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News / Updates:
Upcoming Hike: Mark your calendars for a mens weekend retreat/hike for Catholic business owners on October 9th and 10th in Chattanooga (paid event). Pls DM me if interested. More details to follow.
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In Today’s Issue:
Intro to the Guest and Topic
Core Takeaway
Episode References
Select Quotes
Key Moments
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Today’s Show:
Jeff Cassman | Catholic Men of America
A few months ago, I had the privilege of sitting down with Jeff Cassman on the Catholic Men of America podcast. Jeff runs the largest men-only Catholic network in the country, helping thousands of guys with professional development and networking.
We bumping into each other at the Build with Christ event in Atlanta and decided to set up a recording shortly after.
He asked about my origin story covering how I grew up making cabinets in the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin and ended up as a recruiter in the renewable energy space working in NYC. Then he asked about taking the leap to launch my firm Roosevelt Talent (formerly called ErthSearch).
And, my favorite topic, what we are doing at Catholic Founders.
Don’t Waste Your Parish’s Money
A mismanaged budget is a headache in business. In the Church, it’s a tragedy. Every dollar wasted on a poorly run construction project is a dollar taken from the mission.
When your parish or diocese is building something, goodwill isn’t enough. You need professional, unyielding stewardship.
Our Father Constructors and Associates acts as your expert owner’s representative. They support projects from $1M to $45M. Cristian and his team manage the architects, protect the capital, and find the money you didn’t know you were losing. They ensure what you build today serves the Church for generations.
Run your parish’s next project like a pro.
👉 Visit ourfather.us or email cristian@ourfather.us today.
Core Lesson:
Entrepreneurship serves as a divine calling to step into our nature as co-creators with God and actively build a more faithful culture.
When you look at the landscape of entrepreneurship today, the mainstream focus is hustle culture. Get rich. Live a flashy life. Or, when you step up a level, to a more ‘sophisticated’ outlook, it’s all about cutting costs, running high margin businesses, doing all the growth hacks etc.
At the end of the day, these depictions, prioritize money over people.
Well, as you know by now, that’s not my view.
Entrepreneurship is an act of co-creation, and is therefore something divine. It can be bastardized. But in it’s purest form, it’s a divine thing.
When we realize this, and lean into it as true, it leads us to a much deeper, richer, understanding of what we are called to do with the skills and energy we have. We have a role to play in making the culture around us a Catholic one.
God Bless & Happy Building!
~Silas Mähner
Hire Catholic Talent Overseas
In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.
Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.
So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).
With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.
How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.
To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.
Key Episode References:
Famous Persons & Entrepreneurs
Organizations, Companies & Platforms
Select Quotes:
“I really do believe that quality is is paramount in in this industry.” - Silas Mähner
“If you believe you are called to be an instrument of God’s will in the world, you belong in the community.”- Silas Mähner
“The infrastructure of Catholicism in America was not built by people who lacked ambition.” - Silas Mähner
“Ambition has nothing to do with with greed. It only has to do with greed if you if you pursue it that way.” - Silas Mähner
“We have an opportunity because nobody else has morality around recognizing that each human has infinite dignity and they deserve to be respected and told the truth.” - Silas Mähner
“Entrepreneurship is about leaning into what it means to be a co-creator with God.” - Silas Mähner
“There’s so much time we spend building alone, doing things on our own because we just don’t know where to go.” - Silas Mähner
“Your soul, everyone’s soul, was created by God specifically at this time in history to your particular parents and your geography.” - Silas Mähner
“We’re not given entrepreneurial skills for our own benefit, we’re given them to advance God’s kingdom here on earth.” - Silas Mähner
Key Moments: (outline)
(00:00) Intro: Silas introduces his guest appearance on the Catholic Men of America podcast.
(02:04) Origin Story: Growing up in Wisconsin, working in a cabinet shop, and moving to New York City.
(04:14) Launching Earth Search: Taking the leap to start a cleantech recruiting firm focused on genuine human relationships.
(14:05) The Future of Cleantech: How efficiency and sustainability are transforming manufacturing across all sectors.
(18:38) Catholic Founders Mission”: Transforming America through Catholic entrepreneurship and deep community influence.
(24:13) Permission to Build: Overcoming the stigma of ambition and reclaiming the drive to build wealth for good.
(32:52) AI and Human Dignity: Why the rise of artificial intelligence creates a massive opportunity for human-centric businesses.
(41:52) Who Belongs in the Guild: Identifying the faithful builders called to join the Catholic Founders community.
(45:31) The Great Adventure: Discovering your unique secondary vocation and answering God’s specific call to action.
(48:33) - Outro: The four pillars of the Catholic Founders Guild and final parting thoughts.
