Holy Inspiration from Saints: Secrets to finding your spouse and a lasting marriage of 15 years and 6 children

We trace a family’s roots from Holocaust survival and Bishop von Galen’s courage to a modern Canadian home shaped by saints’ names, a modern-day courtship (with the help of a Catholic dating website), and faith that guides marriage, parenting, and public service. Practical habits and clear principles show how love endures amid busyness, travel, and six kids.

• naming children after saints who are role models of today
• St. Carlo Acutis inspiring a child-led naming choice
• von Galen’s witness and a grandmother’s survival
• intentional dating, clear vocational alignment
• long-distance courtship with focused questions
• proposal story and early married life
• practical conflict-solving routines in marriage
• viewing love as a daily, chosen practice
• faith integrated into family culture and work
• gratitude for community and listeners

Have you named your kids after saints? Let us know by commenting below or sending us fan mail on BuzzSprout

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening, Prayer, And Origins
• 3:35 Names, Saints, And Family Identity
• 7:55 Bishop Von Galen, Courage, And My Grandmother's Survival during the Holocaust
• 12:50 Dr. Rebecca Genius' Goan Roots And Faith
• 15:37 How Garnett and Rebecca met
• 19:40 Proposal Story And Early Marriage
• 26:50 Secrets to a Successful Marriage
• 30:10 Faith As The Family’s Framework
• 34:45 Gratitude, Community, And Closing Thanks

Transcript

Garnett Genius: 0:00

My grandmother was a Holocaust survivor and, uh ,she was living in the area, uh, where, um, where blessed, uh, Clemens von Galen was. And he had this because he was a bishop, because he had an aristocratic background, he kind of had a, uh, a, level of stature that made him harder for the Nazi regime to move against. And he really used his position uh to speak out, uh, for, uh, for justice, justice to speak out against what was happening. And my grandmother pointed his activity as being a key reason for her being able to survive because she was able to kind of hide out on farms by people who were hearing his sermons and being influenced by it. So now that I'm in politics, I, I reflect often on Von Galen's example as someone who was willing to speak truth to power in an extremely difficult situation.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 0:44

Yeah, after Judah, we have Lily Kateri, so the first indigenous Canadian saint. And then after her, we have. uh. Phineas Francis. So. um. that was for St. Francis Xavier. Um. my background, I'm from. um. a part of India called Goa, and Saint Francis Xavier on his journeys to um evangelize, uh, spent time in Goa, and likely it is uh a major part of the fact that my ancestors are Catholic, was that he came and um and evangelized the uh the people in that region.

Sheila Nonato: 1:16

A Saint in sneakers, and a brave bishop speaking out against the Nazis. What do they have to do with a Canadian family of eight in Alberta? Let's find out in this week's episode exploring the Genius family's journey of faith and secrets to a lasting marriage. Thank you and God bless. Good afternoon, Sisters in Christ. We are humbled and honored to have Conservative MP Garnett Genius and his wife, Dr. Rebecca Genius, on our podcast. And if you wouldn't mind starting us off, uh, with a prayer, please.

Garnett Genius: 1:49

Sure. Yeah. In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen. Uh Heavenly Father, thank you for this opportunity, for this, uh, conversation. I pray that you'll, uh, bless our time and bless those who are listening.

Sheila Nonato: 2:00

Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. And I. um. just. uh .I have this book about Carlo Acutis, and it says "God's Computer Genius," and your name. I mean, you're you have an awesome name. Can you just give us a bit of a background to your name?

Garnett Genius: 2:17

Uh, sure. So, um, the, uh, my my, um, paternal grandparents were from the little island of Malta, uh, where, uh, where St. Paul was shipwrecked. And, um, uh, so the original pronunciation was Genuis, uh, but when my uh my grandparent,s uh, came to Canada. It was in the 1950s, it was before kind of the the recognition of multiculturalism that we have today. So, uh, the pronunciation got changed to Genius in practice because, uh, I guess that was that was him trying to, um, blend in. But anyways, it's a Maltese name and uh uh proud of that that heritage and um uh that's where it comes from.

Sheila Nonato: 3:03

Okay, I'm so sorry. I mispronounced your name then. I'm gonna fix that.

Garnett Genius: 3:08

Well, the the point is everyone pronounces it because my father changed it. So, uh, no fault to anyone.

Sheila Nonato: 3:16

Okay, tell us again, how do you pronounce it correctly?

Garnett Genius: 3:18

Uh , "Gen-us" is how we say it.

Sheila Nonato: 3:20

Gen-us. Okay, so I'm gonna introduce you to our non-Canadian listeners, um, who are in a lot of them are in Australia, actually, and uh some in Europe, so and a lot in America. So just wanted to introduce you first. Um, Garnett Genius, did I say that correctly?

Garnett Genius: 3:37

Exactly.

Sheila Nonato: 3:38

Genius. Garnett Genius (Gen-us) is a member of Parliament for Sherwood Park for Saskatchewan and a Conservative Shadow Minister for Jobs. About his role in the Conservative Shadow Cabinet, Genius said, "A job is a way to earn a living, but is more than that. For many, a job is a critical source of meaning. It helps us serve our communities, provide for our families, learn skills, and find our place in the world." First elected to Parliament in 2015, Genius is a longtime resident of Strathacona Concord County, where he currently resides with his wife Rebecca, a family doctor and their six children. Genius has also been active on many high-profile domestic and international human rights issues.

Sheila Nonato: 4:21

His interest in human rights was shaped by the experience of his grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. He previously served for five years as the Conservative Shadow Minister for International Health Development. Genius holds degrees from Carleton University and the London School of Economics, and he runs a bi-weekly podcast called Resuming Debate. He publishes regularly on Substack, and spends any spare time reading history books and playing strategy games with his children. The family also includes a Newfoundland, Newfoundlander dog named Grace.

Sheila Nonato: 4:52

And now Dr. Rebecca Genius is a physician with a special interest in functional medicine as it pertains to women's health and family. And she has written for several medical journals and spoken at numerous conferences on topics including preconception care, nutrition, environmental health, and medical ethics. She is a mother to six children, and having seen the benefits of healthy living in her own family, she is passionate about educating couples to make healthy choices for themselves and their families. Welcome. And um, I'm already feeling inadequate. I'm just joking. But um, thank you so much for, um, joining us. And I'm just really so inspired by after I saw that story, um, or that I guess it was a Twitter post that was retweeted um by a prominent Catholic blogger or, um, Twitter um influential influencer, um, that you had named your son after Saint Carlo Acutis. Can you tell us, um, yeah, how did this happen? How how why did you choose Carlo Acutis?

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 5:55

Yeah, so all of our kids have saints' names in their names because we think, I mean, the saints are these great heroes for them to look up to and to hopefully learn from and in some ways maybe model their lives in different ways after. So um, but I will say with our youngest, so his first name's Isidore. Um we were, you know, we were tossing around names. When you get to number six, maybe you don't have like your poxary have been taken already. So we I think that was like two weeks before um I was set to deliver, and we still didn't have a name. So we were playing with these different names.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 6:30

And so one day at the dinner table, I asked the kids, like, hey, what do you guys think? I gave them like fair warning. We probably aren't gonna take the names you suggest, but but what do you think we should name this baby anyway? And we didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. So so everyone, you know, came up with these different names. Um, my seven-year-old um said we should definitely name him Carlo. And it was because I've been reading them this book on that was called How to Become a Saint, based on sort of the life of Blessed at the time, Carlo. So, um, we'd been reading that, and then my seven-year-old had like really caught the fire from it. And like one of the things was go to Mass as much as you can.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 7:09

So she had started like coming to mass with me during the week and different things. So, anyway, so then she was sure that this baby's name needed to be Carlo. But her Dad and I weren't so sure. So um, you know, one night I was she's sort of one of my more sensitive children, which uh so one night we were, I was putting her to bed, and I just mentioned, like, hey, just so you know, we might not choose the name Carlo. And she just like burst into tears, and she was so sad she couldn't even come for story time because she couldn't understand why this baby's name couldn't be Carlo.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 7:44

So Garnett was away the evening that happened, but I texted him and I was like, "Lily's like really sad about this." Like, what are you saying? And he was immediately like, "Okay, we just we'll have to make it a middle name then if it's a boy." So um, so okay, boy number four. And um, and that's sort of where it came from. So, like we, uh, I think we have like learned a lot from from now St. Carlo, but it was really actually like the passion of my seven-year-old that led to him getting that as a middle name.

Sheila Nonato: 8:17

Okay, that's amazing. And is there something now that he's become a saint, it was his feast day, the first feast day was, uh ,on Sunday. So yeah, that's pretty cool. And um, yeah, what was it abou,t uh ,Blessed Carlo that, um, I guess drew you drew you and your child to to the name?

Garnett Genius: 8:36

Yeah, so I as I recall, we had a a book about, uh, then Blessed now Saint Carlo that, um, that, uh, our daughter read and um she she got a lot out of. And, um, I think it was kind of his his just kind of clear-eyed focus on what was important, uh, and how that, um, was like very easily understandable and digested by by our children. Um, and, uh, as Rebecca said, I mean, a key reason to name your children after saints to hold up saints is that they be examples of of virtue uh from different vocations. We've got six kids now, so each of them have kind of a particular saint when we're doing our our, uh, our family prayers that we invoke and, uh, representing different different kinds of, uh, vocations and and highlighting for them that, um, that God calls everyone from, um, from all circumstances and in all vocations.

Sheila Nonato: 9:36

And are you able to share some of the names of your kids?

Garnett Genius: 9:40

Sure, yeah. So, um, well, uh the our our our our oldest Saint Gianna Molla, um, uh, uh, Rebecca's medical background made that, uh uh, a natural fit.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 9:53

And yeah, that was negotiated while we were dating. Actually, I said our first born daughter is gonna be Gianna. So he agreed.

Garnett Genius: 10:00

Gianna Molla's son was in town here speaking to the children.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 10:02

That's right, when I was pregnant.

Garnett Genius: 10:03

So that was that was nice as well. Um ,the the second, uh, son, uh, Judah Clement uh, for Clemens von Galen, um, lesser known uh Blessed, uh, Blessed Clemens von Galen was a um, was a very, uh, vocal critic of the Nazis in Germany during the Second World War. Um, and a personal connection to me. So, uh, you mentioned the bio. My grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, and she was living in the area uh where um where Blessed Clemens von Galen was. And he had this because he was a bishop, because he had an aristocratic background, he kind of had uh a level of stature that made him um uh harder for the Nazi regime to move against. And he really used his position uh to speak out uh for uh for justice, justice to speak out against what was happening. And my grandmother, uh who was not Catholic, um attributed his um his activity uh pointed his activity as being a key reason for her being able to survive because she was able to kind of hide out on farms uh uh by people who were hearing his sermons and being influenced by i

Garnett Genius: 11:11

t. So uh now that I'm in politics, I I reflect often on Von Galen's example as someone who was uh willing to speak truth to power in an extremely difficult situation and um was able to create uh create an environment in that area where my grandmother was able to survive. So uh von Galen is particularly important to me. I have uh I have a big uh portrait uh of him on the wall at my office. And um uh there's uh there's a greed biography written uh actually by a Toronto-based priest called uh uh "Lion of Munster." So uh if if anyone is interested in uh learning more about Von Galen's story, uh again, sort of lesser known uh um uh I think compared to some of the other the others that we've mentioned, but uh that's a great, a great book that uh that people can find. Um , so ,uh, next one, do you wanna?

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 12:01

Yeah, after Judah, we have Lily Kateri, so the first Indigenous Canadian saint. And then after her, we have, uh, Phineas Francis. So um that is for St. Francis Xavier. Um, my background, I'm from um a part of India called Goa, and St. Francis Xavier on his journeys to um evangelize, uh, spent time in Goa. And likely it is, uh, a major part of the fact that um my ancestors are Catholic was that he came and um and evangelized the uh the people in that region.

Garnett Genius: 12:34

And then, oh yes, and then we have you have to do this when you have this many children, you're like, okay, we should have one, two, three. Uh uh oh yeah, Augustine, uh, is his name. We call him Gus for short, and uh uh of course after, uh, Saint Augustine Hippo uh and then uh and then Isidore around the the bunch.

Sheila Nonato: 12:56

Okay, amazing. And um just to go back to your grandmother, I'm just curious. So was she Catholic at the time? Can you tell us a little bit more about her?

Garnett Genius: 13:04

Yeah, uh, so, uh, my grandmother was a wonderful one of course, big influence on my life, uh very, very devout uh Christian. Um and uh so that I I think I think it there would have been sort of a Catholic and a Protestant community in that area of of uh of Germany. Uh father's family were Jewish, although her grandparents had converted to Christianity. Um uh and uh so she I think turned 18 in 1945. So she was she was a child living in Germany kind of during the the pre-war Nazi period and and uh and during the the war itself. Uh her father uh they were able to get one visa out uh for the family. So her father, who was in the greatest danger, uh and um uh uh his presence would have caused more danger for the family.

Garnett Genius: 13:57

So he left uh right before the war. He took uh the Trans-Siberian train, got up, got a visa to Ecuador, and ended up in Ecuador. Uh and then uh my grandmother and her mother uh spent the war uh in Germany. And so she had to spend a portion of that period hiding out. And she would uh stay on farms, do some of the sort of hard physical work, uh, and kind of move around from place to place in order to avoid uh detection capture. So um very, very hard, very, very painful uh time, but her her faith was a great source of strength for her. And um and so people may be familiar with the the White Rose movement. So uh Clemens von Galen, the the bishop, gave these um these these very bold anti-Nazi sermons that were widely distributed. And the Catholic Church faced a lot of persecution uh in part because of some of these stances that were that were taken uh against the Nazis.

Garnett Genius: 14:54

But because of his position of privilege, he was kind of able to avoid able to avoid personally being um being killed. Although reports are that the Nazi high command kind of discussed how to deal with him and said that, well, they would move against him after the war was over. And of course, uh they didn't never have the chance. Now, von Galen was named a cardinal right after the war, and this was a powerful, um, powerful recognition of the good people in Germany uh who had stood up for what was right and uh and stood against um against the regime. And uh so he became a cardinal and uh a week later he uh he died. It was uh, you know, that was uh I guess he knew he was quite elderly at that point, and I guess he'd he'd uh he'd accomplished the tasks that had been set out for him.

Garnett Genius: 15:40

Meanwhile, my grandmother uh and her mother went to South America to be uh reunited with her father. Um my grandmother wasn't ever able to finish um finish her her education, but she got a job in a bookstore. Uh so she uh she she made up for what she hadn't been able to learn in school and and then some by reading voraciously. Um and eventually she met uh uh a Canadian engineer at a house party um who was my grandfather, and uh they got engaged three weeks after meeting and uh um made it made a few other stops in other places around the world. My uh my mother was born in Venezuela, but uh, anyways, they ended up uh they ended up in Canada. And so um um, you know, my family's quite ecumenical. There's kind of a mix of uh uh people from different Christian traditions in my family, but uh um the story of Von Galen has has always been uh told uh told very fondly as a as a real positive example of someone standing out for what's right.

Sheila Nonato: 16:41

That's a phenomenal story. And was that was your grandmother's um, I guess, example, her faith? What did that sort of inform your own faith growing up?

Garnett Genius: 16:50

Yeah, absolutely. Um my my um my grandmother had this like incredible living faith. Like I remember when we were kids and we would stay over at her house and uh we would pray together before before we'd go to bed, and invariably like we would fall asleep in the middle of her praying because she would pray for a long time, right? But um but she had this like demeanor when she was praying like she was just talking to someone that she knew, right? Like it was it was um like a a warm friendship conversation with someone that she she knew. And um uh I think you know, people who go through such intense childhood trauma, um, you know, they have a lot of different different kinds of responses to that, obviously. And um, you know, and and and certainly there had been a lot of pain. Um the the the version we saw of our grandmother was was just so loving and optimistic and hopeful and um and uh it's miraculous how her fate has sustained her uh through incredibly different experiences and and allowed her to be such a blessing to so many people.

Garnett Genius: 18:03

So I think a lot about her and um you know, and I think about you know what when when you're in a position of of power as a leader, von Galen as a bishop, as a politician, um, you have you have the opportunity to to to impact people's lives who you'll you'll never meet. So I think about her and I think about von Galen and and um try to use the influence I have in my vocation to um this to be a voice for those that don't have a voice for themselves.

Sheila Nonato: 18:31

Um that's uh absolutely an amazing uh testimony. And um, Dr. Rebecca, can you tell us also where you said you mentioned you're from Goa or you have ties to Goa? What what what is the background of your faith? How did you did you grow up as a Catholic?

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 18:47

I did, yeah. So both my parents were um were Goan Indians, and so um like the majority of Goans, they um they were Catholic. So they both came to Canada when they were before they knew each other, before they were married. And so I was born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, just outside of Toronto, and um, and I was, you know, baptized as an infant, grew up going to Catholic school, and um as I think often is the case with um with Catholics in that family, sort of it was a slow discovery of my faith and appreciation of just the richness and the depth and the beauty of it as I got older and learned more and was was more formed.

Sheila Nonato: 19:27

Yes, amazing. And um, so how did you both if you don't mind?

Garnett Genius: 19:33

Uh yeah, no, that that's fine. So there are uh um a few different versions, but the most immediate one was uh "Catholic Match," the uh Catholic dating website. So we had some mutual friends in common. Rebecca had uh my my father's a doctor as well. Rebecca had done an elective with him. Um but uh so so we we kind of knew who each other were, but the uh the immediate trigger was uh Catholic dating website, uh which is uh which is a you know good tool, frankly, for people of uh of any faith to use faith-based uh uh online tools for expediting the process.

Sheila Nonato: 20:11

Yeah, amazing. I mean Carl uh St. Carlo had used the internet, so it's sort of a propos that you met that way. So yeah. Um yeah. Did you meet in Ontario? I was gonna say, did you meet in Ontario or in Alberta?

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 20:28

Yeah, so Garner was going to school in Ottawa at the time we met, so it was like a six-hour drive away, which was really doable. So we we dated for about six months, and then he proposed and got on a plane to do a Master's in England, and then he returned a few weeks before our wedding, and we got married 13 months about after we met.

Garnett Genius: 20:48

So it was more like four months.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 20:50

No, it is actually six months, but uh so we were long distance the whole time. Um, but on our first date, Garnet told me a few things. He said, uh, number one, his great pickup life, you know, I've never dated someone in the natural sciences, so I don't really know if this is gonna work.

Garnett Genius: 21:10

You know, it's part part of the context is my whole like a lot of my family are doctors, right? So we have this like banter back and forth. I'm I'm one of the uh minority in my family that that uh pursued a career in the in the social sciences. So uh yes.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 21:26

And then he also told me, um, after I'm done in my education, I am moving back to Alberta and um and I'm gonna be running for office. So if that doesn't work with your life plans, then uh this also is not gonna work. So I mean, I think early on, Garnett sort of knew what his vocation was in terms of politics, and um so that was always the plan was that we would end up here. Um, and so we have.

Sheila Nonato: 21:51

And you're I mean, you're still very young, but uh at that point, I guess you were in your 20s when you got married?

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 21:56

Yeah, I was 23. And Garnet t was 24.

Sheila Nonato: 21:59

Okay, and so I mean, it's it's kind of counter-cultural now to get married that young. Um, what made you guys decide? Um, you know, this is for us. And um, and you wanted to uh do this together, this political life.

Garnett Genius: 22:16

Um maybe I'll go I'll go first on that. Like um, so I have this to kind of connect something I'm doing now. So I have this role within our our conservative team uh as the point person for jobs. And so I I talk to young people about career planning. And uh one of the things I see in the context of career planning, I think it it it applies to a lot of areas of life, is is it's good to kind of think early about where you want to go and and to start early pursuing your goals. If you're if you want to have a career in a certain area, um think about how you can start acquiring the skills for that area when you're when you're younger. And um and and it also when it comes to marriage and family, um, it was it was our judgment that it was it was good to um identify um the direction we wanted to go and then to to proceed down that path. No, you know, it is funny looking back because um like now uh we've been married for about 15 years, um, still still madly in love, um and knowing knowing each other much better than we did. It's sort of funny looking back and thinking, like, man, I I really had very little information when making that initial decision, right?

Garnett Genius: 23:31

But I guess I guess you would always feel that way, right? Like uh even if we had dated for longer, like you you'd always feel that relatively speaking, but it it's um um and we had a lot of really like intentional conversation. It's probably part of the nature of a long distance relationship, is is it's not like we were attracted to each other because of you know a common interest in playing golf or something, right? Like we we were intentional in meeting, intentional and having conversations about um what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go and what was important to us. So um we we had the important conversations and then we're ready to pull the trigger.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 24:08

Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, I think we did pretty too and felt like God said, "Here is, here's the right person." And um that has certainly proven to be the case.

Sheila Nonato: 24:18

And uh yes, as you were saying, the intentionality. Um my husband did the same thing to me. He had a book of questions. Actually, the priest gave it to him. So I guess I passed. It was a whole book, anyways. Um that uh yeah, and we also got married like relatively quickly, maybe within five months. Um but yeah, intentionality. So yeah, he also said he's in the military, he's in the reserves. He said, you know, this is my life, and um, yeah, if you doesn't work with you, then uh you know, I guess this is not gonna work, but it it's working.

Garnett Genius: 24:48

And so but yeah, I always try to advise people like I mean, you know, you you you want to still be more romantic and not make it sound just like a job interview, but but it like it makes sense to ask the serious questions early on before you've wasted time and energy. And uh, you know, you don't wanna you don't want to be going out with someone for a long time and feel that emotional entanglement and then be like, wait, wait, what? There's some there's some fundamental aspect of your future plans or your values that makes us incompatible like that then you've just you've just set yourself up for unnecessary uh heartache.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 25:25

Or compromise.

Sheila Nonato: 25:27

Yeah. And uh I hope you don't mind. How did the proposal go?

Garnett Genius: 25:32

Well if the if the result was the she said, "Yes." So uh yeah, it was so uh I I don't I don't know if this is still a thing, right? But uh they had they had ride shares. Uh and this is how I would save money traveling between Toronto and Ottawa. I would, you know, pay $20 to hitch a ride with someone. Um, and uh so I was going to Toronto to propose and surprise Rebecca, and I had the ring in my bag. So I'm taking this ride share. And I uh, you know, I was I was sharing a car with like the most uncouth group of young men you could possibly imagine, who I casually mentioned I was thinking about uh proposing, and they actively tried to talk me out of it. Um so I I kind of left the car. Anyways, but uh uh we I had a cake made that said, Will you marry me? And then I uh I uh stuck a ring in it. Stuck a ring in the cake and came to the door and ring the bell and surprised her.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 26:38

I was in my pajamas, it was brutal. But I changed before we took the pictures, yeah.

Sheila Nonato: 26:44

Oh, that's such a sweet uh proposal. Um and sorry, I I see that our time is almost up. I just wanted to get to like marriage. And you know, it's hard. Marriage is hard, and some you know, young people seem to not be wanting to get married because probably it's hard, and so so are children, having children. Sorry, my son is in the background speaking of children. Yes, yes, yeah, he has a little cold, so he's asking for a scotch mint, but anyways, um, yeah, so what are the you've been married for 15 years and uh you should be getting a medal, you know how you guys have what is the secret to a lasting marriage?

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 27:27

Um like marriage is wonderful and it's the best relationship that you'll ever have, and so with the human. So like it's worth working on and it's worth figuring out. And I think like I think the thing that makes our marriage work well is just that we're determined to make it work. So regardless of what's happening in our lives or what our circumstances are, um, we take the time to figure out what's not working if there are things, and then we talk about it and we try things and we sort of, I think of our marriage just like this thing that we're going to find ways to make work. And when it's not working, then we're going to analyze it like a little bit scientific, but we're just gonna like think about okay, what is the problem here? And then we're gonna come up with a solution, a hypothesis, if you will, and then we're gonna try it for a while. And then if it doesn't work, then we're going to develop another hypothesis and we're gonna just keep working on it until it works because um, like for me, for children, like it it's such a source of of joy, of stability, and like a launching pad for them in terms of their encounter with with the world, the culture, with their with their environment. And um, so I I just think it's like worth every amount of effort um that that it requires of us.

Garnett Genius: 28:47

I think one of the things we established early on was like uh um when there were points of friction, we would try to talk things through to solutions. Like I we didn't want to be having the same conversation about the same problem over and over and over again. Like we wanted to, we you know, if there was an issue, we would talk talk it through and try to come to a to a solution to it and um and then action that. Um like we now our life is like when you've got a large family. I travel back and forth uh between Alberta and Ottawa for work. Like there are a lot of like logistical and time pressures. And uh having a large family, I mean it's it's uh uh it's it's um there's a lot of like coordination of logistics involved, right? Um, but I I I think um you know we're we're uh we we as we constantly adapt to new circumstances, we we make it work well. And at the at the center of it is that we we deeply love each other and and see love as being a choice, right? Not not not just something that that hits you over the head and and lasts as long as it does, but as

Sheila Nonato: 30:05

And finally, so how does faith play in your marriage? What role does it play and in your family?

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 30:20

Um so I guess like I would say um like being Catholic, trusting the church who says like marriage is this metaphysical thing that exists then, um, that has informed my approach to marriage to say, you know, this is a thing that I am sort of in for the rest of my life. And so I'm going to make it enjoyable for myself, for my husband, because I don't want to be a part of something that that isn't that, right? So I think like having that sort of truth then informs my approach to marriage. It's not a thing that I enjoy as long as it's enjoyable and then I leave, but it's sort of a longer commitment.

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 30:56

It's a lifelong commitment that I've made. Um and then I think like the faith is just so rich that it informs our family culture in so many ways. Um, like we talked about our children having saint names, so we we celebrate their saints' feast days, right? We um there's just there's so much um about our faith, I guess, that like trickles in, that informs our dinner time discussions. It um it helps us, you know, if we're watching a movie to talk about like, hey, should this person have done this or should they not have? And like, why do you sing that or why don't you think that? Right. Like it's just um it sort of permeates our life in in many ways. Um, and the community too, that we have that comes from being part of a faith community has been uh a huge gift to to the children and and to us too.

Garnett Genius: 31:40

Yeah, and and the way I would I would put it is um like I I'm a Catholic because I believe the propositions of our faith are true and that truth um truth testifies to truth in in all domains and um it is also good and beautiful. Um so uh it's not that I would see faith as like this kind of separate thing that uh informs or influences life. I would I would more say that like um uh it is good to live your life in accordance with reality, that is in accordance with truths about the world, about the human condition. Um and um you know uh I spend a lot of time, uh, even as it relates to the work I'm doing, sort of reading uh social teaching, for example, as a great um repository of truth, of ideas about the human person, about society, the human condition, uh that that um that work well in dialogue with other sources. So yeah, like I don't see faith as being sort of a thing separate. I see it as a thing, uh thing integrated with our with our marriage, with our family life, um, with the work we do.

Sheila Nonato: 33:00

And have you celebrated your anniversary yet or is it coming up?

Dr. Rebecca Genius: 33:04

It's in May.

Sheila Nonato: 33:19

Ok, ok.

Garnett Genius: 33:20

So there's always a roll of the dice, whether I am working or not.

Sheila Nonato: 33:23

Okay, okay. Yeah, okay, okay. Well, I'm I'm again truly inspired by you and your family. Uh, I've seen the the photos of you and then for Thanksgiving you had this beautiful family picture. Um, that you know, I was telling my husband, like, this this family is amazing. Like, I I wish that you would be celebrated more, really, because uh, you know, we do need a lot of witnesses, um, you know, because yeah, fit family and marriage is can be a struggle, um, but it's it's also a joy. And it's it's great to see that joy and that hope and that happiness in your own family. So thank you for sharing with us. It was there anything else you wanted to add?

Garnett Genius: 34:02

I don't want to give people the impression that like every moment is is easy or like, you know, the the there's a lot of uh there's a lot of takes that go into every one of those pictures, you know. It's uh which is which is sort of like like life, I guess, but uh but eventually eventually you try to you try to get the good one. And and uh so thank you for thank you for this opportunity. And um it's uh it's it's great to have this chance for us to reflect a bit more and chat about these things too. So thank you for what you do.

Sheila Nonato: 34:29

Okay, well, thank you so much. Uh yeah, that's amazing. And thank you for taking this time. I know you're you're super busy. Family time is so important and crucial to you. So I appreciate you taking this time. God bless you.

Garnett Genius: 34:40

Thank you.

Sheila Nonato: 34:41

Continued blessings. Take care. Thank you so much. Bye.

Sheila Nonato: 34:46

Thank you very much for joining us this week. We want to wish a blessed Thanksgiving to our American listeners and subscribers, and thank you to all of you who have been with us recently or since the beginning from different countries around the world: Australia, Israel, Germany, Luxembourg, Vietnam, Russia, and, of course, Canada. I'm so humbled to report that we are close to 5,000 downloads on our audio podcast and have more than 700 subscribers and 101,000 views on our humble YouTube channel.

Sheila Nonato: 35:19

We appreciate each and every one of you, and we sincerely, sincerely keep you in our prayers, and please keep us in yours. Thank you.

Sheila Nonato: 35:29

Have you named your kids after saints? Let us know by commenting below or sending us fan mail on BuzzFroute. Thank you again, God bless, and have blessed Thanksgiving. And thank you to the Genius family for sharing their beautiful story of faith and family as an example for all of us. God bless, thank you for listening to the Veil + Armour Podcast. Let's Be Brave, let's Be Bold, and Be Blessed together.