St. Louis, Mo., Jan 9, 2023 / 12:30 pm
For the third year in a row, a Catholic podcast has bolted out of the gate after New Year’s Day to become the No. 1 most popular on Apple Podcasts, beating out secular podcasts from The New York Times, NBC News, and NPR.
But 2023 is slightly different from 2021 and 2022, for one key reason. This year, the top two spots on Apple Podcasts are currently held by Catholic podcasts — “The Catechism in a Year” and “The Bible in a Year,” both produced by Catholic publisher Ascension.
Father Mike Schmitz, a priest of the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, and host of both podcasts, told CNA last week that in the course of recording hundreds of episodes of the podcast, he has been struck by the “beautiful” composition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a hefty volume that serves as the definitive summary of the Church’s teaching.
Although the Catechism is specific to the Catholic Church, Schmitz said he believes anyone can listen to his podcast and learn from it. Schmitz said reading through the Catechism has served as a helpful reminder to him, personally, about many aspects of Church teaching.