Ep 92 Revisited: Priesthood, Celibacy, and Fried Chicken (Fr. David Michael Moses)

James Caldwell: Hello all, welcome back to the Manly Catholic. This is James, your host. And before we start this episode, I just want to let you know that we are going to take a break for the summertime due to the craziness, the beautiful weather. But we Jeff and I have decided to take a step back and just spend more time in family, focused on our time with our family and just recharging and being refreshed. But yeah, just wanna give you guys didn't want to leave guys without any episodes. So we're gonna be playing replaying some of the more popular episodes that we've had over the last five years. Can you believe we've been doing this podcast for five years. So thank you all so much for your support, your prayers. We really appreciate it. yeah, I just wanna keep the podcast rolling and we'll be coming back in the fall with some new interviews, new episodes, and I can't wait to share that with you all then. Well until then, go out there and be a saint. This is the Manly Catholic, the podcast that calls you out of the shadows and into the fight. Here we forge men into warriors for Christ, husbands, fathers, and leaders who refuse to kneel to the modern world's lies. No more passivity, no more excuses, no more lukewarm faith. This is your battle crowd, your call to arms. The time for weakness is over. It's time to fight. Welcome to the Manly Catholic. Let's get to work. Hello, all welcome to another episode of the Manly Catholic. This is James, your host, and with me we have a very special guest. We have Father David Michael Moses. Father, welcome to the Manly Catholic. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be with you guys. Yes, yes. I am very excited for our conversation. But before we get going, diving into a bit of your background, Father, do you mind opening in a word of prayer for us? I would love to. Let's pray. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. The gracious God, we give you thanks that you are always with us whenever we call upon you, that you guide us, that you live with us, that you dwell among your people. We ask that you bless this time, bless all the listeners. May this be something fruitful for your people. Amen. Thank you, Father. So one one question I always ask my guests, and this might throw you off because I sent it earlier. I don't know if you had a chance to look at it, but if you could be the patron saint of anything, what would it be? And why? The patron saint of anything. What would it be? maybe fried chicken, to be honest, dude. I love we have Chick-fil-A down here. That just came right off the top of my head. We have Chick-fil-A down here, and I love Chick-fil-A with Chick-fil-A sauce. And we have Raisin Canes, and I love which is a type of like fried chicken strip with with raisin cane sauce. And the fried Chick-fil-A sandwich and the raisin cane chicken strips with their respective sauces. are some of the best foods out there. So at some point I'm gonna have to probably for the sake of asceticism and holiness give that up. But at this point it sounds pretty dope to be the patron saint of fried chicken. So I have to ask, so w so you're cr you're having a craving. So do you go to Chick-fil-A and Raisin Canes and you get best of both or do you just choose one? No, so I kinda alternate. Like they're so complimentary. It's like it's like marriage and celibacy. You know, like they They both complement each other so well and they teach us about the other one. Like I feel like Chick-fil-A and its sauce and its sandwich is so good some days and really helps me to understand and appreciate raising canes more. So the only thing is you have to time it well because Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays. So you have to like make sure that if you need it on Sunday, it's raising canes and then maybe Saturday or the Monday is when you hit Chick-fil-A. A hundred percent. Yeah, I remember I grew up in California and when I moved away out of California. I'm in I'm in Michigan now. We they had they got a raisin canes in California. So I went back and my mom's like, You have to try this twice 'cause I love, you know, Cajun food and the spice and stuff. So I I tried it. I was like, This is this is pretty legit. And the the fries and with the sauce, like you mentioned, mm, it's hard to beat. Dude I and and here's the play you sub the either the coleslaw or the toast for extra fries and then you get an extra sauce and that's the way to go. Okay. See, you're giving me all these tips. See, that's why I love these conversations. But okay. That's all right. You know, I love it. The patient's in a fried chicken, then we gotta talk about Chick-fil-A and raids and canes. Let's do it. There we So Father David, you are do you go by Father David, Father David Michael, Father Moses? I know I know in one of your videos you said, Father Moses just sounds I'm old, so I prefer not to go Father Moses to go. It just would probably throw people off when they met me. Now I've always gone by David Michael growing up. my mom my dad always wanted a son named Michael, but my daughter my my my dad always wanted a son named Michael, but my mom had dated a guy in middle school named Michael and thought that she she just named her son Michael. He would hear about it and think that like she was still into him. So they always called me David and Michael together, which was already kinda long, but I it's kinda stuck for for around. So I go by Father David Michael. Fantastic. Well, Father, just tell our listeners, I mean you're well known obviously in the the social media realm, but for our listeners maybe who have 'cause I I must admit It was my wife actually that said, You have to get this guy on your podcast. You know, he he has these great videos and and we'll talk about I want to talk about your concerts for life as well in the pilgrim rosary later on too. But just give our audience brief background, you know, what I always love to hear priests how they they came into the calling and the vocation of the priests. So maybe share a little bit of that about background story as well, if don't mind. Yeah, for sure. So the kind of the condensed version is that my parents Neither of them were Catholic growing up. They became Catholic after they were married, along with my dad's siblings and their spouses. All of them entered the church at the same time. And a big reason was the church's teachings on life. My parents recognized the Catholic Church seemed to have this right when it came to what a life was, what a baby was. And my dad ended up doing a lot of pro life work after his conversion. this was all sanctioned by the bishop, but he went to jail like thirteen times doing pro-life stuff. At one point he was sentenced to six months in jail. Kind of wild stories. Again, all sanctioned by the bishop. He was doing good work. but I kind of grew up listening to jail stories going to bed. Most kids listen to like, you know, like stories about, you know, princesses and princes or something. And we were listening to my you know, Dad, tell us another story about you being in jail, you know? And I thought that was normal. But I think honestly for me growing up, man, it was kind of like because my dad and my mom 'cause my mom was a huge hearer during that time too. My dad's in jail. She's got like four kids at home. It was a kind of a backdrop to my discernment 'cause it was pretty clear to me, like, hey, if the Lord asked you to do something, no matter what it is, and no matter what you leave behind, like the answer is yes. And so it wasn't really till I went on a silent retreat when I was till I when I was sixteen. Prior to that I'd been an altar server and stuff, and people would say, like at at ma after mass, like, you'd be such a cute little priest and stuff and you know, I I I I always wanted to get married, even from a young age, really wanted to get married and I honestly thought that meant I wasn't supposed to be a priest. So it really wasn't until I went on a silent retreat when I 16, in the silence of that prayer, I just really felt the Lord saying, like, it might be you. It might be you I'm calling. And and that kind of shifted things for me a little bit. And I told the priest on the retreat, hey, like I'm kind of feeling drawn to the priesthood. but I was honest, I was like, I really like girls though. Like I want to get married. Like, what does that mean? And he said, Hey, that's totally normal. That's totally natural. God still might be calling you, and you gotta take that seriously. And so that really like put things in perspective. I'm like, okay, just because I want to get married doesn't mean that I'm not called the celibacy. Sacrifice can be a part of this. And so during that retreat, the priest had said, objectively speaking, the most pleasing thing we could do for God was go to Mass. And that makes sense to me now being a priest. I mean, what is the Mass? It is the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, which was the most pleasing act of obedience to the Father, complete emptying of the Son, out of love and obedience for the Father for his people. So of course God is pleased by that. And you know, subjectively not everybody can go to mass every day, but I realized with my schedule, I started college when I was really young and I was fourteen. So with my college schedule, I was able to go to mass every day. So I just schedule my classes around mass and just really fell in love with how a priest could help people. And started the application process for seminary. Kind of the funny part of the story I always tell is you know, I was kind of feeling nervous halfway through the application, and so I was driving downtown to go meet the vocations director about some of my anxiety. And I had read at a certain point in the sermon you could ask God for a sign. So I said, okay, God, if you want to go into seminary, send me a dove. Send me a dove. I don't know why I prayed for a dove. It just kinda came to mind. So I was driving down the highway here downtown and I was looking at birds but I wasn't really sure if they were doves and I realized like I don't really know what a dove looks like in the wild. Like I should have picked something a little bit more specific. but I didn't think I saw one. So I met with the vocations director and he said I should really feel peace, not anxiety. And told me to start stop discerning seminary and really discern law school. So I was 18 at the time, but I was about to graduate from college and a bit accepted to some to some law school. So that's what was looking at. but over those next months, just really was not feeling drawn to law school and really was still feeling a very strong pull to priesthood. And so was finally praying at a holy hour before the blessed sacrament exposed at my home parish one night and just really was feeling very frustrated. with God actually, like God, I wanna do what you want, but I don't know what that is. Like just tell me what it is and I'll do it. And at one point I had said, like, hey God, like if you want to go into seminary, like, send me a dove, like crash on through a window or something. And then right then I looked up and realized that the huge painted glass window, giant, above the altar of the church was a was a huge symbol of a dove. And I was like, okay, I I I I definitely know that's a dove. And so I entered seminary at that point and lots of ups and downs throughout seminary. The first four or five years, I was probably fifty, fifty coming back each year, but finally spent this is part of the normal program here. You spend a year in a parish, it's your fifth year, and just fell in love with parish life. Just loved being able to serve people, to be with them in all these different moments. And just lots and lots of instances where I felt like, hey, this would really be worth giving my life to. that's That's awesome. But I I do have a couple of background questions because you mentioned a couple of things there. Did you say you you started c college at fourteen and then discern law school at eighteen? Is is that what you're saying? Yeah, that's just kinda how it worked out. So the kind of the hack there is I was homeschooled starting out and in eighth grade my mom was like, Hey, how about you start taking some dual credit classes at the junior college? So dual credit's like it's a college class, but you can take it as a high school or for credit for both. And usually people take like two or one or two classes, their junior and senior year each semester. Right. And my mom just figured out I could take like a full load of classes. So as a fourteen year old, I was just taking fifteen hours of college credit and we just did that for two years. Then I transferred to university and they thought I was a transfer student. And then I did two more years and then I was eighteen. I had my bachelor's degree in free law. And it was it's funny 'cause it was never the plan at all. It's just how it worked out. I don't know why more people don't do that. So At that point I'm not eighteen, so it was like I wasn't gonna just graduate and go into like the workforce. So I was looking at seminary or or law school at the time. Yeah. Yeah, I I mean, God bless that spiritual director, first of all, who was like, It's okay that you like girls. Like that's totally normal type of thing. But no, it's it's funny, I'm you know, Father Dom, who I do a lot of episodes with too, he that was one of his big hang ups too, 'cause he became a priest later on in life, but I think it was and he shared this publicly so he won't mind me sharing it, but I think it was at least once, maybe twice, where he was actually engaged and he said, I don't know what it was, but like I just and I'm not like I'm a very decisive person most of the time, but the both instances, like I we couldn't set a date and we just couldn't move forward with the marriage. And then he talked to his spiritual director about it and he said his spiritual director said, Have you like strongly considered the priesthood. And Father Don was always like, no, like that's not. Like I like I like I'm engaged. Like what are talking about, man? Type of thing. Like you're crazy, you know? But then he thought about it. I think I think another thing too is he started going to daily mass. He's like, okay, you know, this is starting to the idea's starting to warm up to and everything. But yeah, I mean celibacy, I mean that's a that's a good way to transition too. I mean maybe just scribe cel 'cause I think celibacy has has such a a incorrect connotation in our society today. And it's you know, it's like these men who, you know, it's especially in the way our culture is with, you know, the sexual revolution that's all we should be doing is having sex with everybody that that walks by the street type of thing. That's kind of the way our culture sadly is interpreting sex. So maybe expand on that and the beauty of celibacy and why it is so important. It can also be so fulfilling for a a priest such as yourself. Yeah, so you make a good point. Like, our culture is kind of it's completely off. It's has a very perverted kind of view of of sexuality. And what's interesting is the church, you know, is not saying through celibacy like, any kind of sexual stuff is bad. you don't become a priest because marriage is bad. You're not celibate because sex is bad or marriage is bad. You actually be be choose celibacy because they're so good. Like the value of a sacrifice usually is connected with the value of what you're giving up. To sacrifice something you don't want anyways is not very valuable. And like Jesus says pretty clearly, like celibacy, some choose to become eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom. Like your celibacy should point people to the kingdom of God. Like I wanted to get married. The idea of having a woman to share your life with and having kids sounded awesome. So the fact that I would give that up should make people look at my life and say, like, why would this 29-year-old guy not be married? Like, if he was living for this world, this makes no sense. He must be living for another world, which I completely am. Like, that's what I think celibacy for the kingdom means. Like it points people who are confused by this material world towards something much greater and something beyond all of this. And It's you offer yourself as a sign for other people of the deeper spiritual reality of union with God. Again, not because marriage is bad. So it's really beautiful because celibacy obviously is supposed to be a spiritual union with God. And what is heavenly is obviously greater than what's earthly. You know, earthly marriages end at death, but the the celibate's union with God should endure forever. So There's a greatness there. Obviously, people are called subjectively to different things, but there's there's a level of greatness there that all in in the end is a real honor to be called to that actually. priesthood ultimately is like an invitation to love God's people the way Jesus loved God's people. Because Jesus himself was celibate and he loved deeply. Like celibacy is not a call to a life without love. It's a call to love like Christ's love. And That's the marriage is an image of Christ's love, right? It's not Christ's love in itself. It certainly can be that and should show that and there's a need for that. But so I mean I'll just share like for me, you start off being like, gosh, I I I don't wanna have to be a priest. I don't wanna have to be celibate, I don't wanna have to, you know, lose my freedom and have to go with the bishop says. but then you realize what it is, which is a deep union with Jesus Christ to confect the Eucharist, to forgive sins in his person. To love how he loved. And you go from saying, like, I sure hope I don't have to be a priest, to saying, my gosh, like I sure hope he chooses me. Like I sure hope he chooses me to be part of his work here on earth. so all that to say I think the the we were just going through theology of the body with our young adults here and beautiful marriage teaches celibates what that spousal union looks like in a very concrete way, like what you should have with God. But celibates teach the married people what that union is all about. Like this is should be about getting you guys to heaven. So they really work just like Chick-fil-A and Raising Cain. They just work together so well in a really beautiful, beautiful way, but super contrary to our culture as it should be. Well yeah, I mean I gosh, that's such a powerful witness too, Father. I mean you said there I mean nothing we do on this earth will not the greatest things I guess To to say it a different way, the greatest things we do on this earth are they have to require sacrifice. Otherwise, it wouldn't really be worth the living at all. I mean, same thing you you called her priesthood, me being called to a husband and a father. I mean, that requires sacrifice on my time a as well. But when you called for marriage, you're saying, I'm gonna lay down my life for this woman. And, you know, my time now is not my own, especially when you have children. My goodness, you have, you know, five minutes a day of free time. Same thing being Yeah, if that, you know, and being a priest, you have five minutes a day for yourself, if that too some days, you know, and it's I mean, this this is such a beautiful thing that we are both called to, but it's it's pretty dang hard most days, you know, and it's there's no it's okay to say that out loud because again, that's how we grow. I mean, that is our path to heaven, right? As you laying down your life for for the bride of Christ, me laying down my wife, my life for my wife and my children and obviously for God as well. But it's you know, it it it's the gosh, there's just so much that to unpack there as well. But I love how you you know, you say that about the sacrifice, you know, and you know, it's not really when you think about it, it's not really a sacrifice where we're we're giving something else because we're giving up s we're gett getting something more so much more from God by by giving ourselves up to him as well. So so you you've been a priest for as it Four years now, five years? Yeah, just a little bit over four years, yeah. A little over four years. Okay. 'cause you started during the pandemic, right? Lovely COVID. It was right before so right before six months before the pandemic I got ordained. And it was an awesome six months. Love being a priest. And then boom, like the pandemic hit and like things changed a lot. but it was funny, I had a lot of people saying, like, I'm so sorry, this is like part of your first year as a priest. And I would kinda tell him like, actually like this is why I became a priest. Because this world is super fragile and like people need to be pointed back toward what is lasting. And I think the pandemic was a a real reminder of that. So I think it all worked out for the good. Absolutely. Yeah, so w what for you, father, what has been the most surprising thing? I mean, it can be positive or negative that you have noticed. So obviously you have we have your ideas of going into the priesthood, you know, what you learn in seminary and things like that. This is what's gonna happen. Obviously COVID hit, so that changed some things. But what has surprised you the most in your four years of being a priest? I think what honestly has surprised me is how much I actually like gel with this lifestyle, for lack of a better term. Like it is very, very it's exciting. Then there's all kinds of different things that happen every day. Every day is like super, super different different. And I enjoy a lot of what I do. Like whether it's like confessions with people, whether it's saying mass, prepping homilies, stopping by the preschool over here to say hi to the little kiddos, you know, staff meetings, kind of game planning for what the next year is gonna look like. You know, all this stuff makes for like a very fulfilling life. And the only reason I like it is for like the reason you just said the sacrifice is pretty life giving. Like I am constantly being pulled out of myself. Whether that's to go to an emergency anointing that I had not planned in my schedule for, or like to be pulled into a a funeral in two days that I didn't know was coming, but the person just died and we gotta do it. You're constantly being pulled out of yourself in a way that granted, like sometimes is kind of frustrating, and you have to constantly like die to self to give God your schedule. But ultimately at the end of the day, when you go to bed, you're like, dang, I think we did some good stuff for the world. You know, from the time we woke up to the time we went to bed, we were bringing people to Jesus. And I'm surprised. how like fulfilled I am in that. Because I mean, it's it's like marriage, right? Like you don't really know what it is till you're in it. You know, you you make the promises and then you're in it. You don't get to test test it all out and then decide if you want to do it. Which is the beauty of the faith of it, right? But you commit to this woman and you're gonna continue to discover who she is along the way. And I committed to this church, not even knowing what parish I was going to be sent to, and you kind of discovered along the way. So I was definitely hopeful for what priesthood would be. But honestly, it's been way better than I would have imagined. And again, better doesn't mean easy. Better means like fulfilling in terms of like, yeah, like this is worth this is worth giving your life to. Coffee and prayer. It's the perfect blend. Mystic Monk Coffee isn't just another cup of coffee. It's handcrafted by the Carmelite monks of Wyoming, roasted with care and infused with prayer. Whether you're starting your morning or fueling your day, Mystic Monk Coffee has you covered. It offers rich, bold flavors that are as divine as their mission. By choosing Mystic Monk, you're not just enjoying exceptional coffee, but you're supporting a community of monks dedicated to their work, to prayer, and to the church. It's coffee with a cause. So what are you waiting for? Visit Mystic Monk Coffee.com and experience the brew that's fueling faith and flavor. Yeah, I mean gosh, there's there's so many parallels, what you're talking about between the priesthood and and marriage as well. And, you know, the expectations too. You you go in, you know, it you go through the honeymoon phase, obviously, too, after you're married, and then it drops down real quickly. And you're like, okay, we're doing life now, and it's not quite as exciting as I was picturing and you know, all this you know, lovey dovey stuff. It's like, no, like this is and it's beautiful, like you said, it's it's it's unexpected, it's surprising, but it's it's it's the life. that we chose that God chose us for and the life worth living. You know, and and neither of us would tra trade places with anyone in the world because this is what God has called us to for a specific purpose. You know, and and and you mentioned, you know, confession. And I I watched one of your videos and sixty five hours during Holy Week of confession. Did did I get that right? Was that one of your videos? Was that last year? Yeah, yeah. So both the last two years, it's been about that long. yeah, I just like Explain that a little bit. You know, I just realized like people tend to want to go to confession right before Christmas and right before Easter. and we obviously want people to go into confession like once a month or once every two months would be better. but for whatever reason it I think it does make sense that as we kind of prepare for the passion and death of Jesus Christ during Holy Week, people are kind of feeling drawn to that with some compunction and some some contrition to change their lives before Easter. And so for me, it's like in any other sector, when the customer, so to speak, wants something, you double the supply. So like right before Christmas, like they Apple make sure they've got plenty of iPhones. Right before Christmas, Target makes sure they open up all their lanes to get as many customers to as possible. I just think it makes sense as a church. Like if this is when people want to confess their sins, which is what we're trying to convince them to do all year is to go to the sacraments, then like let's just really pump out tons of supply to meet this demand. And so I pitch it to my pastor. I was like, yo, like what do you think about holy week? Me just being in the confessional like all day, most of the days. And I was kind of surprised. I kinda to be honest with you, dude, a small part of me hoped you'd like, that's too much. And I'd be like, okay, I'm off the hook. But instead he was like, Yeah, go for it. And I was like, okay. I guess we're going for it. Can I can I revert what I just said? I didn't mean that many that many hours. Exactly. Exactly. But I'm also the type of dude that like once you commit, it's like, Well, I'm gonna commit, like I'm I'm gonna do it, you know what I mean? So I honestly thought it would be like I'd be in the office working and like every hour somebody would come in and like call the office and be like, Hey, can I come in for confession? I saw that he's free for confession, I'd be like, Yeah, come in, you know. That's what I thought. And we'd have like a trickle. And instead I pulled in the first day and there were like three cars in the parking lot. And it was like, okay. And I mean there were definitely a few breaks early in the week. couple of short ones, especially toward the end of the week. I it we were just pumping them out to the point where like Good Friday was wild. We had three priests hearing confessions. I this a couple of us went like eighteen hours almost straight. wow. And I think I heard four hundred confessions that day. Which people sometimes are like, why are you hearing so many confessions? Dude, it wasn't like I was trying to pad the numbers. I didn't want to go fast. It's exhausting when confessions go quickly because some of them are going like one minute. The problem was people were waiting for two hours and we're walking in the door and we're leaving because of how long the line was. And for me, like when God is tugging at a heart, I don't want them to leave without confession. Like they may not come back. So I I mean, I made the decision to like we can either go really slow, like three or four minutes of confession, and lot of people won't go to confession, or we can just really ask the people to be very efficient and we can be doing what we can to make this go go more quickly to make sure everybody gets the primary end of confession, which is forgiveness. And so yeah, I heard like four hundred confessions that day. It was like over a thousand for the week. It was kind of insane. but just like super, super beautiful. I mean, this is like this is why you come a priest, you know? Like to be able to stand there between heaven and earth and reconcile people to God is just insane. That's awesome. Like props to you and God bless you for doing that. I mean, confession, I mean I I grew up Protestant and I was telling Father Dom when I I did my first confession and first like several confessions. I I probably the first year where I started doing confessions, I always just had like this pit in my stomach where it was just like something you did not want to do. And I actually talked with I did an interview with Father Lampert and he said, I always tell I always tell people, especially young people when they go to confession, it's kinda like you're it's kinda like when you throw up, you know. So you have you're super nauseous and stuff, but then you get it all out. And then you feel so much better after you that's what confession is. I go, that's a perfect analogy because that's what I felt like. And then because we know we need it, but we don't want to do it. And it's always the hardest things in life that helps us grow. And so I guess just having priests like you, you know, and I I know Father Dom speaks so highly on confession as well. Let's I guess let's let's dive into that a little bit too, because clearly you have a love for that sacrament in particular. So W what is it about that sacrament? And you kinda mentioned it a little bit, but I want you maybe to expand on it. What about confession? Is it 'cause you said it's enjoyable for you as a priest actually. So what about it is enjoyable for you and why why is it so important for us? Yeah, well you know, the the the importance for me, what I've just seen as a priest, we have at least in Houston, we have a lot of people coming to masks. Like we've I've been at masses here where we had three thousand people at masks and And so we have lot of people coming to Mass, which is awesome. But I think there aren't as many people statistically coming to confession proportionally, which means like something is missing in their spiritual lives. If they're coming to receive the Eucharist, but we're not taking care of the sin. So for me, when I see like a big opportunity, you know, a kind of an abundant harvest there, then you kind of want to lean into that. So the the Eucharist is so closely tied with confession I think because one gets rid of what's between you and Christ and then one honestly is intimacy with Christ. So of course we need to go to confession if we're not in state of grace to kind of receive that that union. But the one of the reasons I enjoy it, I mean you certainly get tired and stuff, but I enjoy it because there are so many things in this world that you can't fix. People come in with really difficult marriages and we can pray through it, we can work, but like I can't fix it right there. People come in, I mean they have a hard time with their parents So many difficult things. I'll walk with you through it. We'll pray about it. We have some tips and some tricks that we can work through, but I really can't fix a relationship with your parents. people come in like they can't find a job. Like I can't necessarily fix you not having a job. But if you walk into confessional with sin, I can fix it. Like I can in the person of Jesus Christ, not me, but him, but through me, I can fix the sin. Like it can go away. And so confession. Every confession they walk in, it's just like we're about to win this one. And the next person comes in, we're about to win this one too. And the next person, about to man, we're winning all of them today. Like we can, if you're sorry for your sin and you come and confess it, like Jesus is gonna win every single time. Like it's just win after win after win after win. And so many things bad in the world, so many things broken, but you can walk out of that confessional with everything in here just as it should be. And I just think it's such a gift. It is. Yeah, it's nauseating. It makes you nervous. I get my palms get sweaty when I go to confession too. But you walk out of there, hopefully with peace, which and peace is everything being as it should be, right? You walk out of there. Again, your family can be bad, your marriage can be crazy, your finances might be in the dumps, but you can walk out of there and the most important things are taken care of, which is like your relationship with God. so that's I mean, that's why I love it. That's awesome. Yeah, it's I mean it is truly a gift. I mean it's like it's like God knew it's like he knows us better than we know ourselves or something. It's like he knows exactly what we mean. I don't know. It's like he made us or something. I don't know. He made that human nature. So I do want to transition a little bit because you you have quite the the social media presence, which is awesome because i you do like a day in the life of a priest and things like and you did the You guys had the drive through nativity scene during COVID and you guys did an awesome video on that. You have your your conversion story. So tell me how how that all all the social media stuff, 'cause I I I doubt you became a priest. You what, I'm gonna be the guy that's on social media. I'm gonna be that priest type of thing. But just tell me because I know there's obviously the the the flip side of it where I'm sure you've gotten criticism from people who's like, you need to spend more time you know, in your spiritual life and stuff. I there's always gonna be naysayers no matter you do. 'Cause everything you're posting is positive and it's all about Jesus. But there's always gonna be people like, Well, you should stop this. So so I guess tell me how that's kinda developed and what is sort of your mission or your your drive when you post videos and things like that. Yeah, so for me I would say I mean God kind of works things out, he sets things up the way he wants. I when I was in high school, I started making a lot of videos for like my youth group, things like that, for retreats and stuff. And then I got a one of my projects in college was to like fake apply for a job. and I found one and then I just like it was a for a videographer at an art gallery at the school. And then I just actually applied for it just kind of to be funny. And then I got the job and so I started doing videography for this art gallery. And when I was in college and so kind of got better video stuff. And I remember I called the rector of the seminary when I was leaving and I Hey, I've got some video equipment, I do some video work. Like, would you want me to bring that or would should I just kind of leave that here? And I really didn't care. And he was like, Nah, dude, we'll use it. Like, like bring it. And I kind of learned in that moment I was like, interesting. Like maybe God doesn't want you to like completely forget who you are when you come to follow him. Maybe he kinda wants to use what he gave you for the kingdom. And so I started making videos for the seminary for some of their fundraisers and our benefits. And then we did like a I mean, this is probably like a lot of colleges and stuff, but each it at the end of the year you do like this roast video of everybody and it's just super funny, you know. So I started making videos for that stuff every year. And then all throughout seminary I had so many times, man. When I was like, gosh, this is so fun. Like these moments are so cool with these guys who all want to be saints and want to be holy and are just super cool dudes. I wish like somebody was filming right now because it would be so good for young, like seventeen, eighteen year old guys to see what this is actually like. But at seminary, it's kind of private, guys are nervous, the formaters don't really want you filming stuff necessarily. So I didn't really do a lot of that in seminary. But then when I got ordained, the same feeling hit. Like Two, three, four months into priesthood, I was like, gosh, this is so beautiful. I wish somebody had shown me this. I wish somebody was like filming right now. And then finally there was one day, about four months in, it was one Friday evening, and the next day I had I was baptizing Quintoplets, which I knew was just probably never gonna happen again in my priesthood. It was absurd. Then we had like a wedding, I had mess, I had confessions, I had a young adult thing, and I was like, tomorrow's gonna be a fun day. And I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna film it. I'm just gonna film in between, saying stuff, whatever. And so I just kinda I didn't I didn't really have any expectations. I just wanted to show what the day was. And I filmed it and edited it down to about four and a half minutes and I watched it. I remember thinking, like, gosh, this this is capturing what I felt in that day in about four and a half minutes. Like this is capturing those feelings. And so I just posted it on just I think it was Facebook and YouTube and just lots of very positive responses from people. And You know, got a lot of views, but also just comments from people saying, like, this is so cool to know. Like, I'm gonna send this to my son, who's thinking about being a priest, all that kind of stuff. And so that's how kind of how I got started. I I honestly that first like year, year and a half, I didn't post very much just 'cause I was busy. I mean being a priest is busy. So I'd post a video like every month and a half, maybe. now I'm a lot more disciplined with it. Because for me right now, like I mean, Jesus literally commands go out to all the nations making them disciples. And I think because we're so busy as priests, it's not a reason not to do social media. It is exactly the reason to use social media because your energy is so limited. I can only preach a homily in front of so many people physically. But you can record that homily and post it online and it will keep preaching itself with no more energy or time on your part to as many it literally limitless number of people. And it's like when that's when that tool is just handed to you, why would you not? use that. I mean if we are trying to unashamedly influence the culture with good values. So like let's influence the culture as much as possible toward Christ. So I mean I do think it kind of is just part of what I feel called to. I wouldn't tell every priest he needed to do that. but and it frankly time wise it's a small part of what I'm doing in terms of parish ministry. But I do think it can be a good tool and in terms of the salvation of souls. It's what we're all about. You mean you're not spending half a day on Instagram? I hope not. That would make me perfect the perfect filter for your video. That's not that's not what you care about? No, that would make me go kind of psycho, I think. And in fact, I'll just say this too. Go ahead. No, I was gonna say, I think I think there's a lot of people who would say the same thing. And we can see, you know, the mental health and and everything too with social media as well. Because I mean there's there's always the bad side of to anything. I mean, just like social media is a tool. Right. It's it's strictly tool. And like you said, I mean there's so many like I want to be having this this conversation with you. You know, I probably would never heard of you because, you know, you're you're down in Texas. I'm in I'm in Michigan, but and here we are having a great conversation. And it's it's because of social media. And you know, I think some people they kind of go the opposite way. It's like all social media is bad. It's like, Yes, it can obviously be bad and yes, it it can be used for evil, but it also can be used for good. And I think I think I heard you it was either homily or an an interview you were doing and you said, you know, we are yes, you social media can be bad, but God is also calling us to to evangelize in social media because you know there's tons there's millions and billions of people using these platforms and these tools. And if all because the the opposite is there too, right? Like the devil and the diabolical, all these negative things are there. So why not be the voice of truth, the voice of light? to evangelize to people out there because that might be that might be what you post or what you say might be the only true thing that they hear that day and it might be what they need to turn their life around because you just don't know. So just I I go ahead. No, yeah, and I just totally agree with that. Exactly. I mean I would not tell somebody if you don't use Instagram, go get on Instagram so you can watch my videos. I would be like, no, stay off of Instagram. Like it's not social media the studies are pretty clear. Like it doesn't make you happy like I would tell people to get off of it. I do tell people to get off of it. But telling a bunch of people to get off of it if I'm the pulpit is not reaching the lost sheep on social media. And I don't believe it's in like to your point, I don't think it's inherently evil. So I think it can be used as a tool for good. And if we are trying to go out, like if you're not using social media, like what else is your parish or your priest doing to go out? Like, I mean, I think we could also be going to restaurants and things like that as well. But social media is a very low energy, high output. way of doing that. So I think it's not necessarily for everybody, but it is worth taking a look at. And I've definitely seen a lot of positive cases. Good. Yeah, 100%. So you do have two two big projects that I've seen on your website. So you have the the Pilgrim Rosary and then the Concert. Is it Concerts for Life or Concert for Life? Concert for Life, yeah, yeah. Concert for Life, perfect. So tell tell our audience about that because I I was watching some videos and I mean clearly it's getting a great turnout. You guys are raising a ton of monies for all the The pregnancy centers down there in Houston. So tell tell us a little bit about the the concert for life. Yeah, well I mentioned at the beginning my my my dad did a lot of pro life before I was born and he's on the board at a pregnancy center downtown here, helps a lot of women, you know, people coming in women coming in in crisis pregnancies and scared and alone and gives them a lot of support in various ways. Really a beautiful, beautiful ministry. And they were looking for a kind of a different fundraiser to do. They usually do a dinner, but he was like, Hey, how about we want to try something else? Why don't you do You've been writing songs, playing music. Why don't you do like a benefit concert for the center? And I was like, Okay, cool. So we didn't really know what to expect. We just had it when I was eighteen. I wrote all the music for it, played a bunch of different instruments. We had about three hundred people come and raised like seventy thousand dollars that first year. So we were like super, super thrilled. but then I again kind of with the video thing, I went off to seminary and was like, that's been fun, bye. I guess we're done with that. But there was kind of a need the next summer with the center, so we did it again. And it's been cool because I met guys in seminary who played music and stuff. And so I kind of sort we started inviting them to come. Things kind of kept growing. So we just did our tenth one. I think it was the tenth annual one that we did. And it was all priests, six priests from other country. I still wrote all the music. I hope the quality of the music's increased over the years too. but we get, you know, thousands of people out there and we raised about a hundred and forty five thousand dollars this year. And it's hard to even describe it because it's such a unique thing to have like shirts, priests up there, and it's not just like a priest talent show or something. Like these dudes are really good at playing their instruments. Like they're really good musicians. And it's really cool how God has kind of brought it together. So we raise a lot of money for the center, which is what it's about. But it's also a time to be encouraged. Okay, you're not the only pro life person in the city. You know, there's a lot of other people here too. And then this wasn't the plan, but it's kind of turned into kind of a vocations event too, because you got six priests on stage and they're collars playing music. It's like If you're a young guy, I don't know if you can leave there and not think a little bit about priesthood. So, I don't spend that much time playing music throughout the year, but for a couple weeks at the end of summer I try to work really hard to make that a really fun show. So you should come out sometime. Yes. Wha when is it typically? Do you guys do the same time every year or usually toward the end of the summer, usually toward the end of July, sometimes early August. Just kinda depends on schedules and stuff. So That would be awesome. So end of July. And yeah, I'll be sure next year I'll be watching your social media and I'll help promote it and post stuff and everything. But yeah, I'd love to go. I that sounds amazing. So and so okay, so then the next one is the the pilgrim rosary, which I think is I I watched the video and I think it's an incredible idea. So tell our audience about that as well. I think that's just a phenomenal thing you got going on there. Yeah, well I I appreciate that. I've been super pumped with how it's come together. Basically connected with the confession thing earlier, during that first holy week, there were some ladies at the parish who were really s moving toward religious life. And so during that week when I was doing confessions, they were just praying a ton that week for the people coming. And for me it was just really beautiful. And so they bought a couple hundred of these like kind of inexpensive wooden rosaries, you know, in Jerusalem. And they were praying on them and they were giving them to penitence after they went to confession and they would just say, Hey, I just prayed a rosary on this for you, you can you can pray on it now. And I mentioned that to a buddy of mine who's a priest and he had said, Hey, you know, like that would be cool to kind of keep that going. And then I thought, like, yeah, what if we put a QR code on the rosary and then they could log it, and they could basically scan it and say who they are and where they prayed the rosary at and when they prayed it, and they could pass it on to that person and they could do the same thing. And then you could actually track that rosary for the people involved to like see where it goes on a map throughout the world, you know. The whole point being like The rosary is such a powerful prayer and Mary does incredible things. Let's invite people into that in kind of a tangible way, kind of a light invitation to involve them. And so I mean I I kind of was like, I hope we do that someday. And then just a couple months later, I was talking with a buddy of mine, the guy who runs Catholify about a different project. And I just kind of happened to mention this at the end of the conversation. And he was like, Yo, dude, I think we could build that for you. And I was like, Okay, that'd be sweet. And then I also, like, two weeks later was at this conference and there was a lady there who like did a lot of rosary manufacturing. And I was Could you give me like a couple thousand rosaries? Like what that look like? Custom design. And she was like, Yeah, they could do this, this, and this. And then my dad's this was kind of the craziest part to me. My dad's company that he runs, they test for leaks in refineries. And what they use to mark the leaks is like small QR metals. And he was like, We can just call that company and they can make you some custom like Pilgrim rosary QR metals. And so within like a couple months after that it just like all came together and then we were like launching it and taking pre orders and stuff. We sold out that first thousand pretty fast. And now we've been going just since the beginning of the year and there's thirty five hundred pilgrim rosaries in forty nine of the fifty states in the United States. wow and then in over twenty countries, five different continents. So it's really spread. It's funny, the only state that doesn't have a pilgrim rosary is Idaho. I don't know what's going on in Idaho, but they need Mary. I don't know what they have against Mary in Idaho, but somebody needs to get out of there. So Alright, if if you're listening in Idaho to this episode, you need to log on and you need to get a pilgrim rosary and get that. Exactly. Idaho, what is up with them over there? That that is no, I it it's so funny how I mean, obviously we know this, but just see God working in the smallest ways. It's just like a random idea. You just saw the two You know, older women just handing rosaries out. And it's like, yeah, that'd be cool. That'd be like a cool project one day, but then you forget about it. It just keeps popping up. And God's like, Nope, I want you to do this. I'm just gonna keep putting it in your way and eventually we'll figure it out. So that's and God God works in mysterious ways. So do you do you have any other projects that you're working on or I mean, you already have you're already busy being a parish priest and the concert? Is there anything else that is kind of brewing in the works? Yeah, always got a few things. Here we're planning a big conference for the diocese, for people in the diocese in the spring for family. So if any people is in Houston or close to Houston, please come out for that conference. It's the last weekend in April. I'm also working on a book right now on discerning God's will. It's just about finishing up the manuscript for that. So I'm excited for that. And then I should be starting some reflection on a podcast pretty soon too. So all that stuff tends to kind of work together and God's opened some doors with those things. So teoria to do what we can with with social media, just spread the word and and hopefully with vocation. beautiful. Well, God bless you and and all the work that you're doing. How how can our listeners find out more about you, get in contact to you, find about the concert, Pilgrim Rosary and and all that as well? Basically wherever they if if they use social media, wherever they follow is usually gonna work out. Facebook, Instagram, working on TikTok. TikTok's a weird place. I have somebody else who posts for me on TikTok 'cause it's little bit weird. But they're there too. And then they can always join the newsletter. Just go into my website, Father David Michael Moses dot com. We'll have all that information and we'll get them in in the loop. Newsletter's a good way to stay in the loop for the concert and that kind of thing. Perfect. Yeah, and I'll put links in the show notes for all you guys as well, so you can can follow Father on on all those social media platforms that we're telling you not to go on. Yeah, if you don't if you have them, okay, you can but if you don't already have them, stay off. Stay happy. Please do. Please do. well Father, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it. Do you mind giving us your your final blessing? Then we'll say goodbye. Sounds good. Holy Father, we give you thanks for this great ministry, the mainly podcast, good work that they they do. Give you thanks for all those listening today, that you will pour your blessings down upon upon them, that you will form their hearts as good disciples of your son, that they might become great saints for your kingdom, imitating your son with sacrificial love. Amen. Thank you so much, Father. Really appreciate your time. Until next time, everyone, go out there and be a saint. Brothers, thank you so much for listening to this episode. If the shows add value to your life, I'm going to ask you to do three things. Share with a brother who needs it. Leave us a review. And finally, support the show so we can keep fighting. Links are in the show notes. We'll see you next week.