"Jesus tells us to go make disciples of all nations. FOCUS places a group of missionaries on a college campus building relationships, walking with students, and falling in love with Christ."

-Kelly

Kelly Steichen and Madison Ohman are completing their final semester at Oklahoma State University. Both had profound encounters with Jesus during their college careers.

"Don't let a distraction become a distraction."

- seminarian Joey Griggs

"Pray as you can, not as you can't."

- seminarian Robert Williams

Joey and Robert are preparing to return to Kenrick-Glennon seminary in St. Louis, Missouri for the spring semester. In this episode of Glory Be podcast, they talk about how they pray at the seminary and how they pray when they're at home.

Fr. Brian O’Brien was ordained a priest of the diocese of Tulsa and Eastern OK in 2007.

He holds a BA in Theology and Political Science from Boston College, a Masters in Education from the University of Notre Dame, a Masters in Catholic Social thought and Life and a Master of Divinity from St. Meinrad Seminary in Southern Indiana.

He has served as an associate pastor, a High School chaplain, and the president of Bishop Kelley High school in Tulsa.  He is currently the pastor of St. Francis Xavier church in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and Vicar Forane of the Western Vicariate for the diocese.

Show Notes:

Pastors of Payne County podcast: https://pastorsofpayne.podbean.com/

Our guest this week is Emily Leedom, executive director of Catholic  Family Services for the Diocese of Sioux Falls.

Emily grew up in Sioux Falls, SD. She pursued her degree in Catholic  Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN before God  brought her back to her home Diocese of Sioux Falls where she has served  in various roles over the past eight years. Most recently, she was  appointed the Executive Director of Catholic Family Services where she's  working to bring her Masters of Psychology to life in supporting human  flourishing illuminated by the Catholic vision. She's married to a  handsome hunk of humanity named Matt and they have two children with  another little one set to arrive in May!

"On an archaeology dig in Jordan, I first heard the call to prayer in situ and became enchanted with Islam. In my master's studies, I focused on our Christian sacred texts and Moslem sacred texts - and what people believe about their own sacred texts."

Glory Be: Interesting People & How They Pray features Dr. Rita George Tvrtkovic, a consultor for the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialog and an associate professor of theology at Benedictine University in Illinois.

Show Notes:

Nostra Aetate, the Vatican II declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions: https://bit.ly/3ohA82d

Christians, Muslims, and Mary, A History: https://www.paulistpress.com/Products/5328-2/christians-muslims-and-mary.aspx

"Social media can be addictive. There is so much darkness online. That's the difficulty of my religious order's charism of being in the middle of media. Our charism is to bring some of the light of the Gospel online. I think that's the call of all Christians."

Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP is a former atheist now a religious sister with the Daughters of St. Paul. She is the founder of the Memento Mori project and author of The Prodigal You Love: Inviting Loved Ones Back to the Church. She is also a contributor to the Word on Fire blog. She now lives in Boston where she serves at the Pauline Publishing House in the Editorial Department.

Show Notes:

https://twitter.com/pursuedbytruth

The Prodigal You Love: Inviting Loves Ones Back to the Church: https://paulinestore.com/prodigal-you-love-inviting-loved-ones-back-to-church-3207-168903.html

The Daughters Project podcast: http://thedaughtersproject.com

Word on Fire article: Behaving Virtuously in the Online Wild West https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/behaving-virtuously-in-the-online-wild-west/28028/

"In Franciscan circles, they make Saint Francis the 'birdbath saint.' You put his statue in your yard. He's holding a birdbath. Sparrows come. It's beautiful, but there's so much more, right? Like any saint, there's so much more."

Father Rick Martignetti is a Franciscan priest who earned a Masters of Divinity degree from Weston Jesuit school of theology in 1996 and was ordained for the Order of Friars Minor in 1997.  In 2002, he was awarded a doctorate in Sacred Theology and Franciscan Spirituality from the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome. He has done years of preaching, teaching, campus ministry, spiritual direction, retreat ministry, formation work, youth conferences, and pilgrimage work. He is currently the Director of Campus Ministry at Ave Maria University in Florida.

Show notes:

Father Rick's book of meditations: Hidden Beauty: Reflections on Saint Bonaventure's Tree of Life

Father Rick's blog: fatherrick.wordpress.com

Father Rick on YouTube.

"I was great at obedience, but I wasn't doing it out of love. Then I realized that God allows us to participate in His will and I must respond to God's invitation. That was a huge turning point." 

Glory Be: Interesting People & How They Pray features Nathaniel Binversie, Director of Mission for Exodus 90.

Show Notes:

Exodus 90: https://exodus90.com/

Nathaniel's backstory: The Exodus 90 podcast: How Nathaniel Binversie came to be the Author of Exodus 90

Glory Be: Interesting People & How They Pray features Father Sean  O'Brien, a Tulsa priest and bioethicist.

Father Sean studied at the Pontifical  North American College, receiving an STB at the Gregorian University and  a Licenciate degree in Moral Theology with a concentration in Bioethics  at the Alphonsianum. He was ordained in 2016. He is published in the  National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly and he published St. Alphonsus’  Guide for Confessors, the first ever English edition.

Show Notes:

Fr. Sean's Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1022176

Confessions of a Millennial Priest: https://www.hprweb.com/2020/10/confessions-of-a-millennial-priest/

The Confessional Prudence of Saint Alphonsus Liguori: https://www.hprweb.com/2020/03/the-confessional-prudence-of-st-alphonsus-liguori-doctor-and-patron-of-confessors/

Pursuing Authenticity by Changing the Body: https://www.pdcnet.org/collection/show?id=ncbq_2018_0018_0003_0465_0486&file_type=pdf

"I never felt a sense of abandonment; I never felt that God wasn't there. I see myself and my life of faith as intertwined with the Church but also as independent. It allows me to have questions or doubts and not have that lead to a wholesale rejection of the Church or of God."

Eric Krakowski serves as the assistant principal at Duchesne Academy, an all girls Catholic High School in Omaha Nebraska. Among other things, He directs their sustainability efforts and their international exchange program. 

He gained internet attention because of his clever snow day phone messages which he sang to Disney tunes. He holds a BA in History from St. Meinrad College and an MA in Theology and an MS in Educational Leadership, both from Creighton University.

He loves to watch baseball, read, travel and spend time with his wife and 2 children.

Show Notes:

Snow Day annoucements: https://omaha.com/news/local/meet-the-ex-rocker-who-announced-snow-days-at-duchesne-with-disney-ditties/article_8f416ae9-d6ed-5acd-be42-eff88ee786ab.html

The 19th Annotation: https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/what-is-19th-annotation-what-can-you-expect/

Laudato Si: http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html