God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.
David Smithson was born and raised in Winona, Minnesota and grew up as a cradle Catholic. After leaving the Catholic church during much of his college years, he returned to his childhood religion prior to medical school. He gained strength from his Catholic faith as he faced the daily challenges of training in the academic medical world. A favored place to pray and study was at the University chapel, where a sense of peace in our Lord was found. He met his wonderful wife, Mollie, at the University Newman center and her ardent faith has been a bastion of support for him ever since.
Once a practicing physician, he and Mollie and their growing family moved to the Kansas City area. He began listening to Catholic radio driving to and from work and between hospitals. This further spurred his interest in reading about the faith, the lives of saints, etc., during his time off. He authored his first book, Prayer or Mantra? A Contrast Between Christian Prayer and Eastern Meditation, published in 2006. Being busy with his family and medical practice it was not until 2019 when he researched and formulated the talk “The Role of Habit in Virtue and Vice” given through the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas (a video copy of the former Archdiocesan website talk is included on this website). His next book was called “The Parable of White Fang” published in 2021, based on the classic Jack London novel. In 2023, he published “The Coming Era of Peace: Marian Apparitions Predicting Our Times.” In 2024, he began the YouTube channel “Catholic on Command” with the focus on original Catholic storytelling and meditations.
On the personal side, Dr. Smithson and his wife, Mollie, have been married for 38 years. They have five children and two grandchildren. They are parishioners at their local Catholic church where Dr. Smithson is a lector, a member of the Knights of Columbus and a member of the men’s Catholic faith group.
From a professional perspective, Dr. Smithson has been practicing in the Kansas City area since 1990 as a rehabilitation medicine physician. He holds degrees from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and the University of Washington in Seattle.