This morning, Gus is joined in the Conversion Corner by Fr. Jeffrey Kirby. Although born to Catholic parents and baptized, the faith was never passed on to him beyond that. That all changed while on a camp out with an evangelical church group who were making fun of Catholics. When he told everybody he was Catholic, he endured teasing that carried over to school. When he came home one afternoon in tears, his father asked him what was wrong. He told him that some of his classmates were making fun of him for being Catholic. His dad, doing his best to diffuse the situation, told him that it would pass. Fr. Jeffrey told his dad that, if they were going to make fun of a Catholic, they were going to make fun of a good one and ventured to mass that Sunday by himself. Fr. Jeffrey tells Gus the rest of the story that ultimately led to his vocation to the priesthood.
Later, Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie calls in to the program to talk about several news items with Gus. As a fellow Floridian, they discuss their state becoming a hot spot of the coronavirus and why that actually is. They also discuss the hope for COVID-19 vaccine testing at the end of the year and the cancel culture targeting Goya Foods after the company president publicly said some kind remarks about President Donald Trump and urging people to boycott their products. Since Goya is a beloved brand, Gus and Dr. Christie both predict the opposite will happen.
And Gus gives an update on the U.S. Navy's order preventing its servicemen and women from attending off-base, indoor religious services. That order has been reversed by Gregory Slavonic, the acting assistant secretary of defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. In a memo to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday, Slavonic stated that the Navy should not "restrict attendance at places of worship where attendees are able to appropriately apply COVID-19 transmission mitigation measures, specifically social distancing and use of face covering." Gus also talks about a disturbing trend of violent attacks and defamation against Catholic churches across the country this past weekend, including the vandalism of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a 200-year old mission church being set on fire in California and a Florida man purposely driving his car into a Catholic church, with people in it, and trying to set it on fire.
And, it's Monday so we do a little Tell Me Something Good.
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