The SEEK Podcast
Welcome to the SEEK Podcast – we're so glad you’re here. This podcast is a place of community, collaboration, and inspiration, created to invite and encourage you deeper into a relationship with Jesus. Join these podcasters and many others as we encounter Jesus at SEEK25, Jan 1st-5th. For more information and to register, visit seek.focus.org.
The SEEK Podcast
Faith and Vibrant Community: Konza Catholic x SEEK
What does a vibrant catholic community look like? Hosted by Father Gale Hammerschmidt, alongside senior Kate Wiesner and Father Trevor Buster. We also touch on the exciting transition of Father Drew Hoffman to Wichita State University and his podcast "About Four O'Clock," crafted for those discerning the priesthood.
In this episode we recount the joy and inspiration found at SEEK. With thousands of individuals from diverse backgrounds, the gathering becomes a melting pot of shared purpose and transformative interactions. We share stories of rekindling old friendships and forging new ones while balancing personal connections with attending stimulating talks. With engaging speakers offering unexpected insights, SEEK becomes a crucible of transformation for both eager and seasoned students alike.
As the patroness of this year’s SEEK, Joan of Arc inspires us with her story of courage and faith, urging today’s youth to embrace leadership in faith. With the ongoing growth and success of the St. Isidore's community, we reflect on the profound impact SEEK has had, igniting a spark that encourages college students to become passionate disciples and leaders.
Register for SEEK here: seek.focus.org
Welcome to the Seek Podcast, where we explore faith, inspire hope and build community. My name is John Michael Lucido and I'm excited to invite you to join us this season as we dive into topics about the faith with people from all over the Catholic world. Thank you for listening to today's episode.
Speaker 2:Know that we are praying for you ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is father gail hammerschmidt. Maybe a little bit more explanation than we normally give on a podcast. It's true. Because this is a special podcast. Friends, this is the Seek podcast. We're excited about the fact that we have really the new crew of Kansa Catholic with us today. And so I talk like everybody listening to this actually knows Kansa Catholic Like, oh wait, that's not the same voice as I've heard last year.
Speaker 3:Give a little context. What is Kansa Catholic Podcast?
Speaker 2:Amen, amen. And how do you spell Kansa? I mean, that's a question people ask all the time, and what's that word even mean? So, friends, we are at St Isidore's Catholic Student Center on the campus of Kansas State University. The word Kansa is the ancient term for what is now Kansas. We call this with great pride as to who we are and where we live, the Kansa Catholic Podcast in Manhattan, kansas. Kansa is not a foreign term, and mostly we serve the people here of our community and the land around us. But every now and again we get to branch out and become big time, and here we are, and so those who have listened in the past, maybe you've heard the voices of the esteemed Father Drew Hoffman, who has moved on from Kansas State University. He's now the chaplain at a place called Wichita State University in the great Wichita Kansas. Chaplain at a place called Wichita State University in the great Wichita, kansas. But we have you as a new member of our podcast crew, Kate Wiesner.
Speaker 2:Kate, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3:I am a senior here at K-State. I've been involved with St Isidore's for all of my four years and I'm studying human development and family science to be a Catholic therapist one day, but before that I plan to go on mission somewhere, hopefully.
Speaker 2:You've worked with Christ in the City. Yes, you've done things.
Speaker 3:Focused summer projects.
Speaker 2:You were in a camp somewhere.
Speaker 3:In Kansas, Camp Ticawitha.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've done a lot of stuff. I can't keep track of it all. And then you're like you're fun, like people like listening to you. Well thank you. Thank you, I just got a text the other day. I love Kate's spirit. That's what they said.
Speaker 3:Wow, very kind.
Speaker 2:And we also have like maybe you've heard just a few mm with us. You haven't even said a word yet, but you've said some mm Interesting. Our new associate here at Kansas State is St Isidore's. You got the best name of all priests in all the land.
Speaker 4:What do they call you Bestie?
Speaker 2:Buster. Well, not that Bestie Buster.
Speaker 4:No, that's not cool.
Speaker 2:There's nothing cool about the term.
Speaker 4:Bestie Buster.
Speaker 2:That's not that Bestie Buster. No, that's not cool. There's nothing cool about the term Bestie Buster, that's not cool actually Some of the people who have been on the podcast before. They thought, like your best friends, they call you Bestie Buster. I think that's disrespectful. You're Father Buster, father Buster, father Buster. Your last name's Buster, your first name's James, but your middle name's Trevor, so you go by Trevor. You're Father Trevor Buster, that's right.
Speaker 3:But you're baptized as.
Speaker 4:Stephen, this is so confusing, and I have two confirmation saints too.
Speaker 2:So tell me your full name, Father Buster. Just go, just rattle it off, Father.
Speaker 4:I guess title I don't know if that's part of my name.
Speaker 2:Reverend you sign Reverend.
Speaker 4:I do sign Reverend. I feel fancy when I do that. And then I put J, which you know.
Speaker 2:J Trevor Buster.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, so I always went by Trevor, but full name Father James Trevor. Thomas Francis Stephen Buster.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's too much. That's too much. And I'm Father Gail Hammerschmidt Maybe I mentioned that, maybe I didn't Chaplain here Again a steady member on the khanza catholic podcast since its inception, maybe five years ago. So check us out on spotify, check us out on apple podcasts, maybe some other places. K-o-n-z-a that's how we spell khanza, khanza catholic.
Speaker 2:In the early years we had father drew. He's now in wichita. He's a good man, man, he's hilarious, gone but forgotten. You love him, gone but forgotten. And yeah, if you don't want him to be forgotten, you can check out his new podcast. I don't know if it's going to be a part of the Sikh run of podcasts or not. Maybe I haven't talked to him about it, but their podcast that they have down there in Wichita he works with the vocations team and so if you're discerning, uh, potentially the seminary or the priesthood, uh, actually an incredible podcast to listen to. It's called about four o'clock and so it's for those who are discerning the priesthood. It's him, it's the vocations team, some hilarious guys in Wichita, kansas. Check them out as well. But we were not invited to be a part of the seek podcast line of podcasts with actual and, by the way, kate and Fella Buster, it's really kind of humbling because we are in line with actual legit podcasts.
Speaker 3:Which is hilarious.
Speaker 2:Like this little dog and pony show. We mention it all the time. We're a dog and pony show. We have just like this chintzy equipment here in front of us. We're in my office now. It's a cool office with a cool view, but this is not the same thing as all of those other podcasts.
Speaker 4:They have better views than we do.
Speaker 3:We have Jesus and they have Jesus and that's all that matters.
Speaker 2:So maybe I'm selling us short, it's true, you might be. Okay, thank you. Thank you, they don't have to. Here's what I always say One day they will, oh yeah.
Speaker 4:Like she's yeah, she's definitely going to be. Remember us when you come into your kingdom.
Speaker 3:That's not True, like transfer portal.
Speaker 2:They're going to be throwing buckets of money at her Name, image and likeness and they're like a Poco podcast.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's busy. He's actually working. We're up here just doing our dog and pony show, but he visits a lot. Maybe we'll get him on the regular. He's been on the regular Consa Catholic podcast in the past he definitely has and we've had other guests. We had Jason Everett one time. We've had bishops on the podcast, or at least one bishop. We've had the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs on the podcast. That's not bad. So check us out. I think we've got 400 or 500 episodes so you can look, see what you like. Listen to us if you want All of that to be said. We were not invited onto this podcast to talk about us. We're invited onto this podcast to talk about us. We're invited onto this podcast to talk about the SEEK conference, that which I have loved and known. I've been to maybe a dozen of them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're so good they're incredible.
Speaker 2:How many do you think you've been to Kate?
Speaker 3:I've been to three. This will be my fourth.
Speaker 2:Wow, New associate Father Buster. Oh yeah, the big question is and I think this is going to be the baseline for our podcast today how many have you been to father?
Speaker 4:buster, I've been to zero seeks you've been.
Speaker 2:You've not yet been to a focus conference, you've not yet been to a seek nothing. You have no idea what's about to to hit come January.
Speaker 4:Long-time supporter of Focus. I've been sponsoring Focus missionaries for about five years now.
Speaker 2:Okay, and so they probably have told you in the past like Father Buster, you need to come to SEEK and you have yet to go to a SEEK conference, and so we thought what might be nice. Out of the three of us, we knew that you were the one who's probably gonna be the most apprehensive, the most nervous, and so we just want to, and and I think probably, as people are listening to this, there might be people who have signed up for seek yeah who are on the fence like should I go?
Speaker 2:should I not go? Father buster, might you might be on that same fence. Should I go? Should I not go? I'm kind of on the fence.
Speaker 3:But you have to go.
Speaker 2:I'm going to throw you on the bus. I'm going to fly there the next day. I'll take care of some masses here at St Isidore's. You get to ride the bus for however many hours. That's going to be over the Rocky Mountains, so that's kind of cool.
Speaker 3:I think it's 13 hours.
Speaker 2:We'll be together, so from Kansas to Utah because in Salt Lake City this year that's going to be actually pretty cool. I think that'd be a neat experience as long as the weather isn't bad but to ride a bus through the Rocky Mountains.
Speaker 4:Beautiful I'm excited about that. Take your Dramamine oh jeez or not, and just take pictures and see the mountains Pictures, the natural Dramamine, so I don't vomit on you. Oh well, please don't do that.
Speaker 2:It's so I don't vomit on you. Oh well, please don't do that. Are you guys? You think you'd probably sit together, you're?
Speaker 1:going to get passes.
Speaker 2:The two of you are going to get to go, I think for free because of this podcast, but the question is do you have to sit together on the bus? Does your pass to the SEEK conference also include tickets?
Speaker 3:on the bus next to each other. Don't reveal that to him.
Speaker 4:We're trying to convince father buster, all right like, let's not.
Speaker 2:If you have to ride with kate the entire time, I'm out, forget about it. Uh, okay, so cool bus ride. I'll probably fly over the rocky mountains to get to salt lake and join you, but we thought we would give you a few things that you can look forward to in regards to what it's going to be like, because you have no idea what it's going to be like. That will convince you to actually show up to the conference Salt Lake City 2025. Kate, why should he go to the conference? What will excite him about it? Tell us your first thing that he has to look forward to.
Speaker 3:So many reasons, so many reasons, but I think my first one is that I, as Father Gail said, I've done many things in my day in my 22 years of life.
Speaker 2:So old, so filled with wisdom.
Speaker 3:But for me it's a time to be inspired by the Catholic community. There's going to be around 20,000 Catholics there who are vibrant and who are zealous and who love the Lord, and it's so, so inspiring. I always look forward to it to kind of fuel my year as we go around the new year and it just fuels me to launch into mission here at K-State even more committed to our Lord. And so for me it's a gift to see my friends from Christ in the City and from Focus Summer Projects and from all of the missions and things that I've done. And you realize that the Catholic world is actually really small but really big at the same time, because there's so many people there but you know so many familiar faces, and so it's such a gift. So that's my first one Just having an excuse to be together with everybody is such such a gift.
Speaker 2:And so let me, let me build on that just a little bit as my first one and it's written right here on my sheet of paper in front of me that you're going to run into and I should probably preface this with a question for you, father Buster, were you the kind of guy that actually enjoyed being around your brother seminarians when you were in the seminary? Yeah, I mean some of them. Okay, well, you're going to run into some of these guys, and that was always the, and it still is. Even though this is, like I say, my, maybe my 12th seek, it's still. One of the great gifts is that I'm going to see guys that I haven't seen maybe since seminary.
Speaker 2:Maybe, they're new to college ministry, but there they are, with the university that they're working with or the college that they're associated with. Maybe they're even just working in the vocations departments, and so they're going to be there, but regardless, I'm going to run into guys that I haven't seen in a long time. And we spend seven years in seminary and you become so close with these guys.
Speaker 4:I've heard already from guys that I went to school with that they're going to seek in Utah and they're super excited about it. I've got kids that I knew in seminary, that I was at a parish, that they got involved in FOCUS, that they're going to be in SEEK, so I mean, I haven't seen those kids in like five years and that's going to be cool. Yeah, you're going to love it, you're going to love it. How many people would you say that you've met through SEEK, that you see through the years?
Speaker 2:You mean, you meet them?
Speaker 4:at.
Speaker 3:SEEK Right right. So many. I usually meet people. Well, everybody just randomly talks to people because you're like, okay, we have the same morals and values, I'm not scared to talk to you, and so usually it's if I am meeting up with a friend that I haven't seen in a long time. They introduce me to their friends and then I meet them and then we kind of just hang out for an evening and it's lovely.
Speaker 2:And so there's a lot of those connections. Right, You're going to see somebody from a certain town.
Speaker 1:You're like oh, you're from this town.
Speaker 2:Well, do you know so-and-so from this town and maybe like, yeah, that person's actually right over there, and then you can make all those connections, and then you just see people that you haven't seen in a while. Like here at K-State we send a lot of our students out to be missionaries and so then we're all going to be together again, and so we've got missionaries in California and Oregon, We've got them all along the East coast, throughout the Midwest obviously, and here we are all together in the same spot. One of the difficulties I'll throw this at you One of the difficulties eventually and maybe in your years to come you'll experience this more than you do now is trying to connect with everybody you know that is actually in this same town, at this same conference. There's just not enough time in the day to connect with them. While also going to the incredible talks which will lead me to my second point You're going to be amazed by the speakers.
Speaker 3:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:I remember last time I went last year and I'm kind of a you're right, I'm a little bit old, I'm kind of a curmudgeon and I'm like, yeah, I ain't going to hear anything new again this year. And then all of a sudden somebody I would not have expected stands up in front of that microphone and then just changes my life.
Speaker 3:Whoa.
Speaker 2:And it's some crazy stuff. Father Chase, the guy that was the soccer player that then became a priest. He gave a talk last year. I was just like, wow, is this the next? Father Mike Schmitz?
Speaker 2:Wow, I actually asked that question, like that's how good. I thought he was. That's crazy. I didn't know how that was going to go. And then he stood up there and he gave this just incredible talk. That was impactful not only to me but all of the men who were in this men's session, and so the talks are incredible. They work incredibly hard on them and the people at Focus make sure that the message is getting out that needs to get out. So not only is it obviously going to change the lives of college students, but even old man priests, it's going to change our hearts as well.
Speaker 2:And not including you in that group of old man priests I'm getting there, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh my.
Speaker 4:There's a snippet, are there a few grays?
Speaker 3:You're only 33. Look at him, Okay look at him.
Speaker 2:Do you see the grays?
Speaker 4:Okay so yes he's got a few gray hairs, we move on Last year when we sent a couple people from my parish where I was in Wichita to seek and they came back so on fire about the faith I was like, so impressed. I had no idea that I was going to be in college ministry this year, but they had convinced me one way or the other that I was going to go to seek this upcoming year. So it's cool to. I mean, I was planning on going to seek.
Speaker 2:Even if you're still in the parish and working with the same crew.
Speaker 4:This was going to be my first seek one way or the other.
Speaker 2:I love it, I love it, I love it. Kate, what's your second thing?
Speaker 3:I was going to piggyback off of you.
Speaker 2:Piggyback, so sometimes people use that word piggyback.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:They do. Yeah, I've always felt that that gets, and I'm not taking a shot at you, but I think sometimes I just don't know what it means have, and I'm not taking a shot at you but I think sometimes I just don't know what it means have you ever carried a piggy on your back? No, and so? Or do you ride on the back of a piggy? I just don't know what it means. Piggyback, I'm going to piggyback on that. I just don't understand the etymology of that phrase. Is that a pro?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't either.
Speaker 2:All right, go ahead. Piggyback off of that, kate.
Speaker 3:I really love how Seat gives you this opportunity to attend talks and choose which talk you want to go to, which is such a great opportunity for you to kind of formulate the formation that you're receiving. So, obviously, the keynotes are the big talks. They're at night and they're with everybody, which is so cool because everybody's standing on chairs with their flags in this big stadium and it's awesome. But other than that, you can go to breakout sessions throughout the day and there are a plethora of breakout sessions happening on any topic you could possibly think of, and it's so cool to just go to those talks that maybe you've been questioning or you're thinking about anywhere from catechism, confession, hot topics such as, like the LGBTQ community and how to love them, or topics of mental health.
Speaker 2:So, for those who are on the fence, you're like, yeah, I know, I mean, I've been hanging around the campus center, I've been hanging around the Newman Center, some of the people I like, they're nice to me, they've invited me to this conference. I don't know, I don't think this Catholic conferencing is for me. No, it's for you. So go, go, don't be afraid. Right, I love that. So thank you for pointing that out, because there's so much that's spoken of at one of these conferences. Okay, my my third thing or do you want to go? Do you want to go with the third thing before me?
Speaker 3:I can go first If you kind of been going like back and forth.
Speaker 2:It's like the snake, you know like you did one, then I did one, I did two then you did two, so you do three, and then I'll do three. How's that? Yeah, kind of going back to the brother priest, I'll piggyback on that snake.
Speaker 4:I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Please continue talking. And you were looking at Kate when you said that.
Speaker 3:You were not looking at me when see, particularly during adoration.
Speaker 3:So during Sikh there's this huge adoration for everybody there and it's right after a keynote that evening and it is just so, so cool because there's a Eucharistic procession going on the whole time.
Speaker 3:There's this huge host with Jesus and priests take turns processing Jesus around the whole entire stadium and it's so, so cool to see how many priests are there that have laid down their lives just so that other people can encounter the Lord.
Speaker 3:And I was just reflecting on that so much last year at SEEK during adoration, of just this gratitude pouring out of my heart for all of these religious and these people who, yeah, they're here for themselves in some way to receive talks, like you said, but also they're here for us to encounter the Lord and they're here to be a witness to what the Lord has done in their lives. And so I remember seeing sisters in the front row last year who were deaf and were using sign language to praise the Lord during adoration, and seeing these priests yeah, switch off with the monstrance and some of them standing up and just praising with their hands, and it just added this human element to those in religious life that I think often is looked over with college students because there's this stereotype around them and Sikh just completely knocked that down and I just really, really, really appreciate that.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it and we probably need to mention. We've been talking about Salt Lake City a lot because there's so many people that want to encounter Sikh. This year there's also going to be a secondary Sikh in Washington DC, and so I know that maybe even people that are listening to this will be going to Washington DC, not riding a bus across the Rockies into Salt Lake City Like if we walk. Father Buster, if you and I, we walk into a grocery store in Manhattan, kansas sometimes people make a big deal about it At Sikh nobody cares.
Speaker 2:In fact, even if you're just a priest, even if you or I were just we were bishops, they'd look at us like, uh, just a bishop, not an archbishop. Does anybody know where the cardinals are? I want to talk to a cardinal and so, unless your name is Father Mike Schmitz, nobody cares that you're just a priest, and that's actually kind of nice. I'd like to be able to go to the grocery store and just be left alone. We can be left alone at Zeke.
Speaker 2:And so there's something cool there. Okay, my one more, one more, because we actually, father Buster, you're not just here to look at us and nod your head and say, oh, that sounds nice, that sounds nice. We have given Father Buster a task. You're going to tell us about Joan of Arc, everything you know about Joan of Arc, because I don't know very much about Joan of Arc and she's going to be the patroness of SEEK this year. But here's my final thing. And then, kate, you'll have your last word before we turn it over to you, father Buster, to tell us about Joan of Arc. Get the gear ready, my friend.
Speaker 3:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:Because this is what like right now. I look at you, Father Buster. You got your clerics on, You're looking good, but you're wearing a K-State hoodie. It's gray. It says cats. Across the front, it's got the Nike swoosh. It's got the Wildcat logo on your sleeve. This is the kind of stuff we need at SEEK Got to represent.
Speaker 2:All of us that are at universities or Universities or colleges that are just kind of Diocesan priests Most All of us are gonna be doing this. We're gonna be what do you call? Blinged out I don't know if that's really what they call it Fit it out. Fit it out. Okay, that's why you got Kate, kate the lingo gal. And so we're gonna be Wearing our gear. We're going to be wearing our K-State stuff, we'll be showing the purple, we'll probably be singing our fight song. Should we practice? Fight your K-State Wildcats.
Speaker 3:That's all the Wildcat victim. Hey, hey, hey, hey.
Speaker 2:That's why we're practicing. That's why we're practicing.
Speaker 4:It's been a while.
Speaker 2:And so, Kate, what's your fourth point?
Speaker 3:Why should Fotherbuster be looking forward to seek this year? So, speaking of gear, they have a little shopping center that maybe me as a woman appreciates more than you might.
Speaker 2:The shopping center.
Speaker 3:There's more. You will be surrounded by so.
Speaker 2:You don't have to back away from the microphone to laugh at Kate. You laugh out loud at Kate right now.
Speaker 4:I didn't have to back away from the microphone to laugh at Kate. You laugh out loud at.
Speaker 2:Kate, right now. I didn't want to be rude. Shopping centers are great. You weren't laughing at Kate, you were laughing at shopping centers.
Speaker 4:I'm laughing at myself not appreciating the feminine genius right now.
Speaker 2:Okay, I like that. Thank you for your self-awareness. And so tell us about this shopping center.
Speaker 3:So there are different sections. It's called Mission Way and so there are aisles of religious orders and then missions and then people who have Catholic businesses. So you can get shirts, sweatshirts, rosaries, like West Coast Catholic is there I know all the girls are freaking out about that and blessed is she and all of that but also you can get fitted out, I guess. But you can also go and talk to different missions. So Christ in the City is going to be there.
Speaker 3:I know that Focus has a whole section for their mission and promoting their mission and it's really, really cool because this is an opportunity for people who are looking for mission opportunities to encounter that. So for me, I really love going to Mission Way during my downtime, if you will, and talking to the religious orders and they'll have random things Like I saw like relics of St Therese of Lisieux last year and St Zellie and Louis Martin, and they were like, yeah, do you want to? Like look at this relic? And I was like, yeah, of course, no way, it's really cool. And so just looking at all of that, uh has is just so, so cool. I have another. I have another one as well that I'm excited about.
Speaker 2:Do it, do it. Uh by the way. But before you get to that, have we ever considered having a booth in Mission Way for Consa Catholic? We could. We could man the booth. All of our fans could come up and greet us. We could hand. Do we have stickers? We still have stickers. We don't have stickers. We need new stickers. We have some stickers with Father Drew and I on them. We need the three of us to be on a sticker.
Speaker 3:That would be great.
Speaker 2:Let's get some stickers. Let's get a booth? No, let's not, Because the problem with having a booth and this is the problem that many of the religious or the people working in the missions is that they don't get to experience. Zeke quite as much, because they're working Right. We'll have a booth on mission.
Speaker 3:I will walk around with a sign that just says cons of Catholic.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, how big will the sign be? How about eight feet tall, and then, like you, cut a little hole in it so you can see through the sign?
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:And maybe like three feet wide. I'm five, two, so we might need to make some adjustments.
Speaker 4:Okay, let's make it like six foot tall. We can make a hole for your face.
Speaker 2:This is really really beautiful. Very good, what a great idea. Get back to your first point. What's point five?
Speaker 3:Point five is the concert.
Speaker 2:Who's playing this year?
Speaker 3:Forrest Frank.
Speaker 2:I've never heard of him.
Speaker 4:You've never heard of Forrest Frank. I've heard of Forrest Frank.
Speaker 3:He's cool.
Speaker 2:Okay, so tell me more and hip and slay. Here we go again. So he's fitted up.
Speaker 3:He's fitted up, so he's playing in Salt Lake, and then I think Jervis Campbell is playing in Washington DC.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But I remember having Ben Rector, and then we had Judah and the lion, and this year we have Forrest Frank.
Speaker 2:So I did. I was similar. It was similar. I didn't really know who those people were either, and I went to the concert and I loved it, and so I'm predicting that I'll love Forrest Frank.
Speaker 3:And last year there was I don't know his name, but he's great. He was a Dominican who was dancing in front of, like, the barricade of the concert where all the students were, and he was just dancing in the front row just having the time of his life. There's a video somewhere and it was hilarious and people get on each other's shoulders and they dance and it's just a lot of fun that.
Speaker 2:So there we go. So the concert, the concert actually is a big draw and it doesn't disappoint I would absolutely say it has not yet ever disappointed me at the concert so praise god for that. I don't know if this is the time or place, but as of yesterday, I'm on Spotify. Are we aware of this? Oh, oh.
Speaker 3:Yes. Not yesterday as of Saturday.
Speaker 2:And so.
Speaker 3:I now have.
Speaker 2:Cash out. What am I Do?
Speaker 3:I have a uh cameo what do you call that cameo I?
Speaker 2:spoke like 12 words and a song. What's? The name of the song the future cash out cash out by enough, gentlemen, some good catholic young men who have a group. So shout out enough, gentlemen, if anybody's actually listening, if anybody's still with us on this dog and pony show and you want to, uh, hear a pretty good group of catholic. What kind of hip-hop? I don't know. What do we call that? Is that rap?
Speaker 3:Catholic rap group. I will say a disclaimer. This song says that it's explicit. It's not explicit. There's not a single explicit word in there. Spotify just flagged it, but I promise it's not explicit. Yeah, so it's talking about sanctification in an indirect way.
Speaker 2:And so the only song I'm on in all of Spotify, it has explicit lyric warning. So it's like Enough Gentlemen is the name of the band with Father Gale. That's what it says. Explicit lyrics, unbelievable. All right, so maybe one day Enough Gentlemen will be playing at the Sikh conference. That would be really cool, and then I can get up on stage and say my 12 words.
Speaker 3:Cash in now, oh you.
Speaker 2:I don't know if that's how it goes, but check it out Enough gentlemen, they're going to be so proud that we've given them a shout out on this national podcast. Wow, how about that? Okay, no-transcript.
Speaker 3:I'll still be awake.
Speaker 2:I don't know how does Dramamine work Does?
Speaker 4:it put you to sleep. I don't know if I've ever taken Dramamine.
Speaker 2:It keeps you from getting sick to your stomach. It doesn't put you to sleep, so you guys can look at the Rocky Mountains together.
Speaker 4:It's just she won't be Instagram.
Speaker 2:She will not be Throwing up on you. That's what we want. That's what we want, okay, no motion sickness, no sea sickness, no mountain sickness, because you're taking your Dramamine. And you know these things Because you've worked In Denver before I have. Yeah, alright, rocky Mountains Sea conference, you're gonna go Praise God, father Buster, you're not backing out now?
Speaker 4:I don't think so Not at this point I've been convinced. Wow, I was on the fence and now I'm not.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 2:Praise God, praise God, and so hopefully everybody else who is on the fence is no longer on the fence. We'll see you there. Father Buster, tell us about Joan of.
Speaker 4:Arc, so St Joan of, so, saint joan of arc, who I know so well, uh, I, you know you guys were talking about like these different points, about the seat conference and, and I think, at a certain point in giving your things that you're excited about, I was thinking about like the kingdom of god, right, you know, saying that there's so many people that you see and sometimes it's just like I wish that I could be here forever, because there's not enough time for me to hear these speakers or to talk to my friends or to see people that I haven't seen in a long time, to be on Mission Way.
Speaker 4:You know, there's this feeling of a fullness, but this man, I wish I just could be here for a little bit longer. And I was thinking about that with with Saint Joan of Arc, right, that that, like, we sometimes get these glimpses into what the kingdom of heaven will be like, right, and I and I wonder, you know, if that, that Sikh conference, or you know, that feeling that you have of I just want to be here forever, that that's a taste of the kingdom.
Speaker 3:It is.
Speaker 4:And St Joan of Arc being the patron of this conference. I think is so interesting, the church militant, for us to be these unworthy bearers of the banner of Christ. St Joan of Arc, a young girl who was called from her little village, hearing the voices of St Michael, st Catherine of Siena, st Margaret, to lead France's armies. She died when she was 19.
Speaker 3:Yeah, she's totally unqualified.
Speaker 2:That's crazy. She'd be a sophomore, yeah.
Speaker 4:Right, I mean most of our students at this college campus are older than Saint Joan of Arc yeah but she, even though she's unqualified to do the things that God called her to do, she became a great saint and and it's crazy to me that you know, you can read her her trial even she was put on trial. She was put to death wrongfully and shortly thereafter they said oh my gosh, we've made a terrible mistake and she becomes a saint. I think she's a great patron for a culture that is being thrust upon the generations that are alive today. There's this great ask lead the armies of God to be a part of the church.
Speaker 4:Militant, but St Joan of Arc to say, it's okay to be unqualified to feel like you're unqualified, because God will qualify you, god will lead you. If you pick up his banner, he will help you. And it's not just about the battle but it's about being around your brothers in arms, around your sisters in arms sometimes, but being around these fellow workers in the vineyard, you know, to see all these people to be rallied by the cry you know to run the race, all these other, you know things that you could say, but yeah, I think I was just really inspired by the things that you said that you know this is really going to be a taste of the kingdom.
Speaker 3:It is.
Speaker 4:And I'm super excited for that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that it's funny because, as you were talking, father Buster, my thought is why didn't we lead with that?
Speaker 2:Because you know, kate and I are talking about, really, the, the sweet stuff that's going to be a part of of seek and and some of those things, including, like, we're going to be wearing our gear, we're going to be seeing friends, but none of that matters in comparison to the call that we are given to follow Christ and to see that he who would lay down his life for us has called us to lay down our lives for others, in whatever way that might be. And that's what inspires people, right, like maybe sometimes we feel like we need to trick people to get them to a retreat or a conference, uh to uh, an event here at the Newman Center at St Isidore's, and sometimes we do. Sometimes we do. We have to promise the concert, we have to promise the snacks, we have to promise the breakfast, but the reason that all of that is done is because written within our very being is the call to lay down our lives to spread the message of Jesus Christ and to love others in the most powerful way possible.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like we want to do something great with our lives and, speaking from a perspective of a college student who has gone to SEEK many times, we want to have voices in the church and we want to be heard and we are the present of the church and we want to make a difference and we see where our world, and specifically the family, is just being attacked over and over again and we want, we want to fight back, we want to rally and with Joan of Arc, we can really respond to this call of follow me and we know that she's a perfect example of he doesn't call the equipped, he equips the call.
Speaker 3:And I know that's a really popular saying, but it's so true that so many times us college students say, well, I can't do that, I'm only a college student, I'm only a college student. But the reality is that as college students, we have the biggest mission field we will most likely ever have in our lives on a college campus. K-state is a university with upwards of 20,000 students. That's about how many people are going to be at SEEK and if we can come back and be on fire, we can really set this campus on fire. And that's the whole point of SEEK is to inspire college students to go out and go to this mission field and to spread the good news that you have a purpose with your life and you are called to something great to be a great saint and to really give yourself to people and therefore give yourself to God.
Speaker 4:I'm so convicted, like a couple of podcasts ago you were talking about, like, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the kingdom of God.
Speaker 4:I'm so convicted, like a couple of podcasts ago you were talking about, um, like the, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the kingdom of God, like there's this active part that we play in the role of spreading the good news, and and for college campuses and all of us, whoever is going to seek to allow ourselves to, you know, drink fully of this grace that God wants to give to us in the conference, to come back and have the confidence that the gates of hell will not prevail and that we are part of God's army and that we're leading the fight against the lies that the enemy and the culture is telling us, and that our role is to is to bring people into the army to
Speaker 4:bring people into this great family that God has called us to. We are spreading the good news, because the good news is God has called you and he wants you to be a part of this and and to rebuke the lies that the enemy tells you, that that he really does love you, that he loves all of us and he wants us to be together forever in heaven.
Speaker 2:And maybe we'll just we'll close her down with this last thought. With me being the old man here, the old man, priest, the guy that's been here for eight years, the guy who has seen St Isidore's grow into what it is now and change over these last eight years, I would just like to say maybe there's other campus ministers, new chaplains, whoever it might be, people that are encountering college ministry for the first time. I can promise you that so much of what we have now here at St Isidore's and there's some incredible things going on, and I won't take credit for these things, because it's the students who have been here, who have passed through our halls, who have now graduated and are doing incredible stuff. It's because of the Kate Wiesners of the world who are here now and I'm sure that the students who are to come will also carry that banner. But so much of it has started because people were set aflame, figuratively, with the love of Christ at a Sikh conference and then they came back and they say Father, what do you think of this? Can we start this? Can we try this? We have a men's group that meets at 6.30 on Thursday mornings, after many of them have been to a late night mass the night before, and we're getting 75 to a hundred young men showing up and eating breakfast, preparing breakfast for each other.
Speaker 2:All of that started after the first seek. We went to my first year here. They said father, what about we do this men's group thing? What do you think? I was like, let's see if it works. Now, eight years later, it's going strong, and these are our men who are leading. These are men who are then challenging others. They're leading Bible studies, they're discipling people there, and so it starts with Seek, because they're just something of the spark that is lit at Seek that then continues to set this campus on fire. And so don't be afraid, get off the fence, let's go. We're going to see you there. We'll be the ones wearing purple. Go Cats. God bless, thank you. Go make disciples. Thank you, fellowship of Catholic University students, for all that you do, for all the energy, the effort, the tears and the sweat that you pour into spreading this faith. We are happy, here at St Isidore's, to be partners with you, and we can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for those of us who love him. God bless you all.
Speaker 1:Kansa Catholic, we're out thank you for joining us for this episode. We hope you learned something and encountered christ in some way. If you enjoy what we do, please subscribe and share this podcast with a friend. This helps us reach more people with and for Christ. Until next time, this is John Michael Peace.
