Working Man

The guest today on Working Man is Dr. DC Schindler. Dr. Schindler is Professor of Metaphysics and Anthropology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Catholic University of America. Dr Schindler is has written many book and articles, and he is renown for, among other things, his work on Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, postmodern thought,  and more recently, the philosophy of work. 

On today’s episode, we discuss the philosophy of work, the dangers technology can pose to how we think about our work, Matthew Crawford’s excellent book, Shop Class as Soul Craft, and the first step to  finding God in your work.

Also, our last guest on Working Man, Dr. Jordan Ballor, has very generously donated copies of two of his books for a podcast giveaway.

The first is Makers of Modern Christian Social Thought: Leo XIII and Abraham Kuyper on the Social Question.

And the second is Get Your Hands Dirty: Essays on Christian Social Thought (and Action).

Dr. Ballor has offered to inscribe them and send them to ten lucky listeners  for free. (FREE BOOKS, YO!)

So here’s how you can win one of these books:

STEP ONE: Hop over to Apple Podcasts and Working Man a review. (Be honest with us. If you hate it, and give us half a star—that won’t affect your chances. If you love it, and give us all the stars, but that won’t affect your chances either.)

STEP TWO: Sign up for our Newsletter at HarmelAcademy.org. When you sign up, be sure to include: YOUR APPLE REVIEW HANDLE and YOUR ADDRESS so we can mail you the book. (If you are already signed up for our newsletter, just the contact form on our website to tell us you've reviewed us and to leave us your address).

The first ten folks to complete these two steps will win one of these two books. So thank you very much Dr. Ballor.

Today on Working Man, you get two for the price of one. Our guests on this episode are Daniel and Michael VanderHyde. Daniel and Michael are two of ten kids, and all six boys in their family followed in the footsteps of their dad and grandad by working in the trades. Both Daniel and Michael have their own companies: Daniel’s is in heating, cooling, and plumbing, and Michael’s is in construction.

Today we learn about how a good tradesman needs also to be a good educator, why endurance is crucial to the good life, and why going into business for yourself means you’re actually going into business for others.

Several years ago, when our co-founders Brian Black and Ryan Pohl began to search for models of a residential trade school, they were able to find only one: Williamson College of the Trades, just outside Philadelphia.

Williamson is a residential trades college for young men, and while it isn't a Catholic or Christian school per se, it was founded by a Quaker businessman over a century ago and holds faith as one of its core values, alongside integrity, diligence, excellence, and service. Williamson provides a superb trades education and truly forms its students to be men of character and skill, men that are highly sought out by businesses across the country. 

It was clear that there was a lot about Williamson that could serve as a model for Harmel Academy, and when Brian visited their campus, he was welcomed with open arms by Williamson’s president, Michael Rounds. 

Mike is a husband, a father, a Catholic, and he came to Williamson College of the Trades after a career in the Army. Since that initial visit, Mike’s become an advocate, mentor, and friend of Harmel Academy and he is our guest today on Working Man.

Today’s guest on Working Man is Mark Albert. Mark is the Editor Emeritus of Modern Machine Shop Magazine, a publication he worked for from 1980 until 2018. In his nearly forty years writing about manufacturing, Mark has seen some tremendous changes in technology and technique, but he’s also had a lot of time to discover the deep meaning of what it means to make things.

On today’s episode, we talk about how Star Wars, in its small way, has helped to perpetuate stereotypes about manufacturing, how modern manufacturing isn’t what a lot of people think it is, why humility is a key traits for anyone who wants to learn anything,  and what manufacturing can teach us about the nature of the Holy Trinity—yup, you read that last one right. 

Mark is a fascinating guy, and whether you make flanges or firecrackers, manifolds or muffins, he’s going to change the way you think about making stuff.

It’s not uncommon for guys to think about their careers in terms of retirement. Plenty of fellas are out there counting the days until they can leave work behind them and spend their days on the golf course. But our guest today on Working Man — well, you might say he went in the other direction. Craig Leidel is the father of nine who is now the general manager of a historic building restoration company.  But he didn’t enter the trades until he was forty years old after careers in sales and— are you ready?—golf. 

Yes, Craig left a life on the golf course — first as a golf pro and then as a salesman who did a lot of business on the golf course — to enter a career in the skilled trades.

Clearly, you don’t make a move like that without a great deal of thought and introspection, and with Craig, you’re going to find a guy who thinks deeply about the spiritual importance of working with his hands. 

In this episode, we talk about why a healthy spiritual life should include to some degree of working with your hands; how work can offset the challenges of anxiety and an overactive imagination; and why it’s a bad idea to judge dusty people in the grocery store checkout line.

Today’s guest on Working Man is Dr. Nathan Schmiedicke. Nathan is a  farmer who also happens to teach biblical theology at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Seminary in Denton, Nebraska.

In this episode, we talk about what God was up to when he placed man in the garden and gave him dominion over all the earth, and why that question is not simply something  we should ask, but why it is something we ought to live.

Nathan is clearly a guy who has spent many years contemplating and living out that question, and what’s more, he can tell you a ton about what the Holy Scriptures teach us about our vocation to work and how it is related to God’s work in bringing about his kingdom. 

Today’s guest on Working Man is Deacon Dominic Couturier. For 23 years before entering the seminary, Deacon Dominic worked at his family business, Couturier Iron Craft, makers of beautiful, custom stairways and railings. After working as a metal fabricator, project manager, and member of the company’s board of directors, Deacon Dominic discerned a call to apply what he had learned as a working man to the priesthood, and this summer, he will be ordained a priest of the Diocese of Grand Rapids.

In this episode, we talk about why humility is not only a fundamental virtue, but an especially masculine one, and why it is important to learn to tame wild stallions.

If you’re looking to learn how to be excellent to one another, I think you’ll enjoy hearing from the good deacon.

Our guest today on Working Man is Cal Schroder. Cal is a husband, a father, an electrician, and a graduate of Thomas More College. If you want to understand how an integrated human life requires both the work of your hands and the work of the mind, Cal’s the guy to talk to.

In this episode, we talk about Cal’s journey from a liberal arts education to a career in the trades, why discounting the trades and romanticizing them are equal and opposite errors, why work and leisure are not exactly opposites, and what Greek philosophy has to do with running conduit in an apartment building.

Cal’s a thoughtful guy with a real balanced and nuanced view of the good life, and I think you’re going to like this one.

In this episode, we reference Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Joseph Pieper, an excellent reflection on the difference between a ‘totalitarian’ view of work, and a truer, healthier view of work and leisure.

We also reference Cal’s article, “Toward a Rehabilitation of Uselessness.”

Don’t forget to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform, to check us out at HarmelAcademy.org, and to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Thanks for listening!

The music in this episode is “The Grind” by Justin Mahar, “I Feel Like Partying Right Now” by Nat Keefe and Beat Mower,  and “I’ll Follow You” by Density and Time.