Heroic Stories

Stress, fear, and anxiety are hitting men, families, and young people hard. Brandon Hall shares how his parents’ battles with cancer, his years in medtech, and his renewed Catholic faith led him to help men and students build resilience through prayer, Scripture, stillness, breathing, virtue, and the sacraments.

Meet Brandon: https://catholicspeakers.com/profiles/brandon-hall

What You’ll Learn

✅ How Brandon’s parents modeled courage through cancer

✅ Why stress, fear, and anxiety need spiritual answers

✅ How Catholic practices support mental resilience

✅ Why young people need faith-based tools for pressure

TIMESTAMPS

00:58 Meet Brandon Hall

01:14 Heroism – His parents’ cancer battle

03:27 Stress – Learning through family pain

06:57 Mission – Faith and science together

09:06 Scripture – Renewing your mind

10:42 Problem – Why stress runs deep

14:17 Faith – From convenient Catholic to calling

17:19 Pressure – Work, family, and surrender

21:33 Manhood – Courage under stress

25:52 Kids – Teaching calm and resilience

30:04 Scripture – Verses that shaped him

32:19 Heroes – Wife, father, and mother

40:12 Mission – Serving struggling kids

#CatholicMen #HeroicMen #CatholicMentalHealth

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

Matthew Plese: https://catholicspeakers.com/profiles/matthew-plese | What happens when men embrace sacrifice instead of comfort? Matthew Plese joins Dominic from Heroic Men to uncover the forgotten Catholic traditions of fasting, discipline, duty, and heroic living. From construction workers fasting through entire workdays to the spiritual power behind marathon running, this episode explores how ancient practices shaped stronger men, clearer minds, deeper prayer, and entire civilizations.

What You’ll Learn

✅ Why Catholic men once fasted nearly half the year

✅ The spiritual and psychological power of sacrifice

✅ How fasting sharpens discipline, focus, and prayer

✅ Why modern comfort weakens men spiritually

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Heroic Stories

01:20 Forgotten Catholic fasting traditions

03:20 Men fasting at construction sites

05:00 Duty, discipline, and old Catholic life

07:50 Why Matthew studied fasting

10:00 What the Church lost

12:00 Mental and spiritual benefits

14:20 St. Thomas Aquinas on fasting

17:00 Eucharistic fasting traditions

18:00 Fasting and divine inspiration

19:00 Marathon running and discipline

23:40 The heroism of St. Patrick

27:00 Extreme Irish pilgrimages

29:20 Serving others through ministry

30:40 Why men need fasting today

#Catholic #Fasting #HeroicMen

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

Book Deacon Wally: https://catholicspeakers.com/profiles/deacon-wally-calabrese | Catholic men are called to rebuild the domestic church, form stronger families, and help young men hear God’s call with courage. Deacon Wally Calabrese shares his journey from Marine to deacon, why priestly vocations need support at home, how men’s groups can become places of real brotherhood, and why the apostles remain powerful models for ordinary men called to extraordinary faith.

What You’ll Learn

✅ Why priestly vocations begin in the home

✅ What a deacon actually does

✅ Why men need real brotherhood

✅ How the apostles model masculine faith

00:00 Deacon Wally Calabrese

04:58 What makes a priest great

08:39 The domestic church crisis

13:22 What deacons actually do

17:28 Masculinity and men’s groups

22:06 Called to the diaconate

25:21 Returning to the faith

29:22 Why the apostles matter

35:53 Guilt, struggle, and humanity

38:49 Serving other men

41:05 Final challenge

#CatholicMen #HeroicMen #CatholicVocations

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

A father gets the call every parent dreads: His little boy has cancer. He is far from home, alone in a hotel room, powerless to fix it. Chris Mueller talks about what faith looks like when a man cannot solve the problem in front of him. It is a story about fatherhood, suffering, courage, community, and the fierce choice to trust God through years of fear, tears, treatment, and small mercies that start to look like miracles.

What You’ll Learn

✅ How Chris received the news of his son’s diagnosis

✅ Why praise and worship became his lifeline in crisis

✅ What suffering revealed about manhood and fatherhood

✅ How prayer, community, and trust carried a family through

Timestamps

00:00 Chris Mueller

03:44 What forms a brave man

07:44 The hardest story of his life

08:01 His son’s cancer diagnosis

10:10 Alone in a hotel room

12:05 Worship in the middle of fear

14:08 What it means to expect miracles

16:31 Manhood when nothing can be fixed

17:14 Fighting for faith in crisis

19:55 Lessons from his son Ben

22:19 Heroes who formed him

26:33 Act, never react

31:10 Who he feels called to serve

#Fatherhood #FaithInSuffering #CatholicMen

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

What makes a man truly heroic? Bart Schuchts shares how father wounds, false ideas of masculinity, spiritual wilderness, and surrender to Christ reshaped his life and mission. From football culture and broken identity to healing, repentance, and finding his “roar,” this episode explores what it means for men to stop performing strength and start receiving it from God.What You’ll Learn✅ How Bart’s early wounds shaped his view of manhood✅ Why spiritual wilderness can prepare a man for purpose✅ What “losing your life for Christ” looks like in real life✅ How repentance, healing, and fatherhood changed everythingTIMESTAMPS00:58 Bart Schuchts02:10 Heroism and overcoming02:35 The Rookie Movie04:52 Called up by God05:45 The wilderness years07:37 Learning to love the one09:58 Work, pressure, and provision11:51 The lion in the ocean14:27 Job loss and collapse17:30 Finding his roar18:51 Church on Fire begins20:37 Father wounds and sports24:32 Encounter with Christ26:45 False manhood lessons28:35 Brokenness, vows, and surrender31:14 Losing your life for Christ34:35 Who he serves37:37 Why his father became a hero42:30 Repentance and real heroism#HeroicMen #BartSchuchts #CatholicMen

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

What does real heroism look like? Olympic gold medalist Curt Tomasevicz shares the story that shaped his life—meeting a 12-year-old boy with a brain tumor whose courage and faith left a deeper impact than any Olympic victory.

In this conversation on Heroic Stories, Curt reflects on faith, grit, community, and the surprising lessons he learned from small-town Nebraska, Olympic competition, and the hard transition athletes face after success.

What You’ll Learn:

✅ Why a 12-year-old boy became Curt’s greatest hero

✅ The surprising reason an Olympic bronze felt more meaningful than gold

✅ How community support shaped an Olympic champion

✅ Why honor and integrity matter more than winning

See Catholic Speakers: https://heroicmen.org/speakers

00:00 Olympic champion Curt Tomasevicz

01:21 The 12-year-old boy who redefined heroism

02:56 Faith, selflessness, and facing death with courage

04:11 A moment in college that changed Curt’s perspective

05:02 Rediscovering faith as a young adult

06:02 The hardest transition: life after the Olympics

08:03 Finding purpose after athletic retirement

09:32 Lessons from bobsledding about life and fear

10:54 Goal setting and learning to change direction

12:01 The small Nebraska town that built an Olympian

14:20 Community belief and the pressure of expectations

15:46 Why accountability drives men to action

17:40 Heroes who shaped Curt growing up

20:02 A teacher’s lesson about integrity and honor

21:57 The deeper game behind competition

23:14 Why Olympic bronze meant more than gold

26:14 Who Curt hopes to influence today

#HeroicMen #FaithAndCourage #Olympics #CatholicMen #RealHeroism

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

He survived a brutal car crash, endured COVID at the height of the pandemic, and came out of both experiences with a deeper hunger for God. In this episode of Heroic Stories, Dan Venezia shares how suffering, his mother’s example, the Rosary, and the Eucharist brought him from lukewarm faith into a life of daily surrender, fatherhood, and bold witness. This is a conversation about heroism, healing, prayer, men’s spiritual leadership, and what it means to let Christ take the wheel.

What You’ll Learn

✅ How Dan’s mother shaped his understanding of sacrifice and love

✅ What two near-death experiences revealed about God’s mercy

✅ Why the Rosary and Eucharist became central to his life

✅ What message men need to hear about surrender and spiritual leadership

TIMESTAMPS

00:59 Intro

01:20 His first hero

03:15 His mother’s story

05:02 Growing up without a father

07:22 First near-death experience

08:54 Jesus charm moment

10:34 Lukewarm faith years

11:59 Family became his god

13:57 Why Mass changed

16:16 COVID and hospital fear

17:43 Mother Angelica and the Rosary

19:04 Why he turned to prayer

21:57 How he prays now

23:54 Guardian angel and marriage

26:34 Heroes now

30:08 Who he serves

32:19 What men need to hear

#CatholicFaith #HeroicStories #DanVenezia

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

A Kansas farm boy sets out to become a priest, gets turned away, and thinks the story is over. It isn’t. He meets his wife outside an abortion clinic, adopts four children, and ends up in Congress fighting for faith in public life. Along the way, he finds that the real battle looks a lot like Athanasius against the world. And now, he’s calling other men to step into that same fight.What You’ll Learn✅ Why Athanasius “against the world” still matters today✅ How rejection reshaped a man’s calling and identity✅ The hidden role of daily prayer and brotherhood✅ What real masculinity looks like under pressureTIMESTAMPS00:00 Tim Huelskamp01:45 Hero Story – St. Athanasius04:30 Standing Alone – Faith under attack07:00 Seminary Exit – Life turns09:30 Marriage & Adoption story12:00 Crisis of Faith moment15:00 Daily prayer discipline18:00 Brotherhood and masculinity22:00 Public life and loneliness25:30 Faith in politics29:00 Heroes: Father Kapaun32:00 Fatherhood and legacy35:00 Living faith in publicHashtags#CatholicFaith #Masculinity #HeroicMen

A husband, father, deacon, and hospice chaplain shares the night that changed everything: a workplace robbery, a gunshot to the spine, and three words that came out of his mouth before he even hit the ground — “I forgive you.” On Heroic Stories, Deacon Mike Bellinder reflects on Desmond Doss, faith under pressure, the fatherhood crisis, suffering, forgiveness, hospice ministry, and why so many men are starving for meaning. This is a raw, deeply Catholic conversation about what heroism actually looks like when life gets brutal.

What You’ll Learn

✅ Why Desmond Doss and Hacksaw Ridge still hit men so hard

✅ How Deacon Mike responded after being shot during a robbery

✅ What hospice patients reveal about regret, meaning, and purpose

✅ Why strong fatherhood and a living faith matter so much for men

00:00 Intro – Meeting Deacon Mike

01:14 The heroism of Desmond Doss

03:28 Why faith-first courage matters

06:57 Two jobs, exhaustion, and pressure

10:41 The night of the armed robbery

14:20 Praying for death, receiving peace

16:53 Shot in the spine

19:47 Forgiveness changed everything

21:13 His father’s influence

23:30 How hospice became his mission

25:02 What dying men reveal

28:21 The questions he asks the dying

34:40 How men find meaning

40:35 Saints and heroes he follows

43:03 Final message to young men

ABOUT HEROIC STORIES
Discover the raw stories of Catholic men finding faith, grit, and purpose. Join Dominic de Souza for a podcast journey into heroism, transformation, and strength.
Every episode of Heroic Stories

Caleb Campbell had everything he thought he wanted, crowds cheering, a spot in the NFL, and a life that looked perfect from the outside. But inside, he was falling apart, until one morning he realized he didn’t even know who he was anymore. He walked away from it all and ended up alone in a boiler room, starting over and facing the pain he had spent years running from. Now he tells others that the hardest part, letting your old life die, is also the start of becoming fully alive.

What You’ll Learn

✅ Why success can hide a deeper wound

✅ The “wounded healer” and what it means for men

✅ How loneliness becomes a turning point

✅ What it takes to leave behind an old identity

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Caleb Campbell: America's Athlete

01:40 The wounded healer story

04:00 Success and inner emptiness

07:30 NFL dream vs internal collapse

12:50 Pressure, identity, and faith

16:00 Breaking point and walking away

20:30 Death before new life

24:50 The Boiler room reset

28:00 What prayer became

31:30 Heroes and real spirituality

34:30 Loneliness and transformation

39:00 What it means to live fully alive

#Masculinity #MentalHealth #Faith