Priest Podcast

The first thing you will notice is what a pleasant voice Msgr Jerry has - very calming.  The next is that he has a great sense of humor and very little ego.  Msgr. Jerry was candid and honest with his answers.  He is a man who enjoys what he does and trusts in the Lord.  I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this podcast again while editing it.  Please enjoy!

How I became a Priest 1:10sec Religious Sisters are Nuns 1st time Priesthood entered his mind 2:35sec Ferris State 3:15 Father Joe Fix 3:40 Mass was a part of his growing up Big Event - Internship with St. Louis Cardinals 5:50 In the silence we hear the voice of God 6:66 Mr. and Mrs. Milberg (Msgr Jerry told her God might be calling him to be a Priest 7:55 One more Girlfriend 9:05 Was God really calling me 10:55 Seminary in Cincinnati 11:30 Ordained a Priest in 1999 Football game with the Bishop 13:30 1st Director of Bethany house youth center 14:05 Msgr Jerry's Favorite thing: Faith Fun Football Camp 16:05 Vocation Director for Diocese of Lansing - Recruiting young men for the Priesthood (7 Years) 16:55 Food and Recruiting 19:30 Father Jim Roth St. John's in Fenton Can you ask out of a position you are in 21:20 Work in Rome - Spiritual Director (5 Years) 22:50 July 2015 - Pastor The Homily Preparation 26:30 A backhanded compliment from a parishioner - LOL 30:20 Can a Priest sense if the audience is engaged 31:30 How does the scripture relate to me now? Does Msgr Jerry get bored or lonely 36:05 Priest Support 37:50 What do you do that we don't know that you do 40:05 What does Msgr Jerry do for himself 41:40 Favorite part of the job 45:30 Last question - How Faith helped you in a difficult time 47:30 St. Augustine 51:45

Father David is a 31 year old Priest.  A young man with a mission to teach and who is not afraid to say he gets nervous going to confession!  Listen in as we discuss:

How Father Dave became a Priest 1min Grew up in Algonac going to Church every Week 3m 10sec Father Leo Broderick was his first "invitation" to Priesthood through example 4m Father David went to Public school his whole life Father David knows the Parish Ministry is where he belongs Getting into the seminary is difficult 6m 10sec Just Pray in Seminary 7m 15sec Seminary is where you go to die 8m 10sec The vestments for Mass 9m 10sec Father was discouraged by other Priests to be a Priest 12m 10sec Seminary Life and degree 14m 10sec You develop the kind of Priest you are called to be 16m 30sec Can you flunk out of Seminary 17m 45sec Father "bets" that Seminary has not changed that much in the last 50 years 19m 40sec "Content of our Faith has not changed." Father's Parish life 21m 20sec Father's creation of the homily 26m 5sec Writes a Basic outline of his homily 29m 15sec Brings cultural anecdotes in from pop culture if it helps actualize the Word of God "We have turned church into the big box store" Life as a Priest 38min 15sec Sleeps in on his day off and works out daily for his mental health Loves hanging out with friends 42m 30sec Silence is Golden, solitude is better (With Prayer) 45min 25sec It's kinda cool when your staff buys you office equipment shaped like weaponry 48min 20sec Favorite part of the mass 49min 35sec Favorite part of the job 51min 45sec

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Father David Jenuwine of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church.  It is located in a small town of Reese, MI.  See if you can muffle your laughter as Father recounts real homily stories, teaching Catechism to junior high students, angry parents, horses eyeballs, Science Fiction and Priests who don't speak English but make a major impact on the Word!

Here is a breakdown of what we spoke about:

Putting together the homily 1:00Priests who get homilies from other sources 6:00Preaching in a small town 8:30Teaching Gospel to Confirmation kids 13:25Being a Pastor in a small community 18:20Downtime - 23:00

This is part 1 of a 2 part conversation with Father David of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in the little town of Reese Michigan.

In this episode Father David recounts his different path to the Priesthood.  He was an engineer, in the navy, learned Chinese, literally traveled the world.  He recounts his these experiences and how Faith brought him to his vocation.

Introduction of Father David 1:36Navy 7:30Leaned Chinese in 63 weeks with the Navy 8:15Military Chapel 10:00Non-Filipino Catholic 11:55Dealing with Seals 19:00Cursillo 19:45 (Seal training for Catholics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursillo http://www.cursillo-detroit.com/j/Ford 26:00Catholicism and other cultures 32:00Fighting for Time alone - not lonely 39:30Dating pre-Priesthood 40:20Leaving the Priesthood 46:30

Father Mike led me into his office where there was a great restored organ.  Father Mike has known he wanted to be a Priest since being a young boy.  He is the oldest of 9 children!

He spoke about separating out the role from the rest of your life.  He loves visiting his family up North.  He moved to Lake Orion at 15 and now has come home as the Pastor.  He loves having a school at the Parish and enjoys celebrating the Children's Liturgy.  Although it does mean more work.

One item that resonated with me is that Father let me know he has all financial responsibility for the Parish including the school.  The analogy is that he is CEO of a multi million enterprise.  And Father Mike is an English major (He also was a competitive racquetball player for 30 years!).  Of course he has a lot of help from his parishioners.

In regards to the homily, at the seminary he was taught to have the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other.  Father Mike does a lot of prep and hand writes all his homilies and weaves in current events.  He then tell us about his experience in Africa and homilies and attending church in other countries.  The point is: Our Faith is Universal.

In regards to the mass, Father Mike loves that moment just before he reads the gospel and has the book in his hand - he feels closest to Jesus at this time.  This is a powerful moment.

In regards to his time in becoming a Priest and a possible a faith crisis, Father Mike tells us how he worked through it.  Faith is not a matter of the intellect but a matter of the heart.  He spoke about Pascal and the book, The Little Prince.  He then spoke about parents and children who have strayed away from the Catholic faith.

Father spoke about Faith in relations to the scandals the Church has been through with kids.  I appreciated his candor and thoughtfulness.

We went on to discuss a Priests way of life.  He spoke about performance reviews, the ability Priest must have to be self-starters, and how he meets monthly with several other Priests to discuss life.  Most Priests work too many hours.  He has a lot of responsibility and think about this, he signs all the checks!  But he has a great financial council that help guide him in making wise decisions.

I realized in hearing this that we underestimate the impact we have as parishioners in our local parish.

To recharge the batteries he likes to go up North and has achieved a certain balance in life.  He loves watching the Tigers, PBS, and reads.  He is currently reading a biography on Pope Francis.

His favorite part of the job is preaching and visiting the sick.  He enjoys the impact he has building up the community and goodwill.  People do remember.

Items we covered in this podcast:

Journey to the Priesthood – 1:45sec

Profession of a Priest - 4:25sec

History of his Parishes - 6:05sec

Having a school as a Pastor - 7:05sec

Homily Preparation - 10:30sec

Homily in Africa - 15:10sec

Time in Jerusalem - 24:15sec

Moments of "doubt" - 27:30sec

Lone Wolf - 33:45sec

Job as a Parish Priest - 42:05sec

Welcome to the Priest Podcast where I interview men and women of faith.This is not a theology lesson but a life lesson.  It is a conversation, asking these folks the questions we all have but may be too timid to ask.  Their answers contain hundreds of golden nuggets of information helping us live our lives in Faith.  Or possibly providing an answer to a question you or I may be struggling with.At the soul of this podcast is a conversation that is candid and honest. Enjoy