Open Seat: A Holy Family Podcast

Fr Pat McDaid: Saint with a Past, Sinner with a Future

• Holy Family Adrian • Season 1 • Episode 20

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This week on the Open Seat, we’re joined by Father Pat McDaid, SM, who shares his inspiring journey of faith and vocation as a Marianist Priest. From his beginnings in Adrian to his current ministry in San Antonio, Father Pat reflects on the key examples and influences that guided his path to the priesthood. He also offers valuable advice on how to pray for and support those discerning any vocation. Don’t miss Father Pat’s contagious joy and wisdom. 

This is a podcast of Holy Family Parish, located in Adrian MI. We are a Catholic people, not a place, striving to Live Jesus through celebrating the sacraments and forming disciples in Adrian and beyond.

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Open Seat es un podcast Parroquia de la Sagrada Familia ubicada en Adrian, Michigan. Somos un pueblo católico, no un lugar, que se esfuerza por vivir a Jesús celebrando los sacramentos y formando discípulos en Adrian y más allá.

Fr. Pat:

Is any saint perfect? No, but here's the thing There's not a single saint without a past and not a single sinner without a future that's life right there That's what we're called to embrace. That's why our faith is so amazing. If we can inspire others to want to be a saint We're doing something, right?

Katie:

Welcome to Open Seat, the podcast where we create a space for authentic conversations about faith, unfiltered and unapologetic. Here, we believe that every story matters. Whether you're questioning, seeking, or steadfast in your beliefs, you'll find something relatable in these heartfelt discussions. So grab your seat, get comfortable, and let's dive into today's story here at Open Seat. So today in the Open Seat, we are blessed to have Father Pat McDaid, SM.

Fr. Pat:

SM, Society of Mary.

Katie:

Yeah! So, welcome home, first of all.

Fr. Pat:

It's great to be back in the 49221.

Katie:

So, where are you at these days?

Fr. Pat:

So, I'm in San Antonio, Texas. And I'm at Central Catholic High School. All Boys High School. About a mile from the Alamo.

Katie:

Oh, and the Alamo is such a, such a beloved spot.

Fr. Pat:

Special. I mean, it's still a Catholic Church. We had the medal of honor, conference there this past year. And we had an amazing prayer service for these heroes that have been lifted up by their sacrifice, by their heroic actions. Not all died, and we had 34 living that came down. We had a ceremony at the Alamo and, of course, all around town. And, and our school, Central Catholic, we have a Staff Sergeant Bordelin, just a hero of the school, graduated from Central before World War II. Joined the Marines, died in the Battle of Tarawa, and, his Medal of Honor is in our school. So, his family, the Bordelon family, we have relatives in the school now, and they came to our school. We had a huge evening and a dinner, part of the gala to celebrate these amazing men. I was surprised how many are Catholic.

Katie:

Oh, really?

Fr. Pat:

You know, because the military takes everybody, All faiths, all walks of life, but, meeting the living recipients that were visiting our school as part of the convocation or the, you know, the whole, the whole events conference, many were Catholic. It's really, it's really neat to see.

Katie:

Yeah. You have a big affinity for the military.

Fr. Pat:

I love the military.

Katie:

Where did that start?

Fr. Pat:

I think just growing up, we always had that respect. My grandpa was a tail gunner on a B 17..And my grandpa, that was my grandpa Bromeyer on my mom's side. My dad's side, my grandpa McDaid was an engineer and helped with I think the Sherman tank developing the turret because he knew calculus. And so we have this history of supporting the military. And then a lot of my friends from Adrian went in the military. A lot of my fellow students, when I went to the Harvard of the Midwest, University at Dayton, went to the military, they were ROTC program. And some of the schools I've taught at through my Marianist life have had ROTC, Junior ROTC programs. And I just love supporting the military. When I was in Hawaii, I helped out, with the Chaplaincy Corps at, Schofield Barracks, and I got to say Mass at Schofield, Alimanu Military Reservation, Tripler, Army Hospital, it was just amazing. These are the best people, and talk about a gift to our country, and so many amazing Catholics that you can see them putting their faith into action, serving our country, raising amazing, hopefully vocations for our sisters, for our brothers, priests, for the church. I love the military.

Katie:

So you said you're a hometown boy. 49221. All right. So you grew up in Adrian. Well, tell us a little bit about it.

Fr. Pat:

So growing up two brothers, two sisters, my mom and dad are still here in Adrian and I loved it. I loved it because when you're growing up, that's all your experience is, right? I thought everybody was like the life I lived. Went to Lincoln Elementary and then went to Drager Middle School and then Adrian High School had phenomenal teachers. Back then we had Saint Joe's and Saint Mary's. So the priest that I had I remember just amazing men. We had Father Williams. We had of course Father Louie Komorowski here at Saint Mary's

Katie:

Both of them have halls named after them.

Fr. Pat:

Isn't that amazing? I don't need a hall after me let's not get crazy. but but Father Al Father Al was one of my favorite Oblate and Father Al Russell, he was the one, whenever I say the Eucharistic prayer one, with all the saints, I said, I want to become like Father Al. Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Lawrence, Christogamous, John, Paul, Cosmas, Damian, I'm going on and on and on and I said, That's what it's about, living the Catholic life, embracing the sacraments, so we can be like one of these we mentioned. And that was Father Al, he would get a bounce in his step, he would light up, smile, it didn't matter if he was saying Mass at St. Joe's, St. Mary's, out at the Irish Hills, you know, he said, or, do you still have Mass at the cemeteries?

Katie:

I know Memorial Day we definitely do. And then they blessed the graves after.

Fr. Pat:

Sure, and, and I remember as Boy Scouts we'd put flags on the veterans headstones. And that was my growing up in Adrian. It was a life of faith, a life of great examples of course my parents, how could I not mention my parents? My mom and

Katie:

Did you have as a teacher?

Fr. Pat:

I did, I had my dad for American History. And it was a great experience because of course I knew I had a little advantage. I knew history from my dad, all the stories growing up. And, I remember one of my friends, she asked one time, she's like, Does your son get a pass, or does he really know this stuff? And she's like, ask him. So the whole class, instead of my dad teaching all the students, my, my fellow peers asked me the questions, and they're like, how do you know all this? I said, it's in my DNA. It's It's my DNA. I got it. My dad is a master teacher. it's in his DNA, and we learned it from the earliest moments, from first, breaths growing up, and we were, we were immersed with that. You know, dad taught at Adrian High School for, I think, 43 years, went on to teach another Seven or eight. substituting. And I mean, what a career.

Katie:

And taking numerous kids to D. C.

Fr. Pat:

D. C. Teaching summer school and night school. I think he taught the prisoners G. E. D. at times. And as a family, we'd have a two week vacation. But we'd go camping. So we'd go up to Young State Park. And those memories, too, because that was the time together. Still to this day, my brothers and sisters all love camping because of those memories growing up and the traditions we had.

Katie:

So family, you have your mom, your dad, and then how many siblings?

Fr. Pat:

So, I have two brothers, two sisters. John's no longer with us, but Ann Marie's the oldest. And then she's married to Dave, who's an amazing guy. They're down in Ohio. Katie and Sean. Katie is in Cincinnati. Sean, my brother in law, another amazing guy. So, I love my brothers in law. They're amazing. Ryan and Becky, and they have two kids. So, my niece and nephew, Reed and Riley, are down in Orlando. We get to see them. For example, the nice thing about teaching in the school is even us priests, we get spring break. And so one of the traditions is we get to go to visit Ryan in Florida, and maybe if we're lucky hit a cruise on, a few of those days, because that's the place to go. If you want to hit the Caribbean islands, of course, you know, what's nice is when that does happen as a priest, I bring my basket because all of these workers that are from numerous other countries they used to have chaplains on board, but they don't anymore So to have an opportunity to hear confessions to say Mass for these, you know, maybe a couple thousand workers. That's a real special gift. I try whenever I travel I try and bring my Mass kit because you never know who you're going to run into that you can say listen, we can celebrate the Mass right here. with boy scouts, when I was in Hawaii, we had the Catholic committee on scouting and we went to Philmont on the top of the tooth we hiked up there one morning as the sun was coming up. We celebrated Mass with these Catholic scouts. Hopefully that we're considering a vocation. It was called the St. George trek. They still have that to this day. And, you know, I figure any effort to increase and promote and, and make visible, what a great life. So you mentioned growing up in Adrian, let me tell you about the sisters who raised me because it wasn't just family. It wasn't just mom and dad and my brothers and sisters, it was also sister faith and sister Annette. So these Adrian Dominicans, the Adrian Dominicans are amazing women. They are unbelievable. And we had two of the best. Not only were they sisters of

Katie:

sisters In Blood.

Fr. Pat:

In blood. Right. But religious sisters, so they had a two for one. Well, so they raised us at over at St. Joe's and it was amazing. I think I started serving Mass a little earlier than I was scheduled to because of maybe my behavior in the pew. And Sister Annette I think, tried ripping my ear off my head and she dragged me behind in a sacristy and said, it's time to serve. I said, Sister, I haven't gone through training. She goes, you'll learn fast. Everyone's watching. And I thought, I like this. I like being on the altar. I love serving. This is amazing. Front row seat, best seat in town. Well. Here's the story. You just, I have to share with you. Confirmation. So fast forward to high school, I had fallen in love. Every time I wanted to go to Mass, I wanted to serve because you really are the closest to the consecration and Jesus right there. I loved it. Well, confirmation, we go through, you know, high school years, you go through the, the catechesis and we had volunteers and many teachers that helped us deepen our love of the faith. So sister Annette and Sister Faith. They decided for the Saturday night Mass and then the Sunday Masses, they would pass out little doves that cut out in paper. And so they cut out, I don't know how many months they spent cutting out thousands of doves. And they write, we had maybe a couple dozen, 18, 24, somewhere about, confimandi they wrote all of our names on, on, let's say, 1, 500 or so. them out at mass. put it in the collection basket. People love that when you don't have to put money in but you can pull something out. You know, that's

Katie:

Not making change in the basket.

Fr. Pat:

That's always a blessing, right? So, people are all excited. Instead of a second collection where you put more money in the basket, they actually get to reach in and pull a name out and you'd see whose name was on that dove and then you would pray for them. You know, and the the time leading up to confirmation when Bishop Pavish would come and confirm us. Well, I served that mass and Sister Annette after at the end of Mass, she says, Patrick, I'm not going to draw a name. She goes, I'm going to pray for you that you become a priest. Now at this time, I still loved saying Mass or not saying mass serving Mass. I

MVI_4002:

I

Fr. Pat:

wasn't there yet. I still, but I didn't see myself saying Mass as a priest. I'm like, sister, you know, I'm not sure what, chance there is of me becoming a priest. I mean, an Ice cube might have a chance you know where

Katie:

better than, better than Pat McDaid becoming a priest.

Fr. Pat:

Sister faith was undeterred she's like no i'm gonna pray for you to become a priest I said I recommend you draw a name. She reaches in and grabs my name

Katie:

Oh.

Fr. Pat:

I wasn't content with that. I said, oh, I know what you did every one of those is mine. I'm that vocation you've been praying for that you let people know you're passing out everybody's name, but they're all praying for me and you're praying for me, aren't you? She looks at me like, how are you making this up? And she goes, well, if you want me to draw another name, but I guarantee they're not yours. So the next 10 names I pulled out, not a single one was mine. I'm like, at that moment I said with my family supporting vocation with sister Faith and Sister Annette praying for me to become a priest. I said, it's just a matter of time. So I graduated, I was confirmed, graduated from Adrian, went to Dayton, studied political science and history. And then at the end of my senior year, or my senior year I did what was called the aspirancy. Where you live with the community, you pray with the community, you discern, you know, is this a life I'm being called to? have been one of the few times in my life I got a 4. 0.

Katie:

Really? Yup,

Fr. Pat:

it was and I said this is a sign from the Holy Spirit. But of course I wanted to confirm so I said let's see what happens second semester. Sure enough. Sure enough, 4. 0 The conversations, the morning prayer evening prayer night prayer Mass everyday, meals together,Breakfast, lunch, dinner. It was just such a blessing I confirmed the vocation The holy spirit was calling me to so I went to the novitiate, spiritual bootcamp. So we went, it wasn't that far away, maybe 10 miles from the University of Dayton. We went to what was called Bergamo. And, for 12 months, we studied the vows of poverty, celibacy, obedience. we learned new styles of prayer. And we had one day where we did volunteer work in ministry. But it was a it's a great year a lot of prayer a lot of silence not really apostolic But we had a beautiful grotto right next to the property that was similar to the one in Notre Dame So, you know, you're at home. You're you're you're in heaven. And then I took my first vows and it was history I was I was trying to think because I thought you might ask on the way over. How long have you been a religious?

Katie:

Well, that's a good question.

Fr. Pat:

I think it's 27 or 28 years. There's a reason I didn't go into a math related field

Katie:

Well, you'll just wait for them to bring the cake

Fr. Pat:

Right. I know a couple years ago I celebrated my 25th jubilee and that's a pretty big thing, but I have to wait now my next one's 50 so I have to make it 25 more years. So who's counting at this point? Let someone else do the math, right?

Katie:

So I don't know if people know this or not, but, connected to the parish, we have a few seminarians, right? We've had Deacon Randy here. We have Ben Myers. he's out east. He's a brother, I believe, or a monk or something. And we have Jon Dick who was the youth minister before. The question really for me is how do we best pray for our seminarians?

Fr. Pat:

I think it starts before they even become a seminarian. We we start with every young couple we know, and we pray for them that they are in all their actions and behaviors are pro life. When I do a wedding, I tell young couples, I say, Be fertile and multiply. be Catholic, have as many children as you can because vocations come from families and we need not this, you know, we're choosing not to have children. That's not Catholic, have children support, be open to vocations and all along at every stage, just be open. You don't have to make a decision until your college years. Now we're not recruiting for a junior seminary. When you're in eighth grade those days are over, we're waiting for a little experience a little life maturity and that but once then you get to that level Then just be open be open because here's the thing What makes a great priest what makes a great sister, brother religious, deacon what makes a great servant of God? The same gifts that would make a great husband, a great wife, a great parent, so you can see a lot of similarities. Those would make a great religious, great priest

Katie:

You don't know when your name's going to get pulled from that basket.

Fr. Pat:

And then once you realize, okay, this might be my calling. Then we have to support and nurture. can do that through prayers. We can do that through inviting people over, just letting them know you're still one of us. You're not separating yourself from the community. You're not moving above below or on the side of the community. That reassurance and that support that love is what it's all about I love coming back to Holy Family because I get to experience that family I get to see those smiling faces I get to pick up babies and give them a blessing. I get to thank my servers for the gift they are giving of their time and talent. And, and you know what? I see myself at those ages too, where they're at. I loved Christmas Mass because my servers in the congregation was so filled with joy. It was just like San Antonio. We had English singing. We had Spanish singing. We had such joy and happiness at thanking Jesus for his gift, the incarnation for thanking our blessed mother for another Christmas that we could all celebrate. That's what it's all about. I think that's how we, encourage vocations. We support vocations. We have a healthy, vibrant church and that's everything from church at the, pope Francis, all the way down to Holy Family here in Adrian. Were Catholic in all of our words, thoughts, and actions. Yep. And that that supports vocations more than you could ever know.

Katie:

Well, that's some really good advice. So I thank you for letting us know because it that's always the question, right? The diocese puts out a poster once a year. I don't even if people know that. And so we hang it up and we're asked to pray for both religious, religious sisters and seminarians. And, it really is a great privilege to pray for someone as they pursue their vocation.

Fr. Pat:

It's amazing. You know what one of my favorite things to do? So I'm a fourth degree Knight of Columbus. I love the knights. They are such a gift. One of the most amazing organizations in the church. On the back of their magazine every month they highlight a vocation. It may be female religious, male religious, priest seminarian And to read their story They're just like us. They're just they're just like the families we serve. They're just like any parishioner here at Holy Family and to see how they followed the calling of the Holy Spirit the Lord in their life and that gives me hope because here's great vocations that Who knows the next picture of the back of Knights of Columbus magazine could be right here from Holy Family

Katie:

Could be. Could be. We've had some crop.

Fr. Pat:

Yes.

Katie:

So, we just continue to pray for whatever God's will is here. Even marriages have increased around here, which is a blessing, you know, I mean, that's a that's a vocation too. So. So how did you choose the Marianists?

Fr. Pat:

So I followed in the footsteps of my sister, Ann Marie, and she went to Dayton. I always joke There's a good, friend of mine. She's the chair of our Board down in San Antonio chair of our school, Judy Rettinger. And she always tells me the Harvard of the Midwest, you know, so the Marianist run 18 high schools in the United States, three universities. So the big universities are Dayton in Ohio, Dayton. Honolulu, Chaminade University, and then in San Antonio, St. Mary's. Well, I didn't even know the Marianists growing up. I knew the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. I knew our diocesan priests. I knew the Adrian Dominican Sisters, but I didn't know the Marianist Society of Mary. And there are two Society of Mary's. So here's where it gets exciting. At the end of our name, we have S period, M period, Society of Mary, and It's not as well known as the SJ, the Society of Jesus. Everybody knows the Jesuits, the J Boys. That's right. But not everybody knows the Society of Mary. We have the Maris and then the Marianists. We're the Marianists our founder was Blessed William Joseph Shammanad, and he was an educator and Diocesan Priest in Bordeaux, France. So long story short, came to the United States in 1850. The Marianists did. Started the University of Dayton and in 1991 I started as a freshman At

Katie:

The University of Dayton. To following Katie's

Fr. Pat:

Yep, Anne Marie's. Anne Marie's. Yep. Wrong sister, sorry. Wrong sister. But my sister katie went there, my brother Ryan and John, so five of us, I said, I don't know how my parents came up with all this money to send us to the to the University Dayton.

Katie:

So what I'm hearing is the McDaids are the Alumnus donors?

Fr. Pat:

My parents have a license plate, it's magnificent, it says Flyers 5. And then, On one car and it might be the truck has five flyers. Well, then my sisters sisters have the same thing in Ohio you know,'cause two different states, you can have the same phrase. And think there's one family that might've had seven from the same family go to the University of dayton, but I met the Marianist there and here's the thing. Great, great piece of advice for those going to college. I was a history and political science major, double major. And then I ended up picking up theology cause they were my most amazing classes. Okay. The Marianist taught take the best, most challenging, most academic classes you can, especially with the best professors. It doesn't matter if you need the subject. It doesn't matter if you need that course. If it's taught by someone who's passionate and good about what they're teaching, you'll love it. I took classes of subjects I loved with a mediocre professor, and it wasn't rewarding. I took classes with Marianists that I never would have in a million years would have taken, but the Marianist were passionate about their classes were on fire. I loved them. I loved them. And I mean, it was just, it was unbelievable. So because of those Marianist teachers, I said, my dad might not have been a religious or a priest, but he had the same passion teaching American history. And that's how these brothers and priests were. And I'm like, I want to become one of these guys, So my vocation that was nurtured at Holy Family Parish deepened when I went to college. And I think I was at that level where I was more open and able to say, I want to give this a shot. and so it wasn't like hundred percent boom. I knew I'm going to be a Marianist. I'm going to be a priest. But it was The direction I was going to give a shot. I always ask married couples. I said, how do you know? And I've received different answers and there's no one that that is always the same Almost no one says 100 percent I knew I went with majority at 95 90. I don't know that you can put a number on it when you know who you're gonna marry does it matter what percent likely you really? Do you want to get into that game? No, you marry you celebrate that nuptial that sacrament that bond and you live your life of happiness and joy and Allow God to transform you with that grace same thing with religious same thing with my experience at Dayton. And so, you know, we had let's see, Louis Wiesner, Father Louis, Father John Putka, Father Joe Tedesco, Father Joe Kozar, Brother Jerry O'neill, Brother Tom Oldensky all these guys were Educators that taught me in the classroom and they were characters. They were amazing and I said I want to follow in their footsteps. I knew I was open to becoming a teacher and so 18 high schools I've been in I think four of them four or five. Let's see. My first assignment was St. Joe's in Cleveland, up in on lake erie. It's amazing. I love my first five years in Cleveland the Vikings. It was amazing. So then Chaminade Julian in Dayton then I went to the seminary came back, Archbishop Reardon in San Francisco, then after San Francisco, Central Catholic in San Antonio, then I went to Hawaii it's kind of like military, five years and instead of PCSing, we transfer, we move, and I asked once, I said, why do we move so often? They're like, You're a young Marianist. You're a young priest. Everybody wants a dynamic young priest and we don't have any others. So you get to move around. And then at a certain point, so when I was in Hawaii, I was there not for five years, but six got an extra year because of covid. You couldn't travel in that. And then they said, okay, you've reached your 25th Jubilee. Where do you want to go? You've been a Marianist for 25 years. And I said, I want to go back to San Antonio, because the, culture, the Catholicism, the students, the families, the depth of spirituality is amazing. I was talking to one of the parishioners here at Christmas Eve, he's like, how's your spanish coming along? I well, not so good. I said, I'm pretty good at tamales and the food, but, He goes, Father, you're in San Antonio. There's no excuse. I said, I'm old now and I'm not a good student anymore. He goes, that's my homework assignment for you. of the things I love to give in homilies. is a homework assignment. He's like, that's my homework assignment. He goes, Father, works both ways. It works both ways. I said, I liked that. So I might give it a shot, but. I think I might, full immersion, maybe over a couple summers, I can move to Mexico. And cause we have schools and parishes down in Mexico or we're also, I think in Guatemala, El salvador, South america, or Peru

Katie:

What would be the defining charism of a Marianist?

Fr. Pat:

So we take our inspiration from Mary at the foot of the cross. So Luke's Gospel, when we have Mary and the beloved disciple, here's Jesus on the cross. So our goal is to do whatever he tells us. So it's kind of, that's from the wedding feast of Cana. It's like a hybrid wedding feast at cana, do whatever he tells And then also Mary at the foot of the cross. So if you could do a kind of a fusion of those two, what is Mary calling us to do to help her son, our savior, be, known more, loved more and served more. That's what Mary is. So that's, that's wedding feast of Cana, of course. You know all the great sacraments are around a celebration just have water being turned into wine have a couple saving face with Not being embarrassed by running out and our blessed mother steps in saves day with her actually she directs her son jesus Yeah. well and then at the foot of the cross. There's this this intimate moment where Jesus gives John to his blessed mother and our blessed mother to John take care of my mom, and I think that's what we do. In a maternal way like Mary, we can take care of our fellow brothers and sisters in the church. And that's, that's everybody, we have a lot of people that are Catholic and a lot of people that aren't Catholic yet, but what's our job to evangelize, to invite, to reach out to somebody that, we can share what's most important in our life, our faith. We can share that with. So we're always kind of evangelizing by our efforts, by our example. And so we're, we're drawing people to Christ. We're showing them the love of our life and saying, come follow me. And our blessed mother, I think she's perfect as an example for doing that. I was talking to a friend of mine, he was going to preach this Christmas morning. I tried to go online and see if I could find his homily, but he was like, we have the same readings every year and I'm going to preach this year on when Mary's water broke I'm like, I've never thought about that. But we talk a lot about the miracles of Jesus. But that's the divinity side of Jesus fully divine, but fully human his humanity came from our blessed mother She might not have had birthing pains because she was without sin But she still had biology still the same. She carried jesus in her womb for nine months and her water broke and gave birth to Jesus, breastfed Jesus. I mean, what a beautiful image. Here's our blessed mother Like our own mothers took care of us. She's taking care of jesus. the humanity of Jesus came from our blessed mother. So I want to see what my friend was preaching about because that could help me become a better priest like how do we put the human side because at least myself sometimes I tend to look more at the divine fully divine side of Jesus and I don't negate or neglect, but I could always emphasize just as much that fully human because the two go together fully human

Katie:

and fully

Fr. Pat:

divine. What a beautiful. and Theological truth and so I want to see what he preached about

Katie:

I do too.

Fr. Pat:

that's that's that's new territory I don't know that any saint is uh, this might be his path to holiness.

Katie:

You know, for Advent, I've been reading Roy Goble and he has, amazing reflections. They make the journey to Bethlehem very human,

Fr. Pat:

So it puts real eyes and

Katie:

So one of the, one of the, reflections are like, what do you think the road trip snacks they took were, you know? I mean, it's a haul to get to Bethlehem. So do you take jerky?

Fr. Pat:

I know.

Katie:

You can't stop at a gas station.

Fr. Pat:

Right well, they you know, like as a hunter and a fisherman They probably didn't have walleye my favorite fish or venison jerky with jalapeno and cheese. But that would be enough to sustain the trip, you right. What were their snacks? mean, these are real questions that you can laugh and you can say well not significant But you know what anytime we grow And loving and appreciating Jesus more Even if it's through just a smile and a laugh on our face like what snacks they have. Isn't that what it's all about?

Katie:

Yeah, or you think about the annunciation, right? And, it's more like Elizabeth was the loudmouth cousin. And so to hide Mary from being the unwed teenage pregnancy, we sent her to the hill country, which is like, to live with Elizabeth for three months so we could just like hide her, and I'm thinking like, oh my gosh, yeah, that's happened all over the course of history.

Fr. Pat:

See, what I think, I have a little different take on the visitation, I here's the angel Gabriel that came to joseph and came to Gabriel, and is helping both of these guys understand this is a miracle. just the, the immaculate conception, she was born without sin. So her parents, Joachim and Anne, okay, so she was destined for greatness. Fast forward. To when she now is of child birthing age, and she's engaged, betrothed to Joseph, and all of a sudden she's pregnant. So, you know, a miraculous conception. Gabriel had to explain that to her. But also, here's Elizabeth in her older age. We have two women that are both experiencing miracles. Why not come together? Family. Cousins. Why not come together and say, How good is God? isn't he amazing? God is so unbelievable. Both of us, both of us. Take away the surprise, take away the angel Gabriel needing to explain in various ways. What a gift new life. I don't know about you, but I love, I love children, especially babies. I love baptisms. So here's a pitch. Here's a kick I gotta give to all these young parents get your babies baptized. Don't wait. I've heard well I'm gonna wait till they make it to an age so they can make the decision on their own It's the worst thing you can possibly do Are you gonna let them pick their hour of curfew or what they're gonna eat every night for dinner? No, and that's fine It's far less important than baptism. Baptize those bambini, bring them to church, raise them in the faith. This drives me crazy when they say, well, when they're of age, that means you don't value and love your faith like you should. Let's work on that because these kids need to be brought to church, need to be baptized, need to be brought up with the faith and sorry, I had to go on a little bit of a rant.

Katie:

Well, you know, as someone who teaches baptism prep and RCIA to the kids it's amazing to see actually when, people start the process. It's just a class I got to go to, or my kids to class, but then their families start to come into the picture, and we start to actually live the faith. It's really a precious walk with people.

Fr. Pat:

And you want to understand how delicate faith is. Talk to families with children that are ill. One of my first, when I was a seminarian and I was just ordained, one of my first experiences was having a CPE, a clinical pastoral experience. I was at St. Jude's in Fullerton, California. So catholic hospital ran by the sisters of St. Joseph of Orange. It's the most amazing pastoral experience. I about quit a hundred times because it was so traumatic and, and tough and, you know, tears of joy and tears of sadness and lack of understanding, but talk about learning how to be a priest in the front lines. I was in neonatal intensive care for a week and it was the one of the most tender moments with the nurses go before every incubator and we had babies that were You know five pounds three pounds and the smallest IV's you've ever seen in your life and feeding tubes And to see if they were gaining a gram was a good sign we would say prayers of thanksgiving and if they were losing weight prayers of hope and in and then being able to rock babies when you're all gowned up with your ppe gear on and it was one of them I'll never forget those moments. I think I was good for the rest of my life with homilies because I could just talk about that experience But I think one of the appreciations we have is how sacred life is and, and how vulnerable and, but you see that with the youth, you see that with the elderly. Why are we called to be pro life from cradle grave, from womb to tomb? Because that's what it's all about. We respect life at all ages. I love St. John Paul II because one of the images he showed us. It was so hard to see when he had Parkinson's and his hand was shaking and he was drooling and his head was lean. But one of the lessons he gave us last lesson he could last homily was How to honor and respect life even at the end when the secular society says, We can end this life. Is that a life worth living? Yes, it is. If nothing more than an example for us to say all life is sacred St. John Paul II taught us that lesson. Was he perfect in his life? No, is any saint besides our Blessed Mother without sin, right? Is any saint perfect? No, but here's the thing There's not a single saint without a past and not a single sinner without a future I love that because that's us, Katie. That's us, that's life right there That's what we're called to embrace. That's why our faith is so amazing. That's why it's just it's the best, We are where we're at because of so many heroic and saintly men and women and We're growing to be that saint For others to look to and model their life after if we could if we can inspire others to want to be a saint we're doing something, right? We could be the next Father Louis or Sister Faith or Sister Annette. We could be the next you know Father Tom. I remember. Oh, here's a great story for Holy family When I was, I might have been freshman or sophomore, and Father Tom took us fishing on, the Maumee for walleye. Father Tom Helfrich? Yes, Father Tom helfrich. He was substituting. I don't think he was at our parish, but he might have been up at the Oblate Novitiate at Vineyard Lake And He was substituting at the parish and he's you want to go fishing? I'm like, do I want to go fishing? Is the Pope Catholic? Yes, I want to go fishing. So we went down to, to the Maumee. We went and we caught all kinds of fish. And talk about vocation. That's how you support vocations. I wasn't yet in formation, but that did more for me to show me the human side of religious, to show me like priests are normal. I did get into a little bit of trouble with mom McDaid when I brought the fish home and I left them in the sink and they're flopping. all over the floor. She's like Patrick Thomas. McDaid what.. When you get the full name.

Katie:

At least it wasn't the confirmation name. name

Fr. Pat:

so I picked Michael, if I had Patrick Thomas, Michael McDaid that's a HBL moment, all hell breaking loose. you. know, that's,

Katie:

You're done.

Fr. Pat:

yeah, you're done. You're done. The only thing to do is to ask for forgiveness, And, you know, mom and dad can give one for it, but you need that sacramental. You're not going to Spend some time in the sin bin and say, forgive me father for I've sinned.

Katie:

So that's interesting because, we do a kids camp here. So we do six weeks in, the summer. And then every day we do a different activity. and it's the same day every week. So it's, pretty fun. So father, Tom says, Oh, we should take the kids fishing next year. I said, okay, so now we're going to have to coordinate your schedule and his schedule. and and we'll take these kids. We, We, probably had 30 kids at kids camp. I mean, it's pretty good turnout, but yeah, so we'll have to coordinate a fishing trip with, uh, with the priest there.

Fr. Pat:

Yep. Multiplication of the fish. it is.

Katie:

And we, are working, on vocations in a couple of different ways. well, we have the Oblates always here. and Father Mike is really gracious to talk to people. we also have prayer partners for our elementary kids for our first communion kids, our first sacraments. And, their prayer partners are the Adrian Dominicans. So we were able to find enough sisters to be prayer partners

Fr. Pat:

Sure.

Katie:

the whole parish prays for them too, just like we you were talking about our confirmation kids, our prayer partners with our older parishioners. so we partnered them up and then the whole parish prays for them as well, too. We distribute those cards with their names.

Fr. Pat:

Yep

Katie:

and then, Sister Katherine Frazier will be coming on the podcast

Fr. Pat:

fantastic

Katie:

along with a couple of other sisters. And, we're hoping to have some discussion about human trafficking and and social justice issues

Fr. Pat:

You know, one of people you have to get on the podcast is Sister Nancy Dominican.

Katie:

Oh, Murray. She, yes.

Fr. Pat:

Yes. she, she has memorized the life of St. Catherine of Siena. Yes And

Katie:

Yes.

Fr. Pat:

And talk about, about

Katie:

and Dorothy,

Fr. Pat:

Dorothy day?

Katie:

No, Brazilian.

Fr. Pat:

Dorothy stagg. Wonderful. She is, I mean, this is the talent the Catholic Church here in Lenawee County. I mean, it's just amazing and, diverse, powerful, sacramental. we have the good people. And you know, god's calling everybody to holiness. We're all called be saints. And, and, the listeners of the podcast that if there's one takeaway is, okay, where's God calling me this day and every day, how do I become a saint? Where am I going to use the talents I've been given to deepen To deepen that faith hope and love of Jesus. what it's about,

Katie:

You know, Patrick,

Fr. Pat:

Millions of ways to do it right

Katie:

perfect ending to podcast right there

Fr. Pat:

We ran out of time?

Katie:

Well that line just, I don't know how we follow that

Fr. Pat:

I know. Good point

Katie:

I cannot thank you enough for joining us today in the Open Seat.

Fr. Pat:

This was my first podcast so I'm excited I was a little nervous coming over I'm like, I've never done this before but this is Katie Love she's gonna take care of me and it's gonna be a great day and that's that's been my experience. Thank you continue. I look forward to this This is such a a gift for the parish and a way for you to give back to the Catholic community

Katie:

We are blessed to sit at the feet of Jesus's disciples.

Fr. Pat:

Amen. Can we finish with a prayer? In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord Jesus, we thank you for Holy Family Parish. We thank you for Open Seat podcast and this opportunity to evangelize and hear from local saints in progress. Continue to shower your grace upon all those who sit behind the mic. All those who listen to this podcast and Lord, may we all continue to spread your faith, hope, and love, throughout all of our lives, we ask this in your name now and forever. Amen. In the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Once again, we thank you for joining us today. We hope that wherever you find an open seat in your life, you will invite someone to join you.

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Katie Love

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