The UnCommon Good with Bo Bonner and Dr. Bud Marr

Your Life Is Not About You: Service, Suffering & Faith with Joe Stopulos - 06/20/2026

Episode Summary

Dr. Bud Marr flies solo this summer for a Father's Day Iowa Catholic Radio mashup with Joe Stopulos, longtime host of the Man Up show, who reflects on the recent death of his father and what truly makes a life well lived. Together they explore Catholic social teaching on the end of life, the witness of service over selfishness, and the call to live every day in light of eternity. From memento mori and the joy of the gospel to fatherhood, health span, and dying well, this conversation offers practical wisdom for husbands, fathers, and anyone seeking a more intentional, faith-filled life.

Episode Notes

In this Father's Day episode, Dr. Bud Marr hosts solo while co-host Bo Bonner travels through Europe, welcoming back an Uncommon Good "all-star": Joe Stopulos, host of the Man Up show on Iowa Catholic Radio. Both shows launched in 2016, and this episode marks an Iowa Catholic Radio mashup centered on one question — what does it mean to live a life well lived in light of eternity?

The conversation grows out of Joe's recent loss of his father, who died after a fourteen-week battle with aggressive cancer. Joe shares the beauty found within that suffering: a death surrounded by family, the reception of communion and the sacrament of anointing, and a final afternoon of praying the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at his father's bedside. The discussion turns to the Church's teaching that we should never hasten death, and how that teaching preserved precious conversations, graces, and "teachable moments" that would otherwise have been lost.

Highlights and themes include:

• The witness of service over selfishness — drawing on Joe's father, bookstore owner Lois Brookhart, Father Aquinas, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati as everyday and saintly models
• Bishop Robert Barron's challenge that "your life is not about you"
• Memento mori and Ben Sasse's reflections on facing mortality
• Living the joy of the gospel without needing to be a scholar or apologist — the "little way" of St. Thérèse and the humble witness of Blessed Solanus Casey and St. John Henry Newman
• Balancing vocation, career, and intentional time with children
• Health span and stewardship of the body — referencing Peter Attia's Outlive — as a way to keep serving others well into old age
• Tim Carney's Family Unfriendly and resisting the "Instagram" sheen of family life

The Uncommon Good is a production of Iowa Catholic Radio, exploring Catholic social teaching for everyday life. Thank you to Imogene Ingredients for helping to underwrite the show — learn more at imogeneingredients.com.

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