You Were Born for This with Fr. John Riccardo
Jun 8, 2026 · 40 min · 11 segments
In this episode, Fr. John and Mary share some of the key takeaways from the recent ACTS XXIX pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Paul and how we can live and do in our day what Paul did in his…
John RiccardoHost
Mary GuilfoyleHost
But before I invite you to share some thoughts from the pilgrimage, can you just say a quick word on Paul and his impact, both on you and the work here in Acts 29, mobilizing for mission, and why we think it's so, why he is ever more important to us?
You know, I'll try to do this really quick because somebody asked me on pilgrimage, why is it that Paul means so much to me? And I think the simple reason is because on a much lesser or lower magnitude, what happened in Paul's life happened in mine, which is to say Paul encountered Jesus one day when he was not looking for Jesus.
And Paul never really experiences conversion in the way that it's often called, you know, like Paul's conversion experience on the road to Damascus.
Because we tend to think of conversion as, you know, I stopped being one religion and I became another religion.
And I think Paul says in Philippians 3, verse 12, one of the translations of that verse is, I strive to take hold of the one who has taken hold of me.
above all heroes, because Jesus isn't exactly somebody that I can be like, although I want
But I think, too, for our work, the reason why he's increasingly so significant and the real point behind our name, you know, we used to say all the time, what does Acts 29 mean? And it comes from a letter that Archbishop Vigneron Emeritus, the former archbishop here in Detroit, wrote back in 2016 called Unleash the Gospel, which is one of the best letters I've ever seen written by a bishop.
But before I invite you to share some thoughts from the pilgrimage, can you just say a quick word on Paul and his impact, both on you and the work here in Acts 29, mobilizing for mission, and why we think it's so, why he is ever more important to us?
You know, I'll try to do this really quick because somebody asked me on pilgrimage, why is it that Paul means so much to me? And I think the simple reason is because on a much lesser or lower magnitude, what happened in Paul's life happened in mine, which is to say Paul encountered Jesus one day when he was not looking for Jesus.
And Paul never really experiences conversion in the way that it's often called, you know, like Paul's conversion experience on the road to Damascus.
Because we tend to think of conversion as, you know, I stopped being one religion and I became another religion.
And I think Paul says in Philippians 3, verse 12, one of the translations of that verse is, I strive to take hold of the one who has taken hold of me.
above all heroes, because Jesus isn't exactly somebody that I can be like, although I want
But I think, too, for our work, the reason why he's increasingly so significant and the real point behind our name, you know, we used to say all the time, what does Acts 29 mean? And it comes from a letter that Archbishop Vigneron Emeritus, the former archbishop here in Detroit, wrote back in 2016 called Unleash the Gospel, which is one of the best letters I've ever seen written by a bishop.
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