Podcast - Catholic Creatives

This week, we speak with Matt Meeks, the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In this podcast, Matt shares his personal journey of discovering his vocation and his passion for digital marketing and creating unity in the Church. He tells us how he went from being a crazy college kid who held a professor’s planter canaries ransom to being a leader in the New Renaissance of Catholic digital evangelization and working with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He talks about the importance of being a unified church in pursuing our mission to evangelize and also gives advice to those at the beginning of their careers on how to seize opportunities and make decisions.

This week, we speak with Keith Hamilton, Catholic entrepreneur and creator of The Great Commission Summit. In this podcast, Anthony and Keith discuss the need for unity and collaboration in the Catholic world. They talk about capitalism, the story behind the birth of the GC Summit, and how healthy businesses can change the world.

This week, we have a conversation with Sarah Yaklic, digital media specialist and director of the Grotto Network. In this podcast, Marcellino and Sarah discuss changing the paradigm of how we as Catholic Creatives use and think about social media. They talk about what transformation in social media platforms would look like, how the Father calls us to work alongside him in this mission, and how we can encourage one another to create in freedom with the Father and fight the urge to perform.

This week, we have a real and vulnerable conversation with Megan Harrington, producer of the documentary The Dating Project. Anthony and Megan discuss her experience making the film and dive into what she learned about the dating problem from working on the project. During the interview, they share stories from their own dating experiences, talk about the relationship between sex and the dating problem, and address issues such as first dates, breakups, rejection, pornography, and shame. Thank you to our Patreon sponsors for making this podcast possible.

This week, we’re talking with Frank Hanna, an investor of 35 years and author of the books A Graduate’s Guide to Life and What Your Money Means. In this podcast, Marcellino and Frank have an enlightening discussion about God’s gifts of money and wealth. They talk about Frank’s experiences growing up in a business-oriented family, the Church’s scarcity mindset when it comes to talking about money, and how we need to change that mindset to be one of gratitude and trust.

This week, Anthony is joined by Angela Wasko. Having previously worked at TOMS Shoes, she is now working as the social media manager for FOCUS Ministries. Growing up on a farm in rural Iowa, Angela found her creative roots in a unique and entrepreneurial way. Despite being a very different lifestyle from her childhood, she was encouraged to take risks that led her to exciting opportunities. She talks about her experiences of putting in the hard yards to create opportunities, how being out of her element and comfort zone helped her find her faith, her personal WHY, and making the transition from a secular corporation to working for the Catholic Church and what the trials of balancing work and faith life are for both of those work environments. Join the discussion on what would it look like if we worked together as ministries to most efficiently utilize social media. How many more could we reach?

This week, Anthony speaks to Patrick Kilner, owner of TowerHill Realty, a real estate brokerage company. Patrick is an intensely devoted husband and father of seven free-range kids. Patrick discusses how fatherhood has framed everything in his life, even the way he leads his business. He explains the importance of being dispensable at work, how to find the right vessels for one’s talents and skills, and how to create a culture of sacrifice and hard work. Having faced the death of a child, he also delves into the process of mourning and the effect that has had on his work philosophy.

This week Marcellino talks with Madison Mitchell: singer, dancer, and actress. She is passionately Catholic and finding success performing in Broadway musicals, most recently having been a member of Cats. They discuss theatrics and find comparisons to the liturgy in how people are drawn to encounter a different reality. She explains how she finds a connection to God through her performances and how to be re-inspired again and again within the monotony of performances. They then dive deep into the necessity of having open and empathetic conversations about difficult issues, and why one has to be a multidimensional person to see others as multidimensional. A big thanks to our Patreon sponsors for making this podcast possible.

Today, we’re talking with Bob Keith, entrepreneur, teacher, and businessman who has co-founded many startups and currently teaches at the business school of the Catholic University of America. In this podcast, we hear about his journey from consulting at Fortune 500 companies to becoming a Catholic and working with with spiritual entrepreneurs. Bob and Anthony talk about the church’s deep entrepreneurial roots and how we can learn business and startup lessons from the leaders in the Church’s past.

This week, Anthony chats with MariVi Deliz and Therese Bussen about their involvement in the 8beats project. MariVi is a communications jack of all trades for a secular non-profit. She ran the 8beats IndieGoGo campaign and was a large force for its success. Terese has been a writer for the Denver Catholic newspaper and now is a freelance writer and expectant mom. She came on board with 8beats to be a writer and ended up as a full-blown marketing director and strategist. They discuss how wounds that are created and triggered by systems and mindsets in the Church can be healed even while having to work with the very things that caused them. Therese and MariVi also share their tips on putting together a crowdfunding campaign, how to get over the fear of starting, and how to decide what is worth volunteering your time and talents for by looking at deep desires versus being guilted into it.   A big thanks to our Patreon sponsors for making this podcast possible.

Today we spend some time in deep philosophical discussion with Christopher Haley. Director of Communications at the Hildebrand Project. Christopher is a poetry-loving former atheist who once started a philosophy club in high school and eventually made his way to the Catholic Church. He talks with us about living the reflective life, his journey to the faith, the philosophy of Christian Personalism, and the best way to smoke a pipe in your home study.

Today, we’re talking with Jared Zimmerer, a husband and father of 6, and bodybuilder/fitness enthusiast who works as an author, speaker, and writer for Word on Fire. In this podcast, Jared and Anthony have a great discussion about how to bring your body into the spiritual journey. They talk about how ascetic practices like working out, cold showers, and fasting can help impact your spiritual life, what the Catholic Church can learn from the fitness community, and how fitness and Theology of the Body are connected.

Hey everybody and welcome to the podcast, where we get together to learn from leaders in the Catholic Creative world every week. Fun fact I wanted to share with you all: we now have listeners in over 25 countries, including Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. So wherever you are right now, thank you for listening. Today, we’re talking with Jason Jensen, a married father of 4 from Vancouver and the Director of Strategy at Glass Canvas. Glass Canvas recently hosted the Catholic Creatives team to talk about future strategy for the organization, and today, Marcellino and Jason talk about speaking the unspoken to be more effective, why it’s dangerous to confuse identity and vocation, how the Father wants to pour love out on us every day, and why willing to be small is the Church’s answer to the modern world. A big thank you to our Patreon sponsors who make this podcast possible.

Hey everybody and welcome to the podcast, where we talk to leaders in the Catholic Creative world and share their stories and insights with you. We hope that you had an awesome Christmas season and a great start to the new year. Today, we’re talking with brothers Joe and Tommy Marshall about their work in web and software development. Joe and Tommy both spoke at the first Catholic Creatives summit, and in this episode they share their experience of starting an agency in their parents’ attic, recording an album that now earns them less than a dollar a year on Spotify, changing their careers from freelance to working at big agencies, and growing communities within the Church. A big thank you to our Patreon sponsors who make this podcast possible.

Hello and welcome back to the Catholic Creatives podcast, where we talk to leaders, creators, and risk-takers in the Catholic world and share their stories and insights with you. This is Conor, and today marks our 40th podcast episode, so thank you for being a loyal listener. Today, we’re talking with Matt Pinto, founder and president of Ascension Press, about his journey of Catholic entrepreneurship and ministry. Matt is a great example of someone bringing the lessons of entrepreneurship and the business world into the service of the church in a powerful way, so I’m excited for us to learn from him and get inspired to face our own creative challenges. This episode is brought to you by our Patreon sponsors -- thank you all so much for your support. Let’s get started!