The Veritas Manifesto: Operation Nazareth and the Church as Sanctuary

Welcome to Expanding Your Faith, a podcast that tackles modern-day issues with a focus on spirituality. With Bishop Breyer Godsey, Reverend Mark Trim, Father Matt Schnabel, and Bishop Ben Williams, thanks for listening. Take a breath, open your heart, and let's expand your faith together. Hello, everyone, and welcome to this edition of Expanding Your Faith. I'm Bishop Breyer, and joining me tonight is Padre Ricardo Romero. Hello, Padre Ricardo, how are you? Very good. Hello from the West Coast. I'm coming to you from El Cajon, California, which is in the county of San Diego. I'm about 20 miles from the Mexican border at Tijuana, and about 15 miles to the actual coastline of the Pacific Ocean. So it's a hot bay, but that's good for if you want to be out in the ocean, but that's so good if you happen to be in Washington, D.C., I don't think. That's right. They had to close down the Trump 2050 anniversary celebration yesterday through the midday because it got so hot up there. I think they did today, too. So it is definitely warm everywhere right now. Tonight, we're going to be talking about the project that our church has been working on for the last year. And what it is doing is called the Veritas Manifesto. And this project was born out of years of study and struggle and work by Padre Ricardo, Mr. Tony Herrera, and others, focused mostly on how we treat immigrants and migrants, but also expanded to other minorities who are being marginalized in our country today. And this project has kind of taken on a bit of a worldwide spread as members of the committee hail from various regions around the world to now help build and implement this project. And I'm going to give Padre Ricardo a chance to just kind of explain, first off, a little bit of the history of how we got here. And kind of what the beginnings of the Veritas Manifesto were. >> It's delightful to be here visiting with you, Bishop Grier. I might mention to our audience that Bishop Grier and I met when he was doing a Internet radio show talking about what was happening in Maricopa County, Arizona, which I'm a resident, a lifelong resident of Phoenix, Arizona. My father was born into in Phoenix, and my grandmother was living in Arizona when it was a territory. So definitely Arizona is the home roots of my patriarchal side of my family. >> Right. >> And so we had a sheriff, Joseph O'Pio, who became somewhat notorious for his tent city. He erected about 300 tents that he would house prisoners during the hot summer months. And a way of punishing them, his philosophy was that cruelty would ensure that there would be a low recidivism rate because nobody wants to return to a cruel setting. And so by having a cruel prison, you would be discouraging people that want to be repeat offenders. And so he got a lot of notoriety with this. And then in the early 2000s, Arizona became very much involved in voter politics beginning to enact a legislation, strict voting rules of who could be out to vote in any election city, county, or federal. So O'Pio signed on by being able to capture, as he would call, in a sweep, those that were undocumented working in the city. And then they would be deported. And he began doing this in a big scale. I mean, weekends he would have his entire patrols out there in various places in Phoenix, pulling people over and finding out whether they have documentation. I was born in Phoenix, and as I mentioned, my father was too. But I lost count of the times that I would be pulled over from my car, driving my car, and asked if I was a U.S. citizen and if I had papers. So three or three times I was actually detained until I could prove that I was an American citizen. And that used to outrage me because my roots were strictly from Phoenix all the way around Arizona. But even I would get profiled by this fight. I met Bishop Greer when he was doing this internet radio show, and he wanted to have more information about what was happening with O'Pio and these immigration sweeps that he was putting on in grandiose style. We're talking about a man who used to have a chain gang he would put out there so the public could see this chain gang of women working with the both guards, just out of a 1970s movie or something like that, very much into optics and everything. And so Arizona was getting more and more involved in acting legislation that were actually viewed as anti-immigrant. And they finally did pass a law in 2010 about that. Anyway, along the way I was involved in several activist groups. that were protesting the sweeps. And it occurred to me that being a political activist isn't working. We would have, like last rally that I organized, helped organize, we had 40,000 people show up for that one. We were getting big crowds of people coming to our rallies and so forth. But really nothing was getting accomplished. Nothing was changing. It was just actually getting worse. And I finally came to the conclusion that fundamentally what's wrong here is the moral base that can support a cruel type of government that would enforce radical anti-immigration laws and profile people, strictly because of where they're from. Form of systemic racism carried over from the 19th century even. And so what I saw was that we actually have a problem involving morality here. And it was at that point I decided to enter the seminary and study to become a priest. Because I felt what we need is to be able to come back out and preach the true gospel, the actual gospel of the Sermon on the Mount. And away from all these other things that we've gotten involved in, so many false ideas. One of the ones I used to hear all the time back then was that this country was founded on prayer. And that is straight out wrong. Because they were deists. They weren't Christians. But the idea of a Christian nationalism, I saw back in the early 2000s, beginning to form, and I saw it get stronger through the years. This Christian nationalism that we now have that somehow finds a way to side step the moral issue of what's happening in our country right now with the raids that are conducted by ICE, with people like, for instance, this last weekend, last Sunday, there was a nun in Texas walking to mass in the morning. And ICE picked her up in detainer for a day. And so they have the ICE. So I just wanted to point out real quick that our last episode of the podcast, we actually talked about how Christian nationalism is not Christianity. That's right. That was our podcast last time. So it kind of dovetails with this quite well. And so I looked to see what's happening in the various denominations. And some of them have a direct straight out offense against what's happening with the anti-immigration movement under, actually, it's one of Stephen Miller, who is the consultant to President Carter about these immigration raids that the ICE is doing and so forth. To see how the other denominations are handling it, and looking at it. And there are some Christian denominations, evangelicals, generally, who support what's happening with the ICE raids. They have an understanding of it as they see it, as that we are a nation of law and law must be upheld. And if people come here in opposition to the law, then they need to be dealt with. One of the things that I found, even going back to the early years, was that most people didn't believe me when I told them that the legal issue of being in this country without documentation is about the same equivalent as a speeding ticket. To actually bypass the complete system of representation, for instance, and being given rights, even if you're here without documentation, that still does not preclude you from being protected by the Bill of Rights. The fact that Christian nationalism embraces this particular form of government is extraordinarily disturbing. And when this was all coming up happening, a colleague, an activist from Phoenix, got in touch with me. I'm talking like sometime around 2020, that he got in touch with me and said, let's put our experience working as activists and see if we can create an atmosphere of enlightenment so that people understand what's at stake, what's happening here, what's being taken away, what liberties are being taken away from people, and how the churches can become centers of refuge for the people that are being uprooted by this system. And that was the beginning of the voritas manifestis. Voritas being the latin for light, enlightenment. And because we felt what's missing here is the enlightenment of not only what the problem is, but what's needed to support and help the problem become, you know, not a problem, but become a solution, you know, and how that involves everyone. And so we wrote this voritas manifestis, and I proposed it to Bishop Brere, as he said, it just lived about a little over a year ago, you know, and Bishop Brere and I had worked before when we were doing a similar project involving social activism. And so from that, you know, we came up with an organizing committee that is a part of the newly organized and appointed form office, the Office of Faith, Justice and Humanitarian Efforts that was created by Bishop Brere and the College of Bishops. And they appointed me to be the director of this newly formed office, which we have since organized an organizing committee. And that actually has taken, we have representation here in United States. We also have, it's a part of the group coming from Vancouver, and then all the way over to Argentina and South America. and also Bishop Uncarlo's in Columbia. So recovering quite a large geographical area. The pastor from Vancouver, his ministry is to Southeast Asia. So he's bringing on board all his contacts to Southeast Asia. And what we've adapted from as a result of the voritas manifestis, what we've developed is an Operation Nazareth Manifest. And what is based on this manifest, what we call this Operation that we're going to launch this month, it's rooted in the gospel of Luke chapter four, verses 18 through 19. The spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight, for the blind to set the oppressed free to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And using that as our root of this operation that we're going to begin, which is going to be a series of webinars and other discussions and how to empower churches and congregations to be centers of refuge and information for those that are being disenfranchised by our government right now. And we set a date, as the launch date. So I've given everything kind of a real thumbnail version of it, Bishop. If anyone has any questions or things, go ahead and bring those out here. We can talk about it a little bit more. And so part of this manifesto is large grassroots effort to try to get people to assist with various different areas of support for communities that are most marginalized. Right. Right. And some of those things are like simple things that you wouldn't think are necessary, but like just being able to get groceries to people, right? Because there are people that are so afraid to leave their home because of what's going on in the United States and abroad that they're afraid to leave their home long enough to go get groceries. That's because the process is so arbitrary. By first, it's the none that was detained last Sunday, walking to church. Now, initially, when this massive movement was started with the president using ICE to enforce it, it was supposed to pick up the worst of the worst. We're going to make it safe for America. We're going to get rid of all of these felons that are here without documentation of those that have criminal records and all that. That's our primary topic. How does that justify picking up a nun that's walking to church, walking to mass on Sunday morning to detain her? So the process is completely arbitrary. Anyone can be suddenly spotted and then taken, no questions asked, just taken. And you don't dare put up any resistance. Because if you put any resistance, you could possibly even get killed. You could get rudely beaten if you give any kind of resistance towards it. It's really hard to worship because back in the days, and I was living in Phoenix. And I get pulled over by the sheriff's deputies. They'd pull me over and ask, what's this all to say? Where are you from? Where are you born from? Where are you going? And they'd ask all these questions. And you ask them, am I being arrested? And they'd say, no, you're not. But you better answer these questions. And sometimes they take me out of the car and put me spreading, you go in the back and search me. All of this, because I was profiled, that I could be potential undocumented person. And so the system now is much worse. And as you mentioned, people are afraid to go out, get groceries, or even to drive to work, or to be separated for their children. It's a due process of law. And here, as we record this episode, this is July 4th, and we are celebrating the independence of our nation. And one of the founding principles of this nation was that we would be a nation of laws. Whereas, where they came from in that day and time in the United Kingdom, under King George, King George had very much done away with laws in the sense that he made up the laws. Whatever he decided that day was what they would be governed by. And so he would make wild proclamations, and they would change on the spur of a moment. Much like we see today, day in the United States. And so one of the founding principles of this nation was that we would adhere to laws. And another component of the Veritas Manifesto is working with lawmakers and legislatures to try to come up with ways to protect the rule of law, to give people due process, and to maintain a certain semblance of freedom in the nation, even in the States. And it's a very authoritarian take-home. Right. It's something to be about, how do you say, standing up immigrant rights, and all that, that somehow you are disabling the country from a safe place because you're advocating an open border, and all kinds of people that can cut all this everything, and crime rates are going to go up, and all that. And frequently, when I've found is that most of these, what I would call myths, are just that. They're myths based upon ignorance of the law. For instance, we don't have an open border. We never really had an open border. Although I remember back in the days when I was growing up, my cousins that lived by the border there in San Diego, we'd go back and forth all the time to Tijuana without nobody saying a thing. People just went back and forth. And then when Ronald Reagan was governor of the State of California, they opened the border for farm workers to come across, because they were trying to break the farm worker union. So you have all these people coming back with the idea that by having open borders working the country unsafe. And the other thing is that statistics prove constantly that the crime rate amongst undocumented is significantly lower than the crime rate in the average American society. And it makes sense, because if you're undocumented, and you can get deported at the drop of a hat, you're not gonna go out there and try and steal, or break into somebody's home, or assault somebody. That would go against all the reasons why in the first place. So the myth that crime is rampant, have these people, these immigrants that are coming here. This country has evolved in these 250 years. I would just say, these embracing, if not going along with the systemic racist society, it took us all the way into the 19th century to outlaw slavery. But even then, Jim Crow cropped up immediately after that, and you have all these lynchings happening in all that. And so what the race was trying to do is trying to bring enlightenment, and part of that enlightenment, enlightenment of the political system of government, as the government is not supposed to be a government of church and state beat together, but a separate government that is a civil government, and not ruled by monarchy. And that's where the true celebration of July 4 should be out is our declaration of liberty from the oppressed brought upon by the monarchy. And today, not only do we see brought on by our current monarch, that we also have the corporate interest that virtually set the political agenda for this country as well. So we're wrestling against money, as well as blue blood. But that was the basis of the Vridis. And then Nazareth manifest is to actually go into action using the grassroots and interfaith groups working together to create churches that are based on mutual aid, and I like this little phrase what we call. Absolutely. We just finished a book study in the parish here this past Thursday on the cost of discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And of course, Bonhoeffer uses some of those very same terms, radical hospitality, vicarious solidarity and vicarious suffering. In fact, that was the final chapter of Bonhoeffer's cost of discipleship. He's talking about this vicarious suffering vicarious solidarity in which he talks about how we as people of faith cannot advocate. We cannot work to help marginalized communities and marginalized people without being down there with them in their suffering. Where they are. And we can't speak from a place of safety. We have to actually be with them in the midst of what they're going through. And so to me, this project, the Vridis manifesto and the Nazareth manifest encapsulates that idea of being down there in the trenches with the people who are dealing with these types of situations, these people who are suffering. at the hands of unfair governments, unfair laws, regulations and puts us in a spot that's very unsettling. It's all of that plus that we have people that are being marginalized because of health issues. Being denied health care when they have need of medication and not being able to afford purchasing medication because of the price not having health care insurance, for instance, and not being able to get treatment when it's needed and the condition becomes worse. They become also oppressed by the same regime that is bringing on the oppression to the others of different races and beliefs and religious beliefs and so forth. I think a word also should be mentioned in Bishop Brere about what happened to Bonhoeffer. What was his demise? and that being, he was executed just a few weeks before the surrender of Germany and they executed him on purpose. They knew they were going to surrender but they executed him anyway because they wanted to get rid of him so much. I mean, they felt that the Nazi party felt so threatened by Bonhoeffer and he was accused of being a part of the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Now, it's debated where they actually was agent of that conspiracy or not. He never defended himself and denied that he wasn't a part of it. He just accepted that that was his fate was executed that stands against Adolf Hitler. But, you know, he had, how do you say, this feeling that he had to be entrenched in the actual grassroots of what was happening in Germany, you know, he was in the United States going to a seminary there in New York. and there before the war began. And when the war was going to begin, he immediately made plans to return back to Germany. And his, his hosts here in America said, you know, you can stay and, you know, to plead, you know, political asylum and you'll be granted asylum and you won't have to go back to Germany and subsequently execute it. And he said, how can I turn my back on my brothers? You know, how can I, how can I justice? that. I'm not a part. I'm there in, in spirit. I need to be there. He did back to Germany and eventually was imprisoned by Adolf Hitler and subsequently executed. And there's one thing that he said that I've never forgotten about that book. He said, when things have become to the point where they're out right now in society, and he's talking about in Germany, but the Nazi society, you literally have to drive a spoke through the hub. You know, you just have to just drive it right through there. There's no other way you just have to just bring it up to a stop. You know, this is as far as it goes, you know, and that, that requires a full fledged commitment, you know, to feel that way. But that, that was also the inspiration to putting together the burritas sasrith manifest, you know, with a lot of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his views about how we have to serve the community. And in this case, what we're looking at with the Masrith manifest, we're looking at areas of organizing where people can get healthcare, you know, where people can get groceries, where people can get fuel for their cars to get to work, where people can get those that will be there for their children and they bet they should be detained. Their children will not be uncared for. So they're making powers of attorney for children to be protected. All of this as a method of survival during this time and implementing the churches to be that place, that first aid station, so to speak, you know, working through the various denominations in the interfaith movement. I think it's important to also point out that Bonhoeffer quite clearly to the seminary union theological seminary in New York. Right. He said, if I don't go back and stand with the people suffering in Germany, then I will have no moral authority to preach. after the war is over. And I think so many Christians forget that today. They forget the fact that part of being a Christian is being willing to lay down your life for others. And it is so difficult for them today because their allegiance is split between, you know, following Jesus and following their man made Jesus Donald Trump. And so it is come to a point in our nation where they are much more happy following Donald Trump as their Lord and Savior and following the actual Jesus of Nazareth. And so it is it is led to a lot of churches. In fact, the Roman Catholic priest right here in Georgia who actually called ICE on members of his congregation had them come into the church to arrest them right here in Georgia, you know, violating centuries of precedence that the church is a sanctuary, as well as opening up those people to abuse and detainment and harm all the effort of trying to follow a gospel that was not gospel of Jesus and certainly not the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Right. right. Pope Leo has been very much on target with his commentaries being focused at JD Vance Vice President and also Donald Trump as president about the immorality of the treatment of immigrants in this country. The thing that is so ironic about this is that country benefits from the activities and involvement of immigration immigration. You know, I mean, immigrates immigrants, first of all, people say they should not be, I would say, accepted because they're hearing a free ride. You know, we're paying tax money for them to get all the things that the government will throw at them. But the truth of the matter is that they pay the highest rate of taxes because they all work and have taxes, how to say taken out, but they never file for refunds. You know, so there's a huge amount of money that comes in from just that a little bit that they provide labor, they provide expertise in certain fields. They are a family environment, which is what this country supports or wants to support as a family, a country of family values. That all is in that what off-putting is the system of immigration, immigration. Recently, somebody came up and said, I'm all for immigration, but I'm against illegal immigration. And I asked that person, can you describe for me what is legal immigration? You know, if you were counseling me, I'm living in Italy and I want to immigrate to the United States, what would tell me what I would have to do? And you know what? He didn't know what to start. You know, he had no idea how you'd get started. The other thing, two years ago, under President Carter, the United States, along with many other multinationals across the world, formed a policy dealing with refugee status. Those that are refugees that are coming to seeking political asylum, for instance, seeking refuge from another country, what would be the rules involved in that? And the rules up to this administration used to be that all a person had to do which present themselves to a customs agent and claim we would like to become considered for political asylum. And then they go into that process of, you know, that process where they are going to be granted asylum or not. So showing up here without paper, is in itself is not illegal. In fact, there really is no such thing as an illegal human being, you know, to begin with. So as Bishop points out, the burritos manifest and the Nazareth manifest are focusing on these key elements that are impeding our society because of current legislation or administration from the federal government. Now, Bishop, I'd like to connect some time and give the five points in the burritos where we stand up, the points, as you mentioned, getting political representation regarding legislation. But we also provide for, say, healthcare, you know, and three other. So there's five separate areas that compose the burritos manifest and what is that we are trying to bring enlightenment toward. And then, so like the subject and the verb, the subject and the verb is the Nazareth man as scripture dictates, bringing liberation to the prisoners. Those are people that are being prisoners by, say, either political oppression or racism or through healthcare being disenfranchised because of their healthcare problems or unemployment or what we call affordability. All those areas are covered in those five points. So if you want me to come back, I'll be happy to bring those points forward in a more, I would just say, organized fashion, which each one represents. Right. And we can certainly do that. I do also want to point out that part of the reason that Jimmy Carter's administration put into place the refugee status program was because of all the backlash after World War II was over because it was discovered a book that went viral after World War II was by a young teenager in Germany named Anne Franks and so many Americans today have never read the diary of Anne Franks, originally called the double girl German. But the diary of Anne Franks spoke about their treatment in Germany under Nazi regime. And it was discovered after the war was over that a early in the war, Franks and his daughter, daughters and their mother boarded a ship to come to the United States, ate Germany, and were turned away as refugees and sent back to Germany. Over three thousand children returned away. Right. And where they would then die years later, time in concentration camps. And so if the United States had had a refugee program, those children would have lived. They would not have died in Nazi Germany. And so the Carter administration was pressured into setting up a refugee program, mostly because it was during Carter's administration in the 70s in which the diary of Anne Franks really became popular in the United States and began being read in schools and people began to really hear and understand what was going on. And so he felt a tremendous amount of pressure to make sure that that never happened again. Excuse me. He looked at the situation of say the Japanese mentored, you know, falsely in this government for just being with the Japanese heritage. You know, and so he made reprimands to that group as well. That's right. Absolutely. And one of the most vocal activists about the Japanese internment camps is a man who played Hulu on Star Trek. And for the moment, his name has escaped from me, George to Kai, George to Kai. Oh, yes. Yes. It's a family. All right. Who was a young boy when his family was interred in vision of a camp for Japanese and Japanese Americans? So he even produced a film about what life was like in the internment camps in the United States. So Carter brought the compassion towards Japanese that were interred falsely as well as although in the United States as well, it was a multinational thing done by many European countries, the United Kingdom, Germany. They all signed on board with the guidelines to how you deal with refugee seeking asylum status. That was in place all the way up until Jeff Sessions as the acting attorney general for Donald Trump's first term put that on a suspension, completely. Absolutely. And we have seen only a continued slide away from that under this current administration as they work to not only take away the rights of of people to do process, but they also attack the press. They attack the full protesting, as we've seen priests, bishops, clergy who have been attacked while they were protesting. So we have seen a lot of that going on here in the United States in this administration. It's not just, it is not just immigrants that are being attacked, it's citizens in this country. And we've even this week, the president make it clear that he would be one who stood for democratic ideals and anyone who protested his actions. He said that in a speech. He would deport them so fast to make their heads spin. It's the oppression is I think spread now though. more across the board. For instance, I live in San Diego County at drive a diesel truck to pull my RV. And so about two weeks ago, I was paying close to $8 a gallon for diesel fuel, which means that my wife and I don't go out that much because a trip 10 miles away each direct 20 miles, I'll chew up, you know, three gallons of gas, you know, that's like 25 bucks worth of gas just to make a trip down to the Walmart to get a loaf of bread or something, you know. That is another form of oppression that is striking across the country. Now people are finding it difficult to buy groceries, higher prices and produce higher prices and other canned goods. And I think they're no longer even available anymore. Try and go out and get a can of all this. You know, you know, so I think that the time period that Bonhoeffer has, you know, being a bright light and dark Nazi Germany, we're seeing a resurrection of the bright light again. And it is the the mission of the office of faith, justice and humanitarian efforts to carry out that mandate that manifest that was given in six chapter four about liberating the prisoners. And that goes to those that are imprisoned by racism, those that are imprisoned by debt, you know, those that are imprisoned by marginal health and lack of health care, all of that, you know, and I believe the answer is within ourselves as we represent ourselves in the various faith groups that we support. In this case, you know, the office of faith, justice, humanitarian efforts being designated and appointed by the Old Catholic Church is international and Bishop Breyer as a presiding bishop. Well, I certainly think that you're doing a great job in this project. And it is an honor to be working with you to, you know, build this project, get it off the ground and get it into the hands of the people to begin doing the work in the grassroots efforts. For those that would like to know more or to connect with you, see how they can help. How can they get ahold of you, Padre Ricardo? Well, you can put my email address up on the screen. If you wish, that's that's probably the best way to get in touch with me is either and I'm also on Facebook as well as Rick Romero can find me there as well. But if you want to put my email address up there, if you can list both the one for the OCCI and my own personal one and Gmail, that'd be fine with me. Otherwise, I'd be happy to recite it over the air if you think that would be helpful. We'll put that in the comment section of the podcast so that people can certainly find a way to contact. You can also visit ofj he dot my OCCI dot org. That's Oscar Fox trot juliet hotel echo dot Mike Yankee Oscar Oscar Charlie Charlie not Oscar Romeo golf more information. And there's also ways to country Ricardo from there. Well, that's that's really good. If you go to the the OCCI website to the page the off the page of the office there, you'll be able to look at the blog and see how our organizing committee is where we're discussing and what we're trying to develop. within our committee and Bishop. I too am very honored to work with you. I think we have an outstanding leadership committee, you know, representing a very big geographical spread. Therefore, encompassing all of the nuances that are involved and dealing with the various markets that were, you know, engaging it. And so it's good. If you go to the website, the OCCI website and read more about us and look at our blog, that would be really, really good. Excellent. And as always, if faith community leader or commissioner in a faith community that you think might want to assist in this program, do let them know how to find us because we are always looking for faith communities to begin this work within their community. This is really a ground grassroots organization. And the organizing committee kind of helps build ideas for how to implement these programs and processes. Without the grassroots efforts, it's kind of useless. So, by all means, do check us out there. You can also follow us on Mastodon. And that is my OCCI Mastodon.myoCCI.social, where we also post information there. Padre Ricardo is on Mastodon as well. And we're also on blue sky, Facebook, TikTok, and where else thread. Instagram, Instagram, social media out there. We're on it. And don't forget convergent streams. Convergent streams. Yes. We run a magazine called convergent streams that can be found at convergent streams.org. We're always authors to write, but also people to read and to pass the around. This edition is about to come out this coming week by the middle of the week. But we'll begin seeking articles for the next edition very shortly. It's a magazine that's produced quarterly. And anybody can write for it. We always give a topic of interest, but we don't usually turn away any article that's got some sort of good information in it. So thank you for reminding me about that, Padre Ricardo. And thank you for joining us tonight. Padre Ricardo. I know you're a very busy man. I'm retarded. He's out there in California, soaking up the rays at what is it? 75 years old. Yes, 77 today was the high. I mean, your age. Oh, my age. Oh, well, 75 years old now. I think I'm the oldest in the jurisdiction. Yes, I believe that is correct. Then you can make me the great patriarch. Right. Right. And so still, it's still fighting the good fight. So thank you for joining us here today to share about. Good to be here. And thank you to everyone listening and everyone who joined us on our studio audience. A reminder, you can always join us every Saturday night, 8 p.m. Eastern time on you now.com for slash Bishop Greg. We're on TikTok at expanding your faith. You can also find us at podcasts. That's podcast with an S at the end. My OCCI dot social where you can listen to past episodes of the podcast. Until next week, when we once again attempt to expand your faith, keep shining bright, my friends. Thanks for spending this time with us on expanding your faith. If today's conversation encouraged you, share the episode. It helps more people find the show. can listen wherever you get your podcasts. And you can also find us online at pod.my OCCI dot social and our St. Francis dot org. Follow us on Facebook at expanding your faith. Our producer is Bishop Ben Williams. Expanding your faith is an outreach ministry of St. Francis parish and outreach in Augusta, Georgia, produced in cooperation with the Metropolitan Community Church of our Redeemer in Augusta, Georgia. Until next time, keep expanding your faith.