Our Lady of Belen Catholic Church

A listener named Charles emails Father Dave with a question of faith.  “This weekend at our vigil Mass, the priest wasn't able to make it to Mass unexpectedly. What should we (the parishioners) have done? We have no deacon in our parish, and I was asked to lead a communion service. Was that proper?”

Father Dave explains that in the Catholic Church there is a protocol called “Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest.” These protocols were developed by the Church because in many places in the world there aren’t enough priests to cover all the churches and all the Catholics on any given Sunday.  ‘Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest’ states that a bishop may appoint a person other than a priest to lead this celebration.

LISTEN: Why Are There Multiple Eucharistic Prayers? 

“Sunday celebrations in the absence of a priest are commonly called a ‘community service,’” Father Dave says.  “Typically, what this look like is Mass minus the Eucharistic Prayer, and [the service] could be led by a deacon, an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion or another lay person, depending on who the bishop appoints.  There could be a choir, readings, communion, and if there is a deacon, even a homily — because a deacon can properly preach a homily.”

In order for Holy Communion to take place, there needs to be enough consecrated Hosts in the tabernacle to distribute to people.  Almost every parish has a fairly sufficient amount, and in places where these celebrations are a regular event, they prepare ahead for it.

Father Dave notes that ideally most parishes would have a contingency plan in case the priest could not make Mass unexpectedly, but admits that he knows very few parishes that do.

“So in Charles' case, it's much more likely that there wasn’t a contingency plan. So could somebody read the readings and go to the tabernacle and distribute communion? Yes. There's nothing wrong with that, particularly in an emergency situation. Nobody gets in trouble. It's not against Canon Law. It's not invalid. It's not a sin. It's none of that. The Church is not looking to penalize people for having a desire to receive the Eucharist. Why are we having a three- year Eucharistic Revival? This is the goal. This is what we want. We want people to desire the Eucharist.”

LISTEN: My Priest Cut Off Confession. Am I Still Absolved? 

Father Dave points out that this kind of emergency situation that happened at Charles’ vigil Mass highlights the need for more education and awareness for parishioners because, in the future, these types of situations are only going to increase.

“So Charles,” Father Dave says, “I don’t know exactly what you did. It was not wrong to do it even if it was not by the protocol of the ‘Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest.’ Thanks for stepping up.”

Father Dave welcomes back theologian, Catholic speaker and author, and friend of the show Dr. Edward Sri to discuss his new book “What Do You Seek?: Encountering The Heart Of The Gospel.” 

Dr. Sri explains how the book emphasizes the good news of the Gospel and is designed to help us think about the mysteries of God’s love for us so that we can deepen our relationship with Christ.  

The book breaks down the Gospel into five parts which Dr. Sri calls (The 5 R’s): relationship, rebellion, reconciliation, recreation and response.

LISTEN: Feeling Stuck in Prayer? Dr. Edward Sri Shares Inspiration for Spiritual Dry Spells

“Relationship is really the fundamental building block of being a Catholic,” Father Dave says.  “Many Catholics today have this approach to their faith where they think, I know a lot of the facts and I do a lot of the pious practices. “I pray, I read the Bible, I listen to the Busted Halo Show.  These are all good things,” Dr. Sri responds. “But sometimes we can look at these things as checking off a bunch of boxes, right? And God doesn't want us to check off boxes, he wants our hearts, he wants us to trust him, he wants a relationship.” He continues, “Think about all that God has created — the universe, earth, millions of people — then he chose to create you. God didn’t have to bring you into existence.  God freely chose to bring you, not just humanity, but you personally into existence. Why? Because he wanted to delight in you and to share his love with you and to share his life with you. And that's the marvelous message of the Gospel.”

Father Dave moves onto the second part of the book, rebellion. “We have to be realistic about the fact that we, as humans, turn our backs on God's love a lot.”

Dr. Sri points out that we all realize that there is suffering, alienation, and great hardship in the world and that the secular world tends to project these problems outward, whereas Christians turn inward and acknowledge that we are part of the problem. “This is what the Church calls Original Sin, the idea that that humanity as a whole has sinned, and we each individually have joined in that and that's caused a wound in us. We have to admit, I'm not perfect. I have a lot of weaknesses and sins and that prepares me to experience the good news, the Gospel.”

LISTEN: Encountering Jesus in the Gospels With Professor William Mattison

Father Dave skips ahead to one of his favorite parts of the book, recreation. “God doesn’t just reconcile us,” Father Dave says, “God promises to make all things new.”

Dr. Sri responds: “As Pope Francis beautifully says, ‘God doesn't just pardon us like a judge. He heals us like a physician.’ That means Jesus wants to fill his Spirit in our hearts to change us. There's a beautiful analogy the early Christians use. If you take an iron rod and you put it in fire, it becomes red, it becomes hot and it takes on the characteristics of the fire. The early Christians describe that as what happens with our soul. Our soul is like that cold iron rod, but when it's inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, through the sacraments and prayer, then we begin to change, we begin to take on the properties of God Himself. We begin to love like him, to serve like him, to sacrifice, and to trust. We live in his peace. We are more forgiving. We love like Jesus loves, and that's what we want.”

Marie Miller is a folk/pop singer-songwriter and multi-faceted artist and speaker who weaves together music, humor, and storytelling to convey God’s love for us.  She stopped by the show to talk with Father Dave about her new EP, “The Way of Love.”  

Marie began making music as a teenager, and has enjoyed an almost-20-year career of radio, recording, and performing success, including opening up for The Backstreet Boys and the Wallflowers. She’s excited to be releasing her first Catholic album in a long time. “My heart just kept getting closer to Jesus,” Marie explains. “I want to talk about Jesus and who I love and what I love — the Lord, St. Thérèse of Lisieux — so the writing came very natural.”

RELATED: St. Thérèse of Lisieux: Inspiring Us to Share Our Faith Stories

Father Dave asks about the record being inspired by St. Thérèse of Lisieux.  

“She's the patroness of this album; she’s amazing“ Marie says. “The Way of Love,” which is the title track, is inspired by a quote of hers: ‘How sweet is the way of love.' St. Thérèse talks about how even in our brokenness, and even when we make mistakes, God uses even those mistakes to pave the way of love. So when I was considering creating a Catholic album, I thought I can't do this. Catholic artists and speakers — they're all super holy and perfect. How am I gonna do this? And reading that quote, to me was like, hey, even in your brokenness, God will use it; he will use everything he can on the way of love — and so she became the patroness and inspiration for this record.” 

Father Dave and Marie look back at some of the highlights of her career, including sharing a stage with Andrea Boccelli and in front of Pope Francis. “That was so special. I've been blessed to get to do some really cool things, but you know, you hunger for more. So you compare yourself to other artists and think, ‘Wait, why did she get that tour?’ Right? But St. Thérèse of Lisieux, she wasn't trying to be the star. She was trying to make Jesus the star. And I love that and that's why I'm trying to follow in her footsteps.” 

LISTEN: Andrea Bocelli on the Faith Influence Behind His Music

Father Dave asks if it is more challenging to have a humble connection with God when you get more accolades and fame. “I wonder. Jesus has not made me very famous,” Marie laughs.  

Father Dave points out that although Marie is not “very famous,” there is an intentionality to that — that fame is not necessarily her life’s desire or goal. Marie says that while she occasionally has thoughts about greater success, “God knows who needs to hear my music and there's kind of a freedom in that, because if you give your music to God and you work as hard as you can, he knows where it needs to go. It's not just about me all the time.”

A listener named Sara emails Father Dave a question of faith: “First of all, I have listened since 2006. I love you all. Now you may find this crazy but I have been thinking about becoming Catholic since then! I am concentrating on the Eucharist because I get completely overwhelmed by the rules. Is this a sin? I feel it keeps me from Jesus rather than closer. I am in RCIA (Rite of Catholic Initiation for Adults). I have a wonderful teacher. I probably would have come into the Church this past Easter but ran into an annulment problem.  So do you recommend me focusing on the Eucharist?”

Father Dave says that the teaching of the Church recommends that all Catholics focus on the Eucharist. “The Second Vatican Council, building on the teaching of 2000 years that came before that, referred to the Eucharist as the summit and source of our faith.” The summit is the peak of the mountain that we are all climbing towards, Father Dave explains, but it is also the source of our journey to the top of the mountain. “The Eucharist is not only the top of the mountain, it’s also the backpack filled with water and granola bars and what fuels us. It’s the summit and source.”

RELATED: Busted Halo’s Guide to the Eucharistic Revival

Father Dave acknowledges that there are a lot of “rules” to Catholicism that can seem overwhelming but makes the case that the rules are there because of the human condition and original sin. “It's not a defect of Christ himself or the Church. It's just that we're like Adam and Eve, we tend to choose the wrong thing just by design. And so those rules are there to help us keep on the straight and narrow so that we can be focused directly towards the summit and source of our faith — towards the Eucharist.”

Most of the rules, Father Dave adds, are about how we live with one another. “On the subway, you can’t have your boombox blaring. It's not because I don’t want that person to experience the music, it's because all the other people on the subway may not want to listen to the same thing. So that's what almost all rules in any walk of life for humans are about. And I would say that's the case with the Church as well, that most of the things in the Catechism, most of the things in Canon Law are about how we interact with one another.”

RELATED: A Beginner’s Guide to Eucharistic Adoration

Father Dave wonders if it is not necessarily all the rules that are overwhelming Sara from converting to Catholicism but just one or two rules that might be a sticking point for her. He encourages her to focus on the Eucharist, but also to lean on others that have converted that can be good sources of wisdom and information. 

“So yes, as someone coming into the Church, focus primarily on the Eucharist. But like many things I think you'll hear in the Catholic Church, It's not either or.  It's not either the Eucharist or all the rules. It's you focus on the Eucharist, but we need the rules too. It's what we call ‘both and.’ It's both of those.”

A listener named Julianne writes to Father Dave with a question of faith.  “I’m a mom of two very active children who love playing and watching sports. Recently at a basketball game, my 11-year-old son turned to me and asked whether booing was a sin. I thought it was a really insightful question that recognized that the opposing team players (and referees/umpires!) are people, and that this is just a game; the booing or jeering is part of the performance of the sport. Or is it? As much as we may not want a team to succeed, we don’t actually wish ill will on them. This question is more directed toward behavior at a professional sports game versus a youth sports game (where spectators usually cheer for both teams, or at least keep things positive – can’t speak for everyone here, but that’s what we do). Could you help clear this up for us please?”

Father Dave points out that if you were to say derogatory things or jeer or boo at someone you don’t know, that would be uncharitable and therefore sinful. “Jesus gives us the big bullseye and that is, ‘Love everyone. Pray for your enemies. Do good to those that hurt you,” Father Dave says, “but is there a difference between genuinely meaning ill will, and kind of being swept up in the game?”

LISTEN: Ernie Johnson Talks Sports and Faith

Father Dave talks about how he’s been to college and pro sports games and heard fans yell terrible things at the players.  What he heard was sinful, but he acknowledges that context makes a difference. “I think it's different how we frame it for an 11-year-old,” Father Dave says.  “I think it's an important formative time to be teaching kids about good sportsmanship and morality, and Julianne's doing something right because if her son’s asking the question, he's getting some good moral formation either in the home or at church or wherever.”  

Father Dave also suggests fans can be just as passionate cheering positively for their team without ever having to jeer at or boo the other team. 

“Maternity Leave Matt,” who is a father of three kids, says that when it comes to his 7-year-old’s soccer and softball teams, kids are encouraged to cheer for their own teams, but some light “ribbing” is OK as long as it is not mean spirited or an attack on any other player. 

RELATED: Pray for Us Complainers: Transforming Our Word From Protest to Praise

Father Dave talks about the distinction between hoping the other team loses so your team wins versus attacking another individual. “In the Church, we'd use the Latin term, ad hominem,” Father Dave says. “Ad hominem means towards the person…so I think we can maybe draw the same analogy back here into this arena for Julianne. If the other team scores, and we let out a sound of disappointment, and it's a boo, I would be reluctant to call that a sin, versus somebody yelling out something personal about another player.”

Friend of the show, Jesuit priest, author, and editor-at-large of America Media Father James Martin stopped by Father Dave’s radio studio to discuss his recent meeting with Pope Francis, what it was like being at the Vatican with a number of famous comedians, and more. 

On Friday June 14, Pope Francis met with a number of comedians from multiple countries including Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock, and Jim Gaffigan to name a few.  The meeting, according to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, was intended to “establish a link” between the Catholic Church and such artists and aimed to "celebrate the beauty of human diversity ... [and] promote a message of peace, love and solidarity." 

LISTEN: Catholic Comedian Judy McDonald on Humor in Difficult Times

Father James Martin is a consultor to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication and explains to Father Dave how he became involved.  “I knew about the comedians thing about two months before they met with the pope,” Father James says.  “It was organized very quickly.  They wanted to do it before the Synod in October. The Dicastery for Culture and Education put it together, and I helped them out with the U.S. comedians.”

Father Dave asks, “So they are over there in Rome and they think to themselves, who knows comedians over in the states? Boom, Father Jim Martin.” “Pretty Much!,” Father Jim replies.

Father Jim explains that the Dicastery for Culture and Education initially sent him a long list of over 50 comedians and humorists and asked him to narrow it down. “I talked to Stephen Colbert and Jim Gaffigan, who I know, and I said help me pick the people who are really kind of the most respected among your peers because we had to narrow it down, and then the Vatican approved it.”

Father Jim adds that there was no litmus test for the comedians who were picked.  They did not have to be Catholic; it didn’t matter if they had said negative things about Pope Francis or the Catholic Church.  It was more about the biggest names who are most respected in their field. 

RELATED: Misheard During Mass: Parents Shared 

Despite the gathering’s quick organization, Father Jim was very happy with how it all worked out. “One of the things that was very moving for me was everyone was really honored and happy to be there.  Comedians can be a little cynical sometimes, but they were really happy to be at the Vatican meeting with the Pope and were all quite moved.”

Father Jim also spoke with Father Dave about his one-on-one hour-long meeting with the pope while he was in Rome.  “We talked about two things which I can say. We talked about his comments about gay priests, which were very much in the news, and we talked about the U.S. Church.”  

Father Jim continues, “We had a very open and honest conversation about his comments about gay priests and one of the things I wanted to share was at the comedians meeting, everybody went up and shook his [Pope Francis’] hand and I went up to him, and I posted a video of this, and I said, thank you very much. And he pulls me back and he says, ‘Thank you for that conversation the other day. I really appreciated it.’ And I thought, now that's really unusual, like, thank you for a conversation that was difficult and challenging. He didn't have to say that. So I just think that's a sign of how open he is. He's learning. He listens.”

Father Dave welcomes author John Stansifer to the show to talk about Father Emil Kapaun, the most decorated chaplain in U.S. military history. John has written over 20 screenplays, specializing in biopics and historical true stories. He spent six years in the Kansas Army National Guard as a mortar gunner and served alongside Vietnam War veterans, whose stories further developed his interest in military history. His latest book is called “No Bullet Got Me Yet: The Relentless Faith of Father Kapaun.” 

“No Bullet Got Me Yet” is a collection of letters written by, to and about Emil Kapaun, a Catholic priest and army chaplain in the Korean War. Archived by the Father Kapaun Guild, the letters comprise the record of Kapaun's heroism in the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea in the summer of 1950, and the sacrificial service he provided fellow POWs after he was captured by Chinese troops in November. He died at POW Camp in 1951 and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in 2013.

RELATED: Spirituality and the Soldier

Father Kapaun, John explains, had been a priest for about a year when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, and joined the Chaplains Corp in the aftermath. He served as an auxiliary chaplain at a military airbase in the United States for two years, and after D-Day, June 6, 1944, decided he wanted to serve overseas alongside American soldiers. He was sent to the China-Burma-India Theater of the war in 1945. 

Father Dave asks, “What do you think, having investigated his life, was so compelling for him about serving in the military as a chaplain? Why was he so attracted to that?”

“He felt like he needed to protect his boys in a spiritual way,” John responds. “And he was aware of martyrs and proto-martyrs, and he had been training for the Church since age 7, so it was obvious where his life was going to lead.”

After World War II, Father Kapaun obtained a master’s degree in education at Catholic University before rejoining the military as a chaplain in 1948. He was eventually sent to Korea in 1950. “It was the rise of communism that spurred him on," John says, “He thought the Nazis were nothing. He thought that communism was going to be the bigger threat. Turns out he was correct.”

RELATED: Learning About Grace and Thanksgiving From a Veteran

John goes on to discuss Father Kapaun’s capture, heroics, and time in a Chinese POW camp in the winter of 1951 before his death. “The survivors that knew him,” Father Dave comments, “describe him as a joyful, faithful presence during those dark times.”  

“He never stopped.” John says. “He got up before dawn and scrounged for food — never for himself, it was only to share with other people.  He constantly offered prayers, helped other POWs with their wounds and sickness. He was tireless with it.”

Father Dave asks John about the title of the book, “No Bullet Got Me Yet.” 

“Father Kapaun was a frequent letter writer,” John says, “and in one of his last letters Father Kapaun actually wrote- ‘No bullet got me yet, although machine gunners sprayed us with bullets, but the prayers of our loved ones helped us escape.’ When I heard that phrase, ‘no bullet got me yet,’ I knew that was the title of the book — that represents to me a philosophy that you keep the faith until your enemy kills you, and you keep going until you achieve your goal.”

While Busted Halo Show producer Krista LePard is out on maternity leave, our temporary producer, “Maternity Leave Matt” has some questions of faith for Father Dave:

Matt asks, “When you became a priest, did you stop being Dave Dwyer and become [solely] Father Dave? Do your friends or family call you Father Dave or are you still Dave to some people?”

Father Dave first answers this question from a broader theological perspective. “The Sacrament of Holy Orders is for a deacon, a priest and a bishop; you'd have Holy Orders for all those three. We believe that, like the Sacrament of Baptism, it does make an indelible change.  So we would call it an ontological, meaning at the very essence of a human person, an ontological change, which cannot be undone or reversed.”

WATCH: Holy Orders in 2 Minutes

In other words, even if someone leaves the priesthood or if a layperson decides to leave the Catholic Church, the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the Sacrament of Baptism cannot be undone.  Father Dave adds, “The sacraments leave an indelible mark on the souls when we talk about Baptism and when we talk about Holy Orders; it’s an ontological change. So in some ways, yes, I ceased being the prior version of me and I'm now a different me.”

Father Dave is still, however, Dave to good friends and family members.  “In fact, my sister and my mother were really the only people in my adult life who called me David, because that's leftover from back when we were all much younger.”

Matt’s second question is, “What brought you to be a Paulist – and what’s the difference between Paulists, Jesuits, etc.?”

Father Dave responds, “The jargony word we would use in the Catholic Church is called “charism:” Each of the different orders have a slightly different way, mission, approach, origin story, and all that kind of stuff. In the same way that you might say, ‘What's the difference between all the superheroes?’ They all like fight crime and save the world, but they each get a little different origin story and a different uniform, and, you know, that kind of thing.”

RELATED: What Is a Charism? Understanding Our Holy Traditions

Father Dave gives a few examples of some of the different orders but reminds us that these are broad brush strokes.  Franciscans are living out the vow of poverty, Dominicans are the Order of Preachers and tend to be fairly academic and intellectual, and Jesuits usually work in universities and tend to also hold other roles, like professors, physicists, or astronomers, in addition to priesthood.   

The Paulist Fathers are missionaries who take a vow of stability, meaning they're going to stay in one place and stay connected and rooted there. Father Dave was drawn to the Paulists because of their reputation of working in media.  He’d been working in television and radio and wanted to continue doing that when he became a priest. 

Father Dave reiterates, “The charisms are really different ways in which people can serve the Church; different ways in which people can live out their Catholic faith. In the same way that Catholics who have not joined a religious community might prefer parish A over parish B, because parish A has a lot going on with social justice and serving the poor and parish B has a great music ministry and a Latin Mass – there are always going to be different things that are under the big tent of Catholicism that will connect or be more attractive to someone, whether you're talking about just a Catholic in the pews, or someone that's living out there life.”

At the start of a recent homily, Father Dave addresses two things from the Gospel of St. Mark that Catholics and non-Catholics alike often have questions about.  

In the Gospel of St. Mark and in a few other places, we hear about Jesus’ brothers and sisters. Father Dave explains that those who translated Gospel texts from the original languages wanted to keep  faithful to the language. In the culture of Jesus' time, immediate and extended family were considered almost the same, to the degree that they would actually use the same word for “brothers” and “cousins” – two family members that we would have distinct names for in today’s culture.  

RELATED: Learning About Sacrifice, With the Help of St. Mark

The Greek term Adelphos used The by St. Mark in his Gospel is an ambiguous word that could mean either brother or cousin. This passage could actually say that Jesus had blood brothers and sisters, or it could refer to cousins or more distant relatives, common parlance in Near East family descriptions. 

“So we're left with a big shrug, right?” Father Dave says. “Which is why many of our Christian brothers and sisters would adhere to the fact that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth, but not necessarily after that, whereas we, from our sacred Tradition, have always believed and always taught that Mary is blessed Mary ever virgin, and that she did not give birth to any more children. So for us, our faith always comes with a balance of Scripture and Tradition. And tradition isn't simply, well, we've always thought that so I guess it must be right. It is, we believe, Holy Spirit- inspired sacred Tradition, in a similar way, that the Scriptures are inspired.  So for us, if we take those two together, we know that we must be talking about cousins, and not literal brothers and sisters here.”

The second question Father Dave answers comes from the Gospel of St. Mark when Jesus refers to the ‘Unforgivable Sin.’’  He begins with Jesus’ own words, “All sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness.”  

LISTEN: Are Any Sins 'Unforgivable’?

“What does that mean?” Father Dave asks.

Father Dave notes that St. Pope John Paul II’s encyclical about the Holy Spirit specifically addresses this concept.

“Scholars and official Church teachings have been unable to really pinpoint exactly what Jesus means by that. St. Pope John Paul II said that it really emanates from God's gift of free will –that God desires that all be saved and offers forgiveness. But he doesn't ever force it down our throats. So in that sense, John Paul II defined this ‘blaspheming the Holy Spirit’ as a complete, utter rejection of God with our own free will. So it's not that God can't, but that God won't force it on us.” 

Father Dave goes on, “So is there an unforgivable sin? Is there some secret list somewhere, like the secret menu at a fast food place? No. There's not something that you can utter by mistake or even intentionally that will cast you away from God if you seek God's forgiveness, which is what we're encouraged to do all the time. There's also not one particular thing you or I could ever do, that God wouldn't forgive if we asked.”

Eric Groth, president of ODB Films and executive producer of “Wildcat” stops by the show to talk about the film about the late Catholic author Flannery O’Connor. ODB Films is an award-winning not-for-profit Catholic film company whose mission is to foster an encounter with Christ through artfully made, spiritually rich films.  Their newest movie, “Wildcat” was written and directed by Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke and details O’Connor’s struggle to publish her first novel. 

Flannery O’Connor was a devout Catholic living in the Jim Crow Era south in the 50s and 60s.  When she was 23 years old, she began writing, hoping to leave her home in Georgia and see the world. At age 25, she was diagnosed with Lupus. Over the next 14 years O’Connor wrote “A Prayer Journal,” more than 30 short stories and two novels. 

Eric explains why he believes her writing was so important.  “She was addressing a very contentious, racist south.  As a Catholic, she was really calling out a lot of Protestant brothers and sisters -- she was calling out the church that would be worshiping Jesus on Sunday and wearing the Ku Klux Klan hoods on Monday, and the culture of white supremacy that was masked as Christian ethics.”  

“She wrote a lot about grace and her stories were tough, because we want heroes in stories and in her stories, [we wonder] ‘Who's the protagonist? Who's the antagonist?’” Eric continues. “But she showed how God delivers grace, however God wants to deliver grace, and we as humans often resist grace because it can be painful.”

Father Dave and Eric discuss the origins of this movie and how it began 10 years ago with Ethan’s daughter, Maya Hawke.  “This really started with her,” Eric says. “She was 15 and going to Catholic school in New York and she read Flannery’s “A Prayer Journal” and fell in love with this woman.” Maya would later go on to ask her dad to write and direct a movie about O’Connor that she could star in.  Eric and ODB films were eventually approached for financing and a producing partnership.  Eric tells Father Dave what attracted him to the film: “I love my Catholic Faith. I Love our stories and telling great stories and she [O’Connor] was a bit of a mystery.”

“This film was super special for a lot of reasons,” Eric says. “Flannery was a devout Catholic, so we could bring the beauty of the Catholic faith naturally and organically in telling the story without ever having to force it in any way.”