Sword&Spade

Joe Maki spent his working life in manufacturing—grinding, cutting, and polishing fake bones on a production floor—until his brother Mike told him to quit dreaming about laser-engraved tabletops and learn how to hold a tape measure. Two years later the table was finished. Six years ago, after his first child was born, he picked up clay for the first time since high school, and his first commission...

Marcellino D'Ambrosio, co-founder of Sherwood Fellows, joins Jason Craig to talk about what actually forms a man. Once the frontman of a punk band, Marcellino traces the ordeal that pulled him into seminary and then into marketing built on truth instead of manipulation. The conversation turns to the pattern of masculine initiation—danger, pain, and a father's blessing on the other side—and lands o...

Daniel Padrnos—co-founder of Supra Dinner Society and trained Tamada based in Seattle—joins Jason to explore the Georgian Supra: an ancient tradition of ritual feasting and toasting shaped by 1,700 years of Christian civilization in the Republic of Georgia. Daniel makes the case that hospitality is a distinctly masculine act and that the table your family already sits around is more powerful than...

James Taylor Foreman is a writer, the voice behind The Metaphor on Substack, and a contributor to Sword & Spade magazine. In this conversation with Jason Craig, James traces his journey from being born Catholic, through years as an atheist, and back to the Catholic Church — and the more personal story underneath: a recurring dream, a two-week wedding, and a move back to Louisiana to finish the...

Devin Schadt, founder and executive director of Fathers of St. Joseph, joins Jason Craig to trace the wounds men carry into marriage, the spirituality of St. Joseph, and what it actually means to be a son of God the Father. Drawing on his own story—a difficult childhood, a broken early fatherhood, and a daughter's life-threatening premature birth that cracked everything open—Devin unpacks why men...

In a world engineered to keep men indoors and inside their heads, philosopher and author Sebastian Morello—student of the late Roger Scruton and author of The Woodland Philosophy —argues that the path back to reality, to genuine culture, and to God runs through the wild. Drawing on a life of fox hunting, deer stalking, and spearfishing, Sebastian makes the moral and philosophical case that the hun...

The men who shaped you left you something—a set of stories, images, and convictions you draw on long after they're gone. Dr. Jason Baxter, Dante scholar and author of The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis and Why Literature Still Matters , joins Jason Craig to make the case that literature is the hidden architecture of masculine formation—and that fathers who neglect it are leaving their sons with less...

Jason Craig sits down with Stephen Crotts—illustrator of Malcolm Guite's Galahad and the Grail —to talk about what it means to be a maker in an age of AI slop, why creativity is a duty rooted in the Imago Dei, and how recovering a sense of place is essential to being human.  In This Episode, We Cover: Why AI can never bear the Imago Dei—and what that means for human art and expression The differen...

Rick Seigmund spent two decades on the front lines of federal law enforcement fighting human trafficking and online predation — and came home with a message most men aren't ready to hear. Now a woodworker, finish carpenter, and founder of the Family Readiness Project, Rick joins Jason to connect what might seem like two very different callings: building something permanent, and protecting somethin...

David Russell Mosley—convert, poet, and teacher —joins Jason Craig to discuss the cultural heritage of the Church, the importance of aesthetic choices, and what it means to be present as a father. They explore how classical education should prepare children not to live in the past, but to make new things worthy of the tradition they've inherited. In This Episode, We Cover: The "tweed-y pipe" aesth...

Dr. Jacob Imam of The College of St. Joseph the Worker and New Polity joins Jason to talk about a school that refuses to choose between the life of the mind and the life of the hands. The College of St. Joseph the Worker trains men in both the Catholic intellectual tradition and the skilled trades, graduating students with two certifications and no debt. In This Episode, We Cover: Dr. Imam's origi...

Joe Heschmeyer has spent nearly two decades at the forefront of Catholic apologetics—first as a blogger and lawyer, now as an apologist for Catholic Answers. In this conversation with Jason Craig, Joe unpacks what the explosion of online apologetics has gotten right, where it  goes wrong, and what Catholic men most need to hear about bringing the faith from the internet into actual life. In This E...

Gregory Wolfe has spent 40 years hunting for something most men assume doesn't exist anymore: serious, beautiful, Catholic literature written by people still alive. As the founder of Image journal and now publisher of Slant Books, he's found it—and he's here to make the case that the Church's artistic tradition isn't in a museum. It's being written right now by people you've never heard of. That's...

Ross Arlen Tieken is a writer, educator, and seventh-generation Texan whose path into the Church ran through paganism, medieval scholarship, and a profound encounter with beauty. In this conversation with Jason Craig, Ross traces how a childhood hunger for something worth worshiping—cultivated on a farm in Shiner, Texas—led him from neo-paganism and a grant-funded expedition to study druids in rur...

Jason Craig sits down with Joshua Gibbs, a classical literature teacher of 19 years, author, and director of the Classical Teaching Institute at the Ambrose School to talk about what it actually takes to form young men and women. Drawing from his book A Parlay with Youth and his essay "Overgrown Adolescence," Gibbs offers hard-won wisdom on taste, discipline, coeducation, and what perpetual adoles...

Walker Larson is a writer, former classical school teacher, and the voice behind The Hazelnut Substack, a journal dedicated to the pursuit of the good, the true, and the beautiful in literature and culture. In this conversation, Jason and Walker reflect on what it means to build rather than merely critique, the dangers of internet narratives, Wendell Berry's "age of divorce," and why every father...

Jason Craig sits down with longtime friend and fellow veteran of the Catholic men's online world, Sam Guzman, the founder of The Catholic Gentleman and now a practicing counselor. They take an unflinching look at where the Catholic Manosphere started, where it's gone wrong, and why resentment and pseudo-wisdom are poor substitutes for real masculine formation.  In This Episode, We Cover: The rise...

What does it actually mean to be literate, and do men in the trenches of daily life actually have time for it? Jason Craig sits down with John Clarke of Cluny Media to make the case that reading is less a cultural pastime and more a spiritual necessity, as essential to a man's formation as physical training is to his body. In This Episode, We Cover: Why literacy is like athleticism: a trainable ca...

Mark Adderley is an English convert to Catholicism, high school literature teacher, and author of a 10-book Catholic adventure series for boys. In this episode, he traces his unlikely path from militant atheism to the Church through Arthurian legend, C.S. Lewis, and the power of story. In This Episode, We Cover: How Mark went from the Church of England, to atheist, to convicted Catholic through th...

In this episode, we discuss:  Why the virtue of religion falls under justice  Why tithing is not generosity but justice  What Christian Smith's research actually shows determines whether children keep the faith—and why Catholic schools and youth groups rank second  How moralistic therapeutic deism has quietly replaced authentic religion, even inside the Church, and what we've lost in the process ...

Cody and Sebastion share their journey from schooling to careers in framing and construction instead of college. They discuss starting in the trades as teenagers, launching a construction company, Atlas, choosing to stay rooted in their local community, converting to Catholicism, and building a culture of craftsmanship. The conversation explores work-life integration, mentorship, competency over a...

Jason sits down with Joel Stroot, a permaculture farmer and dentist from Dallas, North Carolina, who runs an 85-acre beyond-organic farm called Faith Family Farm. They explore what it means to live authentically as Catholics in modern America, particularly when it comes to raising families. Joel shares the wisdom passed down from his father about living by faith, family, and farm—in that order. He...

Sean Tario, a seasoned digital privacy advocate, and Jason Craig discuss the influence of tech giants, including Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon. With over 20 years of experience, Sean shares his journey from Silicon Valley to becoming a co-founder of Mark37.com, focusing on digital sovereignty and localism. In this episode, we explore the control of big tech on our privacy and auto...

Whether you’re a father, educator, or simply interested in the relationship between faith, work, and family, this episode offers thoughtful insights and practical wisdom for building a life rooted in purpose. In this episode, Jason welcomes Chad Rosamond for a candid conversation about fatherhood, education, and guiding children into adulthood. Drawing from their own experiences as fathers, homesc...

In this episode, Jason Craig welcomes John Oliver , a veteran voice actor and Catholic convert. John shares his remarkable story of faith, his candid struggle with addiction and recovery, and his passion for telling forgotten stories of the American Revolution through film. Topics Include: John’s conversion to Catholicism through a profound encounter at Mass The role of faith and community in over...