by Gordon Nary
Gordon: When and where did you first meet you wife and what is your favorite memory of this meeting?
Chris: We met in 1987 at Bayshore High School in Bradenton, Florida. Linda was very popular and I was in the band, so basically the opposite of popular. She was a varsity cheerleader and in a lot of AP classes. I was, in the band. In fact, my senior year I have five band classes. I made top ten percent because I basically didn’t have any real classes. Linda was competing for the Homecoming Queen position. Our school had a talent show students could perform in and that would be what would provoke the student body to vote for them. In the end it was a popularity contest. Linda came out wearing a silver sequined Karate uniform. It was amazing. She did a karate kata to a Rocky thematic song. It was epic and I was in awe. I said to my friend, I want to date her. We laughed because this was not realistic since she was clearly out of my league.
The next day or so I was in the lunch line and two varsity cheerleaders started walking toward me. I had recently been given an award by the school- it was a senior superlative entitled: Most Unique Personality. Some got Best Smile, Most Likely to Succeed, etc. I was happy with my award and got my picture in the yearbook. As I stood in line the two cheerleaders came up and the one said to the other: This is the kid who won, Most Unique Personality. One of the Cheerleaders there was Linda.
Gordon: What are the key components of a successful marriage?
Chris: I think there are many components to a successful marriage. We highlight a number of them in a variety of talks and books we have put out. One of the talks is about basic principles couples need in their marriage for it to last. Freedom, Dignity/Respect, Wise Choices, Self-Control, Commitment, Believe in one another and finally, Dream Together. There are also important virtues that must be practiced, apologies, communication and good old fashion laughter. We know there isn’t just one fix all components, and yet it is imperative for couples to dive deep into their faith individually in order to be a blessing to one another. Marriage is meant to be a witness to the world that love is real and that it matters. A successful marriage in the end is one that witnesses to the world the love of God and is one where each couple is doing what they can to help their spouse make it to Heaven.
Gordon: Please provide an overview of your family.
Chris: We have been married for over 33 years and have nine children. Five girls and one boy, and most of our kids live hear us. We have eight grandkids and because the families are close we get to see them regularly. It is a powerful opportunity to journey with our children and their children,
Gordon: Tell us about The Center for Holy Marriage..
Chris: The Center is really a platform for ministry to married couples. We have been doing this for a long time. For over ten years we have been doing all of the Pre Cana retreats for the Dioc. of Syracuse, so once a month we help couples get ready for marriage. This has been a huge blessing and we feel very connected to our diocese. The Center for Holy Marriage has also worked with creating content that can be uploaded to digital platforms. There are free courses and some paid ones that can be accessed through www.chrisandlindapadgett.com which can take you to the Center for Holy Marriage. We have done tons of marriage and family retreats, missions, renewal events and more. We still do twice a month the Pre Cana retreats for the Dioc. of Newark, NJ. And love being a part of that community. I think Linda and I really work well together. We love creating content to share, and use a ton of real life experiences for couples. It has been a wonderful collaborative adventure.
Gordon Tell us about Chris Padget Ministries.
Chris:I have been doing full time ministry for over 30 years. I started with a band and then moved into solo music and speaking events. This moved into a lot of parish, youth ministry and diocesan events, National Catholic Youth Conferences, World Youth Days, and more. As a result of being a lay evangelist I have traveled the world sharing the faith and feel so blessed to do so. We entered the Church Easter of 1999 and that journey took my ministry into a better and richer place. The ability to encourage people in their Catholic faith was a great passion of mine and for some reason the doors began to open for me to encourage others to let God have more of them. The ministry has be doing Men’s conferences, Catholic school events, College campus presentations, parish missions and more. I do a lot of ministry on social media and continue to teach theology with places like Catholic International University. I taught for four years at Franciscan University in the theology department and continue to do the Steubenville conferences.
Gordon: You ate a popular author., What are the books have you written?
Chris:
I have written a few and have a couple more about to be released.
Not Ready for Marriage Not Ready for Sex
Holy Marriage, Happy Marriage
The Mystery of Joy
Why We Need the Holy Spirit
Wholly Mary
A Spirituality you can live with
Letter’s from Oz
Marriage and Ministry, How to have one without destroying the other.
That may be it. I love writing books but I hate editing them. Over the years my wife has been subjected to more sentence fragments and grammatical catastrophes than anyone should ever have to endure.
Gordon: Tell us about your blog.
Chris: I probably do less blogging than everyone else. I have a few out there on social media, but I mostly put up videos for people to be encouraged. I have been using Tik Tok to reach people with a positive message and that has been wonderful.
Gordon: What are the topics of some of you speaking engagements
Chris: Often when I am doing a mission I put a series of talks together for the parish under a theme. For example, I am in Burlington, Vermont area and the mission is called, The Gift. How to receive and become the gift you are meant to be.
I do presentations in the morning after Mass for the elderly which usually is a lexio format. With presentations I often come in and do a talk based on a particular theme that the conference is highlighting. My talks cover things like Healing in the Family, Mariology, Marian presentations are popular for me. My journey into the Church, No Place Like Rome. And with Men’s conferences I talk about the wounds so many fathers have and how it often is passed on to the next generation. How to navigate around the past and create a new dynamic for our marriage and family. I love doing presentations and feel this is where I can truly unpack what God is saying in and through me. We do tons of talks on the faith, prayer, growing in your spiritual ife, etc.
Gordon: You also a comedian. How can comedy bring closer to God?
Chris: I have often said, why would anyone want what you have if you don’t even look like you like what you’ve got. Basically, we often equate severity with holiness, but I think holiness is often expressed in joy. The authenticity of who we are as a human being is not hijacked the moment we want to take our faith serious. In fact, I would argue we are most authentic when we allow God to love us mess and all. When that happens there is joy and we want to spread this. I love to make people laugh. So many people have left the Church and felt like they weren’t good enough and didn’t belong. With my presentations I use humor to let them know God is okay with laughter and joy. He invented it.
Gordon: You are alls a musician. What instrument do you y play?
Chris: Well, I play many okay, and a few not well at all. I am passable on piano and guitar, did the brass instrument thing in high school and have been known to air drum with a professional intensity.
If someone wants to book you for a presentation, how can they contact you?
Chris:
chris@chrispadgett.com is the email
941-704-3394 is my cell
God bless you.
Gordon: Thank you