Best Fr. Michael Black Podcasts (2025)

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May 31: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary 6:25

2d ago6:25

6:25

May 31: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Feast; Liturgical Color: White Two young mothers and their treasures meet Only in the Catholic Church would a Feast Day first celebrated in the thirteenth century be considered “new.” But that is when the Visitation first appeared in some liturgical calendars. Our oldest liturgical feasts date from the …

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May 29: Saint Paul VI, Pope 6:57

3d ago6:57

6:57

May 29: Saint Paul VI, Pope 1897–1978 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White An erudite introvert helms the Church in stormy waters Over the two millennia of its storied existence, the papacy has piled prestige upon power upon privilege like so many bricks in a high, impregnable, theological fortress. The Bishop of Rome is without doubt the wor…

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196 - Theology of Hiking - Fr. John Nepil 45:56

5d ago45:56

45:56

Fr. John Nepil, priest and mountaineer, joins the podcast to discuss his book To Heights and Unto Depths: Letters from the Colorado Trail. Topics discussed include: The modern view of "nature" vs. God's creation A morally responsible approach to risk-taking The modern origins of hiking as a secular activity "Wilderness" vs. "garden" - Catholic atti…

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May 27: Saint Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop 6:29

5d ago6:29

6:29

May 27: Saint Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop Early Sixth Century–604 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of England The Church’s Augustus conquered by example Gaius Octavius Thurinus was a noble Roman. Julius Caesar became his stepfather when he adopted Octavius, posthumously, in his will. Octavius then added his dead stepfathe…

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May 26: Saint Philip Neri, Priest 6:47

6d ago6:47

6:47

May 26: Saint Philip Neri, Priest 1515–1595 Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of Rome, humor and joy Everyone saw the halo Saint Philip Neri often begged alms from his wealthy friends and acquaintances to redistribute to needy children. On one occasion, he approached a friend, held out his hand, and asked him, once again, for a few coi…

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May 25: Saint Bede the Venerable, Priest and Doctor 6:15

7d ago6:15

6:15

May 25: Saint Bede the Venerable, Priest and Doctor c. 672–735 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of scholars Life’s drama is found in going deeper, not wider There is no world bigger than a monk’s cell. Those four, high walls shape thought like hard, steep banks contain the flow of a river. Rock curtains hanging on both sides …

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May 25: Saint Gregory VII, Pope, Religious 6:12

8d ago6:12

6:12

May 25: Saint Gregory VII, Pope, Religious c. 1015–1085 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White A pope dies on the run The last words spoken by Pope Saint Gregory VII were “I have loved justice and hated iniquity, that is why I die in exile.” His enemies would have claimed that they loved justice equally as much but understood it differently, wh…

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May 25: Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, Virgin 5:59

9d ago5:59

5:59

May 25: Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, Virgin 1566-1607 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of the sick Life’s true drama is on the inside Today’s Carmelite saint was the Italian counterpart to Spain’s famous Carmelite, Teresa of Ávila, although Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi is less well known than her Spanish contemporary. Teresa w…

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May 22: Saint Rita of Cascia, Religious 5:12

10d ago5:12

5:12

May 22: Saint Rita of Cascia, Religious c. 1386–1457 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of abuse victims, sterility, and difficult marriages She suffered for two spouses Rita Lotti gave birth to her first son at the age of twelve. Fortunately the child was not born out of wedlock. Rita’s husband had been chosen for her by her p…

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May 21: Saint Christopher Magallanes, Priest & Martyr, & Companions, Martyrs 7:41

11d ago7:41

7:41

May 21: Saint Christopher Magallanes, Priest and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs Fr. Magallanes: 1869–1927; 22 priests and 3 laymen: 1915-1937, the majority killed between 1926-1929 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: Red A Mexican bloodletting The governor of Mexico’s Tabasco state in the 1920s, Garrido Canabal, was so insanely anti-Catholic that…

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May 20: Saint Bernardine of Siena, Priest 6:18

12d ago6:18

6:18

May 20: Saint Bernardine of Siena, Priest 1380–1444 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of advertising and gambling A sensational preacher popularizes the Holy Name devotion Saint Bernardine of Siena was the Billy Graham of his day. Graham was a well-known American evangelist who traveled ceaselessly from city to city preaching …

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May 18: Saint John I, Pope and Martyr 6:51

14d ago6:51

6:51

May 18: Saint John I, Pope and Martyr c. Late Fifth Century–526 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: Red The pope is crushed in a secular vice by two worldly masters The early Popes were Roman citizens who retained their birth or baptismal names upon being elected to the See of Peter. Their names perfectly reflect a flourishing Roman culture rather…

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May 15: Saint Isidore 6:30

17d ago6:30

6:30

May 15: Saint Isidore c. 1080–1130 Optional Memorial (U.S.A.); Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of farmers and brick layers Our daily duties are not a distraction from God’s will It would be wonderful to see in a church a marble statue of a nurse taking a patient’s blood pressure. It would be edifying to see in a Basilica’s bright stained glass…

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May 14: Saint Matthias, Apostle 6:04

18d ago6:04

6:04

May 14: Saint Matthias, Apostle First Century Feast; Liturgical Color: Red Patron Saint of alcoholics and tailors The Twelve were deeply biblical—Judas had to be replaced Conservative Muslims believe that any territory that was once settled and governed by the adherents of Mohammed pertains forever and always to the Caliphate. Once Islamic, always …

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May 13: Our Lady of Fatima 7:00

19d ago7:00

7:00

May 13: Our Lady of Fatima 1917 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Like the moon’s mellow glow, Mary reflects a greater light The ancient Greco-Roman world that Christianity replaced was deeply devoted to the gods, not God. Its landscape was dotted with a thousand shrines, oracles, sacred caves, and holy mountains where the god of this and …

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May 12: Saints Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs 6:21

20d ago6:21

6:21

May 12: Saints Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs c. Early Second Century Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: Red Roman soldiers made good martyrs The earliest manuscript proving the existence of Roman Emperor Julius Caesar, a copy of one of his works, dates from the ninth century A.D.  Caesar was stabbed to death in 44 B.C. So approximately nine hundr…

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May 12: Saint Pancras, Martyr 5:17

20d ago5:17

5:17

May 12: Saint Pancras, Martyr Third Century Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: Red Patron Saint of children, jobs, and health A fatherless teen discovers a treasure worth life itself In the late 500s, Pope Saint Gregory the Great appointed monks to staff a small church in Rome, already almost three hundred years old, which was dedicated to Saint …

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May 10: Saint Damien de Veuster of Moloka’i, Priest (U.S.A.) 6:44

22d ago6:44

6:44

May 10: Saint Damien de Veuster of Moloka’i, Priest (U.S.A.) 1840–1889 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of those suffering leprosy A joyful celibate brings hope and dignity to the walking dead It is often just one decision that releases the bolt, opening the door to a new life. The first step down a new road of a thousand sma…

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May 10: St. John of Avila, Priest & Doctor 6:03

23d ago6:03

6:03

May 10: Saint John of Ávila, Priest and Doctor 1499-1569 Optional Memorial: Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of Andalusia Spain and Spanish clergy His humble epitaph reads “I was a sower” Some of the most passionate and daring missionaries stayed close to home. They never sailed the high seas or crossed a snow-capped mountain. Today’s saint was…

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May 3: Saints Philip & James, Apostles 6:37

29d ago6:37

6:37

May 3: Saints Philip & James, Apostles First Century Feast; Liturgical Color: Red Patron Saint of hatmakers and pastry chefs (Philip) and pharmacists (James) The smaller the town the bigger the man The popes follow one another chronologically just like the presidents of the United States. One after another, after another, each inheriting the powers…

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May 2: Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor 6:10

1M ago6:10

6:10

May 2: Saint Athanasius, Bishop & Doctor c. 295–373 Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of theologians A fiery Egyptian saves the Trinity  The First Sunday of Advent of 2011 introduced to the faithful a new liturgical translation of the Mass in many English-speaking countries. The new translation had been many years in the making and had…

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May 1: Saint Joseph the Worker 5:50

1M ago5:50

5:50

May 1: Saint Joseph the Worker Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of workers God wanted a working man to father Jesus Besides the Virgin Mary, there are just two saints who have more than one feast day dedicated to their honor on the Church’s universal calendar: Saint John the Baptist and Saint Joseph. Pope Pius XII instituted …

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April 30: Saint Pius V, Pope 6:40

1M ago6:40

6:40

April 30: Saint Pius V, Pope 1504–1572 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith One Shepherd, one flock, one Lord, one Church Saint Pius V is buried in the Sistine Chapel, but not “that” Sistine Chapel. His body lies in a glass coffin in the stunning, baroque Sistine Chapel of the Bas…

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April 29: Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor 5:39

1M ago5:39

5:39

April 29: Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin & Doctor 1347–1380 Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of Italy, Europe, and fire prevention Her frightening intensity prayed the popes back to Rome Saint Peter was not martyred in Frankfurt, Germany; Alexandria, Egypt; or Jerusalem. He could have been. God, in His Providence, wanted Saint Peter…

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April 28: Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort, Priest 5:53

1M ago5:53

5:53

April 28: Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort, Priest 1673–1716 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of preachers Intensely in love with God, his flame burned hot but not long The English writer Graham Greene grew up Anglican with the typical anti-Catholic biases of his twentieth-century generation. One of those biases firmly held t…

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April 28: Saint Peter Chanel, Priest & Martyr 5:51

1M ago5:51

5:51

April 28: Saint Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr 1803–1841 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: Red Patron Saint of Oceania Musumusu axed him to death for no reason at all In Paris, just a few blocks down the Rue du Bac from the shrine of the Miraculous Medal, is a fine, imposing stone building. There are a lot of fine, imposing stone buildings in P…

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Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) 7:28

1M ago7:28

7:28

Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) Solemnity; Liturgical Color: White True power pardons In the Nicene Creed, we say that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. When a judge walks into a courtroom, the bailiff announces, “All rise,” and the judge sits in judgment. In his see city, a bishop rests in his cathedra, and in his pala…

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April 25: Saint Mark, Evangelist 5:44

1M ago5:44

5:44

April 25: Saint Mark, Evangelist c. First Century Feast; Liturgical Color: Red Patron Saint of lions, lawyers, Venice, interpreters, and prisoners He chronicled what the first Pope witnessed John’s Gospel offers the reader this brief post-Resurrection scene: “Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ T…

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195 - The Most Influential Theology Book Nobody Reads - Philipp Rosemann 1:46:56

1M ago1:46:56

1:46:56

The standard textbook of theology in medieval universities was the Sentences by Peter Lombard (1095-1160), bishop of Paris. This collection systematically arranged the theological judgments of Scripture and the Church Fathers on various topics. For almost four centuries, those seeking higher credentials in theology had to study, teach, and comment …

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April 24: Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr 6:02

1M ago6:02

6:02

April 24: Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr 1577–1622 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: Red Patron Saint of lawyers & the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples His murderers cut a leg off his dead body in retaliation for his many journeys To understand the historical and religious context for today’s saint, consider an eve…

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April 23: Saint George, Martyr 5:38

1M ago5:38

5:38

April 23: Saint George, Martyr c. Late Third Century Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: Red Patron Saint of England, the nation of Georgia, and scouting Widely venerated, historically elusive, his legacy is massive Saint George suffered martyrdom in Palestine before the reign of Constantine. And that is all that can be said with certainty about S…

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April 23: Saint Adalbert, Bishop and Martyr 6:03

1M ago6:03

6:03

April 23: Saint Adalbert, Bishop and Martyr 956–997 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: Red Patron Saint of the Czech Republic and Poland Pagans cut down a courageous bishop in the frozen North Old, stodgy, traditional Catholic Europe in tension with new, liberal, flexible Europe is not a new dichotomy. A millennium ago the roles were reversed. It…

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April 21: Saint Anselm, Bishop and Doctor 6:26

1M ago6:26

6:26

April 21: Saint Anselm, Bishop and Doctor c. 1033–1109 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White His pen pierced the blue sheet above, revealing God Few bishops have been canonized as saints since the Catholic Counter-Reformation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The earlier history of the Church is, however, replete with saintly bishops…

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Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord 7:28

1M ago7:28

7:28

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord c. 33 A.D. The first Sunday after the first full moon that falls on, or after, March 21 Solemnity; Liturgical Color: White or Gold Checkmate! If you want to discover what’s really going on in a story, follow the women. Curious about how the plot of a book, movie, or show is going to resolve itself? Foll…

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Friday of the Passion of the Lord (Good Friday) 6:36

1M ago6:36

6:36

Friday of the Passion of the Lord (Good Friday) c. 33 A.D. Triduum; Liturgical Color: Red No one knew love looked like this One of the most famous Greek sculptures in the world, a larger-than-life marble statue of a female, reigns over a monumental staircase in the Louvre. A soft, unfelt breeze ripples through the thin, flowing sheets that wrap her…

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Thursday of Holy Week (Holy Thursday) 5:59

2M ago5:59

5:59

Thursday of Holy Week (Holy Thursday) c. 33 A.D. Triduum; Liturgical Color: White No last will and testament has been as heeded as Christ’s From the moment Christ first uttered the words at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday evening, the Church has never ceased to be faithful to them: “Do this in memory of me.” These words of a man about to die, if n…

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April 13: Saint Martin I, Pope and Martyr 6:20

2M ago6:20

6:20

April 13: Saint Martin I, Pope and Martyr c. 590–655 Memorial; Liturgical Color: Red Exiled, abandoned, starving, a Pope dies for sound theology After being elected the Bishop of Rome in 649, today’s saint called a local Council which established the correct theology of the Church regarding the two wills of Christ. For this teaching and its broad d…

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Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord 5:59

2M ago5:59

5:59

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord c. 33 A.D. The Sunday before Easter Solemnity; Liturgical Color: Red Beginning with the end we understand His greatness One way to understand a book, or to watch a movie, is to begin at the end. To read, or watch, backwards allows every character and plot twist to be interpreted in light of their conclusions. …

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194 - The Church’s Hour of Testing – Fr. Donald Haggerty 56:58

2M ago56:58

56:58

A great spiritual master of our time, Fr. Donald Haggerty, joins the podcast to discuss his important new book, The Hour of Testing: Spiritual Depth and Insight in a Time of Ecclesial Uncertainty. He offers profound reflections on the ongoing, and perhaps future, crisis within the Church, with an eye to arousing an appetite for the greater spiritua…

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April 11: Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr 5:59

2M ago5:59

5:59

April 11: Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr 1030–1079 Memorial; Liturgical Color: Red Patron Saint of Poland Royal fury fells a bishop For many centuries, the coronation ritual of a king was considered to be a Sacrament of the Church. Such was the importance of the king’s role in protecting and promoting the faith in his realm that his enthroneme…

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April 7: Saint John Baptiste de la Salle, Priest 6:18

2M ago6:18

6:18

April 7: Saint John Baptiste de la Salle, Priest 1651–1719 Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of Christian teachers Great faith, charm, and skill opened school doors to millions A cowboy mounts a horse and lassos a calf to show the next cowboy how to wrangle. A fisherman tosses a net into the ocean so that his son learns to put food on …

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April 5: Saint Vincent Ferrer, Priest 5:05

2M ago5:05

5:05

April 5: Saint Vincent Ferrer, Priest c. 1350–1419 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of builders He slept on the floor, fasted endlessly, performed miracles, and converted thousands Saint Dominic de Guzman, a Spanish priest, founded the Order of Preachers in the early thirteenth century. He wanted to establish an Order of prie…

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April 4: Saint Isidore, Bishop & Doctor 5:35

2M ago5:35

5:35

April 4: Saint Isidore, Bishop & Doctor c. 560–636 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of the internet There was little he did not know The vast colonial ambitions of Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries went hand in hand with equally epic Catholic missionary efforts. This unity of purpose, these shared goals, with c…

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April 2: Saint Francis of Paola, Hermit 6:09

2M ago6:09

6:09

April 2: Saint Francis of Paola, Hermit 1416–1507 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of Calabria, mariners, and naval officers He lived a perpetual Lent The first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi were known as the “Mendicants from Assisi.” Yet as the group attracted men and women from all over Italy and beyond, a new name, …

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193 - On René Girard -Trevor Cribben Merrill 1:24:19

2M ago1:24:19

1:24:19

Mimetic desire, scapegoating: if you've been hearing these terms thrown around lately, it's because the French Catholic philosopher René Girard (1923-2015) is having a renaissance, with powerful people like J.D. Vance and Peter Thiel citing his influence on their thought. Trevor Cribben Merrill, producer of the new documentary Things Hidden: The Li…

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March 25: Annunciation of the Lord 5:47

2M ago5:47

5:47

March 25: Annunciation of the Lord Solemnity; Liturgical Color: White The flutter of a wing, a rustling in the air, a voice, and the future began to begin The Feast of the Annunciation is the reason why we celebrate Christmas on December 25. Christmas comes exactly nine months after the Archangel Gabriel invited the Virgin Mary to be the Mother of …

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