Episode 1: Father Brian Fischer

In the very first episode of Cup of St. Joe, host Suz Entzeroth sits down with our own Fr. Fischer for a warm, faith-filled conversation you won’t want to miss.

From his childhood and unexpected vocation story to his years in the seminary, missionary work in Bolivia, and journey to St. Joseph Parish, Fr. Fischer reflects on how God has guided him every step of the way. You’ll also hear about his recent pilgrimage to France—including Lourdes—and the powerful ways faith comes alive through the saints and sacred places.

Along the way, enjoy lighthearted moments, personal insights (yes—his love of cooking and coffee!), and a glimpse into the heart of our beloved pastor.

Grab a cup of coffee and join us as we launch Cup of St. Joe—a podcast dedicated to sharing the faith and the personal witness of our parish community, one cup at a time.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, I'm Suze Enzeroth, the host of Cup of St. Joe, a podcast where we explore the faith stories and personal witness of the St. Joe's codible parish. Today's episode, I'll be interviewing Father Fisher. I can't wait for you guys to hear it. So grab a cup of coffee and enjoy. Thank you so much for doing this.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Thank you for the interview. It's uh I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Absolutely. So every interview I like to do a little icebreaker to start us off.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

All right.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Um it's kind of a fun question. Sure. So if you were able to have lunch with any saint, who would it be? And what kind of questions would you ask them?

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Whoa, that's multifaceted. So I would probably go towards St. Peter. He's my confirmation saint. Just to like, you know, like to know like asking like what it was like before, like we hear it in Acts of the Apostles, like before the descent of the Holy Spirit to all of a sudden he was on fire and like going out and preaching to everyone, and then like he just nonstop until he offered his life as a martyr. So I uh I probably I would say Saint Peter. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

That's a great answer. It's not who I was expecting you to say.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

I I wasn't expecting me to say that either until it just that's what came to my heart.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

I was expecting you to say St.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Therese was his that's what I was about to say, yeah. But I feel like I have like I have daily conversations with her already, like just like you know, and it's like she's already a part of my life, and like uh, I think I and we have so much of her writings. I just especially like the the call to be pastor, to be shepherd, to be an evangelizer. That's just what hit me about St. Peter.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

You'd like to pick his brain about how he did it, yeah. That's a good answer. I like that. So um, to get started with the interview, I just kind of want to start from the beginning. So take us back when you were growing up. Where are you from? Um, what was your childhood like? How many siblings?

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Sure, all that, huh? I am the youngest of uh three boys. I grew up in Sacred Heart in Valley Park. My family lived in Fenton and my parents still live in Fenton. Um, but our parish was Sacred Heart in Valley Park, went to was baptized there. Received all my sacraments there, all the way through you know, baptizing baptism, uh first confession, first communion, confirmation, all in that church. Um, and then obviously that's where I had my first mass too. So that place has been home since mom and dad moved into that parish, I think two years before I was born. So um they've been there for a long time. But grew up and went to Sigurd Art Grade School, Kennedy High School of Memory, um, that is now a subdivision.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Um yeah, they got rid of it.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Remember that high school we played them in basketball.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Did you? Yeah. Yeah. It was funny, like back in the day, we loved playing St. Dominic because it was the only teams we could beat. And now St. Dominic is the largest high school and Kennedy's no more.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

So I know it's kind of sad though. It's like you have memories and okay, so you grew up in that area, and what kind of led you in your faith life? Were you motivated in your faith, or was it something that you kind of just were like, oh, we go to church on Sundays?

SPEAKER_02 3:11

We I was I was pretty motivated. Um, I just I remember like sometimes we would go, mom and dad, we our parish had Tuesday evening masses or the perpetual help devotions. And I remember mom and dad every once in a while, we went to mass every day um in grade school, but then they would say, like, hey, we're going to mass again. I'm like, Oh, I'll go. And so I just remember going to like third and fourth grade and like you know, like asking the the priest, like, can I receive communion again? And he's like, You can receive twice in one day, but only twice. And I'm like, Okay. But so I remember doing that, and that was, I guess, first second grade. Um, we had a change in pastors when I was uh late second grade, and and it was uh it became quite a differ different place. Uh just for instance, just it's kind of part of my vocation story. When I remember one day, third grade, we were at mass, and father started talking about uh Saint Stephen, Saint Stephen being the proto-martyr, the first martyr, and first one that gave his his life for the faith, and my little brain instantly started working. I'm like, he's the first martyr, huh? I'm like, okay, and like I was I was thinking about that. Mass ended, and we were still in church, and I went to my teacher, Miss Pickhouse, and I'm like, Miss Pickhouse, how come Saint Stephen's the first martyr? Why isn't St. John the Baptist? Because he died before. Why isn't he a martyr? The first martyr. She's like, that's a really good question. Go ask Father. I'm like, okay. And I like went into the back of church where Father was. I'm like, Father, how come it's not St. John the Baptist? I was used to my old pastor. Um, so he was kind of open to questions and things. But this newer pastor, he got his finger out. He was how dare you question me? And he lit into me, like started yelling at me to the point where I was crying. My teacher came over, Miss Pickhouse. She's like, Father, I'm sorry, I sent he's like, I knew sent, and like started yelling at her. We both fled crying. And and like what I like to say is from that moment on, like, I couldn't wait to be a priest. Like, I too could yell at little kids. No, um, no, that was I was terrified of priests, you know. It was a full year later when we got a new uh associate pastor, and all of a sudden he started changing my image of priesthood again to be positive. He's he'd be out on the playground with us playing soccer. He would take us, uh, groups of us to Cardinals games and to steamers soccer games. And um, we he did all this stuff, like, and just we'd show up at my family's house with pizza and just like, hey, just tell you to come say hi. And all of a sudden gave me a totally different image of what priesthood was. And I remember walking across the parking lot with him, fifth grade or so. He goes, What do you want to be when you grow up? I said, a professional baseball player. He goes, Oh, okay. He goes, You ever think about being a priest? I said, No, he's well start. I'm like, okay. Um, so and the thing is that planted a seed, and so it just kind of started in in me, and and I had thought about it on and off, you know, all throughout grade school, high school. Ended up going to Kirksville, my first year, my freshman year of college, but God was on overdrive that year just to kind of really show me where I should be and what I should be doing. And so one of those, there's five different occurrences that happened that year that just I say God was hitting me upside the head with a two by four. And one was I was on this retreat, and uh the uh and remember journaling and we had a little bit of time, and we're at this, I was inside of this pond, and I remember writing, like, Jesus, can you please just be really clear what you want me to do with my life? Within 30 seconds, this girl Melanie walked up to me, and I've met her, I've known her maybe a year, but she didn't really know like me or my heart or anything or what I was even thinking about. And she picked me up, she hugged me, and she said, Brian, you would be such a good priest. And then she walked on, and I'm just like, Really, Lord? Like it was just like super clear, super clear, and it was like within 30 seconds. I'm like, Oh, okay. And again, there was like four other situations that year that was probably the most dramatic one. I woke up Easter morning, my freshman year, and said, I'm applying to the seminary.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

So it was it was pretty clear for you.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Yes, yeah. And then that with that decision, just the utter peace and joy that I I felt because I was so anxious before that. Like, you know, like I don't know what to do. I don't understand, I can't, but once I made the decision that I'm gonna follow where I thought he was leading, peace and joy, it just surrendered surrounded me and it was beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

So you didn't feel any doubt whatsoever about it. You weren't wrestling with that.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

All happened before. Like once I made that decision, it was It's a freeing experience for you. Oh my goodness, yeah, it was beautiful. Yeah. Even my all my time in the seminary was the same peace and joy all throughout, say all eight years.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

So run us through what the seminary kind of looks like for a lot of us. We don't really know what that is.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

It's a secret place. We can't talk about it. Oh, yes, you can.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

So top secret.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Top secret. I uh I didn't know what it would be like either. Like I known a couple guys in the seminary. Like when I was in high school, I went to some of the the come and seees, they call it, which are like, you know, you come see what the seminary life is like, but again, you're there for two days. And it's like, do you really get a sense of what it's like? And I thought, like, man, I'm gonna show up and I'm gonna be like so far behind in my knowledge or in my faith or in my prayer. And I realized we're all at the same exact spot spot, right? We're all we're clumsy, we all had no idea what we were doing, but that's why we were there to be formed. And so we had um, it was the first year that this the Archdiocese of St. Louis took the seminary back over. It was my first year, and um, the Vincentian Order had been running it since it was founded in 1818. So it was like it was the first time they they couldn't staff it anymore, and so at least with the like the rector of the seminary and the college director. And so I had my first college uh rector was uh now Bishop Rice, but it was Father Rice then, and uh it was just a great, beautiful three years of college because I had one year already done, as I um was just you know letting the Lord continually lead me, teach me, and I grew in brotherhood with all my classmates, and it was a it was a great time. And aga that just led then to graduate school at Kenrick then, so which you reapply for, and then that's the final five years there. Okay, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

So total, how much is that?

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Yeah, for me it was eight years, it's normally nine. Um, eight years because of I had one year year of college already completed, and so the graduate program it looks a little different now. Kind of it just actually there's just a new document came out from Rome a few years ago that has altered kind of what seminary theology kind of looks like and well and college. But for us, I had two years of graduate school and then one year as an intern, as a parish intern, and I spent that at St. Blaise Parish, now Holy Spirit Parish. Loved that year. It was uh it was awesome, um, which encouraged me like, yes, this is what I need to do with my life, this is what the Lord is calling me to. So then you go back to the seminary for one more year of studies, ordained a deacon at the end of that year, and then you have one more year where it's you're in school and then at the parish on the weekends. So before you're ordained a priest the following May.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Okay. So what would you say your the hardships you had were at the beginning?

SPEAKER_02 10:26

And in the seminary?

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

I would say just kind of learning to be in community. And uh, and most priests I know, and myself included, would say, you know, as we we take our promises, we don't take uh that we that our diocesan priests take is you know the simplicity of life, celibacy, and obedience. And probably the hardest one is obedience, um, just to to be free enough in our lives that wherever and whenever we're asked to go somewhere we go. And doesn't matter kind of what. And so that's just, and I made that commitment to the Lord on my ordination day, like Lord, give me the grace, please, but I will never say no when asked to do anything. And so he uh has blessed that. So even though I'm in a wonderful, awesome assignment, um, when he opens the door to somewhere else and asked to consider, he just abundantly blesses each each assignment I've had.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah, Father Dieters was saying one of the hardest things for him was that he didn't get to like go where he wanted, travel where he wanted. Uh, you know, it's like you you have to be obedient, which, you know, there are, like you said, blessings that come with that. But you don't get to just, you know, go move to Switzerland or somewhere beautiful that you would like to.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

I did move to the Andes Mountains for a bit as a priest. You got you got lucky. I did. Yeah, I moved to uh to the city of La Paz, served as a priest there. So we used to have missions there, St. Louis did, and again, it was one of those moments where I had no desire to go whatsoever. The archbishop didn't even ask me to consider it, but it kept coming like I would be woken up in the middle of the night, like with thoughts of being in Bolivia. I'm like, I've never thought of Bolivia in my life. Like, what is going on? At the third night in a row that that happened, I'm like, fine, I'll talk to the archbishop. Guess what I felt? Peace and joy. I'm like, no, like um, but it was a grace-filled time serving in Bolivia.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Awesome. So walk me through all your different parishes and assignments, and then you said you've been on missions. So kind of walk us through that.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

I um my first assignment was uh my pastoral internship year where I was at St. Blaise uh for that that year, which was was beautiful. And then I was a year later when I finished that, I was ordained a deacon, and I my first deacon assignment was a Queen of All Saints in Oakville in South County. That was great, worked a lot with youth ministry there. And then my first priesthood assignment was St. Clair of Assisi in Ellisville. Spent four years there, and uh it was when I was there that uh the prayer about Bolivia started coming. So I met with Archbishop Burke at the time, and I said, Archbishop, I said, I don't really have a desire, but it just keeps coming up in prayer. And he told me, he said, I we don't need anyone to go there. He goes, but I want you to go visit. He goes, these five independent things all have to happen in order for you to go us to need you this year, but that's not gonna happen for probably five to six years. But when we do need someone, I would like you to know what you're saying yes or no to. Well, so would you go visit? I'm like, sure. So bought my plane ticket, was waiting the three weeks until I was going. And in those three weeks, all five of those things he mentioned happened. And so all of a sudden it was a real possibility. Like, I'll be going there maybe in three to four months.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

And so from five years to three or four months.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Yeah. And so I went to visit, and it was it was hard. When I landed, my senior Dave Rotterman picked me up from the airport. He had been there 56 years at that point, and he told me, he says, Welcome, brother. Well, he was welcome to the cross because that's what this place is. He wasn't, but we walk and live the cross with these beautiful people. And it was it's exactly what it was. So I visited, ended up coming back, told the archbishop that if you if you ask me, I'll go, and he says, Then I'm asking you. So yeah, I spent only 14 months there. I had uh come home for emergency spinal surgery, and uh doctors all said at that point, you're not going back. And I'm like, it was just it's hard living living conditions, like they they live it every day year after year, but it's the rectory was at 12,000 feet, and so it's just it's just really hard with the the lack of oxygen, obviously, but also just it ends up getting really hard on on the body. Had salmonella 13 times, and uh it just uh it was the cross. Sounds like it. But the people were awesome, so it was good to be with them. So that was my second assignment as a priest. And then I came home, had my surgery, little time for recovery. Then I was named uh director of youth ministry for the diocese. And so I did that for 11 months, and then Archbishop Carlson got transferred um here, and he asked me to be his secretary and master of ceremonies while staying in the youth ministry office. So I did both roles uh for three years before I uh took my boss's job in the youth office, became the executive director of the Catholic Youth Apostolate, which is youth ministry, CYC sports, Catholic Scouting, young adult ministry, and what was then the REAP team, a retreat ministry team. And so that was my my role. At the same time, I was chaplain at St. Agnes Home in Kirkwood for the Carmelite Sisters and the residents. So that was two years there. Ended up moving back in with the archbishop, my final year there, and he kept asking me, like, what do you want to do next? Would I just would love to be in a parish, I'd love to be a pastor. He goes, What about this office? Or what about that office? I'm like, or a parish. And like, and so finally, after eight years of working for the diocese directly, I was named pastor at St. Patrick in Wentzville, where I spent nine years, loved every minute of it. And before I got the call on May 28th, 2024, from Archbishop Rzanski to consider coming here to St. Joe's.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Well, we're very happy you're here.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Thank you, me too.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

So about a year and a half-ish almost?

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Yeah, 15 months.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Yeah, you knew the exact amount 15 months and six days.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

So tell us about, you know, reflect on the year uh and some change that you've been here and how you've liked it, you know, ups and downs.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Yeah, I I I I would like to, I mean, I've been tell every every priest uh I've talked to about being here, like everyone should have an opportunity to be received the way I felt I was received here. It was unbelievable. Just, I mean, one of the most welcoming, it's not that doesn't happen everywhere. Sometimes you have to, you know, fight to win people over or whatever, but it's just the everyone was so amazingly open and welcoming. And what I am continually humbled by is how much everyone is just ready to be on mission. And I just, it just, it's awesome. And it's just, you know, it excites me as a pastor. And it's just like, let's go. Like, you know, just knowing that it's like I'm not dragging people or trying to. Instead, sometimes I feel like you're dragging me and like, and I'm okay with that. Or let's just just really feel like we're on mission together, which is which is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

So one minute you're on a mission trip in France, and then you come home and you're on a podcast. Like exactly, just like that. It's an it's a go, go, go parish. We like it. Yeah, awesome. So um, we're gonna kind of gear towards the fun stuff about you.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

You kind of I mean, you're you're everything's fun about you, but the fun questions about, you know, you said I remember earlier you said you wanted to be a professional baseball player. I did.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

What in fourth or fifth grade, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Well, yeah, but going back to that, so did you play any sports growing up?

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Baseball, soccer.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Baseball and soccer. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Favorite was baseball. Fans down. I played that in high school too.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

All right. Yeah. So if you were not a priest, what would your profession that your dream profession be if you could be anything?

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Whoa. Um, I don't know if I mean this is my dream profession. I'm just gonna say that bluntly, right? I just I can't see myself doing anything else.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

I have developed a passion for cooking. I think I wouldn't possibly be a chef if I wasn't a priest.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Yeah, that's a I could see you being a chef because we talked to Father Dieters and he said you are an amazing cook.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Oh, I I'd force him to say that. Yeah, it's good.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Yeah, he said he's at the level of like ramen noodles, and then like you're I don't think he's there.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Not that not. No, not quite there.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Like Cheerios and cereal.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

He can do that, he can do an egg. I've signed, I've seen it. I mean, I I'm not gonna say I'd eat it, but um, he's he definitely had an egg and a pan and he ate.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

It might be edible.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Yeah, yeah. Okay. I don't think there were shells in it. I'm not sure though.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Cracking those eggs is hard, so it is.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

All right. So if you had to pick between uh your favorite book or movie, which is it? Would what would you pick? Books or movies?

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Books.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Okay, what's your favorite book?

SPEAKER_02 19:08

It's funny because it's the same answer for both. Uh Lord of the Rings. So he wrote it. Tolkien wrote it as one book, and it's so big that they we separated into three, but yeah, I like that's like probably my favorite. It is a great series. It is.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Um, okay, so coffee, tea, or soda?

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Coffee.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Coffee.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

You don't seem like a soda drinker. I used to be. Used to be.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Uh COVID. I was like, all I am out of is my soda. Am I gonna go to the store for that? I'm like, no. And so gave it up.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Can I tell you a funny story about the soda and COVID?

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

I went, this is just showing how much Diet Coke drinkers they're a little bit on a different level.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

I was Diet Pepsi.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Diet Pepsi. Well, maybe it's all diets, but I had to go to the grocery store during the COVID when everyone was scared to just leave the house and go to anywhere. Right. So me going to the grocery store was like a mission trip. And my mother-in-law's like, if you're going, you know, get me my diet soda and diet coke. So I go to the grocery store and I walk down the soda aisle. Every soda is stopped except for all the diet coke. It was all gone because the diet soda drinkers like needed that diet soda. And I'm I'm just like, I'm sorry, you're gonna have to survive without it. Right, right. So, all right, so would you say you are tidy or messy or messy?

SPEAKER_02 20:23

I'm pretty messy.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Messy?

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Yeah. I try not, I wish I would, I wish I was tidy.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

But it's a detailed thing that I am not good with details. I'm a big picture guy, so I like things to be tidy and just I'm not good at it though.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Okay. All right. So what's your favorite holiday?

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Uh it depends. And I it's uh I love Christmas because of everything that surrounds it and the family time, but I also something about Thanksgiving, not I mean, really, I mean religious in the sense that we we give thanks to God, right? But just that there isn't as much pomp around it. And so, because Christmas, I think by by the the consumerism can take over there. Same with Easter with the bunny and eggs everywhere. But you know, Thanksgiving is just it's time to be with family and it's just to be blessed by them and and good food.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

So yeah, that's so true. Like Christmas has become almost too much. Yeah. Where it's like you're you're constantly thinking, okay, what we got to get with this family and this family, and we gotta schedule and the presents. I mean, I have young kids, so the presence is a big deal. It's a huge deal. Yeah. It has to be. Um, but just yeah, like the simplicity of having the meal and just being with family and talking about what we've done.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Another reason too, I like Thanksgiving is that after um Christmas when masses are done, after Easter when masses are done, I'm done. Like I'm exhausted. And so, like, it's hard to be present to my family at that time. And so I remember one time I came home on Christmas and I was there before my brothers and their families were there. And I remember I just kind of my there's my parents have this large peninsula, a kind of island peninsula. I remember getting home and I just kind of put my leg up and I laid down and fell asleep on top of the island. I'm like, mom's like, I kind of need to cook now. Clean this first. I'm like, okay. Anyway, it was kind of funny.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Where did you learn to cook? I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

It started when I was uh from from Bolivia. When I was I'm like, getting salmonella 13 times is not fun. And so I was like, there has to be something to be to cooking right. And so I started like just kind of studying like how to cook well and so that I don't get sick. And then like, well, now there has to be something to cooking so that it tastes really good. And so when I came home, I just started experimenting just on myself and just playing. And then when I was stationed with the archbishop, he had so many different events and stuff at the residence, so many caterers, I started watching them and just kind of learning from them. And eventually I was catering some of those same events towards the end of my time there. It was just kind of cool. So yeah, kind of self-taught.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Okay. And so if you had to pick between an introvert or an extrovert, what would you say you are?

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Introvert.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

Introvert.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Okay. Meaning I'd get my energy from, you know, but my close friends and from just kind of recharging when I'm alone. So that's uh yeah, if I'm having to be out and forward a lot, it it does it does wear me out pretty quick.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

I didn't I expected you to say extrovert for some reason.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

So I can be outgoing. I just I get my energy from being alone.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

All right. So you went on that mission trip. I want to talk a little bit about the mission trip because you guys just got back from uh France.

SPEAKER_02 23:31

It was what is a pilgrimage? No, mission trip to me says like you're going to do service and okay. And this this was we went to as a spiritual journey. So it's a pilgrimage.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

So tell us a little bit about that. Like walk us through what you guys did and where you visited.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Yeah, it was uh it was awesome. Last time I was in France uh for any time was in 1997 for World Youth Day. I was in college at the time, and um, I didn't have the appreciation um that I did now. Um one, I was you know, I had no money, so I couldn't appreciate the the food over there because I couldn't afford it. I would eat brie cheese and and a baguette like for lunch every day, it's all I had. But uh first day we drove to Chart, which is some of the kind of the birthplace of stained glass, and it's like the some of them first kind of companies or our uh professions that started in stained glass started in Chart, and like from there it kind of went through all the Gothic churches in France. But uh there is uh so just to see their cathedral again was was awesome, just to kind of be present to see the beauty of the the Gothic cathedrals. And from uh Chart, we were just here for a visit to the cathedral, and then we went on to Lisieux, um, which was awesome. So I got to celebrate the second full or the first full day. I was able to celebrate Mass at the Carmel where uh St. Therese lived and died. And so in fact, um where from where the priest is in the sanctuary, there's a grill to the side, and so all the the pilgrims were in front of me in the main body of the church, but and they couldn't even see the grill, I don't think. But that's where the the sisters are in the cloister. So, and on one of the choir stalls, they have a cross over the stall, and that was her seat. And so they haven't used it since. They just put a cross over it when she passed away, and when they saw like how influential her story of a soul was, and and um then they decided to separate it, and so they kept it reserved as as her seat, which is kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

And now, wasn't her feast day while you guys were over there?

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Just before. So her feast day is October 1st, and we left on the eighth. Okay. And so when we got there, there were still like there were thousands of roses in front of this image of her, wax image of her with her remains underneath. And I just and I just found out this morning at Mass, someone was there, a prisoner was there like a week before we were, and they said that that was the some company in Italy kind of in as an offering to St. Therese for her feast day, shipped like thousands and thousands of roses, and that's why they were all still there. And they said like that was a lot more than normally are there.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

So like they didn't wither type of thing.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Oh no, they were starting to wither, and like they changed them out. But as there's a practice there for, and there's flower shops all around the city of the Sioux where people would buy a dozen or or two, whatever, and bring them, and you just put them in a bucket in front of this grill, and then the sisters would take it then and place it around, but it was just overloaded since it was so close to her feast day.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Have you ever received a rose from her?

SPEAKER_02 26:28

I have. You have I have well rose uh petals, like thousands of petals. I it was the day I was in theology, and her remains were in St. Louis at St. Agnes home, and I was able to carry her remains in with three other seminarians. And when I I we did there, and there was a prayer service, and we venerated the relics, and I got back to my room in the seminary and I opened my door, and my room was coated in rose petals. I mean thousands. I still have a lot of them. I pressed them into my Bible and some of my favorite books and my journals. So yeah, I still have a lot of those, but so you have no idea where they came from. I found out five years later that it was uh a guy who was a year behind me. He just knew my devotion to St. Therese, and he said that he just thought I needed to have those. And so what's funny is he didn't even know that I carried her remains in that day and like to the St. Agnes home. So it was just yeah, I don't know where he came upon all those rose petals, but yeah, anyway, it was something.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

So cool.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Well, tell tell people about that background of the roses, because some people might might not realize about how it affiliates to her.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Yeah, so Saint Therese, you know, she she wrote that she was gonna spend her heaven doing good on earth, and so and that it just kind of became uh like people just started noticing, like when people would pray, uh asking for her her intercession, a lot of times through a novena to Saint Therese, but it doesn't have to be a novena, that like she she would answer by by by showing, by giving, by somehow someone kind of unbeknownst to to them that they're you know her a accomplice, if you will, that people would get a rose as a sign like your prayer's been heard and that she is indeed interceding, or indeed, you know, as as as you know, begged that favor from God for us. And so it's uh kind of the the history, and that's just it's a long long standing kind of practice or or occurrence, I would say, for those with the devotion of St. Therese.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Yeah. I've heard quite a few people have received roses, it's pretty awesome. Yeah. So going back to the pilgrimage, so you guys went to the Sioux?

SPEAKER_02 28:40

The Sioux first uh few days, and then um from there we went to the beaches of Normandy and so into Omaha Beach and kind of did a little World War II kind of kind of just a commemoration of all the the soldiers that that gave their lives in order to to bring freedom to to Europe and for France and then and so Europe. And then that same day we also got on the boat, so that's we did a riverboat cruise then from Enfleur, um which is near Normandy or in Normandy, all the way down to Paris, down the Seine River. And so along the way, we uh were at Rouen and where St. Joan of Arc. That was that was awesome. Now the church that they built for St. Joan of Arc is different. Um, I'll just say that from the outside. I'm like, what are they thinking? And they were trying to make it look like a dragon or something, and it is it's just quite different. And it's right near the site where she was uh burned at the stake where they built this church. But inside we celebrate mass inside, and it was it was it was like the stained glass in there kind of made up for it. It was it was kind of gorgeous, but it was just a kind of a different kind of church. The neat thing was though, and kind of sad, that the pastor when we were there came in and I was taking my vestments off and coming back out after mass, and the pastor came in and saw our pilgrims there, and he just gave an impromptu talk, and and he was uh saying that he was like the only priest, I think, for like 17 parishes in the area, and they have like one one guy in the seminary, and like that's it. And so they're just but how much like they are like herding for vocations, and he says it just brought warmth to his heart to see pilgrims that are actually alive in their faith and and desiring that relationship with Jesus, and um it was kind of a it was a kind of a cool witness, and like, yeah, we need to pray for vocations, not just here, but like in the world for the world, right? The places that initially sent so many missionaries, which St. Therese, the patron of the missions, now in themselves are in need of missionaries themselves.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

That's something to remember for prayers.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Yeah. So then also there's a few things that we did along the way just because it was part of the riverboat cruise, and like along the way that were not spiritual in nature. Like we went to Claude Monet's estate and saw like the pond where he did like painting after painting of the water lilies, and he was like a master gardener and he had this massive garden that they still still take care of today. That was interesting. We went to Versailles, just the opulence of that palace of uh Louis the Fourteenth is it's something. I mean, it's huge, it is absolutely it's like a city unto itself, and now it's just a museum run by this by the state, but it was kind of overwhelming just to see the you know some of the opulence that that was lived uh as they lived it as the French monarchy. And then we did Paris, and in Paris we did went to Notre Dame, which was beautiful to see it after the restoration. Um, because I was there, like I said, in 97, and that was not a favorable experience. I remember like you walk I remember walking in and it was treated like a museum instead of a church. It was so dark, just from I think centuries of torches being the light source, and so the walls were just soot covered, and I remember saying, like, this it looks like a cave. Like, what is what is happening? And it was like so underwhelming. Fast forward to this time. I was it was probably one of the greatest surprises. It was beautiful. They had gotten all after the fire and reconstruction, they had gotten all the soot off of everything, restored it, adoration was going on, like, and they had they needed absolute silence. And if you tried to do anything or take a picture, you weren't supposed to, like, they were on you, and like saying, like, this is for prayer only. Like, and so it was beautiful, like it was so it went from like a tourist attraction, like to like supposed to be to be what it's supposed to be is like the mother church of yeah, Paris of France, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

So they probably after almost losing it, the people of France probably really Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

It was really interesting to hear like our guide, her name was Marie. She her talking about what that did to like she was in school at the time. She's like, we just were all she's like, we were crying, and we were such because that is like our mother church, and like you know, so it was uh, and she's not from Paris, like she was from uh pretty far away north. And uh anyway, it was just it was really interesting to see like she said just how how many people kind of came in and and they said the generosity of the world that they had way more money than they needed to restore it, but that's why they were able to do so much to make it so amazing and beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

That is so special, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:24

So after uh Notre Dame, we went to uh visit Sakra Cour, which is uh the church dedicated to the sacred heart. Um, and it's that is a beautiful place too. Again, 97, that's where we we went there every day to Sakra Cour for that's where the English speaking catechesis was for our region. So we had to go there that we uh all the college seminarians every day as we heard some of the bishops from the US, uh Australia kind of give some of the catechesis. But it was awesome to be back and just to know like ador perpetual adoration has been going on there like unstopped, like during World War One, they never stopped. During World War II, they never stopped. And so it is it is continually going on at Sakura Cour, which is beautiful. And there's I was told like the there's a retreat house next door to it. And the one guy said like they people come and they stay there, groups, like youth groups, and they take time where they just like you know, like, oh, you're on at 3 a.m., you're on at 3 30, you're on at 4. And if there aren't groups coming or if not uh no one is available, there's a whole group of sisters that are there that fill in all the other hours, but that it's always uh someone there praying, which is amazing. Yeah, just it's it's beautiful. Just mainly praying. They started just to pray for peace and uh and then uh it kind of just says continued, um, which is an awesome, awesome thing. And then uh we we were we got ready, then there was the optional extension, which most of our our pilgrims took to Lourdes, which is uh it's a that's a long way from Paris, but it's a it's a five-hour ride on the bullet train. And so when we got to Lourdes, it was it was absolutely stunning. Like I it just Lourdes is one of those places that that I think Lourdes and Assisi. There's something about being in those those towns that it feels like peace has totally like encompassed everything around it and in it. A Sisi is called the City of Peace, but I just I have been to Assisi and I know what you mean.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Yeah, it's like that.

SPEAKER_02 35:26

Lourdes feels the same, and it's kind of cool because you have the the mountains around uh Lourdes and they have the beautiful basilicas that just kind of stand upright right next to the mountains, and it was it was such an amazing time. We were there for three days and and it was an awesome experience seeing you know walking in the life of Bernadette, saw where she grew up and and where she the baptistry where she was baptized, the church where she was baptized uh was gone. They reconstruct they re uh had all the components of the baptistry and they put it up and where they relocated the church. So that that was kind of a powerful thing just to kind of walk with her life and how uh the Blessed Mother appeared to her. And we ended our our stay there in the morning. It was the only day it really rained, the whole, the whole pilgrimage. But it was misting, kind of light rain that day as we had mass at the grotto. I was fine, I was in the grotto, so I was dry. But uh all of our all of our folks out there, they had all our umbrellas up and it was still dark in the morning, but it was it was uh kind of a beautiful way to kind of end that journey. But one of the most profound things I think at Lord's is their stations of the cross. I think they're the most magnificent stations of anywhere in the world. I mean, they are there's a a mountain right next door to the the basilica where you you wind around this mountain and the stations are life-size and they're they paint them gold, bronze-ish, and they each figure, and they are it's stunning. I mean, it is it is absolutely stunning. And so as we went up, I was leading the stations of the cross for our group, and so and uh we just slowly made it up the mountain, and at the the crown of the mountain is the crucifixion, and so we uh we did that, and it's it was it's kind of amazing and shocking that as we walked, got to the crucifixion, like out of nowhere, this gust of wind and little little bit of rain, but like it just tore through, and it was just like and just like brought to mind like you know, the the veil of the the the temple was torn in two and the earthquake, and I'm like, it felt like that, like and it was uh but as soon as we stepped away from the crucifixion, it all died down. Um and then yeah, it was pretty, it was pretty, it was it was incredible. A lot of people said like that was like one of the most like touching, but also just kind of yeah, just like it was a profound moment for them. Um, and then you walk, start walking down the mountain, and you have the remaining stations, and there's a natural cleft in the rock where they say, you know, where Jesus laid in the tomb, and it's kind of a it's pretty powerful. Um anyway, so it's just that's how we ended our our our pilgrimage um in this beautiful place of of Lourdes, letting the the Blessed Mother kind of guide us and lead us in that.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

And uh did you get to take any of the water from the spring?

SPEAKER_02 38:06

Yes. Well, it's there's yeah, they have so the water, there's spigots everywhere. So they're they really want people, and there's water bottles for sale everywhere. Um so and uh so many of our pilgrims brought, you know, have some filling up their bottles and and bringing the the water home. And uh yeah, that's from the blessed mother told Marina to wash and wash and like to dig, and and so she was digging in the mud until finally the spring came out, came forth, and and for since that time, you know, it's just been uh a place of healing where people so many people have gone to to seek healing in different ways and physical, spiritual, emotional, and so many miracles have happened.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

They say thousands and some they don't even know about because it's not recorded, but yeah, in the thousands.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

Yeah, they said most likely in the thousands is that actual documented where they they researched and researched like and and documented, I think there's like seven or ten, some forget one, one of those that are just like brought to the level of like doctors saying like you have like a week or two or you know, a couple months to live, and it was completely healed, and there's absolutely no reason for it. And so, but how many you know, countless you know, healings of you know, memory, healings of of wounds, you know, internal or external, that the Lord can do. It's just it's pretty powerful.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 39:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

So is this pilgrimage something that the parish is gonna keep doing?

SPEAKER_02 39:29

I would say, yeah, and that's always been a part of my priesthood. Actually, my my pastor growing up, or when I from seventh grade on, he taught me the beauty of of doing the spirituality of pilgrimage. First pilgrimage I went on, I guess was probably World Youth Day when I was in high school, um, going to Denver when uh John Paul II came, and then again going to Paris in '97 for that pilgrimage. And then my pastor took me to the Holy Land in 2000, which was powerful. That just uh life-changing. And just to see how he developed and prepared the folks for the this spiritual journey, that it's that it really is not, it's not a vacation, you know. Well, we we enjoyed our time together. We enjoyed our time, you know, but it is predominantly first and foremost a spiritual journey to know like, you know, like at times things are gonna happen, you know, that are outside of our thing, but we were pilgrims and we're like, well, that's part of the journey, okay, right? The purpose isn't the destination, it's it's each step we take, drawing and striving to become closer to the Lord with each step, you know. Like the first thing that happened, we we landed in in Paris the day we arrived is that they lost our luggage, like about 12 of our luggage. And like luckily, some of the people had air tags, and so they're like, it's right here on the tarmac, you know. And so, but like Air France had no idea, like they just it probably would have stayed lost if he didn't have that air tag, but it's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 40:57

I'm gonna use air tags.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

I know bought them.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

Um, so so I can add them in because I never have them all my kids, but I uh I needed them all, I needed them all my luggage too.

SPEAKER_02 41:05

Exactly. So I uh and so I just it was good, it was a good reminder. Like, remember, like it took us like an hour and a half to wait for it, and because of that, we couldn't have mass at that cathedral of chart that I was talking about, we ended up having mass at the hotel that night, which was fine. It was still kind of a beautiful, intimate thing. But remember, remember we're on pilgrimage, like you know, and so sufferings come with it, and we don't look into like, oh, this is ruined. It's like, no, there's an opportunity to receive grace, an opportunity to kind of grow together.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

Yeah, that's amazing. So uh I can't wait to go on these pilgrims because that is all those things you talked about, the places you went, they're like bucket list items for me, especially Lords. Like I was almost tearing up about when you're talking about lords, because I cannot wait to go. So it makes me happy that we do these here at St. Joe's, it's very special.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

Yeah, and there's so many, so many beautiful spiritual places to visit, like our the wealth of our the our faith and you know and the church and the history that we can go just about anywhere in the world and encounter spiritual sites, you know, and uh to journey with the saints of that area or with uh the historic sites as well. So yeah, there's countless places to to go to.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Okay, so uh just to kind of end us, would you mind closing us in a prayer?

SPEAKER_02 42:20

No, of course. All right, let's pray. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord Jesus. You promise, and whenever two or three gather in your name, there you are in the midst of them. We thank you for your presence now. We ask that you send the Holy Spirit to enliven our hearts so that we can be set on fire to live the mission that you've given each of us. May your every thought, word, and action only serve to glorify you as we pray. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. World without end. Amen. Saint Joseph, pray for you.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Thank you so much, Father.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

You are welcome.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

I appreciate you.