FINDING GOD ON PARK STREET

Bonus Episode: Meet the Hosts

• Grace Klise, STM Assistant Chaplain • Season 2 • Episode 0

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Join our hosts, Assistant Chaplain Grace Klise, Mary Margaret Schroeder '24, and Zach Moynihan '25, as they share more about their own lives, relationships with one another, and faith journeys on this special bonus episode. Although you've heard them on the mics with our guests, tune in to learn more about the people who are bringing Finding God on Park Street to life. Hear more about their academic interests, paths to Yale, and behind-the-scenes podcast insights in this lively, dynamic conversation. 

Although inviting members of the Saint Thomas More community into the studio is always enjoyable, an episode getting to know the show's hosts won’t disappoint.  You'll get a taste of the joy of our students and the infectious energy present within STM's Golden Center as both staff and students, alike, seek to grow in faith and love together. 

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Grace Klise:

This is a podcast from St Thomas More, Yale's Catholic Chaplain Center. I'm your host, Grace Klise, with both my student co-hosts today, Mary Margaret Schroeder and Zach Moynihan. Thanks for joining us for this bonus episode of Finding God on Park Street. Our episode today is a little different. For the first time, I am in the studio with not one, but two stellar student co-hosts. Although I'm lucky enough to see Mary Margaret and Zach often at St Thomas More and around campus, I know that many of our listeners have been curious to learn more about these two young people who help make this podcast happen. Their contagious joy and seeking hearts shine through in this conversation. We hope that this bonus episode helps you get to know the people behind the mics a little bit better. So, as always, let's dive in.

Zach Moynihan:

I've only heard you over the airwaves.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

So true.

Zach Moynihan:

But now I get to see you in person.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

And I get to hear you in real life and see you in person.

Grace Klise:

Do you guys have a favorite episode of Finding God on Park Street?

Zach Moynihan:

I'm a Katie Painter fanatic.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

I am also part of that fan club.

Zach Moynihan:

But as it relates to a conversation that I had, I absolutely loved our conversation with April last season. As a neuroscience person, I think a lot of what she said was really relevant to what I do and what I think about in terms of what I study and what I believe, my faith, life. It all sort of came together in new ways when I talked to her and we also just got a lot of really vulnerable experiences from her talking about some of her stories, especially as it relates to Alternative Spring Break, which I also participated in. So I thought that was a great conversation to talk to somebody that I'd seen a lot around STM but never had the chance to actually have a one-on-one conversation with.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

I like that. Grace was there one that you think about still?

Grace Klise:

Just as we're talking now, I'm having flashbacks to all the different interviews from season one and now that we have season two rolling as well. But the one with Father Ryan was really fun to kick off the season and the podcast and to hear some new stories from him and to have a chance to hear some reflections from him about being our chaplain. So that was just, it was fun to see him in a different environment as well. Father Pat, Maureen Long, Kathleen Cooney there are so many, so many great ones. Did you have a favorite?

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

It's hard to pick a favorite, but I loved Father Pat. He was just, yeah, he was awesome. It was great chatting with him and I loved his reflections on the Holy Cross mission and the different constitutions, especially on suffering. I think about those often and that's something that he would talk quite a bit about at Daily Mass, but it was nice to hear him unpack it a little bit more. And it's fun because whenever I'm going through and working on the transcription of the episodes, I get to listen to them so many times over and every five seconds I'm going back and listening to it again. So I feel like every time I was listening to any of the episodes in the first season, it was a very prayerful experience. It was almost like some Lectio Divina going back and forth and obviously not with Scripture, but hearing some of their reflection so many times you let it sit with you and get something new each time.

Grace Klise:

Yeah, I feel similarly about the editing process before we get to your step, all the kind of behind- the- scenes things that we're doing to get those podcasts out to the community. But it's fun today to sit down, the three of us, and chat a little bit more about our hosts. We were saying we are on the other side of the microphone today and we're still in the same spot we usually are.

Grace Klise:

But now we don't have a guest with us, so just have the hosts of Finding God on Park Street. So how did you two meet? Because you are different years. I remember meeting both of you, but I don't know when you two met one another.

Zach Moynihan:

We met all thanks to Mary Margaret.

Zach Moynihan:

I don't remember a whole lot from those first couple of weeks at Yale because it's such a whirlwind, but something I do remember is going to the ice cream social, meeting Mary Margaret in person.

Zach Moynihan:

And then she followed up a couple days later and asked me to breakfast in Silliman. And so we had this one breakfast in Silliman and I was taken a little bit of back because I was so new and I hadn't really met anyone anyone older than me because I was talking to so many first- years at the time. And then here was this sophomore from STM coming out of the woodworks to welcome me into the space, and so it was thanks to her initiative that we first met and then over the course of that year, we started seeing each other here and there at STM. But I think it wasn't really until we both joined the Undergrad Council in the spring semester that we started seeing each other on a more frequent basis and slowly became friends, along with our other two close compatriots, Jose and Deirdre, and it was a combination of serving on the Undergrad Council, going to events at STM and also singing in the choir that I think really brought us together over time.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I remember that first breakfast and just thinking, gosh, Zach is such a joy. I need more of him. Like he's just so fun to be around such a light. So we had a lot of fun. I love that you just continued to come wherever I was dragging you around. I would just shoot you a text whenever I had something and wanted a buddy, you were always up for it. We play pickleball now every week with an 80-year-old named Saddam, who is very fun, very fiery.

Zach Moynihan:

And very competitive.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Very competitive.

Zach Moynihan:

He's more skilled than any any of us.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Yeah, he's really impressive. He can move around the court despite any physical limitations, so we have a lot of fun doing that and Zach was very game for it, and he's always up for all sorts of shenanigans.

Zach Moynihan:

I really do thank Mary Margaret for a lot of the new things that I discovered at Yale, whether it was singing, because I had sung recreationally before coming to Yale, but joining the choir was a brand new thing for me. Playing pickleball was a brand new thing for me, even things like getting into Adoration on a more consistent basis. I thank Mary Margaret a lot for guiding me all these years and I'm so excited to continue to share some of that with the new students that we get every year.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Oh, that's very sweet, Zach.

Grace Klise:

Including hosting a podcast.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Absolutely, that's so true, we get to share so many things together.

Zach Moynihan:

I know I'm surprised you're not sick of me yet.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

No, I could never, Zach.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Grace, I remember the first time I met you. I don't know if you remember this quite as vividly, but I remember this especially because I have notes on in Google Doc about this first meeting. Because the first time I met Grace was when we were interviewing for a new assistant chaplain at STM and we had two undergrad students who got to be part of the interviews, which was really cool. So I was sitting in these Zoom rooms because it was during COVID with another undergrad and a bunch of STM staff people and a few others were involved in this process and we'd be on Zoom for hours at a time and we got to be part of the interviews. But I think there were like maybe seven or eight candidates that we met on Zoom and it was kind of an exhausting day when we would be back and forth in all of these. And I remember we'd have, like Grace is coming up and we'd always do like a little quick, in good faith, a Google search, find out a little background information, because we were in charge of crafting questions. And it was actually-- I don't know how much of this I'm supposed to share-- kind of scripted to the point where we have to submit our questions ahead of time and we were told like different questions that we might be encouraged to ask during this. So we were all like all prepared.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

I looked Grace up. I was like, oh, she seems really cool and I read a few articles that she wrote that she's a beautiful writer. So I was like, oh gosh, she's going to be a cool lady. And then she pops on the Zoom and within like I think it was merely seconds and our Google doc was suddenly just at first a list of questions for what we should ask Grace.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

I was sharing Google doc with the other undergrad and then in, like all caps, "this is our new assistant chaplain. And we knew like immediately because Grace is the best person ever that she was going to be the one for the job. And we were so thrilled when that happened and it was the easiest decision. I mean not that I had much weight in this decision, but if I had, if they had told me that this is all up to you, it would have been the easiest decision I ever made in my life. And it was such a fun thing to then meet Grace in person and be like, oh my gosh, I've only ever met you over a Zoom screen. And it's been even more pleasant in person.

Grace Klise:

When you started talking, I was thinking about the first time we met, and I guess it wasn't the first time we met, the first time we hung out, but it also was on Zoom that summer, before I moved to New Haven and you invited me to, I think we played Scattergories or something.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Yeah, we played Scattergories. I love Scattergories.

Grace Klise:

I do too, so that was what I was thinking of, and then it was you're right, months earlier, as I was interviewing.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Oh that was fun. I remember being so nervous that you were going to be really either like weirded out that I was asking to play Scattergories or just like wouldn't say yes. So when I emailed you about this, I attached one of my favorite memes. I don't know if you remember it.

Grace Klise:

I do not remember that.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

It was a meme of the rough seas and it's one of the apostles drowning and saying "Jesus, I'm drowning" and Jesus saying, hi, drowning I'm Jesus and I thought that's what like, wooed you over. I was like, yes, Grace, agreed.

Grace Klise:

Oh, thank you. We're going to have to think next year when we're making our coop, because Mary Margaret always cleans up our coop before we send it out and adds a meme and some other pretty stuff, and I know next year we'll we need your stash of memes.

Grace Klise:

So what are both of you studying here at Yale?

Zach Moynihan:

I study neuroscience, which I applied to Yale as, and I'm surprised that I stuck with it, because when I got to Yale I was in somewhat of a crisis mode, trying to figure out what I wanted to settle into. But I guess neuroscience was always that deep interest that I've continued to come back to and even pursue outside of the classroom. In addition to that, I have the certificate in French, which I got after taking a few classes and studying abroad one summer, and I'm now pursuing a certificate in education studies, which I decided to do after taking foundations in d studies my sophomore year. I fell in love with the program, all the people, and I've had some of my most formative experiences in education studies here at Yale, whether it relates to informing my role as a tutor outside the classroom or allowing me to think more deeply about my experience as a Yale student. As a college student more broadly. It's added such a richness to the otherwise really heavily science curriculum that I've followed here.

Zach Moynihan:

I've had a very well-rounded experience academically and I have needed that desperately over the last two and a half years or so.

Grace Klise:

It's such a neat combination education, neuroscience and French.

Zach Moynihan:

And one of the reasons why I chose neuroscience in the first place was because I was indecisive and neuroscience had always seemed to me like strictly interdisciplinary, whether it relates to psychology or linguistics, philosophy, biology, and it was the combination of all these things that really stood out to me and I've been able to pursue all of those different fields in my various classes and whatnot. And Mary Mark is also very much into the brain as well. Could you tell us more about that?

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

I'd be happy to Zach. Yeah, first off, I'm very impressed that you came in as an intended neuroscience major. One of my tour guide fun facts is that over 50% of Yale students who come in with an intended major switch it before they declare their major. So the odds were against you in that sense.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

And you prevailed. You did a great job. Yeah, I didn't even really understand what the like. bviously I'd heard of neuroscience before I had. My interest had been piqued during a health class in I think it was 10th grade when I was in high school and my teacher said you guys can write a, e had to write like a newsletter. It can be on any topic, anything at all, it has to be like relatively related to health. And I was like sure, like I'll do this.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

And I came across, I don't know how, this study and it was like the foundational study for what they called this new field of neuro- theology, where they were using fMRI to examine parts of the brain that activate while people are engaged in any sort of prayer or spiritual practices or meditation, and they got a bunch of monks and priests and lay people and nonreligious people into these fMRIs. Can you say what fMRIs are? So they're these like big, like scanners, so you slide in there and it measures the activity of your brain. So, whereas an x-ray, which is a similar size machine, like a big thing like that that you're laying on, is going to look at the like bones that you have there, this is lighting up regions in your brain and it can show connectivity and like what is activating and what is not active during certain processes. So a lot of studies will have participants in an fMRI, like in my research lab, will have our participants sometimes looking at things or trying to like simulate some sort of emotion. We'll show them something really happy or really sad and see what their brain is doing. So they had all these people in there and had them either pray or not pray and the results were just fascinating to me.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

So I was first interested that way. But I did not know much about neuroscience or the field and definitely not enough to know that I was going to come in here and study that eventually. So I came in undecided but I knew I wanted to stay probably in a STEM- related field. I like had that problem in high school where I loved every single class so much. So I knew it was going to be difficult to land on a major. But I happened to take an intro psychology class and intro neuroscience class in my first year and totally fell in love with them. So that was a pretty easy choice for me. I'm doing my BS in psychology with a neuroscience focus, so I work in a neuro lab and my thesis is in neuroscience, and then, similarly, I'm also doing a certificate, and mine is in Spanish. So I'm in my very last class for my certificate right now, which is exciting. So we're getting there and my Spanish, I think, is getting a little bit better, and we'll see.

Grace Klise:

An d also have an interest in education too. So lots of points at connection between what you're studying.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Yeah, I just want to be Zach. Basically, that's what it is, I'm just following him.

Zach Moynihan:

I didn't even really reflect on all of this, because I forgot that you were also pursuing Spanish and that after graduation you'll be going into education as well.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Oh, my gosh we're like the same person.

Zach Moynihan:

I never overlaid our interests quite explicitly like this.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

And we're both in a quartet and we both play pickleball.

Zach Moynihan:

It's getting concerning Grace Klise: And you're both Catholic!

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

And we're both Catholic and we're both cousins.

Zach Moynihan:

N ot true. Mary Margaret Schroeder: We could pass as cousins. Zach Moynihan: We could.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Both Irish, both very Irish.

Grace Klise:

It does seem like at Yale it is possible to study a variety of majors and subject areas and dive really deeply into different fields and then kind of see how they come together. I've just talked with students who are doing a thesis that involves many different of their academic interests in a really neat way. So is that something you found here at Yale, among your peers too, that you can study whatever you want.

Zach Moynihan:

It's one of those things that they put in all of the admissions pamphlets and it ends up being true.

Zach Moynihan:

It ends up being true. It's certainly been the case for me. I've had just enough space in my schedule to be able to fit in all of these interests, thankfully, and I have so many friends who do the same thing, whether it's a double major, a major with a certificate, these other different fellowship programs that you can do, and then also, as it relates to how do you spend your time outside of the classroom as well, some people get into the idea that the only interests you can possibly pursue are within a classroom. But here at Yale, whether it's working in a lab or in some other extracurricular, I get astonished by just the breadth of interests that people have, even performances and dance groups and singing as well. Just, I don't know all of these things that people do. It really does impress me.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Yeah, it's cool how, at Yale, within the 36 credits that you need to graduate, you have just as many classes that are total freebies-- you can decide whatever you'd like to study with them-- as you do for your major and your distributionals. So there's so much flexibility within that schedule-- and I'll prevent myself from going to tour guidey and explaining that more-- but it's cool to have so many options there. And, Grace, I know you studied so many things in college. You were studying theology and Spanish and was your minor education? Can you tell us about that and give us like a peek into what Grace Carroll, Grace Carroll Klise when she was about 20 years old, what was she like?

Grace Klise:

I had no idea what I wanted to do. So you both have been, I think, much more intentional and thoughtful in pursuing your academic interests and I was really just taking classes of things that I liked and I studied abroad, in Spain. So that put me pretty far ahead on the track for the Spanish major. So I continued to pursue it. Theology I never foresaw that being part of my daily life, let alone my major in college. But I remember my spring semester of my first year.

Grace Klise:

I had gone to Catholic school up until college and in college I went to a Catholic university but I didn't have a theology course that spring semester and I remember really missing it. I had had one my first semester of college, and I think it was when course selection time came around and I was so excited about the various theology offerings that I just started taking one class a semester and I kind of thought, well, I'm just going to do this because I want to grow in my own faith life and these classes, not only academically, are very interesting to me, but I am interested personally for my own faith life. And then again that just kind of cascaded into a major and then, you know, many years later realized I wanted to go back to grad school and study theology. So God had a plan, for sure, I did not have a plan, though which was-- usually I had a plan for most things but it was probably a good lesson for me as a 20- year- old to learn that some things are out of our control and it still works out, just trusting God and making the best decision in the moment and ultimately, I think there can be a lot of pressure for undergrads to choose a major and think that that major is going to dictate everything in your future, but there is so much flexibility, especially studying at a liberal arts university, that you can,

Grace Klise:

You can pivot and you can pick up new interests and go to grad school for something else, which I see among our grad students too, who, yes, maybe their academic interests are more focused at this point in their professional lives and student lives, but they also get involved in so many different things. So we see that at STM and then in their advocacy and volunteer work outside of STM in the community as well. So it's just it's neat to-- I love being in a, on a college campus, part of a university, where people's various interests are honored and encouraged and there are ample opportunities to pursue those.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Yeah, gosh, can you give us a little peek into how you got to an assistant chaplain role? You gave us a little sneak peek about studying theology and how you didn't realize that was something that would become a big part of your life. Obviously, it has become a massive part of your life. What were some like more pivotal points of discernment for you from where you were in college to where you are now at STM?

Grace Klise:

Yes for the full, for the full story, email me and we can get coffee. But the spark notes version is that I was teaching after college and had always been interested in education since I was very little and I, in college, I thought maybe I would go into administration or policy work and I realized that I just loved the question, the questions around student formation and how are our students being formed? What elements were at play there? What role did formation have in the classroom, in the, in the content area that we were teaching, but also in what was happening on the soccer field in the chapel?

Grace Klise:

I was teaching at a Catholic high school and for those couple years after college the high school was at we totally revamped the campus ministry team and did a lot more focusing on student formation and I just loved it. That was kind of what I stayed up late thinking about and planning for and I was also teaching one theology course that was added to my schedule the week school started, and that was the one that tripped me up the most that I would finish class with a sticky note full of things that I needed to look up.

Grace Klise:

So, even though I had majored in theology again in college, it was kind of just for my own personal interest. The decision to go get my Master's of Divinity was really because I had a lot of questions about the faith from the angle of how do I share this with others in a more intentional way, especially with young people in a school setting? So went back, got my MDiv and during that time worked with a lot of college students, loved it and ended up at St Thomas More when there was an opening to work with our undergrads specifically. So that's kind of the spark notes of this version. But yeah, if you're listening and you want to hear more, just send me an email.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

We are so glad you're here.

Zach Moynihan:

I highly encourage everyone listening to send Grace an email. Please get coffee with Grace. One of my first chats with Grace was over coffee and we were just chatting about where we grew up, because we're both from New England and some of our interests, some aspects of our faith life, and over time Grace has become such a great mentor for me and I think that's so important, especially in the college setting when your faith has to take on a new personal valence, a new intentionality on your part in order to keep it going and enrich it. And I came into college really wondering what form my faith life would take. I knew I wanted to be involved at STM. I knew I wanted to be involved with the undergrad council because I had been involved in Catholic ministry all throughout high school.

Zach Moynihan:

I'd gone through to a Catholic school K to 8 and it was just such an automatic part of my life. But over time I didn't know how integrated it was going to become with all the other aspects of my life as it relates to friendships, interests outside the classroom-- connected to my interest in service and community engagement, even going to all the events we have at STM, participating in an Alternative Spring Break trip. I never knew that it was going to be such an integral part of my time here at Yale. I knew it would be part of it, but I didn't know it would be so profound. And, Grace, we've been at Yale the same amount of time now, I know.

Zach Moynihan:

How has it been for you? What's your favorite part about working with undergrads and did you ever imagine yourself in the pod booth in this setting when you first arrived as assistant chaplain?

Grace Klise:

No, but that maybe is one of my favorite things about working with students is your creativity and your willingness to just throw out ideas. And I'm such a pragmatist that sometimes I'm like, I see all the things that we first have to overcome before we can pursue that fully. But I love them and they are, I think about them and then I come back the next day and I think, okay, how could we make this work? So the podcast was something like that Mary Margaret and I had had conversations about it and sometimes would exchange podcasts we were listening to and we probably talked about it for a good six months before it really started rolling and then it took, you know, a few more months after that to get here into the studio.

Grace Klise:

But just the creativity, the wit, the energy, the excitement for learning, not only academically but also learning about ourselves, learning about our faith, learning about our Church that I encounter every day is the best, and I love the ways in which STM becomes a home for students while they're here and after too. But most of my conversations with students aren't actually about theological issues, it's just about their lives and, again, it's very much integrated, which is the beauty of our faith and the truths of our faith, that it is this guiding light for how to live our lives, and to live in a way that is free and leads to our own flourishing and the flourishing of the people around us too. So STM in and of itself becomes a very integrated home. I hope and I pray and that's what I'm working for each day for our students as well as for our staff too. We're bringing all of ourselves to the center as well. And you're right, Zach.

Grace Klise:

It's like I'm a junior, so I feel like there's a lot I know, but there's still a lot I don't know that I'm still learning. I don't know if you feel that way. I haven't graduated yet.

Zach Moynihan:

I'm learning something new every day. Yes, that's the best part.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Yesterday on my Zoom call with my ESTEEM mentor, Chris, who's amazing. We had one of our discussion questions. She was like, "who is a role model in your faith, who lives authentically and you look up to? And I just couldn't stop talking about how awesome Grace is and she listened to this whole spiel and I just kept going on. I genuinely think I talked for 10 minutes and I finally took a breath and she's like "Mary Margaret, two things. And I was like yeah, Chris, I hang on to every word she says. I'm ready to write it down. She's like, first of all, you're very blessed and I was like I'm aware of that. I'm so incredibly blessed to have Grace. We all are. And she's like second of all, I hope Grace knows how incredible she is, because we all feel it. I don't even know how much you've interacted with Chris, but yeah, it extends everywhere. I feel like the whole, all of STM. As the only one at this table who has been at STM longer than the longest! Zach Moynihan: Yes, you're the veteran of the day.

Grace Klise:

You are the veteran.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

I think both you, Grace, and Zach, have really transformed the whole culture of STM, and STM has always been amazing, but it's really cool seeing how much light the two of you bring to the Golden Center. You make it golden, make it shine.

Grace Klise:

It is a very special place. So we're happy to call it home. Should we wrap up here with our final podcast question?

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

I wish we didn't have to, but I think we're at time.

Zach Moynihan:

And listeners" If you really have enjoyed this episode of the podcast, we would be happy to record a second installment of getting to know your hosts.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

We would love to share more. Get to know your hosts part two, part three, up to part 40. As far as we'll go, top 40 episodes.

Grace Klise:

OK, Zach, you said you had an answer ready for this. Where have you been finding God recently?

Zach Moynihan:

I've been finding God recently in the Rosary and it's not something that I was ever expecting because, as I said, I went to a Catholic school. We practiced all the rituals of our faith and I have a distinct memory of sitting down, I was in kindergarten and sitting down with my eighth- grade buddy. At the time there was a pairing system and we would pray the Rosary as a group and as a kindergartner that is a difficult thing to do to sit, to sit through all of the repetitions. Now, as an older person who's not a kindergartner anymore, I found such beauty in the practice and I've always, I've had success meditating and I've really enjoyed integrating everything I've loved about meditation into a prayer practice, because for me, prayer is at its best when I feel most meditative and calm. And I think the repetition is something that's so important to me.

Zach Moynihan:

And the thing about the Rosary is it takes together so many fundamental aspects of our faith. We have the Apostles Creed at the very beginning. We have repetitions of the Hail Mary, the Our Father, Glory Be, Hail Holy Queen. All of these things that are so foundational, and I also, I also just love how structured it is, too, and I have these amazing rosary beads that I got during my Confirmation process from from the teacher of the program that I hold on to and carry with me wherever I go. And, yeah, so that's where I've been finding God and, of course, the Blessed Mother recently, and I hope to continue that practice as much as possible. I was talking to Katie Painter, whom I mentioned earlier in the podcast, and she was telling me how, during Lent, which is where we are now, she would pray a Rosary every day of Lent and think about one person in her life that she wanted to pray for and reflect on, and I think that's that's something that, ideally, I would like to do too and incorporate more fully into my daily prayer routine.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

That's beautiful. Love the rosary, can't get enough. I would say-- I'm going to pick two, which my family if they listen to this, is going to make fun of me for because at the dinner table growing up I could never pick one favorite thing. But I'll make them quick.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

My first, my first place of finding God recently, and this one's a little bit basic, but in Adoration. I love Adoration so much and every time I'm there with the Blessed Sacrament I just feel God so present. And I'm not usually a fan of silence until I'm sitting in Adoration and I just want it to be so quiet and, yeah, I just I like tear up even thinking about it, thinking about how beautiful it is to be able to sit there in Adoration and pray with Jesus. And I'd say the second way I've been recently been finding God would be with my Catechesis of the Good Shepherd children. I've got Level Two children, so they're around six to eight years old and they are the sweetest kids and it is such a joy that I get to spend an hour and a half with them every week and they teach me so much more about the faith than I think I could ever teach to them. So they have definitely been a big source of inspiration and just showing me the face of God in the way that they live.

Grace Klise:

Those are so beautiful. Yeah, I love the love, the things that kids say, the silly things and also the profoundly insightful things. For me it has been in feeling my baby kick each day.

Grace Klise:

I'm due with my first in April and just feeling babies kicks and my husband getting to feel the baby's kicks and already just feeling changed by the presence of this new life within me in ways that have made me think about different parts of the Mass differently, and our Lady of Sorrows especially. She has become just someone I've been praying to a lot throughout this pregnancy and trying to imagine the love of a mother who stands at the foot of the cross even amidst her Son's crucifixion and the pain and the faith and the trust that required, and then also in the support of the community who have just rallied around us and are so excited about this new life. It's kind of amazing to already think about how loved this child is.

Grace Klise:

But I'm wearing a dress from Karolina, so people have just been giving me clothes to wear and dropping off bottles and a bassinet and already offering to do meal trains and hosting showers, and just been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for this little life that is still in the womb. But it has really made me recognize the depths of love that put Christ on the cross and relate to the Holy Family in a new way as well. So that's where I've been finding God recently.

Zach Moynihan:

Grace. We are so excited to welcome the newest member of the STM family in just a couple months.

Mary Margaret Schroeder:

Baby Klise. Zach and I have been nonstop rehearsing our music for the baptism of this child and we're ready to step

Zach Moynihan:

Any moment, Grace, if you, we're ready. The drop of a pin. It's a generous yes on our parts.

Grace Klise:

Mary Margaret Schroeder: For sure, with courage and zeal.

Zach Moynihan:

Courage and zeal.

Grace Klise:

Well, this was great, and you two rock, and we will see you next time on Finding God on Park Street. If you enjoyed listening today, please share this episode with a friend or relative and leave us a rating and review. The producer of this podcast is Robin McShane, director of Communications at STM. Sound Mixing and Editing are by Ryan McAvoy of Yale Broadcast Studio, and Graphics are by Mary Lou Cadwell of Cadwell Art Direction. We hope this podcast encourages you to seek God's presence in your everyday life. Thanks for listening and know of our prayers.

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Grace Klise

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