From Dating to Becoming Catholic, Brother Dave W's Journey (Part 2)

In part two of this two-part conversation, Baron and Greg continue their sit-down with Dave Winkel from St. Philip the Apostle men's bible study — diving deeper into his faith journey, the powerful influence of three Catholic men who played a pivotal role in shaping the man and believer he is today, and the deeply personal experience of navigating a family member's battle with addiction.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, welcome back to my brother's journey. Uh part of the tag team here. I'm Greg Joseph, Chuck. And with me is my co-host, Baron Fink. Baron, and we have Dave with us from our Bible study. And Dave, we're so blessed to have you and that you agreed to a second session with us. You didn't clever run out of the room. So that's a good, that's always a good sign. Dave, uh, as you probably know, we start with prayer. Would you mind leading us in prayer?

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Absolutely. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, I want to thank you for bringing a group of amazing men to my life and for this opportunity to share my faith journey. As we begin this conversation, we ask for your Holy Spirit to be present with us. You know every step of my journey, the detours, the wandering, the slow awakening. May the words shared here bring glory to you, encouragement to all who listen, and a reminder that it's never too late to come back to you. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

So um, so one thing that I I know that maybe people that, well, the the five or six that are out there listening to us, well, we're you know, the the interesting part is we cracked uh 600 aggregate downloads. I think we have one person just going over now. Having trouble sleeping every night. Um, but uh one of the things I found out um uh prior to uh us doing this podcast is that both of you two actually know have known each other for a while. I mean, and you know each other's wives and everything. So um we we kind of left off with um you had met your wife, you had gotten married, uh, you had uprooted several times, and how that's affecting your your family. Um, Baron, I know you have some questions, so I'm gonna throw it over to you and let you kind of take it from here, and then I'll jump back in where I where I see uh an opening.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Sure. Well, first of all, yeah, for those who don't know Dave, I mean, part of our moon study, he he always comes prepared and uh even had a slideshow for today's podcast, which is nobody can see. But but Dave, in your outline, you you you you get you you've titled this section about a a turning point. And I think that you know all of us in our own ways and our own journeys have reached this point where something happens and something clicks and uh the faith becomes real. Uh and so I'd like for you to talk about these things that you've listed here to you know tell us about what were those what were those important parts that kind of led you to this turning point.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yeah, thanks, Baron. Um you know, the there were a couple of them, and one of them was COVID. And COVID in you know, obviously it was a terrible thing, but for me, the fact that we couldn't go to Mass, which we're used to doing every Sunday, we had to watch it on YouTube. And so we found uh Father Mike Schmitz, and we were listening to his mass, you know, every Sunday. And um I think most people know Father Mike, he's incredible, like just so dynamic and so good. And his homilies are fantastic. And this again, the first time I'm like, wow, this this guy is like he's amazing, you know. So I kind of wanted to learn more. I wanted to um kind of go deeper in that. And so I started um listening to him. He did Bible in a year, that podcast right around COVID. Um, so I would get up and you know, walk every morning and I listen to Bible in a year. So I did that religiously, and then that morphed into Catechism in a year, um, the next year that my father Mike did. And and that for me was even better than Bible in a year. And I don't know what it was about Catechism in a year, but it was just uh so rich. I mean, it is incredible that when you really um learn the history of the church, you know, the early church fathers, um, why everything is done in the Catholic Church and all the meaning and the rituals and everything. And Father Mike's just such a great guide, you know, just explains everything. So, you know, I love that. I was really getting into it. And as a result of kind of getting into um just listening more and more, um, you know, it was answering some questions, but it was also sort of breaking down some of the barriers. I think I had maybe some, you know, barriers there around, well, I don't know if I want to go deeper or like what's that gonna look like, or maybe it was a bit scary, you know. But it just started just things started clicking. Um and then, you know, Jeff Cabins does the reflection uh every day. And so I just had this ritual of just listening to all this stuff every day and um and learning a lot more. And I would say that um, you know, the the key thing is, you know, learning like for me, I kind of had to get it in my head first. I kind of had to intellectualize this first, and then it kind of made its way down to the heart. And that that was that that journey that's still happening. It's not obviously I don't know wherever finished, right? But like in in the the last say, you know, three to four years, um, it has been a major turn in just my outlook and relationships with friends, with family. Um, you know, so that was a that was a big turning point for me.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

And um I'm I'm going off your little cheat sheet here. Okay. So beyond meeting Father uh Mike Schmitz and uh on the Halo app, uh, and also Jeff Cavins on the Halo app, you met them in person, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Yes. Yes. We um they were doing a pilgrimage to Israel, and this was in 2022, uh the Holy Land trip. It was like a 13-day pilgrimage. Father Mike was there, Jeff Cabins was there, and I heard about this, and I'm like latching on immediately, you know, because I've enlisted these guys for two years. And the fact that I was I could like be with them and go to see all these sites in the Bible, and I was just super excited. So I was like, you know, on fire. I go to Ann thinking that she's gonna be like, oh yeah, 100%. Like, where have you been for the last 20 years? You know, and uh, but she wasn't she wasn't all that excited about it, she was a little bit hesitant, and I was I was like, I didn't know exactly why, but she was she was not she was not on you know on the same wavelength immediately. So I just used my you know sales persuasive selling skills and um eventually she you know she said yeah yeah we should definitely go together. And um I gotta tell you, it was life-changing. And I know that's cliche to say, but it really was. And I mean, Father Mike is just an amazing individual. The whole the whole pilgrimage was incredible, and I would recommend anybody listening that has the opportunity to go to the Holy Land, you know, it just it brings to life all the Bible readings, and it's just such a powerful thing. Um, but um, you know, that that was that was really an amazing thing. So I think again, that was just one more experience that you know kind of led me down this path, you know, moving further down the path, you know, to where I am right now. And the other thing too is I want to mention is um I was as I was sort of thinking about this and you know, talking to Ann about it, um she goes, you know, I've been for the last you know several years been praying that there would be somebody coming into your life that could really help you to move into it, you know, a deeper, deeper faith. And and then, you know, we talked about Father Bernard. I mean, initially starting the men's group. Father Bernard said, Hey, we gotta start this men's group, we're doing this, this, and this, and this. And you know, for those of you that know Father Bernard, you don't say no. You just you just do it and it always works out, right? So Father Bernard is is incredible, you know, Father Mike, uh Jeff Cavins, these guys, so three powerhouses. And he was like, Well, I was praying for one person, and he sent three. Yeah. So maybe I needed more than one, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:04

That's awesome. Um, so you and I were blessed to get to know each other a little bit more beyond our Bible study the other day on a golf course. Um I just for those that may be interested, Dave actually knows how to play golf. I'm still learning. That's my score reflected. But um, but during the course of that, um we started talking about um experiences that we had uh with family members dealing with things like addiction. And I know that is something that we shared quite a bit about, you and I did. Um it's it's uh for those that have never experienced uh having someone that you love that is an addict of whatever. It could be drugs, it could be alcohol, it could be pornography, it could be food, it could be so many different things. Um that's an experience that's unlike I think anything that you can imagine because it really it's on your mind and on your heart, it seems like 24-7. Yeah. At least, at least I think that's what you and I would agree to. Yeah. And um, you were telling me about an upcoming trip that I just got back from Italy uh about two weeks ago, three weeks ago. I was there for three weeks. We started sharing that. You told me that you're getting ready to go on a trip to Italy. And I'm sure the people on this podcast that are listening are going, well, how do you flip from addiction to a trip to uh Italy? That's a good segue. Yeah, that's a segue. So I'm gonna open that door to you and maybe you can explain where you know how Italy and uh an addiction dealing with that is is connected.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Sure, yeah. Um so and to your point about you know having a son or daughter that's struggling, and even if it's not addiction, it's struggling with something. You know, I've heard it said that you're only as happy as like your, you know, your how your happiest child or your least happy child, whatever. Right. But um, but it's true, it's like it's always on your mind. You're always you know trying to help, trying to fix things, and some things you just can't fix. And in my case, my oldest, he um really struggled with like social anxiety, some depression, and just started after college. He had good jobs, he was in software development, he's a smart kid. Um, and he and he has so many gifts, but he just didn't recognize all these gifts that he had, and he kind of got in his head on all these other things. And it really got bad, COVID and a little post-COVID. He just kind of just started withdrawing and became more and more focused on well, it's the computer or just what hyper-focused on something, you know, not really a lot of drugs, some alcohol, but other other things, right? So, you know, these addictions just replace, they're just trying to solve, you know, um an issue. And so um we had tried various programs here and there, but we finally found this Catholic community called Chinocolo. And Chinocolo, and this is going back to the Italy uh segue here, it was started in Italy by a nun called Mother Elvira. And it was started for she saw these youth on the streets, and a lot of people were, you know, drug addicts and all kinds of struggles these people had. And there was really no place for them to go. So she started this community, she set it up with very um strict rules. It was prayer, it was work, it was, you know, you're gonna be accountable to your brothers. And so she, you know, built this house, and these guys would come live in this house. And so that's grown to 70 houses throughout the world. Um, there's two in the United States, uh, one in St. Augustine and one in uh Alabama. And so my son ended up going to starting in uh he went to the St. Augustine house, and then they moved him over to the Alabama house, and he's been there for three and a half years. He's now in charge of the house. So the beautiful thing about this is he was always afraid, you know, his self-confidence, like leadership, all that. So now he's got to run this house with all these guys. And some of these guys are tough, right? So he has to learn how to deal with them and how to just keep things moving. And that's been a huge thing for him, and a huge, huge healing for him to be able to, you know, everybody has their own sort of poverty as they call them when they come in. And the guys all um, they're very upfront about it, and they all hold each other accountable to these um commitments that they give each other. Uh, and um, I had an opportunity to go there for a week and kind of live as as they do. And I mean, it was tough, but it works. It I've heard so many testimonies from people. And as a parent, I mean, we were just couldn't be more thankful that we found this and that our son is thriving so well. In fact, he's getting ready to go to Italy um in a couple weeks to live there for a while at the house over in Italy. Um, so yeah, it's it's really cool. Um, I had never really heard about it until we discovered it. But the other thing is it's helped our entire family. Um, my Ann and I, like our relationships improved because we all kind of are on this walk with our son, and there's things that we are encouraged to do as a family, come to these festivals, our kids come, and you know, we've just had more kind of open, vulnerable conversations as a family, I'd say in the last three years since James has been there, and with him especially. So um, yeah, it's it's really been a godsend for us and for our family.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

So can you can you tell us again what is the name of the community and how is it spelled, in case anyone that's listening to this that might be struggling with addiction might want to check into it?

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Yeah, it's called it's pronounced Cinocolo, which means upper room in Italian. It's C-E-N-A-C-O-L-O. Okay. C-E-N-A-C-O-L-O.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

And you said there's two houses here in North America, one in St. Augustine and the other's in Alabama. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

It's near Huntsville, Alabama.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Great, yeah, great. Well, um, well, God bless your son uh for being on that journey and and for uh taking a leadership role in that. I'm glad to hear he's really sounds like he's doing really well with the program.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Yeah, he is. It's it it I there I'm sure I could give you many more examples, and I know we don't have time, but things he's done just coming out of his shell, you know, um playing the guitar and singing at mass, leading, leading the singing, dancing up on the stage, which you know, you couldn't get him to dance for you, I would be shocked. Yeah, you know, but like just this stuff he's done, he's just so much more free now.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Yeah, absolutely. And if and and anyone that's listening to this, if you are uh dealing with an addiction, it is it's it does not have to be like a death sentence, right? There are people out there and there are programs, very effective programs out there to help with virtually any type of addiction out there. And uh certainly, you know, certainly encourage you to go get that help so that you too can overcome your addiction and have a whole new path in your life. And uh hopefully if it can be you know through a religious organization, that's great to me. That's uh kind of a cherry on top. But there's there's also very good organizations out there that are not necessarily affiliated with any given church, and they're highly effective as well. And so just want to encourage anyone that may be listening, dealing with that in their lives to certainly seek help. Um, well, once again, I I mean that it's just unbelievable how quick the time goes. Yeah, it goes by. Um, so I think we're gonna wrap it up right here. Dave, thank you so very much for sharing your journey with us and for coming in today. And uh, we're gonna be off to our Bible study here in about 15 minutes. So um, hey, listen, uh, for those of you that are listening, thank you so much for tuning in and being part of my brother's journey. Hey, seek Jesus in all you do and be fishers of men. God bless you, and please join us again. Viva Jesus.