Indian paintbrush showed up at Porter Prairie Family Farm this week — native Oklahoma wildflower, first time Adam's seen it on his property. He didn't plant it. Nobody did. The seed bank was just dormant, waiting for the soil to be right. Two years of cattle grazing in the back pasture, no mowing, better land management — and something long dormant finally decided it was safe to bloom. Joel Salatin talks about this: when the practices change, when a property gets new stewardship, the land seems to know it. So does grace.
David's been busy in a different direction. He wired up an automatic door for the chicken coop — actuator, relay, battery, timer — a sliding gate that covers the nesting boxes so the younger chickens stop sleeping in them and fouling the eggs. Under $150 total, including an actuator that lifts 300 pounds for thirty bucks. When he asked Lady Pamela what she wanted it to look like, she said: prison bars coming down. "We'll call it the Henna Tincture." David said say no more. The Henna Tincture it is.
This week we're sipping Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond, Kentucky Straight Bourbon, 7 years — same distillery as Elijah Craig and Evan Williams. No gimmicks, under fifty bucks, smooth finish with a peanut butter quality that works. Bottled in bond since the Act of 1897. Very solid.
Quick update on baby Mary: she's still having good days. Praise God. Keep her and Lady Haylee in your prayers. Adam also headed out to Arkansas over Mother's Day weekend to be with his goddaughter JoJo Kleine for her First Holy Communion — and got to watch nephew Danny Kleine go two-for-two at the plate with at least one RBI. After months of watching a daughter fight for her life in a NICU, sometimes what a soul needs is family, a Mass, and a kid absolutely cranking baseballs.
Then we get into it: the papacy. A year in with Pope Leo XIV — the first American pope, the man who took the name knowing exactly whose shoes he was stepping into — and what does all of it mean? Where does that authority come from, and what's it actually for?
Dave traces it back to the Davidic kingdom. When the king left for war, he handed the keys to his steward, who operated with full royal authority until the king returned. Matthew 16 isn't symbolism. "What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven" — the Jews at the time knew exactly what that meant. That's why Peter is listed first among the apostles almost every time. He was their leader. He had the keys. Two thousand years of unbroken succession later, here we are.
But then the conversation goes somewhere unexpected. Authority is given to you so that you might serve those over whom you have authority. Not for your own glory. Not so people owe you. The pope is literally titled Servant of the Servants of God. The same authority Christ handed to Peter is the same authority He described in the upper room — the pagans lord it over their subjects, but not so among you. You will be the one who serves.
For fathers, that cuts. Pope John Paul II stood up against governments, even after taking a bullet. He kept going out. What does that courage look like in an ordinary household? Probably not a wound in the square. More likely a different kind of martyrdom — the kind where you make a decision for your family that nobody else understands, that your kids resent for a season, that costs you something in your social circle. You make it anyway. Because you've prayed about it, talked it through with your wife, and you know in your gut it's the right thing for your people. You stand on the island by yourself if you have to.
Dave closes with something worth trying: he prays specifically to the Holy Spirit to give Lady Pamela strong motherly intuition into the inner lives of their children. When she says something feels off, he pays close attention. That's him exercising his authority — his fatherly papacy — to draw more grace into his household. Not to control everything himself. To pray for the right graces for the right people.
The fatherly papacy, if you will.
Raise your glass.
TOPICS COVERED
Indian paintbrush flowers appearing at Porter Prairie — and why the land responds to new stewardship
Joel Salatin and the School of Traditional Skills on how cattle and management change soil biology
David's automatic chicken coop door: actuator, relay, timer, and the Henna Tincture
David's wheat harvest coming up — 12,000 square feet, building a grain cradle for the scythe
Bourbon of the week: Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond, 7-year Kentucky Straight Bourbon
JoJo Klein's First Holy Communion and nephew Danny Klein's two-for-two at the plate
Baby Mary update — still having good days, keep her in your prayers
Pope Leo XIV's one-year anniversary — the first American pope and what it means to hear him speak in American English
The modern problem of instant information and why it's harder than ever to be the pope
Why interview questions on a plane, stripped of all context, are unfair to any human being
The name you give a child is an inheritance — a new name inherits nothing
Why Adam named Leo Thomas after Pope Leo XIII and Thomas Aquinas, and John Dominic after the Apostle and the Dominicans
Pope Leo XIII: the Marian pope, the social doctrine pope, the first pope ever filmed
Thomas Aquinas on the papacy — Contra Gentiles and the Summa
The Davidic kingdom and the keys: Matthew 16 as a transfer of royal authority, not a metaphor
The question of authority — Trent Horn, Protestants, atheists, and why it always comes down to this
Why the things closest to heaven get attacked the hardest — authority and sexuality as parallel examples
The pope as Servant of the Servants of God — and what that actually costs
Pope John Paul II standing up against communist governments even after being shot
What putting yourself in harm's way looks like for fathers: social martyrdom, not bullets
Making decisions for your family that your kids, their friends, and their friends' parents all disagree with
The German church and what a timeout looks like at the universal level
Why the Church has been around for 2,000 years and what that tells you
Praying for your wife's specific graces — and why Dave prays for Lady Pamela's motherly intuition
Authority as the source of efficacious prayer — a father's prayers for his children
The TOTUS TUUS decision and trusting a mother's intuition
Pope Leo's upcoming AI encyclical — and why millennials are the generation tasked with figuring this out
The fatherly papacy — what domestic authority and universal authority share
REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE
Books & Writings:
Summa Theologiae by St. Thomas Aquinas
Summa Contra Gentiles by St. Thomas Aquinas
Saints & Historical Figures:
St. Thomas Aquinas
Pope Leo XIII (social doctrine, Marian encyclicals, first pope ever filmed)
Pope Leo XIV (Robert Prevost, first American pope)
Pope John Paul II (stood against communist governments, continued ministry after assassination attempt)
Pope Francis (repose of his soul — the men still catching themselves saying the wrong name)
King David / the Davidic kingdom (Old Testament typology for the papacy)
St. Peter (first pope, holder of the keys)
People & Guests:
Joel Salatin — School of Traditional Skills
Trent Horn (Catholic apologist, debates on authority)
Patrick Stephen (listener and Instagram follower who suggested the topic)
JoJo Klein — Adam's goddaughter, received First Holy Communion
Danny Klein — Adam's nephew, baseball
Lady Haylee Minihan
Lady Pamela Niles
Luke Minihan (Adam's oldest)
Mary Minihan (in the NICU)
Programs:
TOTUS TUUS (Catholic youth formation program)
School of Traditional Skills (online homesteading video subscription)
Scripture:
Matthew 16:18-19 — "I give you the keys to the kingdom"
When Adam and Dave decided to lead their first pilgrimage, they asked around, and the same name came up over and over: Select International Tours. Having used them, they can tell you it's deserved. Whether you want to lead a pilgrimage or join one, Select has a tour ready for wherever the Lord is calling you. Head to selectinternationaltours.com and take a look.
