Behind the Catholic Counter

Welcome to episode 25 of the Behind the Catholic Counter Podcast. I'm Ian Rutherford, President of Aquinasnandmore.com. I interview Catholic authors, publishers and manufacturers to give you the latest news about great new Catholic books and gifts. You can listen to this and past episodes at aquinasandmore.com/podcast.

G.K. Chesterton's birthday was last week. I found a couple of quotes about his praise of beer. I also noticed that two Catholic authors both published books this month that involved drinking. Hmmmmm. This week I interviewed Denise Bossert about her new book, Gifts of the Visitation - Nine Spiritual Encounters With Mary and Elizabeth.

You all know how the Bible says “Cleanliness is next to godliness,” right? Actually, it doesn't. That is a quote popularized by Sir Francis Bacon, Anglican and anti-Catholic. What the Bible does say is that we are all to strive for holiness. And there is the rub. Being holy isn't easy. Heck, sticking with your …

Contemplative prayer is not easy. Even people who you would expect to be "professionals" at contemplative prayer, nuns and priests, say that you can't every get really good at it.

Meet the St. Paul Street Evangelizers. Started by Steve Dawson, the street evangelizers have spent the last four years spreading the gospel on street corners around the world.

How do you find true healing for traumatic events in your life? Burying the memories only leads to more pain down the road. Dawn Eden has been reflecting on this topic for many years as she is a survivor of child abuse. Her book, My Peace I Give You addresses this topic specifically.

Living the Divine Mercy and carrying out works of mercy as a mom with smaller children can be a challenge. Michele Faehnle and Emily Jaminet have written a practical guide for moms full of ideas for doing works of mercy as a family.

The Stations of the Cross are the Lenten devotion. Why not combine them with reflections on the Eucharist? Stations of the Cross With the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is a wonderful devotional to pray before or after Mass. Listen as I talk with Father James Kubicki, director of the Apostleship of Prayer, about this new Lenten resource.

The Divine Mercy devotion seems pretty simple but is really deep theology about the nature of God and the His relationship with us. Listen to Vinny Flynn explain the secrets of the Divine Mercy to you.

Donna Marie's life reads like an adventure story - kidnaps, escapes, life threatening illness, meeting saints and more. Through it all she found that Jesus was blessing her life and giving her strength. Join us as we talk about Donna's new book, The Kiss of Jesus.

While all saints are worthy of imitation, some of them were a little more daring than others. Maria Morena Johnson shares some of her favorites in our latest podcast episode.

It's almost Advent so I want to introduce you to Advent Adventures from the creators of the Glory Story saints. The Advent Adventures are perfect daily activities for your children to keep them involved in the Advent season and get them ready for Christmas.

It's something we all dread as parents - having one of our children leave the Church. Brandon Vogt is a convert TO the Catholic Faith who is an author and speaker. When he talks at a church he is regularly asked for advice on how to bring back children who have left.

During the recent Synod on the Family, we heard a lot about the symptoms of the marriage sickness our society is suffering from but not as much about the nature of marriage and ways to help strengthen existing marriages.

Homosexual behavior has surprisingly becoming the defining issue of the decade when only a few years ago the whole idea of homosexual marriage was rejected by the vast majority of Americans. Now, anyone who doesn't applaud homosexual behavior is labeled a bigot and hater. How should the Church respond and help those struggling with these temptations to find peace and salvation without turning them away or sacrificing the Truth?

While there are many books written about specific aspects of spirituality for Catholic Men and the Protestants have been writing about it for a long time in books such as Wild at Heart, there isn't much material that tries to present a full vision of Catholic male spirituality. Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers means to correct that with his new book, Behold the Man - A Catholic Vision of Male Spirituality.

Psychology and religion are regularly at odds but Dr. Christopher Kaczor shows how the study of positive psychology actually validates that the practice of the Catholic Faith empirically makes people happier!

This week, let's kick back on the front porch swing, spend some time gazing across the rolling hills of Ohio and talk with Marcus Grodi about how living a simpler life can bring you closer to God.

When Pope Francis traveled to the Holy Land in 2014, Marge Fenelon had the privilege of being part of the press corp traveling with him. She turned the trip into a healing meditation on Our Lady, Undoer of Knots. Listen to her experience.

These are my show notes for the episode. Please don't pay attention to grammar and punctuation. World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia September 22-25 Happens every three years since 1994 Started by Pope John Paul II Theme this year chosen by Pope Francis: Love Is Our Mission: the Family Fully Alive. Archbishop Chaput explained the theme …

It is so easy to burn through the rosary instead of taking the time to actually think about what you are praying. This week, Sarah Reinhard shows us how to pray the Hail Mary Word By Word with the help of over thirty Catholic authors who offer their reflections on every word of the prayer. Who knew how much meaning can be found, not just once, but twice, in the word "the"!

So what can you get that First Communicant when you aren't the parents or godparents and can't take dibs on a Bible or First Communion rosary? Lisa Hendey to the rescue! Her new Chime Travelers series of books is just the ticket. Follow two children on their adventures through time where they meet saints and …

Wouldn't you like to pray with your children but don't know where to start? Grace Urbanksi is here to help. She has practical steps you can take to make prayer a part of your family routine.

Planned Parenthood has been in the news for weeks now denying, accusing and finally hiding behind "but it's legal" as video after video has come out showing the organization engaging in the selling of baby parts.

Get more out of adoration this month! Listen to an old episode with Vinny Flynn about his book 21 Ways to Worship.

The Seven Deadly Sins sound pretty serious. But do you even know what they are? How can you fight against them if you aren't sure what you are fighting against?

So how did the Big Bang create itself? Physics and reason say that it didn't. So what did? This week I spoke with Dr. Michael Augros where he answers the question "Who Designed the Designer?"

My main interview this week is with Father Michael Remery, author of Tweeting With #God. We didn't just discuss the book, we also discussed how best to evangelize young people and what they are searching for. You won't want to miss this.

In 1968 Father Charles Curran led a revolution of American Catholic theologians in dissent against Humanae Vitae. The results have been devastating to the Church in the United States and Catholic higher education which in the majority of universities has become open hostility to the Faith.

On this week's show I spoke with a real rocket scientist and inventor about approaching belief in God from a scientific outlook.

Is your morning routine missing something? Do you even have a morning routine? The Morning Offering is a short prayer, full of depth that helps you to get your whole day aligned to God.

So how does an atheist end up Catholic? By finding God in the interests she already has. Join me as I have a conversation with Leah Libresco about her journey to Catholicism and the difficulties she had working through different kinds of prayer in Arriving at Amen - Seven Catholic Prayers Even I Can Offer.

Show topics: Flannery O'Connor gets her own stamp! Unfortunately it's for three ounce envelopes. Sharpen your pencils, you're going to need to write in full sentences to write that long a letter. People do not become angels. It doesn't matter if It's a Wonderful Life, Country music or some middling “Catholic” novel says so. People …

Welcome to episode 30 of the Behind the Catholic Counter Podcast. This week I interviewed Steve Ray about his latest Footprints of God DVD, Abraham, Father in Faith and Works.

Because it's Spring, there are a bunch of great new products coming out from different publishers. This week I interviewed Lisa Duffy about her new book the Catholic Guide to Dating after Divorce, a very tough topic but Lisa is very friendly and personable so we had a great interview. Next week I'll be talking to Steve Ray about his latest Footprints of God pilgrimage DVD - Abraham.

This week, I am continuing my interview with Lucas Pollice (Policy),associate director of the Saint Augustine Institute about the Symbolon adult religious education program. This week we are discussing the Beloved marriage preparation and enrichment program and the YDisciple young adult programs.

This week, I interviewed Lucas Pollice, associate director of the Saint Augustine Institute about the Symbolon adult religious education program. Because the St. Augustine Institute has such a large series, I've broken up the interview over two weeks.

Today, I'm interviewing Charlie McKinney, president of Sophia Institute Press. We're going to discuss the upcoming series on NBC about the Acts of the Apostles and the corresponding books that Sophia has published. At the end of our interview, I'll have a couple of special offers for our listeners. Charlie, thank you for joining me on the show today!

Welcome to episode 24 of the Behind the Catholic Counter Podcast. I'm Ian Rutherford, President of Aquinasnandmore.com. I interview Catholic authors, publishers and manufacturers to give you the latest news about great new Catholic books and gifts. You can listen to this and past episodes at aquinasandmore.com/podcast.

Welcome to episode 23 of the Behind the Catholic Counter Podcast. I'm Ian Rutherford, President of Aquinasnandmore.com. I interview Catholic authors, publishers and manufacturers to give you the latest news about great new Catholic books and gifts. You can listen to this and past episodes at aquinasandmore.com/podcast. This week I spoke with Father Thomas Morrow, author of Overcoming Sinful Anger.

This week I spoke with Vivian Dudro, editor of the Magnificat Children's books. If you are looking for First Communion gifts or gifts for any other time of year for children, you will want to listen to this interview. I'll have a special offer at the end of the show.

Today I am joined by Rita Ford, she has written a retreat guide and study guide for the book I Believe in Love, a personal retreat based on the teaching of Saint Therese of Lisieux from Sophia Institute Press. Thank you for joining me on the show today Rita.

This week I interviewed Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press about the new Didache Bible. Below is the transcript of the show along with links to everything we talked about.

On today's Behind the Catholic Counter, I talked with Mark Brumley, President of Ignatius Press about the three new titles they released to coincide with the ongoing Synod on the Family.

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 …

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 …

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 …

True Story My wife and I have eleven children. Several of them are under four which means that their attention span at Mass lasts until Father makes the Sign of the Cross. A couple of them can still be quiet until the Gospel and maybe, just maybe, we'll make it part way through the homily …

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 …