The Catholic Morning Show

In This Episode

Steve Ray on the Precious Blood of Jesus Author, pilgrimage guide, and Catholic convert Steve Ray — known to listeners as "Jerusalem Jones" — joins the show for his monthly visit to explain July's devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, observed on its feast day, July 1. Steve traces the biblical theology of blood sacrifice from the Passover lamb through Peter's first epistle to the Lamb standing on the altar in Revelation 5, and explains how the ransom Christ paid with His own blood connects to the Eucharist today. Steve also shares happy family news: he a...

Steve Ray — author, pilgrimage guide, and host of Defenders of the Catholic Faith — joins Bo Bonner for his recurring monthly segment, this time on the Church's July devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, whose feast falls on July 1. Steve explains how the devotion, formally established for the universal Church by Pope Pius IX in 1849, connects the Old Testament's Passover sacrifice to the New Testament's teaching on Christ as the once-for-all Lamb of God.

Highlights from the conversation:

Fr. Daniel Adjei has served the Diocese of Des Moines since 2022, ministering at St. Francis, St. Joseph, and St. Teresa, followed by a temporary appointment at St. Pius X (2023–2025) and, most recently, St. Catherine's. Originally from the Sekondi-Takoradi diocese in Ghana, Fr. Daniel came to the U.S. in 2015 to pursue graduate studies in systematic theology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where a parish's request to extend his stay ultimately led him to a pastoral assignment — and eventually to Iowa.

In this conversation, Fr. Daniel talks about:

On today's show, Bo Bonner leads two conversations at the heart of the Catholic intellectual and spiritual life — the renewal of authentic Catholic education and the witness of a future saint.

Catholic Liberal Education Reborn — Fr. Dcn. Kyle Washut Fr. Dcn. Kyle Washut, president of Wyoming Catholic College, discusses his new introduction to the reprint of Truth on Trial: The Rise and Fall of the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas by Dr. Robert K. Carlson. He traces how the 1970s "Great Books" program led by professors John Senior, Dennis Quinn, and Franklyn Nelick instilled wond...

The Pilgrimage Dan Russo, editor of The Catholic Messenger (the newspaper of the Diocese of Davenport), invites listeners on the Catholic Messenger's Archbishop Fulton Sheen pilgrimage from Davenport to Peoria, Illinois.

The Details

The Book Fr. Dcn. Kyle Washut, president of Wyoming Catholic College, wrote the new introduction to the reprint of Truth on Trial: The Rise and Fall of the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas, authored by Dr. Robert K. Carlson — founding dean of Wyoming Catholic College and a student and friend of John Senior. The reprint appears in The Adeodatus Series on Catholic Education and Culture and is available from CUA Press.

What Made the IHP Different The Integrated Humanities Program (IHP) ran at the secular University of Kansas in the 1970s, led by three pr...

Bo Bonner is back. After roughly six weeks away — including travel in the UK during the World Cup — Bo Bonner returns to the host chair alongside Alexia Baker, Brady Grimm, and Ayden Pugh on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.

Segment 1 – The Value of Sports with Fr. Reed Flood. Dowling Catholic High School chaplain and Diocese of Des Moines assistant vocations director Fr. Reed Flood joins the show to unpack Pope Leo XIV's June prayer intention "for the values of sports," timed to the FIFA World Cup. Fr. Flood reflects on sport as a school of virtue...

Meet the guest. John Paul Brissette is director of communications for the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion near Green Bay, Wisconsin — the first and only Church-approved Marian apparition site in the United States, where Our Lady appeared to Servant of God Adele Brice in 1859.

The event: Catholic Saints of America, July 1–9. A "hall of fame of holiness" honoring 76 saints, blesseds, venerables, and servants of God who helped shape America, timed to the country's 250th anniversary. More than 35 of the 76 causes and shrines will be represented in person.

What you'll find:

Fr. Reed Flood is chaplain at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines and assistant vocations director for the Diocese of Des Moines.

What the Pope is asking. Pope Leo XIV's June prayer intention is "for the values of sports" — that sport may be an instrument of peace, encounter, and dialogue among cultures and nations, promoting respect, solidarity, and personal growth. Fr. Flood frames sport as a genuine good meant to point us toward the worship of God, and as a training ground for virtue, echoing St. Paul's athletic imagery.

Key takeaways:

Sam Halligan hosts his final Friday show alongside Alexia Baker and Brady Grimm before Bo Bonner returns Monday, delivering Catholic news, sports, weather, and three standout conversations.

Sunday Gospel Reflection — Fr. Nick Stark Fr. Nick Stark breaks open this Sunday's Gospel, warning against the cultural default of "moralistic therapeutic deism" — a term coined in 2005 by sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton — and calling listeners to anchor true goodness in a real relationship with Jesus Christ rather than vague niceness.

Biking for Babies — Todd Clancy Todd Clancy, board member at Martha's House of Hope, previews the Biki...

Dan DeMatte, founder and executive director of Damascus, joins guest host and former Damascus missionary Sam Halligan for a conversation on mission, discipleship, and revival in the Church.

Key Highlights

Todd Clancy — board member at Martha's House of Hope — shares the story and mission of Biking for Babies and invites listeners to ride or volunteer.

Event Details

In this Friday Gospel reflection on Iowa Catholic Radio, Fr. Nick Stark offers a sharp, encouraging preview of Sunday's Gospel.

Key Highlights

Listen Live The Catholic Morning Show airs weekdays at 7:00 AM Central on the Iowa Catholic Radio Network. Stream live at IowaCatholicRadio.com or on the Iowa Catholic Radio app. This week, Sam Halligan is guest hosting in place of Bo Bonner.

Sunday Scripture Preview — Deacon Randy Kiel For the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A), Deacon Randy Kiel opens the First Reading from Second Kings, where the prophet Elisha is welcomed by a generous, influential Shunammite woman and promised a son. He shows how her grace-filled generosity and miraculous gift foreshadow Mary, and connects Saint Paul's te...

What Coveting Really Means Often dismissed as "just thinking about things," the Ninth and Tenth Commandments are anything but minor — Ed Van Buskirk calls them the key to living all the other commandments. He distinguishes ordinary desire (which is good and God-given) from coveting: a disordered emotional attachment we foster until it drives us to act against our own good or our neighbor's. His memorable example: begrudging a neighbor's pristine lawn and sabotaging it, versus humbly asking the neighbor for help so we can grow.

Judging Our Desires, Not Just Our Actions Ed and Deacon Mark Campbell ex...

What Are the Four Senses of Scripture? Monica Welsh describes the four senses as a lens for drawing out the deeper meaning of God's inspired Word, which always has more than one layer. They fall into two categories: the literal sense and the spiritual sense (which includes the allegorical, moral, and anagogical senses), together giving a "360-degree view" of any passage.

Start with the Literal — the Foundation Like the foundation of a house, the literal sense is what the human author intended to convey — and it isn't always obvious for 21st-century readers of an ancient text. Monica poin...

This Sunday's Readings Deacon Randy Kiel previews the readings for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A — Sunday, June 28, 2026: First Reading, 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a; Second Reading, Romans 6:3-4, 8-11. Read along at USCCB.org.

A Woman of Influence — and Generosity The Shunammite woman is wealthy and influential, but she is known for her generosity, welcoming Elisha with an "upper room" complete with a bed, table, chair, and lamp — the very elements of a sanctuary. Deacon Randy draws out the Hebrew sense that true influence flows from a generosity of grace: receiving God's goodwill and pouring it out...

On The Catholic Morning Show today Sam Halligan hosts this week while Bo Bonner is away (back next Monday). Two conversations anchor the morning — one on the interior life and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the other on community, culture, and what really brings people together.

Living in the Sacred Heart of Jesus — Betty Bosarge Betty Bosarge, OSF — retired criminologist, Secular Franciscan, and Fr. Robert I. Bradley's longtime editor — introduces Bradley's new book, The Pathway to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, from Angelico Press. She unpacks how the Holy Eucharist and devotion to the Blessed Mother open a genuin...

Soccer, hospitality, and a world brought together A self-described skeptic of the expanded 48-team format, Huynh admits the 2026 FIFA World Cup has won him over. What's captured his attention isn't only the matches but the atmosphere — Scotland's "Tartan Army" singing through the stands, Japanese fans sharing Texas barbecue, strangers meeting across cultures. Events like this, he says, remind us that human beings delight in gathering, in song, in shared ritual — signs that we belong to something larger than ourselves. (Tournament note for fans: the World Cup runs across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico through the July 19 final, with the...

About the book: The Pathway to the Sacred Heart of Jesus A new release from Angelico Press, this was the central project of Fr. Robert I. Bradley, S.J. — a Jesuit who, as a teenager at Gonzaga High School in Spokane, first wondered whether a soul could truly live inside the Heart of Jesus while still on earth. He entered the Jesuits in 1941 and spent a lifetime mapping that pathway. Betty Bosarge, OSF, his longtime editor and a key force in bringing the book to publication, joins the show to share its message.

A pathway through the Eu...

On this episode, guest host Sam Halligan — filling in for Bo Bonner — explores what real freedom looks like in the Christian life with the Fourth of July approaching. Two longtime friends join to share the missions God has placed on their hearts.

Monica Welsh — The Catholic Bible Class with Mon
Catholic Bible teacher Monica Welsh shares her casual, self-paced courses that take beginners through the whole Bible, book by book. Recording from Damascus' new East Coast summer camp in Maryland, Monica explains how her audio-guided Old Testament and New Testament courses connect every book of Scripture and ma...

Meet Nick Redd
Nick is a co-founder and freedom coach with The Freedom Group, living in Kansas City with his wife, Theresa, and their growing family. After 15 years in full-time ministry, he launched The Freedom Group three years ago.

His Story
Raised in a strong faith background, Nick knew the rules but stayed trapped in a cycle of confession and relapse that grew into addiction. In 2009 he hit rock bottom and met Christ in a life-changing conversion — a healing that now fuels his mission to walk alongside other men.

The Mission
The Fr...

Meet Monica Welsh
A Benedictine College theology graduate, former missionary, and ninth-grade theology teacher, Monica is part of the Damascus missionary community in central Ohio. She joins the show from Summit Lake — Damascus' brand-new East Coast camp in Maryland, launching its first summer — where her husband serves as camp director.

Why She Built It
The courses were born out of Monica's own need. After years of formation, she realized she knew Bible stories but not how the books fit together. She pulled from more than a dozen trusted Catholic sources (Ascension and Jeff Cavins, Fr. Mike...

Father's Day Monday on The Catholic Morning Show: Guest host Sam Halligan (filling in for Bo Bonner) leads a morning devoted to evangelization, masculinity, and Catholic fatherhood across three conversations.

FOCUS & the Art of Friendship — John Michael Lucido: The Director of Recruitment and Retention for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students explains how FOCUS forms missionary disciples on roughly 220 campuses and a growing number of parishes, why evangelization is simply "the art of friendship," and how his Call Him Abba newsletter calls young men toward fatherhood and purpose.

A Man on Purpose — Pete Burak: The vice...

Featured Guest: John Michael Lucido, Director of Recruitment and Retention for FOCUS (the Fellowship of Catholic University Students), joining guest host Sam Halligan.

Evangelization as Friendship: Lucido makes the case that sharing the faith isn't reserved for professional missionaries — it begins with ordinary friendship, hospitality, and asking deeper questions over time. Every baptized Catholic, in any state of life, is called to this mission.

Inside FOCUS: Founded in 1998 by Curtis Martin, FOCUS now serves roughly 220 college campuses — including Iowa-area schools like Drake, Iowa State, and the University of Iowa — and is expanding to dozens of parish...

Featured Guest: Iowa Catholic Radio host Joe Stopulus, previewing his 9 AM program with guest host Sam Halligan.

A Father's Day Reflection: One month after the death of his father, Joe shares how he's chosen gratitude over grief — thanking God for the example of a faithful father and grandfather rather than dwelling on lost time.

Heroic Fatherhood: Joe introduces a special two-part episode, beginning today at 9 AM, featuring an interview he recorded with his late father about two years ago — part of his Heroic Fatherhood series exploring the wisdom of faithful dads.

Encouragement for the...

Featured Guest: Pete Burak, vice president of Renewal Ministries (Ann Arbor, MI) and author of A Man on Purpose: 10 Rules of Life from a Faithful Father (Ave Maria Press), joining guest host Sam Halligan.

The Radical Center: Burak describes Renewal Ministries' charism of living in the "radical center of the gospel" — laser-focused on the kerygma and the power of the Holy Spirit rather than the extremes of Catholic infighting.

Rethinking Masculinity: Surveying today's masculinity debate, Burak rejects two false narratives — that manhood is inherently "toxic," and that unchecked "alpha" desire needs no conversion — and casts a visi...

A faith-filled Father's Day broadcast from the Iowa Catholic Radio Network, hosted by Sam Halligan with co-host Deacon Mark Campbell.

Gospel Reflection – 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 10:26–33)
Sam Halligan and Deacon Mark Campbell unpack Jesus' charge to "fear no one" and the danger of living a duplicitous, compartmentalized life. The conversation moves from the duty-driven morality of the Old Testament to the love-driven call of the New, reminding listeners that God counts even the hairs on our head — we follow Him not out of fear, but because we are loved.

AJ Brown – Pilgrimage for the...

A Father's Day conversation between Deacon Mark Campbell and Father Nick Smith, pastor of Saint Patrick's in Perry and the familiar voice of Iowa Catholic Radio's daily Gospel reflection.

Father Nick explains how spiritual fatherhood was a central theme throughout his eight years of seminary formation — learning to know God as Father and to model the fatherhood witnessed in his own family. He honors two formative men: his own father, an attorney and judge marked by a hunger for righteousness, and the late Father John Acree, who gave over sixty years to the priesthood and accompanied Father Ni...

Hosts Sam Halligan and Deacon Mark Campbell welcome AJ Brown, a parishioner of Saint Pius X in Urbandale, to share the story behind the inaugural Pilgrimage for the Unborn benefiting InnerVisions HealthCare.

The journey by the numbers: 67 miles on foot, 34 straight hours, 20 rosaries prayed, 19 parishes visited plus stops at the Iowa Catholic Radio Chapel and beyond, and more than $12,000 raised — including many first-time donors.

AJ describes how the inspiration struck during a Lenten rosary walk as part of Saint Michael's Lent, the doubters who said he wouldn't make it, and the support of his wife an...

A Gospel reflection for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, drawn from Matthew 10:26–33.

Sam Halligan and Deacon Mark Campbell wrestle with the modern temptation to keep faith in a "God box" — pulling it out on Sunday and putting it away for the rest of the week. The challenge of the Gospel is congruency: if a camera followed you all day, your life would look the same in every setting. The hosts trace the movement from the duty-driven (deontological) morality of the Old Testament to the love-driven (teleological) call of the New Testament, where obedience flows from filial love...

A full morning of Catholic teaching, Scripture, and conversation on The Catholic Morning Show. Sam Halligan fills in as guest host this week and next while Bo Bonner is away (Bo returns a week from Monday, and Alexia Baker is back next week).

Gospel Reflection with Deacon Randy Kiel — Deacon and licensed mental health counselor Deacon Randy Kiel unpacks the readings for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time on the theme of the abundance of God's grace. He draws on the persecution of the prophet Jeremiah, the contrast in Romans 5 between the death that came through one ma...

The walk through the Ten Commandments continues on The Catholic Morning Show as Ed Van Buskirk joins host Deacon Mark Campbell to explore the Eighth Commandment: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."

Van Buskirk contrasts truth and lies, explaining how a single lie binds us, makes us a "slave to a lie," and — like a dandelion gone to seed — blows in the wind and multiplies, creating chaos, distrust, and isolation. He cites St. Thomas Aquinas on the necessity of mutual confidence for human community and points to Satan as the father of lies in the...

In this conversation on The Catholic Morning Show, guest host Sam Halligan welcomes canon lawyer Adam Storey to explore a subject many Catholics associate only with annulments or parish governance.

Storey offers a big-picture view of canon law as a tool the Church uses to serve justice and order the community so it can respond to Christ's call to mission. He frames canon law as "applied theology" — taking what the Church believes about Jesus and the Body of Christ and living it out — rooted specifically in ecclesiology: the conviction that the Church is a visible body, a comm...

In this Gospel reflection segment of The Catholic Morning Show, Deacon Randy Kiel — a permanent deacon and licensed mental health counselor — prepares listeners for the readings of the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, naming the abundance of God's grace as the week's theme.

He recounts the prophet Jeremiah's confrontation with the priest Pashhur, his imprisonment and public torture in the stocks, and the cries of "terror on every side" — yet Jeremiah still proclaimed the abundance of the Lord present with him. Connecting this to Romans 5, Deacon Randy explains that while death entered the world through one man, the ma...

Cristero War Martyrs — Relic Veneration in the Diocese of Des Moines
Six Catholic priests martyred during Mexico's Cristero War (1926–1929) and canonized by Pope John Paul II on May 21, 2000, are making a pilgrimage through the Diocese of Des Moines this week. All six were Knights of Columbus. Monica Meredith, Hispanic Ministry Director at Sacred Heart Parish, and Antonio Banuelos, Knight of Columbus, joined the show to discuss the significance of the relics and what listeners can expect at the veneration events.

Relic Schedule:

What Happened on June 11, 2026
At the U.S. bishops' spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida, over 270 bishops prayed a formal act of consecration, entrusting the United States — its people, wounds, and future — to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This coincided with the feast of the Sacred Heart and the nation's 250th anniversary. The full prayer remains available on the USCCB website.

Historical Context — Why the Sacred Heart?
Jesus appeared to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 17th-century France, revealing his heart and lamenting indifference and ingratitude from humanity. He offered 12 promises to those devoted to his Sacred...

Who Are the Six Martyred Priests?
During Mexico's Cristero War (1926–1929), the Mexican government effectively outlawed the Catholic Church — banning public Mass, expelling clergy, and desecrating churches. Six Knights of Columbus priests refused to stop ministering and were executed for their faith. Pope John Paul II canonized 26 martyrs of the Cristero War on May 21, 2000 — six of whom were Knights of Columbus. Their final words: Viva Cristo Rey — Long live Christ the King.

Relic Veneration Schedule — Diocese of Des Moines

Iowa March for Life — Des Moines, Iowa | June 20, 2026
Maggie DeWitte, Executive Director of Pulse Life Advocates — Iowa's longest-standing statewide pro-life organization, founded in 1972 — joins the show to reflect on the pro-life landscape four years after the Dobbs decision. She discusses Iowa's heartbeat law, the reality of neighboring states like Minnesota and Illinois serving as abortion sanctuary states, and why the fight for life continues both locally and federally. Pulse Life Advocates hosts its 4th Annual Iowa March for Life this Saturday, June 20th, at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines:

Marriage Works Ohio is a department of the Elizabeth New Life Center, a pro-life pregnancy center with over 36 years of history. Under Greg Schutte's leadership for the past 20 years, Marriage Works serves couples and youth through three primary avenues:

Building a Eucharis...