Interior Integration for Catholics

In this episode, I lay out the whole mission and purpose of the Interior Integration for Catholics Podcast -- answering the six central questions so that you can make an informed decision about whether this podcast fits you and your needs. Get the latest in my discernment about this podcast and the Resilient Catholics Community, where we are going.

Show Notes

  1. In this episode, I lay out the whole mission and purpose of the Interior Integration for Catholics Podcast -- answering the six central questions so that you can make an informed decision about whether this podcast fits you and your needs.  Get the latest in my discernment about this podcast and the Resilient Catholics Community, where we are going.  
  2. Lead in:  [cue Sundancer music] Who, What, Where, When, Why and How -- those are the six questions we're addressing today about this podcast.  
    1. Why those questions?  It's all about fit.  It's all about being clear about the target audience for this podcast and whether or not you fit.  I'm putting all my cards on the table, total transparency, so that you can make an informed decision about whether you want to engage with me or not.  
    2. So let's ask the questions.  Who is this Interior Integration for Catholics podcast for -- yes, it's for Catholics, but it's only for a small number of Catholics, maybe about 3700 Catholics in the world.  How did I get to that number -- stay with me for the calculations later in this episode.  
    3. What is this podcast all about -- what is the mission, what is the purpose of the podcast?  
    4. Where does this podcast focus?  Spoiler alert:  -- Deep inside you, but you'll have to stay tuned to find out more about that…
    5. When:  what is the new frequency and episode length for this podcast?
    6. Why:  Why should you listen?  I'm asking you for time, attention, concentration and effort -- why should you engage with this podcast at all?  I'll be fleshing out all the reasons
    7. How:  How do we make it all happen with you, for you and in you?  
    8. Find out the answer to all of these questions in this episode of Interior Integration for Catholics, number 84, The Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of the IIC Podcast [cue intro music]
  3. Intro: Welcome to the podcast Interior Integration for Catholics, thank you for being here with me, I am honored to be here with you, and today we are discussing you and me and us and this podcast.  We are going to get all relational as we often do here.  Because this is a relational podcast.  I'm not just a talking head in podcastlandia, I'm a real person, you're a real person and I'm into real relationships.  
    1. I am clinical psychological Peter Malinoski and you are listening to the Interior Integration for Catholics podcast -- the IIC podcast for short).   Interior Integration for Catholics is part of our broader outreach Souls and Hearts bringing the best of psychology grounded in a Catholic worldview to you and the rest of the English-speaking Catholic world through our website soulsandhearts.com.  Check that out, soulsandhearts.com for so many great resources that bring psychology and Catholicism together in a way that is faithful to the truths of our Faith.  
    2. Let's get into answering the questions -- the who, what, where, when, why, and how of this podcast.  
  4. Who is the IIC Podcast For?  It's for You.
     
    1. Ideal listener
       
      1. If you have it all together, if you're sky high on life, if you continually leap from one pinnacle of natural excellence to an even higher summit of human greatness, bounding upward, always with grace and precision and a laser focus on perfection -- good for you. I'm happy for you and in awe of you.   But you don't need this podcast.  

      1. Let me put it this way.  This podcast is for the Catholic who admits he or she is hurting, struggling, a lost sheep, in need of help.
      2. This podcast is for you who are like me, who are very imperfect, wounded, harmed in various ways, who are confused and frustrated, who are weary, who are lonely, who are burdened in different ways.  
      3. It's for your parts.
         
        1. we are a unity but also a multiplicity.  We don't have a single, unified, homogenous, monolithic personality.   We have several or many parts, each one with its own personality.  This concept of parts of us is absolutely central to this podcast.  If this idea of parts does not appeal to you, you probably won't like these episodes.  I believe there were two major discoveries in psychology, one at the end of the 19th Century -- the discovery of the unconscious -- Freud popularized that.  And the other near the end of the 20th century -- the discovery of the multiplicity of self which Richard Schwartz popularized.  

        1. Definition of part:  Separate, independently operating personalities within us, each with own unique prominent needs, roles in our lives, emotions, body sensations, guiding beliefs and assumptions, typical thoughts, intentions, desires, attitudes, impulses, interpersonal style, and world view.  Each part also has an image of God and sense of identity, who you are.  Robert Falconer calls them insiders.  You can also think of them as separate modes of operating if that is helpful.  

        1. This podcast is especially for your inner outcasts, those parts of us that you reject -- inner lepers, inner tax collectors, inner Pharisees, inner critics, our inner prostitutes, the untouchables within us, our inner rebels, fugitives, inner vagabonds and bums, our inner abused children.  Our refugees, our inner imprisoned convicts the parts that don't get to see the light of day, the parts that may have never been loved by you or any other human being who walks the face of the earth.  
        2. As I've discussed in so many previous episodes, especially Episode 71: A New and Better Way of Understanding Myself and Others -- I firmly believe that the concept of a core self and these several or many parts helps us to make so much more sense of our experiences, helps to explain so much.  And as I laid out in Episode 73, Is IFS Really Catholic, I believe that with some modifications, IFS can be harmonized with our Catholic Faith.  
        3. St. Augustine, Confessions “My inner self was a house divided against itself.”  That's parts.  
        4. Romans 7:15  I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
        5. It's not just about willpower
           
          1. Romans 7:18b  I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 

          1. This isn't about willpower -- Paul had amazing willpower.  It's not about the intellect.  Its about those two discoveries in psychology -- the unconscious and the fact that we have parts.  

      6. Openness and receptivity to learning and growing.
      7. This podcast is for you, you, the one who deeply desires an intimate, personal relationship with God and with Mary, even if  you struggle with it\
      8. You who want to be able to come to God our Spiritual Father and Mary our Spiritual Mother with childlike trust and complete confidence
      9. Overcoming your natural-level impediments 
      10. Anything that compromises our capacity to relate and love in the natural realm will compromise our capacity to relate and love God and Mary.  Period.  Full stop.  
      11. Invested in own human formation, and is motivated to grow
         
        1. Psychologically-minded
      12.  
        1. Embraces the multiplicity/unity aspects of the human person and wants to relate better with self internally.  

        1. Willing to tolerate some suffering -- it will cost you to really engage with these podcasts
           
          1. Attention and concentration
        2.  
          1. Experiential exercises
        3.  
      14. Wants to love self in a much more ordered way, overcoming shame, overcoming self-absorption
      15. Wants to love others in a much more ordered way
      16. Orthodox, practicing  Catholics
      17. Willing to sacrifice
      18. Let's do the numbers
         
        1. There are 70 million Catholics in the US, 13 million in Canada, 5 million in the UK, and 5 million in Australia. Adding in the Catholics of a few other countries, New Zealand and so on, we can round it to about 100 million English speaking Catholics in the entire world.  

        1. The Catholic Man Crisis Fact Sheet (pp. 36-41) and the Catholic marketing agency Fuzati both assert that only about 10% of Catholics are committed to their faith and practice it regularly by frequenting the sacraments, praying, and engaging in parish or other community life.  I think that's generous.  Sherry Weddell who does all kinds of work evangelizing in parishes says that 98% of Catholics have no other contact any with Catholic resources other than their parish.  Let's go with one tenth, though, one tenth are committed Catholics.  One tenth of 100 million leaves 10 million English speaking Catholics committed to the Faith and regularly practicing, taking their faith seriously. 

        1. Of those, how many really accept that the unconscious exists, and that it has a huge impact on our internal experience, that it affects us in major, unseen ways.  So many Catholics, especially devout Catholics get really uncomfortable with the power of the unconscious.  They don't want to go there.  They want to believe that most of their inner life is in their conscious awareness.  I'm going to estimate that only 30% of the 10 million English Speaking, practicing, serious Catholics are willing to really embrace the unconscious and its implications.  That leaves us with 3 million Catholics worldwide.  
        2. Now how many of those 3 million will accept that we have parts, these little personalities within us, how many will accept that we are both a multiplicity and a unity, how many will resonate?  I think about one third of those.  Parts really make many Catholic uncomfortable -- are you saying, Dr. Peter, that I'm like Sybil, with multiple personalities.  Yes I am.  That's exactly what I am saying.  I'm saying we're all like that, not so disconnected and dissociated as those who have been diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder, now called Dissociative Identity Disorder, but that multiplicity is within us, we have parts within us.  So one third of 3 million leaves us with 1 million Catholics who might resonate with this podcast.  
        3. How many listen to podcasts at least on a monthly basis?  37% of US residents, according to podcasthosting.org's compilation of statistics.    We're down to 370,000.  
        4. How many are really committed to human formation?  That are not just looking at the spiritual life, but also at their natural human formation?  Those who really consider the natural realm.  It's not that many.  I figure maybe 10% of those Catholics, and again, that’s being generous. 
        5. We're down to 37,000.  And how many of those 3700 will find this podcast -- that depends on you, how you spread the word. But let's say that over time, we get to 10%.  We're down to 3,700 potential listeners.  3700 potential listeners.  This is a niche podcast.  
        6. We are really a very small percentage of the Catholic population from 100 million to 3,700. We are getting about 4,000 downloads per month.  That's not that many, really.  And our most popular episode had just over 700 downloads total, all-time.   And a download doesn't mean a person actually listened to the podcast.  And some people download the same episode over and over again -- they listen multiple times.  
        7. For the last ten episodes that have been up for more than thirty days, we averaged 469 downloads each.  That's not that many! 
        8. Transistor.fm, my podcast host, estimates that we have 201 Subscribers, those who listen to each new episode within 24 hours of its release on platforms like Apple Podcast or Spotify.  
        9. So we are a niche market.  I'm looking for 3700 out of 100 million English speaking Catholics.  That's .0037 of one percent, or one in 27,000 Catholics.  That's how special you are.  Now maybe I’m underestimating the numbers here. I  hope I am.  You can let me know if you think I'm off base.  
      21. Just five days ago, I got this email from a listener and her words capture what I am looking for in those 3700 potential listeners. Here is what she said:
         
        1. First, I just want to share with you that your podcasts (and those of Dr Greg Bottaro) have been earth shattering for me, it's been an absolute revelation in the last 3 months and I can't thank you enough for delving into this 'crying need' to understand ourselves, the mysterious struggle to battle our interior world, and where God (or our image of Him) gets caught in the crossfire.  I realized while listening to several podcasts, they answer nearly everything I experienced for years without even realizing they have names...Until listening to the podcast I was never really open to psychology - I relied and trusted more on a well developed will power to always pull through. It's rather painful to think I could have saved myself a lot of needless angst had I learned about this earlier. I'm very knowledgeable about the Faith and I frequently help others in their own faith but my own issues are hard to combat...the podcast brought all this to the next level.
      22.  
        1. That is what I want for my listeners.  Real impact, the kind of impact that helps you change your lives.  That's what I am looking for, for you.  
      23. So those the qualities of my intended audience -- the who of the six questions
         
        1. This is for you who are a Faithful, orthodox, practicing Catholic -- you who are hurting, struggling, a lost sheep, in need of help.
      24.  
        1. And you who are invested in your own human formation, willing to accept the unconscious, willing to embrace your inner outcasts, all the parts of you that have been rejected by others, those who may never have been loved by you or your family or any other human being around you.  

        1. Openness and receptivity to learning and growing
        2. With a willingness to make sacrifices of time, attention, effort.  
        3. You who deeply desires an intimate, personal relationship with God and with Mary, even if  you struggle with it.
        4. You who want to overcome your natural-level impediments to approaching God our Spiritual Father and Mary our Spiritual Mother with childlike trust and complete confidence
        5. Anything that compromises our capacity to relate and love in the natural realm will compromise our capacity to relate and love God and Mary.  Period.  Full stop.  
        6. Wants to love self in a much more ordered way, overcoming shame, overcoming self-absorption
        7. Wants to love others in a much more ordered way
      26. Outer rings -- those who drop in, those who pass by and stay an hour or two with the podcast -- you are welcome.
         
        1. Seekers -- those who want information on a particular topic for themselves or for a loved one -- bipolar disorder, scrupulosity, shame, sexuality, trauma
      27.  
        1. Take what is helpful to you.  

    1. Me -- So we've talked about you, now let's talk about me, just briefly
       
      1. In this podcast, I will never ask you to do something I won't do myself.  

      1. I work on myself.  A lot.  Both in the natural realm and in the spiritual realm. 

      1. I check in with my parts five to seven times per day.  

      1. I have a human formation plan of life
      2. I have a spiritual plan of life and a spiritual director
      3. Charisms -- exploring these through the Catherine of Siena Institute -- online program Called and Gifted, siena.org, Sherry Wedell founded it decades ago -- impressed with her work. 
      4. Jenna Reimersma -- group work IFS grounded in Christianity.  
      5. Why am I telling you all this?  
        1. Nemo dat quod non habet  You can't give what you don't have.  I can't give you what I don't have.   
      6. Lots of discernment going on.  How to guide the podcast, how to guide Souls and Hearts.  I invest in that process of discernment for you.  For you.  

    1. Us together
       
      1. Conversation Hours -- every Tuesday and Thursday from 4:30 to 5:30 PM Eastern time.  317.567.9594.  I've taken lots of calls from my committed listeners.  Why?  Because I want to be with you, to be together with you in a deep way.  I want us to actually have a relationship.  I want to know what is going on in your lives.  That connection only makes this podcast better and more relevant to you.  

      1. Let’s talk about me meeting you where you are at:
         
        1. Will I do that?  Depends on where you are at.  That brings us back to the target audience.  Those are the ones I am called to reach out to.  I'll meet them where there are at with this podcast.  Those for whom there really are not that many resources.  

        1. More than that, though I'll meet you where you are at, but I will call you to a higher level of human formation.  
          1. Anne Lamott in Traveling Mercies:  The secret it that God loves us exactly the way we are…and that he loves us too much to let us stay like this.  

        1. John the Baptist -- went out to the desert, inhospitable places -- the people came to him.  

        1. Jesus in John 6:  Discourse on the bread of life -- so many people left
           
          1. John 6:60  Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”
        2.  
          1. John 6:66 After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.
          2. He didn't chase them.  He didn't water anything down.  He let them make a choice.  

        1. Jesus with the Rich Young Man -- not meeting him where he was at -- calling him to a higher plane, to being one of the original disciples. 
          1. Matthew 19:20-22 The young man said to him, “All these I have observed; what do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.
          2. Jesus backpedal, did he reel it in, did he soften his position, did he run ahead of the rich young man and try to smooth out the hard road for him.  No he did not.  He addressed his disciples instead.  Let's pick up the narrative in verse 23.  
          3. 23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 



    1. Ripple effect to others.  

  9. Now we are going to address the question of What 
    1. What is the IIC Podcast all about"
       
      1. Your need for human formation grounded in a Catholic Anthropology without Apology
         
        1. Not giving up any of the Truths of the Catholic Faith, not surrendering on the smallest point of dogma or dogma, even when it's uncomfortable
      2.  

      1. Utilizing the best of what modern psychology has to offer
         
        1. Theory
      2.  
        1. Research
      3.  
        1. Clinical Experience
      4.  
        1. Drawing from all of that.  


      1. Topics/Themes
         
        1. All centers around love.  That's the point
           
          1. Receiving love
             
            1. From yourself
          2.  
            1. From others 

            1. From God, especially God as your primary Father, your Spiritual Father, to heal father wounds
          4.  
            1. From Mary, especially Mary as your primary Mother, your Spiritual Mother, to heal mother wounds.   


          1. Books
             
            1. My Ideal: Jesus Son of Mary, Fr. Emile Neubert
          2.  
            1. Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence by Fr. Jean Baptist Saint Jure and Saint Claude de la Columbiere
          3.  


      1. Our spiritual parents are more our parents than our earthly parents, our natural parents
      2. God knew that whatever deficits your parents had, whatever wounds they inflicted
         
        1. He had a plan to make up for that
      3.  
        1. Only allowed the bad things to happen in order to draw greater good from them
      4.  
        1. Listeners' testimonies -- would not trade their histories now.  

      6. Healing can happen on the natural realm, not just the spiritual realm
      7. Model of the Human person
         
        1. Multiplicity and Unity
      8.  
        1. Parts
      9.  
        1. Loving oneself.  

      11. where we take on the toughest topics, the most difficult and raw themes that many people want to avoid. 
        1. Fulton J. Sheen  “The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The Tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.”
    5. Means we use
       
      1. Didactic portion -- a Lecture if you will.  
        1. Draws from
           
          1. Secular Sources
        2.  
          1. Catholic Sources
             
            1. Scripture
          2.  
            1. Catechism
          3.  
            1. Lives of Saints
          4.  

          1. More than two decades of my clinical experience as a Catholic psychologist -- integrating
        4.  

      1. Story -- dramatization
    7.  
      1. Literature
         
        1. Quotes
      2.  
        1. Poetry
      3.  

      1. Experiential Exercises
    9.  
    10. What is the goal?   Our Niche:  Solidifying and strengthening our human formation so it can serve as a foundation for a deep, intimate, relational intimacy with God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Mary our Mother
       
      1. Spiritual Parents
         
        1. God our Spiritual Father
      2.  
        1. Mary our Spiritual Mother
      3.  

    12. Gaping hole of human formation -- human formation as the natural foundation for the spiritual life
       
      1. St. Thomas Aquinas -- Grace perfects nature.  

      1. Human formation just starting to be addressed in seminaries -- human formation emphasized there -- see IIC 63:  Human formation: the critical missing element.  
        1. A whole section is devoted to human formation in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops document entitled "Program of Priestly Formation, Fifth Edition" which came out in 2006.  pages 29-42
           
          1. Longest and most complete discussion of human formation I could find in an official church document
        2.  
          1. 14 pages -- but no definition of human formation.  


    15. What this podcast is not about
       
      1. Not about priests, bishops, popes, spouses, friends, politicians, Catholic celebrities, not about anyone other than you and your internal world and your relationship with yourself, with God and with Mary your spiritual mother
    16.  
      1. Not about world peace -- it's about inner peace
    17.  
      1. It's not about current events -- it's about the events in your inner life, your interior life.  

      1. It's not about righting wrongs in our families and our neighborhoods, our parishes, our nation, our world -- it's about right wrongs within us.  That's our starting point, that's what gets neglected in our world.  

      1. It's not about social justice -- it's about inner justice, about you being just to you, in all your parts.  

      1. It's not about mercy to others -- it's about mercy to your own abandoned, needy, condemned, rejected parts.  

      1. It's not about evangelizing others -- it's about evangelizing yourself.
    22.  
      1. It's not about focusing on the problems of any other human being -- it's about you examining you and you connecting with you -- it's about knowing yourself, as Socrates commanded
         
        1. It's about removing the beam from your own eye as your Lord commanded, so you can see more clearly
      2.  

      1. This is not about being hip and fashionable in the Catholic world.  I'm not some sort of Catholic star or celebrity or social media influencer.  None of these podcast episodes are ever going to go viral on social media.  
        1. I'm not good at being hip or fashionable or one of the cool, popular Catholic media kids on the block.  Trying to be like that would make me look like I was trying to dance the Macarena while intoxicated at your cousin's wedding, and that is not a pretty picture.  

    25. We're maintaining the focus on you, especially on the hidden parts of you, where most people do not want to go.  There's a reason why we hide parts of ourselves from ourselves.  We want to bring the light.
    26. This is not selfishness.  This is not some kind of self-absorbed navel gazing in a psychological day spa where you have cucumber slices over your eyes and white cream on your face and I tell you how wonderful you are and lament with you about how terribly others treated you.  Engaging with this podcast is more like a boot camp that demands humility and courage and boldness and perseverance that the vast majority of people are not going to demonstrate.  If you really go inside you're going to find things you really don't like.  Things that scare you, things that disgust you, things that could upset you.  
      1. Freud 1933 the id is a chaos, a cauldron of seething excitement
      2. Bessel van der Kolk “As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself…The critical issue is allowing yourself to know what you know. That takes an enormous amount of courage.”   The Body Keeps the Score
      3. Emily Dickenson 
One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted —
One need not be a House —
The Brain has Corridors — surpassing
Material Place —
 
Far safer, of a Midnight Meeting
External Ghost
Than its interior Confronting —
That Cooler Host.
 
Far safer, through an Abbey gallop,
The Stones a'chase —
Than Unarmed, one's a'self encounter —
In lonesome Place —
 
Ourself behind ourself, concealed —
Should startle most —
Assassin hid in our Apartment
Be Horror's least.
 
The Body — borrows a Revolver —
He bolts the Door —
O'erlooking a superior spectre —
Or More — 
 
  1. This is a hard road people -- really getting to know yourselves. 
    1. St. Augustine said: “Humility is a virtue by which a man has a low opinion of himself because he knows himself well.”  
  2. And there's nothing so distracting as looking at other people -- attributing our difficulties to other people, pointing the finger at other people.  
    1. The London Times once sent out an inquiry to famous authors, asking the question, “What’s wrong with the world today?” and Chesterton responded simply, “Dear Sir,  I am. Yours, G.K. Chesterton.”
    2.  St Augustine  “This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.” 
  3. Where -- let's tackle the where of this podcast
     
    1. Where is this podcast?  
      1. Simple asnwer -- it's on all the major podcast players-- Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Podcast, all of them.  
      2. It's also on our website:  Soulsandhearts.com/iic.  

    1. The more important question -- where in you does this podcast intend to reach?  Where will we work together?  
      1. We work in your heart.  Not just head knowledge -- not just intellectual material.  But in your heart.  
        1. Luke 10:27 Jesus answered “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
           
          1. Start with the heart -- in the body, in the natural realm.  Not with the soul.  With the heart.  With the seat of emotions, with the seat of relational experience.  Before the soul, even.  The heart.  Leading with the heart.
        2.  
          1. And Our Lord insists on the whole of us --all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind -- all of us.  All of our parts. 

      2. we start in your heart but we also will work with your mind and your soul and your body 
        1. Feeding your mind with groundbreaking new conceptual material -- integrating IFS concepts with a Catholic worldview.  

    1. Another where question -- Where does the podcast fit in the broader Church -- where is our corner of the vineyard?
       
      1. I'm going to sum it up with this term -- Inner pre-evangelization.  This podcast's corner of the vineyard is human formation, specifically Inner pre-evangelization.  What do I mean by that?  
        1. Let's start with a Definition of Pre-evangelization from Fr. John Hardon's Catholic Dictionary:  Preparation of a person or people to receive the Gospel. The need for such preparation in the modern world arises from the massive neglect of God and things spiritual. "In the past," the Second Vatican Council explains, "it was the exception to repudiate God and religion to the point of abandoning them, and then only in individual cases; but nowadays it seems a matter of course to reject them as incompatible with scientific progress and a new kind of humanism" (Gaudium et Spes, 8). Through the media of social communication, this spirit of unbelief has permeated whole segments of society. Hence the need for predisposing people even to listen to the Gospel, especially in the once Christian affluent cultures of Euro-America. 
        2. USCCB National Directory on Catechesis reads as follows:  Pre-evangelization ordinarily builds on basic human needs, such as security, love, or acceptance, and shows how those basic human needs include a desire for God and his word. 
        3. Sherry Widdell:  Fruitful Discipleship, p. 63.  Direct pre-evangelization of individuals includes praying for others, building genuine friendships, fostering personal and spiritual trust, hospitality, the witness of your life and vocation, having threshold and spiritual conversations with individuals, asking thought-provoking questions to stimulate spiritual curiosity, and sharing the story what you’ve seen God do in your own life.
        4. So pre-evangelization is all about preparing a person or a community to be able to receive the Gospel.

      1. I argue that we need to pre-evangelize ourselves.  Even those of us faithful, practicing Catholics -- we need to go inside and work with our parts.  
      2. We don't want shifting natural foundations -- leads to rickety spiritual edifices that are likely to fall down.  
      3. I make the case that we have many parts who are separated, who are isolated, who have terrible, toxic God images, who may be terrified of God, raging at God, disappointed in God.  I make the case that we can't just bring God to them without some preliminary work on the natural realm.  This is what I am calling inner pre-evangelization.  
      4. Definition time with Dr. Peter.  Inner pre-evangelization is preparing your parts on the natural, human level through your love for them through bringing them into relationship with your core self so that they can better tolerate being loved by God and Mary and heal.  Then, in a much more integrated way, you can love God, Mary, your neighbor and yourself in a much more intimate, deep, full, and complete way.  
        1. I know from clinical experience that a client's exiled part often needs to experience the love from the client's core self before that part can be open to the love of God or love from others.  
        2. Love your neighbor as yourself.  Luke 10:27.  We need to love ourselves.  We need to love our parts.  As part of that love, we help our parts with human formation.  
      5. So where is our corner of the vineyard -- in your heart.  In your human heart, in the natural recesses, the hidden pockets of your heart.  

  7. When -- let's ask when. 
    1. Monthly Episodes, 60-90 minutes, they come out the first Monday of the Month.  
    2. Reducing frequency -- each episode takes 12-15 hours to produce.  That's a lot of time.  But there's another reason, and I'll address it at the end.  
  8. Why?  So you and I can walk this pilgrimage through this life to heaven  
    1. Life and Death seriousness about this.  Eternal consequences to how we address these human formation issues.  
    2. I want you to have Peace, joy, wellbeing.
    3. I want you to fulfill your destiny, accepting your identity as a beloved child of God and Mary, a cherished son or daughter of the Most High God and our Lady.  
      1. Finding freedom in that identity as a beloved child
      2. Responding in love.
  9. How
     
    1. Fulton Sheen 1978:  There is a third approach to an electronic audience which will be in the future. It will not always be the direct, nor even the indirect which I used. It is what might be called the ant biological. I do not use this word in the sense of the science of man’s beginning. I merely mean it as the roots of the word imply – a study of man. The presentation of religion had been principally from God to man, but now it will be from man to God. It will not start with the order in the universe alluding to the existence of a Creator of the cosmos; it will start with the disorder inside of man himself. It will take all the findings of our psychological age and use them as a springboard for the presentation of Divine Truths.
  10.  
    1. I often wish that I were younger so that I might use this third approach which I have mentioned namely, starting with the unhappiness inside of the human heart. The audience is always there, the opportunities are ever present. There is need to take hold of tortured souls like Peter, agnostics like Thomas and mystics like John and lead them to tears, to their knees or to resting on His Sacred Heart. 
    2. How?  By working with your heart -- the unhappiness within your heart, the restlessness within your heart, the pain, the wounds, the trauma, the burdens that your parts carry.  
  11. The Resilient Catholics Community
     
    1. Not long after I started this podcast I started getting dozens of requests every month from listeners asking if I would be their individual therapist.  I've turned away hundreds of people, I don't have the bandwidth to take on so many.  
      1. But it led to the question -- How can I help?  How can I go beyond the podcast.  How can I do more?  There's a need here, there has got to be more than the one-way communication of the podcast.  More than just the occasional phone calls and emails.  
      2. And not all at once, not suddenly, but gradually it came to me.  We needed a community.  I had a deep sense that I was called to pull some of these 3700 potential listeners together and offer you something that went much deeper, much further, and something that brought us all together.  A community.  And so, last year, the Resilient Catholics Community came into being

    1. Who
       
      1. Who is the Resilient Catholics Community for?
         
        1. It's for the minority of our potential 3700 adult listeners who really love this podcast who get this podcast.  This Podcast is a funnel
      2.  
        1. Who are so invested in their human formation that they are willing to spend time, money, effort on it
      3.  
        1. Who want to be with other like-minded Catholics on the journey
      4.  
        1. Who burn with a desire for a deep, intimate relationship with God and with Mary, a real human, personal connection
      5.  
        1. And who recognize they have some natural-level impediments to that deep relating
      6.  
        1. and  who are willing to make sacrifices in time, effort, money, humility and courage to grow in human formation and overcome natural-level impediments to being loved and to loving
      7.  
        1. Who want to become saints.  

        1. Who are willing to be pioneers at the cutting edge in this adventure of human formation.  Really at the tip of the spear, the first explorers of this human formation ground for laymen and laywomen.  


      1. Who am I in the RCC
         
        1. First of all the RCC is My Tribe, my people, bringing together two groups into one
           
          1. First, faithful, orthodox, serious Catholics who are wounded and suffering and know it
        2.  
          1. And Second, who are psychologically minded (or at least want to be psychologically minded), who believe in the unconscious and who embrace the unity and multiplicity of the human person
        3.  
          1. And who want to see through the lens of a core self and parts.  


        1. I don't want to do this alone.  

        1. I've spent a lot of time in these last 84 episode, letting you get to know me, what I think and feel, and who I am as a person. Especially in episode 71 A New and Better Way of Understanding Myself and Others -- I described to you all my parts, all those that I know!
      4.  
        1. I stay in the natural realm -- preparing the way.  John the Baptist.  Arithmetic before algebra.  
          1. Not a spiritual director
          2. Not a priest
          3. I don't claim to understand how grace is moving in your soul  
        2. I don't see myself as a leader, as a shepherd.  I see myself more like an Old English Sheepdog
           
          1. Loud distinctive bark
        3.  
          1. Independent and Strong willed -- so I need your prayers to be small and humble and childlike and responsive to the touches of our Lord and our Lady.  
          2. Adaptable and intelligent, like to learn new things
          3. Faithful
          4. Good family dog
          5. Physically pretty big -- like me.  
          6. Sociable
          7. Protective
          8. Love having fun -- clowns, sense of humor.  


    1. What of the RCC
       
      1. The Initial Measures Kit -- which generates the Individual Results Sheet and the Personalized Human Formation Plan -- we've done several of these now, and our members are amazed at the results, how accurately we are in helping them identify their parts and how their parts relate to each other, and the why behind their parts' desires and impulses.  

      1. Weekly premium podcast, just for RCC community members -- Inner Connections will be starting soon
    3.  
      1. A complete course for working on your human formation
    4.  
      1. Daily check ins with your companion -- accountability and structure
      2. Weekly company meetings
      3. Office hours with me
      4. Conversation hours with me
      5. Special resources -- for example in my email communication with Derek Scott, he provided me with a trove of his extra resources on grief in a password protected section of his website that he said RCC members could have access to.  That is so cool.  
      6. All this for $99 per month.  And we make it financially possible for anyone who is a good fit for the RCC to join through write-offs and scholarships.  The fees are not the tail that wags the dog.  
      7. And there also is opportunities for some parts-based individual coaching as well.  
      8. Essentially, the What of the RCC is a pilgrimage together.  

    1. The When of the ITC  
      1. We will reopen in December for a limited number of new members.  It might 100 new members, we don't want to take on more than we can really be with and effectively work with.  
      2. Sign upon the waiting list now -- we already have 58 on the waiting list, go to soulsandhearts.com/rcc and register for the waiting list.  Later this week, I will be sending out the first email with extra resources to waiting list members, to give you a sample of some of the resources in the RCC.    Soulsandhearts.com/rcc to register.  
      3. The main reason I am reducing frequency of this podcast from weekly to monthly is so that I can spend more time with the RCC members.  It's that simple.  You RCC members are my people.  I have a very strong call to really invest in my connection with you, in my relationships with you.  I want to be with you on your journey of human formation, on your journey of inner pre-evangelization of your parts.  I want to be with you in this part of your work in the natural realm.  
      4. The podcast has already met some of its objectives
         
        1. Evergreen content
      5.  
        1. Giving you a huge sample of my content, my style and who I am to help you discern if you want to take the next step, which is joining the RCC
      6.  

    1. The Why of the RCC --  It's all about loving with your whole heart -- all of your being.  Getting over all the natural level issues that hold you back.  

    1. So sign up for the waiting list.  We'll go through our list from the earliest to the latest joining members, so your ranking matters if we have to limit enrollment.  Soulsandhearts.com/rcc. 

  18. Remember, you as a listener can call me on my cell any Tuesday or Thursday from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM.  I've set that time aside for you.  317.567.9594.  (repeat) or email me at crisis@soulsandhearts.com. 
  19. I want to mention another community for any of you listeners who are Catholic therapists or therapists in training -- If you are really interested in Internal Family System and you want to be with me and other Catholic therapists, working on your human formation with your colleagues, The Interior Therapist Community is for you.  We are finalizing new groups for the fall, so check out all our offerings at soulsandhearts.com/itc. 
  20. So tune in next month, on Monday, October 4, 2021 when we will begin our series on perfectionism and scrupulosity.  Several of you have asked me to address those topics, so I will.    
  21. Gerry Crete, the cofounder and CEO of Souls and Hearts has a special message for you Catholic men about his community, Catholic Journeymen.  Let's hear from Dr.Gerry:  
  22. Invocations of our Lady and St. John the Baptist.  
  23. Credit for the Lead in music which is titled Misty Meadow  by George Sundancer at Pixabay.   

What is Interior Integration for Catholics?

The mission of this podcast is the formation of your heart in love and for love, Together, we shore up the natural, human foundation for your spiritual formation as a Catholic. St. Thomas Aquinas asserts that without this inner unity, without this interior integration, without ordered self-love, you cannot enter loving union with God, your Blessed Mother, or your neighbor. Informed by Internal Family Systems approaches and grounded firmly in a Catholic understanding of the human person, this podcast brings you the best information, the illuminating stories, and the experiential exercises you need to become more whole in the natural realm. This restored human formation then frees you to better live out the three loves in the two Great Commandments – loving God, your neighbor, and yourself. Check out the Resilient Catholics Community which grew up around this podcast at https://www.soulsandhearts.com/rcc.