500 episodes listed below
Catholic teaching for ordinary discipleship.
The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast offers short Catholic reflections shaped by Scripture, sacramental life, and practical questions of faith. It moves from Bible timelines and Church teaching to silence, fasting, love, and the rough beauty of Christian community.
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The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast is a Catholic devotional and teaching show centered on Scripture, Church teaching, and the lived work of discipleship. Father Mike Schmitz speaks in a fast, familiar style, often beginning with a memory, a listener concern, or a seasonal moment in the Church year. Then the reflection narrows. A Bible reading plan becomes a question about finding the story beneath the difficult passages. A crucifix becomes a way to ask whether a person wants to be associated with Christ crucified. Lent becomes less about proving discipline and more about union with God. The show is strongest when it turns a familiar Catholic phrase into something concrete. In one episode, “no salvation outside the Church” is treated as a real teaching that needs careful explanation rather than a slogan to wield carelessly. In another, fasting is held alongside mercy for people whose relationship with food has been wounded. That pastoral instinct matters. The show does not flatten Catholic practice into self-improvement, but it also does not leave doctrine floating above daily life. Prayer, silence, penance, love, community, and sacramental identity keep returning as practical tests of belief. There is room for pop culture, too, as in the conversation with Michael Iskander about David and House of David, but the biblical and spiritual lens remains primary. The pacing is informal. The substance is catechetical. The episodes often circle back to a single usable challenge, such as sitting in silence, reading Scripture through its larger arc, or choosing love over use. It is built for Catholics who want formation that is emotionally direct and doctrinally anchored. It also fits seekers trying to understand how Catholic claims translate into ordinary habits and communal life.
Made for: Best for Catholics, catechumens, and spiritually curious listeners who want clear Catholic reflection tied to Scripture, Lent, prayer, and Church teaching. It especially suits people who like pastoral teaching with everyday examples.
What sets it apart: The show pairs doctrinal explanation with concrete devotional practice, moving quickly from theology to habits such as silence, fasting, Bible reading, and life in community. Its strength is making Catholic claims feel immediate without reducing them to generic advice.
Faith, pop culture, and headline reflections from Fr. Mike Schmitz.
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A reflective Advent invitation to bring hurt, shame, and resentment to Christ.
The episode treats healing as something love can do, not time alone, and ties Advent to preparing to see the Lord face to face. Father Mike Schmitz speaks plainly about bringing brokenness and shame to Jesus, while also making space for hurt, injustice, anger, and resentment as…
Two Bible translators unpack Scripture's hardest passages, from Revelation's 666 to the Witch of Endor.
Catholic arguments with pint-table warmth.
Daily headlines under Christian judgment.
Catholic homilies for the next faithful step.
Serious Bible questions, patiently reasoned.
Context-rich Bible teaching with room to wrestle.
Fr. Mike explains why Daredevil cannot seek forgiveness for a sin he plans to commit.
Fr. Mike reveals an incredible surge of people entering the Catholic Church last Easter, sparking a question about why newcomers still need a formal process.
David Henrie describes moving from Disney Channel fame and materialism toward Catholicism after philosophy discussions on the set of Little Boy.
What if you knew Christmas Day was the day you would wake up dead, and how would that change your Advent?
Father Mike Schmitz leads the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary on The Fr.
Father Mike Schmitz says a weekly holy hour he began at 16 shaped his life, and traces the devotion’s popularization to Blessed Fulton Sheen.
Fr. Mike Schmitz leads the first Luminous Mystery, the Baptism of the Lord, through the Our Father and ten Hail Marys.
Father Mike Schmitz shares his personal journey of studying the Bible, from his early excitement as a high school student to his theological education and discovery of Jeff Cavins' teachings on the Bible's narrative.
Father Mike Schmitz discusses the significant number of people joining the Catholic Church after Easter, emphasizing the importance of both intellectual understanding and communal participation in the faith journey.
Father Mike Schmitz discusses the significance of crucifixes during Lent and Easter, emphasizing their role in reminding Catholics of Jesus's sacrifice, love, and identity.
Michael Iskander, the 24-year-old actor playing King David in Amazon Prime’s House of David, tells Father Mike Schmitz how Bible in a Year and 1 Samuel shaped his preparation for the role.
Father Mike Schmitz discusses how the opposite of love is not hate but use, exploring humanity's purpose for labor, leisure, and love as revealed in Genesis and distorted by brokenness.
Father Mike Schmitz explains the Catholic teaching 'no salvation outside the Church' by clarifying it means the Church is God's plan for salvation through Jesus, not that only card-carrying Catholics can be saved.
This episode explores Christian fasting beyond food, addressing unhealthy relationships with food and offering alternative penance options during Lent.
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Father Mike Schmitz reacts to a scene from The Chosen where Jesus interacts with Mary Magdalene, exploring themes of sin, pain, and spiritual resistance.
Father Mike Schmitz reacts to and critiques confession scenes from movies and TV shows, offering Catholic perspectives on accuracy and theology.