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 easy to fill our time with something else rather than building upon the foundation we worked on throughout the year.

So how can we use these months to actually grow and enrich our faith rather than neglecting it? How can we transition our time with God from something we “have to do” to something we “want to do?”

Today, we’re chatting with Margot Kimmick of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Mechanicsburg about some small, realistic and impactful ways we can use this season of relaxation and renewal to enrich our faith this season.

Ministries we mentioned:

Gather together (steas.net)

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 himself to the faithful and get to know them, as well as making visits to the Diocese’s six high schools and a number of its elementary schools.

Today, we have the honor and privilege of sitting down with Bishop Senior to reflect on his first year as Bishop of Harrisburg, and to look ahead at his vision for the future of our Diocese

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 the inner city – even though it’s been shown statistically, sociologically, and psychologically, that fathers have a massive role in positively impacting their children.

They are an example of both masculinity and tenderness, a physical, earthly extension of God the Father.

So how can we encourage and remind fathers of the value in their vocation?

Today we’re chatting with Jon Leonetti,a nationally known Catholic speaker, best-selling author, and radio host about using Saint Joseph as a model for our livelihood, our love life, and our big V vocations.

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 Sisters of Christian Charity, who’s about to embark on her own transition, she’ll tell you the key to transitioning well is listening to and following God’s plan for your life. It’s about letting him orchestrate your life – all we have to do is say yes.

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 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. Today, I’m excited to tackle the topic of movement with Dr. Rachel Ciliberti, a family chiropractor and Pietra Fitness instructor on a mission to help us glorify God with the movement of our bodies.

Learn More about Pietra Fitness:

Strengthen Your Body, Mind, and Soul • Pietra Fitness

Donate to the Diocesan Annual Campaign:

Nourished by Faith - 2024 Diocesan Annual Campaign - Diocese of Harrisburg (hbgdiocese.org)

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 longer just fishermen or tax collectors – they were called to preach the word of God, just like the 11 seminarians in formation for the priesthood in our Diocese.

But how do we know if the path we’re on is the right one? How do we know if we’re being called?

Father Josh Weaver, director of vocations for the Diocese of Harrisburg, joins me today to walk through what it means to discern a vocation and how you can support someone in your life who feels called to this special service.

Donate to the Penecost Collection:

Pentecost Collection (hbgdiocese.org)

Contact the Vocations Office:

Vocations - Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg (hbgdiocese.org)

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 doing it well. So how can we remember to see ourselves the way God sees us, to recognize the goodness in ourselves as easily as we recognize it in others? Father Tim Sahd, pastor of Seven Sorrows Parish, joins us today to unpack this notion of being “good enough” and why God lets us figure out our path on our own.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and today I’m honored to welcome to the program Deacon Ed Shoener, who is a founding member of the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers and the Catholic Institute of Mental Health Ministry at the University of San Diego. He serves on the Council on Mental Illness of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability and has authored several books on suicide. Along with his family and friends, Deacon Ed founded “The Katie Foundation” after his daughter, Kathleen, died by suicide in 2016. Her obituary went viral because it spoke to the needs and concerns of people who live with mental illness.

When I was a kid, being Catholic was just something I “did.” I went to church because my parents made me, same thing for Catholic school. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized what my parents were giving me was a foundation to stand on, a home to come home to no matter how far I travelled.

I want to lay the same foundation for my sons. How can we do our best, as parents and caregivers, as the hands and feet of Jesus, to teach the faith to others?

Becky Davis, the family ministries coordinator for St. Joseph’s Parish in Mechanicsburg sits down with me to unpack all the wonderful resources available to those wo want to learn and those who want to support others in their faith journeys.