The Catholic Guide to Sustainable Living

In this episode, Dr. Samuel Shephard speaks with Joe Meyer, founder of the Catholic Ecology Center and Laudatory Si’ Project in Wisconsin. Joe shares the inspiring story of how the Holy Spirit led him to share a nonprofit focused on Catholic environmental stewardship, growing from retreats and speaking engagements into a vibrant 60-acre Catholic ecology center. The conversation explores practical ways to form children and families in care for creation through hands on encounters with nature, while rooting everything deeply in Catholic faith, beauty and evangelization.Resources:Catholic Ecology Center

Follow their work on social media for updates on retreats and family programs

In this episode, Dr. Shephard speaks with renowned portrait artist Igor Babialov, known for painting official portraits of world leaders including Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

Igor shares his remarkable journey from starting art training at age 4 in the Soviet Union, entering an elite Moscow art school through national competition, to his classical academic training emphasizing drawing from life. The conversation explores the deeper purpose of traditional art education: learning to truly see the world, the human person as God’s creation, and the importance of embodied skills like drawing in developing perception, character, and creativity. 

Resources:

View the Papal Portraits: Portraits Gallery: https://www.babailov.com/portraits

Instagram: @igor.babailov

In this episode of Sustainable Living with Dr. Shephard, we sit down with Thomas van Horn (full-time beekeeper and homesteader) and Jason Craig (dairy farmer and co-author) to explore Catholic homesteading, family-based businesses, and the deep connection between faith, land, and daily life.

Tommy shares how he built a thriving honey and beeswax candle business while raising a family on 10 acres in Florida. Jason discusses dairy farming, pigs, gardens, and raising 8 children in Western North Carolina. Together they discuss the challenges and joys of moving from consumer to producer, the importance of craft and local economies, regenerative stewardship, and how working the land reshapes our understanding of liturgy, time, family, and fruitfulness.

A rich conversation on practical homesteading, the spirit of poverty, conversion, and building a life rooted in place and tradition.

Resources:

The Liturgy of the Land, available from TAN Books.

In this episode, Samuel and Anna sit down with doula and author Mary Haseltine to explore the beauty, challenge, and profound meaning of childbirth. Drawing on years of experience supporting mothers, Mary shares how birth is designed by God and how fear has shaped modern perceptions of childbirth, and what women can do to prepare for birth with confidence and peace.

Together, they discuss Catholic anthropology, natural birth, the role of fathers, the need for more Catholic midwives, and how families can reclaim a deeper trust in the wisdom built into the human body.

Whether you're expecting a child, supporting someone who is, or simply interested in what it means to be human, this conversation offers a compelling vision of birth as both deeply natural and deeply spiritual.

Resources:

Mary Haseltine's Book: Made for This: The Catholic Mom's Guide to Birth

Made for This Resources

What if fashion could be beautiful, ethical, and faith-driven? Veronica Marrinan, co-founder of Litany, shares how her brand disrupts fast fashion with made-to-measure garments, sustainable sourcing, and a deep focus on care—for people, the planet, and God.

She explains how small-scale fashion can make a big impact, offers smart ways to consume less without sacrificing style, and reflects on the role of faith, stewardship, and personal relationships in clothing.

Explore Litany: https://www.litanynyc.com/

How can Christians properly engage with climate change? Dr. Samuel Shephard talks with Lorna Gold, co-founder of the Laudato Si' Movement, about Pope Francis’ vision for caring for creation. They explore how "ecological conversion," sustainable living, and community engagement make environmental stewardship a natural expression of faith.

Jason Craig and Thoman van Horn, authors of The Liturgy of the Land, join Dr. Samuel Shephard to explore what it means to live a truly integrated, faith-filled life on the land. Drawing on years of homesteading, regenerative agriculture, and Catholic tradition, they discuss how working with creation can deepen our connection to God, family, and community. From beekeeping and seasonal farming to cultivating a productive home and embracing simplicity, Jason and Tommy share both the challenges and rewards of a lifestyle rooted in stewardship, faith, and the rhythms of the natural world.

What does it mean to truly belong to the land — and what do we lose when that connection is severed?

Sebastian Morello, philosopher at St. Mary's University in London and author of Woodland Philosophy: Meditations on Hunting, Hiking and Holiness, joins Dr. Samuel Shephard to explore what it means to be a country person in an age of urban disconnection. Drawing on his Catholic faith, his grandfather's stalking knives, and years of managing the landscape, Sebastian makes the case that country people possess a kind of embodied, irreplaceable knowledge — and that Westminster's constant interference is quietly destroying the very countryside it claims to protect.

Woodland Philosophy is available wherever books are sold.

Lorine Bennett, author of A Little Way of Living with Less, joins Dr. Samuel Shephard to explore what St. Thérèse of Lisieux has to teach us about our relationship with material possessions. Lorine reflects on how the "little way" of the beloved French saint offers a spiritual framework for simplifying our lives — not by discarding everything we own, but by approaching detachment with intentionality, gratitude, and faith.

Dr. Samuel Shephard talks with Dr. Joel Stroot about permaculture through a Catholic lens. Dr. Stroot explores how sustainable design principles connect to creation care, stewardship, and our relationship with the natural world.