Holy Donors

Welcome! We are thrilled to begin our new season of Holy Donors, and this time, our hosts introduce us to the life and service of Catherine Doherty. While Catherine Doherty may be relatively unknown to most of us, she is a brave and faithful servant, and we are excited to share her story with you. Catherine was born to Russian nobility in the late 1800s, and throughout her childhood, she traveled...

In today’s wrap party episode, our hosts, Thaddeus, Andrew, Matt, and Rhen, share their thoughts on this season of Holy Donors about Pierre Toussaint. They all agree that, despite knowing almost nothing about the Venerable Pierre Toussaint prior to their research for this season, they are so glad they chose Pierre as one of their holy donors. Thaddeus shares the challenges he faced in leading this...

We’re glad you’re back! In the first 3 episodes of this season of Holy Donors, Thaddeus, Andrew, Matt, and Rhen discuss the details of Pierre Toussaint's life. In this 4th episode, they focus on Pierre’s philanthropy and his legacy. The episode ends with each of our hosts casting his vote for whether or not Pierre Toussaint deserves to be called a holy donor. In his lifetime, Pierre proved to be a...

And, we’re back! This week’s episode returns us to Pierre’s life in New York after his master, Jean Jacques Bérard, dies on a trip to Haiti. Upon Bérard’s death, Pierre is left to care for Bérard’s widow, Marie, and as the de facto head of household, Pierre supports her well on his hairdresser’s wages. Pierre is a popular hairdresser among New York City’s wealthy socialites, and he works long hour...

In today’s episode, we return to our story of Pierre Toussaint’s exodus from Saint Domingue during the Haitian Revolution. The Bérard family and the Toussaint siblings leave an island of fire and ruins, and they sail to New York City When they arrive in New York City, they find the nation's capital, a city of sixty thousand inhabitants, to be a commercial and cultural hub. Pierre and the Bérard fa...

Welcome back to the new season of Holy Donors! We are excited to return from our summer vacations and explore the life and generosity of this season’s star, Pierre Toussaint. Pierre Toussaint was born into slavery on the French colony of Saint Domingue (Saint Domingue was what we know today as independent Haiti), and he served as a trusted domestic slave to his master Jean Jacques Bérard. When Bér...

The guys will be taking a short break for the summer, but we'll be back to discuss more holy donors in September!

It’s time for this season’s wrap party! Join Andrew, Matt, Thaddeus, and Rhen as they finish out this season of Holy Donors featuring Texas philanthropist Tim Scanlan. As is typical with Holy Donors’ wrap parties, our hosts share jokes and a behind the scenes look at how the group chose Tim Scanlan as one of its holy donors. Our hosts also share their takeaways from this season. Each host highligh...

Join our hosts, Andrew, Matt, Thaddeus, and Rhen, as they conclude their journey through Tim Scanlan’s life (and his daughters’ lives) by sharing stories of what happens with Scanlan’s wealth after Scanlan and all of his daughters pass away. Stella was the final Scanlan sister to pass away, and following her death, nearly two dozen cousins came out of the woodwork to challenge Stella’s will, the w...

In this episode of Holy Donors, Andrew, Matt, Thaddeus, and Rhen return to tell the story of what happens to Tim Scanlan’s fortune after he passes away without a will. When Scanlan dies, he is survived by seven daughters. Despite his lack of a formal written will, Scanlan had told his family and his attorney that all of his money should be given equally to his daughters, and upon the deaths of his...

Episode 2 We return to Tim Scanlan’s story right as the Civil War is beginning. Still living in Houston, Scanlan had started working in the cotton trade, he married, and his wife Sophia was pregnant when Texas started drafting its male residents to join the Confederate army. Scanlan did not support slavery, and he refused to fight for the Confederacy. Thus, Scanlan flees Texas and lives in Mexico,...

Join us for this season of Holy Donors as we meet Thomas Howe Scanlan and take a journey through Texas history. Nicknamed Tim and TH, Thomas Scanlan is a little known, albeit quite important, figure in Texas history. In this season, our hosts share stories of Tim Scanlan and discuss how and why they think Tim merits a spot in a podcast about holy donors. Born in Ireland in 1832, Tim and his family...

Join us as we wrap up our Holy Donors’ season on Margaret “Molly” Brown. Thaddeus, Andrew, Matt, and Rhen come together to chat about how little they knew about Margaret Brown prior to this podcast, the lessons (especially lessons about boldness and hope!) they learned from their journey through Margaret’s life, and their favorite podcast recording snacks. The team also reveals that our next seaso...

At the start of this week’s Holy Donors’ episode, we learn that, thankfully, Margaret returns from her overseas adventures to a healthy grandson. Margaret returns to the States after her voyage on the Titanic, and she continues with her life as a socialite and a philanthropist. She runs for public office (and loses!), she takes up acting, and she spends time with her family. Margaret passes away i...

We ended last week’s Holy Donors’ episode with Margaret’s separation from her husband J.J. In the years following their separation, Margaret continues to fundraise and to travel. In 1912, Margaret is traveling in Europe with her daughter Helen when she receives word that her grandson is sick. Desperate to return home, Margaret purchases the first ticket she can get back to the United States, and u...

We return to our Holy Donors series with Margaret Brown and her husband J.J. at a crossroads. The silver crash has made life in Leadville very tough, but Margaret and J.J. have one amazing opportunity that prevents them from losing everything. J.J. is a smart and innovative miner, and he figures out how to mine previously unreachable gold near Leadville. In doing so, J.J. makes a fortune, and Marg...

"Margaret “Molly” Brown: Unsinkable" This season of Holy Donors features socialite, Titanic survivor, and philanthropist, Margaret “Molly” Brown. Let us be clear from the start, Molly Brown is not so much a nickname as a fictional name, one that worked better in song lyrics in the musical comedy about Margaret Brown’s life. Margaret Brown is the real world subject of this season’s Holy Donors podc...

You’re invited to the wrap party for our Holy Donors season on Babe Ruth! Today’s episode concludes our season starring Babe Ruth; and Andrew, Matt, and Rhen close everything out by discussing the group’s process for picking the individuals they feature on the podcast. Our hosts understand that the selection of Babe Ruth was outside the show’s norm to date, and they reflect on how they came to sha...

Today’s Holy Donors episode focuses on Babe Ruth after his baseball career. What did Babe Ruth do with his post-baseball days? What was his life like before his death in 1948? Does Babe Ruth deserve to be called a ‘holy donor’? Andrew, Matt, and Rhen wrap up this season of Holy Donors by discussing the final years of Babe Ruth’s life, and they each share their thoughts on why (or why not!) Ruth me...

Today’s episode highlights the majority of Babe Ruth’s professional baseball career. Through the years, Ruth stuns teammates and baseball fans with his unbelievable hitting skills and home run records. Not only does Ruth set many batting records, but with him as part of the team, the Yankees are winning World Series games and setting attendance records. As the first years of Babe Ruth’s baseball c...

In today’s episode of Holy Donors, we follow the early years of Babe Ruth’s baseball career. We return to the scene of Babe Ruth’s high school baseball game, and we learn that the mystery spectator who changes Ruth’s life is baseball genius and minor league team owner Jack Dunn. Jack Dunn invites Babe Ruth to come play for his team, the Baltimore Orioles, and Ruth’s professional baseball career ge...

This series of Holy Donors episodes features baseball legend, George Herman “Babe” Ruth, Jr. When people think of Babe Ruth, they immediately call to mind his legendary baseball career and his party hard lifestyle off the field. In the coming podcast episodes, however, Andrew, Matt, Rhen and Thaddeus discuss if and how Babe Ruth might deserve the distinction of “holy donor.” Babe Ruth’s childhood...

Thaddeus, Andrew, Matt, and Rhen enjoy an evening cocktail as they walk through and wrap up the creation of Season 4, The Wildcatter: George Strake, Sr. of Holy Donors. Despite the initial confusion of who they were highlighting, George Strake or George Strait, the guys truly enjoyed learning about a Holy Donor that wasn’t familiar to most of them. Truly, this season was two stories in one, diggin...

In part five of our Wildcatter series, we are able to dig into George’s faith, his generosity and his care of his family. With all the evidence, would you consider the Apostle project his greatest legacy? Do you think he was a Holy Donor? We hear the guys’ take and how learning about what George did with the 75 years he was given has impacted them. And don't forget to stick around to hear who is u...

Can you imagine working for years in secret, pouring your time and money into a project only to discover you had the wrong bones? That’s exactly what happened with our Wildcatter and Team. One might be tempted to throw in the towel, if one wasn’t a driven risk taker. Our Holy Donor hosts take us through the ups and downs of discovering St. Peters remains and the eight ways that proof was confirmed...