Ok, I’ve done my research for my assignment on IT project failures and submitted my report. Now I waiting for contributions from the rest of my group so that we can complete the group items. Meanwhile, I thought I should fulfill my promise and do some podcast reviews. As you probably already know, I have an extremely long list of podcast subscriptions. (BTW, I just added a few more shows to my already long list after “shopping” at podshow.com) So it’s gonna take a while to review everything. Which is why I decided to do this in parts.
Today, I’ll talk about Catholic podcasts, particular SQPN podcasts, which constitutes a LARGE part of my subscriptions and is what started me on my podcast-listening spree. These shows do not necessarily revolve around religious topics (though most are). Some of them are podcasts done by Catholic people, sharing their lives and views of things happening around them. Some are even about “secular” topics like movies and games. All are presented from a Catholic’s perspective.
What’s with my fascination with Catholic podcasts? Well for one, my family is Catholic. I personally like to introduce myself as an “unofficial” Catholic, since I’m yet to be baptized and thus unable to receive the sacraments. I studied for 10 years in Catholic schools (grammar school and high school), but was not “nourished” enough to enjoy and understand the fullness of the faith. That was until one fine morning, a Catholic colleague of mine introduced me to Catholic Insider, a podcast done by a Dutch priest, Father Roderick Vonhögen. That got me hooked. The Catholic Insider podcast started out as a very all-rounded show. It wasn’t the hardcore religious or preachy kind of show you’ll expect from a priest. Fr Roderick talked about a wide range of topics, from Star Wars to computer games to coffee to movies and TV shows and of course, religion. He also started the trend of doing “sound-seeing” tours of places he visits. Most notable was the sound-seeing shows he did at the funeral of the late Pope John Paul II, and the papal conclave and election of Pope Benedict XVI. Fr Roderick went on to produce more shows of varying natures, such as the Daily Breakfast, Secrets of Star Wars, Secrets of Harry Potter, and lots more “Secrets of” series. Catholic Insider was slowly refined and remodeled as Fr Roderick’s travelogue, where he shares his travels with the rest of the world. He eventually started the Star Quest Production Network (SQPN), where he slowly gathered more and more high-quality Catholic podcasts to form a network of “the best in Catholic podcasting”.
The Daily Breakfast podcast soon became my daily staple, and a must-listen in my playlist. As the name states, it is a daily morning show which was presented in the light-hearted/relaxed tradition of the Catholic Insider, discussing a variety of topics. It was like the original format of the Catholic Insider, except it’s more impromptu, more lively, and most importantly, it was released more often. Fr Roderick also started to explore different formats of podcasting and produced the likes of Catholic Minute (Fr Roderick’s first video podcast), Healthy Catholic (which charts Fr Roderick’s weight-loss journey), TWiCC (This Week in the Catholic Church, which was inspired by Leo Laporte’s TWiTT), and the most recent Godspeed (Fr Roderick’s “official” travel-cast)
Soon I began listening to podcasts by people OTHER than Fr Roderick. I started with the Rosary Army podcast, after hearing Fr Roderick’s review in Daily Breakfast. The Rosary Army podcast is produced by Greg and Jennifer Willits, a Catholic couple from Conyers, Georgia. They were probably the pioneers in Catholic “couple-casting”, where they podcast as a couple, talking about their lives, their family (they have 4 lovely sons and are currently expecting their 5th child), their faith, and much more. Greg and Jennifer also run a non-profit association by the same name, where they promote praying the Rosary, make and give away all-twine knotted rosaries for free. They also offer instructions on how to “make them, pray them, and give them away”, which by the way, is their motto. Soon, they joined Fr Roderick to be part of the SQPN family. Greg and Jennifer went on to produce the Rosary Army Videocast, the Total Consecration podcast which is about the Consecration to Jesus through Mary according to St. Louis De Montfort. They also recorded a set of audio rosaries in the RosaryCast. Their latest brain-child is the highly acclaimed That Catholic Show, a video podcast hosted by Jennifer which talks about various aspects of Catholic church life.
Next to join the SQPN, was The Hands and Feet Show by Javier Plumey and Gerard Bross. They were later joined by Jose Rojas and occasionally, Javier’s wife, Aneesa. This was a podcast targeted at teens and church youth groups. Though I’ve quite passed my teen years, I still found their show very enjoyable and entertaining. I especially like their “Bible Lotion” section, where they attempt to dissect and explain a passage of the Bible.
Soon, I came across the SaintCast and the Verbum Domini podcast while listening to Rosary Army. The SaintCast is produced by Dr Paul Camarata, a neurosurgeon by day, and podcaster by night. This podcast talks about the lives of various saints in the Catholic church, the weekly calendar of saints, as well as saint jokes and saint trivia. I learnt a lot about saints from Dr Paul, whom fans fondly refer to as the “Saint Doctor”. Verbum Domini, which means “word of God” in Latin, is a podcast of the daily scripture readings produced by Brian Noe, and read by various guess lectors. Both podcasts have since become part of the SPQN as well.
Before you know it, another Catholic couple jumped on the podcasting bandwagon, and was soon invited to join SQPN. Mac and Katherine Barron are a young Catholic couple living in the small town, hence their podcast is aptly named Catholic in a Small Town. Mac and Katherine were originally Protestants, who converted to the Catholic faith just around the time they were getting married. In the show, they share with listeners about their life, and their faith journey. The show is peppered with generous doses of humor and laughter.
Soon Father Bill Kessler joined SQPN as the organization’s spiritual director. Naturally, his TechnoPriest podcast joined the SQPN family of podcasts too. Fr Bill shares his weekly homilies on the show, and “rambles” about technology and religion.
Being an all-rounded family of podcasts, the network soon added Catholic Rockers and Catholic Praise Cast, both produced by George Leite, who also runs CatholicJukebox.com. While Catholic Rockers discusses contemporary Catholic music, Catholic Praise Cast shares with its listeners, beautiful contemporary Catholic music you can pray to. Just when you thought Catholic music was just Gregorian chant and the hymns you hear in church. George Leite has really “opened my ears” to the wonderful world of Catholic music.
Before long, another Catholic family joined SQPN. David and Allyson Sweeney produces the Catholic Family Podcast, where as the name suggests, they talk about their life as a Catholic family. Their 4 kids join them regularly and are an instant hit with the listeners. Kathryn, Austin, Hannah and Luke, soon produced their own show, the Catholic Family Kids podcast with the help of their daddy of course. Allyson also produced Proverbs podcast with readings from the book of Proverbs of the Bible.
The latest additions to the SQPN family are Catholic Under the Hood (CUTH) by Franciscan priest Father Seraphim Beshoner, and Into The Deep podcast by Mike Englesby, Michael Lee and Brent Brown. CUTH talks about “Catholic history and theology from a Franciscan perspective”, while Into The Deep takes listeners into the deeper aspects of the Catholic faith.
As I’ve said, Fr Roderick also produced several “Secrets of” podcasts, such as the previously mentioned Secrets of Star Wars, Secrets of Harry Potter. There’s also the Secrets of the Lord of the Rings, Secrets of the Caribbean and Secrets of Narnia. As you can see, these podcasts are related to popular literature and movies. In them, Fr Roderick talks about these books/movies and uncovers several religious themes hidden within. Some of these series have been stagnant for a while, due to Fr Roderick’s busy schedule (he’s in charge of 4 parishes), while Brother Jiles Baker is currently helping Father Roderick with the Secrets of Harry Potter series.
Another long-time member of SQPN was the Praystation Portable, which has the readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, which can be downloaded and prayed along with, anytime, anywhere.
Well, that was my “brief” review of my favorite SQPN podcasts, which seemed almost like ALL of them. Ha ha.
I hope you all will also enjoy SQPN’s podcast as much as I do. As you can see, there’s a wide variety to choose from to suit your every need. I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll enjoy, just like so many of the other SQPN fans I’ve found on Twitter and Facebook.
Meanwhile, I’m gonna start organizing my thoughts on the other podcasts on my subscription list. I hope I find time to post something soon. Hopefully next time, it won’t be so long.
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