Friends of the Bridegroom
Father Ben Little from Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church and School in Savage, Minnesota, wants to help you deepen your friendship with Jesus Christ. This Catholic podcast will explore ways to become friends with Jesus, help others embrace Jesus as their friend, and how friendship with Jesus can help us achieve eternal salvation.
Friends of the Bridegroom
Season 4 Preview: Prayer, Community, and Living Faith in Daily Life
Friends of the Bridegroom returns with a preview of a new season that adds new voices while continuing the podcast's mission to deepen friendship with Christ through meaningful conversations and lived experiences.
- Welcome to the on-ramp for season four, following the transitions of Father Ben to the Saint Paul Seminary and Brenda to Iowa
- Meet Tom McGovern, our volunteer video producer who shares his faith journey and spiritual role models
- Season four will focus on prayer as a central theme, exploring its connection to reclaiming Sunday for God
- New voices will share personal stories of faith
- The podcast will include voices from Saint John the Baptist Catholic School, showcasing Catholic education and practical faith applications
- Father Bobby, our new pastor, will continue to make regular appearances
- Open invitation for listeners to participate, especially seeking a regular female host
If you'd like to get involved with Friends of the Bridegroom or share your story, please contact Adrian Sanchez.
If you enjoy the Friends of the Bridegroom podcast, be sure to leave a 5-star rating and a short review telling us what you enjoyed! Blessings to you!
Hello, hello and welcome to Friends of the Bridegroom, a podcast of St John the Baptist Catholic Church and School in Savage, minnesota. My name is Adrian Sanchez, I am the Director of Marketing and Communications here and I would love to welcome you to the on-ramp for Season 4 of Friends of the Bridegroom. I know we left season three at an abrupt end. Father Ben has transferred to his new assignment at the St Paul Seminary and Brenda moved closer to her family in Iowa and there were just a lot of moving pieces to kind of that end of the season and so we just kind of let things hang there.
Speaker 1:But we are planning for a season four and this is kind of a preseason show just to kind of paint the picture of what we've got in the pipeline for season four. And something that I'm super excited to do is welcome and introduce Mr Tom McGovern, who is our video producer extraordinaire, who is helping us out, asa volunteer and he has definitely helped us with the production of Friends of the Bridegroom and the workflow and just it's been awesome to have somebody to bounce some ideas off, especially as Father Ben and Brenda have gone their separate ways. Welcome to the podcast, tom. I know we've mentioned you a couple of times, but we never brought you on this side of the camera or the mic.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you. I was very glad to be on the other side of the camera, but reluctantly, I mean, we lost kind of the bulk of our cast. So I'm happy to step in when needed, behind or in front of the camera.
Speaker 1:So, as we are going to be exploring, you know, the friendship with Christ in our time vision here at St John's, I think it's like really important, like what? What does the community need to know about Tom McGovern?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know if they need to know anything, but uh, no, uh, I mean. Uh, I mean I was raised Catholic uh, grew up uh, in uh the parish of St Stephen's, up in Anoka. I kind of got into religion, actually at least the faith, much later in life, probably more high school and college age. I kind of again take more of a stronger interest in it and so I have kept that a lot. That's been a big part of my life since then, but mostly kind of a personal thing, rather than you know, something to really live. I loved going to mass and I contributed as an usher, things like that, but didn't really, you know, outside of just making sure that I was making the holy days of obligation, you know.
Speaker 2:But then I got married and we moved down to Burnsville and I started coming to St John's and I really started wanting to take more of an active role in the parish and so my professional background started in various television roles and video production and still work in communications and that's, I hesitate to say, specialty, that's what I do, but I, you know, I saw that there was a volunteer opportunity. Well, I'll go back. While wanting to take a more active role, I started coming to a small group doing hospice volunteering, things like that, but then I saw Adrian here had posted an ad in the bulletin asking for people with AV experience to come and volunteer, and so I thought well, that seems to be a pretty clear indication of what God wants me to do. So here I am, and Adrian put me to work right away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm so grateful that you answered that invitation. I've In previous roles it's something that I've done and I never know what I'm going to get or who I'm going to get to answer that general invitation and for me it's just like really amazing to see God at work in the people of the community and to see him stir up in the people that he's brought here to give of their gifts which I could never imagine. You know having these kinds of skills, which I could never imagine you know having these kinds of skills. But you know the Lord, as they say, as we say, the Lord provides. And so, yeah, you've been a huge gift to what we've been doing here at St John's and so I'm very grateful that you're a small, small part, teeny, teeny tiny, just assistant.
Speaker 2:Also a perspective, I suppose.
Speaker 1:small part, teeny, teeny tiny, I'm just assistant, perspective, I suppose but I'm happy to you know, play any part that you need me to do. So, thank you, thank you. So, um, I think another, I think another interesting aspect of our friendship with christ is maybe, like, um, the role models that we've had that have kind of introduced us to who Christ is and you know the life that he has in store for us. So either people that are in your life that you know have been those role models, or even spiritual role models, do you have any like patrons or um, people that you you just find very, uh, open and admirable in terms of their life of faith?
Speaker 2:Oh well, yeah, there have been, have been, you know, quite a few role models for me, both personally and just in personal patrons and things like that. Of course you have your parents, who you know they raised me in the faith, even if I didn't always listen at first, you know, raised me in the faith even if I didn't always listen at first, you know. And then, of course, I think, personal patrons would be. I think I have quite a few, actually quite a few, interested in various saints, like I was always very fascinated with St Thomas More and I think that was, of course, being a movie buff, loving a man for all seasons. So that was a great personal inspiration.
Speaker 2:Some of Pope Benedict XVI's writings, particularly he wrote the yes of Jesus Christ, was a very big influence on me. And but I mean, it's funny because it's like how do you just pick just one? Because everyone kind of represents something different, whether that's somebody like St Benedict, who lived this quiet, humble kind of cloistered life, but very strong leadership. But then you know somebody who is more of an activist and out in the world and doing great things, like, you know, francis of Assisi, or someone along those lines. So you know, there's a lot of little personal ones that you just pick up and I think I really like finding new spiritual readings. I just read the autobiography of a hunted priest by Father John Gerard about the English persecutions, highly recommend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, yeah, nice, yeah, no, I I totally get what you mean about these little little friendships, that kind of come and go, and we have seasons with certain saints. Exactly, Um, thomas Moore, I would, I would consider a close spiritual friend, um, especially since that was the last parish that I worked in, getting to know him and, yeah, the you know his, his stalwart like stance for the faith in the midst of such like oppression from from the top, you know, as it was seen in England. So, yeah, it's, I love just, you know, getting to know those men and women who have heroically lived the faith, and just opening myself up to those friendships. It's really cool, it's like one of those really unspoken, hidden aspects of the faith life, I think.
Speaker 2:Yep, and there are so many different ways. It lets you see the myriad ways that people can reflect the glory of Christ, whether that's in small ways or big ways, or changing the world, or even just small acts of piety that add up to this great interior, holiness. I mean, it's just finding ways that you personally have, uh, that you can use to serve Christ, and I, I mean, I hope I've done that in my again small, small, teeny, tiny way of just uh offering what skills I have to uh my parish here yeah, well, I think that's a great segue into kind of the vision that we have for season four.
Speaker 1:Um, we, you know, we we've we've been watching how the various episodes have performed over the past couple of years and we're very grateful for everyone listening to friends of the bridegroom.
Speaker 1:It's an honor to get to continue this legacy that Sarah and Father Ben and Brenda have built up, and something that I think they were planting the seeds for is revealing that, in real time journey of faith, those small acts of piety, those small gifts of self that people have given.
Speaker 1:You know right now, you know the saints that we revere in the faith they were living day to day, um, with very real experiences, and I'm I'm confident that that we have that same reality at work even in 2025 and beyond, even in 2025 and beyond. And so for season four, we're wanting to bring new voices into Friends of the Bridegroom to share their story, much like Spencer and Heidi did last season, which was one of our best received episodes, and so we'd really want to expand on that. And, in particular, we also want to incorporate the school. We talk a lot about how the school is the biggest ministry of St John the Baptist Parish and share the good news about what Catholic education offers, but also just the real-world experiences of what it's like to see and learn these very practical and real principles, but through a Catholic lens, which is something that I think the world is starving for right about now.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, I would completely agree and I think, at least when it comes to a lot of Catholic media, which I absolutely love, I love theological discussions and really getting down into kind of the you know whether it's Thomism or you know getting into various you know defenses or thoughts of theology, augustinian spirituality, but and I think for a lot of people, that kind of you know high level theological discussion, you know some people are like well, what do I bring into my life? You know it's like well, how do I live? That it's something the small group I'm a part of here. It's called Reason for Believing. You can join us every other Thursday sometimes if you want.
Speaker 2:But it's talking about theology and I remember one of our members she said like, oh, this all seems so like kind of high level and I'm like who am I to study these things? And it's like, well, it's all too—it's good to learn that. But it's also bringing that into your daily life, even if it's just in small ways, that lived experience. And I think, talking to people who have some sort of real-world examples or stories or things, I think that's like you said, people are starving for that. Because you talk about religious mentors, it's like it's easy to follow an example, rather than here's just the instructions. Now figure out how to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and I think, I think this year in particular is is going to be the best opportunity for us to make these, these theological realities, take root in our lives, especially with Archbishop's invitation to reclaim Sunday for God. The Archdiocese of St Paul in Minneapolis is going to be exploring how can we make the Lord's day truly the Lord's day and and through that experience, I'm confident and I think Archbishop Hebda is very confident that that we're going to come to know Christ and God, our father, in in new and profound ways that may lead us to these deep theological conversations. But, more than anything, they're going to make saints Exactly. Um, so every month, we're going to be looking at a different theme. Um, the common thread in each of those themes is going to be prayer. Um, so we're going to have a conversation about prayer and beauty. Uh, prayer and elevated conversation, prayer and low technology Sundays or no screen Sundays, and, yeah, we're going to see how that has practical applications in our lives and how that makes room for God and everything. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:And Father Bobby is here, as you know, he's our new pastor here at St John's. He's our new pastor here at St John's, and so he is going to be still coming on the podcast not quite as frequently as Father Ben was, only for the sake of his getting acclimated to the life and rhythm of St John's. We're going to give him some breathing room, but he is going to have a regular appearance here on Friends of the Bridegroom. But, like I said, we're looking at bringing other people into the conversation. We're going to be looking at talking to families, much like Spencer and Heidi. You're going to get to meet some of the staff here from St John's and their passions and hear their story of how they've come to have hearts on fire for the Lord and, like I said, we're going to just unpack those practices that make Christ the center of our life.
Speaker 1:So, to make this season a reality, I wanted to make that ask again, like I did in the bulletin and the e-news that Tom so graciously answered. I wanted to make the invitation for anyone who loves this podcast and would like to be a part of this experience to get in contact with me. Tom, I'm sure you'll put my email address or phone number. Here it is it's coming up now.
Speaker 1:To get in touch with me, um, and let's talk about how you can get involved. Um, I think a dream of ours is to have um, a female voice, regularly hosting um friends of the bridegroom, much like sarah and brenda did over the last couple of years, just to get that balanced perspective. And then we're also looking for help in terms of producing this podcast, so helping us get in contact with people who would like to, you know, come on board and maybe develop things, like, you know, live shows that we can do at Community Fest or other major events here at St John's. So, yes, so this is my open invitation to the good people who are listening to Friends of the Bridegroom we would love to incorporate you and your passion for this medium and this channel, and I'm hoping we can create something that's new and honors the good legacy of those who have helped establish this. And, yeah, I'm excited to see where this season takes us Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I think prayer is a very good theme to build on. Not only is it something that we as Catholics universally experience, but living St Paul's command to pray without ceasing. That's where the friendship really grows, where you have that close personal friendship. I mean it's like it's hard to have a relationship with someone you never talk to or spend time with.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that's another excellent segue.
Speaker 1:Let's close out this preseason episode praying the prayer that Father Ben wrote as we approach the start, the official start, of season four.
Speaker 1:Friends of the Bridegroom, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, oh Jesus, bridegroom of the Church, your forerunner, st John the Baptist, rejoice to be near you as your friend and to hear your voice Draw us, like our holy patron, into deep friendship with you and with each other, especially in these dark and confusing times, for it is only in such friendship that we will be able to persevere in faith, hope and love.
Speaker 1:May we, like John, ever notice the gentle approach of your most holy Mother Mary as she bears you into our company and, having received you, our divine friend, from the faith of Mary's fiat, from the testimony of John's blood and in the most holy Eucharist, stir up in us the courage and conviction to say to a hungry world behold the Lamb of God, amen, amen, in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen, amen. All right, st John's, we look forward to seeing you in this channel and make sure that you share this with those that you feel may benefit from that, this conversation, and we're praying for you.
Speaker 2:Hello, this is Archbishop Bernard Emta. Thank you for listening to the Friends of the Bridegroom podcast.
