The John-Henry Westen Show - June 21, 2023


FOR SALE: The Surprising Way Terry Barber Saved A Catholic Church


Episode Stats


Length

36 minutes

Words per minute

173.36807

Word count

6,344

Sentence count

561

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

7

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Terry Barber has rescued a church from the wrecking ball, and it's a story you don't want to miss! Join us this month as LifeSite goes on the road this month, and we need your help!

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 It made me so mad I told him to get out of my building. I said, if you can't understand that
00:00:05.920 abortion is murder, then I don't want to talk to you. Get out. 1.00
00:00:16.340 Hey, my friends. I am so glad to bring you a real hero of mine. His name is Terry Barber.
00:00:24.140 Everybody knows the CDs that you had. Okay. In years gone by, we had these CDs always at the back of the
00:00:31.700 churches. They were awesome. They led you to real faith because they were hardcore. They give you
00:00:37.100 the truth when you couldn't get it anywhere else. And there was these awesome CDs in the back of
00:00:41.660 almost every church. This is the man responsible. I'm going to introduce you to him in just a second.
00:00:47.560 But we're here actually to talk about a project that he's been into now for some time.
00:00:51.820 It's a project that you really need to take a serious look at for copying yourselves.
00:00:59.120 That's going to sound hard and weird because it's about the purchase of a church. You know how all
00:01:04.680 these churches are closing? People are using them for bars and whatever else. Terry's rescued a church
00:01:11.040 and there's a real thing you can do with that. You're going to be fascinated by what's already
00:01:17.360 been done and what a great miracle has occurred because Terry Barber has purchased this church
00:01:23.840 right behind us. This is the John Henry Weston Show. Stay tuned.
00:01:28.020 Hello, dear LifeSite viewers. We are living in a moment of truth. Each day we encounter the evils
00:01:36.820 of the woke agenda, especially during this month of June as the woke corporations, they continue to
00:01:42.620 infiltrate our homes via the media. Now this month, the mainstream media works overtime to spread false
00:01:49.020 teaching and make a mockery of traditional families and the Christian values we hold most dear.
00:01:54.640 But look around. Look at the pushback against Bud Light and Target. People are finally starting to
00:02:01.160 wake up and they're actually looking. They're looking for the clarity and answers. So this is
00:02:07.140 our moment to give the world what they need so desperately. The truth. We have a golden opportunity
00:02:15.340 right now. There's a surge of interest and we need to jump on it to give the public the truth on life,
00:02:21.700 faith, family, and freedom that they so desperately need. But you know what? We can't do that without
00:02:25.900 you. We are in the midst of a quarterly summer fundraising campaign and we are in need of your
00:02:31.840 support, both prayerful and financial. We must raise a minimum of $500,000 before June 30th. So please
00:02:39.520 donate at the link in the description below and be on the lookout as LifeSite will be on the road during
00:02:46.020 this month of June, heading to Los Angeles, to Chicago, to Washington DC, all to shed the light
00:02:51.980 of truth during this critical time. Thank you so much for your prayers and for your support
00:02:56.800 and your dedication. Let's take advantage of this moment and by the grace of God, may our efforts
00:03:03.340 serve him and his truth and may that bear much fruit. For LifeSite News, this is John Henry Weston.
00:03:08.840 May God bless you.
00:03:38.820 We have amazing stained glass windows, the woodwork you couldn't build today. That's what
00:03:43.120 the contractors tell me. And we have lots of masses. We have the Anglican Ordinariate Mass.
00:03:49.160 We have the Melkite Mass. We also have the Melkite Mass. We have the Latin Mass. We have lots
00:03:59.000 of types of masses here because this church is being used quite a bit. We have over 200 funerals
00:04:04.380 a year here. And right now we have a men's conference, a couple hundred men here. And
00:04:08.920 so we are very busy here. And I'm going to tell you outside to the church how this church
00:04:14.500 was saved from the wrecking ball. You won't want to miss that. All these stained glass windows
00:04:18.320 just jump out at you. And as you know, we should all have a devotion to the guardian angel.
00:04:23.740 We always say the unemployment rate for guardian angels is way too high. So put them to work.
00:04:28.860 And so that stained glass window reminds us that we're living in the presence of God with our
00:04:33.560 guardian angel. We have so many other stained glass windows. Our Lady of Grace is here. And
00:04:39.240 this chapel was devoted to the sacred heart of Jesus. And the rocks that were on this rock were
00:04:46.560 brought down on horseback from the San Gabriel Mountains. It's just an amazing story of how this
00:04:51.460 church was built. And now we're passing it on to the next generation. So we're just delighted
00:04:56.720 that we have this here and that we're using it for the honor and glory of God.
00:05:01.600 Is all of basically the structure and the things original still? Or did you put in a whole bunch
00:05:07.260 of stuff?
00:05:07.520 I did not want to make it a historic monument because then they will control you, the city.
00:05:13.000 Everything is original. We just spend lots of money restoring the wood with refinishing it.
00:05:18.960 We also added communion rails. We redid the altars with marble. Yeah, we have ad oriental masses. 1.00
00:05:25.520 As you can see, we don't have a freestanding altar and we still have the altar stone. And when you hear
00:05:31.660 how we bought this church, you're going to be amazed when we come a little later.
00:05:36.180 One of the most beautiful things about this place is that it was used during COVID and during the
00:05:41.660 lockdown. The most beautiful thing is while all the world or most of the world was deprived of the
00:05:47.500 holy sacrifice of the mass here. Thanks to Terry and his team who were working to make this available,
00:05:54.900 Catholics were fed the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. 0.97
00:05:58.120 John Henry, I can tell you stories of people crying, coming into this church and praying before
00:06:02.620 the blessed sacrament. And they said to me, I haven't been to church in months. And I'm just so
00:06:07.120 thankful that this church is open. We had confessions going on with priests and we had
00:06:12.720 people coming 400 miles one way just to go to confession. And we did it all day long. And of
00:06:19.120 course we paid a price because the county tagged us. But you know what I say? So what? We need to
00:06:25.500 stand for Christ. We can't have this idea that they're going to close our churches because of
00:06:30.700 something like COVID. I mean, we're more afraid of, we're more xenophobic than COVID-a-phomic. 0.99
00:06:37.340 Whatever. The point of it is, we opened up the churches, John, and we're going to do that.
00:06:41.980 If it happens again, let them take us out. We're going to keep it open. Amen. Right here in California.
00:06:48.560 So unreal. So we're going to go outside again so that because the men's conference is going on
00:06:53.640 and here they come. I can't do it. So we'll back to you soon.
00:06:58.360 Let's begin as we always do at the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father and of the Son
00:07:04.740 and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. So Terry, tell us, what is this all about? You bought a church?
00:07:12.400 I did, Henry, John Henry. But I have to tell you, it was God who intervened in this church.
00:07:18.660 This was a chapel that was originally built in 1911. You can see the stone there. It was the
00:07:24.060 original Catholic church in downtown Covina. And in the 1970s, they closed it because they built a
00:07:30.460 big church here in Covina called Sacred Heart. It holds a thousand people. So they really pretty
00:07:35.920 much just closed the chapel for years. And then there was a group of people who wanted to have
00:07:43.120 masses here. And the pastor said, no, we're going to sell it. And we're going to use the money to build
00:07:47.300 a new hall. So my brother was on the financial committee at the church. And when he said they
00:07:56.160 were wanting to sell the church, I thought, well, maybe we're interested in it. So how much?
00:08:00.400 It was a half a million dollars, which wasn't a lot of money back 25 years ago, but we got the houses
00:08:05.820 and we got the church. And it was in terrible shape. So we were able to restore it with earthquake
00:08:11.560 readiness, retrofitting. We restored the stained glass windows and the rest. So what was happening
00:08:18.300 is at that time, it was kind of delicate because St. Joseph Communications, who I founded, as you
00:08:25.220 know, we're putting out CDs with Lighthouse and St. Joe. I had to put an offer on the church when by
00:08:33.880 name. And I knew that Cardinal Mahoney wouldn't want that because of my connection with Mother Angelica
00:08:39.700 and other people. Wait, wait, wait, just before we go on, what do you mean by that? How did Cardinal
00:08:45.120 Mahoney know? I'll tell you this, this is going to be news for everybody. But in, but 1998, my good
00:08:50.580 friend, Mother Angelica, who was close to me, I mean, she was an inspiration for me. And she called and
00:08:58.540 said, Terry, I know that Cardinal Roger Mahoney is putting out a document called Faithfully, We Faithfully
00:09:04.600 Gather. It's a document on the Holy Eucharist. And I would like you to overnight that document
00:09:10.300 immediately from the diocesan newspaper. Being an obedient son, I said, yes, Mother. And I did.
00:09:17.640 And that night she went on television. Well, what happened is this? Mother Angelica knew about
00:09:23.720 Cardinal Mahoney. And she really, I mean, she's been out to our place here in Southern California
00:09:27.920 for our conferences. So we've got a relationship since 1980 when they first started. And so Mother
00:09:35.720 called me through Deacon Bill Stoltmeyer. He was the deacon that was Mother's right-hand man. You
00:09:40.020 remember those days. And so I said, okay, if Mother said to do it, Mother said it, I'm an obedient son.
00:09:46.620 I overnighted the tidings, which is a diocesan newspaper. And the whole document was there.
00:09:53.180 Well, when she read it, that was the night. And it's, anybody can go on YouTube and watch what she
00:09:59.360 said. But she basically went after Cardinal Mahoney and saying, this is heresy. Christ is not present
00:10:06.120 in the bread. You know, this has been going on with songs in our church. But the bottom line is,
00:10:11.760 when Mother exploded on that, somehow, and I don't know how, I really don't, Cardinal Mahoney
00:10:19.780 found out that I was the culprit who sent that document to Mother. I don't know how that happened.
00:10:24.920 So he sent me a letter in 1998. I have the letter. I can prove it, what he said. He said that canon law
00:10:31.920 requires that you turn St. Joseph Communications over to the Diocese of Los Angeles. At the time,
00:10:39.460 we were the largest distributor of cassette tapes, you know, and we had Bishop Sheen. We had all the good
00:10:45.960 guys. Well, Father Benedict Rochelle, God rest his soul. He was a friend of mine. He found out that
00:10:54.340 Cardinal Mahoney was trying to put some pressure on me. So I faxed the letter to him. He got Count Caponi,
00:11:03.100 a canon lawyer in Rome, to defend me. I was like, wow, this is getting interesting.
00:11:11.140 Oh, wow. So then he wrote a letter for me as my representative and said, Your Eminence,
00:11:19.420 this is a great letter. He says, could you tell me what canon you're referring to that says Mr.
00:11:25.160 Barber needs to turn his apostolate over to you? Basically, that was the letter. And of course,
00:11:31.640 I never heard another thing about it. And Raymond Arroyo, when he wrote the book on Mother Angelica,
00:11:37.120 asked if he could put that in the book. And I said, I prefer not to. I have to live with the man.
00:11:42.340 So that's the story. So I said to my wife, my bride of 35 years, I said, honey, you know,
00:11:49.440 we can put another buyer in that the cardinal wouldn't know by name, and then we'll just
00:11:55.800 transfer the deed after that. And she said, no, we're not going to do that, Terry. Oh, my wife,
00:12:00.900 what? She says, what we're going to do is ask the angels to protect us in purchasing this church
00:12:08.020 so the cardinal would never know who bought it. And because they asked me to send my catalog from
00:12:13.320 St. Joseph Communications, a bio of all about who I am, because they wanted to know. And what's
00:12:19.800 interesting is we closed the escrow and the real estate representative for the diocese called and
00:12:26.180 said, hey, the boss wants to see who bought the church because I can't find the documents you
00:12:31.680 sent me. Can you send them to me again? And remember, my wife said the angels would make
00:12:37.540 them live. They did that. So the bottom line is, yes, we bought the church. We restored it.
00:12:43.220 We put communion rails back in. We redid the flooring. We did all kinds of work to make it restored
00:12:50.740 to its original sign. You see the doors are all repainted and sanded and new roof. Put central
00:12:58.680 air conditioning for our conferences for all the things that we do. I mean, there's 200 funerals
00:13:03.320 a year, 250 sometimes, almost one every day. And this is a great tool to think about this for people
00:13:10.440 who are thinking about buying a church. We've got the model to be able to raise the funds to justify
00:13:18.540 buying the church. And I'll tell you why, John Henry. When you can offer funerals to
00:13:25.100 funeral homes, they pay a stipend to come use your services. That's our biggest fundraiser for
00:13:32.540 Virgin Most Powerful Radio. So I want to encourage people if they want to contact me about how we did
00:13:38.300 it in detail. I'm okay if I give my cell phone. I give it out on the radio. It's 661-972-7872.
00:13:46.060 You can call me. I'll encourage you because there's so many churches, as you said, that are going to be
00:13:51.100 sold to Protestants, Muslims, other religions. We don't want to see that. Not to mention bars and 1.00
00:13:56.860 discotheques. I didn't even. Yes. And I have to go back to this church. If you notice the rock behind
00:14:01.260 me, those rocks were taken from the San Gabriel Mountains, probably 10 miles north of us. They
00:14:08.300 were brought back on horse-drawn buggies. No cars back then. And the people who made the sacrifice
00:14:16.380 to build this church, it's huge. And I just think that we as Catholics have this apostolic succession
00:14:23.900 in our minds. Our church goes back to the time of Christ. So this church, 100 years from now,
00:14:29.980 please God, people will continue to be going to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. They'll be making
00:14:35.020 visits to the Blessed Sacrament. They'll be going to confession. And there's one other thing I want
00:14:39.340 to recommend to people who are thinking about buying a church. You've got the Anglican Ordinariate
00:14:43.900 growing like a weed. They need places. You've got the TLM Mass. They need a place. So I just say this,
00:14:51.420 God gave me the resources to borrow on my rental property. And through the grace of God, we did.
00:14:57.020 And now we have this beautiful chapel for 25 years. And thousands of people are coming each month,
00:15:03.180 just through funerals, not to include the retreats, the conferences that we have here. So God is really
00:15:09.820 using this. And I think nothing good about me. It's just that this is something that even a guy like me
00:15:16.540 can do. And it basically takes someone who says, look, I want to preserve our faith. And right now,
00:15:25.340 in the church, this is a crisis mode. I want you, our listeners here right now, to think about what
00:15:30.940 is God calling you to do? You have resources. You can't take it with you. I know that for a fact.
00:15:36.220 I got hundreds of funerals here. Not one dude took it with him. So if you've got the resources to save
00:15:42.140 some churches, I'll give you one other story. In Chicago, it's called Gary, Indiana Diocese,
00:15:48.780 they sold 60 parishes. Mike Wick, friend of mine, he was the one who instrumentally sold them. He tried
00:15:54.300 to keep them at least to Protestant churches, not Islam. But they were giving these churches away,
00:16:00.460 like 10, $20,000. Now we paid a half a million dollars. We're in Southern California, 25 years ago.
00:16:06.540 This is millions of dollars today. But I guarantee you, we have listeners right now are in a situation
00:16:12.700 where the church is not being used. And I would encourage you sincerely consider purchasing the
00:16:19.180 church. And I'm willing to help you in any way to do that. Hello, friends. To celebrate the momentous
00:16:27.180 overturning of Roe v. Wade, we at LifeSite have minted just under 10,000 of these brand new limited
00:16:32.540 edition pro-life silver rounds. Now each round is stamped with the image of the Supreme Court of
00:16:38.300 the United States, featuring the date that the High Court delivered this historic victory.
00:16:41.900 And on the front of our pure silver rounds, LifeSite's logo surrounded by a brilliant sunburst
00:16:46.140 and draped with olive branches. They, of course, commemorate our 25 year anniversary of LifeSite
00:16:50.860 News. We began in 1997 in September. So September of 2022 was 25 years. These one ounce silver rounds
00:16:58.700 are available from our partners at StJosephsPartners.com, where you can fulfill all of your silver and gold
00:17:04.460 needs in this perilous time. May God bless you. Now, Cardinal Mahoney, uh, he, if I was walking
00:17:14.940 somewhere and he saw me, he would walk the other way because, uh, we never did see eye to eye and he
00:17:21.500 did everything he could to undermine, you know, what we were doing in the diocese. And so I'll give you
00:17:27.180 one more story that I don't, never one's ever heard this story, but they wrote a letter to me saying that
00:17:32.460 the Cardinal wants to investigate you. And I thought about what, you know, but fine. So
00:17:39.660 Michael Downey, I still know the name. This is 20 some years ago. He's the, he was the, the lay
00:17:45.500 theologian for Cardinal Mahoney. And he had some questions to ask me. Well, I had purchased also a
00:17:51.980 commercial building off Interstate 10 where 270,000 cars drive by, uh, every day. And it was our bookstore.
00:17:59.900 And we also had a little room there that was for conferences. So I met him at the bookstore.
00:18:05.820 And, uh, if you guys haven't noticed, I'm not six foot five, I'm five foot four. I'm a little guy.
00:18:11.260 And when Michael Downey came to visit with me, he, I set a table up and we, he decided to ask me some
00:18:17.500 tough questions. He said, the Cardinal's concerned that you're pre-Vatican too. And I said, well, is the
00:18:23.820 Bible pre-Vatican too? You gotta remember, I wrote a book called how to share your faith with anyone.
00:18:28.220 He who asks questions has control. So I just started firing away. And when I, I, uh, I pointed
00:18:35.740 out, I said in this bookstore, there's hundreds of books. Would you show me one book that's not
00:18:41.180 consistent with the perennial teachings of the church and I'll burn it right now. And he went, oh, no.
00:18:48.780 Uh, so now I hesitate to tell the rest of the story because it's a little embarrassing, but
00:18:55.340 all for God's glory, because we stood up for the truth. Michael Downey started telling me that we're
00:19:02.140 concerned about your position on the pro-life issues. And I said, really? Tell me. He says, well,
00:19:09.420 you have the idea that abortion is always wrong, always. And as a theologian, and I have a PhD,
00:19:18.540 I'm Dr. Michael Downey. Okay. Uh, we still have a debate about, you know, when life begins
00:19:26.860 theologically. So I stood up and I won't repeat what I said because I had to go to confession.
00:19:34.620 I'm just being honest with you guys. I got lower nature. It made me so mad. I told him to get out
00:19:38.940 of my building. I said, if you can't understand that abortion is murder, then I don't want to talk
00:19:45.500 to you. Get out. Now, I apologize because I lost my cool. But when you start talking about abortion 0.98
00:19:52.940 as being open, I mean, that's over the top. A year later, I was at the religious ed Congress.
00:19:57.820 You guys copy it. You talk all about. And I see Michael Downey there. So I went over to him to shake
00:20:03.980 his hand because I'm not a vindictive person. I wanted to apologize to him. Say, you know, I'm sorry,
00:20:10.380 I got angry, but Michael, you can't say that to me about the innocent life. I'm not going to take
00:20:14.940 that. Well, as soon as I said hello to him and I put my hand out, he wouldn't shake my hand.
00:20:21.740 And he said, um, okay, because I wanted to apologize. I lost my temper with him.
00:20:28.460 And he said to me, and so I said to him, well, Michael, what you been up to?
00:20:32.620 And he said, well, I'm writing another book. And he was some esoteric book. And I said,
00:20:38.060 Michael, I'm sure I'm that's way over my head because I'm just a simple soul.
00:20:42.940 You know, your books are probably way over my theological head. And he looked at me and he said,
00:20:48.620 you're anything but simple. And then walked away at the religious ed never to talk to me again.
00:20:54.860 The bottom line is this. Why do I tell this story? I don't normally tell these stories,
00:20:58.380 John Henry, but we laity. What did Fulton Sheen say in 1973? Who's going to save the church?
00:21:05.260 We lay people have to stand up with clarity and charity tied into the church, tied into our
00:21:10.380 apostolic work. I'm not afraid to speak the truth in season and out. And this is why we have this
00:21:17.420 chapel here right now. The men are being fed orthodoxy. They're manly men here talking about
00:21:23.660 get out there and live your faith. Be the man of the house. Be the man that leads your family to
00:21:29.820 Christ. And so again, getting back to a pitch that says, you are listener. I know you can buy churches
00:21:38.780 right now. They're being sold to our Protestant brothers. I understand that. And not even to them, 1.00
00:21:44.620 to Islam or to the bars. We need people that have the resources. And guys, as old as I am,
00:21:51.980 most of us have resources to purchase these churches. And again, if you're hesitant about
00:21:57.500 how do I make it funded? Well, I can tell you exactly. We got good funding from funerals,
00:22:02.460 quinceaƱeras, not weddings, but I should say we used to, but only the Catholic weddings.
00:22:07.900 So, I just want to encourage people to step out and be bold right now because the church needs all of
00:22:14.780 us to stand up for Christ in a world that acts like God doesn't exist. Tell us about some of the
00:22:20.380 stories. You have some incredible stories of people who have been affected. How long have
00:22:27.020 you had this church? 25 years now. 25 years. Wow. It's at a time when you didn't sort of think
00:22:35.420 about that need. Nowadays, it makes so much sense. You were set up for COVID like nobody else.
00:22:41.420 We were. Well, here's what happened. I'm on Virgin Most Powerful Radio with my brother, Jesse.
00:22:46.220 And we were not, we were like LifeSite News. We got kicked off of YouTube because we didn't buy it.
00:22:52.140 Okay. It wasn't right. And that what's most important is the salvation of a soul in our body
00:22:56.700 anyway. So, what we did is we advertised that we would not close our doors. And people came flocking
00:23:04.780 every day to make visits to the Blessed Sacrament. We had masses quietly being done. I didn't advertise
00:23:11.340 the mass. But I said, we're not going to close our doors. And then we organized confessions
00:23:17.260 on Saturdays from 9 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon. Every Saturday, we had Norbertine
00:23:24.380 priests. I won't say all the priests that came, but people came within over 400 miles one way to go
00:23:29.740 to confession. They were that hungry, John Henry. And if we didn't have this church here to do it,
00:23:35.740 you know, we couldn't have done it. Now, I must admit, we're in LA County. It's
00:23:39.100 highly regulated. 10 million people live here. So, we got word that we're being fined
00:23:45.260 for doing that. John Henry can't take it with us. Now, I'm proud of our Protestant brothers at
00:23:53.660 John, that Lighthouse, excuse me, that LifeSite News spoke about where they did the same thing.
00:24:01.100 But we were the only Catholic Church in Southern California that didn't close our churches.
00:24:06.620 Think of the souls that were touched to get the Sacrament of Confession. Some of those people died,
00:24:11.900 but they had confession before they died. Now, I have one other quick story. There's so many. We do
00:24:16.860 Bible studies here. Matter of fact, every Tuesday, we have a convert course. This is exciting, folks,
00:24:23.340 for me. We take Bishop Sheen, and we bring him into this chapel every Tuesday, because it's his
00:24:28.540 convert course on audio. And we also take the Baltimore Catechism number four, the adult catechism.
00:24:36.460 And in 12 weeks, we take you through a crash course, and you're baptized after 12 weeks in the Catholic
00:24:42.940 Church. I don't know of any other place that can do that. The RCIA program, a year or two. But
00:24:51.100 our pastor is supporting us. Our bishop is supporting us in the convert courses. So that's
00:24:55.740 one thing we're doing. But I have to tell you, over the years, we've even had a gentleman come in
00:25:01.180 while our Bible study was going on, run into the church, get down in front of our Lord in the Blessed
00:25:06.780 Sacrament. And like, he didn't even see us. He walked in there and pleaded with our Lord, I'm sorry,
00:25:11.900 I just killed a man. Please forgive me, Lord. Jesus, I did it, but I'm sorry. And we're just like,
00:25:19.260 what? And then he ran out. And we never saw the man again. But why? The church doors were open,
00:25:27.500 lights were on. This could have been sitting here. And here's the other thing that I want
00:25:32.620 to encourage people. We have condominiums right next door to us. If this was knocked down,
00:25:37.820 an investor, believe me, I've got a real estate background. This would have been put into units,
00:25:43.100 and made a lot of money. But this is why we did it. We wanted to preserve what is, oh,
00:25:50.060 and I didn't tell you this, John Henry, sorry, this is the most exciting part of this story.
00:25:56.220 Once we bought the church, the previous pastor of the big church found out that we purchased the church.
00:26:03.580 He calls me, John Henry, and says this, Terry, I can't believe our prayers were answered. I said,
00:26:08.300 what do you think your prayers were answered? He said, 21 years before that, we got outside the
00:26:14.700 Sacred Heart Chapel because the pastor said we couldn't go inside. Twelve of us men prayed a rosary
00:26:21.500 on our knees in front of the Sacred Heart stained glass window. And we buried an image of the Holy
00:26:28.700 Family, Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph. And we asked for their intercession right there. We prayed and said,
00:26:35.100 dear Holy Family, intercede that a lay Orthodox group would purchase this church and be used for
00:26:41.180 the honor and glory of God. Those were his words. They buried a little image of the Holy Family and
00:26:53.260 they put it in a plastic bag 18 inches down. My engineer at Virgin Most Powerful, Richard O'Bannon,
00:26:59.660 got the shovel out and we dug it up that day. Show us where that is. Can you show us?
00:27:05.820 I can show you. We can walk around if you want. Yeah, please. Is this the original bell? No. Now,
00:27:11.660 here's another story. Okay. The story on this bell tower, as you know, as Catholics, we have a
00:27:17.900 tradition. When someone dies, you ring the bells to pray for their soul. So as part of our work for
00:27:25.980 the salvation of souls, I got this bell in Mexico, a church had burned down. And then I had original
00:27:33.340 rocks from the river and we spent $30,000 well spent to build this tower. And so at the end of each
00:27:41.580 funeral, we ring the bell asking people to pray for the repose of the soul who died. Beautiful. So
00:27:48.540 one of the things about church bells, you got it from a church, right? So they're consecrated and
00:27:53.980 exercised. And that means when they ring the bell, it does an exorcism for as far as you can hear the
00:28:01.340 bell. John Henry, we had the Opus Angelorum, Father Wolfgang, pray these prayers for 45 minutes
00:28:07.740 just to make sure, because I said it came from a church, but we wanted to, he said, well, you know,
00:28:11.820 it's conditional. Conditional baptism for the bells. You get it? So we had a great time to do this.
00:28:18.780 And then we landscaped this with the desert situation. Now I'd like to take you to the spot
00:28:25.020 where the image of the Holy Family was buried for decades. Amazing. Let's go.
00:28:30.140 Are we okay? Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
00:28:37.580 Those doors were just running last week. You see, every two years we have to read for finishing.
00:28:42.060 Oh, wow. Why would I want to put some phony doors? No way.
00:28:46.060 All right. So here's what we got. We crossed over. This is saving water. So we're dead.
00:28:55.820 You feel how cool it is? Two big air conditioning units. No matter if it's a hundred, you're cold in
00:29:00.620 there. Okay. So here's what happened. You tell me when you're ready. This is in the sun,
00:29:05.820 though. Are you okay? Yeah. Okay. Above me is the sacred heart of Jesus statue,
00:29:11.740 our stained glass window. And what Father said is go directly below that and start digging.
00:29:18.620 So we went 18 inches down into the ground and we saw it. We felt there was a little plastic bag
00:29:24.620 and we dug it up, opened up the bag and there was the image of the Holy Family.
00:29:29.740 And we were just like moved by it in tears. I mean, this, this was a touching moment for all of us here
00:29:35.180 at Virgin Most Powerful. How long had you been here when you got the story?
00:29:38.220 How long had I been here? About a month. Okay. So it took a little bit. He's in Tucson, Arizona. He's a
00:29:46.140 Eastern right priest now. And his name, um, oh gosh, let me think of it real quick. Because
00:29:52.140 you like documentation. So hang on. Uh, Father, I just had his name again.
00:29:59.340 He, he left. He could Mahoney and him didn't get along. That's why he left.
00:30:01.900 Yeah. Um, oh, Father Rankin, Father John Rankin is the priest who was associate here at Sacred Heart
00:30:09.100 in Covina, who told, who, who prayed here decades before we purchased the church. And he's the one
00:30:14.460 who told us dig up the statue of the Holy Family underneath the stained glass window. And that's what
00:30:21.020 we did, John Henry. Beautiful. And did you have the statue?
00:30:23.820 I don't. You know what? I had it and I, I can't find it. I'm, I've, I'm a little, I'm just being
00:30:29.180 honest with you. I, I thought of maybe building a little thing about it and put it, you know, on a,
00:30:33.420 and I, it's just, it was, it was so, um, what's the word? Soiled. It was so soiled that I, it almost
00:30:39.660 didn't look, you know, you could see that it was there, but you know what I mean? Water and time.
00:30:43.900 It's not good for those little things. So that's our story. And, um, I did just another quick
00:30:50.220 note. I did meet some of the relatives, uh, that, uh, built this church and I actually got
00:30:57.740 the receipts of what it cost to build this church in 1911. And it was $16,500. I got receipts for
00:31:05.820 the wood, everything. And the way they built this church was by having chicken dinners to raise the
00:31:11.740 money to purchase this church. And obviously we got a couple of houses back here. Our studios for
00:31:16.860 Virgin most powerful are here. And, uh, this has really become a hub for orthodoxy. People know us
00:31:23.340 because they know when they come here, they're going to get full contact Catholicism.
00:31:27.740 Beautiful. Can you show us the studios? Absolutely. It's probably a mess right now.
00:31:39.180 I paid $250 for that, that, uh, stadium. I mean, the stool, no one would rent it to me. I said,
00:31:45.180 all right, I guess I own one now. Come on in.
00:31:51.020 Okay. So what we have, it's pretty messy because of the conference. Wait, this is probably not the
00:31:56.700 best time to take a picture, but as you know, the Benedict, St. Benedict, this is what's behind
00:32:01.740 me. Full sheen ahead. You see? Ah, yes, yes, yes. But that's the green screen, you know. Ah, okay. So
00:32:07.100 basically Jesse Romero is in the Phoenix area. We have, um, Father Chad Ripperger's guys in other
00:32:15.420 other states like New Mexico, Dan, who's here. And, uh, this is where we actually broadcast all of our
00:32:21.260 shows. We go to about 50 AM stations. Plus we use social media and I have to publicly thank
00:32:27.820 not just John Henry Weston, but life site news because you broadcast our Bishop Strickland hour.
00:32:33.020 Yeah. And I thank you for that. Oh, it's a great privilege for us. Where, and you set up Bishop
00:32:38.540 Strickland in his office, did you? I did. Well, yeah. Yeah. No, Bishop Strickland does it in Tyler,
00:32:43.580 Texas every single week on Tuesday. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we, so I've become, and I just want to,
00:32:49.500 do you mind me saying something about Bishop Strickland? No, please. Because I only mentioned it.
00:32:52.860 So he is such a hero to all of us lifesteaders. He's a, he's the American bishop, if you will.
00:33:00.540 We call it. And, uh, it was such a privilege to process with him, to be with him and to listen
00:33:09.180 to him as, as we do at life site. Um, I would love this story if you're able to share some story,
00:33:15.340 but I will say this first in 1911, this building was used for catechism classes. Do you see a
00:33:23.180 connection now? We're doing Baltimore catechism lessons to the world in a building that was used
00:33:29.260 over a hundred years ago to teach the faith. I love it. All right. Bishop Strickland,
00:33:33.980 many of you watch the show. I have to tell you, John Henry, you know, but the listeners,
00:33:39.020 I've never met a bishop in my life that is so on fire for truth and that he will, no matter what
00:33:48.780 the consequences are, he will speak the truth for the faith. And I'm convinced that if we had more
00:33:56.860 bishops like Bishop Strickland, the church could be turned around. And I just want to say this,
00:34:02.300 pray for him because so many, I'll use modernists attack him because they say he's rigid.
00:34:10.860 He shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't be going out to Los Angeles to go protest the Dodgers because
00:34:17.100 it makes the church look silly. And he says, my moral conscience says I need to do these things.
00:34:23.500 And so many times, how many bishops will say this on the air? Terry, if I ever say something
00:34:29.900 that's not in accordance with the Catholic faith, correct me on the air, not later.
00:34:36.460 Not too many will say that. Now, personally, the other thing I will say about Bishop Strickland
00:34:40.620 is anybody who has a need, he's there. He's the model priest. I know this for a fact because
00:34:47.900 we brought him out for the spiritual warfare conference. There was a little boy just he was
00:34:53.100 dying of cancer and he needed to be anointed. And Bishop Strickland said without a doubt, oh yeah,
00:35:01.180 when I'm in there, let's go do that. He's the same bishop that you guys saw on the hill blessing
00:35:07.340 the Four Corners of Southern California just a few months ago. He's America's bishop. And I'll tell you
00:35:14.060 why. Because he doesn't compromise at all when it comes to the faith. And I know our relationship,
00:35:21.980 because I do a weekly show with him, trust me, I'm talking to him during the week about church
00:35:28.140 situations. And if he was sitting here right now, he would be a hundred percent behind what we're doing
00:35:35.420 in that chapel. And even just, I'll just give it a note. I got a text from him about the Dodger
00:35:42.060 thing from last night when we're recording this. And he said, it was a fantastic experience.
00:35:46.620 Please send me some pictures. I want to show them with my friends. He's ordinary, but you know what,
00:35:51.180 he's extraordinary because he's doing things that all bishops should be doing. And that is teaching,
00:35:57.420 governing, and sanctifying the faithful. Amen. You know what, Terry, you do that too. Praise God.
00:36:03.340 God. God bless you, brother. God bless you. Thanks for taking it. God bless.
00:36:13.980 Hi, everyone. This is John Henry Weston. We hope you enjoyed this program. To see more like it,
00:36:17.820 be sure to hit the subscribe button below to get all the latest content from LifeSite News. Check
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00:36:27.500 date with all the latest life, family, faith, and freedom news. Thanks for watching, and may God bless you.
00:36:33.340 So,