Latest / The Catholic Couple / What’s Drawing People to Catholicism? | Father Leo Patalinghug

Transcript

What’s Drawing People to Catholicism? | Father Leo Patalinghug · The Catholic Couple

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: I can't hear knowing no one.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't know what to expect.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: This pillar has changed my life.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: I witnessed friendships become something that felt like family.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: I witnessed honest questions leading to life-changing conversations.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: I witnessed people encounter the beauty of the Catholic Church with fresh eyes.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: I witness hearts soften, walls come down, and hope begin to grow.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: I witness laughter filled the moments between every prayer, every meal, and every shared story.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: I witnessed a community form, not because everyone had the same answers, but because everyone was willing to walk the journey together.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: And somehow, after only a few days, it felt like we knew each other our whole lives.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe that's what must be.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_04: It changes more than your location.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_04: It changes your heart if you have been searching for something deep.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: If you have ever wondered if there's more to life than what the world keeps happening.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: If you have been curious about the Catholic Church, this is your invitation.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_04: Join Father Leo and the Plating Grace team at the Feed My Faith Pilgrimage, November 4th through the 7th, 2026.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_05: Katie is still at work, but I have a great guest today, Father Leo.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_05: You guys probably know him from the cooking priest at EWTN.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_05: He's got his page, Plating Grace.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_05: He's also on YouTube.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_05: He's all over social media.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_05: Father, thank you so much for taking the time.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's nice to talk with you.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now we can talk about your wife since she's not here.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_05: Right?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_05: That's usually always happens that way.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_05: But she's a Catholic school principal, so it's like it's it's it's hard for us to get together.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_05: And when we do, it's a blessing.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_05: If not, the show must go on as they say.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_05: But I was super excited about your project because I've been following you along on social media.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_05: What started this Feed My Faith pilgrimage?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_05: You got one uh upcoming here in November in Baltimore and in DC, but this isn't the first one.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_05: You did one before.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_05: I was following from a distance on social media.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_05: What was calling you to want to get uh involved with people who are Catholic curious?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: The canonization of Carlo Acutis, I think, had a lot to do with it because since that canonization, there were so many people online talking about their curiosities regarding Catholicism.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I have been leading pilgrimages for most of my priesthood and even beyond that, so almost 30 years of leading pilgrimages, and I know if they can change the lives of Catholics who have been Catholic all their life, which is why I encourage people to go on a pilgrimage.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: If that can change the life of a Catholic, what's it gonna do for someone who's not Catholic?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And to be honest with you, seeing a lot of people online talking about Catholicism, please forgive me if I sound arrogant, but sometimes I just roll my eyes because I think, oh my gosh, these people have no idea what they're talking about.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Even Catholics with very large platforms sometimes say things in an educated way, but not in a pastoral way.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we need to know that that is part of the pillars of the formation for a good Christian, for a good Catholic.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: They need to have some pastoral outreach.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, watching all of these people asking questions and seeing the debates and some of the rancor going back and forth, and even looking at some of their comments, I was a little ashamed to see how while people wanted to welcome them into the Catholic Church, they were trying to get them into a camp of a Catholic Church.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I just am one of these priests to say, you know what, if we're Catholic, we're Catholic, even if you have different opinions.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give them an authentic experience of Catholicism in America through a pilgrimage, and there's no better place to do that than in the most historical parts of Catholicism in the United States, which just happens to be where I live, the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So my team and I scraped money, put it all together, because I mean we paid for 12 non-Catholic content creators and sponsored a four-day pilgrimage to Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Airfare, hotel, food, everything.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And they had their minds blown, to be honest with you.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they didn't realize the richness.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: While they were curious about Catholicism, their jaws dropped and they stopped asking questions and just started receiving the gifts that God wanted to give to them through incarnational experiences and not just a bunch of video clips online.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_05: And and I think that's what what you're you're getting at is that I think coming out of COVID, like people were really yearning for that incarnational, whether that is community, something bigger, something to connect us.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's what really sparked a lot of this Catholic curiosity.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_05: But I I wholeheartedly agree with you about the the camps, and that's part of um I actually got a book coming out in February from Ivy Maria Press.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_05: It's called Guardians and Prophets.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_05: It's all about that, about trying to put us in boxes that we're a both and and trying to navigate that in an either-or world, and especially online.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_05: It's real easy to do, you know, content to get clicks.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_05: But my approach is, you know, the word Catholic itself means according to the whole, that there's you know different roles that everybody plays within the church.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_05: We have what I call guardians and prophets, like people who have different, you know, charisms that they they they try to do.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_05: And so that's it's you know, it it's it's my passion to try to bring people into the faith.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_05: But I love what what you said in one of your homilies talking about this was that when people leave, they should leave in peace.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_05: And it's so much that uh most of the space online is arguing and comment box, you know, things.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_05: And as Catholics, if we want to be different, we want to attract other people, we have to be different.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_05: We have to be like Christ.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_05: And people should leave us with the truth, obviously.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_05: We're not gonna compromise the truth, but in a with a sense of peace.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_05: Can you explain a little bit about that and how that helped impact how you approach these pilgrimages in general?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: My objective is not to convert people.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: If that was the case, then I would be no different than from a proselytizer uh who just wants to force people to believe what I believe, which is interesting because while I've been a priest over 25 years, I still am confirming and clarifying what I believe.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm still learning about my faith.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: I know what the faith teaches, but how do I interpret it and understand it?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's another story, and that's not going to finish until the day I die.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because if I think that I know the fullness of the truth, which is kind of what the word Catholic means, the that absolute fullness of truth, then I make myself into a God.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I've seen enough of that in the Catholic space, Catholic social media.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so at every mass, we end by saying, Mass is ended, go in peace.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: And people say, Thanks be to God.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And and why is this key?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because if there is a lack of peace, then there really has been a lack of the experience of Christ.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Even if challenging us in our sinfulness, in our erring ways, in our kind of confusion, if God is not with us, then we're going to be left with that confusion and that frustration, that turmoil.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: But if God is with us, we have this glimmer of hope that gives us peace, that all will be well, not in a relativistic sense, but that I know I'm still just on a journey, I'm still making one step closer progress to God.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the only reason why I want to take another step forward is because I experience the peace in this step.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that if we are to take evangelization seriously, and that's all this is, this is just simply an evangelization effort on the part of the Catholic Church, which no one else in the church is doing.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about, oh, look at this phenomenon of young people coming back to the church, but we're not actually doing anything about it and putting our money where our mouth is and actually spending quality time with them, you know, like even just for example in OCIA programs, as much as I love them, the accompaniment isn't always necessarily there.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: They'll show up for an hour or two each week, and that's it.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that's fine, but there needs to be an incarnational approach so that they know that they are part of a community, which is what our Protestant brothers and sisters do very well.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I wanted to do was help create this community for them, and in that community, they find peace.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_05: What have been some of your experiences from the this last pilgrimage?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_05: I know I follow some of the creators and I've seen some of their testimonies, but what was your first hand experience as as you were walking with them?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_05: I know you can't, you know, it's not one-on-one, but only 12 people, and it's just you, and you have four days, so I'm sure you had a lot of time to accompany them one-on-one and to to you know hear their concerns and just watch their reactions.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_05: What's some of the things that really struck you or or stood out uh from your last trip?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: How they're all at different levels of their faith.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Some are more convinced of Catholicism, some are truly very much questioning.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can't treat them as a group but individually.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I had no objective other than to just share the good news of Catholicism and to do it hopefully in a way that makes the Catholic faith attractive.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I I as much as I I wanted to, you know, bring them along to something, all I had to do was just simply open the door and invite them.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: They came and in their conversations, they had some questions, but what's really interesting is that they started to experience faith not just as a divine thing, but also as a human thing, a very human expression.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: For example, just the way we venerate saints, when we bring it down to a human level.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's no different from how we honor the tombs of the unknown soldier, how we'll reflect on the side of a highway if we see someone who has died and there's a cross that marks their spot, how we'll hold on to an heirloom of a of a of a beloved member who's past.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: When they see the humanity of the church expressing their faith, then they start to not question as much and again to start receiving.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Receiving all that the church has to offer.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and it becomes not so much uh an argument online like apologetics, which we get way too much of that, and I really try to stay away from it anymore because I I don't think I've converted one person in the comment box, if I'm honest.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_05: But there have been plenty of people because I'm also I like to have one foot in the digital space, and my wife and I were both very active in the parish.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_05: We lead groups, I lead men's groups of Bible studies, and that's where you know Jesus sent them out two by two.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_05: It's like that's where the the real change is where you can love somebody into the faith.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_05: Like some people, very few are probably converted by an argument, but people are gonna be, you know, are you I don't know if you're familiar with Jerry Waddell's book of forming intentional disciples, there's that there's that that curiosity comes first, but then it comes into, okay, am I somebody that they can trust?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_05: Is it somebody who's not gonna, you know, hit me over the head or you know, proselytize, like you said before, it's like there's those stages to it, and everyone's at a different stage, but am I gonna be somebody who's gonna be there to love them basically into the faith and be there to answer their questions when they ask, but not leading with, you know, the way the church has really done it over the past hundred years was leading with the catechism, like you said.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_05: But that only goes so far, and if we're missing that love piece of that walking and accompanying them, we're really missing an opportunity because so many people are now curious or trying to check out the faith.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_05: And if we miss them at the door and we don't recognize them, we don't see them like our Protestant brothers and sisters do a great job of if someone comes into their church and they're new, they they make sure they spark a conversation, invite them to lunch, do all those kinds of things.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_05: I think we can learn a lot about doing that.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_05: And I think what you're doing is great with pilgrimages because you're using the same method, but you're taking them on these different holy sites and obviously being a priest and trying to to walk with them and being there just to, you're not there preaching at them, you're there to answer questions and and and guide them.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_05: What has uh what are some of the things that you did that were successful with walking with people, going either with you know through a church or or any any part of these pilgrimages where you actually saw some fruit from some people like maybe you know, it didn't have to be an argument or just a conversation, anything that stands out to you.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this will be our third time doing it.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: We did it actually this time last year, uh around October of last year.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then um we did it in the spring, and now we're going to be doing it in November.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, you do it like around December of last year.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um so so we're we're still learning.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're still learning.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I again I've been leading pilgrimages for so many years.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: I know what works for Catholics.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: For non-Catholics, I'm learning how to kind of approach it.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the first things we did was basically a Catholic trivia, uh, you know, and and it was really funny to just see them scratch their heads, be like, I've never even heard of this before, you know, and and and then they realize there's just so much into the history.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: But oftentimes we would prep them for what they will experience in a church.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so the Archdiocese of Baltimore just happens to have very, very beautiful churches, uh, very historical churches, things that are, you know, basilicas as well as our cathedrals and also our seminaries, which have a tremendous history for Catholics in the United States.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I sometimes give them the little introduction as we're on the bus making our way.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of leading a prayer as we walk through the front door, and then I'll say, gentlemen, take your hats off.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, let's enter into a spirit of quiet, we'll open up the doors, and then you just see their jaws drop a little bit.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, I just try to get out of the way.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: I try to let the church speak to them.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so after a few moments of them just kind of looking around, and of course, being influencers, they take a ton of pictures and they're just kind of like doing the selfie videos and such, which is all fine, which is all fine.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Then I bring them together and then I go through some of the theological things that they can understand about the building of the church as a physical representation of the body of Christ.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so they begin to see things in a unique way.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: So to answer your question, really a balance of some explanation, some silence, some teaching, some prayer.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's really got to be a good balance.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_05: And I know that as Bishop Barron, he he really is about beauty, is the entryway.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_05: And when you bring him into these gorgeous, beautiful churches, and then you can walk through like, hey, this isn't just random.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_05: Like everything has been thought out.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, some of these churches took hundreds of years, you know, to make, but everything means something going all the way back to the old testament.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_05: When they they start to see, like, okay, well, there's a reason why they're doing this and why there were stained glass windows, and why the what's the nave, and what's the second like when you go through this stuff, they they see that this isn't just uh accidental, that there's there's a beauty to you know this the symbolism, the the dome, and and all the different parts of the church.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_05: I'm a convert myself.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_05: So I basically was converted by walking into one of those beautiful churches here uh in in the south side of Chicago.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_05: I went to a midnight mass and it was my first time being at a mass, and I literally walked out and said, I I was a different person.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_05: I'm like, I want to come every Sunday because I was struck by the music, the beauty, the candles, but it was just it was an overwhelming feeling, and I had a you know a mystical experience, you know, that I now I know the Holy Spirit, you know, there was something to that.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_05: But I think if it wasn't such a beautiful church, and if I wasn't, you know, open, obviously at that time, but I think that beauty was that doorway to really open up and let my guard down because beauty has a way of uh uh you know doing apologetics without saying a word.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_05: It's just like it's it it just hits you right in your soul.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_05: So what are some some some ways I've heard Peter Kraft had a good uh way to try to help people is that sometimes the best thing is not to say something, is maybe not even bringing it, bring them to an adoration where you don't have to say a word and let the Lord do the work.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_05: And then I think your your approach of having silence is important because we think we always have to have the answer, we have to always be talking, but so much in our modern world is talking or screens or getting listened to, there's not a whole lot of time or space for that silence, and we know that that's where God really wants to speak to our hearts.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh so I guess the the silence is certainly there.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Adoration we do to a degree because there is so much on the agenda that it's impossible to do it all.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I also wanted to make sure that if I'm going to do something in front of the Blessed Sacrament, that it's going to be properly done.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And because of the schedule and the timing, and because of the lack of catechesis, I chose not to have like a period of adoration.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: But we will be venerating things in the future, in the future pilgrimages, like a true understanding of a veneration of the cross, praying in front of a tabernacle rather than an exposed monstrance.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think oftentimes when we hear people are excited about Catholic curious content creators, we we kind of want to shove everything down their throat in that one meme of a minute.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And and and I just know that everything that's worth doing takes a little bit of time.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: So again, this pilgrimage is just an introduction.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's intense, it's a very, very intense experience.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that because on the last day before our closing mass and our closing banquet, we have a retreat time in the morning where we're just reflecting on the experiences and and people, oh gosh, I mean, they're all emotional, they're very moved, they're very conflicted.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: You see people literally wrestling with what they have been taught and what they just encountered and experienced.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so it's it's a an incredible thing, it's an it's an incredible opportunity to see the charisma that has to happen before catechesis.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of times we get focused on the catecesis.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: What I'd like to do is invite the Holy Spirit to create an environment so that they can have a charismatic, not a charismatic, but a charismatic experience of the faith.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, there's too much of we don't get that power of the gospel, uh, you know, the way they talk about it in the Bible is not the way that most people have experienced it, like in Acts.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_05: It's like that's not what most people see when they walk into a church, unfortunately, but there are some power preachers and things like that where people can proclaim the charisma, the the saving, the saving message of Jesus Christ's passion and resurrection.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_05: But uh from that step from the people, so is there a a process after that they leave the this this pilgrimage?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_05: I'm sure they still want to stay connected, or uh is there resources to help people to get into an OCIA?
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_05: Uh what what has your experience been?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_05: I saw um, like I said, I saw a lot of the videos, I see a lot of people's lives, and now I see them as actual Catholic content creators.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_05: Now they're not just curious, but they've actually moved on to to make that proclamation of faith.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_05: What has been that that transition like?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_05: And have you stayed in touch with with the pilgrims and and how exciting has that been?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just last night we had a Discord of of you know what 20-ish some people joining on the call and wanted to talk about suffering.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so we just basically have semi-regular online chats that we also invite my Patreon subscribers and supporters to come on too, because it's only with their help that I can actually put these events on.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: So if people are interested in adopting a non-Catholic to go on a pilgrimage, that's kind of how we can keep these things going.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: I provide all the work, my staff works for free.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it is it's not easy to do.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: But we're committed.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: My team, myself, we are committed.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so regular-ish online communication.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: I've actually had some one-on-ones with several of them who are going through things that require pastoral attention.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we are hoping to have kind of more meetups, like meet and seeks, at different parts of the country where I will be maybe speaking at because I travel a lot with for speaking events.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes I'm in a state where they are.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so I will make a personal invitation to have them come as my special guest.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: I've actually done that a few times with some pilgrims, and even Hired a few of them to assist me at some of my events.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we we really do want to build up a community, and but to be honest with you, we're still so new at this.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're learning as we go along.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: We have big dreams and ambitions, and ultimately we want to be able to create kind of a platform for them to tell their story either as a speaker at an event or to develop, help them develop their own podcast or something along the lines where we can assist them in forming them to be an evangelist in the Catholic Church.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_05: Beautiful.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_05: Or maybe even the next step would be like the training other priests on how to do it in their own kind of diocese.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_05: You know, you'd have, you know, where yeah, you can the burden's not all on you to try to reach a lot of these people.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I keep saying, I preach it at the mountaintops, that we had that National Eucharistic Congress for three years.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_05: We have to expect that the fruit is going to come.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_05: So what are we doing to be ready for those who are going to walk into our churches, who have questions, who need accompaniment?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_05: We also have to train up leaders on how to do that.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, you're only one man, which you're busy and do a lot of stuff, but imagine if we we had, you know, 500 of you doing what you're doing to not let these people who are curious slip through the cracks because what's more important than saving souls or leading people to Christ?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_05: Obviously, it's very important.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_05: Have you thought about uh trying to expand that way with your other brother uh priest?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_05: And and uh what what does it look like in the future?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_05: I know you have this upcoming one here in November.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_05: I thought I saw you guys, I've already picked five of the the Catholic uh curious.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_05: Uh are you still in the hunt looking for people?
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_05: And uh if so, I can help, you know, like I said, anyway I can help share the links, all that stuff as far as supporting the mission, we'll do that as well.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we so a couple questions in that.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, regarding the priests, um we are actually creating a a pilgrim, not a pilgrimage, a retreat.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Feed the Shepherd.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so we are going to be selecting 12 priests for an all-expense paid retreat.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that'll be centered around the theology of food, which is ultimately what I do, is I promote a theology of food, which is basically a human way of understanding the Eucharist, the theology of the Eucharist as food.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're going to hope to do that in 27.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I don't know, I'm like some of your audience might not know what I do.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I'm a priest, but I'm a full-time missionary preaching and teaching.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: I lead five or six international pilgrimages a year.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've written several books.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: My next one is coming out next spring.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: I have a TV show, I have the podcast, content creation, but I also have a food truck and a restaurant in Baltimore.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm actually pretty busy.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so to do these things really is crazy.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I am trying to help brother priests to understand the ethos, the kind of the hermeneutic of why we do what we do.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll also be honest with you, having been a parish priest, sometimes they might not have the energy or the enthusiasm or even the charism.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to be putting out feelers and saying if there are priests who are interested in learning about the theology of food and partnering in this mission and this ministry, we're going to provide a really beautiful retreat experience.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's going to also be centered around the food.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're going to be eating really well.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully that'll be the draw.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then the other other question that you asked, and I'm so sorry, I just kind of blanked out about it, but um uh sorry about that.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have to.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_05: No, I I I I I think I forgot it as well.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_05: We we were just I jammed a bunch in there.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I was more concerned about yeah, you trying to create and to to basically to build up other people to do what you're doing.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_05: And I I love that because theology of the food, I mean, that's table fellowship, that's uh an understanding, obviously deeper understanding with the Eucharist.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_05: Our pastor, actually, Father Sammy, uh, we're at St.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_05: John the Evangelist in St.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_05: John, Indiana.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_05: He has a cooking show called In the Kitchen with Padre.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_05: So he's Italian, he loves cooking, and he loves to share his passion for food with other people, and it's a way that he invites people in, and he absolutely loves it.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_05: He's a big big fan of yours as well.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, but it's it's a beautiful thing that something like food and cooking can really reach people, especially who are you know passionate about it.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_05: We know there's tons of people who are into going out to restaurants or being foodies or cooking themselves.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_05: What really got you into doing that?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_05: For those who don't know your story, we got a little bit of time to how that transferred into your your ministry as a priest.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I was studying as a seminarian at the North American College in Rome, and during one of our retreats, it was a psychologist made us reflect on the food we were eating.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: And to be honest with you, it was kind of silly, but for whatever reason I took it seriously, maybe because I had a little bit of a food background.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I remember being moved by meditating on where the food came from and how many hands touched it before it actually entered onto my plate.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I I remember feeling moved by it and then going to adoration afterwards and just looking at food and contemplating on that, and it it was that was the genesis of this theology of food.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so during seminary, I got very invested in learning about the Italian cuisine, different cuisine, took cooking classes just because it was fun.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: I already had a background in it, so it was just a lot of natural joy to bring people together and to cook for them.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: When I came into the parish, it was very easy to connect with people because they'd invite priests to dinner, and instead I would kind of like wind up making it, and you develop great friendships as you're helping to prepare the meal.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: After September the 11th, uh that was a really big turning point because I remember that all of the networks shut down their live feeds just so that people could focus on the emergency, you know, uh the emergency notifications.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so the Food Network had a blank screen and it was just a simple recommendation of just in this time of turmoil, I can't remember what they said.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: They said, we just encourage families to just cook together and eat together.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really quite shocking.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um during COVID, during COVID, the number one sought-out internet search you might think would be porn, but it wasn't.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was how to bake bread.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: So during these tragic moments, and September the 11th with one of them, I was with some priests on a retreat.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: They wanted to watch the Food Network, but since it was shut down, they said, fine, we'll just watch Leo cook.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I was cooking and I was just talking, and one of the priests said, Gosh, this looks like a cooking show.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that was just a joke, but it just grew and grew and grew to the point where the Food Network had me on a competition against Bobby Flay in a show called Throwdown with Bobby Flay.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: And when I won it, it really changed my world.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, millions of people watched that, and um they just were fascinated by a priest who knows how to cook.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: To me, it wasn't a big deal.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: But it really grew out of tragedy and out of surprise, but also it was born out of prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_05: Well, thanks for sharing.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_05: That's uh that's a beautiful story of how it came to be.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_05: And sometimes we God's God's plans are so much bigger than our plans.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_05: Like something that you didn't plan on doing had a little bit of background, and isn't that how it is?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_05: You know, five loaves and two fish, and he could turn it into something crazy.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_05: We just had to be uh available and be in tune.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_05: Reminds me of when you were talking about it, that I'm sure you've seen Babette's feast about how many hands it takes in a in a feast and the sacrifices that go into it, and then just the symbolism and the the reality of you know bread and wine and the multiplication of the grains and the grapes and what that has to go through, and uh just all the the stuff that our Lord knows how to feed not only our bodies but to feed our souls, but that that symbolism of bread and wine, it always really hits me to know and for you to take it to another level to just take we could turn any meal into something that's sacred when we share it with love and we share it with others, but you've taken it to another level with you know you know sharing it with millions of people.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_05: What's on the agenda with with the cooking going forward?
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_05: You're still doing your shows.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_05: What what what's your your dreams and your hopes for for the next stage of taking this theology of the food?
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the ultimate one is just to get to heaven, just to to do what I need to do and to be the man I need to be to get to heaven and to bring as many people along as possible.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: What God has in store is is really up to God, and and you know, uh to be honest with you, I I find myself kind of conflicted and confused about what I should hope for, because honestly, sometimes all I want is just a day off, and uh and then when I have a day off, I'm bored.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just know that it's really one day at a time, and oftentimes when people are conflicted with that question, it's because there's kind of like something more that they need to be doing, and I think I'm just at a stage in my life, I'm not old, but I'm getting there.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I've been a priest for almost 27 years, and I've just been involved in so many different ministries.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: I just have to be content with what I'm doing now, but to do it well.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think that uh Mother Teresa's little acts with lots of love, that's really the key, so that we're not focused on the big picture dream in 20, 30 years.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I do have goals, but honestly, my the goal that I want from day to day is just whatever I'm doing, let me do it with real intentionality, let me do it with real focus, let me do it for you, God, with you and in you.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think that if we kind of keep that attitude, we're not gonna be freaked out when God throws out more ideas.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: As like, again, why am I having a food truck in a restaurant?
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, am I an actual idiot?
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of am, but at that moment, it was just what I think God put on my shoulder, and I'm trying to do it as good as possible.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: And because I know that I can't do it alone, if I can't find staff, then I have to give that up.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm not gonna be disappointed knowing that I'm just trying to do day to day what I think God is asking me to do.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it would be awesome to have like a food empire where like all the proceeds go to feed the hungry, but we can do that now.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: So let me at least just talk about it so that it gets in people's heads and say, hey, you know what?
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: Father Leo can't do it, but in a small way I can.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_05: Well, and and and that's that's the goal ultimately, like you said, is getting to heaven.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_05: And along the way I struggle and like my wife does, is that when we're not doing anything, we feel like we're wait, we should be doing something.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_05: We have to have that that uh that balance of uh what what you know Joseph Paper calls the leisure, like on Sundays, to at least set out that one day.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_05: But even on Sundays, it's like, okay, well, I didn't do the laundry, I didn't do this.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_05: What are some ways that you are able to be present in the moment?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_05: I really struggle with that of trying to be able to rest, but also like be present to the person in front of me and to make sure that I am giving my best.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_05: But it's for me, it's a lot of just how do I stay focused without being on to the next thing or the next thing I have to do.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_05: We have so many schedules and busy commitments and things like that.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_05: I really struggle on how to be a better person who's present in the moment.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: In my community of consecrated life, which is called Voluntas Dei, the will of God, we have a spirituality of the three fives.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'll explain it briefly.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: The first set of fives are our spiritual disciplines like prayer, meditation, scripture, devotion to Mary, devotion to the Eucharist, which is something that most people do.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: The second set of fives are attitudes, practicing the presence of God, absence of complaint, absence of criticism, being a servant, and being a peacemaker.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's the harder ones.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: But then the third set of fives are just things that you can plan at the beginning of the day, a type of a pre-examination of conscience.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: At the beginning of the day, just think, can are there five times when I'm gonna be able to kind of manifest the presence of God in my life?
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: And to be honest with you, on a good day, I might hit three of the five, you know, just on a good day.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I just know that if we can keep our goals clear at the beginning of the day, you think about what you're going to encounter, the people you will meet, and you just say, I intentionally, Lord, need to be present here.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my wife and I are arguing about something last night.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: I want to intentionally bring you into the conversation today when we talk about a fine resolution resolution.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm going to be um driving through DC, which is a lot of traffic, let me to be patient on the drive over there.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you can do that maybe five times throughout the day, then you've got a little bit of a goal that is truly attainable and it's intentional.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you do that more and more, you develop a muscle so that when kind of like as a reflex, if you're well trained, you can react not in a reactive way, but your reflex makes you react in a responsive way.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I think little steps like intentional living, uh clearly spiritually focusing on what you're going to counter in the day, if you can do that regularly, then you will be more present to the other things that God is asking of you.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_05: I appreciate you walking us through that because I'm sure a lot of people could really be helped by that, including myself.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_05: One last question.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_05: What is what is your your goal for this upcoming you you have the 12 people on the pilgrimage?
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_05: What is your your goal of what happens uh this time around?
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_05: What are something that you're gonna try to to do differently than the first two that you're gonna try to to really impact these people who that you know that one person is important, like right?
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_05: You want all you want all 12 to to be to be changed.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_05: What is your goal or what are you going into this to of something that you learn on how to make this the best experience that they that they could possibly have?
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: I remember the second question that you asked me after the priest, if I was gonna secure other priests.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I remember it now, and it had to do with the pilgrimage.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: You asked if I had selected the 12 because you saw a post of us naming five.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um so the way it works is we have an online meeting, and then from that online meeting, which had like about 40 or 50 people on it, of just Catholic curious, they started submitting videos.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: But we had already selected five people because just by watching their social media, we were very impressed with them and we felt like they would be a great kind of contributor, and their presence would add a lot, and that left seven more.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we had a lot of kind of videos to sift through.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we selected the twelve and we provide them with a full scholarship.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: We made that announcement on the feast of St.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: Francis of Assisi on October the 4th.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that video is out, naming all the 12.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there were many people who wanted to come on the pilgrimage even if they don't receive a full scholarship.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we created partial scholarships and then even discounts.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: So there's actually gonna be like 24 people coming on this pilgrimage.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: 12 we are sponsoring.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: The other 12 just want to be part of this experience, which is great.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things we are gonna do different is um a little bit more uh time in prayer on the last day.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: They want to have a lot of conversation, that's a big thing, but they need to have conversation with God.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna just lead them through a meditation.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're staying at a beautiful hotel in the Baltimore area, we're going to create an altar space, get the mood lighting, get some mood music, and then just give them about 40 minutes of just meditative prayer that I will lead for them.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but honestly, having led so many pilgrimages, all I did was tweak the approach, but kept the basic structure of it all throughout the pilgrimage.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think with 12 more people who they're gonna add certainly a dynamic to it all.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing I realized is that they can eat.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, they can eat.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm telling my staff to make even more food.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: They they never went hungry, but we were making more food than a normal patron at my restaurant would eat.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it was kind of funny, but after all, it is called Feed My Faith.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna have to say, and face.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: Feed my face as well.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_05: Well, well, Father Leo, thank you so much for taking the time.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_05: If people wanted to reach out and help sponsor uh this one or the next one, what are the best places?
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_05: I know you said Patreon.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_05: Is there is there some place that's best to try to help you in this mission?
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_05: We'll share it in the link below.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_05: Um just if you want to tell it.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think if they just simply send a message to assistant at plateandgrace.com, or if they just go to my website and type in platinggrace.com slash FMF for feed my faith, it'll take you to a landing page.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: That way you can see some of the reactions of the pilgrims.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's what you might have seen on social media, and then there might be a you know support us page on it.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: To be honest with you, I don't know.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: I I think I think that that uh landing page for the pilgrimage has a way to support us.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_05: I was lucky enough I actually met one of the people who went through it.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I met her at the Fulton Sheen conference.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_05: She her page is A Sacred Faith, A Sacred Faith.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_05: Kristen.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, Kristen Harry.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, she she was awesome.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_05: We got to talk to her.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_05: My wife and I talked to her for like 20 minutes.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_05: She's lovely.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_05: She was lovely, she was just glowing.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_05: So you're doing something right.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_05: It was a pleasure to meet her and see how you know she's a teacher.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_05: She was all fired up.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_05: I was like, that's the impact that you're having.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_05: So I just want to know can I just pop with this thought too?
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: That that we have to also be careful because celebrity status, likes and clicks, and growth in numbers is a dangerous gain in our faith life.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it's a fruit that we're doing something right, but at the same time, it can get to our head and sometimes even into our hearts.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I want to do that might be a little different is to make sure that we're really providing formation for them so that as they speak about Catholic things, they they do it with that same kind of preparation and that knowledge and even that humility that I think Kristen has been doing quite well.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, she's just been one of those people who she has kind of like a message, a style, a brand, and she's just kind of going with it.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: And and so, anyway, pray for them because by having a gift as this pilgrimage, it puts on them a burden and a responsibility.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: People are gonna look to them and kind of want to learn from them.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we definitely need to form them well and to support them in prayer.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_05: That's a good point.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_05: I actually, if you're interested in this topic, I actually wrote two articles for Catholic Exchange about this, about influencers versus saints and the the temptation of I love the the term that Vatican came up with, which is a digital missionary.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_05: That's I hate the word influencer.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_05: It just makes it feel I know that's what it is, but it's just one of those things where for for me, it it it was a lot of formation before I I started talking on a microphone.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_05: I go to daily mass.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_05: Like I need to be grounded in the sacraments just because it it I know the temptation of what it is, the likes and the share, all the stuff that goes with it.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_05: It's very tough, it's a balance to to strike, but it starts on your knees uh in the sacraments, and and and to be grounded, have a spiritual director and somebody to walk you through it because the temptation is to um think you're bigger than you are, and and and and and pride is the you know one of the greatest sins.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_05: So it's definitely wise, wise advice.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_05: So I'll share those those um those articles if anyone's interested in that of uh my two cents on what it is and my experience.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_05: So no, it's it's definitely important.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_05: But Father Leo, thank you for being so gracious with your time.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you for your work over the years.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_05: We've been following you.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I wish I was a uh more of a fast cooker, like I'm more efficiency, like air fryer said it.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_05: Go grab the kids, come back, come back.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I'm more like just means to an end kind of a guy.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: But that's great.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're feeding your family and spending time with them, that's the objective.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, not everything happens.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know how you do it.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know how you stay stay pretty lean for all the food.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's like that's the I'm wearing black, dude.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_05: Well, Father, thank you so much.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_05: Appreciate it.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_05: And uh God bless you and have a have a great day.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_05: And God bless you, your family, your wife, your ministry, and keep up the great work.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you so much.