Rhinebeck's Father Jeffrey Maurer on the Eucharist, Death, and Growing Up IBM Catholic

Norm welcomes his Rhinebeck neighbor Father Jeffrey Maurer, pastor of Good Shepherd in Rhinebeck and St. Christopher's in Red Hook, for a conversation about faith and vocation. Maurer traces his German and Irish Catholic roots to 1880s Kingston, his eight years of seminary formation between Manhattan College and priestly studies, and the moment as a teenager when he first grasped the Eucharist as more than symbol. He talks about writing sermons, presiding over deaths and baptisms, and why he thinks busyness does more damage to faith than outright sin. The conversation also covers Thomas Aquinas, the Catholic roots of cities like Los Angeles and St. Augustine, Florida, and Dorothy Day's farm up in Tivoli. Along the way, Maurer explains why he recently sat for the AP U.S. History Regents exam at a Kingston high school, in longhand, with a cigar waiting for him afterward. Produced by Norm Magnusson, Jennifer Hammoud, and Matty Rosenberg @ radiofreerhinecliff.org Send comments to [email protected]