500 episodes listed below
Kitchen-table banter that keeps landing on Jesus.
Two friends open with laughter about sweaters, Lenten cereal cravings, and calling the show 'the pod,' then slide without warning into obedience, mercy, and the cost of scrolling. It is devotional talk that sounds spoken rather than scripted, from Blessed is She and shaped by the liturgical calendar.
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The Gathering Place is a Catholic conversation podcast from Blessed is She, released Tuesdays and Fridays, and it sounds like two friends who cannot help turning an ordinary exchange into a spiritual one. Jenna and Beth open with hellos, a compliment about a sweater, a tangent about whether podcasters ought to be called potters. Then somebody says something true and the room changes. That shift is the show's basic rhythm. Nothing is smoothed over on the way there: thoughts get interrupted, corrected midstream, and repeated until they feel earned. A friend once answered 'living the dream' with the question of whether it was a good dream, and that small joke becomes a way of asking how anyone actually knows. Elsewhere, one of them describes years of wrestling to believe that God was not an enemy of her happiness, and the disbelief in that admission is left intact rather than resolved too quickly. Another episode calls endless scrolling a game of Russian roulette with the soul, and follows the thought all the way to a hard comparison between admiring inspiring posts about Mother Teresa and doing what Mother Teresa did. The liturgical year sets the pace. Lent gets tracked week by week, with real complaints attached: the Ash Wednesday half week muddles the count, penance is no easier past halfway than on day one, and a broken fast from a favorite cereal counts as news. By Holy Week the tone brightens, with talk of the Easter Vigil, of the happy fault, and of a song that lands as piercing rather than pretty. Mercy over one's own mess, radical dependence versus the illusion of the driver's seat, idolizing a timeline, discerning the voice of the good shepherd from the voice of the enemy: these come up as lived problems, not lecture topics. A separate explainer strand runs alongside the conversations, with Allison Ertley answering foundational questions such as how a person becomes Catholic. Her register is calmer and more sustained, framing the sacraments as an invitation from the God of the universe and reaching for The Jeweler's Shop, written by Karol Wojtyla, to explain a proposal that asks for a whole life. The show also carries a live-audience texture, with the member community greeted by name. It stays devotional without going formal. It stays earnest without turning brittle. Anyone allergic to explicitly Catholic language will not find it hidden here, but the seriousness is always routed through something ordinary first, and the laughter is never a warm-up act to be discarded.
Made for: Catholics who want faith talk that sounds like real conversation rather than a lesson, especially those keeping Lent, thinking about their phone habits, or wrestling with prayer and obedience. Also useful for anyone curious about what entering the Catholic Church actually involves.
What sets it apart: Most devotional shows pick a lane, either teaching or chatting; this one crosses between them mid-sentence, letting laughter and grave conviction share the same breath. The unpolished, self-correcting delivery is the point, and a separate explainer strand covers the foundational questions the conversations assume.
NEW uploads Tuesdays & Fridays // Begin and end your week with Blessed is She's audio experience, The Gathering Place Podcast. We gather to talk about radically following Jesus and living a vibrantly Catholic life together. You'll also hear our weekly Q&A (live every Tuesday on YouTube!)Listen to our daily devotions here --> anchor.fm/bisdailydevo
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Catholic devotional conversation becomes practical and companionable through candid exchanges about prayer, Scripture, fear, attention, and everyday discipleship.
The Gathering Place turns Catholic formation into a candid conversation among Jenna, Beth, and Steph, moving easily from Scripture and prayer to fear, social media, and the demands of a set-apart life.
Prayer settles in like coffee with a friend, then Beth and Jenna ask the unnervingly big questions.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A lively Christian conversation turns scrolling, sin, and the road ahead toward the light.
The Gathering Place frames spiritual overwhelm as a question of where attention goes. The hosts begin with light banter about wardrobe and Instagram, then ease into a more searching conversation about what constant scrolling can do to the soul.
A warm Lent conversation finds prayer in the ordinary act of settling in.
Prayer comes through as a relationship that needs room to breathe. The hosts lean on Father Timothy Gallagher's image of meeting the Lord for coffee: the greeting, the settling in, the ordinary pleasantries before the conversation moves toward what matters most.
A Lent conversation that lets Jesus' question linger in the hearts trying to answer it.
Jenna and Beth begin with the privilege of knowing Jesus, then press into the harder question beneath it: who do they say he is? Lent is framed as a season for slowing down, receiving more, and letting every part of the self come under the healing mercy and love of Jesus.
A warm devotional conversation about retraining fear into trust, anchored by a memorable storm-at-sea image.
Fear is treated as something to practice with, not simply push away, in this lively installment of The Weekly Visit. Jenna and Steph move from summit chatter into the habits that shape a Christian response to uncertainty, keeping the focus on turning toward the Lord when anxiety…
A candid, pastoral conversation about consecration, comparison, and remaining faithful when calling feels hard.
Beth and Steph frame a set-apart life as consecration rather than performance: the Holy Spirit may ask one believer to release something that is not wrong in itself because, for that person, it is a no.
Two Bible translators unpack Scripture's hardest passages, from Revelation's 666 to the Witch of Endor.
Live sermons with Easter-shaped urgency.
Beth and Steph excitedly introduce a new necklace from their brand, featuring a miraculous medal and crucifix, and discuss its durability and availability in silver and gold.
Jenna and Steph host The Gathering Place's weekly visit, focusing on fear and how Jesus provides answers.
Beth and Steph host a Q&A on living a set-apart Catholic life.
Beth and Steph discuss the final chapters of the Gospel of John, emphasizing that God's word brings healing and promises through pain.
A discussion on the difficulty and importance of obedience to God, emphasizing how surrendering personal desires leads to spiritual growth and new life.
Allison Ertley explains that becoming Catholic is like accepting a marriage proposal from God, involving adoption as His child and receiving grace through the Church and sacraments.
A conversation about happiness, following Jesus, and discerning God's voice, with a humorous reflection on the phrase 'living the dream.'
Beth and Jenna discuss living an abundant life through openness and surrender to God's plan, reflecting on their Lenten journey.
A discussion on how personal conversion and mature discipleship can draw others to Christ, with reflections on Lenten practices.
Jenna and Beth of The Gathering Place podcast reflect on the second week of Lent, centering on Jesus's 'I am the gate for the sheep' declaration from John 10 as found in Debbie Herbeck's devotional 'Who Do You Say That I Am.' The conversation moves from social media use as a spiritual vulnerability to Beth's insight that scrolling is 'Russian roulette with my soul' because the algorithm escalates content intensity based on dwell time.
Jenna and Beth of The Gathering Place podcast reflect on early Lent, framing the season as a pilgrimage in which God has his own plan rather than one the listener designs.
Hosts Jenna and Beth of the Blessed Is She podcast open their Ash Wednesday Lent kickoff by introducing this year's Lenten devotional, written by Debbie Herbeck, who grew up Jewish and had never heard the name Jesus before her conversion.
Jenna and Steph recap a women's summit, discussing favorite talks and hinting at a future announcement.
Beth and Steph introduce a new series for August about living as if Jesus is the answer to all of life's problems, based on their study on the Eucharist called Gift.
Jenna and Beth discuss the millennial pause and the challenges of going live on social media.