Making it Personal with Bishop William Joensen
From the New Age to the Sacred Heart: Michael Paul Hart's Conversion Story - 08/03/2026
Episode Summary
On this episode of Making It Personal, Bishop William Joensen and Co-Host Jean Thill sit down with retired CNA and author Michael Paul Hart, whose memoir Could You Push Me in the Toilet? blends decades of hands-on health care experience with humor, heartbreak, and grace. Hart shares his unlikely path from the New Age movement to a life-altering vision of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and, ultimately, to the Catholic Church. Bishop Joensen opens the show with diocesan news, including the election of a new abbot at Conception Abbey and a preview of August's rich calendar of feast days. Michael Paul Hart discusses decades of caregiving in hospitals, nursing homes, and personal home care A profound vision of the Sacred Heart of Jesus sparked Heart's conversion to Catholicism Bishop Joensen reflects on the election of Fr. Paul Sheller, OSB as Conception Abbey's new abbot The difference between evangelization and proselytization, explored through real caregiving stories A look ahead to August's feast days, from St. Dominic to the Assumption
Episode Notes
Segment 1: Bishop's Opening Monologue
Bishop Joensen shares diocesan news and reflections as August unfolds:
- Preparing to join the diocese's permanent deacons — both ordained and in formation — for their annual gathering at Conception Abbey in Conception, Missouri
- Congratulations to Fr. Paul Sheller, OSB, elected the 11th Abbot of Conception Abbey on July 11, succeeding Abbot Benedict Neenan, OSB. Abbot Sheller will be formally installed by Bishop James Vann Johnston of the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph on August 31
- A reflection on Elise Ann Allen's new book, Pope Leo XIV: The Biography
- A rundown of August's feast days: St. John Vianney (patron of parish priests), St. Dominic (Aug. 8), St. Clare (Aug. 11), St. Maximilian Kolbe (Aug. 14), and the Feast of the Assumption (Aug. 15)
- A preview of the annual convocation of Catholic educators in Des Moines and Council Bluffs ahead of the new school year
Segment 2 & 3: Interview with Michael Paul Hart
Bishop Joensen and Jean Thille welcome Michael Paul Heart, retired CNA and author of Could You Push Me in the Toilet? Stories from Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Personal Home Care.
- Heart shares how he mentored Fr. Stan Asjes, now at St. Patrick Parish in Council Bluffs, in the years before his seminary formation, including a formative conversation on the meaning and purpose of life
- A recommendation of Arthur C. Brooks' The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness
- Heart recounts his upbringing as a Protestant, his time in the New Age movement, and his eventual conversion — informed in part by Fr. Mitch Pacwa's Catholics and the New Age
- The turning point: a vivid, profound vision of the Sacred Heart of Jesus while bicycling home late one night, and the middle-of-the-night phone call to Fr. Gordon Gittins that followed
- Over 40 years of experience as a CNA, including his approach to physical strength training to safely lift and care for patients
- A reflection on the difference between evangelization and proselytization, illustrated through stories from his caregiving career
- The story behind the book's memorable title
Learn more about Serra Vocations Ministry at JoinSerra.org, and find more episodes at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
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