My Brother's Journey
My Brother’s Journey is a Catholic podcast for men focused on living the faith in everyday life and growing closer to Jesus Christ. Each episode explores real challenges, practical lessons, and encouragement for the daily walk of discipleship.
My Brother's Journey
Faith, Family, and Cursillo — A Brother's Story
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On this episode of My Brother's Journey, Greg and guest co-host Chris Dirig welcome Andrew Robson from St. Philip the Apostle men's bible study to share how his longing to become a better Catholic husband and father led him to Cursillo — and the profound impact it had on his faith journey.
Hey, welcome again to my brother's journey. I am half of the tag team here. I am Greg Joseph Chuck. And with me I have a special guest. Baron, uh, my my normal co-host is not here. So, um, co-host, will you please introduce yourself?
SPEAKER_02Yes, I'm that Hoosier guy from the episodes from before. So my name's Chris Derry. Happy to be here. It's an honor.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_02Pull the people on the bench.
SPEAKER_01No, it's great. You know what? When uh when you're when your starting quarterback gets injured, you bring in the guy on the bench that's uh gonna win the game for us. Next guy up. That's right. So Chris, thank you. And as you know, uh we have a special guest, um, but we're gonna keep it a little bit uh we'll we'll tease the audience here, all five of you, um uh and and uh introduce our special guest in just a second. But uh Chris, would you please lead us and start us off in prayer? I can.
SPEAKER_02Heavenly Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and then Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing Greg and I be here with our mystery guest. Um may we be instruments to God's divine aspect of trying to gather our lost sheep. You know, hopefully this is an instrument, this podcast is an instrument to gather some of our fabulous listeners to just get closer to God, to get closer to Christ, understand Christ better. And with our mystery guest, I'm sure we'll be able to accomplish that today.
SPEAKER_01And this would in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. So, mystery guest, uh I'm so excited to have you here, by the way. I am too. Please introduce yourself.
SPEAKER_00My name is Andrew Robson. I'm glad to be here. I hope I can live up to the hype.
SPEAKER_01Well, uh, brother Andrew, uh, so uh obviously from our Bible study, uh, and you are a parishioner at St. Therese. Correct. And I will, you know, I will start off by saying, I know absolutely nothing about you. Okay, other than I know you go to St. Therese, I know that you're in our Bible study, I know you're an usher at St. Therese, usually for the 5:30 Sunday mass, if I remember right.
SPEAKER_00That's correct.
SPEAKER_01I think you're married. Yes. I am guessing you might have children. I have a daughter, yes. Okay, so so far, so good. And I do want to say that I I want to pass along our condolences to you and your family. Uh, we we originally were gonna do this interview a little bit earlier, and uh sadly your your dad passed away. Thank you. And um uh and so our prayers are with you and with your family today. But again, we we thank you for being here. Um, so where do we begin? Um, how about at the very start? Um, so tell me, um, are you a cradle Catholic? Are you a convert? Uh tell us about you know where where it all began for Andrew.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I'm uh I guess your typical cradle Catholic. I was born and raised in the Catholic Church back in Erie, Pennsylvania, and through a series of events, moved to Pittsburgh for a few years where I got married and now in North Carolina.
SPEAKER_01Um, and so how long were you living in Pennsylvania and how long have you been living now in North Carolina?
SPEAKER_00I lived in Erie until I was, I think, 24, and then when my wife and I got married, after I finished grad school, we moved to Pittsburgh for a couple years. I think we lived there for about five years. It was 2015, is when we moved to North Carolina. Okay. So we've been here over a decade now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, very good, very good. Um, gotta ask, because uh I'm a hockey fan. Any chance you uh are Penguins fan? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean they penguins had some great teams, especially with Mario Lemie in those days. But uh Sydney Crosby. Of course, yes, which Sydney Kidd, but you know, of course, our Carolina hurricanes won the cup this year, so big ear for the Carolinas. Um but I digress. Um so tell us, um tell us a little bit about growing up in Erie and you know, uh a little bit about your spiritual journey and you know, um Catholic school and you know, any of that, and and kind of how you started getting plugged into the Bible study.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I was uh well I guess primarily went to public school, except for when I got to college, I went to a Catholic university. Um, but then just kind of the typical Sunday school to get my uh education in our in our faith. And I don't know, thinking about it, I I think I follow a typical trajectory of what I've heard of from a lot of cradle Catholics, where it's like you're born and raised in the faith, right? You you learn all the things that you're supposed to do, but none of it really gets in all that deep. So you kind of go through this period of time where like finished college, like got jobs and stuff, and before we had our child, I don't know, the our faith just kind of faded to the background. And it wasn't necessarily anything that pushed us away, it just kind of seemed inconsequential. Um, but then after our daughter came along and you know, some other life events occurred, it really started to steer us back to the church, and you know just over time, just wanting to grow deeper in my faith, it just one thing's led to another, and now I'm here with you guys.
SPEAKER_02Which Catholic uh college do you go to? Ganon University. Oh, what's okay, yeah. Well, you were on the shirt. Oh, yeah. I actually had the shirt on today.
SPEAKER_00It's in Erie, Pennsylvania.
SPEAKER_02Was that something that you really did when you were in high school, is that something that you chose that you really wanted to go to Ganon?
SPEAKER_00No, or is that largely a financial decision? I got accepted to a couple different places, but then when I got the um package of scholarships and grants and everything, there was a whole bunch more money coming my way from Ganon to go there than there was from anywhere else.
SPEAKER_01So it wasn't necessarily at that time like, hey, I I really want to get into a Catholic university and get into maybe aspects of theology or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was really down to deciding between Penn State and Ganon. Okay. Uh, because there was a satellite campus of Penn State and Erie, and so trying to decide between the two, and then it was, yeah, one ended up being a lot cheaper than the other.
SPEAKER_01So you um you said that it was kind of the birth of your daughter that maybe got you and your wife a little bit more focused on your faith and heading down the can you can you talk a little bit about maybe that event?
SPEAKER_00And well, I think some of it was um like after she was born, everything we started trying to find our way into being parents. I think some of it kind of went in line with our move down here as well, that it it all kind of came together really quickly. We came down here to just check out the area, see if it was a good fit, and I ended up coming home from vacation with a job offer down here, put in my two weeks' notice, our house went on the market, and it was just six-month complete life overhaul. And and my wife and I will both tell you it's probably one of the craziest things we've by far the craziest thing we've ever done. Um, but in the process of getting down here, getting settled in, the job was kind of wild and crazy in its own way. And just the way the level of stress that was hitting, I know, at least for me in particular, like you'd wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweats wondering if you were making a huge mistake. And just and it was really, I think, that transition that at the time we were living down a little bit closer to St. Mark's, so we started going there on Sundays and everything, and that's when it was just kind of came to me as like, you know what, I've got all this stress and anxiety and worry, take it to the feet of Jesus right here and just ask him for help. And it and that was to me, I think the big springboard that kind of brought me back into the fold.
SPEAKER_02You know, yeah. Father Bernard always, I mean, I love listening. Yeah, if you know, if we have a lot of listeners and they haven't listened to Father Bernard's homeless, you know, I just go to YouTube and I'll listen to some stuff. But you know, Father Bernard, I love how he said this a couple weeks ago. If you have fear, you haven't approached Jesus with these with these concerns. And if you have these fears, you're on your own. Meaning this is something that you create, you've not brought up to our Lord. You haven't brought up to Jesus, and that's where the fear comes from. You're trying to you're trying to row your own boat, you know, and and but yet Jesus walking right next to you on the boat, you're like, dude, what are you doing? Why are you rowing? I and I think that's I mean, that's but the but but but that's just human. You know, it's just human nature to where we all get scared and and because of of the unknowns, I guess.
SPEAKER_00Well it's funny. I saw something online, I think it was just this morning, actually. It was just a little blurb of something, one of those things that just hits you, and it says, faith and fear both ask us to believe in something we can't see. But which one are you gonna choose?
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, yeah, that's it. Well, that's that's the big leap. Yeah, yeah. And that's when you know, we're we're all so much wiser now, you know, versus our younger days, 100%. And uh now I don't know. I just don't fear that much anything. You make decisions and you just go with it, and you know, Jesus, I trust in you, and just continue to keep going on. So the uh I I did want to ask one question, Greg. I mean, uh how much of the college theology did you receive at Ganon that that you're utilizing to your wisdom today?
SPEAKER_00Um, I I there was probably a lot of the basics, and I think I was probably still more in that mode of like, I just need to get through getting the grades and graduating. Uh, it wasn't until much later on that I really started to get deep into the word and and trying to live out my faith a little bit more. Um I think it kind of goes to I think what was it, 2022, when Father Bernard had that men's conference at St. Therese. It was kind of around that time period that I was really starting to reflect more on like where my life is headed, and you know it's some of those fears and everything that that come up as you start to approach your late 30s and you're still thinking, man, I'm I'm working real hard and I've still got a long ways to go, and like you know, help me through this. Um, but just started to seek out ways to get more involved in my faith. And so that was one of the opportunities that had come up at that time that came and met a bunch of guys, and that's what got me introduced to our Tuesday night Bible study, because that was right around the time that was starting up as well. And then shortly after that, right at the beginning of 2023, I went to the there's the Catholic Men's Conference that they I think most years they have it at Thomas Aquinas, um, which I think they're going back there this year or this coming year. But anyway, um through that I got to meet some of our other brothers a little bit better too, and that's when uh our friend John Maloney from one of your prior episodes invited me to learn more about Curcio. And I'll tell you what, if you guys haven't checked that out, it was that was a pivotal moment in my life, as far as my faith goes. Just getting kind of the three legs of the stool, your study, your piety, and your action all in balance in the right order in your life. And it it just becomes your lens through which you view the world, and it has been such a blessing.
SPEAKER_02Well, balance brings peace. Yes, and peace brings you know love, humility, all you know, it's just one of those fabulous virtues that we ask, you know, that we ask our Lord to give us. I mean, I Lord knows I know why that's for peace all the time, but you know, it's just this is the way it is. Yeah, but you know, you're such a wealth of knowledge. I mean, Greg, I've talked to Andrew many, many, many times or you know, at our men's group, after the men's group, yeah. We sat one time. Two was we were out there in the parking lot till 10 o'clock just talking one time, and you're such a wealth of knowledge. And I I find that so you're telling me that you accumulated that well past your college days then again.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I think some of the the knowledge was there, probably, but it I really haven't started digging in deep until you know the last yeah, four years or so.
SPEAKER_01That's that's impressive. So was it Curcio that really you know hypercharged the batteries then? For sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because it's the thing I really like about Curcio is that like you do this powerful retreat, you go away for three days, and it's like you have this really close encounter with yourself, with Christ, and you know, with others that you're building relationships with while you're there, but there's the weekly group reunion that like that's what keeps me grounded in my faith. It's like, you know what, if I can have a good week or a bad week, and you know what, it's okay. I can go meet with my guys Friday morning at 6 a.m. at the Chick-fil-A, and I can take whatever I've got going on there, and I know that they're gonna support me and I'll be there to support them.
SPEAKER_01And so would you say that the Andrew that first moved down here in the new job that sometimes would wake up in a cold sweat? Yeah, right, and the Andrew that's in front of us right now, how big of a a difference has your life changed?
SPEAKER_00Pretty substantially, I would say. Yeah, because it and back then too, like a big part of what brought us down here was when I got a job offered, it's like 50% raise over what I'm making in Pennsylvania. It's like yeah, I'm out. Like, let's go do this. Um, but I think there was a lot of learning I had to do too about what it really means to be a father. It's like providing for your family is more than just bringing a paycheck in the door. Like, I really need to be the spiritual leader of the family. And I and I think it was one of the speakers at the Catholic Men's Conference back in 2023 that he the one of the things that stuck with me the most from that was when they said, like, you know what, God has a plan for your family, and guess what? So does the devil. And you know who decides who comes in that door and interacts with your family? That's the man of the house.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I I agree with that. And you know, let's I mean, we're all fathers here, and the fact is I don't think there's a better calling to make your up your game than becoming a parent. Well, yeah, when you're when you're when you're that uh equivalent spouse, that's one thing. But yeah, when you have when you have a family that really looks up to you and your children to you, uh that's that's not an easy undertaking. And it's not one that we should should be taken lightly. But you know, it's just one of those things that I I can't I can't think of a better way to gain strength than what we read in our Bible. But you know, why we go to church and listen the way we do, especially when we're so blessed to have Father Bernard here. But I mean have you ever walked out of church and it's been like, wow, um my life is way better now because I've listened to Father Bernard today. I know you got you attend down at St. Therese, but it's uh but but hopefully the message is still the same. Yeah, for sure. If it's not, just get in YouTube. Father Bernard.
SPEAKER_01So let's um let's talk a little bit about uh or if you don't mind. Um so what is so there may be there may be a listener that stumbles across this channel at some point and knows nothing about our men's Bible study. We also have a woman's Bible study going on at the same time here at uh St. Philip in in Statesville. But um what is it from your perspective, Andrew, that makes our men's Bible study I don't know what the right word is. I'll I'll say attractive. Attractive in the sense that you know you you keep coming back, I keep coming back, Chris. We you keep, I mean, there's something here I'd like to get your thoughts on what is it that keeps you coming back.
SPEAKER_00I mean the retention bonus definitely helps.
SPEAKER_01Um you you gotta get to having the cabinet, you know.
SPEAKER_00Good point. No, it's really the camaraderie, like just getting together with the guys, and it's like, and I and I appreciate how some of the men in our group, like I mean, Greg, you're certainly one of them. Like, you don't shy away from asking the hard questions, like challenging us to really dig into it deeper. So it's like I can read the Bible on my own. It's like, but I'm not gonna have Greg clut cracking me over the head with, you know, Andrew, what are you gonna do with this that we just read? Like, okay, like I need to take it in a little bit deeper. Um, yeah, I think that's a big part of it. And just it's true of any book you read, right? If if you read it with a group of people and discuss it, you get so much more out of it than you do just on your own, I agree.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think I think there's no question. Chris, from your perspective, I mean, what what is it that you would say is is so attractive about our men's Bible study?
SPEAKER_02It's what I learned. I mean, there's I mean Craig, I mean, Craig. Andrew comes over and says something, I'm just kind of like this blows my mind. You know, it is it might be just a little quick verse of uh something that Saint had said or or just a little excerpt from what we're talking about, but it's it's it's the small things. I love how we dissect, we only do a chapter at a time, you know, and we're there for an hour. And so when I lead, I'm barely getting through, you know, and it's just one of those things I'm like, how do we how did we not? This is like the time that we have with this. But it it it how do we when you dissect the word, and and right now we're we're like Paul and Second Corinthians, when you're when you're taking this apart to make it practical for us in a daily aspect, I think that's that's that's the reward. And you know, and and to listen to other people like, hey, this is this is how I I I love the different viewpoints that everybody gets to. And um your viewpoint might be a little bit different than mine, but it doesn't necessarily mean make your viewpoint not good. It it works with you. So I and I I love that aspect. I mean it it creates a practical aspect of what we do and how we go about leading our lives to be to be those pillars that Jesus asks us to be, you know, and that's by the way.
SPEAKER_01You you led the last time we got together, and I uh first of all, uh you did an outstanding job. But and second of all, I just want to thank you for not trying to replicate or increase the number of questions that it's that brother. Yeah, that brother Joe Joe. Joe set a record for for the most questions ever in a Bible study with 50. Uh of course, we didn't go through all 50 things. Two of them two or three, and and that was it. And the rest were like, hey, think about them. Yeah, but uh thank you for that.
SPEAKER_02Might have a lot more general questions than uh uh than Joe. Joe had some, but they're getting the no, they were they were they were phenomenal questions.
SPEAKER_01They they they were Joe Joe, I I think is one of the people that does listen to the podcast, so I had to throw that in there if he listens to it. But uh so we're gonna wrap up here, but before before we do, um I I got one other just kind of quick topic that I want to throw at both of you guys, and that is uh this past Sunday, uh we all heard the same homily in the Archdiocese, didn't matter which church you were you you were attending. Um, and that was you know our our bishop, Bishop Martin Martin, excuse me, talking about unity. And I just would love to kind of get a quick, maybe you know, feedback on what'd you think of the homily and what'd you think of that message?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean it's and I I think it's certainly the foundation of our faith, right? We're all created in the image and likeness of God. And it's like, yeah, we've got being patriotic isn't a bad thing, right? And you know, protecting our nation isn't a bad thing. It's like, but you know, we're all ultimately in this to get each other to heaven, and how do we how do we live that out day to day?
SPEAKER_02You know, and it's holding hands, it's good, but it's it's you know, it's sometimes listen again, like like my prayer said sometimes people stray and it and it takes us to pull some people back there, but it's unified, yeah, and that's that's what it that's what it really takes. Like trees in a forest. Trees in a forest don't fall down typically because they're they're all held up by some of the other trees that are there, and that's that's how we should really look at our church. And that's if we if someone falls, there should uh they shouldn't really have to extend a hand for someone to reach down and pick them up because it should be already being done as they're falling. You know what I mean? So um the unity aspect is is is important without a doubt.
SPEAKER_00But trying to connect with other people and seeing where they're coming from can really go a long way in helping with that. There was a something I saw online the other day, and I I think it was probably some non-denominational street preacher or something, one of these guys out there with a microphone and a speaker just saying, you know, Jesus is here to save you. And there was a an older gentleman that came up to him and and you could tell he was agitated and just like, all right. And he comes up to the guy, and he's like, Well, on what day did he and he create cancer? And and the and this street preacher just comes back at him with like, Well, we we're the ones that introduced death into the world, Jesus saves or whatever. And it just turned into like kind of a shouting match, and then it's like all right, well, what fruit did this really produce? And I was looking at that and it's like, you know, wouldn't it have been so much more powerful if this guy was like, Well, like, clearly cancer has had an impact on your your family somehow. Like you watched a friend or spouse or somebody suffer greatly at the hand of this, like unpack that story before you try to introduce Jesus into it and get to know each other. It's like you'd have much better opportunity to bear fruit in that kind of context than just hey, I went and shouted the name of Jesus at a guy who's angry. Like, I did my job.
SPEAKER_02It's like I don't I don't think he did, and that's his reward, you know. That's it, that's what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01Well, guys, this has been amazing. I can't believe we've we've uh gone as long as we have with this. This is fantastic. Um, I want to thank you, brother Andrew. I appreciate the invite. No, thank you, Chris. I thank you for sitting in for bearing. Yeah, really appreciate it. Quite an honor, yes. And uh before we wrap up, I do want to wish both of you a very happy 4th of July. Uh 250th anniversary, uh birthday, I guess, of our nation. So it'll be very special. And uh uh listen, uh, whatever you guys do, enjoy it, but but please stay safe, okay? Yes. Uh come back with all your fingers. I was just gonna say that. Thank you. Thank you for saying that. And uh to those that are listening and uh today, uh, thank you for tuning in and being part of my brother's journey. Hey, seek Jesus and all you do, and be fishers of men. God bless you, and please join us again, viva Jesus.