CatholiCity Podcasts

Today’s episode features Jeff Shiefelbein, a successful entrepreneur and culture-building expert with a long history of launching and leading businesses that achieve healthy growth and workplace excellence. Past foundations include Carpool, the largest safe-ride program for colleges to reduce drunk driving in the nation, and 5, an industry changing energy advisement firm. As a managing partner at Undivided Life, Jeff and his team teach their “Business as a Blessing” framework to deliver strategy and culture consultation to a wide variety of organizations. He currently serves on several non-profit boards and co-hosts the Beatidudes, a religiously funny podcast. Jeff and his wife Amanda have seven children. We discuss the story of how his family accidentally discovered his 3 year old son’s brain cancer, diving deep into God’s providence through even the toughest situations. We talk about letting go of the desire for worldly success, and finding true personhood and its value in other places. We discuss mentorship, wisdom, and finding the rapture of love in an undivided life. Touching on the depths of friendship in the midst of loss and separation, this podcast will pull your heartstrings, and much more. You can find out more about Jeff on his podcast and on the Undivided Life website. --- To order powerful tools for evangelization for your family, friends, and parish, head to the Mary Foundation website at CatholiCity.com.  

Transform your prayer life in under an hour. De Sales’ practical methods will help you bring the peaceful presence of Jesus into every moment of your day. Taken from Introduction to the Devout Life (the guide recommended by exorcist Father Chad Ripperger) and written for laymen, these timeless teachings have changed the lives of millions. Saint Francis covers general principles on prayer, a masterful beginner's guide for meditation, and useful advice on meditation, as well as a few other methods of prayer, including morning prayer, dinner recollection, examination of conscience, spiritual retreat, and the trifold practice of aspiration, good thoughts, and spontaneous outbursts. --- To order powerful tools for evangelization for your family, friends, and parish, head to the Mary Foundation website at CatholiCity.com.

Today’s episode features Charley Heintel, the founder of “Quo Vadis,” a Catholic young adult group in Avon Lake, Ohio, a suburb west of Cleveland. We discuss the beginnings of the group, how its small size contributes to adaptability, leadership commitments, and formation of smaller friend groups within larger communities. We talk about how leading a young adult group affects one’s priorities, and how leaders can keep things fresh for their groups and themselves. We talk about the real amount of ‘control’ a leader has over a group, and we elaborate on the spiritual dynamics of God’s providence for the existence of these groups at all, highlighting several of the “hard to see” benefits of groups, while maintaining how it is okay for groups to be passed on or pass away, and much more. --- To order powerful tools for evangelization for your family, friends, and parish, head to the Mary Foundation website at CatholiCity.com.

Recorded way back in November of 2020, this episode features Fr John O’Brien SJ calling in from Canada. Father John, son of the Catholic novelist Michael O'Brien, is the Vocations Director for the Jesuits of the “Canada Provence,” and has been a longtime spiritual advisor of the Mary Foundation. Before he became a priest, he worked with the Mary Foundation and notably helped Bud Macfarlane edit his novels. Bud also joins us for the podcast. The three of us discuss Father John’s origin story, from editing novels with Bud during the early days of the Mary Foundation all the up to his own vocational journey into the Jesuits, highlighting Christian obedience and receptivity. We also dive at length into the effects of technology on our lives, springboarding from a book called “the Shallows” by Nicholas Carr. We discuss how television, cell phones, and social media influence our enjoyment of life & culture, our brain & concentration, our silence and prayer, as well as our relationships & connection to reality. We finish off by discussing a few strategies to deal with some of these negative effects. --- To order powerful tools for evangelization for your family, friends, and parish, head to the Mary Foundation website at CatholiCity.com.

Today’s episode features Dr. Megan Lowes-Bolin, author of the recent book, “Ignite: The Secret to Engaging Young Adults in the Church”. Lettered in Interdisciplinary Leadership in Education, Dr. Lowes-Bolin has worked in and around Catholic ministry for over 12 years. She is also the founder of a consulting firm for parishes and directs the Ignite Scholars Program at John Carroll University. We discuss Megan’s longtime experience in Young Adult ministry, including the boom-bust cycle of these ministries, the danger of repeating history, and the benefits of sharing resources across parishes. We also dive into her book, talking about the three main draws for young adults toward parish life, several ways to encourage involvement, tips to avoid discouraging new young adult leaders, and much more. Links to Dr. Lowes-Bolin's book, consulting firm, and young adult ministry. --- To order powerful tools for evangelization for your family, friends, and parish, head to the Mary Foundation website at CatholiCity.com.