7 Famous People Who Converted To Catholicism | The Catholic Talk Show

[Music] [Applause] [Music] hello everybody welcome to another podcast of the Catholic talk show I'm here again with father rich Pagano a their father rich hey guys how you doing this mornin tastic happy to be here with you very good Ryan she'll come on as always it's really nice to be with you guys today and today we're gonna talk about the seven famous people who converted to Catholicism when that V seven but seven famous people converted to Catholicism it's it's the Catholic talk show and we should call them the seven well because the saying of the show amazing people the seven there yeah you may be surprised I hear I hear Cowboys in the distance there's Cowboys Cowboys what else there's Cowboys and movie stars and kings and Kaimal itical activists all kinds of people awesome awesome well let's jump in absolutely you know well before we get started go to Catholic talk-show comm on there you can subscribe to us whether you use iTunes or stitcher cast box Spotify whatever service you use make sure you subscribe and give us a review it really helps us get this show out to more people helps us to let more people know about all the dumb stories that we tell on this talk show and we really appreciate if you do it so we're gonna go ahead and give you ten seconds to do that we're good at dumb subscribe click subscribe now alright they did it they all subscribed because they really want to know what seven famous people's write converted to you know these seven that's right so what's number one mmm well you know I mean throughout history there's been just hundreds and hundreds of thousands of cases of conversion and a lot of times when the celebrity converts people like well why are you talking about a celebrity why are they more important and not that their conversion stories more important it's just that it's a higher profile so it serves a lot of times as a witness to other people just because of the profile they shared that their Testament and their testimony to conversion maybe has a little bit more lies than the story gets told a little bit more so yeah notoriety against notoriety yeah I actually you have a friend of mine who knows somebody that had a conversion he's an actor and and it was on the hush-hush you know he had people coming over to his house and come on yeah treats at his house oh yeah I didn't want anyone know about it yep so if you're looking for really is I can't tell you so are these seven famous people are they have they passed away are they still alive these ones are all dead Wow Bevo went onto that reward that that conversion Gotham Oh excellent Sam so you know we're here in Hollywood at the Cass Media Studios and Hollywood is just the you know it's the land of movies and the Golden Age of movies I don't know if there was a bigger movie star than John Wayne the Duke no I I mean he was he was the man he was I love to do good everywhere everyone looked up to be they all wanted to be John Wayne he was you know yeah more movies and cowboy movies he was just the coolest guy around great model of masculinity I grew up watching John Wayne flicks with my grandfather yeah yeah I mean his his movies came from another age where I read an article that when John Wayne was making movies he was always in charge right and he was it he was portraying someone charged whether he was the general or the lieutenant and the the portrayal of the people in charge in the leadership was Noble and then after his death it became where the leadership was corrupt and they were always looking at the leaders as the bad guy in the films and that was a real fundamental shift in the way that how they would portrayed leadership so it's a pretty interesting little I guess way of looking at how storytelling has changed over the years yeah but you know John Wayne he you know he lived his whole life he was not there's not a religious person at all he was just a badass just a badass that's right as an airport down the street he's patriot he was a movie star as a cowboy he was that's it so you know he he kind of according to you know people who knew him he was pretty irritated with church he thought there was a lot of arguing you know a lot of arguing you know among denominations and he saw that you know church was maybe not something that was for him but then as he got he started getting older he started maybe considering it a little bit more and he told um he would tell this family he's like I'm a cardiac Catholic like what does that mean he's like you'll know when the time comes right so John Wayne in the early 70s he was diagnosed with lung cancer and what does someone like John Wayne do when they get diagnosed with lung cancer probably goes out and buys a pack of Marlboro Reds smokes no he beats calves he's John Wayne he's like the first Chuck Norris before Chuck doors right he beat lung cancer but he had he had one of his lungs removed Wow yeah like Pope Francis Pope Francis only has one loan it's right did he have cancer in those oh no I get a bacterial infection huh Wow serious stuff yeah so at that point after he had that that surgery and he'd be cancer he was he really started considering more you know his you know his fate and and you know end of life what was gonna happen but he still didn't make they didn't make the conversion yet then a few years later it came back he was diagnosed again with cancer and this time he wasn't able to beat it and as he was nearing the end of his life he started having you know the priest come and then one day he finally he told his his son Patrick he said I think it's time to call a priest and he went and the priest went and he converted to Catholicism on his deathbed and that's why that's why he said look I'm a cardiac Catholic and when I know my heart's gonna stop it's time to make that deathbed conversion it's time to become Catholic you know and a lot of people throughout history you know it was really more prevalent in the early church they would not convert until they were on their deathbed purposefully like Constantine you know he was he legalized Christianity he called the Council of Nicaea but he never converted himself until he was you know hours of from death and during that period there were a great number of people that would not receive the Eucharist even if they were even if they were baptized you know and and it's true I mean my whole converted at the very end of their lives you know they they felt that they were not worthy of receiving the Eucharist and a number of people like like she'll was just saying they would wait till the very very end to go through the sacraments of initiation and and be brought into the fullness of the church well what does that tell you about like the mercy of God like he extends it every moment of every breath of your life here on earth you know no questions asked you know I mean that's just a love we can't really fathom the greatest attribute of God's love is His mercy st. Faustina being the secretary of Divine Mercy wrote beautifully and eloquently from her dialogues with Jesus and it colors in like you said at every dimension in every breath of life God's mercy is present to us and Eunice in existence another thing you said on another episode is that the Eucharist is is food for the sick it's not a reward for righteousness you know and you know I was just thinking about that when you you know you're talking about these people excusing themselves from you know communion mm-hmm you know and that could definitely develop within people and Pope Francis has been fantastic and being able to catalyze that specific point is that Eucharist is not a reward for the righteous but it is medicine for the sick and we come forward to the altar as repenting sinners yep we are in the process of constantly turning away from sin to embrace a greater communion with Christ so that we can build up that likeness that we have in our relationship and dignity to our baptism as well as to the reality of being created in the image and likeness of God it's also important to note that for to serve as a medicine you have you have to know that you're sick receiving unworthily is still the most grave thing yeah but it it's it's not a like you said it's not a reward but it you have to have the recognition that you're sick like John he was sick he knew he was dying so he knew that that was the time to convert and I think a lot of those conversions would happen where they knew that if they didn't wait until their deathbed they would probably screw up their salvation mm-hmm st. Faustina also goes into her diary talking about the unrepentant sinner that unworthily receives the Eucharist and Jesus's experience of going through a second passion that there is a reality of doing harm to the body of Christ when we approach the altar in an unworthy manner so that's worthiness worthiness is repenting its disposition you know we really need to be properly disposed to participate and turning to Christ is a turning away from selfishness and sin when we enter into a communion with Christ that should be something that is visible not only in word but in deed and God calls us to be active members of the mystical body of Christ and that gives us a great commission we have to remember that we in our baptisms are we are anointed priest prophet and King those come with specific responsibilities yeah that we need to live out so did you guys know that John Wayne's grandson is a priest mm-hmm I did I can't why I really want to meet this guy we've got to get him on the show father muñoz yes yeah it might have been Patrick's so no so oh no you know how many kids John Wayne had the Duke was um he was married multiple times okay and him and father mean muñoz's grandmother grandmother were married gotcha got civilly divorced his grandmother never remarried until after John Wayne died but he she prayed her entire life for his conversion which ultimately happened but yeah he his grandson became a Catholic priest yes Orange County oh yeah and he truly you know his grandmother was a very very avid and devout Catholic and she constantly as shield just pointed out would constantly pray and an influence John to move in that direction the Duke you know and she was always that great example to him and for her even to wait because she held that marriage as sacramental yeah before that bond was dissolved in death to marry again is pretty impressive and it shows the reverence of her love for the church and the sacrament to wait that long yeah yes in John Wayne the Duke the Duke converted that's so awesome and I absolutely love John Wayne flicks I really do man there's something really hardened about him oh no miss admire well yeah yeah but that's you know all the while the badass things you did that's the that's the best one there I think yeah you know for sure agreed agreed so we see like the number one of the seven he's the first one we got oh okay okay so who's number two so number two obi-wan Kenobi oh ho no way no in the movie oh the movie oh the actor yeah guys a legal ob1 converted to Catholicism you don't remember that part of the movie yeah he's in the outtakes he apostatized from the Jedi religion and we got to bring up Obi one quote yeah so yeah the actor who played obi-wan Kenobi Alec Guinness converted to Catholicism and the story behind his conversion is actually pretty cool so you know you know G K Chesterton right mm-hmm he wrote the Father Brown mysteries right then they were like kind of father Browns like uh I don't know I think tional thing right it's fiction yeah it's it's Murder She Wrote before more Murder She Wrote I think they kind of ripped it off you know he's a you know parish priest who goes around and solves you know crimes and murders and stuff but she wrote that was my grandmother's Jam I loved well not them song but the show my father my I once we did the math and we took the amount of deaths that happened in Murder She Wrote versus the population of the city that shows on the shows on the sign like of course you did and the city where Murder She Wrote takes place has the highest murder rate it's like by far the most dangerous place to live in the way next to the Vatican which has the hundred percent higher crime rate but the murder rate murder rates you know as a Lansbury's like man the dude's got nothing on her she's like living in like some serious stuff so anyway so Alec Guinness is playing he was he was Alan Sir Alec is yes sorry sir so he was playing a role in a movie about Father Brown you know I'm one of the Chester ten father brown movies and he was filming it in France there not a break he was he was dressed up like a priest right you know he's wear two cassock and he's walking down and a little kid comes up to him and just holds his hand and walks with it and he's like you know he'd always kind of he'd grown up you know Anglican and always had a kind of dislike of Catholicism but then when he when he experienced that he's like you know any religion that can instill this kind of faith and goodness in children is something I should look more into so later on in his life that that kind of softened heart towards Catholicism but later on in his life his son Matthew contracted polio and he would start going and praying for his son Alec Guinness would and he made a promise that if his son got better he would convert to Catholicism his son got better and obi-wan converted he paid his dues you hear a lot of those types of conversion story oh yeah you know mm-hmm I pulled up some obi-wan quotes because I just love it be mindful of your thoughts Anakin they betray you and I can't help but think of Ignatian principles for the discernment of spirits as being associated with a lots that angels and demons provoked by thought and it is that initial appeal then entertained that leads the will to concede and move in a particular direction whether in the direction of virtue or vice and it's fascinating because Oh b1 oh it must have been that inspiration and the other one that I like to if you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can ever imagine think of Jesus you know think of the Saints thanks to think of the martyrs and even in the in the movie the star you know in star wars that's you know like that's a catalyst right yeah I got to think that George Lucas when he was you know developing the Jedi there that really has to have some you know correlation to you know Catholic know for sure I've thought that too in the battle between light and darkness and it's so rich it's absolutely rich I can't help but imagine though that that beautiful story that you expressed when the kid came up and held his hand I was in my cassock on the feast of Corpus Christi a number of years ago in Rome and I was walking down processing with the Blessed Sacrament because they have this tradition of going from st. John Lateran to Santa Maria Maggiore and the Pope is there adoring the Blessed Sacrament in this motorcade and thousands of people are in procession to go adore and receive benediction in the courtyard in front of st. Mary major and as I was walking we all filed in to the courtyard and people were pressing up against each other and we were all squeezed in there and right next to me was this little Italian kid probably like six years old and his mother and the kid was just frantic and you could tell I just looked down and he was just filled with fear and he didn't know what was going on he couldn't see and I looked at his mother and I said in the universal language you know I can pick him up and put him on my shoulders and she shook her head and she smiled and I I graduate I put him on my shoulders and his whole face just lit up as he looked toward the Blessed Sacrament exposed on this beautiful altar in front of st. Mary major and it was just a beautiful experience that I had and you know to be able to get that assistance you know from from an inspiration like that for me as a seminarian like this kid and the warmth that I that I experienced of like his openness like priest is taking care of me this is so awesome and for me and my fatherhood you know like to sacrifice mother father sister brother kids lands you know for the sake of the gospel it was like he's like my kid and I got to have that beautiful experience and it opened me up even more courageously to take the step towards celibacy and it gave me that mystical encounter of being a father to many and you know I just I think of that inspiration as being something that was probably very very motivating for him yeah and just the pure pure hearts of children yeah you know yeah yeah when growing up Anglican at the time you're like you know the church is just a big Jesuit plot and take over England or you know just you know just a lot of ill will towards I think he wanted to be a Anglican priest in need I think yeah you know early in his life is one of the considerations - yeah he was really angry yeah yeah yeah he was mm-hmm like he grew up and kept GK Chesterton he was he Catholic or Anglican to Denver - do you did - yeah could you imagine sitting around oh man with GK Chesterton and tolki Tolkien yeah CS Lewis man just they used to like hang out I don't I mean golly they're making competitive nature of literature at that time could you imagine just writing back and forth with one of your closest confidants and friends and just the challenge there and that motivation to that that led them to create the worlds of Narnia and Lord of the Ring you know the table that they they would hang out and drink beers and smoke that is still there you know you know what jr. R stands for no I don't actually Joe control control control control the bathroom stall where he carved his name on a nice I know when they were doing shots he like chalk down well maybe we should tell everybody what it stands for just great so for our brilliant listeners throw it in the comment section we want to hear from you I have a think of Google's the Google sister Joan Ronald John Ronald and then rule something I don't Ruth you sorry you yell so you know you know Bauer in England and talking about English ISM Anglicanism the last King of England who was Catholic was a deathbed conversion and this is hunt this is hundred years after Henry the eighth and the conversion of England to an Anglican country hmm so King Charles the second him and his brother were the last Catholic kings of England and you know yeah like they like you know you can't know you're not a lot of you not allowed to be no yeah by their laws of their country you know now be a Catholic now this day yeah there was some child in the family that was yeah it was the granddaughter of Prince Rainier and [Music] Grace Kelly king and queen of Monaco who I think she was like 17th in line for the throne of England just seventeen 17th yeah she had a pretty good shot yeah you're 16 I mean 16 people go down it's a cool story it's like you know 17th in line for that you know I'm gonna be come down dude if I'm like 458 in mind you'd be like I'm 50th in line for the you know mayorship of Houston and you're like I'm gonna be I'm gonna be Buddhist man I don't even care how doesn't care no no so she converted and she was yeah after that's awesome of the rules so anyway King Charles the second he was one of the most beloved kings of England outwardly Anglican followed all the I guess the customs of Anglican Church and everyone thought okay cool you know he didn't even like relaxed laws of kind of intolerance against Catholicism he like no one knew about it but on June 1st 1670 charles ii signed a secret treaty with the king of france king louis xiv of france and its terms were that in exchange england would send france 60 warships and 400 soldiers to assist the french in their war against the dutch an exchange charles ii would receive a yearly pension 6,000 soldiers if there is ever a rebellion against him but the king of france also said one stipulation for me signing this treaty you have to convert to Catholicism oh is a forced conversion no it wasn't forced I you know they were they were related and he said look here's you know come on bring bring England back to the church you know bring judge Mary's dowry back you know so 15 years later you know he hadn't converted because you know wasn't allowed but then he woke up one morning and he had had a stroke in his sleep so he was it was clear he wasn't gonna get better so the secret treaty was then time to be enacted and all the Anglican bishops were like you know heads of state and you know the King of England is the head of the Anglican Church that's like you know we have the Pope they have the king of the Queen that's the head of their church and he's on his deathbed and they lock the doors and they wouldn't let any of the ink and bishops in and they're like what's going on and they snuck a priesthood hmm Catholic priests gave him last rites and gave him communion but because he had had a stroke he couldn't swallow so they had to open the doors and said bring in water and all the Anglican bishops are looking and like what's going on in there they gave him water and you know he was able to receive and then he died v Atacama Wow like my dad mmm yeah it's awesome mm-hmm good way to die yeah their grace for of a happy death mm-hmm yeah we've been talking about that a lot yeah Ryan and I on the way here you know yeah it's a I was so privileged to be present for Ryan's father's death and to be able to celebrate the sacraments with him yeah and to pray over him the commendation rituals and the Apostolic pardon I mentioned to Ryan just yesterday how after having these experiences of praying with people specifically at the at the point of death it just settles you so deeply in your priesthood as a priest and I left there and drove back Ryan mom and his brother and by the time I got back to the rectory was probably like two o'clock in the morning or so and I just you know laid down on my bed and I just said God thank you so much for inviting me to this way of life I could have never imagined how beautiful it is and and the grace of a happy death reveals the beauty of God's presence to us at our difficult most difficult hour and to see that therefore for Ryan's dad was pretty special as I prayed over him with the relic of Padre Pio and blessing it was awesome audience yeah I mean imagine if Queen Elizabeth died right she's and then everyone said she converted to Catholicism people play what yeah I mean this was a big deal a big deal in England doesn't even care much for religion anymore I mean yeah attendance rates are not you know what they were at the time did they know it after this happened well they did because his brother James the second succeeded him and he was openly Catholic so he after you know sixteen seven how could you be how could you secede him and be openly Catholic because he was his his brother set him as the successor this is befo before they put in the anti success gotcha okay but there hadn't been a Catholic monarch in the England since Henry the eighth's daughter mm-hmm I mean so this is you know 1540s it's like 120 years after Henry the eighth I mean this was a firmly right the church had lost England and just blew him out of the blue they converted back so there's a lot of hope and then a second he came and then but he was deposed three years later in a revolution and England hasn't had a Catholic monarch since huh it's a shame it is yeah I mean who I don't understand who would govern that that rule if it's the King's decision to become Catholic well I think by the Magna Carta that the king or the Queen has certain duties to the lords and his king or queen ship depends on that I got so you know it's not an absolute monarchy mm-hmm so but you know English Catholicism or pre-reformation English Catholicism has always been I think maybe the most fascinating strain of Catholicism to me it's the one that to me really seemed was just one that would really resonate in the world today it was vibrant as lively as very earthy very joyful but very somber at the same time and it's always been a shame to me looking when I'm reading history books that you know during the Reformation over you know a divorce that you know yeah it sure sounds like that yeah and you know and here's the crazy thing is that the very child that Henry the eighth or the first woman that he was married to her child was the one that actually ended up succeeding him after all of his right you know and she was Catholic hmm so you know he did all this and put just so much division in Christianity and it doesn't matter well it did matter like there was a male heir he ended up his daughter succeeded them yeah but there was still a lot of destruction oh I not occurred what I did it never achieved the goal that he was hopeful for right right you know it just it breaks my heart guys I can't tell you how often especially if funerals when I celebrate the mass and prior to the distribution of Holy Communion where I have to pass really you know mention to everyone how grateful I am that everybody's there to pray with the family and at this point in time and when we celebrate the Holy Eucharist for Catholics we believe that Jesus is truly present under the appearance of bread and wine and if you're not Catholic and you'll not be receiving communion with us I still invite you to participate and you can come forward for a blessing or pray with us in solidarity from your pews etc but I have to be very honest you know like it it hurts my heart man you know like I I just I'm so sad that there's so many divisions not only interdenominational II but I mean look at the division that you just mentioned to me yesterday she'll you know the biggest split in modern orthodox history the russian orthodox church breaks ties with constantinople and or even within our own catholic ranks you know the Conservatives and the Liberals and the and the charismatic and the trad ease and and all these different divisions throughout history and it's just it's so heartbreaking because you can hear the suffering of Jesus and his desire for us to be one that butum sent and man I would love to work in that in that field and be able to by the grace of God maybe create some bridges I don't know but it's so painful yeah for the unity of the church pray for the unity of Christians please and pray for the grace of a happy death boom please do it st. joseph´s the guy to go to for that yeah all right so let's let's take this you know out of out of Europe and let's go to the Old West the wild wild west so another famous person who converted it's one of the most notorious gun fighters of all time and one of the most notorious Cowboys Doc Holliday oh oh wow the real one the real one Oh crazy Tommy a hug goodbye oh no hug bird yeah that was one of the best characters in a in a movie ever absolutely the same way golly and when he stepped up and he was like I'll be you huckleberry oh man that was just boss man he's all sweating and a sick look oh hey Steve yeah Val Kilmer in Tombstone was yes awesome fallacy allistic did solid job for sure I yeah that's my wife's absolute favorite movie I think she's one of mine - yeah one of mine too so anyway Doc Holliday actually you know after a resolute life of drinking and huckleberry and no straight smoking fools at the okay yeah right he converted to Catholicism you know and you know from the movie you know he's he was very sick you know he had about whatever circular circulars probably get cirrhosis probably did a little fatty liver get a rose liver so he you know he eventually his tuberculosis got him right and you know he was on his deathbed and this is after his days of you know gunfight and were over and he was in Colorado I believe and his he had a cousin who had become a nun and he had kept in correspondence with her throughout his life and her influence had always kind of made him consider the church and when he got towards the end of his life he was dying of tuberculosis and he was like in a hospital waiting to die and he became friends with the local priest and right before he right before he died he was received into the church so after a life of just did the nun his cousin hooked him up with a priest sir no she just kind of influenced and and taught him she was like that child with yeah Sir Alec Guinness that's right no it's a Doc Holliday Doc Holliday oh yeah the Wild West I got a I got a text the other day from from a friend of mine Kelsey Bauman from the University of Florida shout-out to the Gators and beating LSU that was a huge win but she sent me this is tweet and he said just took a DNA test and found out I'm 30% Yi and 70% ha that's good stuff yeah shout out to Johnny Mayo so here you know we'll keep it out west then since we're you know ye odd so one of the most famous and I think the person most responsible for creating the lore and the mythology around the Old West was Buffalo Bill Cody Cody right Buffalo Bill was just extraordinarily famous because what he did is he was essentially taking the cowboy lifestyle and he was bringing Native Americans with him and he's putting on Old West shows back east mm-hmm and that you know the mythology around the gunfighter and the cowboys and Indians and and just the life out there was really kind of perpetuated and fermented by these shows that's where the conceptions of the Old West came from so his shows became extraordinarily popular you know this is before TV and you'd see cowboy's riding around on guns and their shooting of riding around on horses shooting guns in the air they had Native Americans with them and you know reliving the Old West well he took his old West Show to Europe and he's taken touring Europe Buffalo Bill did that Buffalo Bill yeah golly yeah so well when you're in Europe you've got to stop in Rome yeah so he took his old West Show to the Vatican and he performed the show for gee oh sorry [Applause] so is Leo the 13th and Leo the 13th was like it's pretty strange what's your problem man well you get out of the papal palace please go with your Yi and ha what's that you donkeys with you just look there he's like Americans [Laughter] wasn't either one who wrote the encyclical about the heresy of Americanism oh yeah yeah yeah so anyway so you know buffalo bells but this inspires problems right these guys I mean these guys starting to make connections you know give me a pen so anyway did they bring the the Old West Show and they're cruising around Vatican City and performing the show and as part of the show the Native Americans went up to Pope Leo the 13th and we're like like doing like some of their war chants and everything and he's like I didn't know how to react and then he stood up to applaud and all the Native Americans kneeled and he didn't know what to do so he gave him a blessing but what he didn't know is that almost all these Native Americans were Catholic oh yes because they had all been you know converts from you know Jesuit missionary wooden Franciscan missionaries yeah yeah so yeah they is so huge so when they received the blessing they all made the sign of the Cross and the Pope was absolutely blown away because he's like I didn't I didn't know they were Catholic right he's like these are my people I didn't know that so anyway but he's like throw this letter away I'm gonna write a little one like less tone so eventually you know Buffalo Bill packed up the show and he was nearing his death again and he'd been a freemason his whole life and you know kind of maybe exploiting some of the cultures and whatnot but at the end of his life he again asked for the conversion to the Catholic Church again another deathbed conversion that you know he'd lived this kind of crazy wild life of Old West and then traveling the world and doing all kinds of things and finally at the end of his life the only thing that he was left with was his eventual meeting with God and how he wanted to approach that and his conversion to Catholicism again was you know what he decided to do how beautiful dude yeah that's excellent if you're interested in the conversion of the Native Americans in in and around like the 15th the 16th 17th centuries 18th century and beyond there's some really interesting historical documents that have been you know coming out of the Woodworks literally in the state of Florida just a few years ago we opened up the cause of canonization for the lead proto martyr Antonio Koopa and I think over a hundred martyrs they've been able to recover and just fascinate I was able to be there in the Diocese of Pensacola Tallahassee and be there for the opening of the cause of canonization and Antonio Koopa was a native himself that was likened to Saint Joseph and his virtue and and his goodness and he is that lead martyr a married man who was just a really beautiful witness who had a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary who had a vision of her you know a first recorded apparition vision of the Blessed Mother when he was being crucified and ultimately martyred for the faith there in Northwest Florida but there's some beautiful stories so check that out online google the martyrs of the state of Florida missions there you will not be disappointed yeah there's actually there's a lot of very famous Native Americans who converted chief Seattle who the City of Seattle is named after who actually was a Catholic convert Squanto who saved the pilgrim you know you know at the first Thanksgiving was a Catholic Pocahontas was Catholic yeah probably the most famous image of a Native American is the one of Sitting Bull he would posed for a photograph and typically you only see the photograph up to maybe you know Midway of his chest but when you see the full picture he's actually wearing a crucifix and he had a very good relationship with the French missionaries he mistrusted the American government because they're you know obvious reasons but he a great relationship with the French missionaries which he called the black robes and one of his most treasured possessions was a crucifix that the black roads have given too many wore his whole life and there's there's conflicting reports of whether or not he actually converted on his deathbed - hmm Wow yeah beautiful history you know let's get out of the Old West now let's go - you know you just brought us some college football right so what's the most famous college football program of all time not the University of Florida it's debatable this debate we know it's noted noted is a Notre Dame like Notre Dame's playing very well this year they basically play in a museum right I mean you know they do they do is there better programs maybe yeah and they print is there teams that have produced more players probably is there one that's more iconic as a college football team probably no I'm not more I kind of know so who and their most iconic coach the first new Rockne yeah Knute Rockne is a Catholic convert you know you would think you know back in the 1930s it would mandate that looks like kingdom of England right but no he was actually a Lutheran and he you know he got the job because he's just a good football coach and you know as any good football coach would do you really look out for your players right so you know during you know early in his career they had the four horsemen where like you know read Granger and all them and this this was like this is before really the NFL's popular these are the most famous football players in the country and some of the things they got into and people tried to exploit them in hangers-on kind of affected him and bothered him and he wanted to protect his students and his players so he always kind of made sure he knew where his guys were going well one day he couldn't sleep so he they ran a there on a road game and they were playing early the next day and he couldn't couldn't sleep because he was going over gameplan driver in his head so went into the lobby and he saw some of his kids sneaking out it's like 4:30 in the morning 5:00 in the morning he's like we're these guys going right and then he saw some other ones coming he's like I'm gonna go follow them and he followed them and they were going to church Wow and he's like these kids have traveled they've got a huge game tons of pressure and they're sneaking out to go to church so yes and he's like why are you doing this he's like and the players like because of the Eucharist and he would he was amazed that these kids who had so much pressure put on would would just make it such an absolute point no matter what to make it to church so he started going with them to church how awesome the Eucharist baby yeah man and he developed a love for the Eucharist national food and he converted to Catholicism off the example of his players asso a leader of men and a man who you know is legendary for leading young man was actually led by young men yeah to the church that's outstanding that is outstanding with different Christian faith it's like you know the difference between them and that's the the one thing that I point to is the Eucharist you know the source and summit of our faith it is the structure that has kept the church established through every generation in every age from you know great moments in the history of the church with Saints leading or even in the in the poor times when sinners have have really caused scandal for the church through it all the Eucharist is that stability oh my goodness here it's the foundation of something that will last through the test of time that's a cool conversions beautiful conversion story yeah that's cool Wow so there's a quote from his from his autobiography and it said in a minute or two the last Squad hurried out of the elevator had made for the door I stopped them and asked them if they too were going to mass and they replied they were I decided to go along with them although they probably probably did not realize that these youngsters were making a powerful impression on me with her piety and devotion and when I saw of them walking to the communion rail to receive and realize the several hours of sleep they sacrificed in order to do this I understand understood for the first time what a powerful ally their religion was to those boys in their work on the football field then it was that I was really beginning to see the light to know what I was missing in my life and later on I had the great pleasure of joining my boys at the communion rail Wow cool my first assignment as a priest was at high school st. Joseph's Academy in st. Augustine and my last year there I would celebrate Mass for the football team every Friday and the last year we went undefeated in one states and the in that beautiful experience of gathering together each and every Friday these kids they were incredible men and they wanted to spend time with the Blessed Sacrament before they wanted to pray the st. Michael prayer before the game and they wore they wore the image of st. Michael underneath their pads and stuff like that like there were incredible kids and I had an awesome experience - of bringing in the captain and quarterback of the team to Catholicism receiving him and confirming him Wow at the mass with the football team Wow the bishop gave me permission to do that it was a cool experience man I just can't help remember so as a chaplain when a team that you're the chaplain for win state you know it's pretty Oh enjoyable you know I was talking about the the proto martyr the Antonio quita and the companion martyrs we had to play in Tallahassee so that's a pretty long drive from st. Augustine Florida to Tallahassee it's probably like about three hours three four hours we went all the way with the buses to the grounds were the opening of the cause of the the martyrs of Florida before the game and I made these guys walk around by themselves in silence and to just absorb that beauty of that of the of the grounds where martyrs were killed for their faith and I'm getting chills just thinking about it now but it was such a cool experience to watch them walk out some of them were praying the rosary some of them took their shoes off and were walking through the fields and it just really hyped him up for the game and it was really cool that's so cool yeah all right so we got we got time for one more conversion story development now here's a name that you you probably won't recognize immediately but then once you understand who she is you'll absolutely recognize it and the last convert convert we're gonna talk about is Norma McCorvey that doesn't ring a bell for me so she's more well known as Jane ro Jane all from Rovio oh that's right yeah yeah and so Jane Roe is like the plaintiff or something she was so she was a plaintiff so she was a young mother in a troubled marriage and she was facing an unplanned pregnancy and her friends told her to say she had been raped so she can give an abortion legally but that fell through and she wasn't able to get one so there was she was then referred to a attorney who had been looking for a case to kind of serve as the I get to drive through the court to drive to get to the Supreme Court and simply get a law or something like that so yeah so they they this attorney Sarah Weddington told mccorvey cousin take your case and she used it as her platform to push you know up all the way up to the Supreme Court roe v wade rel being Norma McCorvey but here's the crazy thing that by the time that the case that got to the Supreme Court McCorvey already had her daughter she never actually got an abortion what yeah so the case roe v-- wade the child that was in question was actually born Wow hmm yeah I knew she converted she converted but I didn't know that she had the child well maybe the case was a centered around the transactional thing that couldn't occur could occur right and it was but I think I think it'd be interesting for most people when they haven't really considered that the the child the life that hung in the balance there was actually yeah giving birth so you know after the case you know she her life was kind of a wreck and she had a very hard life she is she's still alive now she passed away a few years ago gotcha after that case she continued to her work in pro-choice advocacy but then you know as the years went on I think you know she started to feel a lot of guilt about her involvement and what her case had brought to the country into the world and into into people and she said I was a very confused 20 year old 21 year old with one child and facing an unplanned pregnancy at the time I fought to obtain a legal abortion but truth be told I have three daughters never had an abortion and she has those daughters and because of her case a lot of other people don't have their daughters they don't have their sons mmm and she felt a lot of guilt and a lot of regret for that and she lived with that lie that she told her that she told herself she said I live with the lie that what I had done was okay and finally she realized that abortion didn't solve the problems that she thought her life was going to experience from having a child and she eventually because she had all the kids she had the kids yeah and and but then I think the perspective rough she had a rough life sure but eventually after being in that case and being in pro-choice advocacy she eventually converted first to Christianity but then ultimately to Catholicism a couple years before her death Wow so Roe in Roe versus Wade is Catholic she converted to Catholicism because even she the Rope knew something there was inherently yes you kind of your conscience right you know you know I have to say this you know there's so often the Catholic Church always gets pinned as being that ultra conservative institution that you know lays out all of these laws and these rules and judges you know everyone for their sins and and whatnot you know abortion every every year when the March for Life came around and I remember many times with Ryan Dell across and DC and and you know participating in the March is such a powerful testimony to what the Catholic Church believes in and but I also want to present another side of this too because I can't tell you how many times people will come to me to speak about having an abortion and that regret having the abortion and then feel terrible and then it you know we're the ones who receive them after Planned Parenthood we received them after they follow through with the abortion and I think it's just absolutely beautiful to see God's loving mercy presence in the church that receives row from roe v-- wade back into the arms of the embrace of Christ yeah when she made that decision she they didn't they didn't force her to convert but when she found it in her heart that it was time to convert the church was there for her well you know that's I think that's incredibly powerful and I really think that there's an incredible amount of wisdom in what Pope Francis did when he gave you know that dispensation that you know priests can forgive abortions because previously in the Catholic Church it had always been that before antis gave that it was reserved to the tribunal the apostolic penitentiary that only the Holy Father could forgive and forgive that sin just recently yeah yeah yeah it was it was also given by the the bishops to the to America because of the epidemic that it is and then the bishops gave permission and an indole for the priests who receive that in confession and give absolution a number of years back I think under the papacy of john paul ii but this officially universally throughout the world pope francis opened that up to now they still be it's still a forgiveness directly from the Holy Father but with the in Dalton of the Pope but I think it's really wise because no matter where you come down on abortion there's a there's a lot of hurt around it letters yeah and the church you know has been in the in in the middle of the debate but ultimately at the end of the day the amount of healing that she has to offer is probably just as important as her defense of life is also heard her the church is of willingness to heal the lives that have been affected by one way or the other yes you asked me if I cried on another episode with a movie but I remember when I was at Assumption Church I was in the seminary at the time and I went into this convent the little an old convent I guess it wasn't used as in common anymore maybe it was and my job was going and clean it up you know and everything because they just had a retreat so I didn't know what kind of retreated was I just walked in and started cleaning stuff up and then I went into where that they had like a little altar and then there was this basket in front of the altar and there were these roses there and I just knew like I knew that that's that was the retreat it represented I just like like it just hit my heart man I was just like these women you know that they had an abortion and this was like a Rachel's Vineyard yeah type of a rich I think it was why but I just you know I just don't know it's it's a retreat for men and women that primarily men mostly women attend the retreat but it's for people who were suffering after an abortion to receive that prayer for healing and to receive counsel and to receive the support that people need after following through with something that they may not feel very secure about moving toward and it's been a beautiful ministry in the church for many many years and I'm hoping to participated in some upcoming retreats in my diocese in Florida but uh yeah it's important to remember that the church is not a cold institution but she is a mother the church is a mother to us and she is constantly drawing us in to clean us up to heal us to listen to us to hold us when we need to be held and I'm just so proud to be a Catholic I'm proud to be a Catholic priest and to continue to participate in this beautiful work Norma Norma McCorvey she converted in 1998 at the st. Thomas Aquinas parish in Dallas Texas Dallas and she said I think it's safe to say these are her words this is Jane Roe from Roe versus Wade she said I think it's safe to say that the entire abortion industry is based on a lie I am dedicated to spending the rest of my life undoing the law that bears my name you will read my name in history books but I am dedicating to spread I'm dedicated to spreading the truth about preserving the dignity of all human life from natural conception to natural death that's that's a very powerful conversion I mean I don't know if you can swing from one extreme to another quite as much and paradoxical yeah mmm that's crazy man this is this has been awesome and you know I've got to say this to guys because it's so important to not close the doors on anybody I know you know and we so often do it in public you know spheres and politics restaurants so you remember the doors of mercy yes yeah and the Holy Father said you know you could set up devotional doors so not only the cathedrals in different churches and parishes so I was at st. Joseph's Academy again with one of the students who came to daily Mass there and I set up this beautiful I had the Latin inscription of Pope Francis's words and these foam boards that look like you know Roman pillars and stuff and it was the door of mercy and I had this icon of st. Joseph painted by hogar de la madre that actually housed that convent at at Assumption in Jacksonville so I'm walking in and we're opening up the doors and she'sshe's coming through and I slammed the doors of Mercy she's like you slammed the doors of Mercy huh now you totally made me forget what I was gonna say you know shutting doors on people and judging people and and not leaving them it's an open reality our lives you know if we convert at you know 2025 late in life have I loved you oh lord Augustine's age whatever age we can't limit each other and we have to remain open and prayerful this is why the church is against the death penalty people because we have to work not only for our own salvation with fear and trembling but we should be courteously thinking about our neighbor we should be lovingly to that point of that loving nature that Christ calls us to think of how much he thinks of you and how we should think of each other and not closing the doors on our neighbors or people that have a different belief or a different political established position that we're so staunchly against we need to remain open and hopeful and working for each other's salvation yeah there's probably a you know people list in this there's probably people in your life who are either hurting and the church would you know heal that hurting or there's maybe women you know who have procured an abortion and having someone tell them that they're there is you know forgiveness for that it's really important and there's probably people out there that you know that are because the hurting comes from the fact that they think it's in forgive all that they you know there's there's no end to God's mercy and there's also people on there that you know that are probably very close to the tipping point where they are gonna convert so you know keep your eyes out you know for those situations to where you know you can be that instrument of God's work in their lives mm-hmm the instrument of hope like that little child walks it just keep obi-wan Kenobi yeah hope yeah yeah mm-hmm if it was a great episode guys I love this it's awesome well we got one more thing to do here we go back on the chopping block that's right so now we're talking about convergence okay so you know what the in articular Bordas is help me that's the the indulgence for at the end of life you get a complete a complete remission remission of all temporal punishment for sins but it's a one-time indulgence that you receive at the moment of death mm-hmm you receive that you die you come back to life and then they come back no bueno no wait oh can you get it again I assume this is the Apostolic pardon that I just prayed over your dad I mean yeah you know it's it's a beautiful prayer and I have to say my question no I'm not a Saltine by even questioning it I'm not normally I do stall I am NOT going to stall this because I feel profoundly confident in God's mercy we cannot limit God's mercy people this is exactly what we're just talking about you wouldn't gonna be like oh like a load like sorry yep but it's it indulged act and then adul gence is tied directly to a very specific moment and act in specific condition maybe it doesn't count there's rules Padre it's not this is not it's not the Wild West huh so for example I prayed the Apostolic pardon over your pop and then we had a period of silence and I had already celebrated the anointing I did the absolution I did everything leading up to this moment of silence and now you know the ritual is concluded and we're sitting there and praying and then all of a sudden I get inspired to take out the relic of Padre Pio and place the the relic on his forehead and to pray the hail holy queen yeah and we prayed the hail holy queen and then I blessed him in Latin with the relic and just the effect of that like what is that it's it's not a formalized indulgence but in a way the effect is absolutely rooted in the indulgence of God's mercy because God's mercy cannot be limited and it cannot be limited by some type of mechanical formula it is by the spirit I concede get some I can see I think he's got you on this one I try you had him on the last one I answered asked him but yeah this one the last one was kind of tough though and I've still been thinking about the last one yeah but I'm boggling space and time space and problem well I mean space and time we are out of time that's right remind everyone you know please comment subscribe make sure you leave reviews for us you know on the platforms that you're listening those really help us I get the show out to more people and make sure that they can listen in the conversation join in the fun and learn with us you can go to Catholic talk show com I'm there you could subscribe to iTunes stitcher cast box Spotify any of the services that you prefer and we really appreciate it if you do that thanks for spending time with us guys is really it was awesome it's always a pleasure being with you guys yep to wrap on the Catholic talk show and may God continue to bless and enrich you live graciously my people peace [Music]

Channel: The Catholic Talk Show

Views: 47,707

Rating: 4.9208789 out of 5

Keywords: Knute Rockne, Alec Guiness, Buffalo Bill, Norma McCorvey, John Wayne, Doc Holiday, Converts, Catholicism, Catholic, Catholic Podcast, Catholic Talk Show, Ryan Scheel, Ryan DellaCrosse, Father Rich Pagano, Catholic Radio, Catholic TV, Catholic Show

Id: TqXAK4c0y64

Length: 62min 51sec (3771 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 15 2019