Hollywood Star Patricia Heaton Stays True to Her Values | Real Talk

everybody watched Everybody Loves Raymond today there's less and less of those shows that bring us all together right we absolutely shared that it was just like a wonderful thing that brought us together most had nothing to do with politics your path it is so different from what I noticed in Hollywood you're a lifelong Catholic how did your faith impact your career I went to the showrunner and I said I just need to tell you I'm pro-life one person said that was the bravest thing I've ever seen anybody do of all the issues that you feel

Christians should be thinking about the issue should be Israel our savior's biological family the Jewish people are being murdered we need to stand for them Patricia I'm so glad you're here so much to talk about from Hollywood to God to dealing with the god-sized whole in people's hearts right now um and all the work that you're doing so welcome welcome back to Prager you thank you so much for having me very excited to be here so I want to start with Hollywood because it's always been um a big puzzle for me and um just love

to hear just your experience there you I've always noticed that you are somewhat different uh in Hollywood uh I remember in my earlier years following you and you would say that your path into life has been God family then career and it is so different from from what I noticed in Hollywood where people say well if you want to make it in Hollywood the number one thing you need to focus on his first career because it's so hard to break in and then family and then maybe if you have time just to put it on

your checklist maybe you'll find some God in your life and you just did the the entire reverse so tell me just a little bit about that well I am Catholic I was raised in a a very devout Catholic Family um my mother was one of 15 children I have 100 first cousins on my mom's side because all 15 got married and had between five and 10 kids my grandmother was Catholic mother of the year for the United States she got a medal from the pope my mom went to mass every day she was a daily

communicant um my sister's a nun you know so you know we ate fish on Fridays everything rosaries everything so so my whole world has been thinking about God talking to God just living as St Paul says in him we live and breathe and have our being and so I remember just thinking like coming to when I first moved to New York or moved to Hollywood thinking there's a lot of people that have not been raised in anything how do they get through a day like I am constantly having conversations with God in my head so

so that's always just been there and within that I he created me as an actor uh out of the womb I was an extrovert I would March into sister delina's class at St rafield School in the second grade and say I have a song I would like to present for the class that I just made up on the playground and now I would like to sing it for the class and she would have me come up and sing or when we first got the Barbara strand album in our home the first one my name is

Barbara I memorized all the songs and then I said I'd like to sing a Barbara strand song so so I don't see any separation from my spirituality and my because I feel this is God just put that in me I didn't have a choice in it that's who I am that's how I was created so I pursued once I made the decision to be an actor there was no one in my family to Mentor me nobody in the in show business so it wasn't until the middle of my junior year at Ohio State that I

changed from journalism into theater um and so I had to kind of find my way and it is true you have to work really hard you have to be 100% focused and committed on doing that as far as marriage and kids go I've just raised in a generation where you just assumed that was going to happen I assumed I was going to be married and I assumed I was going to have children I met my husband in New York in the late 80s and then we moved to LA in the late 80s early 90s and

it never seemed to me that you had to put that on hold for a career um and I found out later when we did get married and had children that it actually improves the way you focus on your career because when you know you have a solid relationship at home and that no matter what happens to you in show business you have a person who's there for you so that actually gives you stability and comfort and then when you have children it breaks open a chamber of your heart that can only be open by children

and it gives you and this sounds self- serving but it gives you a another Well of emotions to dip into for your acting and you become more vulnerable because now pieces of your heart are walking around you outside of your body and so you're you're more vulnerable because you're responsible for them and that vulnerability is great for acting that you you have more fears and you have more joy and everything is deepened so that's a wonderful thing to bring to your work and as far as the business end of the industry sometimes actors so want

a job that they will not fight as hard as they should for their in their contract for what they want because they just really want the job and they love acting actors do a lot of stuff for free because they just love acting but now when you have kids you're fighting for your kids you're fighting for their education to pay for their education putting food on the table a roof over their heads so it made me fiercer as far as like what I need and it's not for me it's for my kids so I was

better at fighting for what I wanted so there there was this to me it was just kind of a natural way and when I talk to actors especially if I talk to Christian actors I say don't put off your life don't put off relationship it's first of all it's cheaper for two people to live together so just on a pragmatic thing and then to have that person that you can always you know lean into and comfort have comfort and fun with and then having children it just it uh inspires you to work harder and do

better so to me it was just a natural way of prioritizing life I relate to this so much as CEO because people ask me all the time well you know Marissa how do you run this company and have three kids under the age of 11 uh isn't your business suffering aren't your children suffering how are you able to do both and I say that I'm able to do both because I have both and the level of discernment that having a family gives you yes is such a gift that it saves you hours uh in in

work because you just you have a better Instinct it's like something gets honed in your mind when when you have a family and when you have children and when you have a person that you can go home to who can either balance you or you can balance ideas by uh or simply just be there as an anchor like you said to just say hey you know what you know maybe this deal is not that important just pass on and it will'll be fine cuz we're we're in this together yeah 100% it it it also you

don't have time to dither about a choice you just have to start making choices because you've got to be home by this certain time and get the kids you know fed and do their homework or read their story and put him to bed so so you just don't have you know choice isn't always the greatest thing sometimes it's best to be hemmed in by responsibility so that I got faster and better at everything I did I I've said this before in my show Comfort is an immobilizer right if you're too comfortable then you're not as

strategic that you're not as effective uh and you're not as strong as you need to be right how did your faith impact your career did you ever feel like being so bold about your Catholicism or your with God impacted the way people in Hollywood looked at you or treated you or welcomed you it you know it early on when I was just trying to get work it never came up and I have to say for the most part even though people look at Hollywood and think it is hostile to Middle America or to religious people

and maybe some of the messaging that comes out in the projects does come across that way I will say because I don't think they don't understand it but when you're just working it is so hard to get a show written to get it green lit to Get It produced to cast it to shoot it to get it picked up to get it picked up for eight to get it picked up for 20 episodes to get it picked up for another season that when you come to work all anybody is doing is just trying to do

their best for the most part you want you want to be that person that you know knows their lines hits their marks nice to the crew shows up on time works with the writers respects the writers and the producers and that gets you a long way so that if down the road someone found out I was a conservative or a Catholic or whatever it wouldn't matter to them because I'm great to work with right and so that's the most important thing and to me that's all that has ever happened on set I did have one

thing when it was Clinton running against Bush so this is like early 90s and everyone was very proc Clinton and I never said anything but people were starting to really make fun of oh a thousand points of light I think Bush said that about like people volunteering and blah and everybody's making fun of it and H A friend of mine had like a bush um pen and I said give me that give me that pen I'm just going to wear it into work and I put it on my my jacket but then I like put

my lapel over it bag over it my hair on top of it but somebody spotted it and we were sitting at this table read the director said is that a bush pin that you're wearing and I said yeah he goes we don't really have time but can you just tell us in like 60 seconds or less why you would vote for Bush I was like I don't know I'm a Catholic I'm pro life um and uh and then I kind of made up some other stuff that I just like pulling it out of my bum

cuz I didn't really know what I was talking about and um something about his lack of experience on the international stage I don't know and and so I said you know that that's it and but and and I didn't really want people to NE I didn't even want to express who I was voting for or anything like that but I thought that the they shouldn't assume everybody Fel felt the same way right you you just because I would never speak in a room of people that I didn't know that well and say anything disparaging about

any of these hot button topics because I don't know where people are coming from or what their experience is but that was that's never the case I feel like in Hollywood I think that's the one thing there's just an assumption that you know who you're going to vote for so so that you know that was interesting and what was really interesting is people up came up to me later who were you know more liberal whatever and they one person said that was the bravest thing I've ever seen anybody do like but Whispering it to me

somebody came down from the production office and said we don't agree with you but we absolutely stand with your right to say anything you want to say so that and somebody else came down and just said I heard about your button you know so I mean it was really funny and that was like my first experience of ever saying anything and that was way before things got before things got as heated yeah W but you know what the people on that show are all friends of mine I love them dearly um and it used to

be okay to have different points of view it was and it should we need to go back to that I I I have hope that we will go back to that because I think things have gotten extreme I'm more of a centr interest um and I think everybody is seeing the extremes that are happening on either side and nobody wants that some actors are complaining that you know because you don't write your own scripts you have to read the words of others and they're complaining that so much of you know the woke narrative is in

every script right now with Dei and all of that and so have you had this experience where you had to read words and and and say things that really strongly go against your values well you know early on I remember I was offered a show and I went to the showrunner and I said I just need to tell you I'm pro-life so I'm not going to do uh a pro-abortion thing unless it's balanced with a pro-life view like we could we can talk about both but I'm not going to do and she said we're not

going to do anything got abortion it's nothing's funny about abortion I'm like okay I just wanted you to know so and since then I've had these long running shows and God's been very kind to me putting me on shows that never veered into these areas and in fact so Everybody Loves Raymond was this family who was Catholic we did a thing about Deborah having a sister who's becoming a nun which was because my sister's a nun we had a thing about Ray's dad played by the late great Peter Bole asking Ry why he doesn't go

to mass we it was a huge episode it got such a great response and then on the middle that family went to church and it was just a part of their lives it wasn't emphasized it wasn't ignored it's just like there were would be episodes where we would be in church and we went and visited a black church in one episode and there was a character named Reverend timtom who was the youth pastor you know and and I remember the first time I read the script where Reverend timtom shows up I just felt this like

not in my stomach because I thought how are they going to represent this guy is it going to be a creep you know what's going to happen it's the most wonderful character played by the incredibly talented Paul hip who wrote All Reverend Tim Tom's songs and you know Paul himself is a very liberal guy was raised Catholic though and a dear friend of mine and he it was such a beautiful character and I said to Eileen Heisler and deian Helen are incredible showrunners I said you don't know what this means to Christians out there who

are going to be watching the show that a a character who's a pastor is going to be well represented is going to be a likable lovable character you have no idea how important this is when I started reading this script I was really nervous and by the end of it it was I had to call you and tell you that so the you know I have been very very fortunate that I haven't had to deal in these long running shows with anything that I would feel go against um anything I want to put out there

so It's tricky because um when you you know if the overall message of a project is antithetical to how you view the world then you have a big choice to make and that's really hard now there are characters within things who are going to be terrible people right and you need those you need to show that so that is easier to say yes to but if the overall program is antithetical then then there's an issue yeah you were lucky that you know I guess God gave you the right the right match so blessed how do

you go from having this you know massive career with everybody's Loves Raymond then you have nine more years with another show you just have this massive career in Hollywood in acting and you kind of like had a recent shift I know that you're still in the middle of a show right now which is why you're here in California and you're still doing it but it seems like it's not entirely your focus right and so how do you go from that First Act of your life to the second act of your life it's it's almost making

me think like you're 20 all over again yes right you're like what am I do I'm like okay yeah it's been very interesting because I had pretty solid work for 20 years and then we had the pandemic and then we had the writer strike and then the actor strike and in that time my kids are out of the house so I'm no longer an actress on a long running sitcom I'm also not full-time mom and these are the things that give you your identity that anchor you to this world that give you purpose and so

it's been very challenging to get up in the morning and say what am I supposed to do today and that's like when I talk to God I'm just like you need to tell me what I what you want me to do what you want me to do because I I'm bad at making choices and I'd rather just wait on you but I don't even I don't know how to actively wait I'm a doer yeah and so how do you actively wait on God I don't I would love all your viewers to write in and tell

me um I did like the first year of this read the Bible all the way through which was fantastic it was a challenge but it was fantastic um I also realized um I needed to quit drinking because an I'm from an Irish Catholic Family big drinkers in Ohio there a lot of drinking that goes on and I absolutely adore Bourbon and vodka and when you are in this place of discomfort of like I don't know who I am I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing it's very easy just like crack open prco at

lunchtime and all the that you know that anxiety just kind of vanishes you know um but then you also fall asleep at 3:00 in the afternoon and then your sleep at night is terrible and um and it just it can become a habit and it can become addictive and so I really saw that I was it wasn't that I was doing that much drinking but I was thinking about it a lot like o do I have a lunch today I can go to and you know one time I was open a bottle of wine to

cook dinner and by the by the end of the night I had drunk the whole bottle by myself over a few hours but still I was I'm a small person and I just thought this is not good uh and as I did some more research I found out that women in their 40s and 50s who had already been moderate drink always been moderate drinkers uh become alcoholics in like their 60s wow you don't realize what's happening to you and your body doesn't metabolize alcohol the same way after menopause and so you can start getting into

trouble and so very graciously uh after I asked him to do so God took it away from me and it's this month it's six years um yeah with not drinking I you talk about Vacuums in your life right and so that's what happens you have a god-sized hole in your heart something else fills it in you have suddenly uh an emptier calendar it gets filled in and if you're not conscious about it and you're not um really making sure that you're using your time and your mind and your spirit in the right way bad things

will fill it up right yes and I think you know sometimes people think oh everybody in California is very woo woo and they all do different therapies and meditations and stuff but it's been kind of great to be in a place where you're encouraged to look inward it can turn into a bad thing if you look inward too much like you need balance but you do need to take a look at things that are going on in your life be thoughtful and and understand that you're going to be going through phases and changes and so

you know I I've always had like you know I hope God in that vacuum in that god-shaped vacuum um and being an actor you're always thinking about a person's psychology an a character psychology so it's the way I think anyway and so when I I observe people and I read characters and I observe what the characters doing I also do that with myself I observe myself and see what's what I'm doing and my choices that I'm making the way I'm thinking and so I that's been helpful to me to be in this environment where exploring

this kind of stuff is encouraged so that's been really great for me I want to ask you a little bit about impact so one of the ways you've impacted me is by providing something that I call Cultural Literacy so growing up I would watch your shows and my friends would watch your shows and my friends would oftentimes be from other backgrounds right they didn't grow up in the same neighborhood that I grew up in and especially in college when we came together with kids from different backgrounds we had some Cultural Literacy everybody watched Everybody Loves

Raymond everybody watched certain shows whether it's Seinfield or or all the things that made us laugh today there's less and less of those shows that bring us all together so on the one hand it's really fun that we have all this abundance right and we can just you know stream anything at any point in time whenever we want but given that we are pushed in a direction of more multiculturalism more uh identity politics and now we don't even have entertainment as something that brings us all together because there is so much out there there is

there's this vacuum that has been created for us to connect As Americans and I'm curious given that you had that responsibility I don't know if you realize that when you were in Hollywood but that's what you all did for us you brought us together under this umbrella of entertainment that seems to be less and less of a Cultural Literacy see less and less of something that brings us together and more of something that's you almost dividing us yeah you know I I tell my kids all the time you guys you missed the 70s there's so

much stuff you missed you know when we had no choice but three channels or whatever it was and actually when I've looked back on some of that stuff I'm like oh they didn't miss that much but but Jerry Seinfeld just spoke about this on an interview where he said we used to have like cheers and Raymond and Seinfeld and Friends and you know these different shows and then ER the dramas that we all watched Hill Street Blues that's going way that's going way way too far back but um La law maybe that was 80s and

everybody watched them and so it was just network television and we all talked about and you're right we absolutely shared that it was just like a wonderful thing that brought us together most had nothing to do with politics um and as you said there's some great things we get to see uh incredible shows from all over the world so it does expand you I'm very big fan of Korean television I watch a lot of Korean particularly Korean zombie stuff if you have not seen train toan Fant zombies on a speeding train it's fantastic um we

need to do a separate podcast about zombies okay I'm just saying I'm have to study up on I have four son I four Sons so that's there you go I but I think I would have been watching Zombies where they head boys or not I did watch that violent Korean show what is that one called um squid games I did watch squid games which was was amazing I thought it was brilliant and it it was quite violent I I don't have a it depends on the violence but like walking dead was just incredible and and

most mostly they were killing zombies so it's not like they were killing human beings and the way they found to kill zombies season after season they were so creative it's amazing can the Koreans just unite America all just come together Cultural Literacy around Korean well I mean the the other great thing about having kids is it kind of keeps me in touch with what's happening musically and what shows they're watching and what they like but you know listen they will watch Wheel of Fortune and jeopardy with us and try to guess the you know so

there is some connection but I think with every new development in society culturally there's pluses and minuses and we just have to kind of work together um to you know to figure it out I I do think that Network television is maybe going to come back in a stronger way um things in our industry are very cyclical and two years ago we were being told nobody wants a multicam nobody wants a multicam it's a dead genre now we're hearing we need multic cams because that's the kind of show that unites people and it's much cheaper

than a single camera so and money is tight for everybody right now including in Hollywood so people are really coming back to that so it's all cyclical and I think things will come back again and we'll we'll find a way forward why is there less stuff coming out of Hollywood right now there just these constant uh I guess strikes the strike the writer strike the actor strike we're waiting for the teamsters to sign their contract uh and so a lot of studios are afraid to put anything into production until we know the teamsters have signed

their contract because we can't do anything without the teamers so there there's been a bit of a pause and the phrase that people in Hollywood are saying is stay alive till 25 so in order like just try to stay afloat if you're not working now and so many people are out of work I know in across the country people are struggling it's a huge struggle in Hollywood people that have worked non-stop for 20 years are saying I have not worked in six months and there's writers hair and makeup people producers uh producer uh that I

know just said I've been doing this for 30 years I've never seen it as bad bad as it is right now which is odd because with streaming there's so much more content and we all thought oh we're all going to work forever now because there's so much content and it's somehow contracted so I don't know we'll see do you think it has been helpful to the competitors uh of Hollywood like you know I know you moved to Nashville you're doing some work there are we seeing some more of these smaller entertainment companies growing out of

I guess this situation yes I mean there's a lot one of the reasons we decided to leave La is because nothing was being shot there that we were involved with and also all meetings were on zoom and even TV appearances were on Zoom so we didn't really need to be there and pay the high taxes and all all that comes with Los Angeles so um so that's kind of why we moved um and I think there's a lot of uh really talented people leaving La and going to places like Nashville in Atlanta they're in Florida

they're in Texas and they're producing their own stuff and what we found in Nashville which is really exciting is there's these funds that are coming together to produce stuff specifically for Middle America going back to some just the old straightforward entertainment which I'm really excited about I tell you one thing I'm very thrilled about is that CBS is rebooting Matlock with Kathy Bates in the lead um and I had the the honor of meeting her she's just a wonderful human being and I was so excited because Matlock is just one of those shows it's comfort

food you know it's like macaroni and cheese but they've got a woman in the lead and um she told me that it's it's much deeper than just a regular procedural and there's some really cool backstories that they're exploring Kathy's about my age maybe a few years older and so it was so encouraging for me to see a woman as as talented as her who often when you get to a certain age you're just put on the Shelf to be doing this new show and I think it's going to be huge do you think the faith-based

uh media that's coming out now and there's a lot of movies around there the angel Studios and daily wire and and many other companies seem to be tapping into the fact that there is a growing movement around uh I think it's especially in America where people are are going back to Faith they they may not find that Cultural Literacy education they may not find that cultural Connection in Hollywood but they seem to be finding that cultural or or I guess connection community in the church and you know my hypothesis is that given that there is

a whole bunch of nothingness everywhere else right at least the the the Silver Lining is that they're they're turning back to God and so I'm curious if there's going to be more cergy between that and and media well I hope so I feel that for a long time uh the faith-based content was kind of in this Christian ghetto yeah and it wasn't particularly sophisticated cringe yeah it was very cringe thanks I didn't want to say that but now there's two of us it's real talk that's right and you know so my husband and I David

Hunt who we produce and direct together he directs I produce um you know just we never got involved in any of it because it just didn't seem quality let me give you an example way back in the is it 58 there my favorite movie on the waterfront with Marlon Brando even Marie Saint Carl Malden and he play have you if you haven't seen it you must watch it and it's about the corrupt um mob running the docks in New York I think it was and um and it's a story of this guy's Redemption who was

Marlon Brando always on the take and he decides to testify against the mob and he loses his brother and all the stuff and there's a incredible speech by Carl Malden who plays a priest and he talks about Jesus is here on the dock he sees everything that's happening to you and that you need to fight and that I mean it's it's an incredible movie written by a Jewish man directed by a Jewish man okay so and you know one numerous Academy Awards it's beautifully directed acted the music is incredible and it's not a faith-based movie

so the and in the 70s if you saw like the movie Jesus Revolution yes there was the Jesus there was the hippie movement and within the hippie movement there were Jesus Freaks and there were songs that everybody did that were not necessarily religious songs but they talked about Jes Jesus is just all right with me that was dubie Brothers spirit in the sky that was that guy's like one hit wonder I can't remember his name um Let It Be by the Beatles there was no separation everybody listened to this so so now I think that

the entertainment industry outside of Hollywood and some studios they're seeing there's ways to make content that would be sort of God infused or values infused I think the industry is moving away from saying faith-based to values based so that it opens up to a wider audience that people don't feel like they're being preached at and I think that is all going to be coming um outside of Hollywood but with some studios leaning that direction they see um there's a thirst for it in the movieo population and just also for for fun stuff like the movie

Twister that's out right now like all my kids are going to see Twister because it's a big fun summer movie right like Mission Impossible was like Top Gun you know we need more of that and I think people are leaning into that too but I think the faith-based community is getting smarter and that's I really welcome that because we would like to be able to produce stuff our stuff was always it's like too too God infused for Hollywood but not God infused enough for the Christian producers like you'd have to have a pastor and it

somebody had to give their life to Christ you know it was just like this textbook kind of formula that you had to follow which is most people's lives are not like that yeah everything's more complicated can we get into some of the hard stuff yeah I want to talk to you about anti-Semitism yeah so you're a lifelong Catholic yeah you understand the church better than me mhm probably better than most given how committed you are to it I am noticing a a growing Vibe of anti-Semitism in the church um I don't know it's if it's

from physically the actual Church uh the actual churches or is it online is that something that you're noticing as well is there a growing strand of anti-Semitism in in American churches as far as the Catholic Church goes I think there's a slice of people I don't I I don't know how to label them but they are definitely they're more traditional I wouldn't say it's the Trad movement I I can't blanket them with anti-Semitism but people with on the more right of the if the church is a spectrum of liberal and conservative the most conservative for

some reason and I don't know how they support it scripturally um seem to be it's not anti-Semitism in the way you get from Hamas where it's like kill the Jews it's not that but it's like a replacement Theory and it's not only in Catholic Church there's uh Reformed Presbyterian uh evangelicals are mostly very pro-israel um and I've had a lot of Jewish friends come up to me and say do the Christians really believe that that they're waiting for all the Jews to move to Israel so that Jesus will come back and I said there are

some people that believe that that's good news for you yeah may they the until the Messiah comes yes they have to preserve Israel which is what you want so um you know so I get that question but there is this weird and it's a fringe I feel that this is fringe but I think the church really needs to speak out against it and I would have to see if the pope has said something specifically I know he condemned October 7th um what I have more of a problem with and what caused me to to create

this organization October 7th Coalition or 07c is that I didn't see any churches after October 7th speaking out about what had just happened you would get a generic from the pulpit pray for the Middle East I'm like no no pray for the Jewish people who have just been slaughtered by this Evil islamism extreme islamism it is bad and they are taught to hate Jews to kill Jews to clear the planet of Jews we need to stand up to that I was not seeing that and so why why do you think why do we do you

think you're not seeing more of those righteous Gentiles I guess that you would say I would say a couple of things some people mistake nness for Christianity Christianity is about being nice it's not and I think what happens is well if we say we support Israel what about the Palestinians who are being harmed and yes we have to pray for the Palestinians who are being harmed because they voted in leaders who went and told their their army to slaughter innocent Jews that's why they're being harmed so we have to speak against that uh it is

not Israel's fault Hamas started a war Israel's defending Israel and Israelis and Jews and so Hamas has to deal with what they started and we have to be very strong about that um and when I saw the amount of um anti-Semitism on campuses it just everything became clear of like this is a real problem maybe we could say back in World War II we didn't really know that's why we didn't say anything we can't say that now we see what's happening we see the propaganda in these young minds of people who who want to be

a part of something important who want to do good in the world and they've been bamboozled by these really left-wing anti-jewish professors and they've been funded by anti-jewish countries like Iran and China and cutar and so we were sitting back living Our Lives minding our own business knowing that anti-Semitism was around but it was controllable and in that time while the normies were having their lives these Psychopaths have been plotting on how to kill Jews and then Christians after that and how to take down western civilization and democracy and how to install Sharia law that's

what's been happening and so we you know unfortunately because we're normal and nice we thought everything was okay well now we know it's not and now we have to do something about it I just it's kind of like it was a gut punch to me and it's like scales fell from my eyes and I thought this country is coming apart because there are people who who are standing up for Hamas and Hezbollah and the huis queers for Palestine how is that possible how is it possible when all these people who are standing up for this

stuff would be killed the minute they set foot in any of these places if they didn't uh become Muslims it's it's unfathomable to me and I don't know exactly what we should do about it but I'm doing whatever I can using my platform to tell Christians as we say at 07c to be visibly and Vo loc Al supportive of the Jewish people of Israel's right to exist and to fight anti-Semitism and we really have to focus on campus and we have to get out of our silos of here's this church here and here's this Temple

here uh and we have to bring people together we have to start talking to each other supporting each other and we have to let go of any political differences that we have so I'm sure a lot of liberal Jewish people don't want to hear this but a lot of people who support Israel are Trump voters got to get over it we got to be together on this any differences we have on immigration the economy abortion um whatever back burner this is the most important thing now is making sure our country is safe and secure and

that we we can defend Western democracy and our shared values Patricia why is this such an important issue to you I feel like you're probably confronted with questions like this America has many other problems we have an open border we have all kinds of issues but you are taking on this issue of Israel a country on the other side of the world in the Middle East like really like of all the issues that you feel like Christians should be thinking about the issue should be Israel um you know I was brought up learning a lot

about World War II and hearing about the people who stood up the lone voices Dietrich Bon hoofer and um Cory ten Boom people who tried to help where they were planted and I posted after October 7th on Instagram a video that said did you ever have the thought if you were a German during World War II that you would be that good German that would hide your Jewish neighbors well today you have that opportunity and I listed a bunch of places you could donate to to help Israel and I said if you can't afford to

do this call or text any Jewish friend you know and just ask them how they're doing reach out because I had started reaching out to Jewish friends and I had been the found out I was the only one that reached out to them and I had said how are you doing and you know they were really really upset and freaked out and I talked to my friend Elizabeth Doros who's my founding partner of October 7th Coalition and I said shouldn't the church be doing something here like we got to do something and she's like an

Energizer Bunny and an incredible machine of a person who gets stuff done and she started pulling pastors together said let's let's do a lunch and talk to pastors and find out why I know they're good people let's find out why they're not saying anything and you know you started getting interesting different answers and I have kind of evolved to like tell me tell me about why you're not saying anything or whatever to like you need to get up and say something like that so I I the Gent my gentle approach I'm starting to let go

of a little bit um because when you see what people through the history of the church sacrificed for their beliefs they've sacrificed their lives for the church and I feel that this is one of those things Christ biological family is being murdered our savior's biological family the Jewish people are being murdered we need to stand for them we are grafted into Israel by the graciousness of God so we need to stand for them and I believe every Christian in particular pastors are going to be held accountable now I understand you've got a church we've had

shootings at churches we've had shootings at temples fatalities lots of violence I get they feel like this is my flock that I am in charge of I need to make sure I'm protecting them but I think there are things that you can do in your church to make sure your congregation understands what's at stake here and and we have gotten a lot of pastors to come together with Jewish leaders um that's part of our Focus we had a breakfast of 80 Pastors in Nashville and we had jewi people speak we um we hosted the Hamas

body cam footage that the Israeli government put together in Nashville we had 120 Christian leaders come to see that um we had about 500 people here in Los Angeles come to a Unity event at belir church with Pastor Drew Sams who is kind enough to let us host it which you know brought Rabbi Abe Cooper and we had IDF soldiers we had two survivors from Nova and from the kibo speak so we're we go from City to City helping people create events meeting each other get to know each other find ways to educate each other

and make sure they understand the importance of supporting Israel and that how much Jews and Christians need to put their differences aside and come together you're involved in one of the most important movements of our time I'm curious has anything surprised you throughout this experience now that you've been doing this for a few months um I didn't know there was so much differentiation within Christian churches Christian and Catholic I obviously there's so many denominations but then the theologies within that which I'm being educated on and then how different Jewish Americans are from Israeli Jews and

then within Jewish Americans the they're just just as divided as Christians are yeah two Jews three opinions maybe seven opinions right you know Reformed Church and Orthodox and modern Orthodox and Ultra Orthodox and kabad which is a whole other thing which I've fallen in love with actually um so and we're always having to sort of navigate these mind fields which has been very interesting and challenging and it it requires us to really just lean on God's wisdom and not our own and and that kind of guidance because we feel like he has compelled us to

be in this space and so you know there's a great um quote that what St Paul was writing to the Corinthians and he said pull put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you do everything you can to stand and when you've done everything just stand and Elizabeth and I say to each other every day okay how are we standing today like just today what are we doing and and that's you don't have to create a movement anybody listening to this doesn't have to create a movement how can

you stand today what can you do can you contribute to a synagogue can you learn more about Israel's history so that when you talk to people about it and maybe this is the most important thing educate yourself about the history of Israel so that when you talk to people who have bought into the propaganda they may not listen to you but at least you'll have answers and that you discuss it in a calm way now a lot of those people people won't even discuss anything they've become automatons who are have been told to just put

your little scarf on put your hide your face and don't say anything this is seems to be their their method and so you can't really talk to those people but you can try and you can know for yourself the truth and that's the most important thing yeah the miseducation is real I mean we had to rush to produce a seven-part series on the history of the wars against Israel because every single one of them has been launched against Israel the one Jewish state in the entire world um but it it is it seems like it's

difficult for people to find ways to get educated on the matter because you know there is so much uh I guess so many lies and it's so hard to counter that or it's so hard to sift through The Narrative of of the lies about the issue I just find it so astonishing that you're you're you know you and and and your team October 7th Coalition are so dedicated to this I mean I feel like every time we talk while you still have your career going on you still have the show going on it's like your

heart is full with this Mission it is so incredible right I'm like everybody is pulling at you and everybody wants you and you're like I am on a mission and I'm serving him and I know what I'm doing yes well when I saw the body cam footage because when October 7th happened they Hamas Fighters were putting the that online you could see it everywhere yeah and I was shocked and I was looking around thinking am am I the only one seeing this like why isn't everyone in the street why isn't every church just pouring out

on Sunday after service and saying we have to do something it was astonishing because they don't intend this just for Israel they intend this for the world and they teach their children nursery rhymes about killing Jews they throw gay people off the top of buildings they marry 12 year olds to 60-year-old men this is terrible we need to do something and for some reason God allowed this particular area to really activate me in a way that I uh surprised even me um you know Elizabeth and I we we don't get paid we don't make any

money we spend our own money we are financing it because we have you know we've gotten a little contributions here and there and we appreciate everyone everybody who's contributed um but you know it and so it's hard work and we're we're running around doing all this stuff our our families are paying a price of us not being around to do it our husbands in particular and um so but it it's just something we feel very compelled to do and the response to us has been huge so we feel that we're needed out there and um

so I don't know we just we just try to get up every day Elizabeth and I are very well matched because we push back on each other um about are we going to do this we going to do that where are we going to get the money for this and the the good thing about the two of us kind of just being the whole show is that we don't have a board we have to get approval from it's just like hey somebody called me should we go do this well let me look at my schedule

yeah I can do that okay let's go so you know that makes things simple and I think also having the platform I have has has been a blessing um and I I I often think that you know God gave me the career he did not so much so so that I could get Awards and have you know enjoy myself but for such a time as this to use it so amazing can you share with me some of the feedback that you've received the positive feedback oh it's it's been brilliant I mean the the people are

so thankful which shocks me I don't think anything that Elizabeth and I are doing is special this is where H any human being should be doing this we're seeing people getting slaughtered everyone it's not special if I you know if I decided to become a bomber pilot and join the IDF that would be yeah that's wow thank you but just to say you shouldn't be beheading babies is not a controversial thing you shouldn't be going into a person's home home and burning the family alive is not a controversial opinion or Viewpoint if it is then

we are living in really the end times right so I I mean I am so thankful that God's put me in a position to be able to do this but I don't think it's special my goodness if this is special we're really in trouble we're really in trouble how can people support what you're doing if you go to October the number7 coalition.com you can sign up and if you want to make a contribution you can do that but we're doing you know different um events in different cities and you'll always be able to find out

there and we will alert you to the different um opportunities we have for you to participate and also give you ideas on what you can do in your own Community um so and I'm involved in a number of things we have a wonderful Women's Conference coming up in Israel in the beginning of November um and you can go to 07c October 7 coalition.com to find out and I it's for Jewish and Christian women it's the first time we're bringing women together in this way it's called Deborah rising and if you go to October 7 coalition.com

you can you can see it uh I'm not sure if it's completely up yet um but it will be there shortly and uh we'd love we'd love for everybody to join us I have never been to Israel people really no that's people keep saying you're Catholic you've never been to Israel what are you doing here I'm like I have no idea like God calls who he calls right and so um so we're I'm very excited to go um I think it will be life-changing and to go with in with incredibly wonderful intelligent powerful women you

know anybody that goes on that trip is going to be a special person yeah so I'm excited about it if people want to bring your project into their churches because I know that many of our viewers go to church run their own churches is that something that you can help facilitate through the website yes because you can sign up and then there's a pastor sign up and but even if you're not a pastor you know it'll give you information of telling you can tell your pastor about us and we can help help either I'll come

and speak and we'll set it up for you or if I can't be there because I can't be in every place at once um we'll we'll figure out a way and help you kind of connect within your community amazing well bless you bless you for every everything you do we appreciate you so much thanks I thank you for giving me this time