12. When We Fall, God Rises: From Prodigal Teen to Catholic Priest with Fr. Rob Galea

Episode 12: Fr. Rob Galea's Journey to Jesus + the Priesthood
Part One: "When We Fall, God Rises"

This episode is a must-listen for parents and anyone seeking inspiration and hope. Father Rob Galea's journey from addiction to priesthood, his encounter with Jesus, and his mission to evangelize through music and ministry offer valuable insights into the transformative power of faith. Whether you're a parent seeking guidance in supporting your child's vocation or someone looking for inspiration in your own faith journey, this episode has something for everyone.

In this week's episode, Veil + Armour host Sheila Nonato interviews Father Rob Galea, who shares his journey from a troubled teenager to becoming a Roman Catholic priest in Australia and an impactful Christian musician.

Fr. Galea is an internationally-renowned singer-songwriter and former X Factor contestant. He is the founder of ICON Ministry which reaches more than two million youth around the world. Fr. Galea talks about the difficulties he faced as a teen, including addiction and violence, and how he found hope and healing through his relationship with Jesus.

Fr. Galea emphasizes the importance of prayer and having a personal relationship with Jesus in everyday life. He also discusses the role his parents played in turning his life around and his journey towards the priesthood. Fr. Galea encourages parents to foster a culture that embraces religious vocations and to help their children discern their true calling and vocation.

Fr. Galea's autobiography is "Breathrough: A Journey from Desperation to Hope." (Ave Maria Press: 2018)

For more info on his ministry, please visit https://frrobgalea.com
@frrobgalea on social media: YouTube, X/Twitter, Facebook, Spotify
@iconministry

This interview was recorded on June 21, 2024.

To parents, if you notice signs of mental illness, mental distress or suicidal ideation, please seek immediate medical and professional help for your child.

Please seek advice and help from your doctor and local health professional in your area.

In Canada, Kids Help Phone is available: Text 686868 (free and across Canada, based upon information found online on Aug. 9, 2024)
www.kidshelpphone.ca

As of Aug. 9, 2024, YouTube recommends this link of resources:
https://findahelpline.com/

Thank you to our faithful listeners in Canada, the U.S., Guam and Mexico!

Keywords

Fr. Rob Galea, journey, troubled teenager, priest, musician, addiction, violence, hope, healing, relationship with Jesus, prayer, personal relationship, parents, mother, support, prayers, vocation, discernment, culture, religious vocations, calling

Takeaways

• Fr. Rob Galea's journey from a troubled teenager to becoming a priest and musician is a testament to the transformative power of a personal relationship with Jesus.
• Prayer is essential in maintaining a relationship with Jesus, and it can be incorporated into everyday activities such as driving, exercising, and even daily chores.
• Parents play a crucial role in fostering a culture tha

Chapters

• 0:04 Faith and Transformation With Father Rob
• 8:16 Transformation Through Encounter With Jesus
• 19:14 Constant Conversations
• 24:53 Encouraging Vocations in Young People

Transcript

Sheila Nonato: 0:04

Hello and welcome to the Veil and Armour podcast. This is your host, Sheila Nonato. I'm a stay-at-home mom and a freelance Catholic journalist, Seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the inspiration of Our Lady, I strive to tell stories that inspire, illuminate and enrich the lives of Catholic women, to help them in living out our vocation of raising the next generation of leaders and saints.

Co-Host: 0:27

Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour podcast, where stories come alive through a journalist's lens and mother's heart. Welcome to this week's episode of the Veil and Armour podcast. I would like to introduce you to your favorite Catholic artist, father Rob Galea. Here's his dog, Cooper.

Co-Host: 0:47

Father Galea is a priest from the Diocese of Sandhurst in Victoria, australia. He is known around the world as the Singing Priest. Father Galea is a Roman Catholic priest who was born in Malta and moved to Australia. He is an evangelist to young people like me. He is also a popular singer and songwriter who sang before the Pope at World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, and Lisbon, Portugal, and he has tens of thousands of followers on social media. Father Galea is the founder of Icon Ministry, which spreads the Good news to more than 2 million Catholic youth around the world. My mom interviewed Father Galea to talk about his inspiring story of a prodigal son coming home to the Father.

Co-Host: 1:31

I came up with the title of this week's episode "hen we Fall, god Rises. Before we introduce his story, please join me in a Hail, mary, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Sheila Nonato: 2:08

Thank you to my daughter for introducing our guest this week. Father Galea has written his Autobiography called "Breakthrough A Journey from Desperation to Hope. In my interview with Father Gallia about his life before knowing Jesus, he talks candidly about his struggles with addiction and mental health. This is an episode that we parents can learn from, especially about how the unceasing prayers of a mother and the devotion of a father can save the life of their son. Here is Father Gallia introducing himself in under a minute.

Father Rob Galea: 2:39

My name is Father Rob Galea, and this is me in just a minute. I was born and raised on this small Mediterranean Island called Malta. By the age of 13, I began to rebel and lived a life of addiction, violence and, at 16, was suicidal. At 17, I had an encounter with Jesus and that changed my life forever. I wanted to help young people to know and to love Jesus, just like I did. As a seminarian, I moved to Australia for a year, and there I got invited to sing for the Pope and half a million people people. After that event, I began to get invitations to speak and sing about Jesus all over the world. I saw people everywhere returning to Jesus and his church and even entering seminaries to study for the priesthood. In 2010, I was ordained a Catholic priest and then returned back to Australia. Today, I'm more determined than ever to find dynamic, engaging and relevant ways to reach out to people, to help them know and love and serve Jesus.

Sheila Nonato: 3:56

Wow, that was powerful. Let's hear Father Galea in his own words, discussing what he went through in his journey from hopelessness to Jesus Christ. It's a story so powerful and moving that it will soon be turned into a Hollywood movie. Let's hear Father Galea in his own words. I'm going to say good morning, because your time is morning right.

Father Rob Galea: 4:17

That's right, it is.

Sheila Nonato: 4:18

Yeah, my children are here. I'm a working mom, so you might hear them or see them.

Father Rob Galea: 4:24

God bless you.

Sheila Nonato: 4:27

Yeah, that's fine, that's all right, so my children are just gonna be around, so you want to say hi, come over here say hello, come over here. He can't see you. You have to come over here. Come over, hello. Okay, this is Father Galea what's your name? Hello what's your name? Hello, what's your name, james? James, this is James.

Father Rob Galea: 4:49

Hi James, Nice to see you.

Sheila Nonato: 4:52

Nice to see you. Good morning, Father Galea. Thank you so much for joining us on the Veil and Armor podcast. It's an honor to have you. I think I met you at Salt and Light Studio, Father Thomas Rosica in Toronto. I'm not sure if you were here for World Youth Day or were you here before. I forget now.

Father Rob Galea: 5:12

Not for the Toronto one. I hadn't even heard about World Youth Day then. It was the one after the Sydney World Youth Day actually was the first World Youth Day I had attended.

Sheila Nonato: 5:22

Okay, but were you at Salt and Light with Father Rosica?

Father Rob Galea: 5:27

Oh, of course yes yes, yes, I was at Salt and Light. Yes that was right after the World. Youth Day in Sydney, and then, a couple of weeks later, I was there with Father Tom.

Sheila Nonato: 5:37

Okay, that is awesome, so do you come?

Father Rob Galea: 5:39

to Toronto. Did you work?

Co-Host: 5:40

there.

Sheila Nonato: 5:45

I was working at The Catholic Register newspaper, the newspaper for the Archdiocese of. Toronto. Yeah, I think that's where I met you.

Sheila Nonato: 5:50

Yes, but it's been so long ago.

Father Rob Galea: 5:51

oh lovely.

Sheila Nonato: 5:53

Yeah.

Father Rob Galea: 5:54

Yes, it has been long ago.

Father Rob Galea: 5:56

Yeah, I do come to Canada. I go to Vancouver about once a year.

Sheila Nonato: 6:02

Oh, do you? Do you have concerts there?

Father Rob Galea: 6:05

Yes, okay, do you. Do you have concerts there? Yes, Okay, awesome. Yes, I do. Usually I work with the Archdiocese to do some parish missions every year, if not every two years.

Sheila Nonato: 6:14

Yeah, Okay, awesome. Yeah, so you are a priest in the Sandhurst Diocese in Australia, is that correct?

Father Rob Galea: 6:23

Yes, that's correct. So I work in the Sandhurst Diocese in Australia. Is that correct? Yes, that's correct, so I work in the Sandhurst Diocese. I work as a priest here, which is in regional Victoria, australia, but also most of my work is working through icon ministry. So I actually only work in the parish one or two days a week, and the rest of the time I'm on the road and reaching out to young people in particular.

Sheila Nonato: 6:45

Awesome and I have your book amazing story "Breakthrough. Can you tell us in the book you were talking about the difficulties you had as a teen? What were those difficulties and how did that affect your relationship with your parents?

Father Rob Galea: 7:01

Well, when I was a teenager, 13 years old not to go into the entire story, actually, as you see, there is a book that explains it more thoroughly but at 13 years old, I ran away from home due to a series of misunderstandings, of fights with my parents, and my dad was always extremely strict, and so I always felt that I wasn't good enough, I wasn't strong enough, I wasn't loved enough, and so, at 13 years old, I ran away, ended up living on the streets, ended up an addict, until I was about 17 years old, and it was at this place that I had reached the total end of myself, where I didn't want to live anymore. I didn't want to face another day, and by this time I was addicted to a lot of drugs. I was addicted to stealing. I was also hanging out with a gang that used to be into a lot of violence, and so I was quite violent at the age of 17, where we would literally beat people up to their last breath and then walk away. Every time, I would just come to this place and just feel so sad because, deep down, I wanted to help people, I wanted to love people.

Father Rob Galea: 8:16

I remember when I was about 12 years old, I won a prize at school for the most altruistic student in my entire school of 2,000 students. And here I was just beating people half to death and stealing from them and dealing drugs in this place of darkness, and all I cared about was just being appreciated by my friends. And this eventually turned against me, because these friends that were supposed to support me, me, because these friends that were supposed to support me, all of a sudden turned against me, and so I was running for my life, where I ran home, back to my parents' home, and it was at this moment that it was the worst moment of my life, where I attempted to end my own life a couple of times.

Father Rob Galea: 9:00

But it was again at this darkest moment where I reached the end of myself that I discovered my relationship with Jesus. And it all came from a memory, a silly memory, and it was a memory of my Mama busy washing dishes. I was about four years old, just pestering my mom as she was trying to wash the dishes. But every time I noticed something in this memory she was washing the dishes and every time she'd throw her hands in the air and argue to the wall. I didn't think much of it, but I thought wait a minute, is she crazy? Why is she arguing with the wall?

Father Rob Galea: 9:37

But it was a time, a very difficult time for my mom at that time, and I realized at that moment, in my darkest moment, when I was harming myself physically, when I was just wanting to end my own life, that memory, God brought that memory into my heart to show me how my mother struggled and my mother's crying out to God. And so I did the same. I remember looking at the wall and just arguing with the wall, the same way my Mama did, and saying God, if you are there, please save me, please save me. And it was a series of little miracles in hindsight at the time I didn't see it. Little miracles that eventually led me to a youth group and from the youth group eventually to a community of young people.

Father Rob Galea: 10:22

that helped me get out of my addiction but, most importantly, pointed me to the most important person in my life today, and that is Jesus. And so I live my life. This is why I evangelize, this is why I do what I do, because I cannot keep quiet about what Jesus has done in my life. And so, by the grace of God, through Icon Ministry, we now reach about two and a half to four million young people across the world, and we do this through talks, through outreach, through even video games, because I will stop at nothing to try and give our young people the same hope that I received when I was 17 years old. How I wish there was someone telling me what I am telling our young people across the world that's amazing.

Sheila Nonato: 11:12

In the book you were talking about praying and you, you had two chairs and one was for jesus and you saw. You saw jesus sitting there and you were, you were talking to him, you're praying to him and you saw him crying. What can you tell us? What, what, what happened?

Father Rob Galea: 11:29

Well one, I had started going to this youth group and, um, I don't want to make it out to be like some mystical experience, because it was quite ordinary. It was like in my imagination, but I believe that God uses imagination. Now I was used to hallucinating because I was an addict, ok so, but I had been off the drugs for a while, so I was no longer on any kind of drugs, but I was going to this youth group and as I was at the youth group, they encouraged us to pray. And one day I heard this preacher, this medical doctor, but he was a preacher also. He started to talk about Jesus as though he had known him, as though he had a coffee with him that morning. And this was so strange to me like to hear someone talk about Jesus in this way.

Father Rob Galea: 12:15

So I go back to my room the same place where I would self-harm, the same place where I had those very suicidal thoughts and I go to my room and I sit down on a chair and I put another chair in front of me and as I sit on the chair, I tap the chair in front of me. I say Jesus, sit down, because I want to talk to you, I want to know you, like that doctor knows you. I want to have this coffee with you, I want to have this relationship with you.

Father Rob Galea: 12:43

And as I was going to the youth group, I saw everyone with so much joy and so much peace and I so desperately, so desperately wanted this joy. I wanted, I needed this peace, and it seemed to me it made logical sense that their peace came from this relationship, this Jesus that this doctor was talking about. And so I sat down on the chair, I tapped the chair in front of me, I said, "Jesus, sit down, and I'll be honest with you, I didn't feel a thing, I didn't sense a thing and I was disappointed. I was disappointed, and so I go about my day, but throughout that day, all of a sudden, I had peace. All of a sudden I had this sense of hope and I started to think, wow, what's going on here? And so the next day, the addict I was, I went for the next high. So I sat down on the chair again and I said I want this again, I want this peace again, I want this joy again. And so I sat down and I spoke to the chair again. I didn't feel anything, but throughout my day. The peace followed me, the joy followed me everywhere I went and so slowly I started to become familiar with this joy, familiar with this peace and familiar also with spending time with Jesus.

Father Rob Galea: 13:55

But one day I was sitting down in my chair and I did feel something. While I was sitting down on that chair, I felt there was someone sitting on that chair. I could almost see this person, I could sense this person and I remember just looking at my door the door. I went to lock my bedroom door because this was too real, this was too crazy and I was scared my parents would walk in and I didn't know what was going on with this. But I looked at this person and I got angry. I really got angry because I saw what I imagined was Jesus there.

Father Rob Galea: 14:29

But I didn't realize how angry I was at Jesus. I was angry because He allowed me to go through this addiction. He allowed me to go through all of this pain, this suffering. My grandparents had died as well. I didn't know why God would allow all of this.

Father Rob Galea: 14:44

I stood up and I started shouting at this chair and really angry. But as I looked at this chair, almost in tears, I see this figure, jesus, with a tear coming down his face and this broke me. This broke me ,and I remember I just fell to my knees, and I cried for about two hours, even more than two hours, and I started with a slow cry and then a louder cry and a louder cry, to the point where I had to get a pillow and hold it to my face because I was screaming, crying, and at first it was a cry of sadness

Father Rob Galea: 15:21

Because, you see, when I looked at this person crying, I realized that this tear that they were crying was not a tear of disappointment or shame or because I was bullying them, but because this person saw my mess and still loved me and still loved me, and it was like the first time I experienced an unconditional love. And for some this might seem strange, but it was so real to me, so real to me, and I start crying and it was a cry of sorrow, of pain, of unworthiness, and then eventually it turned to a cry of repentance and sorrow for my sins and then eventually turned into something, a cry of joy. And then, at the end, this cry of love, and the love was so loud, it was so powerful that I thought, I literally thought I was going to die, because my heart felt like it was going to explode and to the point where I felt I had to. My prayer was," God, please stop, because I'm going to die, please stop, because my heart is going to explode. And I remember standing up after that experience and it wasn't a feeling of wow, this is amazing.

Father Rob Galea: 16:36

My first thought after crying for two hours, two and a half hours, I stood up and I thought , "okay, jesus, how am I going to tell the world about this? How am I going to tell people about this? Well, that's all I cared about. It became from this love experience, this repentance experience, this wanting to change my life around. And I did turn my life around. I went to Confession and I turned my life around.

Father Rob Galea: 16:59

But this burden to tell people and I did tell people and they thought I was crazy, they thought I was mad, but I couldn't keep it to myself. Eventually, I learned and I worked on the craft of evangelization, the craft of telling people. So I started writing songs about my love for God and from songs I learned how to. I used to watch preachers on YouTube and try and learn how they preached, how they communicated, and eventually I started to work on the craft of also media and new media, to tell the world about this love that I have and God has for me, and I haven't stopped. This was over 20 years ago and today I am more passionate than ever, more driven than ever to tell people about the love of Jesus.

Sheila Nonato: 17:50

That's amazing. You know your music. The first time I heard praise and worship this was many years ago. I was 19 or 20. My friend had brought me to this praise and worship. It was Protestant, but anyway I'd never seen anyone singing for God, and actually it was not in a good part of town that we were in. This was in Quebec, and some of the women there were working in prostitution. But when I saw them singing and praising God, crying, rediscovering their dignity, their God-given dignity, I saw the power that music can heal and it's also a way of praising and a way of prayer you were talking about in one of the videos. You're talking about praying while you were in the gym. What is sort of your routine of prayer and how does that work? How do we pray and do other things while praying?

Father Rob Galea: 18:49

Yes, look. First of all, I would say this Prayer is communication, isn't it? It's a relationship we're not called to as Catholics. All I would say this Prayer is communication, isn't it? It's a relationship we're not called to as Catholics, and this is a misconception. We're not called to follow a religion, right, we're called to follow a person. That person is Jesus, and Jesus is risen from the dead. He's alive, and so we are to have a conversation with him, a relationship with him. We're not created to live this life alone.

Father Rob Galea: 19:14

So, every day how I pray. I wake up every morning and I put my hands outside the quilt and it's freezing here at the moment. It's literally freezing and I put my hands out in the morning and I say, "Jesus, just give me a hug, give me a hug. That's how I start my day. I imagine Jesus Just give me a hug, give me a hug. That's how I start my day. I imagine Jesus giving me a hug. Then I have my coffee and I settle down a little bit and then I go to my prayer room where I sit down and I speak to Jesus. I read the Bible, I reflect, I journal, I do my morning prayer, I read the Psalms, I spend myself. I spend between 40 minutes to an hour with the Lord every moment.

Father Rob Galea: 19:55

But it doesn't end there. I go about my day. I'm driving my car. I say, " Jesus, please help me find a parking space. You know. I'm at the gym, I'm lifting my weights, I'm speaking to Jesus. I wear headphones sometimes, but I have no music on. I just have silence, a moment of silence where I just speak to the Lord. Some people might think I'm crazy, because every now and then my mouth moves as I'm talking to the Lord, but I speak to Jesus everywhere I go.

Father Rob Galea: 20:23

A relationship doesn't end when you're in a place. You stay in this relationship everywhere you go. Now it's different between husband and wife, I guess, because when there's no proximity, there's no necessary conversation, but there's constant proximity between you and God, so you can at any time speak to him, at any time even hear his voice, and so I want to stay in the practice of his presence. St Paul says, " Pray without ceasing. So never stop praying, always keep in fellowship with the Lord. And so this is why I pray at the gym. I don't go to the gym to pray, but when I'm at the gym I pray. When I'm driving, I pray. When I'm about to go on stage and I'm about to preach, I pray. When I'm out for a walk, walking the dog, I'm praying. So I try to pray as much as I can, and it's not intense prayer, it's a simple conversation. Jesus, thank you for this flower, thank you so much for the peace that you give me, and just keep walking, just be aware of his presence everywhere you go.

Sheila Nonato: 21:23

That's awesome. You talked earlier about your parents, your Mother. How was your mother? In the book? You described her as your closest spiritual companion. What is your relationship with your mother and how did she pray for you to become a priest?

Father Rob Galea: 21:37

Yes, look, my Mother is the greatest example of what it means to love the Lord in imperfection, but also to keep loving the Lord in spite of all things. So my mom is the one I stand here as a priest, because my Mom never gave up on me in prayer. Now there was a time where I was locked in my room. I talked about those moments where I was lost and I wanted to end my life, and my Mom in particular used to hear me cry. She used to knock at the door and she'd say, rob, are you okay? And every time I just slammed the door in her face. I'd swear at her, I'd say, just like, leave me alone. And when I got to write this book, I gave my mom a copy. I said, "ook, I'm going to publish this book, but I had included a chapter Now I should do it in the next update of the book.

Father Rob Galea: 22:26

But I had included a chapter about how angry I was at my parents because they would knock at the door and I would slam the door in their face, but how I wanted them not just to knock at the door. I really, in hindsight and I was a priest when I wrote this how I wish that they broke down the door, that they ran towards me, that they hugged me and they told me that I was going to be okay, because I didn't know I was going to be okay, I didn't know I was going to be able to survive.

Father Rob Galea: 22:56

And so what happened was I gave a copy to my Mom. I said "isten, I just want you to see this because I'm about to publish this in a book. And she told me this. She said, "rob, there's something missing in this book. She said because there's something you don't know that we never told you. She said because there's something you don't know that we never told you. And she said every time you slam the door in our face, we would not leave. We wouldn't leave. We'd fall to our knees outside your room and we'd pray, we'd pray, we'd pray that the God who we knew could reach you, would reach you. We couldn't, but we knew a God who could reach out to you and we'd cry outside your room. Except you were crying in desperation, we were crying in hope.

Father Rob Galea: 23:38

So she continued to pray for me. She continued to get friends and family, and she still does. She has a prayer group just to pray for my ministry, and so she meets with other women and they pray, and they pray that for my holiness. And I keep telling her,. "Mom, you're not praying hard enough. You're not praying hard enough because I have a long, long way to go. But also she's the one who I turn to as well, especially when I need to discern things in my life, because she's really helped me with discernment through the priesthood, but also discernment in where I am to go in my ministry, and so I'm really grateful for her and for my Dad ,too. My Dad isn't necessarily a praying man, but he's a wise man. He's a man who takes suffering, a man who's been through a lot as well in his life that's amazing.

Sheila Nonato: 24:32

That's amazing. What's your mother's name?

Father Rob Galea: 24:34

My <other's name is Anne and beautiful, beautiful.

Sheila Nonato: 24:38

How does she feel about you, um, traveling around the world, singing and bringing the gospel to people, and being a priest? How did your parents feel about you becoming a priest?

Father Rob Galea: 24:53

Well, as I said, Mom was great at discernment. She knew I was going to be a priest before I even knew it. So she had this sense and she would see pictures, like visions, in her mind of me. For example, one thing that she had written down and told me about was that she saw a picture of me and I was still 17. I was still going through my addiction at that point and I wasn't a musician. I had never touched a guitar in my life, I'd never written a song in my life. And she said, one day she sat me down. She said, "ell, I was praying and I saw this picture of you in a circle with young people and you had a guitar in your hands, but also you had a collar a priest's collar on. And when she told me this, I was furious, I was angry. She said I said, "om, I don't want to be a priest, I don't want to be near young people. At that time I was terrified of young people because of the amount of times I had been hurt and I certainly didn't play music. And so she knew she really knew, even deep down in her heart, that I was to be a priest. So when I told her that I was discerning the priesthood, she already knew and she was praying for me.

Father Rob Galea: 26:03

My Dad, on the other hand, was angry. He was furious that I was to be a priest because he thought I was wasting my life. He thought I was throwing my life away because he thought I was wasting my life. He thought I was throwing my life away and eventually, once I did enter the seminary, he started to understand my joy and my peace and he could see that this was fulfilling my heart as well, and today he's my biggest supporter. He watches all of my YouTube videos. He watches everything that I broadcast, in fact, to the point where even my mom tells him enough, let's watch something else, because, um, my Dad today really is, um, yeah, someone who, who is honestly my biggest fan that's amazing.

Sheila Nonato: 26:45

I um, obviously I'm married now but before I also had been discerning about religious life, becoming becoming a religious sister, and my parents were against it, I actually had to write a letter I think it was like four pages long for them to allow me to discern. But I feel like nowadays, with all the distractions for young people, how do they go about discovering their vocation with all of these distractions about discovering their vocation, with all of these distractions and also the culture is not so welcoming towards the idea of a religious vocation or a priestly vocation. How do parents, how do we encourage that? How do we build sort of a culture that will embrace that kind of searching?

Father Rob Galea: 27:29

I think that every young man should consider the priesthood, every young woman should consider religious life, consecrated life, and I think parents that understand the heart of God and the heart of the Church will always encourage the young people just to consider it, sitting them down even at a point have you ever considered the priesthood? Getting them into parishes. Role

Father Rob Galea: 27:50

models are so important, even on YouTube, and also even in proximity and going to parishes. Role models are so important, even on youtube, and also, um, even, uh, in in proximity and going to parishes that have priests that are inspirational religious orders. You know, if you have young daughters as well, take them to places to go and visit nuns, to go and visit the and see the ministry of religious life, because god calls.

Father Rob Galea: 28:13

But he voice is too distant if there are no role models. Also, the voice of the world is too loud, the noise of the world is too loud. So, teaching your children to pray, to discern, but also teaching them to understand that they too could be called to the priesthood, and we think, my goodness, I don't want to lose the opportunity for grandchildren. It's too hard. It is hard, of course. It's hard being a priest. Of course it's hard being a nun, of course, even now more than ever.

Father Rob Galea: 28:44

But can I tell you this it is more fulfilling than anything else I could ever hope or imagine. I find it difficult to be a priest, but I'm happy. I'm so happy, so fulfilled, and my parents are thrilled. My dad is thrilled because he sees me so fulfilled in my vocation.

Father Rob Galea: 29:02

If God calls your children to be a priest or a nun and you're pushing them towards something else, they will never be fulfilled, as, because God knows more, they will be happy. But the true fulfillment comes with vocation, with a response to vocation. So it could very well be marriage, absolutely, and that's a beautiful vocation. But I think you cannot even discern marriage well if you haven't discerned priesthood or religious life. Having said this, also, if you are not able to be a good father, a good husband, then you probably won't be a good priest either.

Father Rob Galea: 29:45

So you can see your children oh, they're really well. They really get on well with children. They get on well with people, yes, but that could also be a sign of the priesthood, because a priest or religious life, because a good priest is someone who is also capable of being a good father and a good husband, and a good nun is someone who's capable of being a good mother and a good wife as well. So just discernment is not about what we see, but trying to help your children understand what God wants, because they will never be truly fulfilled if they go for second best. God knows first best and sometimes we settle for second, for third best, because of our fears. And God will overcome anything that you'll be fearful of. God will give you more than you could ever hope or imagine. So, as the Bible says 365 times, "do not be afraid."

Sheila Nonato: 30:38

Thank you to Father Galea for joining us today and sharing how the love of Christ and the love of his family helped him get out of the abyss of addiction and hopelessness.

Sheila Nonato: 30:49

To parents if you see signs of mental illness, mental distress, suicide ideation in your child, please seek medical help.

Sheila Nonato: 30:56

When Father talked about how God calls us into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I recall my own reversion experience. I was born a cradle Catholic but was poorly catechized and almost left the Catholic Church. It took a friend to ask me the simple question: "Do you know that God is your Father? And she also invited me to praise and worship service, and both of these things helped to turn the light bulb of faith on in my heart and for me to embark upon a search for truth.

Sheila Nonato: 31:27

I invite you to seek Jesus and to enter into prayer and discernment, into what he is calling you to in your vocation. Perhaps he is inviting you to ask the question that my friend, who helped me to deepen my relationship with Jesus through my Catholic faith, to someone else"\ Do you know that God is your Father, a Father who loves you with unconditional love and wants you to return to Him?

Sheila Nonato: 31:49

Stay tuned for part two when we pick up the conversation with Father Galea Gallia about how he is ministering to the Alpha Generation, my children's generation. Let's pray for Father Galea and his ministry to millions of youth around the world. If you'd like to support his ministry, you can find out more about Icon Ministry on his website frrobgalea. com and @frrobgalea on Instagram, Facebook, X formerly known as Twitter, and YouTube.

Co-Host: 32:23

Thank you, Father Galea, for joining us. If you like this episode, please like share and subscribe to our podcast. You can also send us a text message on our podcast page. We would love to hear from you.

Co-Host: 32:44

you for listening to the Veil and Armour podcast.

Co-Host: 32:47

I invite you to share this with another Catholic mom today. Please subscribe to our podcast and YouTube channel and please spread the word.

Co-host: 32:56

Let's be Brave, let's Be Bold and Be Blessed together. Thank you.