Modern Catholic Family

Send us Fan Mail Changing diapers, fielding the third snack request of the morning, and wrangling little ones at Mass can feel a world away from the sunsets and mountain peaks where God seems so near. Jim and Meghan sit down with Stephen Schneider to explore how families can encounter God’s beauty in the ordinary moments of home. Drawing from his Minnesota upbringing, his marriage to his wife, Han...

Send us Fan Mail What if laughter is one of the truest ways to bring people back to Christ? Jim and Meghan sit down with Ashley Strand, founder of Holy Smoke Comedy, to talk about building a ministry that uses improv and comedy to evangelize without losing reverence. Ashley shares her own winding path through grief, new age wandering, and a return to the Catholic faith, along with what it looks li...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes faith is tested most in the moments we least expect. Jim and Meghan open up about the sudden, recent loss of Jim's father, sharing an honest look at what it means to grieve as a Catholic family. From last rites at his bedside to the outpouring of support from their parish, they walk through how their faith carried them through this loss. This episode is a tender rem...

Send us Fan Mail What if 90% of the intensity we feel in a marital argument has almost nothing to do with what just happened? Jim and Meghan sit down with Dr. Peter Malinoski, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Souls and Hearts, for something completely different: a live, guided exercise into the unconscious patterns that shape how we react to the people we love most. Using Internal Family Sy...

Send us Fan Mail "Fulfillment only comes from living for God." This week on Modern Catholic Family, Jim and Meghan sit down with Father Avery Daniel, a priest of the Archdiocese of Atlanta and pastor at St. Benedict in Johns Creek, to hear his journey from a Naval Academy hopeful to a joyful shepherd of souls. Father Avery shares how a shocking military disqualification became the turnin...

Send us Fan Mail What if the deepest ache in the human heart, the craving to be seen, heard, and truly known, can only be satisfied by God? Jim and Meghan sit down with Daniel, who now leads marriage and family ministry with Family Honor, to explore why every human heart longs to be seen, heard, and known, and how that longing ultimately points back to God. Drawing on nearly two decades in ministr...

Send us Fan Mail What would it look like if we actually took young people's faith as seriously as they're capable of living it? Jim and Meghan sit down with Eric Gallagher, husband, father of five, and executive director of Lolek Ministries, to talk about his own teenage conversion and the two decades he's spent helping young people build a real, lasting relationship with Jesus. Fro...

Send us Fan Mail Noelle Garcia  knows what it means to be squeezed from every side. As a homeschool mom of six and full-time caregiver to her mother-in-law, she joins Jim and Meghan to share her family's journey through the sandwich generation, caring for aging parents while still raising children at home. From her father-in-law's cancer battle and unexpected deathbed conversion to the d...

Send us Fan Mail "Your family has a mission." That's what Julie Liotta's priest told her in confession one ordinary Wednesday morning, and the words changed everything. Jim and Meghan sit down with Julie, a former Marine Corps company commander now serving as coordinator for adult faith formation and evangelization at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, to talk about what...

Send us Fan Mail Why does one family return to the same small island every summer, and what do they find there? Jim and Meghan step away from their usual guest format to reflect together on nearly two decades of summers in Jamestown, Rhode Island, the place where Meghan grew up and where their family has built a second, deeply rooted community. From an unexpected turn on the altar to conversations...

Send us Fan Mail Pope Saint John Paul II once described how Adam and Eve, before the fall, could look at one another with total peace, free of shame or doubt. Jim and Meghan sit down with Catholic evangelist, author, and speaker Tanner Kalina to talk about what it means to reclaim that same peace today. A former actor and comedian who left Hollywood behind, Tanner shares how baseball, acting, and...

Send us Fan Mail What if the secret to raising a thriving Catholic family looked a lot like running a well-led company? Jim and Meghan sit down with Mike and Alicia Hernon, co-founders of The Messy Family Project, to unpack the Family Board Meeting, a structured practice of stepping back from the daily grind of parenting to intentionally lead as a couple. Drawing on business principles like EOS an...

Send us Fan Mail Addiction is messy, addiction is sometimes bloody, and it's a place holy people haven't always gone, until now. Jim and Meghan sit down with Keaton Douglas to explore how the Catholic Church can become a true resource for those struggling with addiction and the families who love them. Drawing from her own story of loss, healing, and an unexpected call to ministry, Keaton...

Send us Fan Mail From a place of deep darkness and silence, one woman's journey through abortion, sterilization, conversion, and healing became a witness that proclaims the mercy and humor of God. Jim sits down with Brice Griffin, Catholic mother of five, pro-life activist, and pilgrimage leader, to walk through a story of radical surrender and the grace that waited on the other side of it. W...

Send us Fan Mail Raising a neurodivergent child in the Catholic faith can feel isolating, but Ginny Kochis is here to remind parents they are not alone. Jim and Meghan sit down with Ginny, founder of Quirky Catholic Kids and author of over a dozen books, to explore what it truly means to embrace neurodivergence with faith and joy. Drawing from 20 years of lived experience as a neurodivergent mom r...

Send us Fan Mail Suffering is not a detour from God's plan for your family. It is the path. Jim and Meghan sit down with Megan Hjelmstad, Army veteran, author, speaker, and women's mentor, to explore the theology and practice of redemptive suffering. Drawing from years of chronic illness, surgeries, and pregnancy loss, Megan shares how suffering united to Christ becomes a doorway to free...

Send us Fan Mail Grief has a way of revealing what we are truly made of, and for Maura McGee, it became the unlikely path to peace. Jim and Meghan sit down with Maura, a mother of six and author of It Is What It Is, to hear how her family navigated miscarriage, the murder of a beloved priest uncle, her husband Dave's rare cancer diagnosis, and the loss of her mother all within a few years of...

Send us Fan Mail The teenage years are a critical window for forming young women in virtue, confidence, and a deep Catholic identity. Jim and Meghan sit down with Chantal Howard, Catholic entrepreneur, coach, and mother of seven, to explore how a faith-centered program called Catholic Finishing School is equipping daughters to navigate girlhood with grace and courage. Drawing from over a decade of...

Send us Fan Mail What would change in your family if every relationship were ordered toward God first? Jim and Meghan welcome Sarah McKenzie, a registered therapeutic counselor and mother of eight from British Columbia, Canada, to explore the Augustinian concept of "ordering love" and its surprising power for modern families. Drawing from St. Thomas Aquinas and her own clinical practice,...

Send us Fan Mail What if the key to keeping your kids Catholic isn't found in a better curriculum, but in the quality of the soil? Stacy Halbach, Catholic author, speaker, and mother of six, joins Jim and Meghan with a hope-filled recipe for raising children who hold fast to Christ. Drawing from the Parable of the Sower, years of personal research, and her own family's beautiful struggle...

Send us Fan Mail What if the most powerful pilgrimage your family could take this year started just a few hours down the road? Jason Spoolstra, creator of the Light and Heavy Pilgrimages YouTube channel, joins Jim and Meghan to make the case that every Catholic family is called to pilgrimage, and that it is far more accessible than most people think. Drawing from nearly two decades of Catholic min...

Send us Fan Mail What if the most radical thing a Catholic family can practice is simply learning to shut up and listen? Father Augustine Wetta joins Jim and Meghan for an episode packed with laughter, vivid storytelling, and hard-won monastic wisdom. Drawing from encounters that range from classroom rap battles to an unexpected night with LA gang members, Father Wetta reveals what genuine humilit...

Send us Fan Mail What if the anxiety you carry every day is not who you are but a temptation you were never created to bear alone?  Jim and Meghan sit down with Dr. Jillian Hawks to explore what it truly means to move from managing anxiety to healing from it. Drawing from her personal journey through breast cancer, burnout, and a renewed encounter with God, Jillian shares how surrendering her work...

Send us Fan Mail What if great literature could be the very thing that draws a soul from darkness into the light of Christ? Catholic author and literary scholar Joseph Pearce joins Jim and Meghan to share his remarkable journey from white supremacism to Catholic conversion, sparked entirely by the power of books. Drawing on decades of writing, teaching, and producing series with EWTN, Joseph offer...

Send us Fan Mail What does it look like to raise a family anchored in faith when life takes an unexpected turn? Diane Nienas, grief coach, author, and mother of four, joins Jim and Meghan to share how two decades of caretaking for her sons Leo and Trent became the very ground where her faith took root and flourished. With joy that can only come from God, Diane reflects on the miracles, the grace,...