Hubert Sanders Jr. started ‘Truth Still Matters’ as response to God, late wife’s prompting

Bloomfield Hills — St. Paul wrote letters, Thomas Aquinas wrote books, and Fr. Charles Coughlin had a radio show. Hubert Sanders has a podcast.

The methods and tools of evangelizing have evolved in the 2,000-year history of the Church, but according to Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice theology teacher Hubert Sanders, the goal of evangelization remains the same: dispensing the truth, and making God’s message known.

“God has given me gifts; a love for technology and a love for talking about my faith,” Sanders told The Michigan Catholic from his Brother Rice classroom, where he records his video podcast “Truth Still Matters.”

“Everyone has an opinion and hides behind it, and that’s a cop out,” Sanders said. “Opinions have become something for misinformed people to hide behind. What good is an opinion if you have nothing to back it up with?”

Sanders started “Truth Still Matters” in July 2013, and since then has recorded 33 episodes on a variety of apologetics topics, including the Eucharist, Scripture, reconciliation, Lent, Christmas and his own “personal testimony.” He’s also written a book, “Deposit of Faith,” on theology for a lay audience.

Sanders said he has a small, but growing, following. He uses his video podcast as a supplement to his classes at Brother Rice.

“My students not only get to watch the show, but there are questions embedded in the podcast, so we have quizzes,” Sanders said. “They get all the material from the podcast, and then we come back to the classroom and have a more robust discussion about what was covered.”

Using the latest technology for the purpose of evangelizing is a prime example of New Evangelization, but Sanders said the mission and core of evangelization is the exact same now as it was for the 12 apostles.

“At the very core of it, before you can evangelize or re-evangelize, you need to have the expectation that God wants more from you,” Sanders said. “That there is another level, a desire for more. If you can quote the Catechism and know all of Church history, great. But if you are stuck on the tools, you will miss what really takes people’s breath away.

“The man who died for you, personally, rose from the dead, and you will rise too. I couldn’t talk to you today if I didn’t know I’d see my wife again,” said Sanders of his late wife, Monica.

Like many of the apostles, Sanders’ career started from a place where most people don’t expect to find evangelists: accounting.

Sanders was working for a firm in Metro Detroit before he and Monica went to a Bible study class to rediscover their faith.

“I was raised Catholic, heard testimony from Mom and Dad, so I knew Jesus was real,” said Sanders, whose father, Hubert Sanders Sr., is a deacon at Presentation/Our Lady of Victory Parish in Detroit. “I went to St. Scholastica School and U of D Jesuit High School, and then went to Xavier University of Louisiana. But I was a nominal Catholic, as was my wife, up until the point we got married.”

Seeking to learn more about their faith, the two went to a Baptist Bible study in Lansing to learn more about Scripture. It was there that Sanders made startling discovery: he was reading from a different Bible than everyone else in the room.

“They all had Protestant Bibles, and we were reading from the Book of Daniel,” Sanders recalled. “And we skipped an entire chapter, and I shot my hand up saying, ‘Dude, you’re missing all of this.’”

Sanders, who always loved technology, turned to the Internet, finding CatholicAnswers.com, and discovered a new calling.

“I told Monica I was dying as an accountant, so my wife challenged me to go out and do something with what I love — technology and my faith,” Sanders said.

As fate would have it, the very next month Sanders’ firm told him his position was cut, forcing him to shift gears. He began to study at St. Mary’s College of Ave Maria University in Orchard Lake and Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.

Sanders toyed with the idea of doing a podcast for years, until his wife sent him to National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak to pray about it. With laptop in tow, Sanders prayed at the Last Supper display at Shrine, and on the spot, took out his laptop and recorded his first podcast.

Monica Sanders died Feb. 13, 2014, leaving Hubert to care for his four daughters, the eldest being 11, by himself.

“My personality, ability to laugh, speak to the truth about the faith, and that’s what I want people to take away from ‘Truth Still Matters,’” Sanders said. “When I lost my wife, it forced me to trust in God in a very important way. It was a transformative moment in my faith. My wife encouraged me to use this method to talk about God.”

With all the media out there, Sanders said he worries his message might get lost in the media shuffle, but he added the advantage of a podcast is the more intimate setting that allows people to view the content wherever they are comfortable.

“There is a hunger out there, a thirst to hear the Good News,” Sanders said. “There is a hunger for not going through the motions; people just can’t articulate it. What I try to do is communicate the fact that God created us to have that hunger.

“We’re made to worship through those senses: mind, body and soul. The Church is real. It’s flesh. And we’re here to tell others about it.”

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‘Truth Still Matters’

Listen in: Visit hubertsanders.com to view or listen to “Truth Still Matters,” or to support Sanders’ ministry.