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Father Flanagan's mission work, struggles, challenges and passion in reforming juvenile justice systems and youth care for troubled/disadvantaged youth are depicted, showing his impact on America's approach to these issues.

Fr. Emil Kapaun was a military chaplain who served in both World War II and the Korean war. He was imprisoned in the Korean war and died on one of the prison camps there. After countless years Fr. Kapaun's remains were finally positively identified. We journeyed with the Diocese of Wichita and his surviving family members to Hawaii to receive the remains and then follow them and document the military transfers back to his home diocese in Wichita, Kansas. It is truly a privilege to be able to capture this once in a lifetime experience and honor a war hero and a servant of God and finally bring him home at long last.

How much do you know about the hosts of the Poco a Poco Podcast? Some people have been along with the Poco a Poco journey for some time now and may already know certain things about them. On the other hand, some people might also be new to this podcast and may want to know more about our beloved brothers. So in today's episode, the Poco a Poco squad is going to share a little bit of their stories-their testimonies about what God has done to their lives and how they got to where they are now.

"How is Jesus calling you to serve the poor?" This is the question we'll attempt to answer. Jesus loved the poor and like Him, we are called to be a lifeline for a person in need. God sees the poor but we are called to intercede on their behalf-to be somebody who's able to bring them to Him. This talks about the importance, necessity, and beauty of having hearts that are mindful of those who are most in need. An invitation to live how Jesus lived and loved those in need.

We have to understand that we are going through different journeys. God is doing something completely different in each of our lives and we have to be attentive to that. Let us not be so quick to judge-everything is not as simple as it may seem. As we continue our journeys through life, we will constantly encounter our own and other people's struggles, flaws, weaknesses, and even sins. In our Catholic life, there will be a lot of questions that will come our way and today, we'll try to answer a few of them. Here is another one of our Hot Takes episodes that talk about some essential topics that most of us can relate to. Here we'll be going through the following topics: (1) Should I write down my sins for confession? (2) How to make a better confession. (3) Thoughts on the fraternal correction. (4) Therapy, Yes or No? (5) Chapel Etiquette.

Do we live our lives believing-having faith in the resurrection? In this ongoing journey of stripping the things we clothe ourselves with, Jesus wants us to give him the things that hold us back and desires to give himself in return. We have sins that isolate us and cause us to go into hiding, but the gift of the resurrection breaks it all open. This focuses on the importance of the resurrection. An invitation to allow the hope of the resurrection to enter into all of our darkness and all of the different areas of our lives, in this Valley of Tears as we continue to journey through it. This Easter season let's pray to have an increase in faith in the Lord and his resurrection.

"Can we allow ourselves to be exposed before the Lord in prayer? Are we able to be before the Lord as we are and not hold anything back from ourselves or hide ourselves in any way? These are the questions that we are attempting to unpack in this seventh part of our Lenten series. In this, we are talking about how we can be stripped of all the things we clothe ourselves with-to be clothed with the dignity of the Father's providence and our identity. An invitation to be naked without shame and give God everything-to be able to surrender the fullness of our past, our lives to Him and firmly trust that he can take it all on himself and let us begin again."

"How does Jesus have authority? It is through His obedience to the Father. But one incredible reality of Jesus is that, in His authority, He takes all the stench to the cross where it will be killed in His crucifixion. His authority is not one that lords it over us. It's not one that forces us to bow down and tremble before Him. But it's one that allows Himself to be emptied and clothed with all the messiness, struggles, confusion, and pain so he can take it to his death at the cross. And in His authority, he conquers sin and death, upon his resurrection. This is the sixth part of our Lenten series on Fr. Mark Toups's Lenten Companion that reminds us that we should not take lightly that God comes and let himself be stripped and crucified for all of us; an invitation to allow Jesus to have authority to live his life in obedience and in surrender to his Father, within ourselves."

"Have I told Jesus all of my stories?" That's the question that we are going to unpack here. Most of us have confessed and have sought healing in particular places of our lives, but there are still parts of who we are now that we keep in the dark-the stench. The reality of that stench is that it is discouraging and it is despairing, but Jesus comes and He's not afraid of that. This is the fifth part of our Lenten series on Fr. Mark Toups's Lenten Companion. An invitation to have the radical vulnerability and trust to say "Jesus here is everything." and let Him see all of the death and stench in our lives.

"There's this simplicity that when we encounter Jesus, our lives become different. We may not understand it and it might not look the same for each of us, but our lives become different. Just like the story of the man born blind, before he met Jesus and hoped in Him, he was living in darkness unable to see. After his encounter, there had been healing and he was finally able to see. Things changed. We know that there's an absolute vulnerability and struggle with physical blindness and it is similar to the vulnerability and struggles that we have in the desires we can't give ourselves. That is why we need to receive this gift of acceptance and surrender for us to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. This is the fourth part of our Lenten series on Fr. Mark Toups's Lenten Companion, a beginning of a journey of surrender. An invitation to make space for the Lord, ask Jesus for help with the crosses we carry, and to trust and hope, not for outcomes but in Him."

"In one form or another, we can sometimes live in isolation and hiding. Because of shame and sin, we clothe ourselves with shadows, we hide. These lies that we hide behind keep us stuck and paralyzed-Jesus wants to call us out of that. The places of hiding don't have to defeat us, but they can become these intimate places where the Lord desires to be. This is the third part of our Lenten series on Fr. Mark Toups's Lenten Companion which talks about the Well not only as a place of shame but intimacy as well. It shows us the reality of renunciation and what it means to leave the shadows behind. An invitation to say "no more lying and hiding", an invitation to be honest that the shadows affect us, an invitation to name our struggles or sins; an invitation to remember that the brokenness never defines us. A reminder that God is always in search for us, that we are pursued even as sinners and He wants to shed light to our darkness.

"What going up the mountain offers is an opportunity to come face-to-face with God. It provides a perspective where we can see what's actually important. Up there we are invited to embrace the experience and the beauty of childlike wonder and awe, it's a place of intimacy with and revelation of God. But the challenge as we go up the mountain is that we have to let go of things. And it's difficult because most of us have surrendered theophany for dopamine. We have been used to this constant consumption of "dopamine kicks"; the consumption of these things that makes us feel good. As we go up the mountain, we need empty ourselves, and allow God to lead us there. So that we can have His eyes look upon us, which is the purest, the truest, the tenderest, the most loving, and the most hope-filled. This is the second part of our Lenten series on Fr. Mark Toups's Lenten Companion."

"There are a number of practices that we are preparing to do during this Lent. But this time of year shouldn't only be a project that we need to fulfill but rather an opportunity. Lent is an opportunity to exercise a posture of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and surrender. Surrendering to someone, to a relationship that matters, to God. This is the first part of our Lenten series on Fr. Mark Toups's Lenten Companion. Here, we're gonna talk about how we transform what's being taken from us into something that is offered, and how we can make our sacrifices and circumstances, holy. A reminder and an invitation to relinquish control and to entrust everything to the Lord when we cannot control or we don't like the things happening around us. A proposal to trust that the Lord can make something good and beautiful out of it.

"The first of the nine beatitudes of Matthew said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The world is constantly trying to define us-it tries to tell us who we are. Our successes, belongings, talents, people in our lives, our jobs, culture, and technology, all these things tend to make us who we are. We beclothed ourselves with these things and we are tempted to find our identity in them. But again, "Who Is God and Who Am I?". To understand what it means to be truly free and live in freedom as sons and daughters of God, we have to keep this question before us. We have to let go of other worldly things and not be afraid of staying in the place of spiritual poverty before the Lord. This is the fourth and last part of our series on Interior Freedom by Fr. Jacque Philippe which talks about freedom in spiritual poverty. An invitation for us to remain in this place of poverty and let God define us, give us everything and ultimately lead us to the kingdom of heaven."

"We cannot grow in freedom unless we grow in faith, hope, and love; that's the recipe for freedom. Faith, hope, and love are the three theological virtues that connect us to God. As Christians, we are people who believe in God, hope for everything from Him, and want to love Him with all our hearts and love our neighbors. This is the third part of our series on Interior Freedom by Fr. Jacque Philippe which talks about the key role of theological virtues in acquiring internal freedom with a particular focus on the importance of Hope. An invitation to freedom for those who feel defeated and those who might have lost a sense of hope in the Lord.

We think we're most free when we can kind of be in control. "I'm free when I get to get up every day and just have control over my life and my circumstances." That's not a Catholic freedom according to Jacque Philippe, but it is actually being able to accept reality as it is. We struggle with freedom because it's hard to accept our weaknesses. It's quite difficult to accept our sinfulness-it's hard to accept these different parts of our lives. But if we don't accept ourselves, and our realities, we either live in memories or fantasies where Jesus can't reach us.

"What makes us most free, is this submitting to God and this dependence on Him. Yes, freedom is actually dependent on obedience rather than kind of doing whatever I want. When we fall in love with God and we experience that love, this deep interior freedom takes place and it becomes the most important thing in our lives-even to a point that is greater than our circumstances. This is the first part of our series on Interior Freedom by Fr. Jacque Philippe that talks about what it means to live in freedom as sons and daughters of God and how this freedom can become greater than the circumstances of our lives."

How do we reconcile being strong and weak at the same time? There has to come to a healthy recognition that we're just unable to do things. And it's in this weakness, in recognizing that we have a lack, that Christ is then able to come in and actually be the one who moves us through that weakness into a place of strength. Here we're gonna talk about and attempt to reconcile how we are supposed to be strong but weak at the same time.

A habitual and firm disposition to do good, not just for ourselves but for everybody-this is how virtue is defined. Virtue allows the person, not only to perform good acts but to give the best of themselves for the greatest good of everybody. But why do we do it? Who's it truly for and how do we exactly do it right? In this we'll attempt to answer these questions as we talk about what virtue is along with some insights and practical examples on how we might get it wrong and how we can get it right.

"Who Is God" and "Who am I?" This is what we're attempting to answer when we talk about living in the proper order of relationship, identity, and mission. We are living in a time where we're going through an identity crisis. In the very foundation, a lot of us are forgetting who we are. We forget that we are sons and daughters of God and that we are made for a relationship with Him. We've allowed the world, our successes, brokenness, and weaknesses to define us. We've allowed all these things on the outside to define us instead of starting in the right place. This talks more about relationships, identity, and mission; what these are about and why are they important. A reminder that our relationship with God tells us the truth about who we are and how that can help us live our mission.

The Scripture is one of the Lord's best ways to talk to us, a way for us to converse with God. It is also a good reminder of who Jesus is and who we are to Him. Most of us say that praying with scriptures is something that's good to do, but how do we actually do that? In here, we're going to offer some initial guidance on praying with scriptures and provide some good practices that might be helpful for us to have a more fruitful relationship with God through the scriptures.

Series on Conversion by Fr Haggerty (1/8): Introduction, Chapter 1 There's a reason that this book is required reading for all CFR postulants. It's intense, and we're ready to get into it in this series. Because it's all about Jesus. And conversion is at the heart of the daily experience of saying "yes" to Jesus. Conversion isn't something that happens "out there"; it's not a personal project or a formation program. There's nothing abstract about it. It's a real encounter with the living person of Jesus Christ, and realizing we must turn away from ourselves and towards Christ. It can be terrifying, but we have to make a decision to allow Jesus in and change our lives. A life of fidelity starts with the spark of conversion drawing us near to Jesus, and then us choosing to stay near to him, despite any temptation to remain in other things.

Series on Conversion by Fr Haggerty (Part 2 of 8): Chapter 3 Remembering your sin can be uncomfortable. But it's not about the sin-remembering your sin is remembering God's mercy. It's going back to Jesus's presence at that moment, and to the way he changed it. Remembering that is the start of understanding your conversion more deeply, and to living your conversion more sustainably. A conversion based solely on feelings just doesn't last. After all, we don't graduate from being poor; from being one who is saved, from needing a savior. Being poor is a permanent posture of the disciple. There's only one place our sin makes sense: at the foot of the cross. Take the crucifix off the wall and bring it close. Study it. Spend time with it. Make the sacrifice of Christ personal. Does his suffering matter to you?

Series on Conversion by Fr Haggerty (Part 3 of 8) Going to confession regularly can become routine-a checklist-instead of what it can be: an encounter with God. Examine not only your sins, but also the one you've sinned against; the Lord. Because there's a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. You receive forgiveness; you're reconciled with a person. This shift in approach can shift what you receive from a sacrament that's not only about forgiveness but also about healing.

Series on Conversion by Fr Haggerty (Part 4 of 8) There's a simple test of whether a conversion is authentic: do you treat people differently, particularly the poor? Does your spiritual life get reduced to "me"? Or to an exodus from caring about yourself at all? Your prayer is measured in charity. The quality of your Holy Hour can only be measured by how you love people when you leave your Holy Hour. It's not only about your experience. The end of all formation, of any vocation, is self-gift. The end is the cross-the mystery of loving Jesus and loving like Jesus.