Peter & Leslie Wolfgang of the Family Institute of Connecticut join St. Mary's in Ridgefield to discuss their effort to battle anti-family legislation!

NOTES

Email List: https://www.veritascatholic.com/

Family Institute of Connecticut: https://www.ctfamily.org/

Steve Ray is a convert to the Catholic Church and the author of three best-selling Ignatius Press books (Crossing the Tiber, Upon this Rock, and St. John’s Gospel). Steve and Janet Ray have been to the Holy Land over 170 times exploring, filming, and leading thousands of pilgrims. He is writer, producer and host of the 10-part video/DVD series The Footprints of God: the Story of Salvation from Abraham to Augustine filmed entirely on location in the Holy Land and surrounding countries. Steve is a regular guest on Catholic radio and TV including Catholic Answers, Ave Maria Radio, Relevant Radio, and EWTN. He also writes Bible studies for Catholic Scripture Study International.

He and Janet live in Michigan. They have four children and ten grandchildren.

Kevin Wells is a Catholic writer, speaker, and former sports reporter with the Tampa Tribune, where he covered major-league baseball. He is the author of the best-selling Catholic book The Priests We Need to Save the Church (Sophia, 2019) and Burst, A Story of God’s Grace When Life Falls Apart (Servant). His most recent best-selling book, Priest and Begger, tells the story of the heroic life of Venerable Aloysius Schwartz, a priest from Washington DC who went on to serve the poor in South Korea. Within 15 years, Father Schwartz had changed the course of Korean history, founding and reforming orphanages, hospitals, hospices, clinics, schools, and the Sisters of Mary, a Korean religious order dedicated to the sickest of the sick and the poorest of the poor. All the while, he himself—like the Sisters—lived the same hard poverty as the people he served and loved.

Wells is currently the president of the Monsignor Thomas Wells Society for Vocations. He also serves a Director of Public Relations for World Villages of Children, which supports the works of Fr. Al Schwartz. His work with youths earned him the James Cardinal Hickey National Figure Award from the Archdiocese of Washington. He lives in Millersville, Md., with his wife and three children.

Father Wade L.J. Menezes, CPM is a member of the Fathers of Mercy, a missionary preaching Religious Congregation based in Auburn, Kentucky. Ordained a priest during the Great Jubilee Year 2000, he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Catholic Thought from the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Toronto, Canada and his dual Master of Arts and Master of Divinity Degrees in Theology from Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut. His secular college degrees are in journalism and communications.

Fr. Wade has served as the Assistant General and as the Director of Vocations and Director of Seminarians for the Fathers of Mercy. Fr. Wade has also served as the Chaplain-in-Residence at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama. While at the Shrine, Fr. Wade was a daily Mass celebrant, homilist and confessor; he also gave spiritual conferences on specialized points of Catholic Christian doctrine to the many pilgrims who visit the Shrine. Both the Monastery and Shrine are affiliated with EWTN, the Eternal Word Television Network.

Fr. Wade has been a contributing writer for the National Catholic Register, Our Sunday Visitor, Catholic Twin Circle, Catholic Faith and Family, The Wanderer, Pastoral Life, The Catholic Faith, Lay Witness, Legatus, and Christian Ranchman publications. Several homiletic series of his have appeared in Homiletic and Pastoral Review, an international journal for Priests. Fr. Wade has also been a guest on various episodes of EWTN’s “Mother Angelica Live” and “Life on the Rock” programs during which he discussed such topics as the sanctification of marriage and family life, vocations, and the Sacred Liturgy. He has also hosted several televised series for EWTN, which have covered such topics as the necessity of the spiritual life, the Four Last Things, the Ten Commandments of Catholic Family Life and the Gospel of Life vs. the Culture of Death. He is also host of the EWTN interstitial series “The Crux of the Matter” and “The Wonders of His Mercy”, and In Defense of the Eucharist. His many theological and doctrinal presentations have been featured on EWTN Global Catholic Radio, Ave Maria Radio, Guadalupe Radio Network, Covenant Network Radio, Catholic Broadcasting Northwest and Voice of Virtue International. He is the author of two books: The Four Last Things: A Catechetical Guide to Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell and Overcoming the Evil Within: The Reality of Sin and the Transforming Power of God’s Grace and Mercy. Fr. Wade is also the host of EWTN Global Catholic Radio’s “Open Line Tuesday.”

The Lord has placed inside each of us a yearning for action, a restlessness for adventure, and a desire to be heroic… and He is calling you to make sacrifices, to lead others, and to speak the Truth – whatever your gifts, your position at work, or your status in life.

To light the way... we can look to the examples of people like Jose Sanchez del Rio, Akash Bashir, St Paul, Queen Esther, Mark Ji Tianxiang, John Paul II, and others.

Steve Lee gave this talk to a gathering of Catholic men in October 2024.

You may know that Steve's wife, Roula, battled leukemia just days after Veritas Catholic Network launched. The faith-filled way she suffered was inspiring… and just how the Lord asks all of us to suffer.

St Paul wrote that “we rejoice in our sufferings”… can we really, actually rejoice in our sufferings?

You can also watch this reflection on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_XrZGGGJ-9w

"We are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." -Romans 8:17

Fr. Joseph Gill, the host of Restless Catholic Young Adults, explains why you should be devoted to Divine Mercy - from the Divine Mercy Chaplet, to the Image of Divine Mercy, to Divine Mercy Sunday. He also shares stories about different saints who exemplify the Father's Mercy for everyone, most especially you!