Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Father Edward Looney via phone call on July 1st, 2025. We have rearranged and edited some of the questions. This provides the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
You’ve written and spoken extensively about the Blessed Mother. What first sparked your devotion to Mary, and how has that relationship deepened over time?
What really started it was—I joke—I came out of the womb loving Mary. My mother and father were separated by the time I was born. I grew up in Oconto, WI, and in my hometown, there was a woman who organized pilgrimages to Medjugorje. And I think she had a great influence on Marian devotion in our parish. I remember starting later with rosaries.
Once you realize our Catholic tradition is 2,000 years old, and once you start reading the Early Church Fathers, it only deepens your devotions. The writings and quotes of the saints inspired me too.
In your book A Heart Like Mary’s, you offer practical ways to imitate Our Lady. What’s one Marian virtue you personally find the most challenging to practice as a priest?
Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Joan Watson via phone call on April 9th, 2025. Some of the questions have been rearranged and edited to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
What drew you specifically to the Holy Door panels as a framework for spiritual reflection?
I have been to Rome about ten times and lived there twice. I studied in my Junior year at Christendom College and a semester when I was a graduate student at Franciscan University. I had been drawn to one panel in particular, it was the Good Shepherd. This panel drew me into the rest of the door. Ave Maria Press reached out to me about doing a book on the Jubilee.
All of my writing and speaking focused on how the Bible should stay with us and change our life. I wanted a book of how the Jubilee can impact our life.
How has your experience as a tour guide in Rome informed your approach to these scriptural reflections?
I wasn’t strictly a tour guide, I led a series of pilgrimages. These experiences helped me notice places in Rome where God could use them as conduits of grace. There’s so many things on pilgrimage He can use as doors to grace so why not the Holy Door. And I wanted this book to speak to all people, not just daily Massgoers, about how Scripture can be part of our life.
Of the sixteen panels on the Holy Door, which one resonates most deeply with you personally, and why?
It was interesting to pray with all of them. Each panel spoke to me differently. Besides the Good Shepherd, probably the panel of the Good Father (in the Prodigal Son story) reminded me to focus on the Father.
Some of the panels are unique and some aren’t as unique, but they are still good reminders like the Prodigal Son to come home to the Father.
How might readers who cannot physically visit St. Peter’s Basilica experience the spiritual significance of crossing a threshold during this Year of Hope?
So that was one of the reasons I wrote the book. Everyone is called to celebrate the Jubilee whether they can go to Rome or not. The world gives us so many reasons to despair even within the Church so many are voices of doom and that the world is ending. Regardless of what the pope or the president or what the stock market does, Jesus is our Savior.
The book connects ancient biblical narratives with our modern spiritual lives. What surprised you most about these connections while writing?
I think the theme that I wanted to bring out is that there’s nothing new under the sun. The Bible is active and not dead. Sometimes we think we have discovered something new or are in “unique times”. But the Scriptures speak to our time and what we need.
Many Catholics may be unfamiliar with the tradition of the Holy Door. What would you like them to understand about its significance in our faith?
I love the quote (JPII- the door is Christ). The door is an outward manifestation of our life. This door is an expression that we are going to start again. That our pilgrimage is just beginning when we go through. What door do you need to open to Christ?
Outside the Jubilee Year the door is closed, what door have you closed to God? Maybe during this Jubilee Year do you need to tear down and open yourself up to Christ?
Where can the audience find more of your work?
My website is joanwatson.faith. This can link to my YouTube channel and my other work.
“It is Christ who is the true ‘Holy Door’; it is he who makes it possible for us to enter the Father’s house and who introduces us into the intimacy of the divine life.”
– Pope St. John Paul II (6 January 2001)
About Joan:
Joan Watson is a Catholic speaker and author who loves to make Scripture, theology, liturgy, and history accessible and applicable. With degrees from Christendom College and Franciscan University of Steubenville, she has worked for the Church and various religious apostolates for almost 20 years. She is currently the Pilgrim Formation Manager at Verso Ministries. In addition to hosting two podcasts, she is the Associate Editor of Integrated Catholic Life, where she writes weekly. Propelled by Luke 12:48, she is passionate about helping others encounter Christ and enter into friendship with Him through the daily circumstances of life. Her first book, Opening the Holy Door: Hope-Filled Reflections from St. Peter’s Basilica is available from Ave Maria Press.
Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Daniel Markham via phone call on April 9th, 2025. Some of the questions have been rearranged and edited to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
What inspired you to embark on this journey to attend Mass in all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico?
Version 1.0.0
In 2016, I just dropped off my son to high school soccer practice and I was reminded of a parish and this idea came over me about visiting various parishes across the country. I realized this idea wasn’t from me but it was something I was called to do.
In 2018-2019 I sent letters to all the bishops and archbishops and got permission from my parish. During a span of six months I emailed all the parishes that I had email addresses from.
I started receiving invitations from various churches and I was getting phone calls from various churches and this was when the idea for the book really came into focus. I aimed to start this in January 2021 but due to the Covid Pandemic I wasn’t able to really begin until June 2021. I travelled where I was able to attend. For example, I was in Nebraska writing about a Native American Mission and attended Mass at a school because it made sense in terms of the story I was telling. For most of the Masses it was on a Sunday.
Of all the parishes you visited, which one surprised you the most or left the deepest impression on you?
Great question! It was actually three:
Cottonwood, Idaho (Assumption, Ferdinand; Saint Mary’s, Cottonwood; Saint Anthony, Greencreek)- this state is predominantly Mormon but Idaho County is the one exception where it’s mainly Catholic. The only monastery in the state is just outside of Cottonwood: Center for Benedictine Life at the Monastery of Gertrude. The thing that stood out to me was that I wasn’t expecting this beauty and wonderful Catholic community. I fell in love with the people there! They actually added parishioners coming out of Covid.
How did witnessing so many different expressions of the same faith change your own relationship with Catholicism?
My faith grew without question. If I could go to multiple Masses on a Sunday I tried. Normally, I would hear one homily a week. One particular week, I heard three homilies. Each priest took a different, but equally valid, approach to the reading. These experiences highlighted how rich our Catholic faith is and how we can find so much richness in the Scriptures.
I had experiences that I could see as being negative. There was a weekend I had to stay in a bad motel room, but it reminded me (through a homily that weekend) that in every experience we are blessed. Even in the suffering. The closer one comes to God the greater the understanding that there is blessing in everything we experience here on Earth. An incredible sense of peace occurred and I feel different sharing the Eucharist multiple times a week and in different parishes.
I could drive 15 to 16 hours at a time, and I realized it was the power of the Eucharist that sustained me. When I got tired it was when I allowed my worries and the human desires to creep in. But when I had that faith and trust in God I was truly fueled during my travels.
What common thread did you notice among the most vibrant Catholic communities you encountered?
Wow! That’s a good question. I guess those places where the greater understanding of the Real Presence in the Eucharist existed was the most unifying aspect. It made for the most authentically Catholic communities. Mass is the foundation of our life and the Eucharist is the foundation of the Mass.
After visiting such diverse Catholic communities, what do you think most American Catholics misunderstand about the broader Church in our country?
I think for most Catholics they don’t think much beyond their own parish. For people more engaged there might be a sense of disagreement; maybe some people are more conservative or liberal. I think what we miss in this is that there’s so much more that unites us than divides us. We say the same Creed each week. What we say we believe in the Creed unites us and are more important than what happens in the various differences at the Mass. Some Masses are said in Latin and some in the vernacular. The Eucharist is the same. There’s vastly more that unites us than that divides us.
If readers take just one message from “52 Masses,” what would you hope that message would be?
All of these people I visited had something in common. They answered the call from Christ. Don’t say no to God!
Daniel Markham is the author of 52 Masses, which chronicles his 2021-22 trip to all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to experience Catholicism in America. At each parish he visited, Daniel wrote about someone or something taking place there – a ministry, an effort at evangelization, an individual’s story, etc. He attended Mass in parishes of all sizes, in rural, urban and suburban settings and a few places that weren’t parishes at all. The idea was to explore the many ways Catholics are living the faith in the United States. His book was published at the end of 2022. Daniel and his wife Kemberly, a Catholic school principal, reside in West Chester, Ohio, where they are members of St. John the Evangelist Church. They have three adult children, Ian, Kiera and Cormac.
Forgiving people who wronged you can be tough. Jesus constantly told his disciples to show mercy and forgive. People who have modeled excellence in virtue and holiness can be canonized as official saints in the Catholic Church. They reflect the light of Christ in the world.
Sometimes it seems like the saints are people who are inaccessible to the ordinary person. But when you break it down the path to holiness is simple (not the same as easy)— love like Jesus.
I had the pleasure of reading a book about an amazing saint who reflected Jesus’ love throughout her life— Saint Maria Goretti. Authored by Bret Thoman A Journey into Forgiveness and Redemption details the young saint’s life, death, and canonization process.
Thoman begins his book with a chapter on Maria’s parents: Luigi and Assunta Goretti. I have sometimes doubted the impact I could have on my kids and their faith journey. I was reminded of the importance of showing love in the family after reading about the saint’s parents. Holiness is a habit not an isolated event. Maria didn’t randomly decide to follow Jesus. She experienced a personal love from her parents and witnessed the love they displayed to each other.
The book continues to chart out Maria’s life and describes her interaction with her parents, siblings, and faith. Thoman brings a realness to her story interweaving accounts from his pilgrimage to Italy and important places from Maria’s life. This alternating pattern between biography and personal pilgrimage captured my attention throughout the book.
I especially enjoyed the chapter on Alessandro Serenelli. It drew me into Maria Goretti’s story even more. I had some familiarity with her story and death but didn’t realize her murderer actually lived with her family for several years before he committed the horrendous act.
After the death of her father Luigi, Maria’s family had to share a house with the Serenellis. Alessandro came to consider the Goretti’s like a family and Maria as a sister. However, he began to make sexual advances towards Maria. He sunk further into this sinful behavior, and it eventually led to her death on July 6th, 1902, when he stabbed Maria to death after an attempted rape.
The harrowing details of Maria’s death in A Journey into Forgiveness and Redemption were uncomfortable to read at times, but it displayed how connected she was to Jesus until the end. Maria was able to forgive Alessandro even as she lay on the floor dying. Something I take for granted being a cradle Catholic is the notion of forgiveness. It sometimes seems like an idea into of a reality. Of course, we need to forgive (seven times seventy even!) but to forgive someone when you are in the most painful and horrifying situation is sanctity of another world.
Thoman’s book provided an intimate look into the Italian saint’s life. I enjoyed the number of details he gives of Saint Maria Goretti’s life, death, and the redemption of Alessandro. This book is an excellent read about a holy witness to the faith!
