The John-Henry Westen Show - Looking for an anti-woke adventure novel for your Catholic young adults？ Try Catholic Joe Superhero

00:00:00.000 If you save a marriage, if another child is brought into this world, the world is changed forever.

00:00:06.840 So hopefully, if that can happen, then, praise God, you know, we've been successful.

00:00:20.120 So if you're anything like me, you like superhero books or movies.

00:00:24.680 Um, and why? Well, it's a lot today when you have, it seems like the whole culture is crushing you and you can't win at anything.

00:00:34.880 Well, there's a new book out called Catholic Joe's Superhero.

00:00:39.200 And, um, it's about a Catholic man who is a superhero and who fights for what's good and wins.

00:00:48.340 Um, that's something very rare. The author is Stephen Thomas, a great guy.

00:00:52.140 He has been a, he was a former seminarian, pro-life activist.

00:00:56.020 He's father of eight, just a really great Catholic man.

00:00:59.140 He knows his stuff. It's very encouraging.

00:01:01.860 And I just want to introduce you to Stephen Thomas.

00:01:04.240 And he's going to introduce us to his book, Catholic Joe's Superhero.

00:01:08.220 Stay tuned to this episode of the John Henry Weston Show.

00:01:12.260 Stephen Thomas, welcome to the program.

00:01:15.120 Thank you. Thanks, John Henry.

00:01:17.140 Let's begin as we always do with the sign of the cross.

00:01:18.920 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

00:01:26.280 So, Stephen, tell us, of all the different cultural issues going on in our world today,

00:01:31.680 why did you choose marriage to focus on?

00:01:34.380 Oh, all right. How long do we have?

00:01:36.500 So, so, you know, the reason I focused on marriage is because I, I mean, I really believe that God has prepared me for this moment at this time on this, you know, planet Earth.

00:01:49.360 So, so I came from a divorced family, came from just a really broken situation.

00:01:55.200 Both parents came from broken situations.

00:01:58.100 So, so I, I call it, I was raised in the crucible of divorce.

00:02:02.000 And it was from that, from that pain, that suffering, the woundedness that brought me to really a need and a want and a desire and a love for marriage.

00:02:14.040 I wanted a family.

00:02:15.220 I wanted, you know, and God has blessed me with a family.

00:02:18.320 But let me go back.

00:02:19.100 So, it started when I was 17 years old.

00:02:22.740 Somebody gave me this little white booklet, Mother of Christ Crusade.

00:02:25.620 And, and again, I was, I wasn't living a good life.

00:02:30.280 I, you know, used to party and was with the rough crowd.

00:02:33.860 And so, I read this little booklet and it changed my life.

00:02:38.200 Again, divorce, all this just darkness.

00:02:41.620 Read this book about these little children to Fatima that, you know, saving souls from flowing like snowflakes into hell.

00:02:49.260 And, you know, wearing little ropes, these little kids.

00:02:52.140 And I thought, oh, my goodness, you know, and the whole idea of hell.

00:02:56.080 And, you know, so, so that was the thing that really started my, we'll call it reversion.

00:03:00.320 And so, from there, again, this whole just desire, this hunger for family and for marriage.

00:03:07.680 So, you know, and again, at Fatima, our blessed mother, she said the final battle would be over marriage.

00:03:12.540 And so, I feel like, not, not just me, and I'm not this, you know, you know, I'm Catholic Joe.

00:03:17.680 We'll talk about him as, as being the, you know, the superhero.

00:03:21.520 I am just, you know, a broken vessel that, you know, God pours his grace into and hopefully some of it comes out the right way.

00:03:28.420 So, so anyways, so just really that the whole desire for marriage is, is a white hot fire in my soul.

00:03:37.760 And, and I will do whatever I can.

00:03:39.760 I, you know, even growing up with my wife, when I did marry, we, you know, we taught natural family planning.

00:03:46.080 You know, we were really involved in the, I did chastity education for youth, things like that, prayed at the abortion clinic.

00:03:53.080 So, very involved in life, very involved in marriage from, you know, from an early age.

00:03:58.620 So, so that's my white hot passion, John Henry.

00:04:03.580 Yeah, and your, your dedication in the book was, says, yes, to the blessed mother in St. Joseph, but also the millions of victims of divorce.

00:04:16.080 So, why divorce, especially?

00:04:18.160 There's, there's lots in the whole marriage fight right now, but why divorce?

00:04:21.780 Is it particularly because of your upbringing that way?

00:04:25.620 Yeah, and so I went to a conference.

00:04:28.680 It was a Sikh conference, and it was really very intense.

00:04:32.120 22,000 young adults, missionaries on fire for Christ came home that night and had a, I don't know how to call it religious experience,

00:04:42.920 but I had an intense experience of prayer where God gave me this whole, basically talk of, you know, the thing is, is, and basically there, have you ever seen Lord of the Rings?

00:04:53.400 Remember the army of the dead?

00:04:55.120 You remember how they raised the army of the dead to basically vanquish evil?

00:04:59.780 I think of it like that.

00:05:01.160 We've got to raise, there's this mass of wounded humanity that, that have been affected and afflicted by divorce.

00:05:08.460 And so, I feel called really to speak to them, to speak to, you know, whenever there's a divorce.

00:05:14.840 So, when I, when I went through divorce with my parents, you know, there's a little fissure or fracture in your, at the core of who you are.

00:05:22.020 And, and oftentimes darkness goes into that.

00:05:24.920 And, you know, it's just like a wound where infection will, you know, same thing with, with divorce.

00:05:29.820 There's a wound that, that happens and darkness goes in.

00:05:33.000 And I feel called to bring those people to the, to Jesus Christ on the cross, to basically to say, give me that darkness, give it to me, right?

00:05:41.820 This is why I came.

00:05:42.900 I mean, I've got, you know, I've got my little, this is, I've had this for, you know, for, for decades, but I, I sleep by it.

00:05:50.440 It's, but, you know, give me, give me that woundedness, give me that darkness.

00:05:55.320 I will just, you know, I will make it nothing, but here's, here's, you know, it's not just that, but it's about, and I want your woundedness.

00:06:04.060 Every time you feel that, that pain, that suffering, I want you to bring that to me.

00:06:10.100 I want you to bring it to me and we're going to take it to the father and you're going to see the father's eyes of gratitude.

00:06:16.940 Look at you.

00:06:18.240 He's going to look at you.

00:06:19.100 When you offer that suffering up, that, that woundedness up with me on the cross, souls are going to be saved.

00:06:24.880 So there's this whole mass of people that have been wounded, that are scarred, that we need to reunite them with Christ.

00:06:34.020 Wow.

00:06:35.220 In our day, that's, that's really challenging.

00:06:36.960 Um, let's talk about your book, Catholic Joe Superhero.

00:06:41.180 First of all, why superhero?

00:06:42.880 Why go for superheroes?

00:06:44.960 Uh, yeah.

00:06:45.460 So, well, I mean, obviously in this day and age, everybody, you know, people love superheroes.

00:06:50.680 They'd like winners.

00:06:51.400 Right. 0.99

00:06:52.400 And I'll be honest, you know, as a man, as a white man, um, you know, we've been getting our butts kicked. 0.98

00:06:58.540 I mean, in the last decades. 0.98

00:07:00.260 Right.

00:07:01.000 And so I thought, you know what?

00:07:03.240 Um, and this, this is great.

00:07:04.520 This is, you know, I've got a very vivid imagination.

00:07:06.640 I have more thoughts in the morning in the shower than most people have in a month.

00:07:10.860 Um, so, you know, I thought, why not create somebody who is this Catholic figure, um, that

00:07:18.300 is, you know, almost larger than life.

00:07:20.200 Again, he still has his flaws, but, um, you know, I wanted somebody that, again, could do

00:07:25.940 all the things I wish I could do. 0.79

00:07:27.340 Could say all the things I wish I could say and, and just kick butt and win, you know what 0.89

00:07:32.980 I mean? 0.94

00:07:33.180 It's, I feel like Donald Trump, we, you know, win, right.

00:07:36.080 Um, so he's, he's somebody that wins.

00:07:38.780 Um, but obviously sometimes in our faith, winning doesn't look the same as it does in the world.

00:07:44.540 Um, so he, he goes through all of that.

00:07:46.980 So there's a really deep theology that's woven throughout the book.

00:07:50.960 It's not just a, it's not just like a fun, happy-go-lucky book.

00:07:54.380 It's very deep.

00:07:55.560 Um, and there's a lot of texture to it.

00:07:59.040 Indeed.

00:07:59.600 At the same time, the writing style is, is not alienating at all.

00:08:03.540 It, it really is.

00:08:04.660 Young people can enjoy this, uh, without, you know, needing a theology degree.

00:08:09.660 Right.

00:08:10.380 Yeah.

00:08:10.860 Yeah.

00:08:11.060 It's not, no, it's not, it's by no means is it, is it that deep?

00:08:14.460 Um, but again, you know, with the catechesis over the last few decades, you know, it, yeah.

00:08:19.540 So it, it's, um, but it does, it does have enough, enough of the depth, especially in regards

00:08:24.700 to marriage and the church's teaching on marriage.

00:08:26.700 I mean, my mother-in-law, Mary Olson, um, she, she read it and she, you know, she couldn't

00:08:32.340 put it down and she goes, I wish I would have read this before I'd gotten married.

00:08:37.580 Um, yeah, that's, again, that's very holy woman, you know, she's a prayer warrior. 1.00

00:08:43.320 Um, but she said that, and it just, it made a real impact on me.

00:08:46.780 I'm like, well, praise God for that.

00:08:48.660 And so I would say anybody, anybody thinking about marriage, anybody that's married, this

00:08:54.220 book will, you know, it, it, it really will take it to a totally different level.

00:09:01.940 So tell us a little bit about Catholic Joe.

00:09:04.560 So Catholic Joe is an ex high-level military guy, Lieutenant General. 0.67

00:09:10.720 He was woke out of the military.

00:09:12.820 I don't know if you know of any other Lieutenant Generals that have been woke out of the military,

00:09:16.340 but there, there are some parallels.

00:09:18.500 Um, I try not to use real names, um, but he was woke out of the military.

00:09:22.600 His, he finds out, and again, he was raised in a very solid traditional family.

00:09:26.860 His, his, his parents emigrated from Malta, right?

00:09:29.740 Most Catholic country, you know, in the world.

00:09:31.720 Um, I don't know, maybe the Philippines are not, but, but anyway, so he, you know, so

00:09:36.120 he comes from a very solid, staunch Catholic family and a vibrant Catholic family, not 0.91

00:09:40.320 just a, you know, not just staunch, but, you know, very vibrant, loving Catholic family

00:09:44.900 and Italian too.

00:09:45.820 Right.

00:09:46.060 So, um, so they've got their own, their own spin on it.

00:09:49.380 So he finds out his youngest brother, Vinny is going to be divorced and he just, he couldn't,

00:09:54.660 he couldn't get his arms around.

00:09:56.220 It just was so foreign to him because marriage and family was just everything to them.

00:09:59.980 And so he, um, he decides to fly out to Las Vegas where Vinny and his wife and two children

00:10:05.640 live.

00:10:06.320 And, um, of course with two Italian brothers, they, you know, they end up beating the heck 1.00

00:10:12.480 out of each other.

00:10:13.220 And, uh, and, uh, you know, Joe who's trained, he used to, he used to train spec ops.

00:10:18.680 So he's, he's like one of the most dangerous men on the planet gets his, it gets his brother

00:10:23.480 Vinny in a naked chokehold and says, Vinny, we, you know, we, we got to figure this out.

00:10:27.440 So anyway, that's how the book starts and, and really throughout the book, um, there's

00:10:33.180 all kinds of, you know, mystery and intrigue.

00:10:36.180 Um, there's an, you know, it's a fiction, it's a, it's a fiction, but there's more truth

00:10:40.780 in it than there is fiction.

00:10:42.220 So I, you know, I borrowed a lot of different things from a lot of real incidences that have

00:10:46.700 happened.

00:10:47.480 Um, talk to a guy by the name of Philip Nielsen had the red cap report.

00:10:51.360 You know, he, he talked to me, you know, he used to research all of the, the cardinals

00:10:55.820 and the bishops.

00:10:56.900 And so he gave me a lot of good, you know, good things to think about again, didn't want

00:11:00.760 to use real names.

00:11:02.260 Um, but I wanted to show that our church, um, and again, let me step back.

00:11:08.360 You know, I love the church with all my heart and, you know, and, and, you know, I just,

00:11:12.880 I want to do whatever I can to help it.

00:11:14.560 Um, but I just, I just can't go on with how the church is dealing with marriage.

00:11:20.860 Um, because if, you know, you've got a close to 60% failure rate in marriage, you know,

00:11:25.620 the sacrament of matrimony, if you had that type of a failure rate in the sacrament of

00:11:30.080 holy orders, they would do something about it.

00:11:32.840 And so one of the things in the book, you know, kind of the, really the, I don't want

00:11:37.020 to give everything away, but, you know, kind of the, where the book reaches its apex is,

00:11:42.060 is Joe, you know, he looks to the bishops and he says, what are you going to do about

00:11:46.640 it?

00:11:47.080 And he says, fix it.

00:11:48.200 You know, and again, it's just the whole, the whole gist of the book revolves around marriage,

00:11:53.200 but also it reveals some corruption in the church, corruption in our government.

00:11:57.580 There's a lot of really fun scenes in there.

00:12:00.260 Um, again, you know, when you think about when you, you listen to the news, you get frustrated,

00:12:04.640 right?

00:12:04.900 I mean, you're like, oh, you know, this, I can't believe the FBI raided this, this family's

00:12:09.440 house.

00:12:09.860 And, you know, and, and the guy that, you know, the, all the kids are screaming, crying.

00:12:13.860 Well, Joe, you know, the FBI raid his house, but, you know, it's, it's not what, it's not

00:12:19.260 what you would expect.

00:12:20.620 And, um, again, Joe's a superhero.

00:12:22.900 So, you know, chalk one up for, you know, there's a, there's a win for, for, for Joe.

00:12:27.840 Um, so things like that.

00:12:29.300 So they, you know, they, they, they deceive him into coming into the FBI headquarters.

00:12:34.340 Um, and they, and they take him to prison and they're going to Epstein them.

00:12:38.900 I just made that word up.

00:12:40.000 I don't know if it's really a verb, but, um, and, and, uh, so, you know, so again, you know,

00:12:45.980 there's all kinds of things like that woven throughout the book.

00:12:48.820 And, you know, and I have to say, so one of the, probably the biggest, um, I encourage,

00:12:55.320 you know, source of encouragement for me was my sister.

00:12:59.200 Who's very liberal.

00:13:00.300 I love her.

00:13:01.180 I love you, Deb.

00:13:01.860 I really do.

00:13:02.900 Um, uh, very liberal, very highly educated.

00:13:06.100 Um, she said she was going to read it.

00:13:07.660 And so I was like, oh, geez, what, you know, can't, can't wait to hear this.

00:13:11.400 Uh, what happens here?

00:13:12.820 And so she read it and she, in tears, she goes, I, I, I never really fully realized how

00:13:19.780 deep and how beautiful our church and our faith was.

00:13:23.140 And to me, that was such a Testament.

00:13:25.560 And she came back to church and I'm like, praise God.

00:13:28.840 And again, I, you know, I'm not listening, you know, I, like I said, broken vessel, you

00:13:33.560 know, God can do again. 1.00

00:13:35.200 God usually chooses, you know, the bumbling idiots to, uh, to make things work. 1.00

00:13:40.320 Um, just to, so that people realize that it really is him. 0.99

00:13:43.280 So, so, you know, praise God for that, but just that type of, uh, depth and texture, um,

00:13:50.120 is woven throughout the book.

00:13:51.500 And I had a lot of fun writing it.

00:13:53.160 I mean, I actually, I wrote a lot of it in the blessed sacrament chapel.

00:13:56.740 So, um, I had, we, you know, there's some, there was like some, uh, there's some arm wrestling

00:14:02.360 with Jesus a few times where, you know, Vinny, you know, Vinny likes to swear.

00:14:06.400 And so it's like, well, Jesus, how do I, you know, he drops an F-bomb what, you know,

00:14:10.320 and so, um, yeah, so we, we, we both agreed that we're going to just put the first letter

00:14:15.540 and we're going to star, star, star, and, you know, keep it somewhat calm.

00:14:20.340 Um, but there was a lot of, um, you know, a lot of times when I was writing in the blessed

00:14:25.560 sacrament chapel, and again, I'm talking to Jesus, I'm writing the book.

00:14:29.520 And again, I've got this imagination that just goes crazy.

00:14:32.760 And so, you know, as I'm writing, I mean, I'm, you know, I'm crying, I'm tearing up.

00:14:37.100 I'm, you know, you're in the scene, you know, you're there when, when this, this thing is

00:14:41.320 happening, you know, and it's just, um, for me, it was such a, um, it was such an adventure

00:14:47.700 that I, you know, I, I can't wait to write the next one.

00:14:51.040 I mean, you know, as soon as God willing, you know, we financially, we can kind of make

00:14:55.900 things work.

00:14:57.060 Um, you know, I want to start, I've already been starting to compile what we're going to

00:15:01.000 do for the next one, but, uh, yeah.

00:15:02.720 So the, the book itself, I hope is, you know, is kind of in spirit with the Holy spirit that,

00:15:09.400 that people's lives can be changed.

00:15:11.280 And especially marriages, I, I look at it this way.

00:15:14.300 If, if one marriage is saved, if one more child is born, then praise God, then, then,

00:15:21.420 then the world is, I would say the world has changed.

00:15:24.260 You know, if you, if you save a marriage, if you, you know, if another child is brought

00:15:29.020 into this world, the world has changed forever.

00:15:32.860 Um, so hopefully if, if that can happen, then praise God, you know, we've, you know, we've

00:15:38.340 been successful.

00:15:39.680 Well, let me ask you, what, what do you make of it?

00:15:41.580 I mean, what's, what have you seen going on with regard to an elements, marriage, how

00:15:47.280 it's dealt with in the church?

00:15:50.260 Well, it, it, they, they make it very, very easy.

00:15:53.880 Um, like you said, you know, write a check.

00:15:55.940 I mean, that's just, that's wrong.

00:15:58.320 I mean, you know, even, yeah.

00:16:01.180 So there's, again, it's a very difficult subject because you're dealing with people that aren't 0.99

00:16:07.340 fully informed, people that aren't educated.

00:16:09.960 Again, you know, when we got our marriage prep, you know, we got a little pamphlet that talked

00:16:14.400 about what the church, the beautiful teaching of the church teaching on, you know, on the

00:16:20.800 nuptial act and, you know, natural family planning.

00:16:23.260 And, you know, uh, you know, we got a little pamphlet.

00:16:26.120 That's why, you know, it just kind of fries my egg when, you know, we, we train men and thankfully

00:16:31.160 we've trained them for at least eight years to be priests, to live out their vocation.

00:16:35.460 Um, but married couples, you know, we give them a, maybe a day or two.

00:16:40.400 So, I mean, I can't listen.

00:16:43.600 I can't, I can't go after the couples that want to get annulments because they weren't

00:16:47.600 fully trained.

00:16:48.620 I can look at the church and say, guys, fix marriage. 0.61

00:16:52.960 All right.

00:16:53.580 Fix it.

00:16:54.320 You know what I mean?

00:16:54.940 So I went through five years of seminary training and when I got out, I decided, you

00:16:59.580 know, God was calling me out.

00:17:01.020 Um, I've got eight beautiful, beautiful living children.

00:17:04.180 We, we have, we've miscarried.

00:17:05.860 Um, but we've got eight beautiful living children.

00:17:09.180 Um, and when, when I first came, you know, when I first got married, um, a good friend

00:17:15.180 of mine, um, father at the time, father Kaffer, Bishop Kaffer, um, he said, you know what?

00:17:20.880 I want you to teach.

00:17:21.820 I want you to teach engaged couples.

00:17:23.300 I want you to teach them, you know, natural family planning.

00:17:26.280 And, and I had no idea what it was.

00:17:28.460 I mean, and again, I'm married already and I'm, you know, I had no idea and it wasn't

00:17:33.200 until it really wasn't until I, I really learned and studied that I just realized the beauty.

00:17:39.480 And, and again, that whole, the whole lifestyle, when you live, the church is teaching in marriage

00:17:44.500 is beautiful.

00:17:45.800 It's absolutely beautiful.

00:17:47.460 And it, it, again, it just, you know, we used to teach engaged, you know, we, we, we

00:17:51.680 used to teach engaged couples and, you know, they'd ask, well, how many kids do you have?

00:17:55.200 Well, we got eight.

00:17:55.760 And they're like, you know, like, wait, wait, you know, I don't think I want to use what

00:17:59.640 you're using.

00:18:00.180 Well, you know, it's, we're not, you know, we're not using anything.

00:18:02.960 It's a lifestyle that will change and transform your life.

00:18:06.140 If you want to stay married, you know, it's very crucial to staying married, you know, not,

00:18:11.040 you know, introducing contraception, which will, again, the very, the most holy and beautiful

00:18:16.880 act becomes, you know, uh, distorted.

00:18:19.660 Right.

00:18:20.400 So the, so grace is meant to be imparted from the very beginning.

00:18:24.400 It's distorted and grace can't be, you know, depart, imparted like, like God wants it to

00:18:29.720 be.

00:18:30.300 So, and again, we're, we're in an era of confusion, right?

00:18:34.780 Um, I mean, Satan is, is alive and well, you know, we are in a total era of confusion.

00:18:40.280 And when you get teachings like that, that come out that aren't clear, I mean, St.

00:18:44.340 John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, very specific, very clear when you get these documents that

00:18:50.880 come out, again, they're so opaque.

00:18:53.240 It's, you know, it just, it causes confusion and that's the trademark of Satan, right?

00:18:58.920 It's confusion.

00:19:00.500 So I, again, go back to, you know, 1968, Humanae Vitae.

00:19:05.080 Um, you know, we had the teaching, Paul VI, St. Paul VI went against what all of his advisors

00:19:11.660 were telling him to do, the Holy Spirit was alive and well, you know, and, and we didn't,

00:19:17.020 we never fully enacted that teaching.

00:19:19.220 We never, you know, that, that it really is a linchpin.

00:19:22.560 When you, when you don't get that right, you get things like promiscuity, homosexuality, 1.00

00:19:28.200 all these things that come from not being able to get that right, which is the church's

00:19:33.260 teaching on sexuality and the sexual, the nuptial act.

00:19:37.440 Here's a question for you.

00:19:38.820 Um, Catholic Joe, how would he react to a Pope who seems to be spouting all these things

00:19:49.180 going the way of the world?

00:19:52.180 You are setting me up for my second book, John Henry.

00:19:58.280 We're, yeah, no, it's, um, yeah, that's, that's going to be interesting because that'll

00:20:02.800 be a tough one because again, there's always a tension between, um, obedience and attention

00:20:08.520 between, uh, being prophetic and, and holding onto the truth of Christ's church.

00:20:14.660 Um, so that's, um, that's a good question.

00:20:17.100 Catholic Joe is going to have to wrestle with that one. 0.88

00:20:19.540 And, uh, but believe me, you know, um, he doesn't do anything half leap.

00:20:24.840 He's everything is like, you know, he's all in.

00:20:27.440 Um, so I think, um, yeah, that's a good question and, uh, something that you'll see in the next

00:20:33.240 book.

00:20:33.680 So if you go to the website, www.catholicjoesuperhero.com, you can buy it there, or you can email me.

00:20:40.740 I, I'd like you to email me because I'd love to get your feedback, catholicjoesuperhero at

00:20:45.960 gmail.com.

00:20:47.240 So catholicjoesuperhero at gmail.com.

00:20:50.420 We'd love to hear from you and thank you for this opportunity, John Henry.

00:20:53.960 Love it.

00:20:54.480 Love your show.

00:20:55.460 And, uh, hopefully, uh, we'll get, be back for the second book.

The John-Henry Westen Show - February 16, 2024

Looking for an anti-woke adventure novel for your Catholic young adults？ Try Catholic Joe Superhero

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