Grace Cangialosi and Susan Oliveri

[Recorded Tuesday, February 1, 2022] Grace (78) and Susan (75) recorded a One Small Step conversation together in Charlottesville, Virginia. They discussed activism, military families, and the influence of their religious and spiritual beliefs on their politics.

Thanksgiving listen

Today is November 26th, 2018, and we are in the living room in Mckinney, Texas.

“I want to give my life in a powerful way for something greater than myself”

I interviewed Sister Faustina of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth during the 2018 FOCUS Student Leadership Summit for Catholic college students in Chicago to ask her about her vocation story and a little bit about her life...

Praying at the Piano

Paulist Father Ricky Manalo's main ministry is music. But he's also a teacher at Santa Clara University, and around the world, about liturgy and culture. He writes reflections in the devotional book "Give Us This Day." Fr. Ricky is of...

“It’s a service of humility”

"Life in the priesthood is one of humility," says Michael Hennessy in this interview recorded shortly before his May 2018 ordination as a priest. Hennessy is a New Englander who started thinking about being a priest when he was teaching...

“I was looking for…adventure…”

Service is always at the core of Father Stuart Wilson-Smith's adventures and musical pursuits. He says that from the time he was young, he wanted his life to be focused on helping others. It was later that he decided that...

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Joel Curtis and Chapin Montague

Joel Curtis (72) and Chapin Montague (23) talk about Joel's life, focusing on his time in the military. He is a self-described risk-taker who served as a navigator during the Vietnam War and later became an operational weather forecaster.

“It was a better use of my life.”

Father Frank DeSiano calls himself a "lifer." He entered the Paulist junior seminary as a teenager. That was more than 45 years ago. He's a noted leader in evangelization or sharing of the Catholic faith. Father Frank has been the...

“It was as if I never heard that before…”

Father Steve Petroff is a kind of survivor on the spiritual journey--a model for anyone who believes that if you work hard and stay close to God, doors that appeared closed will open. Just before his ordination as a Paulist...

A priest who listens and talks paint off barns

After more than 20 years in the ordained priesthood, Paulist Father Charlie Donahue has a lot of insights about prayer, faith, love and community. And he wanted to be a priest even as a child, so he's been articulating religion...

Inspired by the healing ministry of Jesus Christ

"My dad was a carpenter, my mother's name is Mary and I have no illusions that I'm Jesus Christ," says Paulist Father Frank Desiderio in this interview with Jennifer Szweda Jordan conducted for The Paulist Fathers in Lake George, New...

Alaska, Appalachia and beyond: Paulist Father Michael Martin’s True Tall Stories

You can’t miss Paulist Father Michael Martin in gatherings of his community. He’s known as the “tallest Paulist.” His height exceeds a standard door frame. Walking with a cane, his is a commanding yet tender figure in the line of...

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Gerald Kleba and Lauren Bennett

Good friends Gerald Kleba (81) and Lauren Bennett (34) share a conversation about their friendship and their experiences serving as spiritual advisors to Johnny A. Johnson and Amber McLaughlin, respectively, who were both executed on death row by the state...

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40:07
Denise Donnell and Hilary Trudell

Rev. Dr. Denise Donnell (48) and Hilary Trudell (38) discuss how they first met, the Christian church, historically-rooted power structures and systems of oppressions, a falling out that they had, and how they eventually reconciled.

“There’s a force that’s with me…”

On the occasion of Fr. James "Jim" Haley's 50th anniversary of becoming a priest with The Paulist Fathers, we learned about his life in the community. “Looking back, I wouldn't change it for anything. I mean, how can a shy...

God’s Talent Scout

Though Paulist Father Dat Tran embraces Jesus’ instruction to be a “fisher of men,” he’s learned that the harvest may not come overnight and to trust in the work of the Holy Spirit. In this interview, he speaks about transitioning...

“The ultimate meaning:” A Classics Publisher

It's a go-to book series, an encyclopedia of Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Islamic thinkers: Paulist Press' "Classics of Western Spirituality." And it was started under the leadership of Paulist Fr. Kevin Lynch. In this interview, Fr. Kevin, age 93, talks...

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George Groetsch and Susan Polowczuk

Susan Polowczuk (57) interviews her dad, George B. Groetsch (83) about his family history.

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Robynn Reilly and Regina [No Name Given]

One Small Step partners Robynn Reilly [no age given] and Regina [No Name Given] (53) talk about faith, racial issues in the US, and the importance of communicating across difference. They reflect on finding opportunities to discover and rebuild their...