Video Transcript

Edmund Mitchell: Hi everyone, and welcome back to The Real and True Podcast. I’m one of your co-hosts, Edmund Mitchell.

Emily Mentock: And I’m your other co-host, Emily Mentock.

Edmund Mitchell: And today we have a very special episode. We have Edmundo Reyes, one of the co-founders.

Edmundo Reyes: Thank you.

Edmund Mitchell: Thanks for being here.

Edmundo Reyes: I’m super excited to be here.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. This is a really exciting episode. This is to wrap up four years?

Emily Mentock: Four years.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: I mean, five years if you think of all the prep; everything started.

Edmund Mitchell: Oh my gosh. And then how many episodes of a podcast? A lot.

Emily Mentock: I think this should—in theory—be episode 49. 

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Emily Mentock: 49 because of our themed unit for the Eucharistic Revival. But if this is your first time listening—just as a reminder—on The Real True Podcast, we’ll be exploring the mission of Real + True, which is to unlock the beauty and truth of the Catechism for the modern world. 

And so we usually take a look back at whatever units we’ve been covering; the paragraphs of the Catechism that we’ve just concluded all of our production for. And in this episode, we’ll have a special look ahead at what’s coming next.

Edmund Mitchell: So we’re covering the last couple paragraphs—which wasn’t very much—but the doxology at the end of the Lord’s Prayer: “For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and forever” and then these little paragraphs about “Amen,” which I think is really interesting.

Emily Mentock: Yes. Only 10 paragraphs total.

Edmund Mitchell: I know, right?

Emily Mentock: And we talked last time that it’s been really fun to go through in smaller chunks and kind of dive deeper and pull out some of the practical ways you can apply even just these few paragraphs from the Catechism to your work as a catechist or just in your life.

Edmund Mitchell: Is there anything that stood out to you guys in these last—I know there was one that stood out to me—but I wanted to just—was there any paragraph that stood out to you? Or anything about those paragraphs that kind of stood out?

Edmundo Reyes: Yeah, Emily.

Emily Mentock: Sure. I don’t have the exact paragraph number off the top of my head, but I love the deep dive into “Amen.”  I’ve shared on the podcast before and in different episodes we’ve done for different topics, how learning something that we’ve prepared for our work on this project, how it’s deeply impacted my own prayer life or my own relationship with God. 

And for this time, mostly when we began work on this unit and these paragraphs, I was thinking about how it’s the end of the project. But, was then very quickly reminded that there’s still an important part of the Catechism; some important truths of our faith to dive into. And I found it so beautiful to think about this little word that I say 10 times a day.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Emily Mentock: 20 times a day—depending on how much I’ve remembered to say my prayers that day— to remember what that means. And since then, implement that into my life for adding meaning. And I have one story to share about that.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. I would love.

Emily Mentock: So I became a godmother this year.

Edmund Mitchell: Oh, nice.

Emily Mentock: So I have my little niece, Mia. She’s just one. And so of course she’s starting to talk; learn words. And in a recent visit with her earlier this year, was able to teach her the sign of the cross a little bit. She can’t do it herself, but we do it. And then to teach her that her job is to say “Amen” after we’ve all made the sign of the cross, or praying before a meal, or walking into church. 

And it’s just been so beautiful then to think that maybe she doesn’t have yet the full reason and understanding of the complete prayer, but she as a little tiny Christian can still participate in that “Amen;” that “yes;” that participation into what our faith is about. So it’s really added meaning to that first prayer that I’ve taught her, and to understand what all goes into that simple prayer of “Amen.”

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. There’s this theme over and over again throughout the project of focusing on things that seem that we just don’t take much notice to.

Edmundo Reyes: That’s right.

Edmund Mitchell: Like things that we say over and over again that we haven’t spent much time reflecting on. And this is one of them. I don’t know if you guys grew up in cultures or places where saying “Amen” or shouting “Amen” —there’s also on the rugby team there was “Amen.” 

But I grew up in this parish where our priest was really charismatic, and he would always like, “Repeat after me and say ‘Amen.’” And it was really beautiful to read the very last paragraph where it brings up Mary’s “fiat.” I would love to just read it.

So this is 2865. It says: “By the final ‘Amen,’ we express our ‘fiat’ concerning the seven petitions: ‘So be it.’” And I just thought that was interesting because all of the lines of the Catechism, they wrote drafts on them; they had hundreds of people give feedback and revisions. They really crafted each word. 

And I think there’s a deep meaning behind the fact that they put “fiat”— which is at the beginning of this plan of the Gospel—well, not the very beginning of Eden—but the beginning of Jesus’ entry into the world in the way that He did. And so it’s cool that “Amen” brings us all the way back to the beginning. And I thought that was really beautiful.

Edmundo Reyes: Yeah. That paragraph was also very moving to me. I also kind of grew up in charismatic backgrounds, so there’s a lot of “Amens.” And sometimes they’re heartfelt, and sometimes they’re like “Just do it because everybody’s saying it.” 

But I was thinking about the opposite of that; the opposite of the “fiat.” This is my preparation for today. It’s saying, “I won’t do it. I won’t do it.” Or “I don’t care.”

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: “Amen”  is the opposite of “I don’t care.”  It’s “I care, and I will do that.”

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: And then the other one that came to mind was, “My plan is better, no thank you.” And sometimes by just thinking about when we don’t say “Amen,” what’s our disposition of our heart? “Amen” is a position of humility and recognizing all the goodness of God. 

So very beautiful thinking about the work that we’ve done for these five years. Listening to you guys on your podcast; everything that we’re doing, that affects our lives. But it is about saying “yes” to the Lord and “no” to ourselves. It’s to say, “Yes, we’ll do your plan. Your plan is better than ours.”

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: “Your plan is just better.”

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Emily Mentock: But it’s a participation in that plan. I love what the Catechism explained about “Amen” being an echo, which fits so well into a consistent theme from since the start of this project; that the Catechism is echoing down our faith. That’s what catechesis is all about. 

And so when we are saying “Amen,” that is that resonating of it’s not just the conclusion or deference; it’s that participation—that echo from the original sound of carrying it on—of that prayer into our lives and into our hearts. So I love how the Catechism explained that and what you wrote in our notes, Edmund. It’s not a wrap-up; this is not a wrap-up of the podcast.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Emily Mentock: It is alignment with the forever; it’s choosing to be part of God’s plan and playing our role in it.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. And I think people that are listening—hopefully they’re picking up on this theme—and the Catechism has this theme, and then the Church and its documents on evangelization catechesis talks about this. 

It’s not just about an intellectual understanding of these things in the same way that saying “Amen” is not just an intellectual “This is just something we do to all agree that we’re ending the prayer and we can eat now or whatever.”

Emily Mentock: Right.

Edmundo Reyes: Yeah.

Edmund Mitchell: There is deep, spiritual significance. And that’s one of the things even in the Old Testament and the time of Jesus saying “Amen,” it meant something deep and significant.

Edmundo Reyes: That’s right.

Edmund Mitchell: I agree.

Edmundo Reyes: It’s from the heart, right? Like, “I will participate. I will be a part of this thing.”

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Yeah.

Emily Mentock: And speaking of it not being the end; speaking of echoes, we wanted to take this time to also go back to the beginning and the origin story of this project that we’ve been working on.

Edmund Mitchell: I’ve been dying for us to do this. I’ve been dying for us to document; get on record a lot of the backstory; a lot of the things that happened. I know at the time—I think at the very, very beginning when we first started talking about this—I was still working at the parish.

Edmundo Reyes: That’s right.

Emily Mentock: Yes.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Emily Mentock: When we first started talking about it. By the time we really dove into it, it seemed fitting with God’s plan because you had just discerned stepping away from the parish. And then we were able to begin work on this project was just a beautiful affirmation.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Emily Mentock: Of this path; of the work forward.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. And it seemed like the right combination of people because I was in the parish ministry world, but I was also really passionate about the Catechism. And then you guys were doing amazing work at the diocese and communication and marketing and content. And I don’t know, it was just a cool synergy of all our different talents and skills and passions.

Edmundo Reyes: I think it’s God bringing us all together. I think really the origins of the project—I would say—I would trace them to a visit to Portland, Oregon to visit the Bible Project. So we owe a lot of what we do to the Bible Project, because they were leading,

Emily Mentock: As many of our viewers have known.

Edmundo Reyes: Yeah. Because they inspired us. I remember seeing the quality of those videos, the clarity of those videos, the inspiration that came from that mission; this unified story that leads to God. And I was just so, so excited. And I just started to find a way, “How do I meet these people? How do I get to see what they were doing?”

And I ended up through a friend connecting with them, and I end up visiting them. And it was just so inspiring being there. They had back then a very much smaller operation. Now they’re huge, but they still had tons of people working on those videos, on coloring, and the illustration and animation and just the excellence; just the idea of doing something so that others would understand that the Bible is a unified story.

And I was just very inspired. And I think that God put that in my heart. And I think for you, Emily, and for you, Edmund, there was a moment where this made sense. This is the way that we think in Digital Continent—who’s behind a lot of the work that we do here— is God already ahead planting these seeds. 

And then another test or proof that this is God’s dream—not our dream—is when we invited people into the project, they said “yes” to it. Even though probably the odds were like “No, that ship doesn’t make sense.”

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: I remember hearing from you, Edmund, the people were like, “Well, this is not going to last.”

Edmund Mitchell: It was like, “What, more content?” I think that was really the part of the vision that we created when we were around a table was we were very excited. And I think we all only get involved in projects if we feel like there’s that special something extra; it’s not just doing the content for content’s sake. It’s “What’s my end to this to make it more than that I can get excited about?”

Emily Mentock: Yeah. One thing that I was always passionate about from the beginning is that it was never just more content. We were never just trying to put videos out into the world to see who might find them or use them. It was always intentional about trying to invite people to be part of this. 

Whether it’s “How do we make these as useful to the most innovative catechists in the world as possible? How do we present this to a global audience—not just an American-English-speaking church? How do we really target every line of our scripts to a certain persona who isn’t just already sitting in the pew?”

And so for me, that’s always been something that I’m passionate about for this, is that it’s not just content. It’s always been toward a mission. Everything is toward what we’re trying to do—which is what the Catechism sets out to do—but doing it for a digital audience.

Edmundo Reyes: That’s right. And everything is around the mission to unlock the beauty and the truth of the Catechism for the modern world. I think there’s a lot of power there. And this is—I think—one of the reasons why people were attracted to come and do it. It feels like the Avengers coming together. 

Recruiting you Edmund, was like a dream. I remember asking “Who could lead the content? Who could be the person that directs this project?” And everybody was like, “You need to talk to Edmund. You need to talk to Edmund. He’s a Catechism guy.” 

And the fact that before that I was trying to recruit you for other projects that you said “yes” to it. And other people too, that we probably wouldn’t get unless the mission was so strong and so rich.

I think too that also another beautiful thing at the very beginning is we always thought that this should be a gift to the Church. That was one of the “How we’re going to know if this is successful; if this is actually a gift to the Church?” So later on in the project—I think after a year and a half or two years—year and a half, I think—we get the patronage of the Holy See.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Which is kind of like the Betty Crocker seal of approval “This project is a good project.” It was confirmation that we were doing something that was truly a gift to the Church.

Edmund Mitchell: And what was—It was the patronage of the—I want to get it correct.

Edmundo Reyes:The Dicastery of Evangelization.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes:So them saying, “This is good for the young people around the world. This is good evangelization and catechesis.” So getting that endorsement, I don’t know anyone that has the type of endorsement that we got early on in the project.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: So that was such a gift.

Edmund Mitchell: Can we trace? Because I would love to go into things we’ve learned. Could we trace? So we got together, we dreamed a bunch, we’ve worked on “How do we do this?” And then maybe like—what was that next step to launch? And then after that? 

So we pitched it to Our Sunday Visitor, and then the dream of maybe one day being able to gift something to the Holy Father and saying, “Hey, we put this all together; we did this.”

Edmundo Reyes: I think it all starts with the dream. The dream that you had, that Emily had, that I had. And then coming together around the dream. I think that was the most important thing; that God was already ahead of us. I think those early days coming to see you in Grapevine were so much fun.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Because we kind of figured out how to do it. So it’s not just that we’re producing content, but there’s a lot behind it. I don’t know if our audiences understand or see that there’s so many people reviewing the scripts, and you put so much time into it, and all the animators and illustrators. 

There’s a big group trying to put something really good out there. But in those early days figuring out that process. And I would love for you to share a little bit about that. What’s the

Edmund Mitchell: What’s the process of?

Edmundo Reyes: The secret sauce; the way you discovered.

Edmund Mitchell: Oh man. What’s been really cool for me—I was trying to think— “Man, what did I learn?” And one, it was leaning on other people. Because before that, I just did stuff by myself. Like side projects, I just did by myself. 

And it’s easy when you’re doing projects by yourself to be like, “I have a good sense of what’s good.” But then to put it in front of both of you and be like, “Alright, what do you think?” And get feedback. And then to also trust and rely on someone to push the creative forward; to be like, “Oh, I don’t have to worry as much about certain aspects of it.”

So when I’m writing the Proclamation; Explanation, relying on Emily to push and work with the whole creative team.

Edmundo Reyes: That’s right.

Edmund Mitchell: And just trusting that there’s a whole other team behind this that’s going to take it to another level. So that’s been really huge. I could talk more about that process, but that’s been the biggest thing has been learning to work with talented teams.

Edmundo Reyes: That’s right.

Edmund Mitchell: And trusting that other people are going to be pushing. And that other people are going to care about parts of the project more than you have time to care about it for. I could give opinions on a certain aspect of it, but there’s other people that are going to be thinking about that aspect a lot more than I have time for in that moment.

Edmundo Reyes: It was beautiful to see some of our creative team members coming together and then making something that was conceptual. Like, I feel like you had the idea of how this project could be. And then we had all these creatives, and I want to credit them here by name. But JP Talty—amazing, amazing talent—coming together and putting something out there; the incarnation of the project; seeing it on the screen.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Then we had Nate Sjogren coming in and also advancing that. Then we had also Ben helping us as well, and then me and other creatives taking it to the next level. So for me, it was beautiful to see the mission at the center, then the creative process and the script writing and all of that. 

But then seeing that in a fresh way; in a creative way. And every video being amazing. I remember reviewing them on the weekends and I was just blown away.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: I would text JP “You’re a wizard. This is amazing. How did you come up with these?” It was so cool at the very, very beginning.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. That was really cool. Emily, what have you learned four years of doing these creative things? What do you feel like you’ve learned the most from that process? Because I’m sure there’s a lot of little things that people wouldn’t even know from the outside

Emily Mentock: From the process, it has been just a lot of seeing what different people bring to the table, and trying to bring out the best effort for us as a group—with all of the unique ingredients and restrictions on the project. It’s no small feat to have created this many videos and this many languages at this quality on the timeline that we’ve had. 

So, being able to find creative solutions—not just for what’s the most beautiful or most original idea—but what can we accomplish as a team that’s going to help everybody stay excited and passionate and feel like they’re fulfilling that call they first felt to join the team? 

So that has been something that it’s been great as sort of the inside point-person for all these different creative teams to have a sense of. And then the other thing that I’ve really learned from working on this project—and kind of providential timing—with what the U.S. Bishops have really called—in following “Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium)” and other things; this call for the New Evangelization under Pope Benedict, this concept of evangelizing catechesis. 

And one of the things we talked about—that’s part of why you were so passionate about creating better resources for parish catechists, from my own experience going through Catholic school and the catechesis I had received—is “How do we do it better that’s in an evangelizing way that’s going to help people actually know and *love* Jesus?”

And so hearing the conversations happening in the Church around what evangelizing catechesis is, and then on a truly daily basis for years trying to implement that in the work that we were doing, and then seeing the fruits of that kind of changed strategy and the way of presenting the content of the Catechism, that impacted me on a deep level; to just appreciate this time in the Church where we are pivoting the way we catechize. 

Where it’s not just intellectual information; it’s not just a class in school. “A Catechism is not a textbook” is something we’ve always said. And see, “Okay, this is the truths of our faith brought to life, and explained in a way that I can relate to”—and that our audience has related to  So that has been one of the most impactful things in my life as a Catholic and work in the Church to see that really come to life in the project.

Edmund Mitchell: Are there any other favorite moments from the last four years?

Edmundo Reyes: I want to share one.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Has always stuck with me, this email that we got from a young person; a young woman. And it was really everything that Emily was saying; seeing there in an email. She said—there was a Confirmation video that we did. And one of our most

Emily Mentock: It was a Facebook comment, actually,

Edmundo Reyes: Facebook comment. One of the most popular videos that we had. And she said something along the lines of, “I recently was Confirmed, but I didn’t understand the graces that I have received. And watching this video unlocked those graces for me.” 

And it was just so affirming and a gift from God to not only hear that, but even in the language that we presented the project of unlocking the beauty and the truth of the Catechism for the modern world.

I felt like God saying, “Hey, you’re on the right track, guys.” If that was the only thing that happened in all this project; all the money spent, and all the hours spent, and we only got one person to really unlock those graces that she received in Confirmation, it would’ve been worth it.

Edmund Mitchell: Wow.

Edmundo Reyes: So for me, that’s always been the North Star. My favorite moment is when we get these young people seeing how their faith is part of their lives. We always said this project needs to make faith relevant to them. And that transformation that we get a glimpse of it. 

I know there’s other people out there—and we’ve gotten a lot of positive things from catechists and from teachers—but when it’s the young people that watch our videos that are changed by the way that we present the faith, that’s the best part of it. That’s on the high end. I have other more fun things.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. Man, one of my favorite moments was JP and I went to film testimonials of people that have been impacted by the project. What was it for? It was so we could present it to the board, or

Edmundo Reyes: That’s right.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Just to continue to receive the support.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. And I remember—so four; almost five years of working on this project, you have ups and downs. And there are times where it starts becoming; it starts feeling like, “Man, is this what I should be working on? Do I bring enough gifts and talents to this project?”

And so we had interviewed someone and—well, before I’ll say what they say—in my own personal life, I often get criticized for just using analogies too much or thinking in analogies. And there are times in interpersonal relationships where it’s like, “This analogy isn’t working.” 

And so I was feeling some of that insecurity of just, “Am I bringing enough?” And then in the testimonial, the person said, “These videos, they’re like these little resources just filled with different analogies that as a teacher I can pull from. They’re filled with all of these beautiful different analogies for things that I wouldn’t have even thought of thinking of this topic this way. And then as a teacher, I can grab onto one and have a discussion.”

And he said, “Isn’t it really cool that that’s the way Jesus taught? And Jesus used analogies and just tried to find ways to explain things to common people.” And not that I’m Jesus, but it was just the way that he said “Hey, this is one way that Jesus taught.”

And in that moment I got pretty emotional behind the camera because I was like, “Okay, God. You’ve taken this thing that sometimes can be frustrating for people; this weird thing about you, and you’ve found a way to take that and use it.”

And it was my little contribution. “If I’m just the analogy guy; if I can just be the guy to brainstorm analogies, then that’s great. I’ll use that to bring people closer to Jesus.” So that was really special. Is there anything else?

Edmundo Reyes: Can I say something about that?

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Edmund, you were really gifted about coming up with all this stuff. When you think about four years creating hooks for all these videos—and in a way teaching people how to do that on their own as catechists, as teachers, as people who are sharing the faith, you’re a master at that. So I’m so grateful that you got to do that. I have one more story that I want to share.

Edmund Mitchell: Okay. Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: There’s two things that I think are important. One, I want to make sure that we recognize the support of OSV.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Without their support—financial support—their prayers or encouragement, their guidance, we couldn’t have this project. And I want to just highlight that because you can have big dreams. And if it’s God’s dreams, God provides.

And I think that we always operated in faith that God will always provide for us. So we didn’t think of “What’s the least amount of thing?” or “What’s the most we can do with what God has given us?” We said, “No, we’re going to do what we want; what we feel that God is asking us to do, and then we’re going to trust that God will provide.”

So for four years, OSV has been providing the resources to do this high-quality content. And this is connected to the second story—I just want to say that. I have so many, but this is my only podcast episode, so.

Edmund Mitchell: No, no, feel free. And it made everything free, too.

Edmundo Reyes: That’s what I wanted

Edmund Mitchell: Oh, I’m sorry.

Edmundo Reyes: No, no. That’s okay. That’s it.

Emily Mentock: Edmundo’s about to tell my prepared favorite moment.

Edmundo Reyes: Oh, that’s okay. I’m going to say it because there might be some others, but here we are. So we get the patronage for the Holy See. So basically they’re saying, “Hey, this is a good project.” So we officially get a letter where this says, “This is a gift to the Church,” which was confirmation from we wanted this to be a gift to the Church. 

And then we get invited in that meeting, “Would you like to present your project at the third International Congress on Catechesis in front of all these bishops and cardinals and catechists from around the world?” And we were like, “Yes, absolutely. We would love to do that.”

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: So here we are; we’re invited to the Vatican. This is with Pope Francis. We’re actually the last people to present right before Pope Francis is going to come here in the auditorium.

Edmundo Reyes: And we’re presenting the project. And we have our speech; the speech is prepared, our parts of the things. Emily and then another advisor, Julianne Stanz—who has done so much for this project. But I remember vividly when we say that it was free; the project. 

So here we are, with people all over the world, we say that it’s in five languages, and then they hear that it’s free. And literally everybody was like, “Wow. How is this possible?”

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: And so that was the other thing. When you think about OSV and the gift of OSV, is that they generously invested in these and allow us to have all these—over 60 people— that have touched the project do it at a high level, but then give it back to the Church. 

So people around the world are using this project for free because of the generosity of OSV. So I’m very grateful for that. And it’s just such a gift.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: I hope that’s not your story.

Emily Mentock: That was exactly my story, but it’s okay.

Edmundo Reyes: Tell your perspective.

Emily Mentock: I’ll share something different

Edmundo Reyes: Yeah.

Emily Mentock: Well, one thing—on the note of it being free—so this year at my parish, I will be a catechist.

Edmund Mitchell: Nice.

Emily Mentock: For the first time ever in my life. It’s been so funny to be in this role. And we’ve had a great community of feedback from people who use the videos and learned so, so much from you, Edmund as well—from all the years of experience that you have. 

But I’ve always felt; had an awareness that I’m creating this for certain people to use. And I’ve never done what they do. I’ve never stood up in front of a classroom of young people preparing to teach them the faith with the stakes of being responsible for their faith formation or their sacrament prep. But this year in my parish, I will be doing seventh-grade catechesis.

Edmund Mitchell Nice.

Emily Mentock: Which is the year of Confirmation prep. And working together with the parish, too. They weren’t aware of Real+ True before because I was living in Detroit, but now that we’re there and saying, “Okay, this is all the ways that we can use the videos” and actually putting that together. So maybe that’s a favorite moment that has not yet actually happened.

Edmund Mitchell: No, that’s so cool.

Emily Mentock: And I’m totally intimidated by these seventh-graders, but there’s the idea of actually getting to practice what we’ve preached on this podcast for four years, and being able to use the gift that we have all created together is something that I’m really looking forward to. So watch out, seventh-grade girls!

Edmund Mitchell:That’s a great age. I mean, all ages are great, but the middle-school age is so nice. I really, really like seventh and eighth-graders. 

Man, we could probably go back and forth on tons of glory stories, but one of the things was when—there was this moment. Did we talk about it on the podcast? Or did it make it in?—where I was driving back and then

Emily Mentock: Yes, with a Sacred Heart image.

Emily Mentock: Yeah.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmund Mitchell: There was this unit, and I was trying to look for a visual; trying to look for—I don’t even think we used it as a visual.

Emily Mentock: No, it flashes on for like a moment.

Edmund Mitchell: Okay, okay. Yeah.

Emily Mentock: Yeah.

Edmund Mitchell: But there was this moment where we’re driving and I’m praying to God, like, “Alright, fine, I’ll ask you to help.” And literally I think one of the units of podcast or something was on intercession or petition.

Emily Mentock: Yes. That’s what it was about.

Edmund Mitchell: And so I’m like, “Alright God, I’ll do this. I’m asking for it.” And literally as I’m driving down the road, there’s this massive painting reproduction of Jesus and the Sacred Heart. And I’ve been looking for something related to the Sacred Heart. And so I’m like, “Alright, God, that’s funny.” 

And I pull over, and then we have tons of video that I took because this family comes out who’s selling all of this Sacred Heart imagery or whatever. And so I just started talking about the project. It was just this really, really sweet moment with these people.

And they were just so blown away, like, “Oh, you’re going to use our thing.” And I paid six times what it was, and she was like, “Oh, just take it blah-blah-blah.” And it was this really great moment. And then we prayed together and I said, “Hey, pray for the project.” And the whole family signed the back; all these little kids, like kids in diapers and stuff. And I just took out a marker and they signed the back. 

And I still have that in my house. And it’s like one of my treasured things because it just represents so much of the project all in one.

Edmundo Reyes I think one of the things that I would say for people that don’t know how we do it—again, they probably just see the two of you—but behind you, there’s 60-plus people that are doing different things.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Translations, animations, illustrations, reviewers, theological approvals and things like that. But I feel like it mattered; this project mattered to the team. This wasn’t just a job; a contract or something. Everybody kind of put a piece of themselves there. 

And when you’re doing so many scripts, there were ideas that were personal for different people, like a theme or music. Some of the animators delighted—and illustrators—just to put some Easter Easter eggs into them.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: And some photos. But I think that it’s a reflection of people really making these like a personal mission, which is what we want when we serve the Church. We never want people who are doing this for a job. We want people to care deeply about what they’re doing, and then being transformed by it.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: So I’ve enjoyed these five years. And this is the first phase. This is the project—we’ll talk more about it—it’s not ending.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: This first phase has changed me, and I think a lot of the people who have been part of it. And that’s been the best thing to do it with these people who are super talented, but also that they’ve been pouring out their hearts into the project. And you could tell by the quality.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. Maybe we can start getting into Phase Two. I think this is a good opportunity for us to talk about what’s coming next. Where do we want to start?

Edmundo Reyes: Yeah.

Edmund Mitchell: What’s coming next?

Edmundo Reyes: So from the very, very beginning, it was never meant to end when we finished the Four Pillars. That was a job. And especially under Emily’s leadership and your creativity, we got us this far. But we—as co-founders—we knew this wasn’t just a four-year or five-year project, and it was ending. Because the mission doesn’t end. We want to continue to unlock the beauty of truth of the Catechism, and for the next generation. 

So at least for me, it’s been now a while that I’ve been thinking about Phase Two and how do we take it? And I think we have some really cool things prepared. One of them is we want more people to know about all the resources that we’ve created over the last five years. We’ve been so focused on resources that now we want people to kinda go out and use them more, and see more and more people using them. 

So we have different things out there that I would like to share, but it’s all about people using the resources; people knowing about them, and then starting to make some connections from, “Okay, this is what the Catechism teaches” to their personal life. So with that, I want to announce one of the things that we’re going to be doing.

Edmund Mitchell: Go for it.

Edmundo Reyes: So talking to you, Edmund—actually, the two of us were chatting about this—but we came up with these concept of supercharging your life with the Catechism. And I love this new concept—and we’re going to talk more about where it goes—but it’s really about seeing the Catechism not just as a textbook; not just as a document, but to start seeing it as true wisdom that we can use in our personal life. That what the Church has—this wisdom—is relevant for our personal life. 

So we’re going to have a new podcast that is going to be about that.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: So you can tell us more about that. And you’re going to be the host.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. I guess the core—I don’t know if you’d call it “thesis;” it’s deeper than the mission—but the idea of taking divine revelation and then responding to it with our own personal context and story and the culture, and then taking that path from that to everyday life is really the heart of it. 

And Pope Benedict wrote a book called Dogma and Preaching, where in that book he’s saying the path from dogma to everyday life is a challenging one; that especially in modern times we have a hard time with. So that’s really the heart of that is we talked about different topics like marriage and the—well, marriage and the Catechism is pretty obvious—but like

Edmundo Reyes: Mental health.

Edmund Mitchell: Mental health and the Catechism. There’s not a section on it, but for us—who’ve done so much with the Catechism—there are paragraphs that come to mind that if you put those all together, it’s like, “Oh, this would be an interesting thing to talk about and bring light to with these different paragraphs.”

So that’s what we’re going to be hoping to do with that, is come up with some of those topics. Like transitions; big transitions in your life and the Catechism, or parenting and the Catechism.

Edmundo Reyes: Career.

Edmund Mitchell: Career and the Catechism.

Edmundo Reyes: Yeah. Work.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. Things like that. So that’ll be really interesting to do. Let’s talk about some of the other big announcements. You can just announce them.

Edmundo Reyes

So one is the podcast. So God-willing at the end of this year, we’re going to switch to mode of talking about these topics that are not necessarily containing the Catechism explicitly. Some of them will.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: But we’re going to be drawing from the Catechism, from divine revelation, from Scripture, from the Catechism and the wisdom of the Church. So I’m super excited about that. So that’s actually going to translate into a book. So we’re going to start publishing books.

Edmund Mitchell: Yep.

Edmundo Reyes: And there’ll be a book series on “Supercharge Your Life With the Catechism.” So career, relationships, marriage, parenting, mental health; all these things through the lens of the Catechism. So I’m super excited to be working on that project. 

And in addition to that, there’s going to be the book on unlocking the truth and beauty of the Catechism that’s going to be written by you. And it’s going to be a glimpse into your way of teaching the faith; your years in the parish.

Emily Mentock: Yeah.

Edmund Mitchell: No pressure.

Edmundo Reyes: But also your years as a catechist. So I’m so excited. I think it’s going to be an amazing gift to so many; to a lot of people.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. I’m excited about that one. That hopefully will be a summary of not just the way I became passionate about the Catechism, but just like “What are the little things that I learned about it that just unlocked it for me?”

Edmundo Reyes: That’s right.

Edmund Mitchell: And in my time in parish ministry, those were the things that I just a few simple ideas that then you pick up the book and you’re like, “Oh, now I get it. Now I know how I can navigate it on my own, and how I can do creative, interesting things, but also how I can bring it to prayer in my daily life?” So I’m really excited about that

Emily Mentock: Innovation’s like if you actually just decorate a cake like a category and cut it into four parts.

Edmund Mitchell: Oh my gosh.

Emily Mentock: Now you understand it. We just got an email from a catechist.

Edmund Mitchell: Did we really?

Emily Mentock: Saying that she loves the project; she’s been so inspired by it, but she’s directly implementing the cake thing, which is from our first video.

Edmund Mitchell: That’s hilarious. And behind the scenes, I think there was a first version of the cake.

Emily Mentock: There was multiple cakes.

Edmundo Reyes: And you were like, “That cake is not good enough.”

Edmund Mitchell: “That cake sucks. Can we get a different cake?”

Emily Mentock: The standard size.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. That’s awesome.

Emily Mentock: Pro tip: if you try that, buy a store-bought cake.

Edmund Mitchell: Yes. Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: But I think your book is going to be so helpful. There are a lot of people who listen to the podcast who are catechists. So they do this as part-time or full-time, and they’re invested in this. And I think they appreciate and admire some of the work that we do because of its innovation; its effectiveness, and so forth. 

I think there’s even a greater number of volunteer catechists—like Emily now and her parish—who want to serve when the pastor says, “Hey, we need some people to help us with catechesis.” And you go into it, and then the parish prepares you and informs you. But you want something that helps you think about this differently, and you want to be effective and giving you that context.

So I think this book is going to be an amazing, amazing resource—not only for formal catechesis—as we call them—teachers and catechists, but also these informal catechists.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Seminarians and volunteers who want to level up and know how to do that. Because it’s very intimidating to be in a class, and you’ll see that, Emily—well, you’re never intimidated. You’re a very brave woman and very confident. 

But for a lot of people, it’s intimidating to be in a class and having to do something there. So we want to provide not only the resources and all the videos that we already have, but also a way forward. So give us a glimpse. Give us some things about what’s going to be in the book.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. One of the things—we talk about this a lot in the project—but the four pillars and then how they’re structured into two sections, that alone. Because it’s just so much content. And I was just intimidated by how much content the Catholic Church has as a Catholic. And so to know that, “Oh, there’s just four pillars, and to think of them as Creed, Sacraments, Morality, Prayer.”

But then the first section is “Here’s a big overview of how this section fits.” And then the second section goes into actually the articles of the Creed, for example, or the articles of the Our Father. That alone was just, “Oh, this isn’t as intimidating. I know kind of where I can go now. Like if we’re having a lesson on one of the Commandments, okay, I can go to the first section in that pillar, or I can go to this specific part.”

And it just helps you be less intimidated. With ADHD, my whole life has been trying to find shortcuts to things that everyone else seems to be able to pick up. And so those little shortcuts just made it seem less intimidating; like, I can navigate this space a lot easier.

Edmundo Reyes: And I’m looking forward to seeing how people react to the book, but also an opportunity to be working with you.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: So Real + True will have the opportunity to go into parishes and dioceses and kind of present these frameworks and these shortcuts that you came up with.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: To help their volunteers and also their lay ministers. So I’m very excited about that part as well.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Take Real + True

Edmund Mitchell: On the road.

Edmundo Reyes: On the road.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. That’d be really fun. Were you going to say something, Emily?

Emily Mentock: It’s shortcuts, but they’re not shortcuts like you’re cutting corners. But they’re shortcuts where it’s like the bridge above the traffic, like a bypass. Because what I found in learning from your methods and applying them to the project of course, but also just to my own life and my own understanding of what it means to share the faith, is that it kind of brings a clarity that when there’s so much noise—especially in debate about Church teaching—when you learn how to navigate the Catechism specifically. 

Even more than other Church documents, which I love—we talk all the time about how we’re such nerds about Church documents—but specifically in the Catechism, it’s a shortcut that sort of takes you above to where you can see with clarity to then dive back into the messier questions as well. So I just want to make sure people understand that the shortcut thing,

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Emily Mentock: It’s the opposite of cutting corners. It’s like, “How do I kind of rise above and see where I’m at, so then I can go back with the most direct path there; unafraid of what lies ahead?”

Edmundo Reyes: It’s a good shortcuts.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. No, that’s a really good way to put it. I love the “up above,” because that is how it feels to me. It’s like I’m wading through all these different doctrines and dogmas and things to memorize or whatever, and to step above. 

That’s how it felt. It felt like now I understood some of these things with the Catechism. Now I can step above and just see everything clearly.

Edmundo Reyes: And you have such a love for the Catechism. So part of it is really to help people understand how it was put together. A lot of the stuff that is behind the scenes we’re here talking—well sometimes in the podcast where we talk about that. But you understand a lot of the structure, and a lot of the connections and how to use it.

Edmund Mitchell: And even the history; even the history. Pope Benedict; he wrote about the Catechism, and even in his kind of introduction, he still says, “I still think it wasn’t a good time for the Catechism.” And I still stand by that. 

So there’s all of this rich history of how it even came about that’s so fascinating; makes you fall in love with it and appreciate it and not think, “Okay, well this is just a thing that the Church put out.” There’s this really fascinating history, and it really is a gift.

Edmundo Reyes: So stay tuned on that book coming out next year. So you’re working on manuscripts and all of that. And then we’re going to have the podcast connected to this book; connected to the supercharge. So there’s going to be a lot of additional resources coming out next year. And we’re so excited about them. 

In the new podcast, you’ll get to see a little bit of that and the way that you approach the different topics that we’re going to be covering. So I’m super excited about that. We have two more things to bounce.

Edmund Mitchell: Yep.

Edmundo Reyes: And this was always part of the original plan. And Emily, you Edmund, and I—we wanted them from the very, very beginning—but five years after, now we’re actually going to be able to have that. So we’ll have a Real + True Catechism; an actual book that has some of the ways that we do things. 

And when I think about what’s going to be unique about this book, it goes back to the mission and how we thought about the mission. So we wanted things to be beautiful. We wanted things to be relevant. I think that’s so important. And we wanted shareable content. 

But the idea of “How do we make these relevant? How do we move away from this being a book that you just have in a bookshelf and collects dust? How do we actually use it and make it attractive?” So I’m super excited for the Catechism to come out. I don’t know if it’s going to come out next year—probably the year after. We’re going to work on it, and that’s going to be really, really exciting.

Something that is beautiful and it helps make the faith accessible and relevant, and then a companion Bible too. So we’re going to bring some of the way that we do things to those two worlds. And I’m so, so excited. 

We’ll also have—we live in a world where digital and analog coexist. So a way for the Catechism to also be connected to some of our videos. Sometimes people don’t know that we have so many videos that people get lost. So we’re improving the website. So that’s coming in a month, I think? God-willing, Emily?

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: A month or two; a new website. We have some delays, but it’s going to come out. It’s going to help people find these videos, but also with the book at hand, we’re going to be making those connections for them. So I’m super excited about those two things.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. That would be cool to have a Bible and a Catechism that you can also then jump into all these other resources. I feel bad sometimes because I’d literally get texts from my dad. He didn’t want to do the effort of trying to find, and he would get a text; he’d be like, “Which video has something on this topic?” He just wanted to know which one to do. So that’s really exciting.

Edmundo Reyes: Yeah. And the format of the Catechism—I love where you were going to— is we encourage people to pray with the Catechism. That’s been part of what we say on the podcast; part of what you’ve said always is “Hey, this is a good book, but it’s a massive book.” You have the pocket-size; the official one and the unofficial one. But for our Catechism, it’ll be a set with each pillar that you could take separately.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: So it’ll be a lot more portable.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: To just bring the section of the Creed if that’s what you’re praying with—not because it’s separated or fragmented from the book, but it’s just for portability. So even little things like that, I think it’s going to play into the way that we see the Catechism.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. I can’t tell you a number of times, I wish that I could take out the fourth pillar and just hand it to someone and say “Just start with this. Just go to Adoration. Just pray.”

Emily Mentock: Pray with prayer.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. Pray with prayer.

Edmundo Reyes: Yeah. Learn how to pray with the Our Father.

Edmund Mitchell: Well, are there any last things before we wrap up and tell people to stay tuned? Anything else?

Edmundo Reyes: I’m grateful. Word of gratitude first to you, Emily, for all the good, good work that you’ve done. You’ve been a great leader in our team. And through your hard work and dedication, we’ve been able to do a lot of that. So I’m so grateful that you got to say “yes” to this project, and that you were invited and said “yes.” And that’s been so, so good. And you’ve shaped a lot. 

And to you, Edmund, this project doesn’t exist without you. You were the driving, creative force. And then what you came up in that brilliant mind of yours, then our creative team just built a beautiful world that you can see out there online. So I’m just very grateful for the two of you. I already said OSV. And then for every person that worked on the project. They’re close friends.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah.

Edmundo Reyes: Some of my best friends are connected to this project, including a person that I don’t think we’ve ever had on camera.

Edmund Mitchell: Yeah. Maybe we should bring him up.

JP Talty: What are you guys doing?

Edmund Mitchell: JP?

Edmundo Reyes: JP, you want to come join us?

Edmund Mitchell: Guys, we want to introduce you to JP.

JP Talty: I just had one story I wanted to share because I think it’s really funny. And it’s funny that there’s also another person here too for it. In the early, early days when Edmundo and Emily reached out to me to figure out who was going to help direct their animation, y’all reached out to me and you were like, “Hey, we saw all this work by this one guy named Cory Heimann; Likeable Art, and he has these animations that are really cool. And we’re wondering: are you able to do any of these?”

And then they immediately shared a video that I made for Cory. And so Cory was like “This is where I negotiate my pay.” I was like, “You know what? I think I could pull that off. I think I can pull off that style.” And little did they know that I made that style. But yeah.

Emily Mentock: Bravo, JP.

Edmund Mitchell: I want to thank both of you. You guys have really made me feel uncomfortable with how much flattery you’ve given me. But this wouldn’t exist without you two. And you two have forever changed my life. There’s so many other things we couldn’t get into that I could talk for hours about how this project has changed my life. 

But yes, I love the Catechism, but I would not be the creative person I am today without you two. This project would’ve lasted two weeks with me trying to accomplish it. You two saw something in me, but you guys are very talented. And being along for the journey, this was—in so many ways—forever life-changing. 

So I just want to thank you both for having the courage to even not just dream it, but then say, “And we can do it. And we can pull it off. And we don’t know how exactly, but we’re going to pull it off.” So I just want to thank all of you.

And if you are very excited like we are for Phase Two, you should follow us online, the website. Also, wherever you’re watching this, make sure you subscribe and comment below because we read all the comments. But you can follow us—again—in our mission of unlocking the truth and beauty of the Catechism and helping people around the world encounter its pulsating heart: Jesus Christ. So, we will see you in the next episode.