Peace, Points, and a Prophet's Reward, with Wimbledon tennis competitor Caroline Dolehide

Bishop Wall, Fr. Masters, and Mike Sweeney welcome guest Caroline Dolehide for a conversation on how to maintain faith and mental fortitude while competing at the highest athletic levels.

Links:
https://www.carolinedolehide.com/donate

Theme song: "Rock Star" by John Ehrich. Used with permission.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

No Tepe, welcome everyone to episode 38 of Virtual Alto, our Faith and Sports podcast. My name is Father Burke Masters, pastor at St. Isaac Jokes Church in Hinsdale, Illinois, and Catholic chaplain for the Chicago Cubs.

SPEAKER_04 0:20

Bishop James Wall, I'm the Bishop of the Diocese of Gallup, located in the beautiful states of Arizona and New Mexico.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

And Mike Sweeney, former Major League Baseball player, back home in my studio in San Diego, California. Proud Catholic husband and proud father.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the joyful example of your servant, St. Pierre Giorgio Frasati. Pierre Giorgio never tired of strive striving boldly to go higher and deeper in faith, prayer, and love. He cherished your presence in his family, friends, the mountains he loved to climb, the poor he visited, and especially in the Holy Eucharist. May we too go toward the heights of our Catholic faith and by example bring others to your church through Christ our Lord. Amen. Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. So I'm excited to welcome our guest today, Carolyn Dolhyde, who grew up here at St. Isaac Jokes Church in Hinsdale. Her parents still attend Mass here pretty much on a daily basis, and uh I know her family well. She is a professional tennis player, and she's coming to us from uh England, where she's going to be playing in Wimbledon uh as this podcast goes live. So welcome, Caroline, to Verso Alto.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Great to have you, and what a special time as you're getting ready for the most notable tennis tournament in the world. So just tell us a little bit about um your your background and how you got into tennis and got to you know this this level.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

For sure. I mean, I'm from Hinsdale, Illinois, so I know you have a lot of Hinsdale viewers. Let's go. Um I started off playing tennis at around four or five years old, and I started playing at Burnsfield, which is a five-minute bike ride from St. Isaac's. So um I started there. Um, and then I just continued to play, continued to grow into tennis, but I know just locally, and then I got to the level when I needed to compete against that next level, a higher level. So in around 15 or 16, I started doing more camps in Florida and seeing that higher competition and doing some international competitions. And then at around 17 or 18, I moved to Florida. And I originally committed to UCLA, and then I decided to go pro. So I wanted to follow in my older sister's footsteps. She went to UCLA. She played there for all over four years and Double A champion. But I decided to take my own path. There was a certain time that I saw that I had to go my own way. And here I am, nine years later, as a professional tennis player, and I'm loving it.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

So cool. Caroline, I uh as a former Major League Baseball player, I jumped onto my journey at 17 years old as well. Uh, I was committed to go play baseball in college and felt the Holy Spirit guiding me into professional baseball. And upon that time, you're away from family for the first time and you're like, man, what's what's life about? And that's really when I dug into my faith. Um, you went away at a young age to embrace your professional career. Obviously, you're an on-fire woman of God. Um, how did your faith take fire? Uh, how did it take root? And what what maybe some who are some of your heroes that kind of guided you along in your paid journey?

SPEAKER_00 3:59

For sure. I think my original, I would say, heroes, or I guess people that I looked up to, people that I competed against, were actually my siblings because we were all so competitive. And, you know, my brother is a golfer, he's one year older. My younger sister is also a tennis player, and my older sister at the time was a very good tennis player. So we would all like compete for that trophy of the week. So, like, we all kind of pushed each other, and um, it was very positive competition. Um, and I think that that, you know, like it it helped me grow every single day to want to do the best that I could. I didn't really look past that. I didn't really see myself as you know, of course, everybody has the dream, especially if you're playing a sport at that competitive level of going towards the biggest goal, grand slams being the best in the world. But I kind of just really just stayed focused on having fun and enjoying the sport. And then at some point, I I kind of just took it to the next level. So at the time, my heroes were the people around me, my siblings, my parents. You know, my parents were talking specifically about faith. My parents were the ones always pushing us to go to mass every Sunday, you know, it was just our routine. We did C C D at the same I was like every Wednesday, you know, until that hit its course. Um, when you're by yourself at 17, 18, it's hard to get that routine to go to church and everything like that. So I I think my journey with my faith, I mean, still continues. Um I love going. This is something that I love to do in like international cities. So now I'm in London, but some other places like Prague or where there's really old Catholic churches. I love going in and getting something from my parents, you know, like I went to Argentina in November with my brother, and we went into like their oldest Catholic church downtown, and we got prayer cards to bring home. So that's that's some some things that I do on the road to stay connected with my faith.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Love it. And so uh you you said Courtney played at UCLA. Um and uh did she play at the next level after college?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

So she started to play a few professional events before college, and then once she got into college, she stayed in college, she did her four years, and she was done after that. Um and then she went into college coaching after that. So but she did win and civilized her her senior year at UCLA as a team.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

It was so exciting. I I remember watching it from afar, it was so exciting.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

Uh family too. She did she still coach at Georgetown?

SPEAKER_00 6:59

No, so after she goes to Georgetown, so she at the same time she was doing her master's, um, her MBA. And then when she graduated, that she is now a consultant for EY for the last five years. And she actually just had my parents' second grandchild and my second nephew last week.

SPEAKER_04 7:22

Nice. Nice. Congratulations.

unknown 7:25

Thanks.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

What's the little guy's name? Oh, go ahead. Yeah, Bishop. Go ahead, Bishop.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

What's the little guy's name? The new Bo.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Bo Henry.

SPEAKER_04 7:35

I love that name. Oh, I remember because I I I received the text from your mom and I couldn't remember his name, but I remember I liked it when I heard it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

He's a cute one.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

Caroline Bishop Wall and Father Burke rave about your parents. You rave about your parents being these incredible, faithful heroes to you. Um did they what was the magic in the house, you know, growing up? You have uh your brother, high-level golfer, three, two sisters. I mean, did you guys have any kids that were like 2.0 students that got cut from the JV baseball team? Like uh in my family?

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Um I think like I mean, the first thing that my mom always said was work hard, play hard. So when it came to school, that was like the first thing. Like, um, if we came home with Edgridge, there was no way we were going to practice. You know, so that was something that was huge. Um the other thing is we played multiple sports growing up. It wasn't just like one sport. Um, I think it's really important that that's something that we did. Um, I don't think that my parents had in mind that they were gonna have these great athletes or one would go promo, one would this, the other this. Like my younger sister, I don't know, Mike, if you knew this, but she went to West Point, so she's in the military. Wouldn't have like written that up if I tried when we were younger, you know, but she completely excelled um at West Point, played tennis for them. She's one year younger than me. Now she's a captain in the army, and yeah, I think I think um I don't really know.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

You're gonna have to ask my parents, but so I'm guessing no one got no one got cut from the JV baseball team. And there were no two-point nodes in your family. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Yeah, not to this day no. But um, no, I'm just really, really grateful and thankful that my parents were so supportive of what I did and what everybody else in my family did. Um, I think they were just really patient with each one of our journeys because we knew that we had a very, very strong foundation as a family. And um I mean, shout out to himself, because I feel like having that home base and such a safe um community that, you know, like it's so it's so positive and with education, with community, with just bringing everybody together. I just I loved growing up there. It was heartbreaking when I had to leave and I had to compete internationally and even Florida or California, wherever it was. But you know, there's a certain time that you have to move forward and move on and love coming back. But yeah, it's all about the roots for sure.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

I love it. I I got a couple more questions before I go because I gotta go take my son and talking about your parents helping you and guiding you. I gotta take my son to a baseball tournament in Atlanta. The additional you want to add about the amazing work that you're doing with uh serving Chicago style foundation, besides Father Burke being the ringer in the pickleball tournament?

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Being the star, and I cannot wait for the end of the year to pair up with him again.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

It's great, it is great playing with a professional tennis player. I gotta say, that's it's pretty fun uh hitting the balls around with her.

SPEAKER_04 10:58

Are you the co are you the co-captain of the pickleball team?

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

It's it's fun playing for sure. I mean, a lot less movement movement than tennis. But yeah, no, for sure. I mean, the foundation, like I was saying, supports um other charities um with the goal of inclusivity in sports and and finding teams and coaches and the right support system for for kids getting into sports and staying into sports for longer. With uh the route being that I'm from Hensdale and I grew up playing community sports, playing in my community my entire junior career. So that's kind of a full circle moment for me and my family, who every single person on my on my family or in my family is on the board. So it's a great, great cause, and it's it's a fun time. And at some point when I'm done with my career, I'm gonna do more and more, but for now it's an end-of-the-year uh fundraiser.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

I love it. Well, I have one more question because I gotta go jump on a on an airplane. Number one, I'm a huge fan of yours. I'm so grateful that I get a our lives run parallel. I'm a lot older than you, but at 17 we left home to embark on a professional career, and and we're we both love our Lord and our Catholic faith and our parents. Um you talked about Father Burke being one of your um favorite teammates or partners to play for. I saw that at one point you were rated as high as number nine in the world um for doubles, and uh, I think up number 41 in singles in the world. Incredible. Um for all those young boys and girls out there that desire to follow in your footsteps, uh what would you uh tell them? Like how how did you do it, both on the on the court and off the court, especially regarding your faith?

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Yeah, no, I I love that question, and I think a big part of my faith has been patience and trusting in the process and trusting in myself with God as number one. So I think that you know, like finding a doubles partner and and little things like that, because tennis is an individual sport, but I have been top 10 in the world in doubles, so with different partners, finding different partners, and I think the biggest thing is to trust in yourself, trust in your process, and have fun doing it. Um and never never lower your standards for anything, you know. Like, um I I trust my gut a lot, especially when I am choosing a doubles partner or when I'm talking with a partner or a teammate or something like that. I've been with the same coach for the last six years. So I think that that trust, that loyalty, that respect goes a long way. And I would say that to kids, keep having fun with it and trust yourself, trust your abilities, and keep going for it.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

All right. Well, I gotta I gotta sign off. I'll be praying for you. I'll I'll be watching Wimbledon all week. And I pray that next time I'm back in Hinsdale with Bishop Wall and Father Burke, uh, we can all get together, play a little pickleball, have a barbecue with your parents, and uh you can you can tell us and you can tell us how you shocked the world in Wimbledon. That's my prayer.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yes, thank you so much. God bless you. Thanks, Mike.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

Thanks, Bishop. Thanks, Father.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Yeah, so we were just talking about uh Pop Leo being a tennis player and a big fan. So maybe if you uh bring home the trophy from Wimbledon, uh get a uh like the Super Bowl championship to go meet the president, uh Wimbledon champion to go to see the Pope.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

For sure. I would I would love to play tennis with him.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Yes. Well, Pope Leo, you you hear it right here on Versuel Auto. Uh there's an invitation to play with a professional tennis player.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Carolyn, I know you're coming off uh an injury. Uh and so how how's your recovery been and how are you feeling as you go into Wimbledon here?

SPEAKER_00 14:56

For sure. Um my recovery has been it's been extremely difficult. Um, but I'm like 10 weeks later and I'm 100% ready. So right now I can say I feel amazing. Like the time that it took, it it feels like it took forever. But now that I'm in it, I'm excited to be back. Um honestly, like I'm in a better probably mood now than I was before the injury. So I think it's just like looking at the sport with fresh eyes at this point. Um because you know, tennis is like an ongoing week to week. You have to almost play every single week so you can keep your ranking. So you're kind of always in it. So when you kind of get taken out of it from an injury or from just saying, like, you know, time out. Um you have time to get better at different things. And I definitely did that. I was able to see a lot of my family do some different things that I haven't done in the past because I haven't had the time. But um, I'm healthy and I'm happy and I'm excited to compete tomorrow for sure. So thanks for asking. Yeah, I feel much better.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Is this your first uh tournament or uh did you have a tune-up going into Wimbledon?

SPEAKER_00 16:13

So my plan was to have a tune-up to come into Wimbledon, but with the ranking I have now, I didn't get into the tournament before. So I just used that week to train in Berlin. Um I've because this is a grass court event. So I've I trained on the grass. We don't really have much grass in the States, so came over here, prepped on the grass, um, and then my coach came out, and yeah, now we're in London. So this is gonna be the first one back. And yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

And how did how do you train to you know to get game ready, you know, uh coming off an injury? Like you have you must be training pretty intensely to get ready to play, you know, real matches at Wimbledon.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Definitely. So I there were two events before Wimbledon. There was a smaller event in England, and then there was a bigger event in Berlin. And I chose to sign up for the bigger event in Berlin. Since I didn't get in and I was a few out of the draw, I was able to stay there and physically train the way that I train, but also I hit with some of the best in the world. So whether it be like a day before their matches or warm-ups or something like that, I was always there trying to hit on the grass, trying to find as much time as I could on the grass. One girl that I hit with, uh Jessica Pugula, who's top five in the world, or number one American right now, or number two, one or two. Um, that's somebody that I hit with. So feeling the speed of the ball of the top in the world, and you know, even looking at their practices and watching their matches, you know, I've learned a lot from them, and I keep learning from them. So I think that's really important to get integrated and what a better way than seeing the top in the world.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

Yeah. What's uh what's the big difference between so you can come up uh later in the summer? So a hard surface as opposed to grass. What what's what's it what's the difference on those two? How does that how does it play?

SPEAKER_00 18:18

So the grass is we wear these shoes that have little like pellets on the bottom so that you know we can stop but not tear up the court. And the court is faster on grass. So a ball hits hits the grass, especially when it's a little bit colder out and it skids. Um the grass nowadays is a lot slower than the grass in the past, from what my coach tells me and from what I've seen in other matches. When I mean I grew up watching older videos of like Steffi Graf because I don't know if you guys have ever seen her play, but she is my favorite person to watch.

SPEAKER_04 18:56

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

It's unbelievable. It's so it's amazing. And so grass is a very fast surface. Hardcore US Open specifically is a faster surface, but it's not as fast as grass. So like Indian Wells, when I was explaining to you two a few months ago, Indian Wells is a grittier court, it's a hard court, but it's grittier, and the ball bounces a little bit higher, so it's a little bit slower. But clay to go a little bit further is the slowest.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Yeah. Wow. So that's like trick. I would have bet money that the hard court was the fastest, you know. Uh uh thinking that the grass would really catch the ball, you know, and kind of slow it down, but it skids.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

As the tournament goes on, you can see at Wimbledon when you when you both watch, the the court kind of turns into dirt, so it does get slower. But at the beginning, if you're the first match at Wimbledon, it's gonna be fast.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Very, very fast.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

So Alphon wondered too. So this past weekend I was watching the US Open uh golf tournament and thinking about you know, it's such an individual sport, and you've got to be, you know, Wyndham Clark had a big lead and then it shrunk. And I was trying to get into his mind like what do you do to stay focused as everything starts? You know, how do you slow things down and stay in the moment rather than let the moment just overwhelm you? Like, what do you do when you're in those big moments uh playing tennis?

SPEAKER_00 20:33

For sure. There have been moments in the past where I've felt a lot of pressure and then no pressure at all, and it's like you're cruising, you know? So one moment that kind of sticks out is I was playing on one of the stadium courts at US Open, Louis Armstrong, against one of our top Americans at the time, Danielle Collins. And it was a really like critical moment of the match. I want to say I was serving for the match in the third set, and I just felt like my heart just like out of my chest. I felt like I was like being overwhelmed. And in that moment, I just I was breathing and I just focused on my breath and I focused on what I had to do, like that point. So that's kind of how tennis goes. I'm sure in all these other sports, I mean you have to stay focused on your job and what's happening in front of you because the ball is moving, you know. Whoever's in front of you is in front of you, but you have to be focused on what you're doing. So for me, it's breathing and it's coming up with a plan in that moment, and then that calms me down. That way I take all of that outside noise and it just like shuts off and just get to do my job, just be like, Okay. 15 months. Alright, where am I going here? And it's like a plan. And then it's like, okay, you've practiced this a million times, okay, this is what you're doing. Play with your strengths. And then your mind goes into the Athlete talk of like, okay, this is my game. All right, this is where I'm going. Okay, this is what I'm doing. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. But yeah, definitely I've felt that, and those emotions are what makes sport incredible.

unknown 22:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Like you're feeling your heart beat out of your chest. I mean, the adrenaline is insane. And you just prepare as best as you can to be in that moment and play your best.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

Our buddy Dr. Tom Nelson would love to hear your answer on breathing because uh he he's a big proponent. He says if you watch athletes in intense moments, if you see them breathing just up here in their chest, it's usually more shallow and uh they're they're gonna, you know, gonna be more tense. If you see them breathing from their belly, you know, he says that's that's where you're really filling up your lungs. You're gonna you're gonna relax your body more and you're gonna be able to play into the moment. So I I watch that now in really intense moments, like where are they breathing from? And uh definitely so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

A good one to watch is Djokovic for this because he he talks about breathing all the time, and he's definitely one of the best at doing it. Yeah, he can definitely be a lot better at doing it. Um but you know, when when I'm running a lot and when I'm trying to catch my breath, I do have something that I do, which is kind of like a military breath that I've researched about, where you breathe in and then you hold, and then you breathe in a little bit more, and then you exhale.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

That has helped me in matches in the past before, and I use that when I'm like about to like lose my breath.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

It's supposed to reset you, right? Like your vagus nerve, it's supposed to reset. I've read about that one.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Yeah, and it feels really good too. I mean, it's hard in the moment to actually do, but then it's it makes you feel a lot calmer, and that there's a completely different sense of organizing your thoughts in that moment because sports move fast. And if you don't move with them, you'll miss the moment.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

I'll run run you over, yeah. Yeah, and know that uh as Bishop alluded to, that uh we're in a tech stream with your mom, and so whenever whenever you're playing, uh she sends us a message.

SPEAKER_04 24:17

We're all see file and fire stuff back and forth, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Yeah, so we we start praying and it's been fun. There's been a few times where you've been maybe a little bit behind in a match, and she's like, Okay, we need prayers, and then you've uh you've gone on to win the match, which has been uh it's been a bless.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

I have no doubt that your prayers have helped me cross the line several times. So thank you so much for praying for me. I hear it not only from from you too, but from other family members and from other friends, their parents, like praying for me, thinking of me. Like all that goes such a long way because I feel that.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Yeah. It's powerful. I think of you know, as the bishop, when he's bishop of the diocese in every church, we pray for our bishop by name and the power of that and the the necessity of it, you know. And so, yeah, what you're saying, having all these family and friends praying for you, it's not uh unnoticeable. Or, you know, sometimes we think, oh, that's just like wishful thinking. But yeah, as as believers, we know that there's real grace at work there. So hopefully you get some more fans from this podcast that'll be praying for you. Uh definitely. Yeah. Thank you. Anything else you'd like to share about the uh your your tennis career before we switch gears over to the scriptures.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Yeah, maybe. I mean, I think this is honestly an incredible time that you two invited me on this podcast because it's in the moment of my career where I've kind of had to reset and go go into part two of my career, seeing as I'm coming back from an injury. I've lost my ranking. I have to start from almost zero and come back. So I think it's just really exciting that you know I have another chance to come back and do something great. And having you two invite me on is exciting for me because I love talking to you two. It's always fun to be in your comp company, and um we only get to see each other in Hinsville, or I don't even know when. So yeah, that's just about it. I I love this this time in my career, and um, I guess looking at this as part two.

SPEAKER_04 26:36

This is great. Yeah, the last time we got all three of us got together was at your parents' house for dinner right after Christmas. I had a great time. Wonderful time.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

And so I liked Mike's uh suggestion of the barbecue and and pick a ball next time.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

That'd be great.

unknown 26:54

That'd be fun.

SPEAKER_04 26:55

So actually, I want to can I throw something out real quick about faith? Yeah, yeah. Because something we talked about a little earlier, today's Feast Day of Saints, John Fisher, Thomas Moore, two big heroes of mine, big saints. I chose Thomas More as my confirmation saint. And so, Carolyn, we were talking about your confirmation saint. Who did you choose and why did you choose your saint Saint Francis?

SPEAKER_00 27:20

And I chose this because my mom actually thought that it was a great choice for me. So we're gonna choose to phone my mom and ask her why this was such a good um saint for me. But I think, you know, the way that Saint Francis was, you know, very generous saint. Um we kind of have to go deep into the archives. I I would actually love to ask you two how you think Saint Francis resonates with somebody like me.

SPEAKER_04 27:50

Well, you know, this is the this is the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis, and this is the year, it's the official year of Saint Francis. And Father Burke and I are leading a pilgrimage with a lot of people from the parish, St. Isaac Jobs, in October. And we'll one of the places we'll go is we'll go to Assisi, which I think I've been to A CC probably 10, 12 times. Wonderful, wonderful place. But um, yeah, I uh you know, I don't know. I think I think Francis is a is I think Francis is great for everybody, everybody loves Francis. But um, you know, a lot of times people will go to Francis because of his love for animals. That's always a big thing, love for animals. Uh, a lot of times people go to Francis because um, you know, this this uh extreme reliance upon God, right? This real poverty of spirit and relying upon God in all things. And um he's also associated with ecology, so that's that's another thing that's really important with Saint Francis.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Um I remember seeing I remember seeing two um prayer cards of Saint Francis, one of him with a lamb, and then one of him with like a three-leaf clover. So both of those that you mentioned, him with animals and psychology. I just pictured that.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Yeah, I think he was it Saint Francis that would explain the Trinity uh with the three-leaf clover. I think that might be why he's portrayed the first leaves. Oh, it's St. Patrick. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and I'm thinking too St. Francis, you know, there's a song, Make Me a Channel of Your Peace. And uh I'm just thinking that this conversation we just had about when you're playing, you know, and trying to find peace in the midst of you know a an intense match and lots of pressure as you're breathing. Maybe just invoke Saint Francis, you know, bring your peace, Lord, make me a channel of your peace. Uh, find that that calm in the midst of a storm. Maybe be a good a good saint to call upon in the middle of the matches.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

For sure. Like you mentioned, the storm, a sports psychologist in the past has talked to me about being in like the eye of the storm. That is that peace that you have to find. Like that calm is okay, yeah. There's a lot going on around you, but find that. Find that it's dangerous, but you're there.

SPEAKER_04 30:24

Yeah, yeah. My my father was a high school football coach, and when he was confirmed, he chose Saint Francis, and he had the prayer of Saint Francis memorized. And uh he, I mean, he prayed daily, at least once daily. I know, but he had the whole thing memorized his whole life, and uh yeah, I think that's uh to have peace, especially in the midst of competition and sport, and um I think really is that peace has to flow from that uh that uh that identity that we all have as being beloved sons and daughters of God or Father. And I know Francis understood that very well too. So I think that's where that's where the great sense of peace can come from. Yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

It's a good uh good segue then. So uh Caroline, each week we we look at the upcoming Sunday readings, and Bishop usually gives us a little foundation, and I'll share a little bit. If anything strikes you, feel free to to share. Um so Bishop, uh what do you what do you want to kick us off with here on the 13th Sunday in ordinary time?

SPEAKER_04 31:29

I know lucky number 13, which is Steve Nash's number, so it is a it is a lucky number. So um, and we're still staying in the in uh the Gospel of Matthew because that's that's the year that we're in. And uh, but Jesus gives us, these are one of the what they call the the kind of the hard sayings of Jesus. So I'm just gonna read it and then jump into it, just the beginning of it. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. So there's a lot there. And I think one of the things we want to start off by saying, if we look at the Ten Commandments, the very first three commandments have to do with love of God. The next seven all have to do with love of neighbor. And and so there's there's kind of a hierarchy that comes to us, natural hierarchy in the in the Ten Commandments. So, first and foremost, right, the great Shema is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, right? And so this is what the people would know and know very well. And so when Jesus is saying this to them, that you you can't love your father, mother, right? Fourth commandments, honor your father, mother uh more than me, right? You can't love your son or daughter more than me to love your neighbor, right, as yourself. What Jesus is pointing to is who he is, that he's he's truly God and truly man. So he's pointing toward his divinity, and he's talking to us about uh to borrow a title from a famous book by Dietrich Bahnhofer, uh, died in 1945, Lutheran pastor, uh German Lutheran pastor, is the cost of discipleship. And there's other places where Jesus tells us uh what the cost of discipleship is. So we're we're looking at Matthew 10, and in Matthew 16, Jesus says, if you want to be my disciple, you must deny yourself, take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow after me. So um he even even alludes to that in the in the words that he says, right? He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. And so in 16, he's going to say that this is what a disciple has to do. Disciple has to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow after me, follow in my footsteps. So I think one of the really important things to see, and this is like I said, this is one of the hard scenes of Jesus, but they're all true, and we we all must follow him if we want to come to eternal life, and if we want to be his disciple, you know, he's pointing toward the reality of who he is. He's he's a man like us in all things but sin, but he's also fully divine as well. And so those first three of those commandments, and it's uh there's a hierarchy in there, has to do with loving God. So when they even ask Jesus, what is the greatest commandment? Greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, beat, right? The second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself, and that falls right into place with what Jesus is is talking about today. And then the importance of denying oneself, taking up one cross, and not following alongside Jesus or in front of Jesus, but following in his footsteps, because with his cross he leads us to eternal life.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

I love how you how you broke that down, especially to my level of Catholic knowledge, that was extremely clear to me. Because at the beginning it might have seemed a little bit complex, but to me now I see that as a very selfless fact from what you've described.

SPEAKER_04 35:22

Yeah, because you can you can hear it and you can go, wait, what did he just say what I think he said? But if you take it from the commandments and for who Jesus is, then it all makes sense. And they're all connected, because even when he says the first commandment, he's and then he says the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So they're they're all they're all connected with one another, and they're all based on the virtue of Paul.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

Yeah, I think Bishop isn't there in one of the other gospels, doesn't even say unless you hate your father and mother, you cannot be my disciple. I remember when I heard that thinking, yeah, Jesus, who's telling us to love God and love our neighbor, is telling us to hate our parents. But what he's saying is, if you love anyone more than me, even your parents, even your children, things are out of order. So I see this as he's trying to, you know, like we are priests and bishops, we're part of holy orders. Our goal is to help bring the order of God into the world, because without God, there's chaos. And Jesus is trying to show us what are your priorities. Um, this past week and I preached on, you know, the the he talked about fear no one. And if we fear rejection, abandonment, people not liking us more than the fear of hurting God, things are out of order, right? So he says, like a fruit of the Holy Spirit is the fear of God, meaning my my greatest fear is not doing God's will. If that fear is greater than these other ones, it impacts what I do. And so here, you know, he's saying, what are your priorities? What's first in your life? Is it honor, power, pleasure, and wealth, you know, the substitutes for God? Is it my parents? Is it my career? Or is God really, you know, my top priority? He says, seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will fall into place. So that's that right ordering of our lives. If we put God first, you know, not it. He doesn't say you're not gonna have struggles, he doesn't say you're not gonna have injuries or you're not gonna, you know, be persecuted, but he says, I'm gonna be with you. So put me first, then your relationship with your parents will be better, the relationship with your friends will be better, the relationship with your career will be better, the relationship with money will be better. And so that's what I'm hearing is uh yeah, right order in our lives. And I think about how often I chased after all the other things, and when I had time, I'd I'd fit God in, and my life was kind of out of order, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

So I love that.

SPEAKER_04 38:11

Yeah, yeah, I was thinking about um I was thinking about Saint Joseph, and one of the things they say about Saint Joseph, and there's 12 or 13 people in all the scriptures that they say he was a righteous man, right? So there's like 12, 13 people that there was a righteous person, and righteous meant that his life was properly ordered. That's what Jesus is getting at here, and a properly ordered life means God's first, other second, and then I am third, right? I love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. So there's a healthy love for self, too. But that's that's a properly ordered life, and so when it says about Joseph, no recorded words from Saint Joseph, but what they do say about him is that he was a righteous man. And so he he would be somebody that he lived this out as Jesus was saying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Right, order. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

So Father Burke, who is your confirmed Saint?

SPEAKER_02 39:17

Might come from Saint Interestingly, it's Saint St. Joseph.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

Saint Joseph, okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:24

The the righteous man. I uh, you know, at the time I was thinking my my godfather, somebody that I really admired, because I got to pick my godfather because I was 18 um when I got baptized and confirmed and everything. Well, I guess everybody can pick their confirmation sponsor. Um, his name is Joseph, and uh I admired him. Uh and then as I started started learning more about Saint Joseph, I thought, I want to pattern my life after his and be that righteous man, you know, that he was quiet, um, humble, but strong and uh and protective of his family. And so those kind of qualities I as a pastor now, I I try to pattern myself after him. You know, it's I don't like being the center of attention, which is interesting as a priest because you're you're always up there being the center of attention. Um but outside of that, just to kind of lead quietly and lead by example, that's how I want to live my life.

unknown 40:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

It's crazy. Oh go ahead. No, Bishop, who's yours?

SPEAKER_00 40:37

Almost the same way when you when you're up there alone, but speaking about something that you truly believe and something that you know so much about, it's so natural, I mean, to see you speak. And in what I do, I'm also out there alone. And it in when I was a kid, I thought, oh my gosh, there's no way. You know, like I would have like dreams of myself just like because I was a pretty giddy kid, I would have dreams of myself just like full-on laughing out there on the court. But now I'm I'm there, I'm so doing what like I'm doing, that that doesn't even come to my mind. So I feel like yes, the center of attention is a bit odd, but it's fitting in a way.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

Yeah. And it's a way that you, you know, God has given you that ability to play tennis, and one of the ways you can glorify God is to use that ability to the highest degree. And uh, that's what we're all called to do, right? What are the gifts God has given me and how can I glorify Him? And uh so just by not just by by playing a great match of tennis, you're glorifying God with the gift that He gave you. And we do it from the pulpit, and you know, when we're with people, we use those gifts God has given us. I never imagined myself ever being in front of people speaking, and now it's what I love to do because it's it's God's gift, you know.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

For sure. For sure. Definitely.

SPEAKER_04 42:18

As we were talking about, I was looking over my shoulder. See this right over my shoulder, that statue? Yes, that's a that's a bronze statue of Saint Francis. There's your your patron saint behind me.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 42:30

I don't even have I don't have my saint in here. I've got you, I've got your saint in here.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

Yeah, oh great.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

And as we're as we're recording this on Monday, June 22nd, it's St. Thomas More and Saint John Fisher, who are from England, where Caroline is right now. So uh so Caroline.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:55

I like that.

SPEAKER_04 42:56

I was gonna mention that.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:58

I was already a thing of the Beatles.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

Oh yeah. I wouldn't doubt that there's something else in here about the Beatles.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

I've ridden on those buses before though.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:09

So when you go, you know, this is they call it the Fortnite of Wimbledon. Do you do you do like Airbnbs? Or what do you do when you travel on the road?

SPEAKER_00 43:18

So I just do hotels. Um normally the hot the tournament gives us like suggestions. Um a lot of people, specifically at Wimbledon, like to stay in the village because there are homes that you can rent out and stuff like that. But I haven't found a place in London yet and in Wimbledon that I've loved or like to go back to, and especially because the air conditioning is a bit of an issue here. Um, I knew that this hotel has air conditioning, and I was like, it it's so it's so expensive here. You you you two can't imagine. Like the hotels, everything is so expensive here. But I was like, you know what? Like I Have to do it. Like, this is about recovery. This is preparation. And so I came to this hotel back after four years. This is the Pestana in Chelsea. And I knew this hotel. Like I knew what it was like. I knew that there was solid air conditioning. And I was like, okay, I'm coming here. But no, normally I just I do hotels, and the tournament gives you like a stipend. Uh and if I had more people here, because it's just me and my coach, last year it was me and my coach and my physical trainer. I would probably get a house or an apartment or something, but it's just my coach and I. So here we are in Chelsea. So the hotel's nice. I'm comfortable.

SPEAKER_04 44:44

We Americans like our air conditioning, don't we?

SPEAKER_00 44:47

I'm telling you what, it's not just us. It's not just us. Because you can you you can walk these streets, especially in Europe right now. Everybody's like, oh, it's so hot. Everybody's like dying because of the heat. So it's like, listen, I have no complaints. I have air conditioning.

SPEAKER_02 45:09

Yeah, because uh, you know, World Cup's going on here in the States, and you know, it's been pretty hot, and they're actually giving them hydration breaks, which has been controversial among some of the purest of the game, but uh yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_04 45:23

I love when they turn the sprinklers on. You see that when they turn the sprinklers on? I love that. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

Oh my god. I I we've been talking about this hydration break, um, how it like disrupts the rhythm of the match and stuff like that. And I I have to agree. I mean, there's they're used to playing these, like I mean, halftime is halftime, and that's it. And when you change the rules on some of these teams that maybe aren't favored to win, they have some time to regroup and refresh and then change the momentum. It's kind of like tennis if you delay the match in some way. Let's say you take a bathroom break and you take a little bit over on the time. That's disrupting the the momentum of the match.

unknown 46:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

It's sports though. You know, it's sports, you gotta play play the game.

SPEAKER_04 46:16

Play within the rules. Yeah. Yeah, play within the rules.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

That's part of the game. Yeah. Yeah. As long as you have the same for everybody, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:26

Which is very tough, especially with international sports. It's like, is it the same for everybody? Yeah. Top team being treated just as fairly as the lower team.

SPEAKER_04 46:38

Yeah. Yeah. Who so uh are you are I know you're right in the middle of things out there. Are you watching the World Cup at all?

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Oh yeah. I was watching Argentina against Austria just before this call. Messi is now the same. Nice. And Messi is now the all-time highest scorer in the World Cup.

SPEAKER_04 47:03

I love that guy. I don't know. I don't know how you how you cannot be a fan of that guy.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

I just like everything about him. And he's uh he's a faithful Catholic as well, right? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe get him on our podcast one of these days.

SPEAKER_00 47:15

Oh my gosh, that would be so great. That'd be huge. I just I love I love watching videos of him. Oh Steve. How he communicates with people, how he how he treats reporters or fans and his family, how humble he is. I I love so much about Matthew. And my team, my whole team is Argentinian, which is funny. But they kind of started me on watching soccer and drinking mate and all of this stuff.

SPEAKER_04 47:45

Mate, that was a pope, that was a drink of Pope Francis, yeah. And one of my priests is an American, but he's he he was served 30 years in Argentina, and he's he talks about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

I drink it every day.

SPEAKER_04 47:58

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 47:59

I drink it every day. Yeah, it's great. It's calming. We talked about calming peace. It's very calming.

SPEAKER_04 48:05

I need to incorporate it in my diet. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:09

Hey, my I put my sister on it, Stephanie, the younger one, one year younger than me, the one you two met over Christmas. Yeah. She drinks it now. So she loves it.

unknown 48:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:20

It's very bitter.

SPEAKER_02 48:22

Yeah, I I've tried it. Uh I went to Bolivia and they I'm not, I don't even like regular tea or coffee. It's very bitter to me. So I I couldn't uh I couldn't get it too.

SPEAKER_04 48:34

I'm already thinking I'm going to the store right after this and seeing if I can find it and gallop.

SPEAKER_00 48:40

They have, you know, like at Whole Foods, they have the canned versions of it. Oh, well, yeah. My sister likes too. There's a lot with a lot of sugar in it, and then there's like maybe two types that have like no sugar in it.

SPEAKER_04 48:52

Um that my sister if they don't have it at Walmart, I'm out of luck. I gotta drive two hours.

SPEAKER_00 48:58

You go if you really want to go true Argentinian style, you can just go Amazon Prime, like the bag with the Jarba Mante. That's like $13, $14.

unknown 49:09

All right.

SPEAKER_00 49:10

Then you need like the cop and the bombisha and everything. But yeah, it's nice.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

Well, Carolyn, it's been great having you uh on the podcast. Yep, yeah, yeah. Great, great to be with you, and uh we'll all be praying uh intercession of Saint Francis, Saint Thomas More, uh Saint John Fisher, uh Saint Joseph uh for your peace, and just that you glorify God in uh with the gift that He's given you in Wimbledon and throughout the year.

SPEAKER_00 49:44

Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 49:46

You're welcome. Uh Bishop, can you close us in prayer and give us a blessing?

SPEAKER_04 49:50

Sure. In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, of St. John Paul from the window of heaven, grant us your blessing, bless the church that you loved and served and guided, courageously leading her along the paths of the world in order to bring Jesus to everyone and everyone to Jesus. Bless the young who are your great passion. Help them dream again, help them look up to the heavens again, and to find the light that illuminates the paths of life here on earth. May you bless each and every family. You warned of Satan's assault against this precious and indispensable divine spark that God lit on earth. Saint John Paul, with your prayer, may you protect the family and every life that blossoms from the family. Pray for the whole world which is still marked by tensions, wars, and injustice. You oppose war by invoking dialogue and planting the seeds of love. Pray for us so that we may be tireless sowers of peace. John Paul from Heaven's Window, where we see you beside Mary, send God's blessing down upon us all. Amen. The Lord be with you and with your spirit. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 51:06

Thanks everybody for watching. Please like, subscribe, and share this podcast with somebody that you think would really benefit from it. Put your comments in. We read them every week. And as St. Pierre Giorgio Frostati reminds us, the higher we go, the better we shall hear the voice of Christ. Keep striving Virto Alto in your faith and pursuits. And until next time, God bless. And we thank our guest, Carolyn Dolhide. God bless you as you uh head out to the Gratz courts of Wimbledon. God bless you.

SPEAKER_00 51:36

Thank you.