Why would I want everyone to be Catholic because it's true, but also because then they'd be brought

into a new and the most powerful relationship with the true and living God.

How my name is Father Mike Schmitz and this is Ascentra Presents. A number of years ago I was talking

with a family member. It was interesting. They had heard me talking a lot about here I work on

the campus at the University of Minnesota,

Duluth, and how I was saying regularly that I want everyone. I want every faculty member,

every staff member, every student on campus to be Catholic. And they heard me say this again

and again, just about how, you know, if you want to get the gospel out there and want everyone

to become Catholic. And they said at one point, like, I get it,

but like, isn't that kind of mean? What do you mean? Isn't that kind of mean? Well, isn't it kind of mean

for everyone to become Catholic because then they have to follow all the Catholic rules. It was,

if you become Catholic, the thing you're really saying yes to is you're saying yes to the rules.

And isn't it kind of just like let them just not have to say yes to the rules. And I thought that is very fascinating. First of all, it's fascinating because it kind of reveals something, right? If you feel something about our hearts. And you might have thought that in the past, too. You might have thought, gosh, I love these people there in my life. I don't know if I

want them to be Catholic because we're putting a heavy burden on their shoulders. I think

the first thing it reveals is reveals that it reveals something about how we see our faith.

Because if you're a professing Christian or professing Catholic, you recognize that, that, yeah,

this relationship comes with some responsibilities. But we can ask the question, am I more

focused on the responsibilities than on the relationship? Am I more focused on the rules

than on the relationship? And I've talked to

many people who have said something similar, that sense of, gosh, if they become Catholic, they have

to follow all the rules. And I want to ask the question, oh, is that how you see being Catholic?

Is it just the rules? As a high schooler and going into college, I was reading through the Gospels,

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