New Podcast Aims To Educate Listeners On The Teachings Of The Catholic Church
NEW YORK — The official teachings of the church regarding both faith and morals will soon become a podcast, part of a growing network of audio programs aimed at teaching Catholicism to the masses.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church — a compendium in book form promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992 — will be read each day starting on Jan. 1 by Mike Schmitz, a priest already famous for being the host of “The Bible in a Year” podcast.
As part of the new podcast series, Schmitz will give voice to the official teachings of the church in 15- to 20-minute daily episodes. The podcasts will include commentary, prayer and a series of special guests.
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“We can’t love what we don’t know,” Schmitz said during a news conference on Nov. 2 streamed via Zoom. “And one of the things that gets unpacked — even at the very beginning paragraphs of the Catechism — we start talking about God in Himself. … That is so powerful.”
The new project comes on the heels of Schmitz’s highly successful “The Bible in a Year” podcast. Over the last month alone, 1.5 million people listened to “The Bible in a Year” — in both podcast and YouTube form. For two years, it has regularly been No. 1 in religion and spirituality category on Apple Podcasts.
Ascension is a multimedia Catholic network that over the last 24 years has helped grow the faith of millions through its series of books and faith formation guides. Ascension Presents, which hosts a popular YouTube channel, has over 750,000 subscribers. Schmitz, who has started to record episodes ahead of the New Year’s Day launch, said the new podcast isn’t just for Catholics.
“Obviously, it is Catholic,” said Schmitz, who serves as director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and as chaplain for the Newman Catholic Campus Ministry at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. “At the same time, we as Catholics would say the Bible is a Catholic book.”
At the same time, the popularity of Catholic programming in new media, Schmitz said, is a way to reach younger audiences to make them understand the theology of the Catholic Church.
“There is a lot of profound thought that has gone into our faith,” he added. “My thought would be, during (The ‘Catechism in a Year’ podcast), there is a similar kind of rediscovery of thought.”
The podcast’s release coincides with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ new initiative known as the National Eucharistic Revival. The initiative, launched this past June, is a three-year project aimed at teaching Catholics the importance of Holy Communion and the belief that bread and wine is transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. It is a Catholic belief known as the “real presence.”
A 2019 Pew Research Center survey found that only 3% of Catholics “profess to believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.” At the same time, 63% of the most observant Catholics — those who attend Mass at least once a week — accept the church’s teaching regarding the sacrament of Holy Communion.
Schmitz said the podcast is going through the Catechism in a linear fashion, meaning he “won’t necessarily discuss the Eucharist for a while.” He added that the podcast, however, is an “invitation into love” and “relationship with God himself.”
Ascension said the new show came to be after they surveyed listeners.
“Catholics had such a hard time understanding and reading the Bible. … Our audience was saying, do the same thing for the Catechism,” said Lauren Joyce, an Ascension spokeswoman. “We know we should like it. We know we should read it. We really struggle to do so — help us out!”
Clemente Lisi is a senior editor at Religion Unplugged and teaches journalism at The King’s College in New York City. He is the author of “The FIFA World Cup: A History of the Planet's Biggest Sporting Event.” Follow him on Twitter @ClementeLisi.