I'm Father Patrick and welcome to Godsplaining.

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Okay, now on to the episode.

Friends, I'm very excited to speak today with my friend, Stephen White, who is the executive

director of the Catholic Project at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

You can surmise by both his title, his sponsoring institution, and the topic we're going to

discuss today, the Catholic priesthood, that Steve is an expert on all things Catholic.

Steve, thank you so much for joining us today.

It's a real pleasure to be with you.

I'm not sure that introducing me as someone who's an expert in all things Catholic is quite fair.

I mean, you do write literally for the Catholic thing, so...

I have Catholic in so many different titles that it seems to be, you know, I'm just trying to

assert my Catholicity by having it plastered over everything I write and say.

If you don't yet know who Steve White is, that's your problem.

And when I met him, I couldn't believe that I hadn't met him yet.

He's a great thinker, a great researcher, and he really has the best interests of the church in

which is why he's such a compelling leader on this issue, on this question. We're going to open up

today. Steve, could you tell us a little bit about the

...