Modern Catholic Family
Modern Catholic Family empowers families to anchor in the fullness of Catholic living. It is the only platform designed specifically for Catholic families, offering guidance and community that unite the ancient wisdom of the Catholic Church with the dynamic needs of today’s family.
Episodes
From a place of deep darkness and silence, one woman's journey through abortion, sterilization, conversion, and healing became a witness that proclaims the mercy and humor of God. Jim sits down with Brice Griffin, Catholic mother of five, pro-life activist, and pilgrimage leader, to walk through a story of radical surrender and the grace that waited on the other side of it. With candor, warmth, and a healthy dose of...
Raising a neurodivergent child in the Catholic faith can feel isolating, but Ginny Kochis is here to remind parents they are not alone. Jim and Meghan sit down with Ginny, founder of Quirky Catholic Kids and author of over a dozen books, to explore what it truly means to embrace neurodivergence with faith and joy. Drawing from 20 years of lived experience as a neurodivergent mom raising neurodivergent children, Ginn...
Suffering is not a detour from God's plan for your family. It is the path. Jim and Meghan sit down with Megan Hjelmstad, Army veteran, author, speaker, and women's mentor, to explore the theology and practice of redemptive suffering. Drawing from years of chronic illness, surgeries, and pregnancy loss, Megan shares how suffering united to Christ becomes a doorway to freedom, joy, and deep purpose. Her book, Offer It...
Grief has a way of revealing what we are truly made of, and for Maura McGee, it became the unlikely path to peace. Jim and Meghan sit down with Maura, a mother of six and author of It Is What It Is, to hear how her family navigated miscarriage, the murder of a beloved priest uncle, her husband Dave's rare cancer diagnosis, and the loss of her mother all within a few years of one another. With honesty and quiet stren...
The teenage years are a critical window for forming young women in virtue, confidence, and a deep Catholic identity. Jim and Meghan sit down with Chantal Howard, Catholic entrepreneur, coach, and mother of seven, to explore how a faith-centered program called Catholic Finishing School is equipping daughters to navigate girlhood with grace and courage. Drawing from over a decade of coaching women and raising five dau...
What would change in your family if every relationship were ordered toward God first? Jim and Meghan welcome Sarah McKenzie, a registered therapeutic counselor and mother of eight from British Columbia, Canada, to explore the Augustinian concept of "ordering love" and its surprising power for modern families. Drawing from St. Thomas Aquinas and her own clinical practice, Sarah offers a grace-filled look at how disor...
What if the key to keeping your kids Catholic isn't found in a better curriculum, but in the quality of the soil? Stacy Halbach, Catholic author, speaker, and mother of six, joins Jim and Meghan with a hope-filled recipe for raising children who hold fast to Christ. Drawing from the Parable of the Sower, years of personal research, and her own family's beautiful struggles, Stacy reveals what parents can do right now...
What if the most powerful pilgrimage your family could take this year started just a few hours down the road? Jason Spoolstra, creator of the Light and Heavy Pilgrimages YouTube channel, joins Jim and Meghan to make the case that every Catholic family is called to pilgrimage, and that it is far more accessible than most people think. Drawing from nearly two decades of Catholic ministry and years of personal experien...
What if the most radical thing a Catholic family can practice is simply learning to shut up and listen? Father Augustine Wetta joins Jim and Meghan for an episode packed with laughter, vivid storytelling, and hard-won monastic wisdom. Drawing from encounters that range from classroom rap battles to an unexpected night with LA gang members, Father Wetta reveals what genuine humility looks like when it is lived out in...
What if the anxiety you carry every day is not who you are but a temptation you were never created to bear alone?
Jim and Meghan sit down with Dr. Jillian Hawks to explore what it truly means to move from managing anxiety to healing from it. Drawing from her personal journey through breast cancer, burnout, and a renewed encounter with God, Jillian shares how surrendering her work to Christ transformed her pract...
What if great literature could be the very thing that draws a soul from darkness into the light of Christ? Catholic author and literary scholar Joseph Pearce joins Jim and Meghan to share his remarkable journey from white supremacism to Catholic conversion, sparked entirely by the power of books. Drawing on decades of writing, teaching, and producing series with EWTN, Joseph offers a compelling vision of how beauty,...
What does it look like to raise a family anchored in faith when life takes an unexpected turn? Diane Nienas, grief coach, author, and mother of four, joins Jim and Meghan to share how two decades of caretaking for her sons Leo and Trent became the very ground where her faith took root and flourished. With joy that can only come from God, Diane reflects on the miracles, the grace, and the quiet moments that transform...
What does it truly mean to call your home the domestic church?
Paige Rienzo joins Jim and Meghan to explore that question with honesty and joy. Drawing from her journey as a convert, a mother of three teen boys and one preteen girl, and a former HGTV designer, Paige unpacks how the home is not a showpiece or a DIY project but a sacred space where faith is handed on and families are formed.
What’s in this episode...
"We're not preparing them for Harvard. We're preparing them for heaven."
That one line captures the heart of everything Aimee Viana brings to Catholic education. Jim and Meghan sit down with Aimee to explore what it truly means to form the whole person for life and for eternity. Drawing from her years of experience in Catholic schools and national education leadership, Aimee shares how intentional faith formati...
Most of what Jesus did in the Gospels did not happen in a temple or synagogue. It happened in someone's home. Allan Wright joins Jim to unpack what it truly means to bring Christ into the everyday life of a Catholic family. Drawing from decades of teaching, writing, and his own experience as a husband and father of four, Allan offers practical, accessible ways to live the faith at home without needing a theology deg...
What if the most effective tool for faith formation in a distracted world is a catchy song? Jim sits down with Justin West to explore how digitally created music and sharp apologetics are drawing souls to the faith across social media. As the creator of Peter's Barque, Justin has produced over 60 songs in just three months, reaching more than a million views with content that resonates with Catholics, non-Catholics,...
Finding your yes to God as a young adult is not always a dramatic moment. Sometimes it starts at a line dancing night. Jim sits down with David James, a 24-year-old Mission Service Associate at Heritage retreat center in Sharon, Georgia, who is weeks away from entering the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil. A former Baptist from South Carolina, David shares how frustration with a Sunday social culture, a Catholic youn...
Teen girls today are navigating a daily beauty pageant they never signed up for. Jim sits down with Brenda Sharman, former Miss Georgia USA, professional model and actress, and founder of True Beauty, a faith-centered program for teen girls in Atlanta rooted in goodness, beauty, and truth. Drawing from her background in modeling and pageantry and her own conversion to Catholicism, Brenda shares how she is equipping ...
Joy and happiness are not the same thing, and for Allison Gingras, that distinction changed everything. Allison, an author, podcaster, and Director of Digital Evangelization for Holy Cross Family Ministry, joins Jim to unpack what it truly means to live in the everyday joy of the Lord. Drawing from her own reversion story, years of ministry, and honest moments of surrender, Allison offers a compelling vision of a fa...
What if the real crisis facing Catholic families isn't just bad behavior or wandering faith, but the complete loss of a proven path for boys to become men? Jim and Meghan sit down with Jason Craig, Farmer, Theologian, and Executive Director of Fraternus, to explore why traditional rites of passage disappeared from our culture and what it's costing our sons. Drawing from his own journey as a convert who experienced b...
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