Forge the Man

Fairest Love Family Project
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Welcome to Forge the Man, a Fairest Love Podcast hosted by US Military Veteran and Retired Firefighter Paul Ybarra. This Podcast is dedicated to calling young men to greatness in their work, character, and relationships. Guided under the mantle of Mary, Mother of Fairest Love, and the heroic spirituality of St. Josemaría Escrivá, our intention is to build men for professional mastery and the noble vocation of marriage or becoming a father of souls.

  1. hace 4 días

    A Life of Joy Anchored in God with Anthony Giuntini

    Have you ever had your whole life planned out — college, the girl, the wedding, the kids, right on schedule — and then felt God quietly rearrange the timeline on you? That's exactly where our guest this week found himself. Anthony Giuntini is an electrical engineer who spends his weekdays designing power and lighting systems for buildings. Underneath the engineer's logic is a guy who once had a literal countdown to marriage running through his head at thirteen years old, and found himself, instead, called to something he never saw coming, a vocation to give his life to God as a Numerary in Opus Dei. This is an honest conversation in a way discernment stories don't always get to be. Anthony walks us through the disorienting season when he moved cities away from his friends, the mentor who helped guide him, and a breakthrough moment in Rome that reframed everything for his very analytical mind. Along the way, there's a story about a dying man's final prayer that you'll want to hear Anthony tell it himself. Whether you're married, discerning, or just trying to figure out what God is asking of you right now, we think you'll find something here worth sitting with.

  2. 25 ago

    From a Failed Bar Exam to Lieutenant Colonel - Resilience with Lt. Col. Joe Groff

    Lieutenant Colonel Joe Groff has spent nearly 14 years in the United States Air Force as a JAG officer — an attorney handling criminal prosecution and defense within the military justice system. In this episode of Forge The Man, Joe walks Paul through his path from UCLA history major and Bush campaign field director to law school, failing the notoriously difficult California bar exam twice before finally passing, and commissioning into the Air Force in 2012. Joe gets candid about what actually separates officers who thrive from those who struggle (hint: preparation), and the real trade-offs of raising five kids across five moves in six years. The conversation closes on a reflective note about identity, public service, and the deep, lifelong friendships forged in the "crucible" of military life — including a friend who converted to Catholicism while deployed to Afghanistan.

  3. 18 ago

    The Captain of the Ship: Life as a Film Director with Roberto Girault

    Roberto "Bobby" Girault is an award-winning Mexican filmmaker best known for his breakout 2009 film El Estudiante, which won six Silver Goddess Awards including Best Director and Best Picture. In this episode of Forge The Man, Bobby talks with Paul about his winding path from law school to Vancouver Film School, the tension of choosing a "romantic" creative calling over the business path his family expected, and what he learned watching his father face both huge success and real failure without ever staying down. The conversation moves into the craft and leadership side of directing — confidence, fatherhood-style leadership, and knowing when to draw a hard line of authority on set — before landing on Bobby's deeper "why": using film to remind audiences of their God-given dignity. Paul and Bobby also get honest about the boundaries of storytelling, how far is too far when depicting violence or intimacy on screen, and close with a genuinely funny behind-the-scenes story from the set of El Estudiante.

  4. 11 ago

    Fitness Isn't the Problem — Your Priorities Are: In The Forge with Paul Ybarra

    In this solo reflection, Paul Ybarra digs into a 2018 Vatican document, Giving the Best of Yourself, from the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, which explores the role of sports in the Christian life — largely drawing on the "theology of the body" and personal example of Pope St. John Paul II, famously known as the "athlete pope." Paul makes the case that sports and physical fitness are genuine gifts from God, capable of building virtue, humility, and team-oriented character — but warns that, left unchecked, the same good desire for strength and health can quietly crowd out prayer, family, and the interior life. Drawing on a story about Magic Johnson learning the joy of assisting his teammates, a conversation with a young man preparing for the fire department, and John Paul II's own words to athletes, Paul lays out a simple but challenging question for every man who loves sports: are you training your body while letting your soul go dry? Share this episode with a friend who might be chasing fitness (or any good thing) a little harder than his prayer life right now. Subscribe to Forge The Man for more reflections on faith, virtue, and living with the right priorities as a Catholic man.

  5. 5 ago

    Roll Up Your Sleeves: the Fight to Work for the Right Reasons with Regional COO Joel Ojeda

    Joel Ojeda is the Chief Operating Officer for the West region of an infrastructure consulting company, where he's helped scale the organization from roughly 1,000 to 6,500 employees. In this episode of Forge The Man, Joel — a USC engineering grad and Yale MBA — gets refreshingly practical about what it actually takes to lead well and grow a career: how he protects his focus from constant digital noise, what he looks for when hiring (and firing), how he handles team conflict, and why owning your mistakes builds more trust than trying to look perfect. The conversation also goes deeper into Joel's own struggle with overwork and perfectionism, his decision (with his wife) to become a single-income family, and how he's learned to turn a hard day's work into prayer instead of a search for recognition. It's a grounded, tactical episode for any young man trying to build a career without losing himself — or his family — in the process.

  6. 28 jul

    "It's Not Expensive" — Father of Eight Carlo Boton Debunks the Big Family Myth

    Carlo Boton is a Certified Financial Planner in Southern California whose team manages roughly $200 million in client wealth — and he's also a father of eight, married to his wife Joy for 21 years. In this episode of Forge The Man, Carlo shares the whirlwind story of proposing to Joy after just ten days of courtship, why he believes raising a large family is far less expensive than most young couples assume, and the daily rhythm that keeps a household of ten running. He also gets candid about parenting through conflict — how he and Joy resolve sibling disputes "court of law" style, how Joy's tenderness balances his own more demanding style of love, and why he believes the real beneficiary of a hard parenting season isn't the child, but the parent being refined. It's a grounded, practical conversation about marriage, money, and fatherhood from a man living all three at full capacity. Subscribe to Forge The Man for more real conversations on marriage, fatherhood, and building a life of purpose as a Catholic man. Share this episode with a friend who's on the fence about starting — or growing — a family. Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: KG6Q7T0Y3MODLYQV

  7. 21 jul

    Winning the "Spiritual Lottery" of Apostolic Celibacy with James Herrick

    Most Catholic men have heard of two vocations: marriage or the priesthood. In this episode of Forge The Man, Paul talks with James Herrick — a civil engineer, poet, and mentor living in the Bay Area — about a third path many have never considered: the celibate vocation of a numerary in Opus Dei. James walks through his own discernment story from third grade all the way through his decisive commitment in 2010, including the mentors, retreats, and quiet nudges that shaped his path. The conversation moves into the practical side of discernment — building a real prayer life, finding a spiritual director, and learning to hear God's voice in the ordinary noise of daily life — and closes with a moving tribute to two close friends, both numeraries, who died saving a third man from drowning. It's a conversation about vocation, mentorship, legacy, and what it really means to give your life away. James Herrick grew up in Colorado, New Jersey, and Virginia, and attended the University of Notre Dame, graduating in 2016. He has worked as a civil engineer in New York, Los Angeles, and now the Bay Area, and is preparing to begin a master's program at Pepperdine University. James comes from a family with a long military and pilgrim history. Since high school, he's written poetry, deepened his prayer life, and mentored young men through Opus Dei programs and service trips around the world. Subscribe to Forge The Man for more real conversations on vocation, discernment, and what it looks like for Catholic men to give their lives away — whether married, single, or still figuring it out. Share this episode with a friend who's in the thick of discernment right now.

  8. 14 jul

    You Don't Know What You Want (And That's the Problem) - Unpacking René Girard with Trevor Merrill

    What if most of what you want — the job, the truck, the girl, the tattoo — isn't really yours? In this episode of Forge The Man, Paul sits down with Trevor Merrill, scholar, novelist, and director of Imitatio, to unpack the work of French thinker René Girard — the man Peter Thiel has credited with shaping his approach to leadership. Trevor breaks down two of Girard's biggest ideas: mimetic desire (we imitate the desires of others more than we realize) and scapegoating (how groups — from ancient tribes to Twitter mobs — offload tension onto a single target). Along the way, Paul and Trevor get practical: how to avoid office politics, how to choose good models instead of flashy ones, why freshman year roommates become rivals, and how young men can build a life around something deeper than comparative advantage. It's a conversation for any man trying to figure out what he actually wants — and who he should be listening to. Trevor Merrill manages Imitatio, a program devoted to advancing René Girard's mimetic theory, and has translated and edited several of Girard's books. He's a novelist (Minor Indignities, 2020; The Comforts of Exile, forthcoming September 2026), a co-producer of the documentary Things Hidden: The Life and Legacy of René Girard, and has taught French language and literature at Caltech for over a decade. He is currently translating a forthcoming biography of Girard for Stanford University Press. Trevor and his wife Carolyn converted to Catholicism (2015 and 2017, respectively) and have four children. Resources & Books Mentioned Deceit, Desire, and the Novel — René GirardViolence and the Sacred — René GirardThings Hidden Since the Foundation of the World — René GirardWanting — Luke BurgessClever as Serpents — (mimetic theory applied to management/office politics)Finding True Happiness — Fr. Robert SpitzerAristotle's Way — Edith HallDocumentary: Things Hidden: The Life and Legacy of René GirardTrevor Merrill's novels: Minor Indignities (2020), The Comforts of Exile (forthcoming Sept. 2026)

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Welcome to Forge the Man, a Fairest Love Podcast hosted by US Military Veteran and Retired Firefighter Paul Ybarra. This Podcast is dedicated to calling young men to greatness in their work, character, and relationships. Guided under the mantle of Mary, Mother of Fairest Love, and the heroic spirituality of St. Josemaría Escrivá, our intention is to build men for professional mastery and the noble vocation of marriage or becoming a father of souls.

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  • Creador
    Fairest Love Family Project
  • Años de actividad
    2026
  • Episodios
    16
  • Clasificación
    Apto
  • Copyright
    © Fairest Love Family Project 2026
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    Forge the Man

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