Father Wade L.J. Menezes, CPM is a member of the Fathers of Mercy, a missionary preaching Religious Congregation based in Auburn, Kentucky. Ordained a priest during the Great Jubilee Year 2000, he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Catholic Thought from the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Toronto, Canada and his dual Master of Arts and Master of Divinity Degrees in Theology from Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut. His secular college degrees are in journalism and communications.

Fr. Wade has served as the Assistant General and as the Director of Vocations and Director of Seminarians for the Fathers of Mercy. Fr. Wade has also served as the Chaplain-in-Residence at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama. While at the Shrine, Fr. Wade was a daily Mass celebrant, homilist and confessor; he also gave spiritual conferences on specialized points of Catholic Christian doctrine to the many pilgrims who visit the Shrine. Both the Monastery and Shrine are affiliated with EWTN, the Eternal Word Television Network.

Fr. Wade has been a contributing writer for the National Catholic Register, Our Sunday Visitor, Catholic Twin Circle, Catholic Faith and Family, The Wanderer, Pastoral Life, The Catholic Faith, Lay Witness, Legatus, and Christian Ranchman publications. Several homiletic series of his have appeared in Homiletic and Pastoral Review, an international journal for Priests. Fr. Wade has also been a guest on various episodes of EWTN’s “Mother Angelica Live” and “Life on the Rock” programs during which he discussed such topics as the sanctification of marriage and family life, vocations, and the Sacred Liturgy. He has also hosted several televised series for EWTN, which have covered such topics as the necessity of the spiritual life, the Four Last Things, the Ten Commandments of Catholic Family Life and the Gospel of Life vs. the Culture of Death. He is also host of the EWTN interstitial series “The Crux of the Matter” and “The Wonders of His Mercy”, and In Defense of the Eucharist. His many theological and doctrinal presentations have been featured on EWTN Global Catholic Radio, Ave Maria Radio, Guadalupe Radio Network, Covenant Network Radio, Catholic Broadcasting Northwest and Voice of Virtue International. He is the author of two books: The Four Last Things: A Catechetical Guide to Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell and Overcoming the Evil Within: The Reality of Sin and the Transforming Power of God’s Grace and Mercy. Fr. Wade is also the host of EWTN Global Catholic Radio’s “Open Line Tuesday.”

The Lord has placed inside each of us a yearning for action, a restlessness for adventure, and a desire to be heroic… and He is calling you to make sacrifices, to lead others, and to speak the Truth – whatever your gifts, your position at work, or your status in life.

To light the way... we can look to the examples of people like Jose Sanchez del Rio, Akash Bashir, St Paul, Queen Esther, Mark Ji Tianxiang, John Paul II, and others.

Steve Lee gave this talk to a gathering of Catholic men in October 2024.