Candid Catholic Convos

It’s no secret we Catholics can be a little macabre – we pray in front of bones and send them on little tours, we dig people up to check out their body sometimes before canonizing them, we believe in the reality of demons, angels and the dearly departed, we also really love reminding people they will die one day. So why do we do it? Father Jonathan Sawicki, pastor at Saint Theresa’s Parish in New...

Halloween, unfortunately has been long associated with spirituality and the occult. Christians and non-Christians alike are convinced of Halloween’s pagan origins, and with the abundance of violence, gore, sensuality, occultism, and demonic aspects now associated with Halloween, it’s hard not to. But is Halloween a pagan holiday or is it a hijacked holy day? How does the Catholic church feel about...

On previous episodes we’ve talked about our wellness, our whole selves, as being spiritual, physical and mental. If you forsake one for another, inevitably, you will still suffer. How we nurture or nourish each of these areas directly impacts the other, which in turn impacts our whole self and how we show up in the world, how we make the real presence of Christ visible through us. So how can we sh...

Well friends, love it or hate it, election season is here. If you’re anything like me, you may already be confused, concerned and maybe even a bit frustrated right now, and there’s only a few weeks left to make a decision at the polls. Today, we're very excited to welcome back Executive Director of the PA Catholic Conference and regular guest on our show, Eric Failing. Eric brings a terrific sense...

That saying old habits die hard is a saying because it’s true. But why is that? Is it that we lack willpower or conviction? Are we waiting for all the conditions are perfect before getting started, like waiting until Monday or waiting until the new year? What hope is there when we’re surrounded by triggers and temptations to slip back into our old ways? Does God expect us to be perfect? Today we'r...

September is Suicide Prevention and Awareness month, and today I’m honored to welcome back Irma Do, a former therapist who specialized in crisis intervention and recently presented on this topic to Catholic Leadership. ** If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of self-harm, please talk with someone you trust or dial 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Being an adult is hard. It’s just hard. There is no path. There’s no map, and we’re all just flying by the seat of our pants, which makes it easy for us to get stuck on this hamster wheel of going through the motions not knowing where we belong - we all battle this pressure to have it all: the house with the white picket fence, the dream job, the perfect family, a real Leave it to Beaver type of i...

I know I’m still considered young-ish, but I’ve thought about death a lot lately, and how if I were to drop dead tomorrow, would my family be taken care of? Would I want to be kept alive on life support? What options are available to maintain any form of quality of life? What about our faith? Dying doesn't have to be scary, and talking about it won't make it happen any faster. In fact, it will sav...

Today we're chatting with Deacon Armando Torres, our director of Culture and Outreach here at the Diocese, about all the different apostolates we have in our vibrant Diocese, as well as a brand-new conference for our Hispanic population. Register for our first ever Hispanic/Latino Diocesan Conference: Hispanic | Latino Diocesan Conference - Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg ( hbgdiocese.org )

If we’re not carving the Madonna out of stone, painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or painstakingly piecing together stained glass, is our creativity honoring God and what He’s called us to? Today we’re chatting with Carolyn Astfalk, a local author and member of the Catholic Writers Guild about balancing your creativity and your vocations, bridging your art with faith, and tapping into divi...

What chance do we stand, as Catholic parents, in a world where our children’s energy and attention is so divided, especially as they get older? Today we’re continuing our conversation with Irma Do, a wife, a mother, a former therapist and current RCIA and Youth Ministry instructor with years of parenting under her belt about that fascinating stage of parenting known as the teenage years.

Because parenting is hard and we sometimes need that extra encouragement for the different stages of parenting, we’ve broken this episode into two parts: This week is all about being in the trenches as a new parent and playing the long game of raising your kids in the faith. Next week will be all about raising teenagers, helping them come to their own conclusions and teaching them about Catholic s...

Last week, we sat down with Tom and Patty Strunck, marriage prep and natural family planning instructors for the Diocese, and really dove into the sacrament of marriage – why the church requires marriage prep, what marriage looks like after the wedding, and how to fight fair. Today we’re continuing that conversation with what it means to be submissive to your spouse, practicing forgiveness, resour...

This year, my husband and I will be celebrating thirteen years of marriage. We are not the same people we were when we got married, and that’s okay. But I’d be lying if I said it was easy. So today I’m sitting down with Tom and Patty Strunck, marriage prep and natural family planning instructors for the Diocese, to really dive into the sacrament of marriage – what it means, how it’s influenced by...

Last week, we chatted about why quality friendships are important and why it may feel like it was easier to make friends as a kid versus now as an adult. Today we’re continuing our conversation with Zack Haney, our director of youth and young adult ministries, focusing primarily on the deep vulnerability required in meaningful relationships, the effects of social media and isolation, and some tact...

Lately I've been thinking about all the friends I’ve had over the years – the ones that didn’t stand the test of time, the ones who walked away when it got hard, the ones I walked away from, the friendships I outgrew and the friends I left behind when I changed jobs or moved to another city. It also got me thinking about how challenging it is to make friends anymore, especially as a busy adult, ho...

Summer is primetime for picnics and festivals, and we have a lot of them happening in our Diocese this summer. We fling our church doors open and say, let’s take this outside. It’s a great way to reconnect with church friends or make some new ones, and it’s an even better way to invite someone to experience our Catholic Community. Today, we’re sitting down with Makenzie Kelley and Georgiann Benkov...

The fact that June is already over has woken me up to the fact that yes, while I have more space in my days because our schedules are more relaxed – no more rushing to school or sports – that “space” has easily been filled with other things. With weekends full of fun plans, it’s easy to put off going to church. It’s easy to forget morning prayer when your morning schedule is more relaxed. It’s eas...

One year ago today, hundreds of people gathered both inside and outside St Patrick Cathedral in Harrisburg to witness the installation of our Diocese’s twelfth Bishop, Bishop Timothy Senior. Since then, Bishop Senior has jumped into his roll with both feet. He’s visited all the corners and counties of the Diocese, beginning with Masses in all ten of the Diocese’s deaneries last summer to introduce...

As a society, we’ve viewed children as more dependent on the mother than the father, we’ve forgotten that men and fathers, hold an equally important place in the family as the mother, that there’s a lot of pressure put on fathers to both provide and be present. More than a quarter of the children living in the United states are growing up without a father – that number jumps to over 70 percent in...

In my mind, summer is the collective turning of a page, a time of endings, but also of new beginnings, a real season of change. And for some, change can be scary, but change is the only constant in life. So how do we engage with change when it happens to us to begin this new season, this new chapter, as seamlessly as we can? How do we transition well? If you ask Sister Geralyn Schmidt of the Siste...

In just a few short weeks, Bishop Senior will be leading a pilgrimage from our Diocese to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis and today, today we're excited to welcome back spiritual director Donna Gilberti who has led pilgrimages all over the world to talk about how God curates our journey towards Him just for us.

Bishop Senior in his letter launching this year’s Diocesan Annual Campaign said, “Strengthened by the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, we are challenged to respond with grateful hearts to advance the mission of the Church. By sharing our gifts with others, the real presence of Jesus is made visible through us.” In previous episodes we’ve talked about our wellness, our whole selves, as being sp...

I always thought vocation was synonymous with job, used interchangeably, but it turns out, a vocation carries a much deeper significance, more “who you are” not just “what you do.” Or better still, not just what you want to be when you grow up, but who does God call you to be. It’s fitting that we’re talking about this on Pentecost Sunday because, on the first Pentecost, the Apostles were no longe...

Happy Mother's Day! If you’re anything like me, you may be a mother who has a hard time seeing her own worth. Or maybe you’re not a mother, maybe you’re any human being, really, pursuing life or a career or school and wondering if you’re ever going to be good enough at whatever it is you’re doing. Personally, as a wife and a mother, I find myself constantly questioning what I’m doing and if I’m do...