Father Jack Siefert and Judy Stanfield

[00:02] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: My name is Father Jack Seifert. I'm a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Currently, I am honored to be the pastor of St. Ambrose Catholic Church on the hill. I am 61. Today is October 13, 2023, and we are recording from St. Louis, Missouri. And I'm here with Judy Stanfield

[00:26] JUDY STANFIELD: My name is Misses Judy Stanfield I am 79 years old. I was a hospital chaplain at Cardinal Glennon for the last 36 years. Today is October 13, 2023, and we're recording in St. Louis, Missouri.

[00:49] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: So in thinking about this conversation, the reason I think I was asked to do this was because of a story that I have involving Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, which I think is one of two freestanding catholic hospitals in the United States. And as I tell this story, I. I hope it's a story of hope, because through sickness, I did find the grace of God. And I think a lot of times when people are going through tough times, they do wonder, is God here? Where is he? And does he care? And the story that I want to tell to me just talks about how in the midst of a very painful situation, I found God. And that's what led to my priesthood. The experience of diabetes, that's my sickness, how it affected my family, and just kind of go from there. When I was three years old, I lived in Hazelwood, Missouri, which is a suburb of St. Louis. I went into a coma. And my mom, who at the time was 27 years old and had two other children, my two older brothers, and they remember the day that I went into a coma. And we didn't have 911 back then. So my mom was scrambling to find the phone number for ems, found the number, called an ambulance, went into a coma. I did. And they asked my mom, where do you want to go? And she said, I want to go to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. Now, that was 1965, and Glennon was not even ten years old at the time.

[02:50] JUDY STANFIELD: That's right.

[02:51] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: So I was rushed to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. And at one point, my mom was standing in the original lobby of the hospital and one of the doctors came up to her and said to her, misses Seaford, you might want to call your family. Wow, it doesn't look good for your son. And mom said she either didn't want to hear what he had to say or she couldn't hear it. And she waved him off. And instinctively, she went to the chapel at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. And as she told me, she begged God for my life. Now, that's 1965 okay, I want to fast forward to 1995. 30 years later, I'm a catholic priest, and I was offering noon mass at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital chapel. My mom was going to be there. She was going to sit in the pew, and afterwards, we're going to go out for lunch, right? So I offer mass. She's in the pew, finish up with mass, turn the lights down, clean up. I go to her, and I go, hey, mom, where do you want to go for lunch? And she's again sitting in the pew, and she didn't answer me. I go, mom, where do you want to go for lunch? And my mom never cried, but I noticed that she had tears, so I sat down. I go, what's the matter? What's wrong? And she said to me, I'll never forget this. She said, 30 years ago, I sat in this pew begging, God for your life. My God, 30 years later, you're now a catholic priest. You just got done offering mass in this beautiful chapel. And she said to me, you know, I don't think I'm gonna go to lunch. I think I'm just gonna sit here for a while and thank God I. The beauty of Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. And it wasn't just me. How many stories are out there of similar situations where the miraculous work of healing ministry in the name of God has happened to children from all over the world? At Glennon, now, that in itself was cool, blessed to be alive because of Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. And actually, doctor Virginia Peden, who was my endocrinologist, and she kind of had broken through a glass ceiling with being one of the first female doctors in such a high position at an area hospital. So that's 1995. All right, so if I could backtrack to 1972. I'm ten years old. It's Halloween. I'm going out for Halloween with my siblings. And I thought that I would hate Halloween because you go to people's homes, they give you candy. So I presumed I would go to people's homes in the neighborhood, trick or treat. Get a Snickers, a Hershey's, have to carry it home, and then give it to my siblings because I couldn't have candy. And I thought to myself, well, what's in this for me? I ain't getting nothing out of this. So I thought I would hate Halloween. Okay, what happened was this. The neighborhood that I grew up in was very close knit, and everybody knew everybody, so went to people's homes with my siblings. They went to the door. Trick or treat. They got candy. Well, I went to the door and I said, trick or treat. And the families said, oh, my gosh, it's that little seaford boy. He can't have candy. They gave me cash. So by the end of the night, my siblings had a pillowcases full of candy. I had a pillowcase full of cash. I loved Halloween.

[07:09] JUDY STANFIELD: Oh, yeah, it was my favorite.

[07:11] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: It was my favorite holiday. But the reason I tell those stories is it's. I don't know if we ever understand the impact of the goodness that happens because of saving lives. My brothers, myself, my sister, my mom and daddy, we all saw the presence of God in so many small but very powerful ways. People didn't have to do that for me. They could have just thrown a piece of candy in my pillow sack and said, all right, take care. Well, they didn't. It was that story, and so many stories like it, where I saw, even with, you know, the heartache of a disease, I saw God at work. I saw goodness in so many ways. And I truly believe that as a little kid, I grew up with this. I don't know if I ever said it, but in my head and I guess my heart, I knew I wanted to pay that forward or pay it back. People's kindness. And I think that's what led to my priesthood. So my point with all of this is, yes, there is suffering out there, and it's debilitating, it's unfair, it's hurtful. But my goodness, you can also see in the midst of that suffering, redemption through Jesus Christ. You can see him alive and well. And that's what I. Maybe with this conversation here this afternoon, I just want to tell people that, again, life isn't fair. There are times when it's really not fun, but hopefully we can see those glimpses of God through others, even when we're going through difficult times.

[09:02] JUDY STANFIELD: That's a remarkable story. That truly is.

[09:07] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Yeah, but Judy I know you have one.

[09:10] JUDY STANFIELD: Well, mine is similar, but at a. A whole different way. I'm a married woman and I'm the mother of five children and blessed with seven grandchildren and six great grandchildren. But when our youngest little boy, Matthew, was two years old, he was diagnosed with leukemia. So at the time, they told us they thought he had about a 75% chance of kicking it. But two weeks after he was diagnosed into his treatment, they found out that he had a very rare adult form because he wasn't responding to any of the treatment they were giving him. Eight and a half months later, he lost his battle and he died in March. He was diagnosed in July and died in March. So it was a relatively short time. He died shortly before his third birthday. So needless to say, it had a devastating effect on the entire family. Now, we had four older children, and we'd hear comments of people saying, well, thank God you have other children. That was such a hurtful, hurtful comment to hear, because one child doesn't replace another. And he was the little light of the older children because they were all older when we had him. But anyway, I thought, okay, I still had a couple kids at home, and I still thought, I got to go to work. I got to do something. Because once you take care of a terminally ill child, it just fills your life in a way that's unexplainable. And then you feel like you have all this time on your hands after they're gone. So I went on different job interviews, and my experience had been in business. My Father had owned a large construction company in the city, and all of us, my brothers and myself, we all worked there. But all those interviews, I'd go on, I'd just come home, and I felt, nah, that's not it. It's just too shallow. So Father Jim Reinert, who was the marvelous chaplain at Cardinal Glennon Hospital, helped us through that difficult time. And he called me up one day and he said, let's go to lunch. So I said, okay. So he asked me, what do you plan on doing with the rest of your life? And I says, I have no idea. He said, what about pastoral care? And I can remember laughing at him, saying, yeah, right. Me. That's for priests and catholic nuns and ministers. That's not me. He said, well, think about it. Well, I couldn't get it out of my head. So a few days later, I called him and said, how do I go about this? So I went back for clinical pastoral education and met all the requirements I had to meet to become a chaplain. And I was hired at the. At that time, St. Joseph's out in Kirkwood. It's now called St. Clair out in Fenton. So I was there a couple years, and then Father Reiner called me and said, there's an opening at Glennon. And that was my dream, to get back to Glennon, to get into pediatrics. So I went for the interview, and the first interview, the team turned me down. They thought it was too soon after the death of my son. So I said, that's fine. I'll try again later. He called me a year later and said, there's another opening. Would you like to come? I said, absolutely. So I went down and thank God, to this day, he hired me, and I remained there for the next 36 years. The experience of my son's death changed our lives totally, because I've always felt like if you have a sick child, the whole family's sick, and you know that through your experience, it affects everyone.

[13:16] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: It does.

[13:17] JUDY STANFIELD: And as you said, your mother went down to the chapel and begged for your life. There were many nights when I'd be with Matthew up in his room, and around two, three in the morning, I'd go down to the chapel, and I can remember sitting there thinking, I don't even know what to say anymore. I felt so empty and so lost and angry and sad and everything all at one time. It's like I don't know why I'm sitting here. I can't even pray anymore. You know, I've just felt like nothing would come. Well, I think from my experience as being a chaplain, I've saw a lot of parents go through that, that they get to a point like, are you out there? Do you hear me? Do you understand what my child's going through? And then it's not long. You realize there's a lot of children in this world that are going through sadness and illness and some things a lot worse than what our son had to go through, because at least our son had a loving family around him all the time. So with my chaplaincy, then I got to see a lot of everything, because as a chaplain in pastoral care, we're part of the trauma team. So we had to respond to all the traumas. We were present at all the deaths. And you name it, we saw it. And I kind of remember when I first started working in our NICU, the NICU, I was shocked at how many baby defects there are. I can remember when I was pregnant, with each one of my pregnancies, I would pray for a healthy baby. But, you know, until I had a sick child, I didn't really understand the depth of that, because a healthy child is everything. It doesn't matter how rich you are, how poor you are, but if your children are healthy, you have the world, and you do the best you can to give them everything they need. And I know that that doesn't always happen, because I've witnessed that as well. But seeing these children suffer at Cardinal Glennon and seeing the families go through what they go through, my faith, my trust in God, my faith in God led me to pastoral care. But then I saw a lot of other families go through the same, same thing a lot. I always had my catholic faith to fall back on, and a lot of families I've worked with have no formed religion in their life. But let me tell you, almost all of them have a deep spirituality. You don't come face to face with tragedy with your child and not dig down deep and find something to hang on to. And majority of the time, it's goddesse. And I saw that in parents. I saw that in children. I loved working with the teenagers and being able to have conversations with them where they had a better understanding of what they were going through. And the little ones taught me to enjoy every moment of life. Because when these little people are sick and they're going through what makes them feel sick at the time, they're down and out, but give them another day when they still have their illness or they still have their injury, but they feel good, they're going to live life as happy as they can possibly live it. And that teaches us as adults, just understand that when you feel good, you still have a lot to give. And when you're sick, reach out and ask for help, because there's people there that are going to help you. There's a lot of times you think you're alone in your journey, but you're really not. And at the darkest times of your life, you're still not alone because there's someone that's going to listen to you. If you can just reach out and hang on to God's love and God's mercy, he's there for us.

[17:31] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Can I ask you a question? Certainly, because I have an understanding of this myself. But with your son's death.

[17:39] JUDY STANFIELD: Mm hmm.

[17:41] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: You had your catholic faith.

[17:42] JUDY STANFIELD: Yes.

[17:44] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: But you made the choice to stick with God.

[17:48] JUDY STANFIELD: Mm hmm.

[17:49] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: As opposed to saying, God, I hate you. You weren't there. My kids gone. And I've seen people basically cut God off, amputate them from their lives.

[18:04] JUDY STANFIELD: Absolutely.

[18:05] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Can I ask you, what made you decide to become even stronger in your faith? As opposed to saying, I'm done with you, God.

[18:18] JUDY STANFIELD: I think, and I hope this doesn't sound shallow or silly, but just to see my son's fight for life and his love of everyone. I mean, he'd meet other little children at the hospital and just. He just ingratiated them. And he was the one that was really sick going through this, and yet he never gave up the fight. I can remember the. The very last night he spent at home before he went in for what was going to be his last journey into the hospital, he was suffering greatly at that time because he. He was running 106 fever. He couldn't eat. He had all kinds of physical problems, vomiting, and many issues of different sorts. So we would. From the time he was diagnosed until he died, he slept with us. I was afraid to have him out of our sight at any time time. So through all his sicknesses, through the night, a lot of times we'd end up just putting beach towels down on the mattress because we'd be changing sheets all night long. And so this last night, he was very sick. And I knelt down beside him, trying to clean him up, and dropped my head onto his lap. And I had never cried in front of him before, and I just broke down crying. He picked up my face and he said, mommy, you'll be all right. Now. This is an almost three year old little boy telling me I'm going to be all right. I still think of that at this time because I think he had an insight. These little children are so close to God, and Jesus is right there holding their hands that I think they don't have as much fear as we have. And I think his grace and his strength pulled me through. And I felt like if I let go of that and I let go of God, then I was letting him down, and I didn't want to let him down. Everything I did from the time he died was going to be in his memory and for him. So that kept me going.

[20:38] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: That is really. That's not shallow at all.

[20:44] JUDY STANFIELD: No, but people think sometimes when you talk about a little boy saying things like that, but when you live with it day after day, and your mother could speak to that, too, it's a whole different implication of what you go.

[20:57] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Through, what I found as a kid. Now, I will tell you, if anybody, you know, if they would remind me that I was diabetic now, even though that Halloween story was cool, when people would remind me of it, I was so angry, I didn't want to hear that word.

[21:21] JUDY STANFIELD: You don't want to be different.

[21:22] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: You don't want to be. I didn't want to be different. I wanted to be just like my brothers.

[21:26] JUDY STANFIELD: That's right.

[21:26] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: And of course, my parents, my brothers kid me that I lived in a glass house because my parents were always afraid I was going to break if I was.

[21:35] JUDY STANFIELD: Oh, of course, of course.

[21:37] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: But it's really fascinating to me as I grew up with a real anger that I was sick, and I grew up with a real anger. Now, I could never name these things, but looking back on it, there was an anger at God. Like, this isn't fair. Why do I have to put up with all this? Why can't I have this? You know, back when I was a kid, they didn't have sugar free snow cones.

[22:02] JUDY STANFIELD: That's right. That's right.

[22:04] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: I couldn't eat anything, but. And so I really grew up hating that disease. And I guess, in a sense, I don't know, hating God, but not happy with him.

[22:19] JUDY STANFIELD: Yes, exactly.

[22:20] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Life wasn't fair. But my dad always said to me, because sometimes I would just cry because, you know, we'd go out for. We'd go out to eat. Well, my brothers would get, you know, chocolate shakes and hamburgers. I'd get a plain piece of chicken and water.

[22:40] JUDY STANFIELD: And that's not fair.

[22:41] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: No, but my dad would always say to me, and I thought this was really insightful in his part. He goes, John, Stephen, it could be so much worse. Thank God you have what you have now. Finally, over time, those words that he said to me started to really click, because again, I saw how, like, my parents, my mom would always say to me, Judy I'm sure you said this to your son. My mom would say, if I wasn't feeling well of you going to convulsions or whatever, she would say, if only I could take this away from you.

[23:17] JUDY STANFIELD: Oh, absolutely.

[23:19] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Looking back on it, that selflessness of theirs, my mom and dad, my brothers, as much, you know, we fought like cats and dogs growing up.

[23:28] JUDY STANFIELD: Of course, that's normal.

[23:30] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: But, I mean, if there was. If there was ever a time I wasn't feeling well, they had my back. And I remember when I was a little kid, I used to fall. I'd have low blood sugars, sure, of course. And I'd fall and I couldn't see. My brother Kenny would put me on his back and carry me home. Get to the house, mom. Jackie needs some orange juice and stuff. But over time, the hatred and the anger that I felt, I started to see, okay, yeah, it could be a lot worse. I could have a lot worse illnesses or sicknesses than I have. And again, I started to see how kind people were. And I started to say, you know what? Maybe this diabetes is a cross. Which it is, yes. But compared to everybody else's, it ain't that big. And I better be grateful.

[24:29] JUDY STANFIELD: And I think, as we've lived long enough to realize some of life's journey, that everyone has a cross in life.

[24:38] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Yeah. Nobody gets out Scott free.

[24:40] JUDY STANFIELD: No, exactly.

[24:42] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: You know. You know, people always say they're jealous of other people, of their situation. I always say to them now, you know, just to let you know, you know, nobody gets through life Scott free. Everybody's got to deal with something. So be happy who you are and what you have.

[24:58] JUDY STANFIELD: I think at the time when we're going through this, it's hard to see that.

[25:02] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: I agree. I didn't see it.

[25:05] JUDY STANFIELD: You can't see it at the time. And I can remember driving home from the hospital with him in his car seat sometimes, and we're just leaving the hospital from chemo and blood transfusions and everything, and he'd just be in the backseat just looking out the window, and just. You could just tell he was just sick. And I can remember like it was yesterday, driving down the street and seeing these other little kids playing out in this, out in the yard. And I'm like, that's not fair. Why do those little kids get to play like that? And my little boy can't play. And he was a very active little boy before this hit him. And. And so, yeah, when. I can't say I never got angry, because I did. Like I told you, some of those nights in the chapel where I felt like, I don't even know why I'm sitting here anymore. I can't pray anymore. I don't know what to say. Where are you? But his love for me, my love for him, and his commitment to fight gave me the strength to keep going.

[26:13] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: So that transformation of the hearth.

[26:16] JUDY STANFIELD: Mm hmm.

[26:17] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: It can happen.

[26:18] JUDY STANFIELD: Oh, definitely.

[26:20] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Yeah. It does happen. Now for each of us, the path of that is obviously very different. But I. Yeah. I. The way I feel, I consider it now a gift.

[26:34] JUDY STANFIELD: Oh, yes, definitely.

[26:36] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Back then, when I was a kid.

[26:37] JUDY STANFIELD: Mm mm, mm mm.

[26:39] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Oh, I was so angry.

[26:41] JUDY STANFIELD: That's right.

[26:43] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: I would do stupid things.

[26:45] JUDY STANFIELD: Sure.

[26:45] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Just to prove that I was as healthy as anybody else.

[26:49] JUDY STANFIELD: Because like I said before, every kid wants to be normal. It's a funny word to fit in. Yes. You just want to be like everybody else.

[26:58] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Yeah.

[27:00] JUDY STANFIELD: It's funny. The paths that life takes us. And I can remember one of my teenage children at the time when Matthew was so sick, and she was very angry. The older kids, teenagers were really angry. And she says, and I told him, I said, we just need to keep praying. And she lashed out. Pray for what? She says, everything you're telling me is that if God wanted to, all he had to do was touch Matthew and he would be healed. And I said, honey, I don't have an answer. And I didn't. And I don't to this day, but I know that God's there for us and we all have a difficult road to go. And one thing I learned is you think, well, once I've been through that tragedy, everything's gonna be better from here on out. Uh uh.

[27:52] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: No, that's not the way it works.

[27:54] JUDY STANFIELD: No, there's still lots of valleys.

[27:57] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: I know. Gosh, Judy I think the same thing. It's like I thought for a long time, okay, I have diabetes. That's fine. But I better not get anything else.

[28:07] JUDY STANFIELD: That's right.

[28:08] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: And that's not the way it works.

[28:10] JUDY STANFIELD: No, it's not.

[28:12] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: But I often too. It's really kind of helped my faith in this way too. I mean, like I said, you know, you see the presence of God in so many different ways, in ways that probably without this sickness I would have never seen.

[28:25] JUDY STANFIELD: I agree with you. I agree with you.

[28:27] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: But I also look at Jesus too. Not to preach, but it's what I do. Yes, but I look at him and you look at somebody who lived perfectly and did everything right and they nailed him to a tree.

[28:42] JUDY STANFIELD: Absolutely.

[28:44] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Okay, well, but the key to that whole thing, and I love that, that last line of his, I should know this, but I can't remember which gospel it is. Into your hands, Father I commend my spirit. Yes, he trusted that somehow, still trusted God was going to do something good out of this mess when he looked like a total failure.

[29:07] JUDY STANFIELD: Absolutely.

[29:08] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: And so that's really, that understanding of him has really deepened. I think it's deepened for me because of my sickness. I understand it, you know, to a level. I mean, I'm not saying I'm a great spiritual.

[29:21] JUDY STANFIELD: No, but I think I totally understand what you're saying because I feel strongly the same way that living through that illness with my son and living through lots of tragedies with other children, you come to see that those things are really life changing and you look at life differently.

[29:42] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: You do.

[29:43] JUDY STANFIELD: You really look at life differently and situations differently. I just can't. I could write a book, I guess, on everything I saw at Colin.

[29:54] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: You should.

[29:54] JUDY STANFIELD: And oh my gosh, I can remember being with this one teenage boy who had been shot several times and he was at the hospital the year before because he was shot. And once he was off the ventilator and I could, he could talk. I mean, I would go in and visit him and pray in his ear and talk to him, but he was on a ventilator and he couldn't talk and he was unconscious. But once he could, we just had some of the most wonderful conversations.

[30:23] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: How old was he?

[30:24] JUDY STANFIELD: He was 17. My gosh, 17. Had been in there twice already because of gunshot wounds. Now, this poor kid, he had a whole different lifestyle than I'd ever been experienced with. But I want to tell you, he had a hard road to go and a lot of these children do. And if I could have had any influence on him or any of the chaplains that dealt with him had any influence on him I hope to this day it helped him because we had some very, very good conversations regarding God's love for him.

[31:09] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: So this is a kid that had incredible depth.

[31:12] JUDY STANFIELD: He really did. But he was all involved in a gang. And you know what? He was scared to be in that gang but he couldn't say that to anyone else because he had to present this image. And there's a lot of children out there like that. I call them children because to me, 1718 1920, to me they're still children.

[31:34] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: But thank God, again, in a very difficult situation he had somebody that he could finally trust and open up to.

[31:46] JUDY STANFIELD: And, Jack I want to tell you those are such treasured moments that I reflect on that I had with so many different children young and teenagers and little bitty ones. Little ones who would say, who's that man on the ceiling? Oh, my gosh.

[32:04] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: This little goosebumps.

[32:05] JUDY STANFIELD: Yes. This little girl was dying. In fact, she died that same week when she used to tell me that man on the ceiling was here again last night. This was when she was in the hospital and never had a chance to go home for a couple of weeks. And I kind of. I mean, I get chills now because I knew who that man on the ceiling was.

[32:26] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: And she wasn't scared of him.

[32:27] JUDY STANFIELD: Oh, no.

[32:29] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: It was somebody she could trust.

[32:31] JUDY STANFIELD: Yes. Wow. She just told me, she says, he was here again. Isn't that amazing? There's so many stories like that because, again, I think Jesus holds them through that process while they're making that transition.

[32:49] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: I do too. Again, I just fear because the world that we live in is really. There's an italian St. Ambrose. Where I'm stationed is the italian parish in St. Louis. And there's an italian word for crazy. Where's my mom? My mom's full blooded Italian. It's Bazu. The world is Batzu.

[33:14] JUDY STANFIELD: Yeah, right. She's right. Yeah, I agree with that.

[33:17] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: She always told us that growing up. But, I mean. But in this batsu crazy world you really can't see in all kinds of different situations. You really can't see the face of God.

[33:31] JUDY STANFIELD: Mm hmm.

[33:33] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: And I hope people can hang on to that.

[33:35] JUDY STANFIELD: Yes, I do, too. Because I think we need it. Our country needs it. The world needs it. And I just want to say, I bet your mother, being full blooded Italian has to be so proud of you to be pastor at St. Ambrose.

[33:54] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Really cool. Quick story. So my mom was in a nursing home during COVID She was dying. And I got the call that I was going to St. Ambrose because of her. Italian. She grew up at St. Ambrose.

[34:13] JUDY STANFIELD: Oh, that's so cool.

[34:14] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Went to the villa, went to Ambrose grade school, got married, you know, the whole nine yards. Baptism, everything, all of her sacraments. Anyway, so she was dying, and the archbishop had called me and asked, hey, I want to put you at St. Ambrose, but don't tell anybody until it is official. Okay, fine. While it was, my mom was getting sicker and sicker, right? So God loved the archbishop. I called him and I said, hey, you know, my mom's dying. I'd like to tell her that I'm going to St. Andrews. Well, he. Well, of course you can tell your mother.

[34:57] JUDY STANFIELD: Oh, for heaven's sakes. That's right.

[34:58] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: You can tell your mother anything. What are you talking about?

[35:00] JUDY STANFIELD: That's right.

[35:01] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: You have to ask me permission to tell your mother. Anyway, so I go, I went to her. To her. To the nursing home. I go, mom, I got transferred. And she goes, where? And I go, well, I'm going to St. Ambrose. And it was cool. She smiled and she said, and again, in Italian, my biccia didu, which is italian for all my little boy.

[35:29] JUDY STANFIELD: Oh, gosh, Jack that's so precious.

[35:32] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: And actually, she was buried from St. Ambrose after I was made pastor there. But, yeah, that again, you know, I don't deserve that assignment. I didn't ask for it. But it's almost like for my mom, you know, again, and I say this to every one of you, first of all, all moms go straight to heaven. I'm convinced they all go straight to heaven. But, you know, she had, you know, a lot of tough times. But it's almost like I was so glad for her that I was stationed there because it was almost like. It's like God saying a God wink for her.

[36:17] JUDY STANFIELD: Like, you know, you've done a God wink.

[36:19] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: You know what I mean? You've done.

[36:20] JUDY STANFIELD: Well, yes.

[36:21] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: And here's, here's something for you.

[36:24] JUDY STANFIELD: Yes.

[36:24] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: You know, now, again, I'm not trying to be arrogant, but.

[36:27] JUDY STANFIELD: No, no, I don't.

[36:28] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: You know, I just. She was so happy about that. But yeah, she, you know, I miss her. But again, she's in a better place.

[36:41] JUDY STANFIELD: Oh, yeah.

[36:42] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: And I felt her presence.

[36:46] JUDY STANFIELD: Oh, absolutely.

[36:46] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Very quiet moments.

[36:49] JUDY STANFIELD: Our little boy was buried on St. Patrick's Day. And we had six priests can celebrate at mass. Just because a lot of us had connections with different priests through everything. And we celebrate St. Patrick's Day now like we never did before. So I always have the whole family for corned beef and cabbage dinner. And it's all in memory of our boy. And that's why we do that. So, yeah, a lot of things, like you connect with your mom and St. Ambrose. And we have special meeting with St. Patrick's Day, which we never had before. In fact, our priest said during his homily, he says, okay, now, I hope I can get through this. But he said, and he was very irish, he said, okay, saint Patrick, move over. This is Matthew's day. So we've kept that as a very special day.

[37:48] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: But again, I just think I. Even though the world is unfair.

[37:54] JUDY STANFIELD: You can still see God all the time, every day. Every day. And with a large family, of course, we have family conflicts. That's just.

[38:04] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Oh, yeah.

[38:05] JUDY STANFIELD: That's just part of it. And sometimes I'm just like, okay, I need you again. Where are you? But you just start praying really hard again, and he'll come through.

[38:16] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: I do the same thing, Judy sometimes, you know, with parish decisions. Oh, mercy, come on, God, would you talk to me here? I need some direction and just trust.

[38:31] JUDY STANFIELD: Well, I want to say, you and I worked together, Glennon, for some time. And to be reunited in this way is just a wonderful experience, and I'm grateful for that.

[38:42] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Me too. Another God moment.

[38:44] JUDY STANFIELD: Yeah, exactly.

[38:45] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Thank you for this.

[38:46] JUDY STANFIELD: And thank you.

[38:47] FATHER JACK SEIFERT: Yeah.