The John-Henry Westen Show - No Arms, No Legs, No Problem ｜ Choosing Life With Connor McHugh

00:00:00.000 My struggles are often more visible than most people's struggles.

00:00:05.640 We need suffering to get to heaven.

00:00:16.240 Hey friends, we're still at the conference of the Coalition for Cancer Precinct.

00:00:22.640 There's a fellow running around in a wheelchair and he's doing podcasting from here.

00:00:30.000 He's got no arms. He's got two feet, which are, he uses basically like hands.

00:00:37.240 Totally fascinating. A man of great faith.

00:00:39.600 His name is Connor McHugh.

00:00:41.860 He runs Plotlines, which is like a podcast. He's now on YouTube.

00:00:46.480 But fascinating.

00:00:49.260 He's, you would think, disabled. He's actually very abled.

00:00:53.360 But what's more incredible is that this young man is a man of awesome faith.

00:01:00.220 He's here at this conference and he's rocketed with all sorts of folks.

00:01:05.040 He was inspired by Taylor Marshall.

00:01:08.360 Got to meet him, not here, but at a previous conference.

00:01:12.100 The guy is doing so well.

00:01:13.780 He is an inspiration.

00:01:15.220 If you think, you know, often people think of this, this guy, you'd think, oh, there's the poster child for abortion.

00:01:23.960 That's why.

00:01:25.240 Well, actually, listen to him.

00:01:27.540 His name is Connor McHugh and he's coming up right now on the John Hedder-Ruston Show.

00:01:31.680 Take a look at this.

00:01:35.000 This is Cardinal Burke talking in 2017 about demonic forces entering the church at that time in 2017.

00:01:42.640 Hard to believe that's so long ago.

00:01:44.240 This was given at Rome Life Forum, a conference that LifeSite has been running since 2014, actually.

00:01:50.440 Do you know that we're running another one this year, October 31st of November 1st?

00:01:55.360 That is right at the end of this horrific synod on synodality.

00:02:00.960 October 31st, November 1st, 2023.

00:02:03.780 Come join us in Rome.

00:02:05.120 Go to RomeLifeForum.com for more information.

00:02:09.760 Watch Cardinal Burke give this snippet on demonic forces entering into the Vatican from his talk at Rome Life Forum in 2017.

00:02:19.100 It seems clear from the most respected studies of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima

00:02:24.640 that it has to do with the diabolical forces unleashed upon the world in our time

00:02:31.060 and entering into the very life of the church.

00:02:34.720 For the recovery of peace will be a gift from heaven.

00:02:38.740 But it is not, properly speaking, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

00:02:43.860 Her victory is of another order, supernatural and then temporal by addition.

00:02:49.140 It will first be the victory of the faith, which will put an end to the time of apostasy 0.95

00:02:58.060 and the great shortcomings of the church's pastors.

00:03:04.040 Connor McHugh, welcome to the program.

00:03:05.720 Thank you, John.

00:03:07.700 Let's begin as we always do at the sign of the cross.

00:03:10.080 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

00:03:14.540 Amen.

00:03:16.020 So, here we are.

00:03:17.920 We're at the Coalition for Cancelled Priests Conference.

00:03:21.560 You run a podcast.

00:03:23.440 What's it called?

00:03:24.080 The Plotlines.

00:03:25.460 Okay, so Connor's here and he's doing interviews with various people, various speakers,

00:03:29.780 just people generally talking about all sorts of things.

00:03:32.340 He had me on his podcast and I thought it'd be great to have you on my show.

00:03:37.660 So, Connor, you're in a very unique situation.

00:03:40.880 You're doing podcasting, but you're here in a wheelchair and tell us about what life is

00:03:46.800 like for you because you're not, how's it going?

00:03:49.460 Well, it's going really well and it's great meeting you and it was great talking to you

00:03:54.840 on my podcast as well as a lot of different people, Kennedy Hall and stuff and Eric Sammons

00:04:01.980 was here yesterday.

00:04:02.960 But, you know, it has its ups and downs like any life.

00:04:09.500 My struggles are often more visible than most people's struggles.

00:04:15.560 So that, you know, it has its, it's a, you know, it involves more suffering in different

00:04:21.860 ways and we need suffering for, to get to heaven.

00:04:28.380 So, especially to make us saints.

00:04:34.300 That's very powerful.

00:04:36.620 A lot of people would say, you know, there's a lot of people make the argument, and I'll

00:04:41.860 just say it anyway, that, you know, that's why we would not want someone to live like

00:04:49.580 that.

00:04:49.980 And yet, your life is there.

00:04:52.540 Yes, suffering.

00:04:53.460 Everyone, you're right.

00:04:54.280 Everyone has suffering, but yours is, as you said, particularly visible.

00:04:58.720 You've obviously thought about this a lot.

00:05:02.300 Your faith life is really striking.

00:05:04.220 Like, it's really, really striking.

00:05:06.360 Where did that come from?

00:05:08.360 So, I really attribute it a lot to my family as well as just special graces that the Lord

00:05:15.200 has given to me.

00:05:17.080 Really, he's just had an incredible impact on my life, and he's very much been guiding

00:05:24.400 it for, ever since I was born.

00:05:28.200 So, do you want me to talk a little bit about my birth and stuff like that?

00:05:32.900 Absolutely.

00:05:33.560 Because a lot of people would think, you know, given your situation, a lot of people

00:05:37.960 will say, well, I'm going to be angry at our Lord.

00:05:39.700 Yeah, I mean, there are times.

00:05:42.320 I think it's good to admit that I've been angry with our Lord at different times.

00:05:50.520 He's a difficult father sometimes, at least from our perspective.

00:05:54.780 It's more because of us that he's a difficult father, not because of him, obviously.

00:05:59.840 He's perfect in every possible way, but we fail a lot, and, you know, perseverance is

00:06:08.120 so important.

00:06:09.980 But so, I was born 24 years ago, and I'm the fourth of four children.

00:06:20.080 So, my parents knew that I was going to be, that it was, they could see it on the ultrasound,

00:06:26.540 that I was going to be born different.

00:06:28.700 And it's interesting, when they learned that, the, I think it was one of the doctors or nurses

00:06:39.960 or somebody was like, you know, something to the fact of, you know, it's too late for

00:06:45.720 an abortion.

00:06:46.780 And they were like, we weren't thinking about that to begin with.

00:06:50.320 So, but, yeah, so I was, so everyone kind of knew that I was coming and that I was going

00:06:58.280 to have, you know, difficulties.

00:07:00.580 They didn't really know how much, you know, what was that going to look like and that sort

00:07:04.440 of thing.

00:07:05.420 So, I, you know, I was born into this world, and I was born healthy.

00:07:12.660 So, what's kind of crazy is, you know, people probably would think that I would be born with

00:07:18.900 a lot of health problems, because you look at me and you think, okay, he doesn't have

00:07:24.340 hands, his feet are a little odd, he can't walk, you know, I've heard, a number of people

00:07:32.520 have asked me if I'm paralyzed.

00:07:34.340 I'm not paralyzed.

00:07:36.960 So, that wasn't part of it.

00:07:40.640 I don't know how common that is from a birth perspective, like, to be paralyzed from birth.

00:07:45.480 I don't know how, to me, that sounds unlikely.

00:07:50.700 But it's, so the big thing was, they went around to a bunch of different doctors, and

00:07:57.900 just, you know, I had some surgeries done on my feet.

00:08:02.060 I also have a scoliosis as well.

00:08:05.060 But that has miraculously stayed pretty consistent.

00:08:08.840 So, scoliosis is basically curving of the back, and that can worsen over time, and really

00:08:17.120 it worsens mostly in, when you're young.

00:08:21.940 So, once you're an adult, it tends to not change because you've grown, you're, you know,

00:08:28.880 you're no longer growing.

00:08:29.840 And then it basically, you know, it, so basically if you can make it past, when you can make it

00:08:39.840 to adulthood without any problems in that area, then, you know, that's, that's pretty, or

00:08:46.200 then you'll, you're most likely good to go from there.

00:08:50.520 And then we, so my parents went around asking different people.

00:08:55.160 I think we went, one of the places they took me to Shriners, which is a Freemason-run clinic, 0.62

00:09:04.300 I guess.

00:09:04.820 Yeah.

00:09:05.800 And they suggested chopping off my, my feet.

00:09:10.460 Oh.

00:09:11.100 Yeah.

00:09:12.580 Now, one of the things that's truly fascinating is that Connor uses his feet for everything.

00:09:19.900 He can operate a phone, a computer, can take the lanyard off his neck himself.

00:09:27.280 It's really fascinating.

00:09:28.320 I mean, because you're like totally able.

00:09:30.600 That's what I'm saying.

00:09:31.560 You're so able.

00:09:33.960 So, you've got no arms or you've got a little bit of an arm?

00:09:37.800 A little bit of arms.

00:09:39.180 Yeah.

00:09:39.440 But nothing, nothing much.

00:09:41.780 Right.

00:09:42.100 There.

00:09:42.320 But the, the way you're able to use your feet is incredible.

00:09:48.120 I mean, like, I almost want to ask, can you play piano?

00:09:51.020 Because the dexterity was like, wow.

00:09:54.660 You seriously watched him search on the computer and then go flip through his phone and just

00:09:59.760 like, yeah, whatever.

00:10:01.120 How in the world do you talk on the phone?

00:10:03.000 Oh, I just put it, hold it up to my ear.

00:10:05.880 And how do you get it to your ear?

00:10:07.900 Well, from foot to shoulder.

00:10:13.560 I don't know about you, but that's pretty hard for me to do.

00:10:16.420 I can touch, I can touch my, my foot to my head.

00:10:20.800 Like, I, I'm, I'm just, I'm just oddly flexible.

00:10:24.560 I think it's because I'm missing a rib.

00:10:27.120 Oh.

00:10:27.740 I'm missing a rib.

00:10:28.800 So I think it's, so I think it's easier to be flexible that way.

00:10:32.300 When I was in seminary, I was reading a book by Henry Nowen.

00:10:40.060 He talked about a nuclear man, you know, and people who grew up in the 1980s were kind of

00:10:45.520 formed by that immediate and constant threat of nuclear annihilation.

00:10:50.700 My generation has grown up, you know, under the specter of priestly sexual abuse.

00:10:58.920 What say you, Mr. Poor person, is the defendant guilty or not guilty?

00:11:03.240 I think that for many of us, that has also been all-encompassing, you know.

00:11:07.940 I mean, I entered the seminary in January of 2004, and it's basically been there for me

00:11:14.400 from the beginning.

00:11:15.140 I want to get back to your faith life, because it, it's truly inspiring.

00:11:35.640 I mean, you've got a really, really deep faith.

00:11:38.820 When did that come on?

00:11:39.920 Like, you know, take us through that a little bit.

00:11:42.800 How'd you get there?

00:11:43.440 Yeah, so as a kid, I became more political than anything else.

00:11:48.460 I watched Obama versus Romney debates, and I thought Obama was going to be, it was really

00:11:53.360 cool.

00:11:53.660 And then my mother told me that he supports abortion, and that really crushed me.

00:11:58.900 And so that sort of turned me away from sort of the Democratic Party.

00:12:03.320 It just, I, it wasn't so much that I knew I was a Republican or anything like that, or a

00:12:08.980 conservative.

00:12:09.380 I just knew I wasn't them.

00:12:10.620 I wasn't with them, you know.

00:12:14.060 Especially that he was, he was, he was really charismatic.

00:12:17.380 His speaking style was very charismatic.

00:12:19.580 It was, he's kind of a likable guy.

00:12:23.940 And then to learn that he supports abortion.

00:12:27.980 And in your family, that must have been a big deal, because they would have gone through

00:12:33.080 that.

00:12:33.280 Yeah, I don't know.

00:12:35.320 Yeah.

00:12:35.580 So I didn't, I didn't really get it from a personal context, necessarily.

00:12:40.520 I mean, I think I eventually sort of understood how it could be a, how it could personally affect

00:12:45.680 me.

00:12:46.000 It was more just in and of itself, it was, you know, it just seemed, it was just completely

00:12:51.540 at odds with, well, I mean, how my parents raised me.

00:12:55.680 So I just, you know, knowing that, then I was, you know, it just set me down a path.

00:13:01.240 I always knew, so I went to Catholic school, Catholic grade school, and it was fine.

00:13:09.040 It wasn't anything special, I don't think.

00:13:12.140 Interesting enough, though, back then, the district, the public district actually provided

00:13:19.100 me an aid for a while.

00:13:20.940 And then they needed to take away that aid.

00:13:24.120 I don't know if it was for money reasons, or what it was, or they didn't want to work

00:13:29.000 with a Catholic school anymore, or something like that.

00:13:31.020 But it actually helped me become more independent.

00:13:34.920 I needed to do more things on my own.

00:13:37.780 I needed to, like, ask other students for help if I needed it.

00:13:42.540 And to be honest, when you're asking people for help, you, and it's not somebody, like,

00:13:48.380 who's directly responsible to help you, it makes you not want to ask anyone for help.

00:13:52.880 So, it makes you want to do the thing that you may ask for help doing, but if you can

00:13:58.940 do it, why not just do it yourself and, you know, obviously try things.

00:14:03.800 So, like, you know, I just, so, like, that was my mentality.

00:14:08.360 But when it comes to faith, that really, it really, I was propelled more into my faith

00:14:14.740 in college.

00:14:16.560 Up until then, I'd really just accepted, I'd sort of accepted Catholic teaching.

00:14:24.020 I told myself I believed whatever the Catholic Church taught.

00:14:27.780 I didn't really know it that well.

00:14:29.440 I felt like we learned more about the Old Testament in grade school than we did learn

00:14:34.540 about anything related to Christ, which was kind of weird.

00:14:38.980 So, I didn't really, it's not like I knew a lot.

00:14:41.780 It's just that I submitted myself to the Catholic Church.

00:14:47.400 And then, and, you know, I went to Mass every Sunday.

00:14:50.260 Like, I never, I didn't avoid that.

00:14:52.000 But in high, so in my senior year in high school, I had sort of a, just a, sort of a traumatic

00:14:59.220 experience that propelled me into heavy anxiety.

00:15:06.820 So, I, I was in and out of classes.

00:15:10.420 Like, I could not stay in classes sometimes.

00:15:13.440 Like, I just, like, from then on, I basically was just, had so much anxiety about things that

00:15:19.600 I, you know, it was very difficult to finish out high school.

00:15:25.700 Uh, and, you know, I went to a psychiatrist, uh, to help figure that out.

00:15:31.880 I wanted to be able to, I wanted to be able to walk at graduation, not literally walk, of

00:15:36.640 course.

00:15:37.180 Uh, um, but, so that, uh, and interesting enough in that, with that psychiatrist, or I said,

00:15:44.120 I don't know if it was a psychiatrist or a psychologist.

00:15:46.420 I don't understand the difference necessarily.

00:15:48.140 But she asked me, cause I had been trouble, I'd been having trouble specifically at church

00:15:53.920 staying, staying through mass, staying through all of mass.

00:15:57.680 And I wasn't able to a lot of the time.

00:15:59.960 And going up for communion was the worst.

00:16:03.760 Like, it was the most painful thing to do.

00:16:07.860 Like, I would get, I would shake.

00:16:09.440 I would, you know, like, it was just, like, I would get numb.

00:16:11.700 Like, it was just terrible.

00:16:14.280 Because it's, like, cause at the standard Novus Ordo parish, it's a little different

00:16:18.800 at the TLM.

00:16:20.380 You, you know, it's, you're boxed in on, like, all sides when you're walking up for communion.

00:16:26.640 Because it's not, like, cause it's just, you know, there's no, uh, communion rails.

00:16:31.380 It's not like you're going up to the communion rails.

00:16:34.020 Which I think communion rails are just so much more helpful to that.

00:16:37.680 If, if somebody is, like, you know, claustrophobic or something like that, or have anxiety, it's

00:16:43.300 really hard to go into that, like, really long, uh, communion line.

00:16:47.260 So I, more, I would stay back in the back and then I'd go up at the end because I, you

00:16:52.520 know, that was the only way that I would basically feel comfortable going up for communion.

00:16:56.100 And even that was hard.

00:16:57.580 Um, but, you know, the psychologist asked me in that circumstance, do you, like, do I

00:17:03.960 believe in what, do, do I believe in my faith?

00:17:09.620 Like, you know, if, like, basically if I believe I shouldn't be anxious, I shouldn't have a

00:17:16.860 problem with it.

00:17:18.140 It, um, and that, and, you know, she taught me a lot of different ways to manage, uh, anxiety,

00:17:25.320 which was great.

00:17:25.920 And I was able to walk at graduation and do all those things.

00:17:29.680 And then I was moving on to college and I don't know why, but I just, I, her tools made

00:17:36.620 it much easier.

00:17:37.840 So I, uh, had a much more manageable anxiety, uh, going into college, but it still was sporadically

00:17:47.240 a problem.

00:17:48.120 And there were certain times when I, I'd miss mass.

00:17:51.180 I wouldn't go to mass or, you know, sometimes I'd even create a situation that I'd be more

00:17:56.000 anxious in and then I'd purposely miss mass.

00:17:59.960 And that was really hard, but I really, I, and that was sophomore year.

00:18:04.220 I worked my way through, I was like, okay, if, if this is the truly, the body, blood, soul,

00:18:11.680 and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, I have to, I have to do this.

00:18:15.800 Like I, I, and I didn't really understand that you didn't actually have to receive our Lord,

00:18:20.560 uh, every time you went to mass, which in hindsight, you know, it's, it's kind of interesting.

00:18:25.220 I think we're all really, um, trained to believe that everyone has to go up for communion and

00:18:30.860 even that everyone is worthy of going up for communion.

00:18:34.680 But, but that was just, that was my understanding.

00:18:37.020 And so it was hard to go to church because I knew communion was going to come up and then

00:18:40.160 I was going to have to go up.

00:18:41.820 And even then just staying in church was sometimes hard.

00:18:44.520 But, but basically I just, I, you know, I, I, I don't even know if this was technically

00:18:50.480 a, I don't know if it was a sin, but I, I went to confession.

00:18:55.940 I told my priest at home, I didn't tell him at school.

00:18:59.860 I told him that I was, I wasn't, wasn't missing, or I was missing church because of anxiety and

00:19:06.040 stuff like that.

00:19:06.620 And I was just, I was, you know, making myself miss church and, um, he introduced me to Padre

00:19:12.500 Pio.

00:19:13.680 So the, the saints were, uh, uh, big help to that, but just also telling myself that this

00:19:22.880 is important enough to do it, to go.

00:19:26.440 And I, you know, I eventually was able to sort of overcome that.

00:19:30.040 And then, uh, uh, what was it?

00:19:33.400 The summer, the summer before COVID, uh, I, is that called the summer of shame or what's

00:19:40.780 the one?

00:19:41.360 Is that the year before?

00:19:42.800 I can't remember, but, uh, what?

00:19:45.680 Not sure myself.

00:19:46.520 Okay.

00:19:47.000 Dr. Taylor Marshall became very popular on YouTube and I found a lot of his videos and I wasn't,

00:19:54.000 I, I've always been interested in history.

00:19:55.620 So there was a lot of stuff he was doing regarding like, um, recent politics and history.

00:20:01.320 So is my, are two of my big interests.

00:20:04.620 And he was doing some interesting stuff in that area, uh, back then.

00:20:08.980 And I, uh, basically I found the Latin mass that way.

00:20:14.540 And I really just threw myself into sort of learning about, uh, more about the faith and

00:20:21.560 just, it just opened up so many doors and my understanding of things.

00:20:28.300 I actually started my podcast originally because I just wanted to tell stories, tell stories,

00:20:34.120 but because I'm hoping to one day write novels.

00:20:38.180 Um, and I thought, well, I can, maybe if I talk about what I like talking about, maybe

00:20:42.560 people might be interested in the book eventually.

00:20:44.740 Uh, but, and then people like, I, uh, I connected with Charles Coulomb and I connected with some

00:20:52.420 people that like people like listening to.

00:20:55.260 And I was like, okay, I guess I should make like a YouTube channel because this is, you

00:21:00.440 know, people want to see these people like on, on screen, not just over audio.

00:21:05.680 So I really, I, that's how I started my show.

00:21:09.280 And it, you know, all of it kind of coincides with my faith, you know, the story of how

00:21:13.420 I became more faithful and I, I've, you know, COVID has really been a blessing in disguise

00:21:20.300 in a lot of different ways, but, um, you know, all of that stuff has just come together

00:21:26.160 in what I, what my faith life looks like right now.

00:21:30.580 How's your family, um, responded to the way you've developed your, you know, your young

00:21:36.640 man now with having overcome a ton and you're a very faithful fellow.

00:21:43.220 You've got a podcast, you've got all these things going.

00:21:45.720 What's your family like?

00:21:47.500 My mom was, uh, kind of in some ways dragged along by my dad to church when we were younger,

00:21:56.200 you know, not, not dragged, but, uh, just she, she wouldn't have necessarily mind not

00:22:01.940 going to church back in the day, but my dad, you know, he, he thought going to church was

00:22:08.820 a very important thing.

00:22:10.140 He put us in Catholic schools.

00:22:12.480 My mom probably wouldn't necessarily have cared at the time, but then she became more 0.94

00:22:17.460 over the, over the course of my life, she listened to relevant radio more and more.

00:22:22.280 And, uh, I, I've helped her come more towards tradition and stuff like that.

00:22:27.340 And then my dad's sort of following along, uh, like slowly, but surely, uh, behind us.

00:22:33.800 Um, I don't have as much influence on my siblings necessarily.

00:22:37.780 They're all older and, you know, a lot of the stuff that I went through, you know, they

00:22:43.400 had already sort of, they've already been on, on their own doing what, you know, they're

00:22:48.900 doing, uh, since then.

00:22:50.620 And so, you know, it was nothing, nothing special when I was a kid.

00:22:55.220 So, uh, you know, nothing special about our family necessarily, just an average suburban

00:23:00.740 family.

00:23:02.140 Now, how did you get into tradition from, how did you even discover that?

00:23:07.480 Yeah, it was really Taylor Marshall.

00:23:09.300 Okay.

00:23:09.640 Uh, him and Charles Cologne, the combination.

00:23:13.140 I, I share a lot more interests with Charles because he, uh, he likes history and, uh, I

00:23:22.120 am a bit of a fan of monarchy as well.

00:23:24.060 And he's very much in, into that and just the historical aspect of it.

00:23:29.640 He just brings a lot to his, bring things back to history.

00:23:33.580 And, uh, Taylor just really opened more sort of my eyes to more of the faith that isn't

00:23:41.100 discussed, that isn't, uh, presented by a lot of people and isn't seen.

00:23:46.460 It's just, you know, the Latin mass isn't something that you just go into church, any

00:23:52.580 church and you'll find it, you have to seek it out.

00:23:56.080 And how, how do you get people to seek something out that they don't know exists?

00:24:00.920 So he just helped, uh, me see that.

00:24:04.440 And, and then it just so happened that at my, um, Newman center and my, uh, high school

00:24:09.520 or sorry, college Newman center on the, and, uh, it's so because it's a Newman center, we

00:24:15.460 celebrated the, uh, the canonization of John Henry Newman.

00:24:19.760 And it was interesting.

00:24:20.960 They had a Latin mass for, uh, the, for the candidate to celebrate the canonization.

00:24:26.740 And the logic was let's celebrate mass how he would have celebrate mass.

00:24:32.140 And I just kind of looked around and was like, uh, okay, can we do that for, uh, can we do

00:24:38.320 that, uh, for every saint's feast day?

00:24:40.740 Can we just celebrate mass how each saint would have celebrated mass?

00:24:46.660 I think it would be, uh, maybe a better mass.

00:24:50.120 That's great.

00:24:51.400 That's great.

00:24:51.880 Have you ever met Taylor Marshall?

00:24:53.320 Yeah.

00:24:53.760 We met, uh, in October, uh, at the blessed Charles symposium.

00:24:58.360 Okay, uh, I met him and Charles Glom.

00:25:02.260 Okay.

00:25:02.780 And did you get him on your show?

00:25:04.280 Yeah, he's been on.

00:25:05.200 Oh, very good.

00:25:06.300 Yeah.

00:25:06.720 Very good.

00:25:08.180 Excellent.

00:25:10.400 Hello friends.

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00:25:15.940 under 10,000 of these brand new limited edition pro-life silver rounds.

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00:25:51.820 May God bless you.

00:25:52.340 What's your message to young people who face challenges, not necessarily like yours, but

00:26:01.240 like you said, everybody has got hardship in their lives that they have to deal with, that

00:26:05.900 they have to offer it up.

00:26:06.960 And it seems sometimes like it's, God, it's not that hard, not that easy to deal with.

00:26:12.620 Yeah, so what I'd say is make sure you do a morning offering every morning.

00:26:18.840 That's something, I've only started doing that recently.

00:26:21.800 It's not something I've done for my entire life, though my mom had us do it in the car

00:26:27.780 ride to school and stuff like that.

00:26:29.780 So that was kind of normal, but I got away from it, you know, when it wasn't, when it

00:26:33.800 was not just my mother and I, but it's something that's come back for me.

00:26:38.940 It's really just important to figure out, maybe even, maybe pick something that you,

00:26:48.040 or pick someone you know who's struggling with other things, not necessarily with physical

00:26:54.700 challenges, but offer it up for them, too, because there's, you know, there's merit in

00:27:01.260 that.

00:27:01.560 And don't necessarily let yourself, don't let the world, so the world right now basically

00:27:09.660 says, we want to accommodate everything.

00:27:13.080 We want to make things happen for everyone in the same way, but don't ever let, if you're

00:27:20.760 struggling with physical challenges, if you, you know, if you can't do certain things, don't

00:27:26.560 let them change sort of how the world works just to fit your needs.

00:27:33.120 Because that doesn't, because just because it fits your needs doesn't mean it's going

00:27:37.440 to be good for everyone either.

00:27:39.700 And it's kind of, accept that there will be hardships.

00:27:45.500 That's kind of the point, is that not everything can be adapted to you.

00:27:49.600 You know, I was, so I was a football coach, like I, or I was a football manager when I

00:27:54.640 was a kid.

00:27:55.360 I didn't join a football, I'd never wanted to be on a football team in so far as like

00:28:02.200 somehow tackling people or anything like that.

00:28:04.940 That's the best example I can think of in that situation.

00:28:08.160 You don't want, you don't want the thing that you want to do to change incredibly just

00:28:15.860 to accommodate you.

00:28:17.260 You, you know, try and figure out ways to get involved in different things.

00:28:21.840 But at the end of the day, you know, trust in God and, you know, accept the problems that

00:28:29.820 you're going to go through and strive for as far as God, you know, is willing to take

00:28:36.500 you.

00:28:36.860 Don't try and force it.

00:28:38.960 Were you a good football coach?

00:28:41.500 So I was a special teams coordinator.

00:28:43.620 We did have a kick return for a touchdown and that's, that's pretty rare for, of course

00:28:50.900 that was like seventh grade, but you know, I don't know.

00:28:53.280 I thought, I thought it was a decent coach.

00:28:55.100 When, how long was that?

00:28:57.100 So that was four years, fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade and eighth grade.

00:29:02.220 And then I became a football manager in high school.

00:29:05.300 That wasn't so much fun.

00:29:06.660 They didn't let me do much for that.

00:29:09.660 So it was, it was kind of a downgrade.

00:29:11.660 It felt like, you know, I felt like I got demoted a little bit, but that's okay.

00:29:15.180 You know, God basically said, cause at one point I wanted to be a football coach, but that's

00:29:21.460 not what God had intended for me.

00:29:23.660 You know, he sort of, he had to kick me out slowly of that mindset in order to get me into

00:29:31.380 a mindset where I'm doing, where I'm doing this.

00:29:36.120 So Connor, what are you doing right now for work and, and things like that?

00:29:39.860 So I'm mainly podcasting.

00:29:42.820 So actually because of COVID, I, I've moved online for classes because COVID just kind

00:29:50.800 of, COVID made college very difficult.

00:29:53.520 Not because of any of my physical, it's just because I hated online school, like the way

00:30:00.580 it was done by colleges that aren't usually online.

00:30:05.000 Anyways, I just, so I'm finishing my bachelor's degree at the moment and I'm probably going

00:30:11.900 to be doing tutoring as well, tutoring younger, you know, students and stuff like that.

00:30:17.700 So stuff like that.

00:30:19.440 I don't really know where God has, what has, what God has in store for my career, whatever

00:30:24.700 that means.

00:30:25.080 What's your major?

00:30:26.560 It's a very general major.

00:30:28.260 I don't even remember what it's called.

00:30:30.000 Yeah.

00:30:31.220 It's at the University of Mary in North Dakota.

00:30:35.280 Getting a general arts degree?

00:30:37.220 Yeah.

00:30:37.560 It's a, I think it's a BS actually.

00:30:40.320 A bachelor of science?

00:30:41.100 Yeah.

00:30:41.640 Okay.

00:30:42.100 But I don't know if, I think they name it a little differently there than other schools.

00:30:47.320 Yeah.

00:30:48.120 Yeah.

00:30:50.200 What's your favorite spiritual book?

00:30:55.600 That's interesting.

00:30:59.720 Confessions by Augustine.

00:31:01.940 Wow.

00:31:02.640 Yeah.

00:31:03.020 Beautiful.

00:31:03.740 Beautiful.

00:31:04.840 Well, last word over to you.

00:31:06.280 What would you like to tell our listeners?

00:31:08.300 Just thank you guys for watching.

00:31:10.620 I, um, I, uh, I'm very honored to be, uh, talking to you on your show and thank you for

00:31:18.360 having me and, uh, thank you for all the work you do.

00:31:22.100 Okay.

00:31:22.300 Scott, Connor, where can they find you again?

00:31:23.620 Your name of your, of your podcast, of your video, of your show on YouTube.

00:31:26.820 You're still on YouTube.

00:31:28.020 Stay there.

00:31:28.380 Uh, so it's Plotlines.

00:31:31.200 So you can also find it on any podcast.

00:31:33.840 Uh, it's on Spotify and, um, uh, what is it?

00:31:38.340 So Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, that type of thing.

00:31:42.180 It's also on Rumble, though that's not, not my focus at the moment, uh, but it probably

00:31:48.280 should be.

00:31:49.440 Um, so yeah, Plotlines on YouTube and then, uh, if you look up Connor McHugh on Twitter,

00:31:58.120 you'll find me there.

00:31:59.340 That's where, and then I have a Discord if anybody wants to sort of, uh, communicate with

00:32:04.500 me sort of online, you know, uh, and, and follow my work.

00:32:08.580 Uh, you can find that just on any of my YouTube videos.

00:32:11.580 There's a link to that.

00:32:13.700 Beautiful.

00:32:14.660 Connor McHugh, great to be with you, my man.

00:32:16.440 Thank you.

00:32:17.160 Thank you.

00:32:18.700 God bless you.

00:32:20.320 And God bless all of you.

00:32:22.180 And we'll see you next time.

00:32:31.220 Hi everyone.

00:32:32.020 This is John Henry Weston.

00:32:33.140 We hope you enjoyed this program.

00:32:34.740 To see more like it, be sure to hit the subscribe button below to get all the latest content from

00:32:39.420 LifeSite News.

00:32:40.020 Check the links in the description to read more and connect with us on social media so

00:32:44.240 that you can stay up to date with all the latest life, family, faith, and freedom news.

00:32:48.700 Thanks for watching and may God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show - July 25, 2023

No Arms, No Legs, No Problem ｜ Choosing Life With Connor McHugh

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