As Lent begins this week, our co-hosts Jen Mauro and Mike Walsh wanted to help everyone get into the spirit of the season so they invited on to the show Fr. Ed Kolla, retired priest and regular contributor to the Catholic Star Herald newspaper, and Donna Ottaviano-Britt, head of the Diocese of Camden’s Secretariat for Pastoral Outreach. The group chat about the uniqueness of Ash Wednesday and the three pillars of the Lenten season - sacrifice, prayer, alms giving - and the many forms those can take. Fr. Kolla’s GREAT columns can be found here: https://catholicstarherald.org/author/father-edward-kolla/ Listen to Talking Catholic everywhere podcasts can be found, at https://talking.catholicstarherald.org/show/talking-catholic, or catch us on Domestic Church Media radio Sundays at 11 AM or Mondays at 4 PM domesticchurchmedia.org. Follow us on... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkingCatholic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingcatholic Twitter: https://twitter.com/talkingcatholic

It’s a hosts-only episode this week, and Mike Walsh was surprised to learn it’s the 5th anniversary of the podcast! He and Jen Mauro chat a little about the history of the show and some news items from the week, including two New Jersey Catholic Conference legislative alerts, a Knights of Columbus team-up to help tornado victims in Kentucky and a Synod and Eucharistic Revival update. As for the 5th anniversary, we promise to do something nice for it in the near future, maybe even our first live audience show since the 100th episode! Listen to Talking Catholic everywhere podcasts can be found, at https://talking.catholicstarherald.org/show/talking-catholic, or catch us on Domestic Church Media radio Sundays at 11 AM or Mondays at 4 PM domesticchurchmedia.org. Follow us on... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkingCatholic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingcatholic Twitter: https://twitter.com/talkingcatholic

Much to our co-host Mike Walsh’s surprise, it’s Catholic Press Month! His far wiser co-host Jen Mauro set him straight and the two brought together a legendary grouping of Catholic journalists to chat about the vocation. Joining us today is J.D. Long-Garcia, a senior editor at America Magazine (and past-president of the Catholic Media Association); Matthew Gambino, director & general manager of Catholic Philly; and out own Catholic Star Herald staff writer (and multi-award winning podcaster) Peter Sanchez. The crew chat about their various routes to the Catholic journalist profession, the changes they’ve seen in this media space, and their dedication to telling the Catholic truth, despite the difficulties it can cause. To read more from J.D., go to: https://www.americamagazine.org/voices/jd-long-garcia To read more from Matt, go to: https://catholicphilly.com/ To read more from Pete, go to: https://catholicstarherald.org/author/peter/ Listen to Talking Catholic everywhere podcasts can be found, at https://talking.catholicstarherald.org/show/talking-catholic, or catch us on Domestic Church Media radio Sundays at 11 AM or Mondays at 4 PM domesticchurchmedia.org. Follow us on... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkingCatholic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingcatholic Twitter: https://twitter.com/talkingcatholic

On today’s Talking Saints, hosts Laurie and Pete share the buzz on Saint Abigail, patron saint of honeybees and beekeepers.  This medieval Irish saint from County Clare, Ireland, also known as Saint Gobnait, left her domestic family to find a home serving God and his people.  In this episode, learn more about this saint’s literal path to holiness, and the glory of living a life worthy of eternity. Listen to Talking Saints with Laurie Power and Pete Sanchez on the Talking Catholic channel at Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Alexa or at https://talking.catholicstarherald.org/show/talking-saints/.  Follow us on… Facebook: www.facebook.com/TalkingCatholic Instagram: www.instagram.com/talkingcatholic Twitter: twitter.com/talkingcatholic

This week we continue our occasional series on women religious by chatting with Sister Stacie Marie Gagnon of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We chat with her about her own vocation calling and the unique twists and turns it took, including long stints in Europe, the Middle East and China, before returning stateside for the moment as she’s teaching fifth-graders in Saint Michael the Archangel Regional School in Clayton, NJ. She left our hosts Kari Janisse and Mike Walsh speechless more than once with her vocation story :) Sister Stacie has been featured in a few of our sister outlets recently, too, in print and on YouTube: Catholic Star Herald newspaper: https://catholicstarherald.org/communicating-the-gospel-through-consecrated-life/ Youth Ministry Insights show: https://talking.catholicstarherald.org/podcast/youth-ministry-insights-sharing-vocation-stories/ Listen to Talking Catholic everywhere podcasts can be found, at https://talking.catholicstarherald.org/show/talking-catholic, or catch us on Domestic Church Media radio Sundays at 11 AM or Mondays at 4 PM domesticchurchmedia.org. Follow us on... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkingCatholic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingcatholic Twitter: https://twitter.com/talkingcatholic

It’s one of our favorite weeks of the year, Catholic Schools Week, where we take a few days to revel in the Catholic school experience and encourage families to consider a Catholic school education for their children. Our hosts Marianela Nunez and Mike Walsh are joined by three great Catholic elementary school principals: Patti Paulsen of Holy Angels School in Woodbury, Sr. Michele DeGregorio of St. Margaret’s School in Woodbury Heights, and Kathy O’Callaghan of St. Peter’s School in Merchantville. The group discusses wha makes a Catholic education the gift of a lifetime and why they have chosen to remain in Catholic education for so long. To learn more about South Jersey Catholic Schools check out: https://southjerseycatholicschools.org. Listen to Talking Catholic everywhere podcasts can be found, at https://talking.catholicstarherald.org/show/talking-catholic, or catch us on Domestic Church Media radio Sundays at 11 AM or Mondays at 4 PM domesticchurchmedia.org. Follow us on... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkingCatholic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingcatholic Twitter: https://twitter.com/talkingcatholic

The parish level portion of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops has completed in the Diocese of Camden, so we invited the co-chair of the diocesan efforts, Donna Ottaviano-Britt, on to the show to discuss the process so far, what the plan is for the spring, and what she would advise other dioceses who are still working through the parish process. It’s a very informative chat with our hosts Jen Mauro and Mike Walsh. [Producer’s note: Mike referenced in the episode the parish document they are beginning the review phase for, sadly he was wrong when he said it was 12,000 words long. It’s actually 120,000 words long!) Listen to Talking Catholic everywhere podcasts can be found, at talking.catholicstarherald.org/show/talk…-catholic, or catch us on Domestic Church Media radio Sundays at 11 AM or Mondays at 4 PM domesticchurchmedia.org. Follow us on... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkingCatholic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingcatholic Twitter: https://twitter.com/talkingcatholic

It’s bittersweet day at Talking Catholic, one of our favorite guests and colleagues is leaving Catholic Charities, Diocese of Camden for bigger things. Over the last 5 years, Cristina Chillem has gone from a volunteer straight out of college to an expert grant writer and program director overseeing the Health and Wellness initiative in Salem County. She’s moving on to take the reigns of another organization in Salem County as executive director, but before she goes, Mary McCusker and Mike Walsh sit down with her to discuss her time at Catholic Charities, what she’s learned and what she’ll be taking with her to the new job. We’ll miss her greatly, but we’re thrilled she’ll be bringing the tenets of Catholic Charities to a new population!

With big legislative news in New Jersey having been announced today, we decided to bring you an emergency crossover Talking Catholic and Am I Not Here podcast to bring everyone up to speed on the details. Joining Am I Not Here host Tara Smith and Talking Catholic host Mike Walsh is the New Jersey Catholic Conference executive director James King and Jennifer Ruggiero, head of the Secretariat for Family and Pastoral Life for the Diocese of Metuchen. The New Jersey State Senate and General Assembly have this week released from committees two bills, S49 & A6260, that would codify and, potentially, expand access to abortion in the state. Jim and Jennifer discuss the intricacies of the bills and what all Catholics and New Jerseyans can do to make their opposition heard by state politicians. The bills are expected to be voted on no later than Monday, January 10. To learn more about these bills and to notify your representative, go to: https://njcatholic.org/faith-in-action. We also discuss on the show today several other pro-life concerns at both the state and federal level. Listen to Talking Catholic (https://talking.catholicstarherald.org/show/talking-catholic) and Am I Not Here (https://lightingheartsonfire.org/aminothere) everywhere podcasts can be found. And catch Talking Catholic on Domestic Church Media radio Sundays at 11 AM or Mondays at 4 PM https://domesticchurchmedia.org. Follow us on... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkingCatholic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingcatholic Twitter: https://twitter.com/talkingcatholic

Talking Saints kicks off the New Year with a discussion on this month’s Saint, John Neumann.  Hosts Laurie and Pete dive into the life of this 19th century Bohemia-born Redemptorist and American bishop, who built more than 90 churches and established the first Catholic diocesan school system in the United States.  This missionary can teach all how to courageously serve the Lord, no matter where the journey takes us.  Saint John Neumann, patron saint of immigrants and educators, pray for us! Listen to Talking Saints with Laurie Power and Pete Sanchez on the Talking Catholic channel at Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Alexa or at https://talking.catholicstarherald.org/show/talking-saints/.  Follow us on… Facebook: www.facebook.com/TalkingCatholic Instagram: www.instagram.com/talkingcatholic Twitter: twitter.com/talkingcatholic