Forte Catholic Podcast: Making Catholicism Fun Again

Happy Easters!!!! We hope you enjoyed your Easter day and are continuing to enjoy the celebration of this great season! This week, Allison Sullivan cohosts as we discuss how our Lent's went, Easter joy and Taylor being the balance in the Force. Our guest this week is Fr. Joseph-Anthony Kress, a Dominican priest who is the chaplain at the University of Virginia. We talk about how he and Taylor met(including a dino suit, a car wreck and a bar). We also talk about what young adults need most to grow in holiness and feel a part of the Church. The show wraps up with a conversation on Allison's upcoming live recording of her podcast on the topic of race. We start the discussion on this touchy topic and why we should have these often difficult conversations. BONUS: The commercials on this episode are all brand new and are honestly Taylor's pride and joy :) Subscribe/Rate Never miss out on the craziness of each episode by hitting the subscribe button RIGHT NOW! Help other people find the show and #MakeCatholicismFun

Bearded Blevins co-hosts this week as we discuss Tiger Woods return to Master’s victory and what it has to do with Taylor’s working out and spiritual life. They also talk about the super long Palm Sunday and Good Friday Gospel readings and how to have a good experience with them instead of focusing on your knees buckling for standing up so long. We connect with some of the characters in the Passion narrative that we’ve never really connected with before. Our guest this week is Luke Vercollone, a recently retired professional soccer player who is using his platform to share the Gospel message. His ministry, Beast4Christ, calls everyone to be a saint…and has some amazing apparel! Tune is as we talk about his soccer career, how to strive for sainthood and be a Beast for Christ. Subscribe/Rate Never miss out on the craziness of each episode by hitting the subscribe button RIGHT NOW! Help other people find the show and #MakeCatholicismFunAgain by taking a few moments to leave a review in your podcasting app. Than

The Ministry Madness Bracket results are in! We go through some of the best first round matchups and eventually countdown the Top 10 finishers, all the way down to our winner! Shaun McAfee cohosts to weigh in on the results, share recent travel struggles and once again prove how odd Italy is. Our guest this week is former Broadway/reality TV star and current Catholic mom, speaker and podcaster, Stacey Sumereau. We have a tremendous and hilarious conversation about social media, discernment, ghost husbands and....toes?!?!?! Connect with her at www.staceysumereau.com Subscribe/Rate Never miss out on the craziness of each episode by hitting the subscribe button RIGHT NOW! Help other people find the show and #MakeCatholicismFunAgain by taking a few moments to leave a review in your podcasting app. Thanks! Patreon
 Exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/ForteCatholic. Hours of more show and a great way to help Taylor feed his three hungry children. Deals
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Fr. Anthony Sciarappa co-hosts as he and Taylor talk growth in friendship, demons, the power of Jesus name, & play a game, all through friendly argument and unstoppable laughter. This week's guest is Edmund Mitchell, host of "The Show" a self-proclaimed semi-Catholic podcast. We talk about curating the media we consume & getting out of our bubble. Connect with Edmund at EdmundMitchell.com. Subscribe/Rate Never miss out on the craziness of each episode by hitting the subscribe button RIGHT NOW! Help other people find the show and #MakeCatholicismFunAgain by taking a few moments to leave a review in your podcasting app. Thanks! Patreon 
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In this special edition of the show, we have two different co-hosts, and in person interview & only two segments(cuz we weren't stopping that interview. It was priceless) We start with Shaun McAfee and Taylor talking about why we focus on the negative in situations that are mostly positive. We also have a sneak peek into some of the closest matchups in the ministry madness bracket. In the next segment, Allison Sullivan and guest Liv Harrison join Taylor in studio for one of the wildest interviews we've done. They laugh, walk through a hilarious conflict and it's implications on how we deal with conflict in day to day situations. Subscribe/Rate Never miss out on the craziness of each episode by hitting the subscribe button RIGHT NOW! Help other people find the show and #MakeCatholicismFunAgain by taking a few moments to leave a review in your podcasting app. Thanks! Patreon
 Exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/ForteCatholic. Hours of more show and a great way to help Taylor feed his three hungry children.

Jon Blevins co-hosts this week as we talk updates, Memento Mori and are joined by Paul George to talk marriage. The 3rd annual Ministry Madness Bracket is here! This is a voteable bracket on which Catholic ministry leaders would win in a legal boxing match all decided by you, the listener. Head to MinistryMadness.com for more info and to cast your votes now! We loved our conversation with Paul! One of my biggest issues with how I have seen most marriage prep work is that a picture is cast that everything is going to be beautiful and rosy. Yes, marriage is a beautiful sacrament and gift, but its also hard. Paul hits this right on the head in a very open and honest conversation between the three of us. Find more from Paul at DiscoverTheArtOfLiving.com. In the final segment, Jon and Taylor discuss what Memento Mori means, our previous misconceptions of it and how it is helpful in the spiritual life, especially during Lent. Subscribe/Rate Never miss out on the craziness of each episode by hitting the subscribe b

Fr. Anthony Sciarappa co-hosts as the guys checkin on how Lent is going so far(uhhhh....whoops) and talk about the ups and downs of the last week. The highlight is really talking about shaving Taylor's beard down to a creeper stache. We're also joined by THE lovely Beth Davis of Blessed Is She, this tremendous ministry for Catholic women...that the dudes didn't know much about because...well...the whole dude thing. Beth is tremendous and her joy contagious. She shares her journey and what Blessed Is She is all about. Find out more at blessedisshe.net. Subscribe/Rate Never miss out on the craziness of each episode by hitting the subscribe button RIGHT NOW! Help other people find the show and #MakeCatholicismFunAgain by taking a few moments to leave a review in your podcasting app. Thanks! Patreon
 Exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/ForteCatholic. Hours of more show and a great way to help Taylor feed his three hungry children. Deals
 Catholic Balm Co. ForteCatholic.com/beard for 11% off your next order of

In our 2nd Annual "Limping Into Lent" episode, Taylor lets the audience decide what he's doing for Lent. Allison Sullivan co-hosts as we go through all of the silly, serious and downright awful listener suggestions for what Taylor should do this Lent and ultimately decide by the end of the show. Our guest this week is another attempt to decide if Canada is a real place. Patrick Sullivan is a "Canadian" evangelist who has a project around Catholic review of tv shows. We talk the pros and cons of watching what everyone else is watching & how to find truth, beauty and goodness amidst the muck. Find more from Patrick at Evango.net. Patreon-
Exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/ForteCatholic. Hours of more show and a great way to help Taylor feed his three hungry children. Deals
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In the wake of the 91st Academy Awards, Taylor wanted to give out his own awards. Shaun McAfee co-hosts and the guys talk movies & the Forte Five segment is back as Taylor counts down his favorite movies of the year. Then it gets really interesting as we make up new categories for Scripture to receive some of the awards. Our guest this week is acclaimed G.K. Chesterton mind, Dale Ahlquist. We get to know Chesterton, his conversion story and how he has helped others do the same. How is Chesterton the "prince of paradox" and the "apostle of common sense? Will he become a saint? Tune in to find out! For more on Chesterton, check out Dale’s new book “Knight of the Holy Ghost.” Patreon-
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Allison Sullivan co-hosts and the comedian currently winning the internet, Jeremy McLellan joins as our guest this week! We talk comedy & faith and how he has intertwined those with race and religion. Jeremy has a special gift of making the controversial hilarious. Hear his comedy and story first hand right here! The rest of the show, Taylor and Allison discuss how we often forget that God's love really is unconditional(and Allison gets her preach on again!) We also answer really dumb questions from the audience and Allison absolutely loses it. Truly a special moment in show history lol. Enjoy! Patreon
 Exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/ForteCatholic. Hours of more show and a great way to help Taylor feed his three hungry children. Deals
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BONUS EPISODE-Galentine’s w/Katie Prejean McGrady-Clearing up confusion and a guide to this strange holiday So this all started with a friend of mine who is in a serious relationship hosting a Galentine’s celebration for all of her friends…who are single. She is of the mind that it’s ladies getting together to celebrate female friendship. I think her hosting for all her single friends is the accidentally cruelest thing this sweet lady as ever done lol. So of course, we took the discussion to Twitter with a poll and the results have been coming in almost exactly 50/50 on whether single people want their married/dating friends at Galentine’s. This got Catholic Twitter’s lead on all things “Parks and Rec” involved and we fall on opposite sides of the discussion so we knew we had to record a convo around the Galentine’s phenomenon. So we scheduled it 30 minutes before recording and now it’s here for ya! I also ask Katie to share advice for all of us(male, female, single, married) around the week of Valentine’s/Ga

Jon Blevins co-hosts and gives an update from inside Exodus 90. Taylor's take on the matter has become quite public so we let someone who's in the middle of doing it report on how it's going. Tune in to find out! Joel Stepanek first came on the show as guest co-host on episode 33 and now rejoins to share about humility. His new book "Chasing Humility" is coming out just in time for Lent! It revolves around the Litany of Humility, which Jon and Taylor are terrible at. Joel gives insight into how many of us misunderstand humility. It was a fun and eye-opening convo. The finish off the show, Taylor and Jon discuss dry spells in the spiritual life, how to deal with them & how to get out. And Taylor shares a modern day parenting miracle ;)

Ooooo boy! This one was wild! Taylor got very little sleep and loses it on the air! Fr. Anthony joins and tries to help with the meltdown, but even his priest powers can't resist the tide. We talk Super Bowl, ad orientem Mass, and simple things that should have occurred to Taylor about the liturgy years ago but didn't until this week. Our guest this week is David Bates: British Catholic, fancy word user, owner of glasses which make him seem believable, & former unemployed hobo. Tune in for his accent, stay for his eloquent words on why C.S. Lewis is the man! Check him out at Restlesspilgrim.net and his podcast at pintswithjack.com. Let us know what you thought of the episode! Twitter-@TaylorSchroll & @ForteCatholic Insta-@TaylorSchroll Facebook-@ForteCatholic Patreon-Exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/ForteCatholic. Hours of more show and a great way to help Taylor feed his three hungry children. Deals Catholic Balm Co. 11% off your next order ForteCatholic.com/beard Sock Religious-15% off your next order

Shaun McAfee cohosts as we discuss how there is sooo much more in store for us than we often think in our relationship with God. We also talk about the joys of fatherhood, including conversations about Pokemon, Ariana Grande and what this all has to do with our faith. The guys are joined this week by the founder of "Stay Close to Christ."(StayclosetoChrist.com). We talk about how he was inspired to start a company to help people live their faith, and how it all started in his classroom. We also discuss tips for new dads(from two semi-decent Catholic parents). Use the code "forte" on your next Stay Close to Christ order for 20% off. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe so you don't miss another episode AND give the show a rating. It really helps others find the show so that they too can #MakeCatholicismFunAgain.

Just might be the funniest show yet! Fr. Anthony Sciarappa co-hosts as we talk follow up to the #Exodus90 convo on Ep 117 & how the audience trapped Taylor into becoming a better person. In the second segment, Taylor is joined by youth ministry guru Chris Wesley. They shoot the breeze(literally?), talk about riding other people's coattails, youth ministry stories and how to get out of the ruts we find ourselves in. Check out everything he's doing at Marathon Youth Ministry. And the final segment may be the most ridiculous thing we've ever done. Fr. Anthony wants to blow up the moon!?!?! Taylor shares some spiritual insights in the moon and tries to back Padre into a corner. Was he successful? Tune in and find out! BONUS: If you want another 17 minutes of Fr. Anthony & Taylor arguing about the moon(and it only got more and more insane as we dove deeper), head on over to Patreon.com/ForteCatholic for exclusive content just like this! Catholic Balm Co. Offer Code ForteCatholic.com/Beard Sock Religious Offer Cod

Allison Sullivan co-hosts as we talk about intercessory prayer...and how bad Taylor is at it. Allison essentially preaches up a storm and looks at him with scorn so he will be better. In the second segment, we're joined by Mary Bielski. She travels the nation to speak and has run into Taylor a few times. She leads the convo on authenticity. (If you like this convo, there is a 30min bonus podcast that flows straight from this conversation on Patreon.com/ForteCatholic.) In the final segment, everyone's favorite character on the show, Rocco, joins us to talk about his Eagles losing and the importance of finding healing in order to move forward in the spiritual life. We're doing a giveaway for subscribing to and rating the show! Head to ForteCatholic.com/giveway to find out how you can win!

We had to give the people what they want, so Bearded Blevins rejoins the show! We talk about the recent #Seek2019 conference Taylor attended, how Catholics are awesome and super weird, how we go about New Year's Resolutions and more! This week's guest is the founder of Swole Catholic. It's perfect for this time of year as we all focus on improving spiritually, professionally and physically. Hear all the great things they're doing to help people meet their goals and find wholeness.

To kick off 2019, we did something a bit different with this episode. Shaun McAfee co-hosts and we looked back at the highlights from 2018 to both reminisce and also catch up our newest listeners. In the second segment, Brandon “Be The Symbol” Morel rejoins the show to discuss what the universality of the Church really means practically for him in inner city New York. He’s the man behind most of the music you hear on Forte Catholic. Be sure to check out his art! And finally, we give the people what they’ve been waiting for. We reveal the Top Ten Most Popular podcast episodes of 2018. Tune in to see which shows came out on top! I am so grateful that the podcast grew so much this year, especially in the last few months! Thank y’all so much for your support this year and for sharing the show with your friends. I truly appreciate it.

Merry Christmas from the Forte Catholic crew! We start the show off with a prank on Fr. Anthony! We continue by discussing how to keep Christmas going with a new understanding of peace and what the baby King means to us today. This episode, we are joined by comedian Aaron Weber! Taylor got to see him perform live on his tour with John Crist, thought he was hilarious and invited him on the show. Now that it's not just Taylor & his friends making jokes, this is one you don't want to miss! In the final segment, we are joined by local youth minister Daniel Loch as he shares a heartwarming story about how his church did something extremely special for a young family. The story is inspirational and challenges all of us on what it means to be church. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a rating in iTunes and subscribe. It's a free Christmas present to us! For bonus content from this episode, check out our Patreon community at Patreon.com/fortecatholic. Special Guest: Aaron Weber.

Allison Sullivan co-hosts our final Advent 2018 show! We discuss final Advent ideas & recap the latest live recording event of her podcast Sinner Saint Sister on the topic of Christian Unity. In the second segment, Sandi Pino joins us to talk about a great opportunity we all have to give back and spread joy this season. Taylor also thinks he finally has the parable of the lost sheep figured out.(maybe?) In the final segment, Taylor shares a song he used to despise and now loves and how it defines his(and probably your) struggle with suffering. For bonus content from this episode, check out Patreon.com/ForteCatholic. From all of us here at Forte Catholic, we hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas!