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Today I'll be speaking with Joseph Bottum about his new book The Christmas Plains that is a kind of a memoir about Christmas growing up in South Dakota. I'll also be speaking with Ralph Martin about his new book Will Many Be Saved? This show is pre-recorded but you can still leave comments about this and upcoming shows on our comment line at 719-235-5045 You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes. Just search for the Behind the Counter under podcasts. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the Story of the Other Wiseman on our radio show. We had company and family over which meant that there were about 20 people in the house and everyone was having a great time until our three year old threw up in the living room. Then one of my daughters decided that she didn't want dessert and went to bed. Then one of our visitors said she didn't feel well and Father drove her home. Oh, boy. So instead of having a nice peaceful night on Christmas we got to deal with four cases of stomach flu and several loads of laundry. While cleaning up a set of sheets I looked up at the bathroom mirror and saw that one of our kids had stuck a window cling of the crucifixion on it. I know that some people see signs from God regularly. I don't, but that night I was clearly reminded of the saying “no creche without the cross”. Today is January 5th, the Feast of St. John Neumann. John Neumann was born in Bohemia in 1811. In 1835 John Neumann expected to be ordained but his bishop decided that there were too many priests in the diocese so he halted all ordinations. Wouldn't it be nice to be faced with that problem today? John Neumann searched all over Europe for a bishop to ordain him and was turned down everywhere. While waiting for ordination John worked in a factory with workers who spoke English and learned it in the process so he sent letters to all the bishops in America asking if any would take him. The bishop of New York agreed and ordained him for the diocese of New York in 1836. At the time the diocese had 36 priests serving 200,000 Catholics. Fr. Neumann's parish stretched from Lake Ontario in the North all the way to Pennsylvania in the South. His parish church didn't have a steeple or a floor but he spent most of his time traveling between towns saying Mass in kitchens and sleeping in taverns. Because of his isolation from the rest of the diocese he joined the Redemptorists with his bishop's permission. In 1848 he became the Provincial Superior of the United States and was appointed the bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. He was the first bishop in the United States to organize a diocesan school system and during his time in Philadelphia he doubled the number of schools to 200. In order to help with a huge influx of immigrants he also embarked on an extensive church building project that produced about one new parish a month for the city. If you sometimes think that the Catholic Church is besieged in this country today, in bishop Neumann's time he had to contend with the Know-Nothings – a violent anti-Catholic political party that set fire to convents and churches. Because of the violence, he petitioned Pope Pius IX to let him resign but the pope refused. In 1854 he was present in Rome of for the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception. In 1860 at the age of 48 Bishop Neumann dropped dead in the street while running errands. He died from a stroke. He was beatified during the Second Vatican Council by Pope Paul VI in 1963 and was canonized in 1977. You will usually see St. Neumann pictured in art wearing a red cape and sometimes holding a church or school. This show is pre-recorded but you can still leave comments about this and upcoming shows on our comment line at 719-235-5045    

This week I interviewed Joseph Pearce about his new book, Bilbo's Journey, and Fr. Dwight Longenecker about Catholicism Pure and Simple.  

On today's show I interview Dale Ahlquist, Chesterton expert and author of the new book, The Complete Thinker (also available as an e-book). Today is December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception which is in a way really too bad for St. Romaric whose feast shares this day. Why is this a problem? Have you ever heard of St. Romaric? Obviously, saints are supposed to be humble so he probably doesn't mind but wouldn't it be nice to at least get a mention at Mass? St. Romaric was a Merovingian nobleman who lived in the 7th century. Queen Brunehilda had Romeric's father killed and Romeric became a homeless wanderer for a time. St. Amatus converted Romaric who then became a monk and founded a monastery called Remiremontin 620. St. Amatus was the first abbot but Romaric soon took his place and served for thirty years. He died in 653. Okay, now that we've given due recognition to St. Romaric we can talk about the reason you're going to Mass today. Don't forget – you have to go to Mass today, it's a holy day of obligation. And for those of you who think you can be sneaky by going to an evening Mass and make it count for both, your wrong. According to Canon Lawyer Edward Peters, you have to go to two Masses to satisfy two obligations to attend Mass. You aren't required to attend a Mass celebrated specifically for the feast but you do have to go to Mass on the specific day. The feast of the Immaculate Conception actually originated long before the dogma was proclaimed in 1854. For several hundred years there was a feast celebrating Mary's conception and in the Eastern churches the feast is still called the Child-begetting of the Holy Anne, mother of the Mother of God. The feast was first celebrated in monasteries before spreading to the general church. On December 8th, 1854, Pope Pius IX promulgated the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception which stated that Mary was granted a unique grace from God to be free from the stain of original sin. Mary confirmed the title when she appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858. The devotion to the Immaculate Conception is especially strong in the United States. The council of Baltimore – of catechism fame – declared Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception the patroness of the United States in 1846 – 8 years before the dogma was officially declared.   Back when I was in high school we lived near Washington DC for a year while my dad completed a tour at the Pentagon. One of the most incredible places to visit, apart from the Smithsonian and the main post office where you could buy EVERY stamp in circulation – yes, I collected stamps and still have my albums – was the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Shrine sits on the campus of the Catholic University of America and is the largest Catholic church in North America and one of the top ten in the world. This show is pre-recorded but you can still leave comments about this and upcoming shows on our comment line at 719-235-5045 The construction of the church was approved by St. Pius X in 1913 who personally contributed to its construction. In 1915 the first model of the future church was created by architect Burrall Hoffman, Jr. in a gothic style that looks nothing like the finished church. The church took almost 40 years to complete and was finally dedicated 1959 by Cardinal Spellman. The church is built in a Romanesque style so instead of the pointed arches and almost lace-like stone work that you find in Gothic churches, the arches are rounded, the windows are smaller and the structure has a much more substantial presence. One of the reasons that this style was chosen was to distinguish it from the National Cathedral which was being built at the same time. I've been in both churches and the National Shrine is much more breathtaking, especially because of the mosaics that cover the inside of the domes. The most impressive one, and one that must give folks like Fr. Richard Rohr and Fr.

On today's show I'm interviewing Margot Davidson, founder of a new Mass missalette called Laudamus Te and Fr. Mitch Pacwa about his Bible study for the Year of Faith. If you are familiar with the Magnificat Magazine, then Laudamus Te will be familiar. It's a missalette shipped every couple of months that is for use at the Extraordinary form Mass. I think this is a great idea and something that Latin Mass parishes should probably subscribe to in bulk because not everyone can afford a missal.Welcome to the the Behind the Counter Catholic radio show where we take a “No Bull, just the truth” approach to the Catholic Faith. I'm Ian Rutherford, founder of Aquinasandmore.com. Thank you for taking the time to listen in today.This show is pre-recorded but you can still leave comments about this and upcoming shows on our comment line at 719-235-5045You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes. Just search for the Behind the Counter under podcasts.Today is November 17th, feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary or November 19th on the Extraordinary Form calendar. St. Elizabeth was born in Presburg, Hungary in 1207, the daughter of King Andrew II. When she was four she was sent to Thuringia, a province in Germany for school and was betrothed to the infant prince of the country. The prince died as a child but Elizabeth stayed and eventually married prince Louis of Thuringia at the age of thirteen. She was a very devout child and after her marriage her husband supported her charitable activity and religious devotions even though her relatives disapproved. The couple had three children but Louis was killed in battle during the crusades. St. Elizabeth's inlaws basically disowned her and she left the court. After securing care for her children she became a tertiary Franciscan and dedicated herself to caring for the poor including the building of a hospital in Marburg and donating a large supply of grain to German farmers during a famine. She died at the age of 24.St. Elizabeth is the patron of bakers, charities, exiles, hospitals and beggars among others. She is usually shown in art as being dressed as a princess while carrying a basket of bread. She was the great aunt of St. Elizabeth of Portugal.Other upcoming events and feasts include Presentation of Mary (11/21)St. Cecilia and Thanksgiving Day (11/22)St. Clement I (11/23)St. John of the Cross and St. Andrew Dung Lac (11/24)If you would like to leave comments about the show, you can call our comment line at 719-235-5045During the month of November our family tries to make it to a cemetery to fulfill the requirements for a plenary indulgence for souls in Purgatory. This year we decided to go to our neighborhood cemetery instead of driving all the way into town. We live in a development on what used to be cattle grazing land far north of Colorado Springs and there is a small abandoned cemetery on the edge of the property fenced in by barbed wire. I assume that it houses the graves of the original ranching families but I haven't actually trespassed to see who is buried there.Typically we would go to the cemetery during the day but we couldn't make it on the weekend so we were left with weekday evenings as the only option. Unfortunately, in Colorado Springs the mountains make the early sunsets of winter begin about an hour earlier than other places so by 6 it is already dark.So how hard is it to sell “Let's to to a cemetery and pray for the souls in purgatory. In the dark.” to ten kids? Surprisingly, not very. So we all bundled up and drove over to the cemetery. Fortunately, the folks who live in the house by the fence weren't home or we'd probably have had the sheriff out there. A dozen people standing by a cemetery at night silhouetted by the high beams of van probably looks a little too horror movie-ish for the average bystander.If we had tried for Halloween atmosphere, we really couldn't have done any better. Dark night, wind, a moon mostly hidden behind clouds, and of course,

Welcome to the the Behind the Counter Catholic radio show where we take a “No Bull, just the truth” approach to the Catholic Faith. I'm Ian Rutherford, founder of Aquinasandmore.com. Thank you for taking the time to listen in today. This show is pre-recorded but you can still leave comments about this and upcoming shows on our comment line at 719-235-5045 You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes. Just search for the Behind the Counter under podcasts. Today is November 10th, feast of St. Leo the Great. St. Leo was born in Tuscany in the late 300's. He was ordained a deacon in his 30's and because of his eloquence and the respect everyone had for him, he was sent to Gaul to mediate a dispute between the two highest officials in the country. While he was in Gaul, Pope Sixtus III died and proving that you always get volunteered for things when you aren't at the meeting, he was elected pope in 440. During his papacy there was a dispute over the church in Gaul where Bishop Hillary refused to submit to the Pope's authority. The pope appealed to Emperor Valentinian who in 445 issued a decree reasserting that the Pope in Rome held primacy in the Church based on his succession to Peter and the decrees of the First Council of Nicea. Bishop Hillary relented after the decree of Valentinian was issued. During his reign, he combated several heresies including Pelagians, Manicheans and wrote a letter, called the Tome of Leo – Tome here being the word letter in Latin, not to a massive book - on Christology which was presented at the Council of Calcedon ending a dispute over Christ's nature. In 452, Attila the Hun invaded Italy and at the gates of Rome demanded the Emperor's sister Honoria for his wife. The emperor sent three representatives including Pope Leo to negotiate with Attila and Pope Leo is credited with convincing Attila to withdraw without Honoria or any payment. No record of what agreement was made exists but tradition tells that Attila reported that a giant holding a bare sword stood behind Pope Leo during the negotiations and threatened to kill Attila and his entire army if he didn't retreat. Unfortunately, this was really the last gasp of the failing empire. In 455 the Vandals invaded Rome and started slaughtering the citizens and burning the city. Leo again went to negotiate with the invaders and convinced them to stop the destruction. Leo died in 461 on November 10th. He was the first pope to receive the title “The Great”. St. Leo the Great is pictured in art holding his “Tome” and sometimes shown with Attila kneeling before him.   Other upcoming events and feasts include Veterans' Day (11/11) - St. Martin of Tours St. Martin I (11/12) EF St. Frances Cabrini (11/13) St. Albert (11/15) St. Margaret of Scotland (11/16) EF   St. Martin of Tours traditions While I was growing up, every year in November we would brave the cold, and sometimes snow, to attend a St. Martin's Day party at a friend's home. Typically this involved a house packed with people, a huge potluck dinner and a bonfire. All of the kids would get slips of paper about the life of St. Martin and some of the traditions associated with the season and would read them around the bonfire. Some traditions your family can do: Serving roast goose – legend has it that when Martin found out he had been named a bishop, he tried to escape the people by hiding with a flock of geese which didn't appreciate the intrusion. Make paper lanterns for a procession Give away unneeded clothes to the St. Vincent dePaul Society or other organization. Drink wine! St. Martin is patron of wine makers and in France the tasting of the first wine of the year is traditionally held on his feast. If you would like to leave comments about the show, you can call our comment line at 719-235-5045 Even though it's still a few weeks away, you should start preparing for Advent now.

Today I spoke with Stephanie Mann, author of Supremacy and Survival about Catholic life during the English Reformation and Andrew Jones, product manager for Catholic products at Logos Bible software about Verbum, the new Catholic version of their famous software package. This show is pre-recorded but you can still leave comments about this and upcoming shows on our comment line at 719-235-5045 You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes. Just search for the Behind the Counter under podcasts. Today is November 3rd, feast of St. Martin de Porres. Juan Martin de Porres was born in the city of Lima, in the Viceroyalty of Peru, on December 9, 1579, the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a black former slave. He had a sister, Juana who was born three years later. His family lived in poverty and his mother sent him to school for a couple of years before he was sent to work for a surgeon / barber (if he cut your throat shaving you, he could sew you up after) to learn medicine. When he was 15 he applied for entry to the Dominican Convent of the Rosary in Lima as a servant and eventually entered the Dominican order as a tertiary. His holiness and miracles convinced his superiors to drop racial limitations to entering the friars and he became a full Dominican. When he was 34 he was assigned to work in the infirmary where he would spend the next 25 years caring for the sick and working many miraculous cures. During an epidemic, Martin brought so many sick to the convent for care that the superior forbade him from bringing any more victims for fear of spreading illness to all of the brothers. His sister offered her own house to help care for the overflow of patients. During his life St. Martin founded a home for orphans and abandoned children as well as a hospital for animals. He dreamed of being a missionary his whole life but never left Lima. In spite of this, he seems to have had the gift of bilocation, being seen all over the world during his lifetime as far away as Africa and Japan. He was friends with St. Rose of Lima and St. John de Massias and upon his death on November 3, 1939, was already considered a saint by those in Peru. He was beatified by Pope Gregory XVI in 1837 but wasn't canonized until 1962 by John XXIII. You can typically recognize St. Martin de Porres in art because he wears a Dominican habit, holds a broom and is also surrounded by animals. Other upcoming events and feasts include Daylight savings ends (11/4) Election Day (11/6) Dedication of St. John Lateran (11/9) St. Leo (11/10) OF Veterans' Day (11/11) - St. Martin of Tours I mention at the beginning of our show that we take a “no bull, just the Truth” approach at our store. This has been our unofficial slogan since we first opened for a couple of reasons. First, because we want our customers to actually trust that what they get at our store will help them learn the Catholic Faith. Secondly, St. Thomas Aquinas was a very large, quiet student in school and his peers referred to him as a “dumb ox”. One of his professors, St. Albert the Great, is famed for saying that “This dumb ox will one day make a bellow that will be heard around the world.” The reason I mention this today is because of a book. For some reason, finding the documents of Vatican II in print is kind of like looking for orthodoxy in the pages of the National Catholic Register – fabled to exist, almost impossible to find. The Daughters of St. Paul used to produce booklets with each of the documents and at one point had them all in one volume. All of those are out of print. There was also a collection edited by Austin Flannery that was the only game in town for many years but the collection was not the official translation of the texts. Now, Image books has released a new book called Vatican II the Essential Texts. We were happy to see that someone was bringing out a collection in time for the Year of Faith and started selling it.

  Today I spoke with Christopher West, author of the recently released book, At the Heart of the Gospel and a new book coming out in January, Fill These Hearts. We discussed both Theology of the Body in general as well as the new book and a wonderful film that you really need to see. (These are show prep notes so grammar and spelling aren't checked) One thing I love about having a calendar of saints is learning about obscure people with funny names. In our family we have a tradition of giving our kids two middle names – one that sounds good with their first name and one for the saint's feast they were born on. For example, one of my sons was born on the Feast of St. Nicholas so we added Nicholas as a middle name. You might think that this makes it easier to remember when the kids' birthdays are, but with ten of them running around the house it's hard enough to get their names right let alone remember what day a saint's feast is. Today is October 27th, Feast of St. Frumentius, patron of the Aksumite Empire. Give yourself bonus points if you have ever heard of either Frumentius or the Aksumite Empire. In spite of their current obscurity, both are important to Church and world history. The Aksumite empire consisted of Northern Ethiopia, and parts of Yemen, Eretria and Saudi Arabia. It flourished from the 3rd century until the rise of Islam in the seventh when the Muslims cut the empire off from its trade routes in the Red Sea and Nile River. St. Frumentius was born in Tyre, Lebanon and while on a voyage on the Red Sea with St. Aedesius the ship was either shipwrecked or seized by pirates who took the two boys to the court of the king of Axum. They eventually were given their freedom and became part of the royal court. When the king died and his son Ezana became king, the brothers left Axum to bring missionaries back to the land to spread Christianity. St. Aedesius went back to Tyre and became a priest while St. Frumentius went to Alexandria to ask St. Athanasius to send a bishop and missionaries to Axum. Instead, St. Athanasius consecrated St. Frumentius as a bishop around the year 328 and sent him back where he established his see in Axum. He baptized the king of the Aksumite empire and built many churches in the country. He is also credited with translating the New Testament into the native language. In spite of being cut off from the rest of the Christian world by the Muslims, the Coptic Orthodox church flourished and still exists today as one of the oldest Christian churches in the world. St. Frumentius's feast is celebrated in the Orthodox Church on November 30th. The city of Axum is no longer the seat of a great empire but it does still hold a distinction unique in the world and one that would make Indiana Jones and the Nazis envious of – a small chapel watched by a single monk who stays on the grounds until his death, is the traditional resting place of the ark of the covenant where it has been kept safe for almost 3000 years. Upcoming feasts include: Christ the King on Oct 28 (ef) All saints (nov 1) – don't forget to go to Mass All souls (nov 2) Dedication of St. John Lateran (11/9)   While the secular world is out celebrating death, as Catholics we celebrate the resurrection and life after death. There are two plenary indulgences that you can earn for the souls in purgatory during this time. The first can be obtained by receiving communion, going to confession and reciting the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be six times either on All Saints or All Souls Day. The second can be obtained any time during the eight days following all saints by visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead. The eight days following major feasts used to be called octaves and were basically an extension of the feast day. The doctrine of Purgatory is commonly misunderstood and dismissed by Protestants as a Catholic fiction but it really does make sense.

On today's show I got to speak with Lisa Hendey, founder of Catholicmom.com has a new book out for families to use during the Advent season and Colleen Carroll Campbell, former speech writer for President Bush and author of the New Faithful has a new memoir called My Sisters the Saints. Today, October 20th is the feast of St. John Cantius on the extraordinary form calendar, December 23rd on the Ordinary Form calendar. St. John Cantius was born in Kanti, Poland in 1390. He attended the Jagellonian university of Krakow where he earned a doctoral degree in philosophy. Upon graduating he spent three years studying for the priesthood and was ordained He then took a position of professor of sacred scripture at his alma mater which he held until his death. He was known to eat very little and gave regularly gave alms to the poor. While at the university he helped develop the theory of impetus which was a precursor to the work of Newton and Galileo. Looking for more excitement in his life, he went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem on foot, hoping to be martyred. Failing to be martyred, he went on four pilgrimages to Rome, also on foot. He died in 1473 on Christmas Eve in Krakow and is buried at the church of St. Anne St. John was beatified in 1676 by Pope Celement X and name patron of Poland by Pope Clement XII in 1737. He was canonized in 1767 by Clement XIII Pope John Paul II had a special devotion to St. John Cantius and prayed at his tomb when he went on a pilgrimage to Krakow in 1997 In 1999 a new order of priests was founded in Chicago called the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. This order is dedicated to the promotion and restoration of Catholic sacred music and art.   Upcoming feasts include: Canonization of Bl. Kateri (10/21) St. John of Capistrano (10/23) OF St. Anthony Claret (10/23) EF, (10/24) OF St. Raphael (10/24) EF Christ the King (10/28) EF Last weekend Aquinas and More helped sponsor the Rocky Mountain Catholic Men's conference here in Colorado Springs. This conference has been going for about five years and we have been part of it from the start when it was held at a local parish. This year it was held at the Pikes Peak Performing Arts Center and I think there were about 500 men who attended. As an exhibitor I typically don't get to attend many of the talks at conferences but I was able to sneak in to listen to Dr. Ray Gurendi speak. He is hilarious and has a great message about raising your kids right. Dr. Ray is a former body builder like Arnold but about a foot shorter and with a mustache. We handled the book signing for Randy Hain's book, The Catholic Briefcase and we'll be interviewing him in a couple of weeks about integrating faith with work. I also met Justin Fatica who gives a dynamic talk to young adults. We featured his book, Win it All in the Catholic Summer Reading program. Justin is like a combination of Life Teen, Jersey Shore and a chihuahua on espresso. He also is a body builder and is working on a new book that combines spiritual and physical exercise. That will be a lively interview if I can get it. In this podcast I talked with Lisa Hendey and Colleen Carroll Campbell. Lisa Hendey, founder of Catholicmom.com has a new book out for families to use during the Advent season. Colleen Carroll Campbell, former speech writer for President Bush and author of the New Faithful has a new memoir called My Sisters the Saints. Listen now >>  

On today's show I have Matthew Warner, founder of Flocknote to talk about his great parish collaboration software and a special project for the Year of Faith. After that I'll be speaking with Leonardo dePhilipis about his  touring show, Maximilian, Saint of Auschwitz. He'll be in Colorado this coming week and you can schedule a showing on the St. Luke Productions website. We talk about how St. Luke Productions started and the amazing honor that the man who St. Maximilian saved received.

Today I have two complimentary interviews. The first is with David Hartline, author of The Catholic Tide Continues to Turn. David and I will talk about the new interest of Catholic leaders to get out into the public square and proclaim Catholic teaching, especially in light of the HHS abortion and contraception mandate. Then I'll be speaking with Gary Zimak, Catholic apologist and author of The Worrier's Guide to the Bible. In every election season anxiety levels go up but they seem especially high this year. Gary's book has some reassuring words for all of us who get caught up in the worries of today instead of trusting in the eternal help of Christ. Today, October 6th is the feast of St. Bruno of Cologne. St. Bruno was born around 1030 in Cologne but went to Rheims for school He was appointed chancellor of the diocese of Rheims in 1074 but was forced to flee the city two years later when he denounced his bishop as unfit for the office of Papal Legate. He returned to Rheims in 1080 but again left the city when the citizens wanted to make him the archbishop St. Bruno started a community of hermits in 1084 under the supervision of Bishop St. Hugh of Grenoble which was the beginning of the Carthusian order. If you want to learn more about the Carthusians, you should watch the movie Into Great Silence. Don't expect action sequences or witty dialogue – you will be disappointed. In 1090 Pope Urban II forced St. Bruno to come to Rome to be a papal adviser and assist in a reformation of the clergy. Eventually St. Bruno convinced the pope to let him return to his solitary life. He moved to Sicily where he died on October 6th, 1101. -St. Bruno was never officially canonized at the request of the Carthusian order which didn't want the public honor. Pope Leo X gave permission to the order to celebrate his feast in 1514 and he was added to the Roman calendar in 1623. St. Bruno is usually pictured holding a skull or a cross and book. Sometimes he has a halo of seven stars. Upcoming feasts include: St. Pelagia 10/8 St. Francis Borgia 10/10 St. Damien of Molokai 10/11 St. Wilfrid 10/12 St. Edward the Confessor 10/13 October 1st marked the 10th anniversary of Aquinas and More. I originally opened the store in a 144 sq ft office and then moved to our current location a year later. Bishop Sheridan of Colorado Springs also became the bishop the same year and blessed both our original and new locations. In spite of naming the store after St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Thomas More, we have always had a special devotion to St. Therese since we opened on her feast. When we were looking for a new location for the store we prayed a novena to her and part way through that novena a Catholic Realtor came in to our store and asked us if we were looking for a new location. Even though we have a physical location which is the largest Catholic store in Colorado Springs, we do most of our business on the internet. We've shipped to every state and every continent except Antarctica. Yes, we've even shipped to Africa. From the start we have had two guiding principles: Only carry authentically Catholic products that help people learn more about the Catholic Faith and back that up with a guarantee of Fidelity that we call our “Good Faith Guarantee”. And don't carry any products from China as long as China continues its forced abortion policies and regularly imprisons Catholic bishops and priests. These positions have cost us sales opportunities, especially at Christmas time because we don't carry most nativity sets but I believe that it is better to stick by our principles than sacrifice them for sales numbers. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and give your honest rating over on iTunes.

  Show notes: Interviews today with Brandon Vogt, author of The Church and New Media and Vinny Flynn, author of 21 Ways to Worship about how to participate in Eucharistic Adoration. Also, what you can do for the Year of Faith. Feast of the Day Today is the feast of St. Thomas of Villanova. St. Thomas was born in 1488 in Castille Spain and joined the Augustinian Friars in 1516 and was ordained two years later. In spite of a poor memory he became the Provincial of the Friars and sent the first Augustinians to the New World. The emperor of Spain nominated him to become the bishop of Granada but he refused until he was ordered by the Pope in 1544. During his life he was a great friend to the poor, and in spite of his position, lived in poverty, wearing the same habit for years. He fed hundreds of poor daily from his home and encouraged the wealthy of Granada. He died right after Mass in 1555 in Valencia, having requested that all of his money be given to the poor. He was canonized in 1658 by Pope Alexander VII and is frequently depicted in art as a bishop giving alms to the poor.  Upcoming Liturgical Celebrations Other upcoming feasts include: Our Lady of Ransom (Sep 24) St Isaac Jogues (Sep 26) Sts. Cosmas and Damian (Sep 27) St. Wenceslaus (28) St. Michael the Archangel (Sep 29)    The Year of Faith and what to do about it Year of Faith is coming up. The official Vatican website is http://bit.ly/romeyearoffaith and the US site is http://bit.ly/yearoffaith We would love to hear what you are doing to celebrate so please leave us ideas, at 719-235-5045.   Some of the ideas suggested by the Church include: Read Porta fidei about why the Year of Faith was created Read the Catechism 20th anniversary - http://www.flocknote.com/catechism Participate more deeply in the liturgy – buy a missal or Magnificat Study the documents of Vatican II – it's the 50th anniversary Hold parish missions – boot camp for strengthening your Faith Evangelize! Learn apologetics  Interviews After the break, you'll get to listen to the interviews I did at the Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show with Brandon Vogt, author of The Church and New Media and Vinny Flynn, founder of Mercy Song Ministries and author of 21 Ways to Worship full of ideas on how to participate more deeply in Eucharist Adoration.   Coming up next time... Next week Would You Date You? - a new book by Anthony Buono, founder of Ave Maria Singles and Holy Heroes the producers of the Glory Stories of the saints for children.

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows so before I get to our interviews I take a look at the history of Our Lady of Sorrows. After that you can listen to half of the interview with Greg and Jennifer Willits. I was only able to do half the interview because I filled up my recorder and didn't have a cable for transferring the files so the interview didn't really get much into The Catholics Next Door.   Next I interviewed Fr. Michael Gaitely about his new book 33 Days to Morning Glory. This interview was especially interesting because my wife has been doing the Consecration to Mary and finished this morning at Mass!  I didn't know anything about Consecration so Fr. Gaitely did a great job educating me. Listen to more podcasts.

Last week I attended the Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show and was able to get interviews with a bunch of authors. For this show I have our interviews with Greg and Julie Alexander and Sarah Reinhard. Greg and Julie founders of The Alexander House and authors of Marriage 911. They experienced some horrible times in their marriage but survived and now help other couples who are in danger of ending their marriages through reconciliation. Listen as I talk with them about their marriage and apostolate. Sarah Reinhard is a mother of three, regular blogger and the author of A Catholic Mother's Companion to Pregnancy. She has written a book of reflections for pregnant moms that goes through pregnancy and up to Baptism. Her interview is the second half of the show.

Spiritual direction is something that many saints have written about but it seems to have vanished over the last sixty years or so. In fact, I doubt most Catholics have any clue what spiritual direction is or they think that it's like "psychotherapy for Catholics" where you lie on the couch in the spiritual director's office and tell him or her about your temptations and how hard it is to finish praying a rosary with kids screaming in the background. This week I was honored to have Dan Burke on the Behind the Counter radio show. Dan is the Executive Director of the National Catholic Register and the founder of the Roman Catholic Spiritual Direction Blog which now has over 10,000 members. Dan has a new book coming out this fall called Navigating the Interior Life that is the perfect introduction to spiritual direction. The link to the interview is at the top of the book description along with a sample from the book. You can call our comment line at 719-235-5045. You can listen to the show on the Catholic radio stations in Colorado as well as on-line. The show airs on Saturday at noon, Sunday at 1, Monday at 11 and Wednesday at 6am. After interviewing Dan and reading through part of his book, I realize that I really need to find a spiritual director and work on my own spiritual formation a lot more. Next week we'll be broadcasting from the Catholic Marketing and Catholic New Media Conference shows in Arlington, TX. Listen to other episodes of Behind the Counter Catholic Radio Show.

Well the first Aquinas and More Behind the Counter radio show is in the proverbial "can". I  interviewed Dave Hartline, author of The Catholic Tide Continues to Turn. Listen to Behind the Counter Episode 1 and feel free to leave your comments! You can also call our comment line at 719-235-5045. You can listen to the show on the Catholic radio stations in Colorado as well as on-line. The show airs on Saturday at noon, Sunday at 1, Monday at 11 and Wednesday at 6am. Next Saturday we have Dan Burke, Executive Director of the National Catholic Register on to dispel misconceptions about spiritual direction and to talk about his new book, Navigating the Interior Life. Listen to other episodes of Behind the Counter Catholic Radio Show.