My Friend the Friar

Send us Fan Mail Prayer can feel like one more thing to “get done,” but that mindset quietly drains it of power. We sit down with Father Stephen Sanchez, a Discalced Carmelite priest, and walk through the Carmelite tradition to recover what prayer actually is: a living relationship with Jesus Christ that changes your desires, your choices, and the shape of your life. We connect the dots from the Rule of St Albert and the early hermits of Mount Carmel to the church’s struggle through war, fam...

Send us Fan Mail God might be trying to get your attention, but not the way you expect. A lot of us assume He shows up in noise, drama, and big spiritual moments. Father Steven Sanchez, a Discalced Carmelite priest, makes the case that the Bible keeps pointing somewhere else: the desert and the mountain, where the heart gets stripped down enough to actually listen. We start with the surprisingly important basics of Carmelite life, from monasteries and friaries to why Carmelites still t...

Send us Fan Mail We dig into Catholic catechesis, sacramental preparation, and the uncomfortable truth that a one hour CCD class can’t replace daily formation. We kick around a bold proposal: what if readiness for First Communion, Reconciliation, and Confirmation was tested through a simple pass-fail interview, and the real burden of formation moved back to the domestic church? That opens up the hard questions about priorities, overscheduling, and whether the faith is lived at home or treated...

Send us Fan Mail We catch up on real parish life with Father Stephen Sanchez, from the labor of so many First Communions and Confirmations to what it means to shepherd a loving, very poor community on a shoestring budget. Along the way we laugh about tomato-stealing squirrels and get serious about grief, memory, and why Catholic “content” only works when it flows from a deep spiritual life. If you like My Friend the Friar and want to support us, please consider subscribing or following...

Send us Fan Mail Intimacy sounds soft until you realize it can be the difference between a living faith and a life that runs on spiritual autopilot. I sit down with my friend the Friar, Father Stephen Sanchez, a Discalced Carmelite priest, to ask a deceptively simple question: what is intimacy, really, and does it matter for salvation? We unpack intimacy as “the meeting of two interiorities” a shared exchange of the inner life that includes trust, transparency, and the courage to be seen. Th...