A Word from Our Outpost, with Joseph and Crystal Gruber

While the Grubers have started a marriage ministry , that also serves Catholic singles , Joseph has been moonlighting as one of the pilot-ers of the pilot initiative of the Knights of Columbus, Cor .  It's been a very different way to serve men in the community, both from what the Knights have been doing as well as from what Joseph has been doing. You can see some of what he's been up to here: jac...

We are delighted to share a conversation with MaryRose Depperschmidt with you all! She is the host of two podcasts, The Crab and the Cross and The Catholic Dating Podcast. Our conversation ranged all over, getting some of her story, her takes on the dating culture, and some really interesting dives into issues facing men and women today. We hope you enjoy! You can find MaryRose on Instagram @thecr...

We're delighted to be joined by Andy Hickman, whose approach to work and organization somehow, and we're not sure how, contains elements that appeal to both Joseph and Crystal, who have...very different approaches to work and organization.  Andy Hickman is the Founder of hēl, a ground breaking art form for clarifying thoughts, healing emotions, and regenerating creativity.  After losing his mind i...

John Michael Talbot joins us for an engaging conversation about his life, his conversion, and his thoughts on Christian community and how lacking the American church is in contemplative prayer and the contemplative life. Joseph read his latest book, an autobiography, and recommends it to all of our listeners! If you haven't heard John Michael Talbot's work before, Joseph recommends doing what he d...

If you asked Saint Paul to boil down his beliefs-- where they came from, what they are, and who they're for-- you couldn't get much better than what he offers at the end of 1 Corinthians. We're blessed with a Catholic anthropologist uncle again on this episode, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!  As always,  support our work by going here ! join the monthly marriage membership here !...

Jim Jansen, an accomplished evangelist, author, and all-around good guy, joins us for a conversation revolving around his book, "A Clear Path of Discipleship." We talk about what most parishes are missing, and also talk about how to apply the principles that he lays out in his book to family life, too. Heartily recommend giving this episode a listen, checking out his book (which can be found here:...

We're joined with JohnMarc Skoch-- musician, missionary, man of God, and all-around great guy-- to talk about the role of music in the home and in the liturgy. JohnMarc Skoch is the Director of Music for FOCUS, as well as a Senior Regional Director in FOCUS. Not only did he compose the music that he permitted to be used in our intro and outro, he was trained by Adam Bartlett, of Source and Summit...

How do we foster healthy masculinity in a world that is skeptical that such a thing even exists? We have John Bishop, founder of FORGE, on for an exciting discussion of things men can do to form the next generation of men. His website is here: https://myforge.org/ John started his professional career working at the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). During his tenure with FOCUS Jo...

Friendship! It's one of those things that, without which, we can't really say we're happy. We gave a talk to a group of missionaries a few weeks ago on this topic, and we cover not only the standard friendships of use/pleasure/virtue, but also what the levels of intimacy are, and how to communicate truth, goodness, and beauty to a friend on the regular. Just fyi, for all you married folks out ther...

Marriage, that bedrock of society, is a little bit crumbling these days. So we invited Pete Burak, from Renewal Ministries, to talk with us about it.  Pete has spent many years investing deeply in that vaguely defined group known as Catholic Young Adults, so if anyone has a clue about what's going on with this demographic, it's probably him.  Find more about what he's up to here !   Also, for thos...

One of the most jarring stories of all of Scripture, the sacrifice of Isaac invites deeper and deeper exploration. Come with us and an uncle as we go line by line through this densely told story from Genesis! As always,  support our work by going here ! join the monthly marriage membership here ! join our email newsletter list here ! catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking he...

'Tis the season to make goals, resolutions, pacts, vows, and Exoduses... And if you haven't taken time to consider what your hopes and dreams are, maybe now is a good time! We talk about common reasons to avoid our hopes and dreams, and then why it might be a good idea for them to see the light of day. Happy New Year! If you want some help to re-connect with your dreams, we're co-hosting a "Plan Y...

Romans 12:1-2 sounds an awful like we're all priests in the new covenant, with no room for a set-apart priesthood a la Leviticus...or does it? Always a joy to have Fr. Jacob with us, and we hope you enjoy as well! If you've been missing us (and we've been missing you too), we'll be offering a live video workshop with the founders of WalletWin! Plan your 2024 with the Grubers and the Teixeira's on...

Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, we don't recommend listening with children present (you probably figured that out by the title, though...) We are delighted to have Steve Pokorny on our podcast to talk about his story and his mission! Steve Pokorny is the founder of Freedom Coaching (found at freedom-coaching.net ), a one-to-one mission for both men & women to break the chain & shame of a...

We have a great guest on, Daniel Boyd, who has spent years working to support the Catholic Church, with everything from campus ministry through RCIA through consulting to having a lovely marriage. And, almost needless to say, he has spent years letting the Catholic Church support him. We talk about some of the ideas from Msgr. Shea's little book, From Christendom to Apostolic Mission . You can fin...

Speech is creative. It creates attitudes, relationships, tension, release, stories, purpose, etc. And when God speaks, He literally creates everything else. So we talk about the speech of God in Genesis 1.   Check us out at ouroutpost.org , email us at hello@ouroutpost.org, and check out our instagram at @ouroutpost . And if you would be so kind, please review, rate, and share! As always,  su...

For whatever reason, our nature as humans seems to handle groups of three pretty well. Three stages to the spiritual life, three stages to acquiring knowledge according to classical education, three stages to a moral education...the list probably goes on, but those are the three groups of three we'll be talking about! We reference the book Morality: The Catholic View by Servais Pinckaers. As alway...

There's a crisis of loneliness in the world, and a lot of it has to do with being closed off to other people. If we want to be open to other people, it means we need to live in a world that's big enough for people to disagree.  Being open to potential conflict and disagreement is a necessary step to having a deeper relationship.  The book we mention is "The Seven Levels of Intimacy" by Matthew Kel...

We don't think it's alarmist talk to say that the whole idea of marriage today is, well, fraying. And without strong marriages, there can be no strong society.  And that's pretty well why we left our job as parish missionaries to start a marriage ministry. There's an enormous need out there, and when it gets as bad as it is now, even our help may be required... We don't want to use this podcast ve...

Joseph sits down to talk with friend, former teammate, and civil-engineer-by-training, Alison De Lima Fernandez, to talk about community, zoning, suburbia, and the like.    Alison referenced Jane Jacobs, who advocated for such things as mixed-use development, bottom-up planning, and treating a city as an entire ecosystem. Joseph had never heard of Jane Jacobs, but her wikipedia is here, so now you...

We may not like being wrong, but if there were no way to tell right from wrong, that seems a worse scenario. Joseph has been re-reading a book by Hilaire Belloc, called The Great Heresies , and he wanted to talk both about the book and the fact that Catholics belong to a substantial tradition and ascribe to a real body of teaching, to which we can be in alignment or out of alignment. And he's glad...

Some people are embarrassed by doubts and difficulties, whether their own or others'. Some people people are inclined to find resolution to their doubts and difficulties in the faith on their own. And some people make it an adventure worth sharing with others.    So we talk about the kind of desire for truth that gives us the confidence to say, "I don't understand this yet, but I'd love to have yo...

Joseph and Father Peter talk about making time for Eucharistic adoration, and the difference it has made in their lives. As always,  support our work by going here ! join the monthly marriage membership here ! join our email newsletter list here ! catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/ see what we have upcoming in terms of events here:...

Eucharistic adoration: where did it come from and is it still of use?  We get into the history and the relevance of Eucharistic adoration, using as our stepping-off point an article from September 2009 about Eucharistic adoration returning to perpetual status in Boston's Back Bay. This article was especially poignant for Joseph, as he spent many an hour at the shrine in Boston in question, as he a...

Have you ever read the Letter to the Hebrews? It's beautiful, it clarifies so much of the connections between the Old Testament and the New, and is supremely preoccupied with Jesus as the new high priest.  And did you ever wonder, while reading it, whether it had anything to say about the ministerial priesthood? About the men who offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass? About men set aside for such s...