Starting now.
Commonalities where guests find
common ground through uncommon
conversations, politics,
religion, finances,
all the topics your grandmother told
you not to discuss with friends.
And now your host, Matthew Dowling,
and today's guests on commonalities.
Well, thanks for joining us
today on commonalities. I'm
your host, Matt Dowling,
and I have a, uh, great guest
for you today. We always, uh,
have the tagline on the show saying
that we talk about politics, religion,
and finances,
all the things your grandmother told
you not to talk about with friends.
And my grandmother as a young adult, uh,
used to caution me when I would start
a political conversation with friends,
uh, not to talk about any
of those three subjects.
Today's subject is going to be religion,
and I have a guest that is, uh,
joining us telephonically today
that many of you from Uniontown,
or especially from Connorsville,
may know from her recent work, uh,
although she's working, uh, a little
further out now. Mary Samy and Mary,
are you there on the line?
I'm here, Matt.
Hey, Mary, thank you so much for joining
me. Just to kind of preface things,
Mary and I, uh, friendship goes
back about 30 years as kids.
We grew up <laugh>, uh, on the same, uh,
two streets that were front and back
with an alley in between. And, uh,
we rode bicycles up and down that short
alley, many, many a times. Yeah. So,
Mary, why don't you, uh,
why don't you give us a little bit
of a self introduction. Tell us, uh,
what you do and who
you currently work for.
Sure. First of all, thank you
so much for having me, Matt.
Those were great times
in that neighborhood,
and I often look back fondly
on them. Um, so many kids that,
you know, had so much fun with.
So those were great times,
great memories. Uh, but
my name is Mary Samy.
Currently I'm the youth and
young adult minister at Christ,
the Divine Shepherd for
the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
And those parishes are located
in Monroeville and Penn Hills.
But I am new to the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
I am homegrown Uniontown
girl, as Matt said,
and I grew up in Uniontown.
I went to St. John,
the Evangelist Regional Catholic School,
and I grew up as a Catholic.
I've been Catholic my whole life since
I was three weeks old and baptized
<laugh> at St. Anne's in Ross Traver.
And I went to school for Catholic
Theology and Religious Education.
And I also went to Franciscan to get
my master's in Catholic theology.
And I've been in full-time ministry,
and that's been everything from pastoral
ministry to Director of Faith Formation
Evangelization,
and currently youth and young adult
minister for the last 13 years.
So, Mary,
one of the reasons I wanted to have you
on is because I was was very excited to
read on Facebook and on
social media that you will be,
uh,
co-hosting a new podcast that's
gonna be starting here very
soon. Um, why don't you tell us a
little bit about that project and, uh,
and what people can expect if
the, uh, decide to tune in.
And also where can they
they find this new podcast?
Absolutely. So this is something that
I've been wanting to do for a while.
I talk about my faith
a lot on social media.
I think that it's really
important for people to,
not only Catholics but Christians,
people of faith to realize that
there are every single day people who
struggle, who thin, who need God.
And just because I work for the church
doesn't mean that I need God any less
<laugh>.
So a lot of times I feel like I am
almost that voice for those on the
outside, um, that they can
reach out to. A lot of times,
especially in the Catholic faith,
sometimes people feel uncomfortable
reaching out to a priest at first.
And so I try to be that
listening ear for people.
So I've been talking about religion
for a long time in the public sphere,
and I'm not afraid to talk
about it. People know that
I'm a woman of deep faith,
and thankfully, most
people respect that fact.
And you can believe that
if I walk into a room,
we're probably going to talk about
religion <laugh> at some point in that
conversation. If I'm meeting you,
and I've been wanting to do
a podcast for a long time,
but I thought it was really important
to have the perspective as well,
not only as a layperson in the
church, but from our priests as well.
So, um, there's a
perspective for everyone.
There's a perspective on what the
Catholic Church says, teaches,
believes as the apostolic authority
of the church through our priests,
but also as a perspective of a
layperson as someone who's married has
kids, who is a woman in the
Catholic church in leadership.
So it's going to be, we're gonna be
talking about all the Catholic things,
but also about Christianity in
general and what we are called to as
Christians,
particularly who we are called
to be as missionary disciples,
and what we are supposed to be doing
in the culture that we live in,
in order to effectively be the
disciples that were made to be.
And your new podcast, if I'm correct,
is titled From Sheep to Shepherd.
And, uh, yes. And I think some
of the, the items that, uh,
that you just mentioned, uh,
make that a, a, a great, uh,
a great theme or a great title for your
podcast. Now, in the first episode,
you're gonna be talking, uh,
about the woman at the well
mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, uh,
sharing some of your, as you said, some
of your personal faith journey as well.
Why don't you give us a
little glimpse into, uh,
what you'll be talking about or what you
talk about with the woman at the well?
Sure.
Sure. So the first podcast is going
to be on Monday, March the sixth,
with which also happens to be my
birthday. So I was really excited.
I was going to get to share my
personal faith story that day.
It's going to be live on
Facebook, on the Christ,
the Divine Shepherd Facebook
page, and on our YouTube channel,
and it will also be available on Spotify.
And so that first episode, we, I wanted
to entitle it the woman at the well,
because I used to write a lot of articles,
and I usually would call
myself the woman at the well.
And if you're familiar with that
story, which I know you are, Matt,
the woman at the Wells,
a story of a woman who did
not have God in her life.
She had been living in
a way that was not, um,
according to God's law. And
in this moment or in her life,
she meets Jesus. And
she's a Samaritan woman,
which means she is supposedly an,
an enemy of the Jewish culture.
So Jesus should not have been
conversing with her at all. Number one,
men would not usually converse with
women one-on-one, that was a no-no,
unless you were married.
And he also meets this woman
who is his enemy at this well,
and he meets her where she
is. He doesn't judge her.
He, and he seeks her out.
And through this conversation,
she comes to realize that this
Jesus is someone who can give her
every single thing that
she's always wanted.
And I relate to that so much
because growing up in the church,
I went to church just like you,
Matt. I was involved in youth group.
We would go every Sunday there.
It was a non-negotiable <laugh>.
And I knew a lot about the
faith because I went to
Catholic school,
but I didn't necessarily
have relationship with Jesus.
And I didn't realize that Jesus wanted
to have a love relationship with me,
and I didn't even think Jesus would
want to have a relationship with me,
or why would he care, um,
with some of these things that I dealt
with. And, you know, as a young person,
we all struggle. We all go through
things. And I was that young person.
I was the typical college kid who
liked to have fun, liked to party,
liked to get into things,
and I was not happy.
And in this brokenness and
in this sinful sinfulness,
thankfully, I had an
encounter with Christ,
with the Jesus that basically
said like, I love you,
regardless of what's
going on unconditionally.
And because of that encounter,
I was able to live my life
for him in a way that I
think hopefully would be pleasing to
him, or at least I try to every day.
Obviously, we all struggle with that
and, and need him constantly. Um,
but it was that encounter at the well
where he just met me wherever I was and
just said, I love you. Aren't you
exhausted of living this way? Like,
let me be that living water for
your life and give you that joy
everlasting. So that's what it's gonna
be about. It's gonna be about, um,
encounter with Jesus.
And, uh, people can look
for that March 6th, 2023.
That'll be live at 10:00
AM again on the Christ,
the Divine Shepherd Parish Facebook
page and YouTube channel. Mary,
uh, I do have more questions for you,
but we have to get our first
break in today. So, uh,
we will pause to recognize our
sponsors and we'll be right back.
You are listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon conversations.
We'll be back after this brief
break to recognize our sponsors.
When it comes to buying a home,
what you see isn't exactly what you get.
That's why home buyers should
call Dave Dowling at Grandview
Inspections at 7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
You'll see colorful flowers,
freshly painted walls,
granite countertops, gleaming
hardwood floors, and other touches.
What you can't see is the
cracks, ancient plumbing,
dangerous wiring,
or broken appliances that might
be revealed when you hire a home
inspector. And when it
comes to home inspectors,
knowing yours has the qualifications
and experience needed,
should be your number one concern.
Dave Dowling with Grand View
Inspections is an architectural engineer
with over 30 years of commercial
construction experience and hundreds of
inspections under his belt.
A home inspection is an opportunity
for you to hire an expert to
walk through the home and prepare
a report outlining the home's major
components.
What needs immediate attention and
what will require maintenance after you
move in your home is one of
your biggest investments.
So make sure your investment is
everything you hoped it to be.
Call Dave Dowling at
Grandview Inspections at
7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
Is your business using analog
strategies in a digital marketing world?
If so,
then contact Matthew or Rebecca
Dowling at Coordinated 360 for a
professional consultation where we
bring in-depth knowledge and functional
expertise with a holistic perspective.
Coordinated 360 provides
digital marketing, paid ad
and media buying services,
web design, social media management,
video production, and more for businesses,
organizations, and political
campaigns with decades of experience.
Matt and Becky at Coordinated 360 can
help you craft your unique message
and share it with the world.
For a no-risk media evaluation
and recommendations,
call 7 2 4 3 2 0 22 12,
or visit us online at
www.coordinatedthreesixty.com.
Find us also on Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter,
or email info coordinated three sixty.com.
Hello, Uniontown Mayor, bill Gerkey. Here.
There's nothing quite like the feeling
of home, that sense of belonging,
those fall Friday nights under the
lights, those winter nights in the gym,
watching our red Raiders, those refreshing
spring afternoons at Bailey Park,
rooting on our Red Raider,
softball and baseball teams.
I am grateful for those memories and
hope our community's children and
grandchildren can enjoy those
memories too. But to do that,
we have to plan for the future.
During my first term in office,
the city has got Bailey Park back
to a place where we can be proud of.
Begun our city's first
comprehensive plan in over 20 years.
Started work on the city
section of the Sheep Skin Trail,
worked on eliminating blighted
properties and are rebuilding the city's
neighborhoods. We've updated the faulty
equipment in the parking garages,
and we're bringing a more
competitive, reliable, faster,
and less expensive internet
service to our city residents.
We have done a lot, but there's
still more to do. So I Bill Gerkey.
I'm running for a second term. We're
Uniontown proud, we're Uniontown strong,
and together we can continue to rebuild
Uniontown for the next generation.
Paid.
For by Mayor Bill Gerkey.
Are you enjoying the program?
You're listening to support commonalities
and help keep us on the air by making
a donation of five, 10 or $25,
or any amount you feel comfortable sharing
[email protected]
Again, that is donate.commonalities.online
on the worldwide web.
Buy our host a cup of coffee or help pay
for airtime at donate dot commonalities
online.
I'm Melinda de LaRose. As an
Assistant District attorney,
I've protected Fayette County families
and fought to uphold our constitutional
rights. As a prosecutor
entrusted local attorney,
I've provided victims of crime with a
strong voice and put criminals behind
bars. My pledge to you as
judge is to follow the law,
always maintain the
highest ethical standards,
and to run a courtroom that's
respectful of your time and tax dollars.
I'm Melinda de LaRose asking
for your vote for Judge.
Paid for by Friends of Melinda de LaRose.
You're listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon Conversations.
Well, thank you for sticking with
us. I'm your host Matt Dowling,
and my guest today is Mary
Samy. We're talking, uh,
a little bit about religion as
well as her new podcast that is
going to be starting on,
uh, the 6th of March,
uh, where she will be,
uh, co-hosting with, uh,
with the priest from the
Christ, the Divine Shepherd, uh,
parish in the Diocese of
Pittsburgh. And, uh, Mary,
before we get too far into, um,
into anything else about, uh,
our faith backgrounds or our
religion or your podcast,
I want to take a moment to, uh, invite
you and your family out to an event,
um, that my wife Rebecca and
I are putting on. And, uh,
it is the the first annual
Union town Pierogi party. Um,
and, uh, it's gonna be
a lot of fun. Uh, it's,
we just put out a press
release yesterday that, uh,
that we're going to be
doing this on Saturday,
March 25th from 11:00 AM
to 6:00 PM In addition to
inviting your family, we invite
the community as well. Uh,
we will be at the Uniontown Senior
Center that's on North Beon Avenue in
Uniontown,
making Pierogis to feed
200 local senior citizens.
Uh, over the,
that week following that are at the
Community Action Senior Centers in
Fair Chance Bull Skin, the Mountain
Area, and Uniontown. We did this,
uh, back, uh, my wife and I, uh, with
my parents and one other couple, couple.
We did this during the
vaccination stage of the pandemic,
and we fed some of the, uh,
the healthcare workers that were
vol volunteering their time. Uh,
at that point in time, I think we
made a 23 dozen or so pierogis.
But this time around,
our goal is to produce a
thousand pierogis in six hours,
and we hope to have Wow.
At least 30 volunteers.
So if you and your kids or your
husband, if you're, if you're available,
please join us for that.
And, uh, the general public,
if you want some more information
about that, you can visit, uh,
http uh slash slash polish
dot matthew d dowling.com
or just visit my site,
matthew d dowling.com. So
Mary, I, I wanted love,
wanted to, uh,
wanted to get back to talking
a little bit about our faith
backgrounds and, uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
you know, you, you mentioned that,
uh, that you were a student at Franciscan
University for your masters. Uh,
while we weren't there together, uh,
I was a theology and philosophy
major at Franciscan University,
uh, during my undergrad, so
mm-hmm. <affirmative>, so
I know the place well. Uh,
you and I both grew up, uh, Catholic.
We are, we're, yeah. You know,
what would we would refer to as
cradle Catholics? Yeah. Um, so we,
we don't know, uh, really
anything else. Although, you know,
over my years I've had, uh,
exposure to other faith backgrounds and
mm-hmm. <affirmative> And have enjoyed,
uh, worshiping and celebrating with,
uh, people who are United, Methodist,
and Baptist mm-hmm. <affirmative> and
so forth. What I wanted to, you know,
give you a chance to kind of expand
upon is, you know, how can we,
as Catholics, and in
southwestern Pennsylvania,
especially if you eat Pierogis on Friday,
you're probably Catholic <laugh>. Um,
you know, you,
you can't throw a stone without hitting
a Catholic in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Uh, not, not that you'd wanna do
that, but, uh, but that being said,
you know,
how are Catholics called
to interface with our
brothers and sisters in Christ who
are of other denominations? And Yeah.
And, you know, how do we go
about, you know, as, as Catholics,
I think sometimes we throw this
immediate shield up, uh, yeah. To say,
you know, we're right and, and,
you know mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
we wanna be defensive about, um, you know,
the accusations that are
sometimes made that, you know,
we have statues in our churches, or we
worship Mary, or things of that nature.
Yeah. So, what's your advice
to, to a Catholic who, uh,
you know, may have friends of other
denominations mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
how can we still share our
common faith, uh, yeah.
With them?
Great question. I'm so glad you wanna
talk about this, because, you know,
number one, we live in a world that
is very anti-Christian in general,
<laugh> in our culture. And so, to me,
the fact that Christians are
spending any amount of time
arguing with each other is
such a colossal waste of time,
because we need to be united
<laugh> like never before <laugh>.
Um, there's just, there's
no time to lose, you know,
we should be spending time
concentrating on the things that
unite us. And there are misconceptions
on both sides. You know,
I'm not gonna say that I haven't
heard Catholics, you know,
say things like they're gonna pray for
people that aren't Catholic, because,
you know,
they're of that generation where they
truly believe if you are not Catholic,
you are not gonna be in heaven.
Which is not what the catechism
of the Catholic Church says,
but that's kind of what
they grew up to believe.
And then on the other side,
you have misconceptions in the Protestant
church of them saying that we're not
really Christian, or that we believe
that we have to work our way into heaven.
And something that really helped me
was actually when I started dating my
husband, who grew up in the Protestant
faith, and as a cradle Catholic,
I had never really been exposed to any
other form of worship outside of mass.
So he took me to my first service,
Christian service at the church
that he had been going to.
And I got to meet a lot of
people that were Christian, um,
in non-denominational church. And
they knew that I was Catholic.
And thankfully they
realized through my witness,
through my life, that I did in fact
believe that Jesus Christ died for me,
that he rose again, and that
he's my savior, and that I want,
I have a relationship with him. And
because of that, it really, bro,
started breaking down a lot of
those walls. So what I would say is,
you know, don't not
have that conversation,
because a lot of times we just don't
wanna talk about it because it can be
awkward. We should be concentrating
on the things that unite us,
not the things that separate us.
So, for a long time in my marriage,
for the first 10 years, my husband
and I concentrated on the fact that,
number one, we believe in God,
we believe in Jesus Christ,
and we believe in the Holy Spirit, and
we believe in the power of the church,
and that we wanna follow Christ,
those other things that separate us. Yes,
they do divide us in certain ways.
I don't want to minimize that fact.
However, once you have a solid
foundation, you know that you're,
you're both we're playing on the same
side. We are on the same team. <laugh>,
how can we work together?
And how can we get to understand
each other a little bit more,
the more my husband
experienced the Catholic
church and realize that, no,
we do not worship Mary. We do not wor,
you know, we have statues in our home.
He asked me one time, why do you pray
to Mary when you have Jesus? And I said,
well, you ask me to pray for you
all the time. And he said, well,
of course I do. I said, well, Mary
is a lot closer to Jesus than I am.
So it's the exact same thing.
I'm asking her to pray for me.
I don't think she can do anything
on her own, <laugh> her power. Um,
she doesn't have any power
outside of Christ. So, um,
once I started explaining it
to him on, in that way, um,
it led to a lot of really
great conversation. Um,
and I will tell you now,
my husband is a Catholic.
He converted to the Catholic
faith two years ago. Um,
and you know, still to this day,
we have many close friends who
are of other denominations. Um,
I have many close friends who
are not even Christian, um,
that they just see the love of God
in me. I don't need to say anything.
I think just being an effective witness
and loving people wherever they are,
people are gonna notice something's
different about that person,
and they're gonna be attracted to it.
You know? And,
and that reminds me of the quote
that I believe is attributed to St.
Francis of Assisi Speak the Gospel at
all times and when necessary, use words,
you know, exactly. When we
were, uh, while we were talking,
I pulled up on my laptop, um, the
Webster's Dictionary, and as, uh,
someone who studied theology, uh, you
know, I I know that, you know, that, uh,
that Catholic means universal and
Yeah. Um, that's why some of our,
uh, non, uh, big Sea Catholic, uh,
brothers and sisters in Christ
will pray the creed that, uh,
that uses the word Catholic in it.
Yeah. But what I was interested in was,
uh, the second de definition
that it shows, uh,
as an adjective is, um,
broad in sympathies tastes,
or interest mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And
then it gives a, a sentence that says,
she is Catholic in her taste of music.
Mm.
And, uh, that interesting,
that was interesting to me
that, uh, that, you know,
really, it, it doesn't have to, you know,
just describe a faith
background or a denomination,
but it, it really means, um, universal,
broaden those sympathies Yeah.
Tastes or interests. Mary, we have
to get, I don't wanna cut you off,
so I'm gonna give you a second to finish,
but we do have to get to one more break,
and then we'll come back
to wrap up the show.
You are listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon conversations.
We'll be back after this brief
break to recognize our sponsors.
When it comes to buying a home,
what you see isn't exactly what you get.
That's why home buyers should
call Dave Dowling at Grandview
Inspections at 7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
You'll see colorful flowers,
freshly painted walls,
granite countertops, blaming
hardwood floors and other touches.
What you can't see is the
cracks, ancient plumbing,
dangerous wiring,
or broken appliances that
might be revealed when you hire
a home inspector. And when
it comes to home inspectors,
knowing yours has the qualifications
and experience needed,
should be your number one concern.
Dave Dowling with Grandview Inspections
is an architectural engineer
with over 30 years of commercial
construction experience and
hundreds of inspections under his belt.
A home inspection is an opportunity
for you to hire an expert to walk
through the home and prepare a report
outlining the home's major components.
What needs immediate attention and
what will require maintenance after you
move in your home is one of
your biggest investments.
So make sure your investment is
everything you hoped it to be.
Call Dave Dowling at
Grandview Inspections at
7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
Is your business using analog
strategies in a digital marketing world?
If so,
then contact Matthew or Rebecca
Dowling at Coordinated 360 for a
professional consultation where we
bring in-depth knowledge and functional
expertise with a holistic perspective.
Coordinated 360 provides
digital marketing, paid ad
and media buying services,
web design, social media management,
video production, and more for businesses,
organizations, and political
campaigns with decades of experience.
Matt and Becky at Coordinated 360 can
help you craft your unique message
and share it with the world.
For a no risk media evaluation
and recommendations,
call 7 2 4 3 2 0 22 12,
or visit us online at
www.coordinatedthreesixty.com.
Find us also on Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter,
or email info coordinated three sixty.com.
Hello, Uniontown Mayor, bill Gerkey. Here.
There's nothing quite like the feeling
of home, that sense of belonging,
those fall Friday nights under the
lights, those winter nights in the gym,
watching our red Raiders, those refreshing
spring afternoons at Bailey Park,
rooting on our Red Raider,
softball and baseball teams.
I am grateful for those memories and
hope our community's children and
grandchildren can enjoy those
memories too. But to do that,
we have to plan for the future.
During my first term in office,
the city has got Bailey Park back
to a place where we can be proud of
our city's first comprehensive
plan. In over 20 years,
started work on the city's
section of the Sheep Skin Trail,
worked on eliminating blighted
properties and are rebuilding the city's
neighborhoods. We've updated the faulty
equipment in the parking garages,
and we're bringing a more
competitive, reliable, faster,
and less expensive internet
service to our city residents.
We have done a lot, but there's
still more to do. So, I Bill Gerkey.
I'm running for a second term. We're
Uniontown proud, we're Uniontown strong,
and together we can continue to rebuild
Uniontown for the next generation.
Paid.
For by Mayor Belkey.
Are you enjoying the program?
You're listening to support commonalities
and help keep us on the air by making
a donation of five, 10, or $25, or any
amount you feel comfortable sharing
[email protected] Again,
that is donate.commonalities.online
on the worldwide web.
Buy our host a cup of coffee or help pay
for airtime at donate dot commonalities
online.
I'm Melinda de LaRose. As an
Assistant District Attorney,
I've protected Fayette County families
and fought to uphold our constitutional
rights. As a prosecutor
and trusted local attorney,
I've provided victims of crime with a
strong voice and put criminals behind
bars. My pledge to you as
judge is to follow the law,
always maintain the
highest ethical standards,
and to run a courtroom that's
respectful of your time and tax dollars.
I'm Melinda de LaRose asking
for your vote for Judge.
Paid for by Friends of Melinda de LaRose.
You are listening to commonalities
or guests find common ground through
Uncommon Conversations.
Well, thanks for sticking with
us. I'm your host Matt Dowling,
and my guest today is Mary
Samy. Mary works at, uh,
Christ the Divine Shepherd Parish
in the diocese of Pittsburgh.
She's been working in youth
and young adult ministry, uh,
for quite some time. Many of you from
Connellsville may know her from your work,
uh, or for her from her work out there.
Uh, and she's a union town native. Uh,
and like I said, at the top of the show,
her and I have known each other
probably for 30 plus years, and, uh,
and have remained friends. So, uh,
much credit to her on that part, uh,
cuz she's put up with me for that
log. You know, uh, Mary, I I,
I find it hard to have a show, uh,
regardless of what topic that we're
on, where I don't mention politics,
because since the early two thousands
mm-hmm. <affirmative> <laugh>, Uh,
I've either been on the sideline or
directly involved in politics, uh,
for, for Yeah. You know, in one
way or another. Uh, and I have a,
a recent editorial that was run
in, uh, some of the local papers,
uh, that was titled Why We Must Work
Together on Common Goals. Mm-hmm.
<affirmative>. And, uh, I really, I, I
don't know if you know Dolly Parton's,
uh, new song that she
released, um, where she in,
in all of her Dolly Parton sass
<laugh>, um, you know, talks about,
um, why we should, uh, be faithful,
faithful individuals in
our everyday life. Um,
but the question that I have for
you is one that, that I address in,
uh, in that piece that
ran, and that is, you know,
how much should we as
American citizens, uh,
expect our politicians to mm-hmm.
<affirmative> talk about their faith
background or faith in general.
And I have a statistic I
wanted to share, uh, and then,
then I'll turn it over to you for
your opinion. But in the past decade,
more Americans said,
political leaders, uh,
express religious faith too little.
That was 37% rather than too much at
29%. And that was according to the Pew
Institute. So what's your opinion, Mary,
are, you know, are are leaders
in government and in politics?
Should they express their faith and
as voters, should we Absolutely.
Should we expect them to.
<Laugh>? I think absolutely. Um, I,
we live in a quote unquote cancel culture,
and I feel terrible that
people are terrified,
absolutely terrified to
talk about their faith.
Whatever faith it is does not need
to be a Christian faith. You know,
as human beings in general, we should,
because we're all created in the image
and likeness of God, we should love
everyone and seek to understand them.
And how can we understand them truly
if we don't even know what their faith
background is?
And they're absolutely terrified to
talk about it because they're afraid of
being canceled. And what's
more, especially as a Christian,
if you are given a platform,
you are obligated to use that
for the good of the church.
It goes beyond your reputation, your
ego, your career, whatever you want.
If,
if God does not come first and
you are afraid to say His name
out of fear of your
reputation or what, it's,
then I would not vote for that
person. That's just my opinion.
And, and I, I would completely
agree with you. You know, I,
I kind of believe that if we are
given any soapbox to stand on,
um, mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that we have
to use our voice in, in positive ways,
and, and I think talking
about our faith, uh,
is one of the ways that
we can do that. Or,
or just simple expressions of our faith,
um mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, I,
I remember as, you know, someone
in my early twenties, uh,
thinking when I was out to a restaurant
that it would be odd to make the
sign of the cross as I silently
prayed before a meal. Um, you know,
n now pushing 40 and not being, uh,
I guess as young as I once
was, <laugh>, um, you know,
those things don't bother me quite the
same way. Right. But, um, you know,
but I think everyone's called
to, uh, to do what they can and,
and to speak the truth. Um, and,
and not only in your faith
background, but, um, you know, as,
as you probably know, because
it's been widely covered as,
and as a lot of other people know,
and I've been trying to be transparent
about it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
you know, during my time in office, I, uh,
I developed an addiction with alcohol
and, uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and I was,
um, not lucky to have had an, an
accident, but I had a, a minor accident.
No one was hurt. Uh, and I was
under the influence and, and, uh,
decided to seek treatment
and, uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
And now it's been since June,
since I have, uh, I've, uh,
been on that road to
recovery. And I, you know,
I feel very called to share that
story and that message Yeah. With, uh,
with people because it's
not just, um, you know,
it's not just normal people
that have those problems,
politicians have them as well.
In fact, uh, you know, I,
I was just in the Connellsville
paper yesterday, uh,
piece I wrote about John
Federman, uh, Senator Federman,
and I would not ever agree
politically <laugh>, uh, in fact,
uh, we battled it out while I was in the
State House and while he was Lieutenant
Governor mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Um, but I, I see an extreme, uh,
strength in him. And I think he took a
courageous act to get the psychological,
uh, you know, uh,
the psychological help that he needed
and the treatment that he needed. And,
and I just, I think that that's fantastic.
So I think we are calling to, uh,
to speak the truth kind of, uh, at
all times no matter what it is. Right.
You know, we only have a few minutes
left, Mary, but what I wanted to,
to talk to you about, and,
and I know, um, you know,
if we were having tea
this afternoon with, uh,
a bunch of Catholic ladies in their,
you know, late sixties, early seventies,
one of the things that we'd probably hear
is that young people today just aren't
engaged in the faith like we
used to be. And, uh, you know, I,
I know you've probably heard
that around the dinner table,
and truth be told Yes. Um, I, I
probably would agree with them.
Um, yep. But, you know,
as people that, uh,
that are the faithful working
in ministry, how do we, uh,
how do we engage those
young people mm-hmm.
<affirmative> that may not have
faith beliefs or a background. Right.
And that's what I wanna
close out the show with is,
is a conversation about how we get
our young people back in the pews.
Yeah. So I have not, I have
been popular talking about this,
and I haven't been popular
talking about this because, um,
it's looking at it from a little
bit of a different angle. Um, I am,
I am not even 40 yet, and I have
been in ministry almost 15 years.
I see people leaving the church. I don't
see a lot of young families like me.
And, you know,
I have been dedicated for the last
almost 15 years of my full-time ministry
in being a missionary disciple.
And that means going outside
of your church building
and being Christ engaging the community.
And we don't do this a lot as Catholics.
What has worked in the past is
that we are Catholic in name,
we go to church and we just
assume people are going to show up
for our meetings, for our social
events, for our pancake, breakfast,
coffee and donuts. And when
they don't, we blame them. Now,
would the disciples do this? I mean,
they were in the upper
room with the doors locked,
and imagine if they would've just stayed
there and assumed everyone should just
come to them and they blame everyone
if they don't show up. Absolutely not.
You know, we need to be
looking at ourselves,
the things that used
to work aren't working.
And so the first thing I do when I
go into a church community is say,
how actively are you engaged outside
of the four walls of your church in
your local community? Do people even
know you exist? And if they don't,
that's the very first thing
that we need to be working on.
How are we bringing other
people in? And once we get them,
what kind of church are we bringing
them to? Is it a welcomed parish?
Is it a place where we're actually going
to give them the empowerment to do the
things that they wanna do and cultivate
a relationship with the Lord? You know,
a lot of times we finally get them in the
building and no one even says hello to
them, you know?
So it's looking at it from a
different point of view and really
just honing into who we are
created to be as disciples going
out into the community in order
to bring other people into us.
And this has been highly effective.
People don't wanna invest in it because
it's a scary thing. <laugh>, you know,
it's something different.
It's not something that
Catholics are used to doing.
Um, but we had great
success in Connellsville.
We had the highest R C I A,
those are people coming into the church
in the diocese of Greensburg, um,
consistently year round, because we were
very, very engaged in the community.
I see. The Uniontown Church is doing this.
People know that they care and
they wanna be a part of that.
Young people will get behind it.
Absolutely. And I, you know, I,
I know that the Roman Catholic
churches of Uniontown, uh,
have been doing a lot to,
to deal with food inadequacies and
with hunger. Um, you know, and,
and kind of those ministries where
they're not preaching at all,
they're just trying to take care of
someone's basic human needs. Um, yeah.
You know, being a church.
Just.
Be it, and being priced to others has
been extremely important. You know,
in education, um, there is,
there's been an argument
that's been made, uh,
for free and reduced
lunches and breakfasts.
And the thought process is
that if a student's basic human
needs, like having a full mm-hmm.
<affirmative> belly when they
go to class have not been met,
then it's very hard for them
to be engaged in their class
and to learn and to do well. You know,
I think everyday life is very
much like that, where, you know,
if basic human needs aren't being met,
then maybe going to church and
participating on Sunday isn't
at the top of your list, you know, if
you can't afford groceries that week. So.
Right. You know, we as the faithful
and people that have been blessed, uh,
to have things, uh, you
know, things like, uh,
like money and or, or time, we
should be blessing others, uh,
with those, um, you know, so I, I,
I completely agree with you, Mary. We're
down to, uh, just a couple moments.
I want to give you a chance to, uh,
to give any final thoughts and
one more promo for your new, uh,
podcast that's gonna be
starting if people want to, uh,
want to listen and learn more.
Yes. So, thank you so much
for having me on today.
I thank the Uniontown community and
the Collinsville community for always
supporting every single thing,
every missionary, every nonprofit,
everything that I've ever done.
Uniontown and Conwell has always
stepped up in a huge way, um,
for those initiatives. So thank you so
much for your support, your prayers, um,
your financial giving. Um, in those
missions that I have done over the past,
my podcast starts on Monday, March
the sixth, live on our Facebook page,
Christ the Divine Shepherd
Parish. It'll be on YouTube,
and it'll also be on Spotify, and you
can find it from Sheep to Shepherd.
And, uh, my guest today has
been Mary Samy. Um, you know,
we've talked a little bit about some of
the, the writings that I've put out. Uh,
if you wanna read any of those,
visit matthew d dowling.com
and click on news.
You'll see all of, uh, my letters to
the editor and news releases. And, uh,
because I mentioned, uh, Ms. Dolly
Parton, who is one of my favorite, uh,
singer songwriters of all
times. Um, you know, I,
I mentioned that she just
released on her 77th birthday.
The song Don't Make Me Have
to Come Down There. And, uh,
the lyrics that really stand out
to me, uh, are I gave you a book.
You didn't read it. I gave you my word.
You didn't read it, gave you a map.
You said you didn't need it, and
now you've lost directions. You're,
you're wandering aimlessly. Don't
make me have to come down you.
This is down there. It's
not a game of truth or dare.
So those are the words of Dolly Parton,
which we'll close it out with today.
Uh, I'm your host, Matthew Dowling,
and this has been commonalities
on w Nmb S five 90 am
1 0 1 0.1. That's up.
This has been commonalities,
a show where guests find common
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