The Catholic Buzz Podcast celebrates 50 episodes!

The Catholic Buzz Podcast celebrates 50 episodes
The Podcast filmed in North Bay , Ontario in the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie tackles all Catholic topics ranging from the Eucharist to scandals in the Church.

What began as a pandemic project of discussing various Catholic subjects and topics while in quarantine now continues as an online Catholic resource. 

The Catholic Buzz Podcast hit the airwaves in April 2020 bringing together hosts Fr. Daniele Muscolino, Josh Sullivan and Mat VanMilligen.  Now, fifty episodes and one year later, the trio of hosts reflect back on a year of chatting all things Catholic.

"It's hard to believe people would want to listen to us" jokes Fr. Daniele Muscolino, the Pastor of Holy Name of Jesus and St. Alphonsus Liguori churches in North Bay and Callander, "I don't think we thought this would last as long as it has."

Tackling numerous themes over the course of the year, Fr. Daniele says he is moved by the impact the podcast has had on the lives of people.  "What I really appreciate is people sharing with us messages of how our episodes have helped them grow in areas of their Catholic faith, which is the whole point of our program."

From episodes on the Eucharist and the Mass, to what the Church teaches on everything from marriage, ghosts, the big bang theory, alcohol and drugs, many topics have been explored over the last fifty episodes.

"It's an ongoing discussion" says Mat VanMilligen, professor at Canadore College in North Bay , Ontario and father of four, "we are just starting relevant conversations about the life of the Church and how it affects our spiritual lives."  

Popular episodes of the Podcast have included a timed speed round where viewers and listeners send in their questions for the Buzz hosts, who have a short time to answer them. 

Since the podcast is also used in religion classes across the North as a teaching tool, a two-part episode focused on answering questions submitted from high school students.

For Josh Sullivan, just having a platform to discuss what is going on in the Catholic world has been a blessing.  "Anytime something big in the Church happens, it's nice to be able to come on here and talk about it," says Sullivan, also a professor at Canadore College and father of four, "it helps me understand and clarify what is going on and how it applies to me."

After fifty episodes, Sullivan chose Episode 5 on Drugs & Alcohol as one of his favourites, while VanMilligen chose Episode 4 on the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Fr. Daniele said the impact he has witnessed from Episode 30 on Catholic Funerals has been a great grace, where he saw people find a renewed appreciation for the importance of the Church's role in helping the soul go to heaven during a Catholic Funeral.

Looking forward to the future, the Buzz hosts say the team is open to where God is calling them to continue to use this online ministry and encourages listeners to send in their suggestions for future episodes.  

Filmed in North Bay , Ontario in the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, the podcast has listeners from across Canada , the United States and even Australia .  Behind the scenes, Kevin Yarosh, Dave Dunkley and Sam McKinley take care of the technical side of the podcast.

As for the hosts of the Catholic Buzz, "we share the same interests, we love the Church and have a good friendship, which makes for a good podcast," said Fr. Daniele, "Mat is the smart one, Josh and I just like to talk."

The Catholic Buzz Podcast is available to watch on YouTube, or can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify by searching The Catholic Buzz Podcast.

(For more informaton on The Catholic Buzz Podcast, visit www.holynamestalphonsus.com/thecatholicbuzz or email the hosts at thecatholicbuzzpodcast@gmail.com.  The 50th Episode of the Catholic Buzz Podcast is available at this link: https://youtu.be/SxDhMKWKSTc)