary
32:21
and then I My son Austin is the
32:25
rosary guy he and his family pray the
32:27
rosary all the time But I never really
32:30
was into the rosary as a just a
32:32
common everyday prayer And but I am now
32:36
and and it's been in the last couple
32:39
years I'll probably say two or three rosaries
32:42
a day now and and Most of them
32:46
at bed after I go to bed at
32:48
night.
32:48
I'll say them but if If the rosary
32:53
was any part of my life it was
32:55
with Lauren and within the last three or
33:00
four years it's become a major major part
33:05
of my daily prayer and you had mentioned
33:10
that The you had happened on to this
33:14
men of sacred heart men of the sacred
33:15
heart During this same time right at the
33:18
beginning of this as well, right?
33:20
Can you tell that story of how you
33:23
came interacted with that and what what you
33:26
did at that period of time?
33:28
When Lauren got sick, I was in the
33:30
life insurance business and We were I Was
33:39
a pretty successful life insurance salesman.
33:41
So we got to take a lot of
33:43
trips around the United States that the companies
33:46
would pay for and I would meet a
33:49
lot of really interesting people on those trips
33:52
and we would always go to daily mass
33:55
when we were on those trips and One
33:59
of the trips a guy named John John
34:02
and Kathy Lovasco Worked for the same company
34:06
out of Detroit and we were somewhere on
34:10
a trip and we were standing waiting for
34:13
a cab in front of the hotel to
34:14
go to mass and he Drives by and
34:17
he remembers seeing me in the meetings and
34:19
he said what are you guys doing?
34:20
I said, well, we're waiting for a cab.
34:22
So where do you need to go?
34:24
And I said, we're gonna go to church
34:26
He says well, that's where we're headed So,
34:29
that's how we met John and Kathy Lovasco
34:32
Ran the men of the Sacred Heart out
34:34
of Detroit, Michigan And he got us started
34:37
on the home consecrations and When I started
34:41
doing that, I saw a lot of I
34:45
saw a lot of people really feel good
34:51
about having those prayers said in their home
34:54
and Then continue to say those prayers in
34:58
their home after After we were gone, so
35:01
that's basically how it got started and that
35:04
relationship lasted for years John just died here
35:08
a few years ago and Men of the
35:12
Sacred Heart are still still doing what they
35:15
do.
35:15
I don't know who runs his area now,
35:18
but It's it's still in existence so what
35:23
was the the process that you would go
35:25
through to Enthrone the Sacred Heart into somebody's
35:29
home to a parishioners home and then about
35:31
how many of them did you do?
35:34
We were doing when we started well, first
35:36
of all, we had to get the bishops
35:38
approval to go into people's homes with these
35:41
prayers The bishop approved it and then we
35:44
had to get the pastor's approval in our
35:46
parish.
35:47
He approved it And so our plan was
35:51
to do one home every week so we
35:54
usually do the prayers on a Saturday and
36:00
We could keep a pretty full calendar because
36:03
we had everybody in the parish was a
36:05
Phone number we could call and and get
36:08
things set up but the process was that
36:13
we would take in a statue of the
36:16
Blessed Mother and Leave the statue in the
36:20
home for a week Then we take it
36:23
along with that.
36:24
We'd have a photo framed picture of the
36:29
Sacred Heart of Jesus and we'd take that
36:32
in with the statue of Mary and We
36:38
would have the family lined up in the
36:41
living room sitting around the chairs in the
36:42
living room and I told them that they
36:45
should have the statue of Mary set in
36:47
a prominent place in the house Where people
36:51
could see it as they come and go
36:53
and they should hang that picture on the
36:55
wall Not hidden in a bedroom or a
36:57
bathroom, but hanging in a major major part
37:00
of their house where people could see it
37:01
coming and going and Then I passed out
37:07
a sheet of paper to each family member
37:09
and there was not a lot of prayers
37:11
It was the prayers were very brief but
37:14
they were prayers to Jesus and praying for
37:21
the Sacred Heart to look over this family
37:24
and We would do that finish that I
37:30
Would leave the statue of Mary at the
37:32
house for a week and ask the youngest
37:35
child In the family if they would remind
37:39
the family to say the rosary Every night
37:42
right after dinner And they love those little
37:45
kids.
37:46
They love being in charge of that.
37:47
They just they just took right over I
37:50
never had one of them refused.
37:52
You probably learned that from your mom.
37:54
That's right a trick That's right.
37:56
And then they'd fight each other to be
37:57
the one to do it if there were
37:58
two or three kids But anyway, so they
38:01
said the rosary for a week We left
38:04
the photo of Sacred Heart at the home
38:06
I would come back every Saturday and pick
38:09
up the Statue of Mary and and then
38:11
we go on to the next home and
38:13
Do those prayers all over again?
38:16
You have any idea about how many of
38:18
those homes?
38:19
Total we probably did close to 300 over
38:22
a two-year period of time and then
38:26
I got to the point where I that
38:29
statue was pretty big and friend of mine
38:32
built a Plywood box to put with the
38:36
statue in so I could Carry it with
38:38
a handle on the top and I just
38:40
got to the point where I couldn't move
38:42
it anymore So that just kind of went
38:45
by the wayside Anybody pick that up or
38:48
I'll tell you what you got to be
38:50
dedicated to do something like that that That
38:54
is a true blessing to have the interest
38:59
to continue to do something that deep Going
39:06
into people's homes and a lot of these
39:08
people.
39:09
I Mean, I remember going into one home.
39:12
I have a son that's got an ostomy
39:17
Austin you may or may not know this
39:19
and he has an ostomy on his left
39:21
side Which was done by surgery when he
39:26
was seven years old so He has a
39:30
big hole in his side so he has
39:32
a bag here and We went through that
39:37
process with him, but when I was doing
39:39
the home Consecrations we'd go into houses.
39:42
We're going to we're going to a house
39:44
and West Wichita one time we went into
39:48
this house and this lady Says come on
39:51
in here to the dining room And on
39:54
on the dining room table she had it
39:56
pushed over to the window and her son
39:59
was laying on a dining room table and
40:03
He he was he didn't have anything on
40:06
from the waist up and he had a
40:08
big hole right here I Never saw anything
40:11
like that before in my life And and
40:15
I didn't I didn't even ask her about
40:17
it.
40:17
She said we need to say the prayers
40:19
over him And We did That and I
40:27
never knew what that was until I saw
40:29
Austin's ostomy.
40:31
He's got a big hole right here and
40:36
So and then there was another home that
40:38
we went into down in the In the
40:41
bad part of town if you want to
40:42
call it that Grove and 13th or wherever
40:47
this guy This guy had a chain-link
40:50
fence up all the way around his house
40:52
Because there were shootings in it and this
40:54
was back in this The 80s or 90s
40:58
there were a lot of shootings in town
41:00
back then and drive-bys and So he
41:05
comes out and opens up the gate so
41:06
I could pull my car in his driveway
41:09
and we get out take the statue in
41:11
and He said and it wasn't a very
41:13
big house And we come in and I
41:20
Said where do you want me to put
41:21
statue?
41:21
He says come in here So we go
41:24
around this corner and he opens this door
41:27
And it's like a big closet Only it's
41:32
it's a safe room the family goes in
41:36
there for drive-bys and and they have
41:41
a small altar Up against the wall with
41:47
a crucifix with with Christ hanging on the
41:51
crucifix not just a wood crucifix, but the
41:54
real thing And a couple of kneelers in
41:58
there and a couple chairs And I didn't
42:02
ask any questions he said now we're gonna
42:04
we're gonna do the prayers in here and
42:06
And And I said and I really he
42:11
could see that I was miffed by the
42:13
room And he just simply said to me.
42:16
This is this is our safe room if
42:19
We have a lot of trouble in the
42:20
neighborhood.
42:21
We come in here and lock the door
42:23
and so We saw those kinds of things
42:29
and it was those kinds of people that
42:33
wanted the consecrations done It wasn't the average
42:38
person that has no problems They don't do
42:41
it.
42:41
They don't ask not that they don't care
42:44
But they they they're just not there their
42:47
level of thinking Is not up Where you
42:53
can get to when you when you're dealing
42:55
with serious issues in your life, there's something
42:57
about suffering for sure I Love that I
43:04
love that because it's it's going out It's
43:07
going out and bringing the faith to people.
43:10
It's suffering provides fertile ground You had mentioned
43:14
that Mr. Lovasco would send you newspaper articles
43:19
of storms and things that would Destroy neighborhoods,
43:25
but consecrated homes would be standing Tell us
43:29
a little bit about some of those stories
43:32
well You know There were a lot of
43:37
things come out of the home Consecrations, but
43:40
the the one the one thing that was
43:43
more significant for me than any of the
43:45
others because it happened several more than several
43:50
times over the couple years we were doing
43:52
it and that is as in these Parishes
43:57
where the home consecrations were going on if
44:01
they had a tornado or a huge storm.
44:03
I mean It's unbelievable until he'd show me
44:08
a newspaper With it with a picture of
44:12
this house standing not touched by the storm
44:15
and everything around is is cinder and it
44:20
was a home that had been consecrated and
44:24
And That's one of the most significant things
44:28
that that I remember that and You know
44:34
when he was sending me that stuff man.
44:36
I just I was just getting my stuff
44:39
out all over my house You know, I
44:41
just wanted to there's the tornadoes.
44:44
We were having tornadoes back then.
44:45
We don't have them now We used to
44:47
have tornadoes in Wichita.
44:49
I don't know whether you guys remember that
44:50
or not There used to be tornado warnings
44:53
around here all the time and So I
44:59
was I was into those I was into
45:01
those home consecrations when I Really realized that
45:06
so dad.
45:06
Let me ask you this.
45:07
So you're you've got a young family.
45:10
You're in life insurance business you're You're traveling
45:16
you're going to mass one day and mr
45:19
Mrs. Lovasco pull up and you go to
45:21
mass and then he invites you to breakfast.
45:23
So your breakfast How does a conversation about
45:26
these home?
45:27
consecrations go from Serendipitous breakfast Why did you
45:35
entertain that?
45:37
What was it about that?
45:38
conversation that led you down the path to
45:41
take action because I think a lot of
45:42
us have these opportunities in our lives and
45:46
We're so distracted by what's in front of
45:49
us that we don't act what what made
45:52
you act that's easy I did my part
45:58
then John took right over I Joined Excuse
46:03
me.
46:04
Joanne and I were in the middle of
46:05
dealing with Lauren she's dying and we're at
46:10
a convention which I Many of my friends
46:15
told me that I needed to go because
46:17
of my wife and I wasn't gonna go
46:20
There's a lot of times.
46:21
I didn't want to leave town because I
46:22
don't like traveling.
46:23
I had to have people beat me into
46:27
Getting on a plane and going but I
46:29
went this time And we're sitting there having
46:33
breakfast and it was a natural thing to
46:35
do is talk about Lauren dying we have
46:37
a daughter at home that's dying and and
46:41
John stepped right in and started talking about
46:44
the home consecrations and man, I was just
46:48
I Was on it Immediately.
46:52
I was one.
46:53
So you knew I was wanting to do
46:56
whatever I could do to save that girl's
46:58
life And that's that's that's it.
47:02
That's the easy.
47:03
That's an easy story.
47:06
So then you You did that for your
47:08
daughter, but then to continue on and try
47:11
to touch other people's lives with it again
47:13
that takes like you said That takes a
47:16
lot of effort if you're gonna want to
47:18
do that.
47:18
It's it's a lot Well, that was my
47:20
commitment to the Lord because those were my
47:22
prayers, too I mean, I wasn't just putting
47:25
those things out in people's hands to read
47:28
I was reading them as seriously as they
47:30
were reading them.
47:31
I mean that was that was on me
47:33
just like it was on them And it
47:35
it just worked It was so good those
47:41
years were just Great.
47:44
They were they were great years.
47:47
I felt like we were really doing something
47:49
really worthwhile And it all worked out It
47:55
all worked out.
47:56
Yeah, that's that is one thing I noticed
47:58
about The things we do it's like devotion
48:02
makes you more tender to that so you
48:05
did it's devotion to the sacred heart and
48:07
then Being a part of that you just
48:10
get more fruit it's like you're a channel
48:12
the more grace that you're passing through to
48:14
others the more you're receiving and so it's
48:16
just it's a So nourishing to do stuff
48:20
like that.
48:21
We want to talk about dad's relationship with
48:23
Father Vincent in the church in Uganda And
48:25
yeah One thing I wanted to ask before
48:29
that you mentioned going to daily mass when
48:31
you're on the trips And I know you're
48:32
a daily mass goer.
48:34
When did that start for you?
48:36
When he was in first grade Because Austin
48:40
goes to daily mass right as well.
48:42
I've been going to mass he's How old
48:46
are you 57 58?
48:48
58 so he went to start going to
48:50
school when he was 7 so I've been
48:53
going to daily mass for 50 years 50
48:56
years Always strikes me anytime.
48:59
I hear somebody's going to daily mass.
49:02
You'll hear it here and there You know,
49:04
I remember just watching basketball.
49:05
I talked about how John Calipari would go
49:07
to daily mass And I'm just always that
49:10
always sticks with me is like a goal
49:13
someday I'm gonna go to daily mass and
49:15
someday needs to be today or tomorrow, but
49:19
that's uh Well when I was younger Like
49:25
40 years ago, I Guess that's not really
49:30
young for some people but for me that's
49:32
pretty young When I was younger people would
49:36
ask me Friends of mine would ask me
49:39
You know, it's mainly women that go to
49:42
daily mass.
49:42
I don't know whether you guys Know that
49:45
or not and it's mostly widows That are
49:48
in daily mass now.
49:49
There's more men in daily mass today than
49:52
I have ever seen and There's probably good
49:57
reasons for that but people My friends used
50:02
to say Bob what?
50:03
Why do you go to daily mass because
50:05
they knew I was a young man.
50:07
I had all these kids I had a
50:09
job to do I needed to be in
50:11
work and but I was taking time out
50:13
to do this and There were two reasons
50:19
I went to daily mass The first one
50:22
was for my own mental sanity I Had
50:26
to have something in my life every day
50:29
that was The truth and not being influenced
50:35
by anything going on around me in the
50:37
world in my office With my friends with
50:41
my kids, but something that was a foundational
50:44
Same every day I could count on it.
50:47
That's what it is.
50:48
That's what I believe in.
50:49
That's what I'm gonna do That was the
50:51
first reason I was going to mass the
50:54
second reason I was going to mass is
50:58
because I Knew what I went through growing
51:02
up.
51:03
I wasn't here your best kid on the
51:05
block growing up.
51:07
I had my own issues when I was
51:09
growing up and I wanted my kids to
51:13
see me in daily mass every day and
51:18
Have that in their mind For the rest
51:21
of their life and Those are the those
51:26
are the two main reasons.
51:27
I did it for my kids and I
51:30
did it for me and that's That's what
51:36
I did Yeah, I'm taking baby steps I've
51:41
started going to Wednesday mass every morning on
51:45
Wednesdays and And it just feels so good
51:49
like you walk out of there And I'm
51:52
one of those I just feel the Holy
51:53
Spirit The Eucharist is in me.
51:56
I'm just got a bounce my step.
51:57
I feel clear-minded.
51:59
I just ready to go and And I've
52:01
just I've been having the thought is I
52:03
need to do this every day Because it
52:05
just irons the wrinkles in your day at
52:07
least to start they're gonna come back there's
52:09
always gonna be trials in the day, but
52:12
it starts you from a place of Clear
52:14
-minded and and your thirst has been quenched
52:18
Yeah Yeah, so though so on the timeline
52:23
here You said that you met with one
52:28
that you had breakfast with the priest so
52:30
kind of a How you had breakfast with
52:32
the men of sacred heart now?
52:34
You've encountered a priest a blessed sacrament who
52:37
I assume was there to spread his mission
52:39
Probably to ask for support and you asked
52:42
him to breakfast and this led you into
52:44
your support of the Ugandan Catholic Church in
52:48
a community This is kind of an interesting
52:51
priest father Vincent Kajoba He would go around
52:57
first of all sees parish st.
53:02
Elizabeth and Seton out west That's the original
53:05
parish and you'll see that in the book
53:08
He started going out there in 20-30
53:13
years ago For his vacation.
53:16
He comes to Wichita every every year for
53:18
a week or two But you ever say
53:20
why he picked Wichita or what's his leadership
53:25
picked that for him?
53:26
It's it's it's in the book.
53:28
You got a copy of it read the
53:30
very first part of the book and It'll
53:34
tell you because it's more than just a
53:37
couple words but He He's an unusual priest
53:46
I've never heard him ask anybody for money
53:50
You mentioned he was there for donations.
53:53
But what he would do when he'd come
53:55
to town is He he always came in
53:59
in August two weeks in August every year
54:02
still does the political Environment in Uganda right
54:07
now has him.
54:08
They weren't gonna let him come over, but
54:10
he's gonna come over in September this year,
54:12
but his deal was He would fill in
54:17
for any parish whose priest was needing their
54:20
vacation while he was here So he never
54:25
asked for money.
54:25
But when he came here he was on
54:28
schedule They would book him up for masses
54:32
Around the diocese and that would be his
54:36
gift to the diocese Knowing that people were
54:41
going to find out about him because he
54:43
was saying these masses and that and that's
54:46
how and that's how it worked so when
54:50
I saw him at mass I invited him
54:53
for breakfast afterwards and He started telling me
54:59
his story About his people and where he
55:04
where he lived and how he lived and
55:08
a Little broken down cassette recorder.
55:11
I don't know.
55:12
It was a video thing.
55:13
I don't know how it even ran but
55:15
he was showing me pictures of his kids
55:19
in his parish and sitting on the ground
55:22
and eating and just miserable stuff And I
55:29
immediately got overwhelmed by him Because
55:38
as Catholics We never are asked to be
55:45
personally and Maybe things happen now, but through
55:49
my life as Catholics Nobody ever wanted me
55:53
to personally get involved in anything in particular.
55:55
They just wanted me to write a check.
55:58
I Was always being asked for money and
56:02
there's always a project to raise money in
56:04
every parish all the time and Yes, there
56:09
are people in every parish that have their
56:12
little Venue missions.
56:15
There's a mission.
56:16
There's a dozen missions or more in every
56:18
parish For people that do things for other
56:23
people.
56:24
I can't think of them at the moment,
56:27
but you know what I'm talking about So
56:30
but this was my first time that I
56:33
ever felt like maybe I could have something
56:36
to do with having an impact on this
56:40
on this priest Having an impact on his
56:43
life in his environment.
56:45
I Didn't know what that was.
56:46
I didn't know how it was, but I
56:48
just I could see it.
56:50
I could feel the ability for me to
56:53
make a difference and That was the beginning
56:58
of me putting things together to make things
57:01
happen in in Uganda So and it's it's
57:07
all there in the book It's and it's
57:10
an easy book.
57:11
I tell my I Tell all my my
57:14
teammates Who I wrote another book about athletics
57:18
and and I tell my teammates the reason
57:21
you see I?
57:23
Put a lot of pictures in there for
57:24
you guys It's an easy read it's not
57:27
a long book to read and you got
57:29
a lot of pictures And I know how
57:31
much you guys like pictures.
57:33
Well, there's a lot of pictures in that
57:35
book, too And that the pictures give the
57:39
book life Because you can actually See the
57:43
progress of every project that's going on that
57:46
we did and it's only a hundred pages
57:49
So if somebody was interested in in this
57:52
story dad, where would they find this book?
57:55
Just go on just go to Amazon yeah,
58:00
go to Amazon books and just just type
58:04
in the journey of Father Vincent or type
58:07
in Bob Powers or type in anything Anything
58:13
connected to the book But father Amazon's pretty
58:20
easy to get to any book you want
58:22
and it'll it'll come right up Father Vincent
58:26
could Joe with the journey of Father Vincent
58:29
So just briefly, could you just give a
58:31
thumbnail because sometimes I think as Catholics Our
58:35
faith seems pretty easy.
58:37
We don't have to face much danger To
58:41
practice our faith.
58:42
We don't have to go through much trial
58:44
to get to where we're going and sometimes
58:49
I think it's good for us to Know
58:53
and remember that there are people all across
58:55
the world that Really have to give up
58:57
something and put their selves in danger And
58:59
what was it what's it like for Father
59:01
Vincent's parishioners to try to attend mass and
59:04
go to school?
59:06
I'll give you a Like story here you
59:15
guys Yeah, I don't know how familiar you
59:20
guys are with the South back in the
59:23
Back in the early 1900s but it was
59:30
brutal and So The people
59:40
in the South the black people in the
59:42
South have been living with that forever They
59:47
know what it is.
59:48
They know how to live.
59:49
They know how to live with it They
59:51
know what's going to come up if they
59:53
have a problem.
59:54
They know they they they just know and
59:59
And Do you guys ever remember the name
1:00:02
in your history books of the carpetbaggers?
1:00:05
This is remember that other businessmen that went
1:00:08
down south to make money They were the
1:00:11
people that went down south To tell the
1:00:15
black people how bad they had it You
1:00:18
don't need to be sitting in the back
1:00:19
of that bus You know, you don't need
1:00:22
to have two water fountains one for you
1:00:25
and one for the whites And That's what
1:00:29
the carpetbaggers did they went in and they
1:00:33
disturbed the South so bad that If they'd
1:00:39
have just left the black people alone Everything
1:00:43
would have been a lot better but they
1:00:45
got the thing stirred up and now it
1:00:50
just Now the black people are getting a
1:00:54
lot of the stuff that they should have
1:00:56
had a long time ago but in Uganda
1:01:03
those people Wages are $50 a day and
1:01:09
they don't have jobs.
1:01:10
Most of them don't have jobs.
1:01:11
They're all living in little shacks and They
1:01:16
have little patches of vegetables behind their shack
1:01:21
and they raise as many vegetables as they
1:01:24
can and They live they eat off of
1:01:29
that and then they trade they trade with
1:01:33
their neighbors Sometimes they'll take if they have
1:01:38
a big enough patch they'll take enough vegetables
1:01:41
into the town area, which is which is
1:01:44
like a big garage sale area and And
1:01:47
they'll put up their their wares on a
1:01:49
little table and they'll trade there and maybe
1:01:52
get money maybe not probably not money, but
1:01:54
they get they get things they can use
1:01:56
for what they have to trade with and
1:01:59
so How does father?
1:02:04
Deal with that Well, these people are used
1:02:08
to it They they know how to live
1:02:12
under the circumstances that they have They're not
1:02:17
a complaining people There are people that figure
1:02:20
out what they have to do if something
1:02:24
happens to them right now and Now the
1:02:29
political system over there is just trying to
1:02:33
they have a new president and It's it's
1:02:37
just getting a lot worse and it's getting
1:02:39
worse on the on the Catholics over there
1:02:42
also So The father doesn't have any Problems
1:02:49
with the people and the poverty because they're
1:02:53
all dealing with it they they know how
1:02:54
to deal with it and so this church
1:02:59
that this church that we build over there
1:03:01
is the middle of a poverty ridden area
1:03:04
I Mean it has become St. Gizito Catholic
1:03:09
Church is a is now the destination Church
1:03:15
for the Catholics in the world.
1:03:18
It's a destination church because of What it
1:03:22
is and where it's located and how it
1:03:25
came about so That is really helping those
1:03:32
people in that area because it's bringing a
1:03:35
lot of money into the They can't stay
1:03:40
in that area, but they stay 20 or
1:03:43
30 miles away In a small town that
1:03:46
might have some rental that you can live
1:03:49
in so And some of the project you
1:03:54
said was some dormitories as well just to
1:03:56
kind of protect so people didn't have to
1:03:58
move back and forth Yeah, father's got a
1:04:02
school over there and The They call them
1:04:09
marauders They would be like the people that
1:04:15
we have here that are causing problems, what
1:04:17
are they one of these illegals called alien
1:04:21
and The illegal people in this country.
1:04:25
They're causing problems.
1:04:26
They're shooting people and doing all kinds of
1:04:29
bad things Well, they have those kind of
1:04:31
people over there that live out in the
1:04:33
bush country that they're trying to live off
1:04:36
Those families by stealing their kids and selling
1:04:39
them Stealing their stealing their crops and selling
1:04:43
those so Some of those kids have to
1:04:47
walk to school 10-15 miles every day
1:04:50
So father has built Now he has well
1:04:56
It was a shack before as a dormitory,
1:04:59
but now he's got a decent dormitory where
1:05:01
these kids can Live and don't have to
1:05:03
walk back and forth to school so that
1:05:07
keeps them from getting Stole stolen What about
1:05:14
the well, why was the water important?
1:05:17
well, you Uganda's notorious for not having of
1:05:23
Available above-ground water.
1:05:25
There's plenty of water below ground in Uganda
1:05:29
and but you got to go you got
1:05:31
to dig deep for it and They didn't
1:05:35
have any they didn't have any water on
1:05:38
the St. Gisito campus or the kind Kwanzaa
1:05:41
campus where we were at the beginning They
1:05:45
they put up these big tanks and The
1:05:51
water Goes into those tanks the rainwater They
1:05:59
have rainwater coming off the roofs and down
1:06:04
into these huge Buckets And they store water
1:06:10
in those and then that's where the water
1:06:13
comes from from the rain And then if
1:06:16
there is a pond somewhere they all ride
1:06:19
their bicycles and they have these plastic things
1:06:23
jugs They fill those with water but hell
1:06:27
that water The water cloudy.
1:06:31
I don't even know how they drink it
1:06:33
but We Put in a few water wells,
1:06:37
my brother digs water wells over there.
1:06:39
Also, he's been doing it for 30 years
1:06:43
and that's how I got in on to
1:06:46
it was because he was doing it in
1:06:49
a different part of Uganda and So I
1:06:53
got I figured out how to put some
1:06:56
things together where we were and It's all
1:07:00
working I mean And the bookles the book
1:07:04
shows that they should they show them digging
1:07:06
the water wells and Those little kids standing
1:07:10
around watching them.
1:07:13
Those kids are so neat I assume you've
1:07:16
made trips over there as part of the
1:07:18
program.
1:07:19
I'd love to but I've been a cripple
1:07:22
for a long time I just haven't been
1:07:26
able to travel all this good work has
1:07:28
been done from afar from from afar From
1:07:32
afar.
1:07:33
So what about the faith component of it?
1:07:35
That's what I'm curious about too I'm sure
1:07:38
there's been a lot of prayer for these
1:07:41
projects to work out for the benefit of
1:07:43
the people I'm sure they're probably praying for
1:07:46
you and and vice versa.
1:07:48
Yeah, there's there's a lot of prayers going
1:07:50
on, but I guess I Guess I would
1:07:55
think of it in terms of the What
1:07:57
do they call that food pantry downtown the
1:08:00
Lord's Diner Well, I look at it compare
1:08:03
it maybe a little bit to the Lord's
1:08:05
Diner and what the church is doing with
1:08:06
the Lord's Diner That doesn't have as much
1:08:09
to do with prayers as it does to
1:08:12
meeting the physical needs of the individual and
1:08:17
I guess that's how I Concentrated on everything
1:08:19
that I'm doing over there is meeting the
1:08:21
physical needs of those individuals and By doing
1:08:27
that you get to the blessing of the
1:08:30
heart and and that's what brings people to
1:08:35
faith is When you're putting when you're making
1:08:40
them feel Like they're of value By doing
1:08:47
whatever it is that that you're doing That's
1:08:51
how I would view I wouldn't view as
1:08:53
much as what I'm doing and I know
1:08:54
the Holy Spirit's been guiding me the whole
1:08:56
way that I don't take any credit for
1:08:59
any of it, but I Know we're dealing
1:09:02
with the physical needs All the way around
1:09:06
and not the religious needs Father is able
1:09:09
to manage Fantastic religious needs with the facilities
1:09:16
that he's got to work with now Corporal
1:09:20
works of mercy.
1:09:24
Yeah, and he's got 26,000 people in
1:09:26
his parish Four priests for 26,000 people
1:09:31
They they have four outstation churches that that
1:09:37
travel around Madudu, Uganda it's it's a 40
1:09:44
miles out circle all the way around and
1:09:48
they have 40 churches That these and these
1:09:55
priests get her they all have motorcycles That's
1:09:59
in the book I call them the four
1:10:00
horsemen for priests and They use motorcycles and
1:10:08
they travel out and they're out there in
1:10:12
Confessions sometimes 24 hours a day these guys
1:10:16
These guys have lives you would not believe
1:10:20
It's just It's just a great thing to
1:10:23
I feel I feel Really Not like I've
1:10:32
done something, but I feel like I've been
1:10:37
really blessed to understand The reality of another
1:10:41
part of the world what is really going
1:10:44
on?
1:10:45
somewhere else Rather than what we're hearing here
1:10:49
every day and all the garbage that's going
1:10:51
on.
1:10:51
I mean these people live very hard lives
1:10:56
And you turn our media on and you'd
1:10:58
think we were living in hell and they
1:11:00
go to great lengths to practice their faith.
1:11:02
Yes They're very very faithful Very faithful they
1:11:09
have nothing they travel long distances just to
1:11:11
go to mass right on by walking, right?
1:11:15
Right at the risk of their lives Right
1:11:19
to receive the Eucharist, right?
1:11:23
Exactly.
1:11:28
Well, it sounds like a life well-lived
1:11:32
Guided by the Holy Spirit and following your
1:11:35
faith always, you know that if people were
1:11:38
to purchase that books Do the proceeds go
1:11:42
to?
1:11:43
Yes, father Vincent.
1:11:45
Yes Like to encourage anybody that's watching this
1:11:49
to check this book out and order it
1:11:52
off of Amazon You have any?
1:11:55
any other questions How much wood could a
1:11:59
woodchuck chuck woodchuck could chuck wood You stay
1:12:03
asked me that if a woodchuck could chuck
1:12:06
wood a woodchuck would chuck wood So the
1:12:09
podcast is meant for men And hopefully that
1:12:14
are searching I think there's a lot of
1:12:16
men who want to you know, we got
1:12:17
to do something I heard you say that
1:12:19
at one point.
1:12:19
We have to do something when your daughter
1:12:21
was sick.
1:12:21
What can we do?
1:12:22
We'll do anything.
1:12:23
I think there are I Know I'm one
1:12:27
of those men who's always like what can
1:12:28
I do?
1:12:29
I need to be doing something for Christ
1:12:32
Something more than just going to and from
1:12:35
church.
1:12:36
I want to do more.
1:12:37
So did you have any?
1:12:40
Final pieces of wisdom along those lines kind
1:12:44
of that's guided your life Well, I listened
1:12:49
to a two and a half hour podcast
1:12:51
yesterday Sorry, I can't remember the name Austin
1:12:56
sent it to me on an exorcist who
1:13:00
was being an exorcist priest who was about
1:13:03
60 years old being interviewed by a A
1:13:10
Special it's father Rippeter.
1:13:12
It just came out.
1:13:13
Yeah, and You do, you know, let's golly.
1:13:18
What's the name of his podcast Sean Ryan's?
1:13:21
Uh-huh Well, it's pretty special, wasn't it?
1:13:25
Yeah, so To your question about what could
1:13:30
we do?
1:13:30
Well, one of the things that I've never
1:13:34
given any thought to is over the years
1:13:36
and I just heard this And I'm sitting
1:13:39
there.
1:13:39
This guy's saying this priest is saying this
1:13:42
and I'm thinking Man, I I hope a
1:13:45
lot of my prayers haven't gone to waste
1:13:48
but he said he made it very clear
1:13:50
that when we pray we absolutely have to
1:13:53
have a specific thing that we're praying for
1:13:57
And he made that just said that a
1:14:00
number of times in in this part of
1:14:05
his presentation But I could you know, like
1:14:10
when you go to when I go to
1:14:11
daily mass a lot of times I'll Pray
1:14:15
for one of my grandkids that's having serious
1:14:17
issues but sometimes I just like Joanne Joanne
1:14:23
doesn't like me going out in his heat
1:14:24
because I've been having breathing problems And I
1:14:28
told her she said don't go out today.
1:14:30
This was yesterday and I said, okay, I
1:14:32
won't So then she goes to the store
1:14:34
and I leave go to mass And she
1:14:37
comes home and I'm not there.
1:14:38
She calls me.
1:14:39
She said where are you at?
1:14:40
I said, I'm on my way to mass
1:14:42
She said I thought you weren't going.
1:14:45
I Said yeah, I said I wasn't going
1:14:48
she says well, what are you doing?
1:14:51
and the only words that can come out
1:14:53
of my math mouth was Joanne I just
1:14:56
want to go to mass.
1:14:57
I just want to go period and so
1:15:03
I did and So many times I'm in
1:15:07
there because I want to be in there
1:15:10
Sometimes I don't even think to pray for
1:15:11
something in particular and this guy this priest
1:15:15
is saying You're missing the boat if you
1:15:19
do not pray for something every time you
1:15:22
pray You and he said if you do
1:15:26
you will notice a difference in Whatever the
1:15:31
focus you have on so you asked me
1:15:35
about what would I recommend From a from
1:15:41
my standpoint, I would just repeat what he
1:15:44
said whenever we're in prayer have a focus
1:15:50
for that prayer Whether it's a family member
1:15:54
whether it's a health issue.
1:15:56
What whatever it is and I Can remember
1:16:03
early on when I didn't you I used
1:16:06
to pay pray for physical things Like I
1:16:10
need a better car.
1:16:11
I knew we need a bigger house Those
1:16:14
were the things that I was praying for
1:16:16
Probably in the first 10 years 20 years
1:16:20
30 years of my life And finally I
1:16:23
got off of praying for all the stuff
1:16:25
And I started praying for all the help
1:16:30
with my family and with with our the
1:16:36
the health and the physical needs that we
1:16:39
have to live good lives and the biggest
1:16:42
thing I pray for a Dozen times a
1:16:46
day that the Lord keeps the devil away
1:16:51
from all of our families I pray for
1:16:55
that every every day many times just I've
1:16:59
got a war I've got a Crucifix with
1:17:04
a Holy water font at the bottom of
1:17:08
it at the end of our hallway At
1:17:10
the end of the hallway the bathroom is
1:17:13
on the right of that crucifix and both
1:17:15
our bedrooms are on either side of that
1:17:16
Crucifix so needless to say between that bathroom
1:17:19
in my bedroom I'm going past that crucifix
1:17:22
two dozen times a day and every time
1:17:25
I hit it Father son only spirit.
1:17:29
Amen Please your God protect my family's from
1:17:32
the war So it's getting a lot of
1:17:36
attention Excellent, that's excellent advice.
1:17:41
I love the power of prayer.
1:17:42
It's beautiful Intentionality but I also think to
1:17:48
All the graces and merits earned through just
1:17:51
all of this work That you've put in
1:17:54
to spread the faith to touch others lives
1:17:56
to go in their homes to go to
1:17:58
their countries.
1:18:00
That's Yeah, and I want to thank you
1:18:02
for being such a good example We have
1:18:05
our problems, I think all kids have problems
1:18:08
with their parents but I've always said you
1:18:10
and mom did the big things, right and
1:18:13
Everything that my family has in our lives
1:18:16
is directly responsible for the example that you
1:18:19
led Well, I only know one thing It's
1:18:24
a journey We're all on it.
1:18:28
I don't care who you are what religion
1:18:30
you are what color you are We every
1:18:33
single one of us are on the same
1:18:35
journey and we're all at different stages of
1:18:39
that journey But we're still on the journey
1:18:43
and That's what makes life so great is
1:18:49
that we just Keep moving and trying to
1:18:53
overcome Whatever it is that we've got to
1:18:56
deal with The next day and the next
1:18:59
day and the next day through prayer And
1:19:03
you know, what's fun?
1:19:05
winning Winning is fun.
1:19:09
Isn't it dad?