(upbeat music) ♪ Different points of view and highs and lows ♪ ♪ A new perspective every way you go ♪ ♪ Open up your mind, drown out the noise ♪ ♪ And see if this connected ♪ ♪ And see if this connected ♪ (upbeat music) - What's up, fam? And welcome back, welcome back to this connected podcast. Where have we been, where have we been? I think this is going to be episode 166, 167. I don't know, I've been gone for a long time. Took me at least an hour to try to figure out how to put these things back together again in our podcast room. So this episode, well, let me go back. We've been gone, we've been gone for months. And so this episode, I don't know what I'm gonna call it. It's either gonna be disconnected to disconnected or to not necessarily agree, but be listened to or I got disconnected or I got paralyzed by procrastination, task paralysis. You know, there's so many things that's happened since we've been on, you know. So many things in my life, so many things in this world that's been going on. And I wanna share with you why the break. I wanna share with you why we've not been on, why I have not been on, why I have not been speaking on so many things that have been going on in our faith, so many things that are going on in my life and so many things that's been going on in your life. So here it is. This is the reason why, you know. Why the break, why the break? Well, task paralysis, you know, I always struggled with procrastination. I always struggled with not being good enough to be able to put on content. That's why I always had guests. That's why I always had a co-host. I never felt that, you know, you know, that whole thing, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. And the last seven months, six months, have been a challenge for me. It has been spiritually challenging. It has been professionally challenging. It has been challenging and serving our faith in Holy Mother Church, the Catholic Church. And so many things are happening. So why the break? I needed to pause. I needed to think, I needed to reflect on mission. I needed to reflect on what is God calling me to do with this platform? And I wanna thank you, our listeners, who have continued to listen to old episodes, who have continued to text me, DM me, send me emails regarding, hey, when you're gonna put something on. And some of our patrons, who continue to be patrons, even though I wasn't putting out any content, you still continue to patronize our podcast. I mean, we only have 10 of you. So this is my spiel, this is my thing. If you still wanna continue to support this podcast, you know, go to the descriptions, the details, go to our Instagram and then support us so that we can continue to put on content, content that is upcoming. So the break is because I felt broken. I felt hurt. I felt deep-seated sometimes feeling of unappreciation. Won't go into huge details on that because I don't wanna drop names, don't wanna say anything that might get me more canceled. But I felt deep down, to be honest with you, I felt that, you know, what else was there to do? What else was there to do? And so I paused. I wanted to put on content, but you know that thing when you're feeling down on yourself, that you just can't do anything? That's how I felt, that paralysis of, well, who's gonna listen to it anyways? And the content of our podcast in the past had been disconnected. It was about youth and young adult ministry, youth ministry period, like majority of it with youth and the content with young adult. And when you're no longer really being a youth minister and you're no longer teaching confirmation and things like that, what was the content? What was the purpose? But we're back. And so that was the break. I'm sure that I'm still going through that phase of what am I supposed to do? But I felt convicted enough to say, I need to go on, I need to continue. Because there's so much more things to say. There's so much more things to do. And there's so much more to cover. And so that's what this episode is about. What now, now that I've taken a break, now that I've taken that long pause, what now? And so this episode is about the what now. I'm wearing this T-shirt. It's seasoned youth minister T-shirt. A friend of mine, Martha and I came up with it because we just came up with it, Holy Spirit. And a friend of ours, Kim, made it overnight. I think in a matter of 24 hours, she made this for us. Mine has a salt 'cause I'm salty. And Martha's is bedazzled. I mean, why is mine not bedazzled, Kim? I deserve bedazzled on here. But if you want a seasoned youth minister, if you're one of those youth ministers, like me, older than dirt, and you feel seasoned youth minister, if you've been ministering for 10, 15, 20 years, God forbid, Debbie, New Mexico, seasoned youth minister, order one of these T-shirts from Kim at St. Joseph in Upland. Find them, I'm not gonna throw on her name 'cause I don't know her information 'cause I don't know if she wants me to, but send out, seek out St. Joseph in Upland. Or send me a DM, send me an email, and I'll connect you with the maker of these seasoned youth ministry T-shirts. And maybe the spice that you are, maybe she'll put them there. Maybe you'll be like cinnamon or pepper, or some spicy youth minister on there. Yeah, who knows? I'm going off on a tangent again. So what am I doing now? What am I doing now? Like you care, but I'm gonna share it anyways. What am I doing now? But before I share what I'm doing now, I want to introduce you guys to my new co-host. My co-host who's been here so long in the past and so, so dedicated and silent, you know? He's like a silent co-host. So right here, I want to show you guys. Right here, right here is Bones. We kind of gave him a name before, but I'm gonna stick with Bones because Bones and I were reading scripture and it's like Bones. And so I thought sharing this scripture with you guys regarding Bones and it's about him. And so it says, in Ezekiel chapter 37, verse one through 14, I'm not gonna go that deep. So it says, "The hands of the Lord was upon me, "and he brought me out of the spirit of the Lord, "and set me down in the midst of the valley. "It was full of Bones. "And he led me round among them, and behold, "there were many, there were very many upon the valley, "and behold, there were, they were very dry. "And he said to me, "Son of man, can these Bones live?" And he answered, "Oh Lord, you know." Again, he said, "Prophesy to these Bones "and say to them, O dry Bones, "hear the word of the Lord. "Thus says the Lord God to these Bones, "Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, "and you shall live, and you shall live." There's more to that. I'm gonna let you guys go into that Ezekiel chapter 37 about my friend Bones here. So that is the theme of our podcast coming down. We're gonna prophesy. We're gonna share the good news, and Bones here is gonna breathe. Sinu, he's, yeah, I'm just going on a tangent. I just needed an episode. I just needed someone to be here with me, and I had a skeleton, so I put it on there. So that's the whole reason. Let me give you a closer look at Bones. There he is. And he's reminding me Bones share Ezekiel chapter 37 verse one to 14. So if you guys don't get it, go into your Bibles, open it up Ezekiel chapter 37 verse one, two, 14, and Bones. You'll know why my co-host is my friend here, Bones. And as you can see, you know, right here, if you guys can tell, he is wearing my hat. He's wearing my ramen hat. I love that hat because it's ramen, and I'm ramen Catholic. Get it? Doesn't end, it doesn't end right here. It doesn't end. But anyways, back to me. Sorry Bones, back to me. So what are you doing now? Question that came up here now. What are you doing now? Well, as of November for you folks, I retired, I retired from work. I retired from working 32 years. Yeah, right? 32 years of working. I actually turned 55 too. I aged myself. I'm actually 55. I am not young adult. I'm not 36. I'm not 39, not even close. I am 55. You kind of know the podcast is five years old, and my email is catholic.dad50@gmail.com. 50, we made it when I was 50 years old. Man, I feel old Bones, I feel old. So what am I doing now? I'm retired. I'm trying to do things that in the past, I couldn't do because I was working, I was volunteering and things like that. And so I am going to do a few things on my bucket list. I actually wanted to do a couple of things when I retired. I wanted to serve fully in the church, and maybe we'll talk about that in other aspects of the future. But that's what I'm doing now. I'm doing laundry. I'm sweeping the floor at the house. I'm cooking sometimes. I hope my wife doesn't listen to this 'cause that's not all true. I am playing golf on Fridays with my senior citizen group. My senior citizen. I am the youngest of my group, literally, and I can't win. The people I am playing with are in their 80s, in their late 70s, and I suck at golf. But it's fun. Every Friday, you'll see me at the golf course, Whispering Lakes in Ontario, playing at 6.30 in the morning with a bunch of retired senior citizens there. I committed to it, and I'm a senior citizen. And if you ever see me at Denny's, know that I will always be ordering from the senior menu. Shoot, that's $10 off. So what am I doing now? That's what I'm doing. I'm hanging out. And I am also continuing to help at St. Oscar Romero. I'll be doing their RCIA for high school. I'm also helping as a core team member at their Youth Community Knights, Y-C-N, in St. Oscar Romero, the very first and the only church in the United States named after St. Oscar Romero in Eastville, California. That is where you'll find me on Tuesday nights, seven to eight 30. And Wednesday nights, teaching at there, where they teach at a middle school, because they don't have physical church yet. So shout out to those people who wanna donate to build up the church, donate to St. Oscar Romero in Eastville, and let them build their church. Other news, my church, St. Mary's church that I go to and where I was Youth Minister at, their church is about to be built. So good news, good news. So that's what I'm doing. That's all I'm doing. That's all I'm doing. So who's going to be on the podcast? Another question. Who is going to be on the podcast? Well, maybe you. Whoever you say, send me a DM, send me an email and say, "A'er no. "Why don't you have this person on the podcast? "Why don't you have this person on the podcast?" And then I'll send them a note and I'll call them and say, "Hey, do you wanna be on the podcast?" Maybe it's you. Maybe you wanna be on the podcast. Say, "Hey, I wanna be on the podcast." Tell me when you wanna talk about, what content? And just make sure it's not one of those, "Hey, I wanna be on the podcast "because I wanna sell my stuff." That's kind of a, you know, if you wanna connect with other people, if it meets the focus of this connected, where it shares faith, life, and anything that goes along the way, don't have to agree, but learn to agree to disagree. I think that's what we used to say. It's been so long since I've been podcasting. So it's one of those. So if you wanna come on the podcast, shoot me a line. Send me a line. Yeah, send me a message. Text me. And so that's who's gonna be on the podcast. Bones is gonna be on the podcast. I'm gonna be on the podcast. Maybe old teens who used to be youth, who are now young adults, are gonna be on the podcast. Who knows? Maybe the bishop will come on the podcast again. Who knows? Shout out to Bishop Rojas of Dices of San Bernardino. Maybe he'll be on the podcast. Maybe Bishop Barnes, oof, maybe. Maybe a priest out there who wants to be on the podcast. Maybe Pope Francis wants to be on the podcast, you know? Pope Francis, if you're listening, we'd like you to be on the podcast. Who knows? I don't know. I don't know who's gonna be on the podcast. Anyone can be on the podcast. Where are you? Where are you doing the podcast or episodes? Right here. Right here. In this studio, right here. The Catholic.dad dungeon studio. Man Cave, Catholic Cave, Hermit Cave. Yeah, right here. With Bones, right here. This is where we're at. That's where we're doing the podcast. If we're doing interview. The other thing we're gonna do the podcast is we're going back to some Zoom of the podcast because a lot of the people can't really make it to the house, to the studio. So we're gonna go back to Zoom. And it's a lot easier for me to kind of edit like I do editing, yeah. And just an FYI, I won't be doing a whole lot of editing on these episodes. And then the other thing, where will I be doing the episodes? Some of the episodes will be onsite, which will be with my cell phone going off into some places because I'm hiking now. That's one of the other things that I'm doing is I'm hiking. So that's what we'll be doing. You'll see some really cringy episodes with me huffing and puffing and breathing and sweating. Maybe with other people, other guests. And just to make you aware, I will be going on a trip to Rome. That's one of my pilgrimages. And then after that, I will be walking the Camino de Santiago for about 38 days. And I will be doing a daily video of log of what I'm doing. So maybe 10, 12, 15 minutes long of me sweating and huffing and losing my breath and stuff like that. But not in California, but in Spain. So that's what I'll be doing. So some of the episodes will be like that. When will you release episodes? Well, you know, when we first started, we did though every single week, that was exhausting. And then we did the every two weeks and that was cool. And then I got lazy and it was like on and off every other month and got lost. So the episodes will most likely be every two weeks. So every two weeks you'll get an episode. It'll always be released on a Monday, like we usually did. Usually it's 6 a.m. And that's when it'll be released. Except for when I do the Camino. The Camino will only be on YouTube and it'll be a daily. There'll be a delay, probably five days. And so those are what's going to come up. So that's when we release episodes. So why the change, why the change? No, no, procrastination, task paralysis, Holy Spirit, calling and saying, you need to do something, you need to change. I try to think, hey, maybe I should do these really cool TikTok videos and maybe I should do some of these cool, short podcast videos. Like, but you know what folks, you know me. I am technologically illiterate. I probably can do it. I'm just lazy, I'm a lazy Catholic.dad. And so that's why I don't have the patience to do all that fancy stuff. The most you'll get from me is a laugh track. So, and as you know, if you've listened to the podcast long enough, we don't edit, I don't edit the podcast. Whatever I say, it just goes through unless I see some profane thing and then I cut it. And you'll know when I cut it because it's like, that was awkward. So how can you support? How can you support? Well, you can support primarily through prayer. Prayer, prayer, prayer. Prayer for me, prayer for our listeners. And, you know, pray for me to be strong enough to continue. Yeah. I always get down on myself and thinking, oh, woe is me. You know, pray for me. Pray, ask Mother Mary to cover me. And then if you wanna be a patron, be a patron. Again, the funds that you do, we kind of select who we send it to. So, that's all, that's how you can support. We have some really cool friends who are paying some things for us, for me in bones now. So, that's what we do. So that's how you can support us. Pray, pray for us. Pray for the podcast. Pray for the content to be of the spirit, not of me, but of the spirit. Will there be a huge change in the podcast? No, pretty much the same. Will the content still be Catholic? Oh, I love that question. Will the content still be Catholic? No, just kidding. Of course, it's Catholic, not that. And he's like, why wouldn't it be Catholic? It's universal, you know. So the content will be Catholic, yes and no. And the reason for that is sometimes when we look at certain things in the secular world, especially when we go through and talk about mental health. Mental health is a big part of my career and it's important for me. And when we talk about that, we need to go into the secular world and talk about that. But there are always going to be a time when we do talk about that to bring it back around on how does that affect us as Catholics? Where does that fit into our faith? Where does that fit into the church? So, in short, yeah, I guess it'll still be Catholic. But here's the other thing that we're going to do. The episodes hopefully are going to be shorter, especially those parts where I do certain things on the podcast where I explain why we do what we do, like communion on the tongue versus communion in the hand or kneeling or standing or raising your hands or clapping your hands or doing this or whatever we do in the mass or whatever we do in our faith and all that kind of stuff. We're going to cover some of that. Those questions that you always wanted to answer for were, but you were too afraid to ask or didn't quite like the answer. So, I'm going to send it now to you that if you have a question or something happening at your church and you're like, that was weird, what's that about? Send me the question. Let me look at it, let me talk about it and then let me give you the answer that I think the answer will be and most likely maybe you'll be right and maybe some of it will be wrong or maybe you'll just disagree, but that is a great way to dialogue and you can send your comments to me on the comments and say and prove me wrong. So, we'll interact that way. So, I think that's my answer. So, most episodes will open with a script reverse. If you guys have followed me on Instagram, you know I share a daily reflection every day, a daily script reverse every day. It's within my script reverse that I read in the morning and script reverse that I read at night. So, hopefully it'll be there. So, I'll pose that. I'll also pose a challenge at the end of the podcast or during the podcast, but you'll see it when it happens. As for now, I am truly enjoying retirement, but I do want to serve the church. I do adamantly want to serve the church. And the thing is, I know where I want to serve, but I don't know where the people of God want me to serve. So, until I'm called to serve elsewhere with my gifts, my talents, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this. So, I won't put this out there. So, if there's any Catholic church, that is, so if anyone is looking for a season youth minister, yeah, here I am. If you guys need anything, here I am. And so, that's the episode. That is the comeback episode. I'm hoping that the new shorter format and longer format, I mean, if we have some really talkative person that comes on, maybe we'll do that. All I know is that the content that we're going to provide is not going to be always in here. We're going to go out there. Jesus send people out in twos. Unfortunately, there's me and whoever wants to come along. And we're going to go out there. We're going to go hike. We're going to go meet people. And we're going to interview people out in the streets without bones because I can't carry them, can't walk. No muscles. And we're going to do those episodes. And I pray and I hope that the episodes that are upcoming will connect with you, that you will say this connected. And that will be our podcast. So, on that note, I want to share with you that I don't know all the answers. I really do like to talk about them. And so, send me some of your questions. Send me some of the people that you would like to have as guests. And don't send me some really crazy list of names of people who won't be caught dead on our podcast because we're too small. You know, some realistic people, like your parish priest or your DRE or some youth minister that you know or some elderly person or some person in your church who believes that they saw Mary's appearing on something. You know, that would be weird, but why not? So, send me that DM, send me that email. And let's see where that takes us. And that's the podcast. Here to serve, here to witness. And with me and bones, I'm gonna show you bones again. He and bones right here. We're gonna be here and we're gonna be talking. We're gonna be sharing and we're gonna be listening. So, that's our synodal thing. So, on that note, I'll share with you again to live a life of holiness, be blessed and be third. We'll probably forgot some other things, but that's it. Take care of him. And God bless. And, yeah. Anything bones? Anything? Is there anything? No? You are such a quiet co-host. Good night. Good morning. Or, good afternoon. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ See the summer, see the summer ♪ ♪ The summer's the summer of our favorite highs ♪ ♪ The joy's the summer ♪ ♪ It's like dreaming, it's like dreaming ♪ ♪ Oh, how we found God in our sins ♪ ♪ What do we see ♪ ♪ Jesus is come and see ♪ ♪ He's waiting for you ♪ ♪ He's waiting on the beat ♪ (upbeat music) - Don't forget to like and subscribe. (upbeat music) - This Connected Podcast is brought to you by The Cabin. Want to get away and get some peace and quiet and rest? Yes, rest. But not too far away from home or the city. Want to experience a true log cabin feel in the mountains? Well, I have the recommendation for you. The cabin is a two-bedroom one and a half bath that will do just that. With a beautiful wood fireplace lit and a glass of wine, you are sure to relax. 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