Emily: Thanks so much and welcome back to another episode of Open Door Policy. I'm your co-host Emily Mentock, and I'm joined today by Father Patrick Gonyeau. Fr. Patrick: Hello, Emily. Emily: Hi father Patrick. How are you? Fr. Patrick: Great, Emily. It is like a 60-some degrees sunny day here in the Motor City. And I'm excited to be back on Open Door Policy and see what the Holy Spirit's going to do today with our special guest, who we'll introduce in just a few moments, but first Emily, what's going on in your life? Emily: Oh, great question. You know, just pretty busy with work stuff right now and excited to see things opening up around the city, hopefully. My husband is now fully vaccinated, which is a blessing, and I have it on my to-do list to get signed up for my vaccine this week. I got a text — my mom, she was like, "Emily, it's 16 and up in Michigan. Now you need to go get your vaccine." I'm doing that this week. But that's pretty much it, you know, and also it's so funny, Father Patrick, we opened with the weather again. I think that this a podcast partially about joyful missionary disciples, but also partially about just the spring weather update in Southeast Michigan. Fr. Patrick: Oh my gosh. I think — I guess I always do that, I guess. Yeah. Emily: Classic Midwesterners, right? We're always just like, "Oh, and this — my mood is totally set by the day today." Fr. Patrick: Oh my gosh. I have this, like, goal. I honestly think that like, no matter what the weather is, like, each day is a gift with Jesus. And then there's something that happens, though, like it's such a beautiful, sunny, spring day and I'm just like, I do love the sun. I like that sunshine. So yeah, it's awesome to see things blooming and in this Easter season of rejoicing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I have to ask you, Emily, what was one of your favorite experiences of the Triduum, Holy Week, maybe Easter Sunday — any of your favorite liturgy experiences of the Triduum, perhaps? Or the Divine Mercy Sunday, you have a choice. Emily: I have so many, Oh, sorry. But I was blessed to be on monitoring livestream duty for a lot of the Triduum, livestreams for the archdiocese, so that was just so many beautiful liturgies, because they just really went all out at the cathedral. And just reflecting even for Chrism Mass, for example, how last year in the pandemic, there was like only 10 people allowed in the cathedral at that time. And we had to have like one of the like ushers and the photographer tapping in and out to maintain that number 10 as we were doing the livestream during the pandemic. So to see the livestreams, I mean, still very socially distant of course, but for Archbishop to be preaching to a full church again, and just the beauty of hearing, like, the singers and stuff, like it was not just from the choir, but even just from the congregation, it was really beautiful. Emily: And I just felt really grateful to get, to continue to serve in that way and give this gift to people who are still not able to return to Mass. And then my husband and I did go to 11:00 AM Sunday morning Mass at St. Aloysius, our parish. And then we went to a nice brunch downtown, like the basic millennials we are, went to Easter brunch afterwards to celebrate. So that was really fun and — fun fact, so major feast days I don't eat like a vegan because I don't do it for like, animal reasons I do it for like, you know, environmental conscious, like totally faith-based reasons for me personally. And so it was like Easter, I'm going to get an omelet and we got oysters. So feasts stays, I don't do the vegan thing. Fr. Patrick: Oh, that's a treat right there. Seriously. That's awesome. And I did see you could see the Archbishop at the Chrism Mass, how visibly moved he was when he got to his chair to start the liturgy. And just, yeah, you could see tears, tears of, I think joy, of course, his heart — just beautiful manifestation of the Church being together. And I just have to throw this out there, the Renewal of Baptismal Promises that took place at the Easter Vigil, and we also used it in the liturgy on Easter Sunday, the gift of our baptism and how the Church talks about, you know, that it —as Romans chapter six says, that when we were baptized, we shared in the death of Christ, so that just as Jesus, just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too might walk in the newness of life. And I feel that Easter — I think that Easter is celebrating the resurrection is such an amazing time for disciples of Jesus to say yes anew with those I do's to those Renewal of the Baptismal Promises, I do to living life fully alive in the Holy Spirit, with the risen Lord Jesus at my side. That is why this podcast exists. And I'm pumped to see our guests, see our guests over Zoom as we record — we'll be in a studio one day — but Emily, would you like to introduce our awesome guest today? Emily: Yes. I am super excited to share our guest. So some fun facts about him so you guys can get to know what a great person he is. The first fact is that he is a brand new grandfather, so welcome grandson named Finnegan Ray McWilliams. So that's always a blessing, Ron, our producer, who's also a new grandfather himself is I'm sure celebrating and solidarity. And then also a fun fact: he owns an exterior mosquito tick and flea control franchise, which sounds super niche to me, but I'm so glad it exists in the world, 'cause we, we do need to control those particular pests. And then last fun fact, this one might be a surprise to our audience, but he was the lead singer in a rock and roll cover band, so I hope we get to bring some of that energy. I am super excited today to introduce Deacon Chris Beltowski, welcome, Deacon Chris. Dcn. Chris: Thank you so much, Emily, thanks Father Patrick. It's great to be here and yeah, those are some fun facts. When I was thinking about it, it's like, did I really do that? And as far as singing in the rock and roll band, and do I really have an exterior mosquito tick and flea control company, I guess I could say, do I really have a grandson too? So all of those things sometimes feel surreal. Emily: When was your grandson born? Dcn. Chris: He was born on March 8th. Emily: Oh, nice. My birthday's March 9th. Fr. Patrick: So, Deacon, tell us about your family, brother. Dcn. Chris: Yeah, sure. So yeah, so I've been married for 25 years to my beautiful wife, Sharon. We have four daughters: twins who are 24 years old, and one of those twins is the mother of the new grandson. So she's married for about a year and a half or so. And then I've got a 22 year old and a 19 year old. Emily: Oh, congratulations. What a beautiful thing. Speaker 3: Yeah. So it's it's been a house full of females and my wife always tells me never to leave out that we also have a female dog named Maggie. So we always got to get that in. Emily: All the girls, but now you have your grandson. So there's a new boy in the family. Fr. Patrick: I'm sure you heard the joke over the years, "Blessed art thou among women," Deacon Chris. Emily: Oh, I've never heard that one, Father Patrick! Dcn. Chris: Yes. And I would not change anything for the world, so. Emily: Well it's so — we're so excited to get to know you today and learn more about your story. But could you just start us kind of, you know, at the beginning, like what was your life like as you became a joyful missionary disciple or as you encountered Christ, what was your life during that time? Not the — I mean, you could totally have been a rocking out joyful missionary disciple in your cover band, but we'd just love to hear a little more of your backstory that's led you to where you are now. Dcn. Chris: Yeah, no, definitely. I consider it a journey for sure. So it wasn't always like that at the beginning, but yeah, I'm the youngest of eight. My mother and father are both deceased, but I grew up in Royal Oak, Michigan and went to St. Mary Catholic Church in Royal Oak. That was our home parish. And by the way, actually that was where Finnegan Ray's baptism was this past Sunday. That was a lot of great, great memories there and a lot of great priests I've altar served for as well. But yeah, back at that time you know, my mom and dad were definitely — fear of the Lord you know that's, that's kind of what kept us on the straight and narrow for the most part, but certainly did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ at that time. Dcn. Chris: Just very obligatory went to church every Sunday. And I guess I would say that was the one constant and the saving grace from, from Jesus is that I continued to receive the Eucharist despite the fact that I really didn't have a clue of what I was doing at the time. But take me all the way through my teenage years with that same type of approach and attitude. And then into my early twenties, before I met my wife and I was actually teaching religious education to fifth graders and we were talking about the Ten Commandments, believe it or not. And, and I realized as I'm, so-called teaching the Ten Commandments to these fifth graders that I was not following the commandments. And so I that was probably my first main encounter with Jesus Christ was just being, as they say, cut to the heart and realizing that I was a sinner and that you know, if I'm going to be teaching these things and I absolutely have to know about them and to live them in my heart. And so that was a key moment for me from an encountering Jesus standpoint. Emily: Wow. What a beautiful revelation that must've been just amongst children too, who are so open and less receptive to realize that. Dcn. Chris: Yeah, for sure. And then, you know, really just moving on from there. I ended up meeting my wife in my mid twenties and I would consider her definitely part of my journey as well. At that time again, it would be easy to have swayed one way or another. I certainly was dating some other people, but my wife you know, came into the picture. Our two sister-in-laws — we actually met on a blind date and our two sister-in-laws had a moms group at Our Lady of La Salette in Berkeley, and my sister-in-law said, "Hey, I know this great Catholic boy." And her sister-in-law said, "I know this great Catholic girl." And again, divine intervention, we ended up on a blind date. That was our first date, was a blind date and the rest was history. So she was a huge part of my faith life. At that time, I was not going to reconciliation. She was, and she reintroduced me to that and the graces that come from that sacrament that was again, another big step for me in, in encountering Jesus in the faith. And I, you know, when I think back on the diaconate, I mean, that definitely plays a part in the diaconate discernment too. Fr. Patrick: So when did you start to experience a call from the Lord to the diaconate on your faith journey? Dcn. Chris: Yeah, so early on in my marriage — again, it's these points where you're at, where you, you know, you just feel like you could and should be better and further along in virtue and, and living out the faith. And I think within my marriage you know, there was certainly a selfish aspect for me as it related to my wife or related to, you know, my young kids. And so we had a great presentation that was put on at our then home parish, Sacred Heart in Auburn Hills. And it was by Christopher West, Theology of the Body. And it was just, it was an amazing, and he does such a great job at taking this teaching of Saint Pope John Paul II, and bringing it to a level that you can understand it. And it was just, again, a moment of encountering Jesus, being cut to the heart that we were all made in the image and likeness of God and all of us deserving the same dignity. Dcn. Chris: And I just remember walking out of that, just looking at my wife, looking at my kids and really looking at every human being just differently, just seeing them differently for the first time. Really. And that was, that was where some stirring started to go on in my heart about you know, serving and you know, what was I doing and what was I supposed to be doing? And so that was another huge moment on the path to the diaconate. And then I, you know — we had a deacon at our parish and I had not really seen one or known what one did. And so I invited him out to lunch to just ask him some questions. And that was the first time I heard the word "discernment" ever. And and so he kind of introduced me to the path of, you know, "Hey, just go, go apply to the seminary and take a class," you know, is what he would say. Dcn. Chris: And, and one class is all it took. I mean, you just — it was Introduction to Theology and it's so addicting, and you don't know what you don't know. And I didn't know a lot and I still don't. And so it's — that was huge as well, was just taking that first class and really, you know, you go in there thinking, "Oh, I'm going in to be a deacon. I'm going to be a deacon." But really that first class kind of set me straight and I realized this isn't about me and what I want to do or think I want to do, but rather, what does the Lord want me to do? And I really think being able to detach myself from that outcome was ultimately helpful in leading me down that path. So. Fr. Patrick: Oh, that is awesome, brother. Emily: How does- oh, go ahead, Father Patrick. Fr. Patrick: No you go, Emily. Paper, rock, scissors, real quick. One, two, three, Emily: Oh, no. Okay. I'll just go. Fr. Patrick: Go for it. Emily: Okay. So Deacon Chris, I know that family life is such an important part of being a permanent deacon, right? You get to have a family, it's different from the priesthood. And you mentioned that, you know, a lot of like your first encounter with the Good News and growing it like that for you, that never took place outside the context of your family, whether it was from just for the early days of dating your wife, but then also when you were having your kids. So can you talk us a little bit more about how you did have that encounter with Christ and grew in your faith, especially within your home life and in your family? Speaker 3: Yeah, I think again, it was just well, first of all, grace of God, for sure. 'Cause even my wife would tell you that both of us coming into our marriage you know, we needed each other, you know, we didn't — we needed each other and the grace of God to take it to, let's say, that next level. And so one of the things that we both sought after in our engagement was Natural Family Planning, you know, something that we had heard about. And we just said, hey, we want to explore this and make sure that we consider this in our married life, not to mention that that's really, you know, what we're supposed to do. You know? So so we did, and again, grace, God, we just, we went to one of the classes ahead of time. Dcn. Chris: We explored it. We both started to work together ahead of our marriage on that process to learn it and to know it. And, you know, we, I think we came into the marriage thinking that if we could commit ourselves to that process in our marriage, that we could, we could really get through a lot of stuff, if not everything, because that's a tough thing. It's a tough thing to at least grasp. And once we did grasp it and once we learned it and started to commit ourselves to it that was like one of the foundational tools for us as a couple and as a family, because it's just, it's such a huge commitment to God and to open yourself up to God that way and to say, God, you're in control of what happens to our family, you know, moving forward. Dcn. Chris: And so that was a catalyst, a foundation for us. And something that, you know, we always talk that if there's these five really important things, that if you're on the same page with, in your marriage and then there's these thousand unimportant things that happen along the way, boy, if you can be on the same page and committed with God to those five important things, then the thousand things are always going to take care of themselves. And I think that that was a foundational thing for us in our marriage. And so, yeah, just bringing that type of commitment to other things to making sure that, you know, as our kids were born, we were a family of prayer. I mean, we prayed every night and we were, and it wasn't just, you know, rote prayer. It was, it was all kinds of diverse prayer. It was fun. It was you know, we would sing hymns some nights. We would act out scripture verses. I remember acting out, you know, Samson and Delilah. Emily: Oh my gosh, I'm sure your kids loved that. Dcn. Chris: And they, you know, and they had to do it too. I mean, that's what they were doing. And we would play the alphabet, you know, the Bible alphabet where everybody had to name something in alphabetical order from the Bible. And so it was a lot of diversity that we just tried to maintain throughout those early years. And that was again, very foundational and again, always by the grace of God. So Fr. Patrick: This is awesome. I do picture with Sampson Delilah a little bit, you've got all these ladies, you know, daughters, and there's only one person who can play Samson and get his hair cut. Like, "Daddy, I cut your hair!" Did you actually let them cut your hair? Dcn. Chris: I didn't let the, cut my hair. Well, you can see, I don't really have that much. And it was pretty much the same back then. So Fr. Patrick: Deacon it's, it's awesome to hear your testimony. And I just, you know, I think everybody listening right now, we can taste and see the goodness of the Lord in in your life. I'm marveling over just the reality of disciples of Jesus. It's one of the wonderful things — we're going to Church on Sunday and looking around and seeing they believe too. And then to see in other people's lives, the fruits of being a disciple of Jesus, that this person walks with Jesus. This person now is married and Jesus is the center of their marriage. They're praying with their kids every day. They're walking with Jesus, and I know, Deacon, that you burn for the Gospel. And I wanted to ask you about your ministry as a deacon. I know we're going to get into a little bit later a new position you've taken, but just from your heart as a disciple who's been blessed to be married 25 years. That's like an amazing school of Holy Spirit formation to be married to a wonderful woman who loves the Lord and have having raised a family. Tell us about, you know, your heart, your ministry as a deacon in the Catholic Church and just where that's at these days in your life brother. Dcn. Chris: Sure, sure. And really, you know, we're talking about the family and encountering Jesus and the faith within the family, but at that moment with the Christopher West presentation, it really started to click for me to get outside of myself and outside of my family too. And that's when I started to just, you know, look into other ministries, whether it was St Vincent DePaul or our prison ministry. For instance, I can remember sitting with an inmate that I would visit frequently. And, and he asked me a question. He wanted me to do something for him that I didn't feel comfortable. And at that moment I told myself, I was like, wow. Or I asked myself, why am I here? Like, why am I not home with my kids right now? And the Lord spoke to me that, you know, I am here so that my kids can see that I am here. Dcn. Chris: And so and I remember, you know, talking to him, that inmate, and being able to talk out the thing he was asking me about and tell him, yeah, you know, I'm not comfortable with that. And so I — but it just, it really spawned on me this question of why am I trying to do some of the things that I was trying to do? And, and it just, it hit me that, you know, I'm doing this to show an example — and whether it was to my kids or to other people that that was and also for myself, I mean, I've had encounters with, again, talking about taking on that servant heart from the diaconate and something that was, again, happening to me before I was ordained, so to speak. But it was encountering people out on the streets. Dcn. Chris: You know, one of the things that we go through in the formation process is summer ministries that we do. And we try to really challenge ourselves to do things that are going to make us uncomfortable. And so I had the opportunity to do that throughout formation, and I did it with, you know, a few things before formation as well, but it was just encountering people in the — seeing the Gospel kind of being lived out on the streets, so to speak. And you know, I can think of a couple of different examples where you know, it was a Gospel passage that occurred right in front of me, right on the street. We Fr. Patrick: Tell us one of your favorite ones! We love stories. Dcn. Chris: I know, I know. So the first one, this was with Sister Judy Anne Durello, who is deceased now, but God rest her soul. We called her the Mother Theresa of Detroit. And she delivered homemade lunches to the treasures of the street, the homeless. And I got the privilege to work with her during the summer. And one of the days that we were out delivering the lunches I'll never forget this gentleman, his name was Napoleon, and it was actually his birthday that day. And these were routes that she ran every day. And so she saw the people the same people every day. And, but this was my kind of first experience of it. So we're down at the end of the route we've got two lunches left and Napoleon comes out of his house. Sister Judy Anne would beep her horn as she would come around the block and Napoleon comes out of his house and he's got family members with him. Dcn. Chris: And, when, I mean, these are the poorest of the poor. So, you know, a good day for them was moving from one abandoned home to a better abandoned home, you know? So they were definitely the poorest of the poor. And again, Sister Judy Anne gave him so much dignity and you know, seeing them as treasures of the street. And so Napoleon comes out, we've got two lunches left, there's four or five people with him. And so we go ahead and, and we've got more people we could be delivering to, but we don't have the lunches. So, all right, we're going to give these two lunches to Napoleon while down the street is a lady named Rose and, you know, Sister Judy Anne's saying, Oh, well, hey, we don't have any more lunches left. You know, there's really not much we can do. Dcn. Chris: Let's give these two to Napoleon. Well, Napoleon looks at us and he tells us, well, you know, Rose is down at the end of the street and Napoleon with these four or five people behind him tells us, give one of these lunches to Rose. And I, like, all I could think of was the, you know, the widow with her coins and giving all that she has to, you know, to the poor and here's Napoleon who needs more than that one lunch, and he's giving away his lunch to Rose down the street. So, that is an encounter with Jesus. And you just, you have to be changed from a situation like that. And I was. Emily: And go and tell people about it, right? The people who had witnessed Jesus's own miracles, it wouldn't just be that they would experience it and then they're going to share it. So thank you so much for sharing that with us during this podcast to inspire others as well. But it's a really beautiful story, Deacon Chris, thank you. We've talked, you know, on this podcast and even hearing from you that, you know, once you do have that, an encounter like that, you know, it changes your life and you want to share it with others as well. How has the sort of a different kind of encounter with Christ through your vocation as a deacon? How are you, how do you try and share that with others now? Dcn. Chris: Yeah, well, certainly trying to be just open to the Lord and where he might ask me to go, you know. For instance, even a recent example, I was obviously very busy and overwhelmed by this new assignment. And I had a retreat that was scheduled to do with seniors from high school, and I wanted to stay committed to it 'cause I said I would do it, but it was it was one of those situations where I was like, Oh boy, can I fit this in? Can I make this happen? You know? But I ended up you know, keeping it on my schedule and taking the day to do it. And just being open to the Lord for that, that possibility. And I went there and these seniors just blew me away by their honesty where they were at in their journey and just their openness. Dcn. Chris: And it, you know, it turned out to be a, an opportunity for me to be ministered to at that moment. So that's a small example, but I look for things to just stay open and not try not to say no to a lot of stuff, because I may — my wife does a really good job of helping me stay on track so that I keep my priorities straight, but you just never know when you're going to encounter Jesus. And maybe that sounds selfish. I don't know, but it's just being open to the encounter that's waiting to take place, that I think God knows is already there for you and you don't know it. So that would be an example. And you know, I have the privilege of — and before this new assignment, I had the privilege of being on the formation team in the diaconate where I have my wife and I actually work with another couple who we oversee the incoming couples. Dcn. Chris: So we call them the aspirants, it's the aspirants' year. So they're aspiring to be deacons or at least to discern that call. And so we've had that privilege for about the last four years. And it's just an opportunity to walk that journey with them and to continue to discern and to be detached from the outcome of different things. I think that it's such a key that's — I feel like if we can stay detached from the outcome, then we can't help but ultimately follow God's will because he'll lead us then to it. So so for me, I think it's — I really, I love reflection. I love awareness. I love kind of the thrill of the chase of trying to find out where God is at. And it seems like it's, you know, it's encountering other people and and other things that they're doing and just being open to putting yourself in the position to be a part of that and to see what God has in store for all of us. Emily: Right. You've mentioned your new position, your new assignment a few times. Do you guys, can you just share with the audience, what is your new assignment when you started and maybe how these first few weeks are going? Dcn. Chris: Sure. So I'm Associate Director of the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of Detroit. That's a mouthful. And yeah, I've been doing it for five weeks and they've been gracious to allow me to kind of transition out of my business— as mentioned earlier, the exterior mosquito tick and flea control. I've got a couple of great team members who are running that for the season. And we, you know, it's a seasonal business, so we were ready to go and we have to have the season and they've been great in running it. So yeah, I'm five weeks in and getting exposed to a lot of stuff, maybe a little bit of drinking through the fire hose, that we say, which is good because it's just, it's offering me a ton of different experiences. And there's certainly some timelines and deadlines to be met and that's always good to learn, you know, learn different things. And so it's going great again, I I couldn't be more grateful to God. I feel extremely humbled by the situation. And I looked at it as an opportunity to serve the people that serve the people. And it's an absolute blessing, so, Fr. Patrick: Oh, this is awesome. Deacon, you know, hearing your testimony you know, from your own formation experience and the beautiful story that you just told a few minutes ago and just your own reflection encountering Jesus and others, and a couple of things come to mind. I think if I go back to your parents and like their love of the Lord and that fear of the Lord, you know, that you mentioned that before. And that I remember sitting with a really awesome scripture scholar and the Hebrew word for fear of the Lord and, you know, Proverbs nine, 10, the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord and yerat Adonai. That Hebrew word there for fear is yera. And I asked the scripture scholar, like, is it, can you translate it all? Wonder? Fear? Does it encompass those things in the end, you said,? Yeah. Yeah. And like the fear part of course, is like, it's like a healthy fear. It's, you know, I don't want to drop this precious, beautiful thing. There's not no value to the healthy fear of like, Hell is awful and I don't want to have anything to do with it. Amen to that. That's okay. Sometimes fear serves a purpose. Amen. But but that healthy, that all in that wonder, the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord, the awe, and the wonder about God's presence. And that comes through as you talk about your ministry. I just hear John 20, 21, like, "As the father has sent me, so I send you and your heart for, you know, serving the Lord and encountering him through others." And also how they're going to encounter him through you. Fr. Patrick: You're preaching, you're teaching. I think about like the ministry of the word, the ministry of the altar, the ministry of charity that the deacons carry. And now the Lord has entrusted to you this this beautiful new ministry following a gentle beloved, holy giant, in our diocese, Deacon Kevin Breen, God rest his soul, that you are now given this beautiful ministry to help stir and form, help form hearts right? Of the deacons who are going to help equip others to go out. So how's it going five, six weeks in like, what's stirring on your heart right now, what's your dream for this, this new assignment as best as you can see it right now? Dcn. Chris: Yeah, sure. Well, first of all, Deacon Kevin was an amazing man. And I had the privilege to get to know him over those last four years at a deeper level. And he has laid an amazing foundation for the diaconate, and so I just really hope to honor him and honor the Archdiocese of Detroit in what he's already established. So, and yeah, there's been people I've met with some of the different boards that we have established and it's kind of like, Hey, if it isn't broken, don't fix it. You know? And, and it is — you know, it's not broken. So it's, he did such an amazing job. And, and so — and I do want to share, I mentioned this in some other places, but his example, him and his wife, Sheila, we had the opportunity to visit him literally a week before he passed away. Dcn. Chris: And it didn't seem to me at the time that there was any reason that we should be invited into their home. We had scheduled something that was actually going to take place a week later. And I had called him up just on a inclination to just say hi, and to make sure we were still on for it. And he had, or his wife told me that, you know, maybe you guys should come sooner and they set this up for us to come literally the next day. And I just, all I could keep thinking of what we were in their home was unusually gracious hospitality that we know from the Unleash the Gospel letter. And I just can't, I still can't get that out of my mind as to this man and his wife at this most intimate moment, allowing me and my wife to visit him. Dcn. Chris: And so to me, it's just such an example of what we are called to do as just disciples of Christ. And I just want to, I want to share that for that reason. So, but vision-wise, you know, I think Unleash the Gospel, you know, has our vision in i:, a band of joyful missionary disciples. And so, as a band, I mean, we are called, and we know this for us who have played in bands before, right. But we're called to be in communion with each other and in unison with each other. And so I think our vision is to make sure as deacons that we are in communion with our brother bishops, our brother priests, deacons, lay faithful, that's so important for us. And certainly at this critical time with families of parishes, you know, we need to be supportive and driving that support at all levels. Dcn. Chris: So joyful, I mean, we need to be joyful. We need to not complain and not, you know, we need to, again, support this decision and receive that fruit of the Holy Spirit, that fruit of joy. As we walk along with our brothers during this, you know, missionary movement that we have. And so band of joyful missionary, you know, we need to go out, we need to preach the Good News. Recently what's really caught on for me is — and it's taken a long time — it's the kerygma, you know, we have to, we have to share the kerygma, the Good News to everybody that we meet. And that has — I mean, that's everybody, and it does, it starts in your family first and foremost, but it goes out to everywhere in our homilies and at baptisms, at weddings at funerals. We have this amazing privilege from God that we are able to share with people in these most intimate moments and with their families. Dcn. Chris: And we've got to share the kerygma. And I've recently — I'm really onto the created, captured, rescued, response. I want to give that proper you know, who created that themselves, but I've heard that from father John Riccardo, and that's where I've really latched onto it, but of course, Archbishop has it in his letter, it's just set a different way. Right. but it's created, captured, rescued, response, and, and it's that elevator pitch. And for those of us who are, have been in business, I mean, we know, we always look for that elevator pitch to give about our business, that thirty-second commercial, but this "created, captured, rescue, response," that's the thirty second commercial that can spawn into other conversations with people. Oh, what does it mean that we're created? And God wants us in relationship with each other. Dcn. Chris: What does it mean that we were captured and, and sin, you know, is amongst us. And we have that inclination and that the devil wants to pull us apart from our Lord? What does it mean to be rescued by God's son, Jesus Christ? And then what is our response to that? And it's just a succinct way to spread the Good News that can be incorporated into any conversation that you can have, especially in this world that we are living in this last year and so many days of pandemic. So, Fr. Patrick: Hey, Romans 1:16 deacon, you're just all over it. And I just see you pouring this fire out from your heart to the other deacons among the different ministries that they have. Preaching is so huge that hearts are stirred not only from the pulpit, but our elevator pitch, our evangelizing on the streets, in our offices and our homes. And Romans 1:16, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God for salvation unto those who believe. So, when you, when you share the kerygma, when we speak about Jesus, we speak about God's purpose that he created us and that, you know, sin has messed things up, but Jesus came as the solution. And when we respond to Jesus, there's new life like that, God is always going to back those words. And he'll often give a sign and a wonder to like, well, who I was supposed to talk to you today, but that's, you know. I just love what God's doing in your heart about preaching the kerygma. And what if everybody left church on Sunday? What if — let's just take, oh, let's say 500 people at church left church on Sunday — Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord— and they were all determined that I'm going to go share the kerygma with people this week, man, that's a Church on fire and I believe your ministry as a deacon and the Associate Director now is helping the Church to be on fire. I feel like it's Emily Mentock's turn. Your turn, Emily. Emily: We, as you can hear, Deacon Chris, we love to just dream on this podcast and it's — and I especially love what you said, Father Patrick, about like, "Oh, like let's, let's also take it as a sign and a wonder." And I always feel just so blessed to be part of the podcast because hearing these conversations, I always walk away inspired and take it as a sign to carry back to my own life and my work. If I'm hearing this and, you know, Deacon Chris, a lot of our listeners they do that too. You know, this, this could be the sign or the wonder of the way God has set this up, the grace moving through this podcast. So you mentioned also, you know, in an elevator pitch, you you've talked about your vision for, Unleash the Gospel, which is, you know, Archbishop's "to have a band of joyful missionary disciples." Emily: When I heard that, I was just thinking that in your new role, you're putting together band of joyful missionary deacons. Right? And I would love for you to share with the audience, like what, what would your pitch be about the permanent diaconate? You know, we hear a lot about all the ways you're supposed to say to young men, you know, in high school, like, have you thought about being a priest? So he thought about being a priest and I've never heard someone explain to me how to support people who might be discerning the permanent diaconate at any age in life. So what would you — maybe we can end with that. Like, what would you say to people who might be listening, who are there, maybe God is placing that call in their heart, or they know people who who are feeling that call? Dcn. Chris: Sure. Well, first of all, I would like to like to plead to, our families out there, our husbands and wives, our parents, right? And to make sure that we are not doing what we, what we see and hear all around us, which is, Oh, what, what college are you going to go to? Or what do you want to be when you grow up? Right. We've got to be asking the question to our kids and it has to start at home and it has to start at a young age. What does God wants you to be? Have you asked him, have you sat there and talked to him? We've got to catch, our kids and it starts with, I mean, I'm responsible. All parents are responsible for this and it's not just the diaconate. It's their vocation in life. It's the priesthood, it's consecrated life. Dcn. Chris: It's the single life, it's the married life, but it has to be come from God, you know? And, and for me, the privilege of having, you know, multiple vocations, vocation to married life. And I saw that from my parents and my wife saw that from her parents. And then to have this vocation to the diaconate is, you know, it's not just one vocation. So I would, I would say that we just have to open up the possibilities to our kids and, and that it needs to be ordained by God. Ultimately, that's what I would, I would say is where we need to start. But as far as you know, just testimony to you know, let's say the, the man that meets the qualifications, so to speak, right. If we're going to get a little more formal someone who's been married for 10 years and someone who is, is seeing, you know, seeing something stirring in their heart. Dcn. Chris: I think it's just important to get the message out that it can be done because we do have, you know, there's a curve. There's a curve in the priesthood, there's a curve in the diaconate and the numbers get smaller as we get older. Right. And so we really do have to look at you know, recruiting in a way to a younger crowd, and to show them that this can be done. You know, for me, I started the process back when I was probably 40 years old. And so I had a young family, I had teenagers and I think I even had — I think my youngest was 10 the time almost. So so it can be done. And even if it's, you know, crawling a little bit and it's one class at a time to get your prerequisites done or whatever that might be, I think we've got to show people that it can be done and that if you're called to it, the Lord provides. And so we need to make sure that our — the word recruitment sounds kind of weird, but it's in our recruitment efforts that we are able to show men that this vocation is very doable. If we put our trust in the Lord, he will open the doors for us and show us the way. So that that's I think what's first and foremost on my heart. Fr. Patrick: Yeah, Deacon Chris Beltowski. It has been awesome to have you with us, brother. And you have such a big role to play in helping disciples to hear Jesus say to them in a special way, come follow me as deacons, you know, and I just hear, as you speak of that invitation now. Good ol' Matthew 6L33, when Jesus says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given you besides," it's just awesome, your testimony, your life, that you're all about seek and serve in the kingdom of God and helping others to do that too. It's been an honor to be with you today, brother. And would you be willing to lead us in a closing prayer? Dcn. Chris: Yeah. First and foremost, thank you so much for having me on, and I'm very grateful, just grateful. So thank you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Good and gracious God, we just thank you for this time that we had here together on Open Door Policy podcast. We thank you for Father Patrick, Emily, Ron, just the beautiful work that they're doing in bringing your Gospel message to everyone, Lord. And we would just ask you to bless our ongoing journeys and our ongoing discernments and that all of us and all the listening audience would stay just open to the Lord and detached from outcomes. And just as was said earlier, just dream, and the possibilities of what the Lord has in store for each and every one of us as witnesses and disciples of the good news of Jesus Christ. So we ask you to bless all of us present here today, all of the listeners in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Fr. Patrick: Hey Emily, I'm gonna pitch it to you, but I got to say, Deacon, as you're praying, I just get the sense that there's some people that are listening right now, some fellows that your hearts are being grabbed about the diaconate, and to really consider it, please don't hesitate to call the archdiocese to talk to Deacon Chris, he can point you toward a discernment night, but as you were praying, you can, I just check alert right now is just touching some, some of the brothers out there, their hearts to consider the diaconate. We thank God for you and your witness deacon. Emily: Thank you. Emily: Thank you for listening to another episode of Open Door Policy, where we hear stories of different joyful missionary disciples in Southeast Michigan and how they encounter, grow, and witness in their love for Christ. You can find more episodes at unleashthegospel.org/podcasts. Or you can find us on Spotify, Google, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you next time.