Listen to Father Tony Cecil’s Story of His Priestly Calling!!

Meet One of Our Youngest Pastors and the New Leader of Our Youth Ministry!

Influenced by his father as a young boy, Father Tony shares the signs along the way that led him to priesthood.

 Learn how his Catholic education helped ignite his passion for faith formation in our schools and the empowerment of our youth.

 In his youth ministry work, he’s a leading ambassador for family access to Catholic education across the Archdiocese of Louisville – What could be better!!

 Remember, for all our young Catholic school students and their families, “The Answer is Yes!!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the Catholic Education Foundation podcast number 55. This podcast will feature Father Tony Cecil. He is the pastor of St. Rafield Archangel Parish. And as always, the Catholic Education Foundation president, Mr. Richliner. Gentlemen. Welcome. Thank you. Tony, thank you. Thank you. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here. We've got so many great topics, so many great questions here. Um Rich, this is a great opportunity to highlight a great parish community like St. Rayfil, as well as one of our young, dynamic, awesome priests, Father Tony. Um and it's important work in youth ministry.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

Oh, yeah. And we're uh we're uh a partner with Father Tony in the ministry of the school for sure. And and we'll talk a little bit later in the show about how this sort of a meteoric rise of St. Raphael's school in the last probably six or seven years, it's amazing. And as usual, it's all about great leadership and about dedication to a mission. And um that's right. We're just pleased to be a part of it.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

So, Father Tony, let's start with your early days as a young boy in Hardin County. That's right. Um, I've read that your father was a huge influence in your initial Catholic faith formation.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Yeah. My so I grew up just outside of Elizabeth Town. I was telling you earlier that was the closest Walmart. So that's right. That's where we say we're from. That's right. And um, yeah, so I was raised by a single dad, which is kind of unusual. My mom was always present, but um their marriage ended when I was little. And so um, she was always a part of my life, but I was mostly with my dad, and my dad was Catholic. My mom at the time was not, and so he was very big on, you know, when he grew up out at St. John in Rineyville, their parish and the life of their parish was everything, and so that's kind of how he approached raising me was we were very involved um at St. Benedict and Lebanon Junction is where we started out. Yep, and then um eventually we moved into the big city of Elizabethtown and joined St. James Parish there, which uh became my home parish. So we were just very involved. We were always at church, anything that was going on, we were a part of, and so um that reality of faith was central to who he was, and um yeah, I would say his greatest loves were Jesus and the church. So beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Well, how about your educational journey? So I I know you ended up going to um high school in Nelson County, but that there was some time when you couldn't attend Catholic schools, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Yeah, so I hopped around a little bit. So I started out at St. Benedict and Lebanon Junction, which was a tiny little school. Yep. Uh we shared, you know, a teacher had two grades, one teacher had three grades, we had four classrooms, and our enrollment just kept going down. It's a small town, and so eventually when I was in second grade, they announced that the school would not be continuing. And we were clustered, our parish was clustered with St. Aloysius and Shepherdsville. So I went to school and sat at St. Aloysius for a couple years, which now unfortunately is closed. Right. Uh, but St. Aloysius was just far away, and um it's it doesn't seem that far, but it was far away, and it's hard to make that commute. So after a couple years there, I went to um public schools in the county and I did that for four years for fifth through eighth grade and very much missed what Catholic education offered in terms of community, in terms of faith. Um, I had never been in a school that was not a Catholic school before. And so um that community's different. Community's different, yeah. And because the people are choosing actively to be there rather than this is where you live, so you go there. And uh yeah, so when it came time for high school, I really wanted to go to Bethlehem and Bardstown. And um, the cost was a factor. True. And uh we were just very, very blessed that there were some uh both generous people that help with that, that are part of Bethlehem's community, but also they had a staff that was so dedicated. Our principal said if you want to come here uh before your tagline was out, the answer is yes. He's like, We will figure it out if you want to be a student here. So yeah, I got the great blessing of going back to Catholic school for high school.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

That's fantastic. We were talking earlier, Rich. So I've always called it Bethlehem, but Father Tony says it's technically it's a Bethlehem.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah, like we all say Bethlehem, and nobody nobody knows why it's pronounced Bethlehem, but it technically is a Kentucky thing.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

Well, no, whenever I go to Bargetown and and I used to say it the other way, yeah. Oh yeah, they look at you. They look at you like a 10 the way we say it. Yeah, it's like Louisville, yeah. Louisville, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

You that's not pronounced correct either. Um, all right, Father. So you so your Bethlem experience. Yeah. Um did that start your realization of your calling to the priesthood?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Yeah, in a way, I would say it kind of amped it up. So I being raised by my dad, he came from a generation, I was a surprise, which is a better way of saying accident, I guess. Right. But um, so my dad was older than other kids, my age, parents, and his generation was very much thinking about your vocation and praying about your vocation was a normal thing. Right. So every young man should consider priesthood, every young woman should consider religious life. And so I had thought about it, but I never really took it seriously. Right. Um, once I got to Bethlehem, though, what I found was a place, the culture of that school was so great and that everything was celebrated equally. But it was also, and I I don't know if it's the rural context or just that it's a smaller school, but if you were into your faith and you wanted to dive into that, you could do it. And there was a space for that. And so um seeing the witness of my dad's own faith and then having that space at school where I could dive in and really get to know the faith more, um, not hide that I was thinking about priesthood, not be embarrassed by that, kind of cultivated an environment. And then um, we were blessed with a great chaplain, my senior year, Father Michael Wimsett, who's now he's pastor of my home parish down in Etown. And um, he was my vocation director for a bit. But when I talked to him uh about it, he said, you know, there's you've got nothing to lose, so go to seminary and try it out. So that's what I did. Yeah, because you could always kind of back out if you had to. You can always leave, and the church can always say no, right? So um there's that time of discernment, and so I think Bethlehem though created a really good environment for that and and to teach me about a good healthy community because that's what it is. Yeah, it's a beautiful community there. It really is. Yeah, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

So I I'm gonna jump around you a little bit here, but you're you're you applied to seminary at the age of 17. Yeah. I mean, that's that's kind of unheard of, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Yeah, yeah. We were we were very much uh a school like Bethlehem is proudly a college prep school, like all of our high schools, and so you had to think about what was next. And so for me, um, it was really that encouragement from Father Michael that the seminary that I was going to go to if I were to be accepted was at a university. So it really was like there is absolutely nothing to lose because if I love the university and discern that priesthood isn't it, all I do is move out of the seminary and into a dorm or transfer to a different school. So it was really um, yeah, just going to see Archbishop Kurtz would say all the time that you you don't go to seminary to become a priest, that eventually may happen, but you really go to figure out and discern if that's what God wants. So yeah, I think I just had an environment where it felt reasonable to do that and to to go for it at a at a younger age. So yeah, I was accepted right after I graduated. I turned 18 at the end of my senior year of high school and then um was accepted. It was funny, they like announced at the school I was going to seminary, and I was like, I haven't been accepted yet. So um, but yeah, so then that fall I went to seminary.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

But that was uh Marion University in Indy, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Yeah, so Marion University in Indianapolis is a Franciscan university. I would say small, it's like doubled in size since I've been it's gotten a lot bigger. It's gotten a lot bigger, and about a mile down the road was the seminary building. We started on campus but kept outgrowing the spaces. So about a mile down the road is a former Carmelite monastery that the seminary is housed in and still there today.

SPEAKER_03 9:03

Were there a lot of men studying with you at the time at Marion?

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Yeah, so we had um the seminary was really at its height then. The number has dipped a little bit, but it's starting to climb back up. We were at our largest at about 50, um, which Archbishop Daniel B. Klein from Indianapolis founded us, and he wanted it to be no bigger than that. So the we even added on to the building and we added on intentionally so that it couldn't really be bigger than 50. Wow, because for him, he was a Benedictine monk and community that we've kept talking about is really important. And so having that small community where the guys could really get to know each other um and not stay at a surface level friendship was really important to him. So it's awesome, it really is.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

So, father, what what was your seminary experience like? Did the did the calling for priesthood become more apparent, or was it kind of you just knew the whole time?

SPEAKER_00 10:01

I would say it became clearer. Um, when I went in, it was I just want to see what this is like. A lot of people compare it to dating, like you date someone to get to know them, you go to to seminary, or for young men or women exploring religious life, you visit the community to get to know what it's like. And we had different experiences. We had the academics, but we also had ministry assignments. We had a lot of things to really show us what this life would look like. And yeah, it just became clearer and clearer to me that that this is what God was calling me to, but also there's the seminary faculty, there's the your ministry supervisors who are also challenging you to grow and saying this is what you need to work on, but also affirming, yeah, it looks like you're that you're on the right track. Right. So yeah, it was a it was a beautiful experience.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Well, speaking of that track, so in 2019, you were or ordained by Archbishop Kurtz. Um and at the time you were the youngest priest priest in the archdiocese. I mean, that had to be exciting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

So I was ordained at, I think I was 26, and uh I held that crown for five years. Oh wow. And uh we ordained more men after me, but they were older than me. So I uh I passed that crown to Father Michael Schultz, who I think might still be the youngest priest currently. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

That would make sense. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, does that being the youngest priest? Um I I'm involved a little bit in the in the priest variety show. Oh, yeah. And we have a really hard time getting younger priests involved in that. And they they feel kind of intimidated by some of the older priests a little bit. Were you ever intimidated or were you welcomed into the commun, into the kind of the fraternity, so to speak?

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Yeah, I would say I felt very much welcomed in. I think um the unique thing with the younger priests is you know, the pastor I was with, I was with a phenomenal pastor, um, Father Andy Hubbard, who's in my first assignment. And he he was an associate pastor for 13 years. I was an associate pastor for three. Your pastor was an associate pastor for one, right? So Father Matthew Millet. Yeah. So the the context that we're in, we're having to step up to responsibilities at a younger age than before. Yeah, understood. And I think sometimes we feel like I love the Office of Mission Advancement and what they're doing, but whenever they ask me, I'm like, oh, I don't know that I could do that. You know, it's just I think it's the honestly, like I think sometimes when you're younger, it can feel you wonder if people take you seriously. So you don't want to give them a reason not to. Yeah, no, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Um, so a couple things about your mom here. So it sounds like there's a twist during your ordination with respect to your mother.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Would you share that with us? Yeah, for sure. So I alluded to earlier, my dad was Catholic, my mom was not, and uh, she was a Baptist, and but she was always part of the church. So um she would always help with a parish picnic. Uh, she was involved in my life. And once I went to the seminary, it was interesting. People would always ask her, um, well, why don't you become Catholic? Your son might end up being a priest. And she was never offended by it, but she never it was just kind of like, well, it's all the same. It doesn't really. So I never really pushed it because I saw her give that answer. And I, you know, she's content, she's happy, I'm not gonna push it. And then um, really, the the tolerable quick version of the story is my best friend was studying, uh, he's a priest of another diocese. He was studying in Rome at the North American College and had a summer where he had to stay in Europe, and I was like, Well, I will definitely come visit you in Europe. That's better than rural Illinois. Oh, yeah. So I went to visit him, and he was a phenomenal tour guide, but I was just exhausted, and so I kind of quit paying attention to where we were going. And we ended up in this church, and I just went to like lay on a slab of marble to cool off. And when we were there, I just got this very strong urge to pray for my mother. And um, so I did, and I felt the Lord speak very clearly uh it's time to ask her to consider becoming Catholic. Interesting, and that you need to do it. And I was like, Oh, I don't know about that. So we were leaving, and I was I was like, I'm not gonna tell a soul this. And my friend was walking with me, and I was like, Where were we just now? And he was like, Oh, we were at the Basilica of St. Augustine, and we were at St. Monica's tomb. Saint Monica is Augustine's mother, and her prayers are why we have Saint Augustine. Um, she prayed him into the faith, and she's a patron saint of mothers. And as we were walking and talking, he said, Yeah, well, I was in there, I really got this urge to pray for your mom. And he said he says that? Yeah, and so I uh just shared with him, and he was like, Oh, I think you need to. So I chickened out and I did a I told my spiritual director about it, and I decided I'm gonna do a novena, which is nine days of prayer, uh, asking the intercession of Saint Therese of Lazou. So, Therese, one of her big things is you ask her for roses for a particular intention. So I was like, all right, if I'm supposed to have this conversation, I want to see yellow roses because those aren't too common. And I'm at a seminary in the middle of nowhere, I'm not gonna see yellow roses. So the last day, or maybe it was the day after the prayer ended, um, we went to CVS in a little town called Ferdinand, the next town over. And a guy was going from the seminary and wanted uh me to go with him. And I grabbed a couple things I needed, and when we get up to the checkout counter, um, the cashier gets out these flowers, and there's this giant bouquet of two dozen yellow roses that they just happen to have there, and they never have flowers there. So I call my spiritual director and he started laughing and was like, we need to have a talk. So um, fast forward to Thanksgiving, I just told my mom all of that and said, I'm it won't, you know, I won't be offended if you say no, but I feel like I have to ask you this question. And she said, Yeah, and I've been thinking about this for a while, and I knew if you asked me, then it's what I was supposed to do.

SPEAKER_03 16:21

There's there's the power of the Holy Spirit. Yeah, that's the Holy Spirit. You can't deny that.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

I just I literally just got chilled. Yeah, seriously. That that story's unbelievable. So then she did preparation uh with one of our Dominican sisters, and then that it was all timing, the Holy Spirit. It wasn't, we weren't forcing anything. Um, she was gonna be ready by the Easter season. So at my first mass, I got to uh confirm her. I got permission from Archbishop Church to do that and give her first holy communion.

SPEAKER_03 16:51

Oh, wow, in his first mass as a priest. Yeah, wow, it's a pretty it's a pretty good ordination. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

All my uh all my first were with my parents. So my um my mom I confirmed and gave first communion to at my first mass, all those firsts, and then my dad was ill at that point, and so he was the first person I gave the anointing of the sick to, and his was the first funeral that I celebrated. Oh my goodness. So a lot of those uh he died about a week after I was ordained. Um, and he had been sick for a while. Yeah, so um that had to be extremely difficult. Yeah, it was, it was, but there was beauty there. Um, that of course you can't see till later, but um, but it was really special that all of those firsts got to be with these people who gave me my life and loved me and helped me wow, you know, growing my faith.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Thank you for sharing all that, Father. That's that's fantastic. Super powerful, it is powerful. Okay, so let's let's um switch gears of the education piece here. So at the ripe age of 28, you were assigned to the pastor of a very large parish here in Louisville, um St. Ray Phil, the Archangel on Barstown Road. Um, what was that like at the beginning and how have you grown in this role? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Um it's a little scary. When I got the phone call, the archbishop wanted me to go there. I was like, what? Because it wasn't on the radar at all.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

And you had not been a pastor at a school yet, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:17

I had been ordained for three years. I was associate pastor at two parishes um that had a lot of life and a lot going on, but they did not have a school. So I was a surprise to get St. Raphael, but it was also um, this is totally new territory having having a school. Right. And I have loved it and I've learned um, I think how I've grown is coming to the realization that I don't have to do everything by myself. Sure. You know, and just having really good leaders around me to help me minister, especially in our school. Our school has an amazing team. And it's good to be able to just trust, I don't know anything about education, like you know. But our parish, this is such an important ministry, and it's just good. We have such a phenomenal our principal, our sister principal, the whole administration, our teachers, they're so good at what they do. Um, and it's been a blessing, yeah, to have to have that because I know my experience, even though it was in high school, um, Catholic education is a big part of of me. And so getting to kind of invest in that in my ministry is a a gift.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Rich St. Rayfield has a is a wonderful school, obviously. Um, but it's seen an an amazing revival over the last several years. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

It's unbelievable. Um a few years back, maybe eight, ten years back, the enrollment really started to fall off for lots of different reasons. And actually, um I think it actually dipped under 200 students, which was sort of alarming given the size of that facility. And several people kind of stepped up to make things happen. Jill Tabor became the principal, Father Shane Duval became the new pastor. It was so it was sort of a a changing of the card, if you will. And um, all of a sudden, you know, it caught fire. And um, next thing you know, it's the 250, then it's 300. Uh, Tony shows up uh today, last fall, this thing hit 474 in enrollment. Okay, so you're at 190, and a few years later you're at 474, which is still not capacity, but that's a big school. Oh, yeah. And for our part, you know, we we play a small part in this, okay. The real part is the leadership of of the pastor and the principal, and and and we're proud to sort of play a part in this. So for example, at at the school last fall we supported uh 147 students with tuition assistance out of 474, it's a decent ratio, and it was the total awards were over three hundred thousand dollars. So we were a sort of a meaningful contributor to families who weren't able to pay the full tuition over there, and sort of and that's what we talk about with all our schools with the combination of access and community. Yeah, you can't beat it. You just can't beat the community. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

So, Father, you kind of hit on it, and you you made the comment you don't know a whole lot about education, and so it sounds like you kind of let let the leaders lead that you put in place. But what's your involvement at at the school level? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Yeah, I would say I'm definitely still involved. I I regularly am meeting with our administration, most especially. I try to get into classrooms as often as I can, which is great. Um, I see them every week at school mass. Um when I find out about things that are going on, if I can make it happen and show up, I'll go. Um, but it is really um a blessing for me to work alongside our administration because that growth really was thanks to good leaders that were there before us and and getting to pick that up. You know, when I started at St. Rafuel, we were at I think about 425 students around there. So in the last four years, we've grown that much and we're projecting to grow next year too. So, and there are a lot of factors to that, but getting to to work with our administration and see I love seeing people in their element. Yeah. Right? You just see them come alive, and our teachers are that way. Yep. When I visit our classrooms, they're so dedicated, and how they just pour their hearts into this is so beautiful. And our school administration, like they are just in their element when they're doing this. And we talk a lot about partnership. Um, but we see ourselves as partnering with families who are the first educators, right? Uh of educating with their children, but we also need partners like CEF. Like, we could not do what we do without you because um I'm very proud of the fact that our school runs a deficit. Like I brag about it because that means we are making it as accessible as we possibly can. Yeah, that's a good point. Great point. Because that's yeah, um, Catholic education started for the poor. And so if we can be as accessible as possible, we have to realize we have to pay a just wage and pay our bills. But if we can be as accessible as possible, that's really, really important to me. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

Yeah, and I think everybody at the school, and actually Amy Fears has been on this podcast uh a year or so ago talking about, and she's sort of a subject matter expert on all the map testing that goes on in the schools that that woman loves her day. Measures measures all the success. She can talk to it and talk about it well too. And uh she's she's done a fantastic job at the school and and um has really contributed to the success of a lot of other teachers and principals throughout the system around how to improve our learning in our schools. And she's she's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Yeah, she's uh a huge blessing. And that was, you know, like you mentioned, Miss Tabor, she was such a great leader and really was one of the driving forces behind that enrollment. And so I was excited to get to work with her. And when she made the decision to step away, I was like, what are we gonna do? And that's just where God provides, you know, exactly who you need when you need them. And and we've seen that over and over again at St. Raphael.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

So recently you've been named the director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of Louisville. Tell us about that new adventure.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Yeah, so um, it's one of the offices in uh the chancery and um big time. Really, yeah. But really, uh they're all of the pastoral ministry offices kind of serve as an extension of Archbishop's ministry, right? In different areas. So we have family ministry, Hispanic ministry, worship. So ours, Youth and Young Adults, covers basically when when the church talks about youth, we we're speaking of middle and high school students. Okay. When the church talks about young adults, I find this really kind of odd. It's 18 to 39. There's a whole lot of life. Ooh, it happens 18 to 39. There's a whole lot of life. But they're in one category together. And so, really, our office, it's myself. I have a phenomenal, amazing associate director, Jonna O'Brien. Our secretary, Morgan Lucas, is great. Um, where we really see our role is supporting parishes. That's what any office at the diocesan level is supposed to do. So, our focus that we've taken is really um helping parishes figure out how to do youth and young adult ministry really well. Um, I was speaking to you earlier. One of the things I'm really proud of, I'm a full-time pastor and I have this role. So I can't get out to our parishes as much as I want. But Jonna um is on the road and she has visited. I would, I'm comfortable saying over 30 parishes since July. And she will come out to your parish. And if you have a youth minister, talk with them about uh what the strengths are and how to how to improve. A lot of our parishes are in a place where they can't afford a youth minister. And so if you've got a core group of volunteers, Jana will come out and she's doing this now with several parishes, and uh basically provide a toolkit and coaching of here's how to do it really, really well. So that's um that's kind of where we've taken our focus. Different offices uh that are the same in different dioceses do things in different ways. And a lot are really heavy on offering a ton of events for young people. And we do have some, like we facilitate the National Catholic Youth Conference. We've that's a big we've we've done some events and we will do some events here, but our main focus is really working with the ministers because our parishes are what it's all about, right? Those are the communities where people are encountering Christ in the sacraments and in their community, it's where they're hearing the word of God proclaimed. And we want to make sure that ministry there is really, really strong.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Yeah. So this engagement with the youth, Father, did this come from your experiences as a as a young student?

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Yeah. Um, you mean how I got I think um sometimes I wonder why did I get asked to do this? I think that's part of it is um I was a very involved teenager. I had some youth ministry experiences in seminary. Right, yeah. Um I served as chaplain of one of our high schools for six years. Um, I was at Sacred Heart Academy. Not not currently. Oh, but you you were at Sacred Heart for six years. I was at Sacred Heart for six years, and I stepped away um to focus on the parish more, and then I got asked to take on this role. So it was actually good because it it allowed me to focus on this new role too. So yeah, I think just having those experiences and being young myself. Um, tomorrow I turn 33. So it's um being technically a young adult myself, I think gives me a lens of of that and what young people are experiencing. Great answer.

SPEAKER_03 28:18

So from your vantage point, is it sort of at the parish level? Do we sort of need to invest more financial resources and human resources into this endeavor? Or how would you gauge that?

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Yeah, it's interesting. I think you I think it's both. Like you need there's a lot of ministry you can do for free or for very low cost, but you need to be willing to invest in it. But really, it's people. Um, there are a lot of studies that show um the religious practices of young people. And overall, uh what we say a lot is what the research shows that every young person needs five adults who are investing in their faith and witnessing their faith to them. And the studies also show if if both parents are really engaged in their faith, that really only counts as one adult. So they still need all of these other adults, and that's where our Catholic schools come in because where else are they encountering adults? It's gonna be their teachers, it's gonna be their school administrators, it's gonna be their coaches, right, and their sport programs. That's where it clicks. That is where it is.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

It's not just mom and dad, although they're a big piece of the puzzle, right? And it's all these mentors, counselors, coaches, your favorite teacher, all these people play a role in your life. It's just unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

And that's what it's it's not just mom and dad, it is these other adults, but it is also mom and dad. Right. Like that's right. I think a lot of times of the parents I talk to will say, Well, my kid doesn't want to talk about faith with me. They don't want to, well, all of the data suggests otherwise. The kids want to hear and see the witness of their parents' faith. And I think one thing the church needs to work on that our office is thinking about a lot right now is how can we help parents have conversations about faith with their children, with their teenagers? How can we help parents pray as a family? And I think a lot of it is I don't think it's that they don't want to. I think a lot of times they're not quite sure how. Yeah. And um, if if the church can help bridge that gap, I think that's a a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

Yeah, and I think I think it really begins, it sort of begins and ends with prayer in the home. Yeah. Whether that's at a meal at the end of the day, and there's all kinds of opportunities, but if you can foster that tradition in your own home when they're very young, yeah, it's incredibly powerful.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Yeah. And you don't have to make it up. Um, one of our monks at St. Minor used to say that all the time like, we're Catholics, we don't have to make anything up. There's so many resources, even in tech, like the um the Hallow app, right? Like I have a lot of families in our parish that they listen to the readings of the day and a reflection and then talk about it as a family. And it's that they didn't have to make anything up, they just hit play, listen, and then talked.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Yeah, there's a ton of resources in tech. You know, we mentioned coaches. I've been honored to be a confirmation sponsor the last few years for for kids that I've coached in basketball. It's just, you know, it's it's a cool, you know, that and that's where that's where this comes from. Yeah, for sure. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And so when you said the five adults, I'm sitting here thinking, man, I've been one of those people.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

Yeah, you've been one of those adults for for those.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

But you know, that's something you can't take lightly either. Yeah. That's fantastic. Um, so Father, it seems like the the pipeline of young men studying for priesthood is growing in the Archises of Louisville. Uh, how do you how do you see that evolving over time?

SPEAKER_00 31:44

Yeah, that's a great question. When I entered seminary, there were 18 of us, and that was the highest it had been in years, and then it kind of went down a little bit as guys were ordained and kind of not replaced. Now it's climbing. I think we're at 23 or 25. It's in the 20s. It's in the mid-20s. And I think that number's gonna go up, and I think it's just talking about it. I think we've seen a great improvement. Um, Father Martin Lineback, our current vocation director, has made a lot of strides in getting people talking about vocations and and really considering it. Yep. And I think too, you know, we're about to have um he's retired and we're about to have Father Stephen Reeves and Father Matt Millet your pastor. Another plug for Father Matthew. Yeah, he's he's gonna kill it. He's gonna be fantastic in that role. Sharing that role. And I think um I think it's I think we're gonna continue to see growth. I young people today are more open to faith than any generation prior. All of the data shows that, and there are a million factors we could talk about all day that go into that, but I think that's naturally a part of it, is as they're encountering Christ, they're also wondering, what do I do with this? That doesn't mean that every man that's into his faith is going to become a priest or should, right? Right. Because we need good fathers and husbands, and not every young woman who's into her faith is gonna run off to a convent. We need it all. That is the church. Sure. And um, I think we're just gonna keep seeing it grow, which is a beautiful thing, and I think the leadership has been and is gonna keep being really, really good there.

SPEAKER_03 33:19

Yeah, I would say hats off to Father Martin Lineback, who's a very good friend of his family. He's been fantastic, fantastic guy who really took the latter part of his career, he's retiring uh this summer and really put his all into it.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

He has, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:33

And and and the results show.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:36

So uh God bless him for his great works. Yeah. And the two the two folks that are coming in behind him bring, I think, a different perspective, a different way of doing it, if you will, that I think uh kind of complements his work. Yeah, for sure. And I think I think you're right. I think things get better. They don't, they're not the same, they're gonna get better.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

Yeah, yeah, there's a great foundation there, and then and the the new leadership's gonna do fantastic. Um, father, last question. Yeah. Um, in your role as a priest, you're often called upon to provide support in times of great personal loss, grief, stress uh that people encounter in their lives. How do you maintain the courage and the commitment to serve this crucial role?

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, we have that in our own community. Rich and I were talking about that just last week, a young person that very sadly passed away. I think it's um I think the biggest thing is getting out of the Lord's way and letting him speak through you and use you as your instrument. And that's something that we're all called to. Yeah. And in our ministry to one another and our relationships with one another. Um I think yeah, it's just asking for the gift to be truly present. It's easy to get caught up in what do I have to do next, or I'm worried about this conversation I had this morning. But really grounding yourself and asking the Lord for the gift of being present to people when they're in front of you. And um yeah, just praying, letting the Lord speak. Um and being comfortable saying the I think in ministry in general, one of the biggest gifts to me was the realization that advice I got to admit what I don't know. And whether that's someone asked me a finance question, I don't know. Let me ask my business manager. Someone asked me a question, but I don't know this about the school. Let me ask my principal. But the same is true when people have, like, you know, in the I said last week of that funeral, I don't know why this happened, and I don't know what to say. And we have to sit in that mystery. Yeah. And I think it's it's just being willing to do that. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

Yeah. Father, you need your own podcast. I think people would listen. On behalf of everyone at the foundation, thank you, Father, for for your lifelong commitment to our church and your great works that impact the lives of so many people. And Rich, as every Catholic school family in need now knows at the Catholic Education Foundation.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

The answer is yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

Father, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 36:18

Thank you for the show. Appreciate it very much.