A Resounding Yes!
A Resounding Yes! is a podcast produced by Catholic creative agency Paloma & Fig centered around Mary's Fiat and how we can say YES to the Lord. Visit www.palomaandfig.com to learn more.
Poet Stephanie Petters on Poetry as a Form of Prayer
Belle Meade welcomes Stephanie Petters, a Catholic wife, mother and author behind Of Wood and Word, a publishing company highlighting poetry inspired by the Word of God. Stephanie shares how discerning her vocation shaped her life as a writer and introduces Divine World, her illustrated anthology of Catholic poetry that walks families through the seasons. Together they explore poetry as a form of prayer and how the sacramental imagination helps children see God in everything.
What We Talk About:
How a dating fast and a weekend with the Salesians helped Stephanie discern her vocation...Scott Weeman of Catholic in Recovery on Helping a Loved One Through Addiction
Belle Meade sits down with Scott Weeman, founder of Catholic in Recovery, a ministry that unites 12-step recovery with the Catholic faith. Scott tells the story of the 7 a.m. AA meeting in San Diego where he finally surrendered, and how a blog he started grew into about 240 meetings serving people around the world. He also shares advice for families watching a loved one struggle with addiction.
What We Talk About:
The man who crossed the room at Scott’s first real AA meeting to tell him he never had to drink again—and how...Author Haley Stewart on Why Children Deserve Beautiful Images
Belle Meade sits down with Haley Stewart, Catholic convert and author of The Sister Seraphina Mysteries, to talk about the fourth book in the series, The Secret of the Starkworthing Rubies. Haley shares how saying yes to openness to life led her into the Church, and why she believes children deserve beautiful images and vocabulary that stretches them. Along the way, she explains why every book in the series follows the liturgical year.
What We Talk About:
How a dream about mouse nuns living under G.K. Chesterton’s house became a children’s myst...Dr. John Cuddeback on Technology, Family and the Traditional Household
Belle Meade welcomes Dr. John Cuddeback, who has taught philosophy at Christendom College for 30 years, to discuss his newest book, The Intentional Household.
The ordinary activities that once filled the home have left it, Dr. John argues, and families have to bring them back on purpose. He also makes the case for drawing grandparents back into family life.
What We Talk About:
Why Dr. John points to his marriage, 30 years in, as the yes that shaped his lifeWhy the 1950s family was already a post-industrial family, and what the traditional household looked...Michele Sagarino of Cross Catholic Outreach on the Mission Trip that Revealed Her Calling
Belle Meade welcomes Michele Sagarino, president of Cross Catholic Outreach, a Catholic relief and development ministry that works through the local Church to serve the world’s poorest communities. Michele tells the story of the mission trip that set her on this path, and of the 2013 dinner conversation that became Box of Joy. That program is now closing in on its millionth Christmas gift.
What We Talk About:
On a mission trip, Michele saw the same food and bedding neglected at government-run facilities and given with love by a community of sisters.Cross Catholic Ou...The Life and Martyrdom of Shahbaz Bhatti w/ Knox Thames
Belle Meade sits down with Knox Thames, a human rights lawyer who spent twenty years advocating for religious freedom in the U.S. government and now leads the Everett Center for Global Religious Freedom at Dallas Baptist University. Their conversation centers on Blood and Water, the graphic novel Knox produced about his late friend Shahbaz Bhatti, the Catholic cabinet minister in Pakistan who was murdered by the Pakistani Taliban. Knox also explains why Christians are called to defend the faith of others.
What We Talk About:
Why Shahbaz Bhatti turned down asylum in Canada...Why a Novel Can Reach Where Theology Can't, with Thomas Curry
Belle Meade welcomes Thomas Curry, a mostly retired physician from Port St. Joe, Florida, to talk about his faith journey and his novel Miss Sally's Son. Raised Methodist, Thomas shares how his wife led him into the Catholic Church and how questions about Thomas Merton's life became the seed of a story about a lawyer searching for his father and his lost faith. It took him thirty years, he admits, to appreciate what he had joined.
What We Talk About:
Why Thomas enlisted in the Army during the Vietnam War, and how everyone he...Mary's Fiat and the Rosary: Fr. Joseph-Anthony Kress on the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage
Belle Meade welcomes Fr. Joseph-Anthony Kress, O.P. back to A Resounding Yes to talk about the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage on Saturday, September 26, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. Fr. Joseph-Anthony is the Promoter of the Holy Rosary for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph.Â
In this episode, he explains why the rosary is the Dominican patrimony and why Mary's fiat at the Annunciation was only her first. He also recalls the question a friar asked him in the novitiate: why are you staying?
What We T...
Heroes Who Are Still Human: Corinna Turner on Writing Catholic Fiction
Belle Meade talks with Corinna Turner, a Catholic novelist and lay Dominican who has been writing since she was fourteen and now has more than thirty books behind her, including the Carnegie Medal–nominated I Am Margaret series. The conversation covers why she trusts a story to carry truth further than an argument will, and how she writes danger and violence without ever making them graphic. She also tells the story of St. Edmund, King and Martyr, at length.
What We Talk About:
Why integrity in a character is not the same thing as pe...Bringing Catherine of Siena to Life with Novelist Jenny duBay
Belle Meade sits down with Jenny duBay, an author and trauma-informed Catholic coach, to talk about her debut novel World Between Worlds, a fictional retelling of the early life of St. Catherine of Siena. Jenny traces how a passing reference to Catherine in a secular history book pulled her back into the Catholic faith after years away from the Church, and shares stories from years of research and travel to Siena. The conversation moves through what made Catherine radical for her time, the discipline behind writing historical fiction, and what readers can carry away from her story today.
<...The Widow Who Became America's First Native-Born Saint
Belle Meade sits down with Sister Betty Ann McNeil, D.C., a Daughter of Charity and former provincial archivist who edited the second edition of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton: A Spiritual Portrait. Sister Betty Ann has been telling Elizabeth Seton's story for fifty years, since winning a place as one of the youngest Daughters of Charity sent to Rome for the canonization in 1975.
What We Talk About:
How a biography read at twelve set Sister Betty Ann on the path to the Daughters of Charity, and how she came to be in Rome for...The God Who Cheers Us On: Astronaut Tom Jones on Wonder and Creation
Christina Sabo and co-host Fr. John Johnson welcome veteran astronaut and planetary scientist Dr. Tom Jones, who flew four space shuttle missions and made three spacewalks helping build the International Space Station. Tom traces the yeses that carried a fourth grader's dream all the way to the launch pad, and tells the story of the Sunday in April 1994 when three Catholic astronauts received the Eucharist aboard Endeavour. He also describes the sunrise that broke into the cockpit moments after communion, and the five minutes on a spacewalk he calls the best he has spent in space.
...
How to Find Relics Near You w/ Brian O'Neel
Christina Sabo talks with writer, editor, and publicist Brian O'Neel about SaintsTombs.com, the twenty-three-year project that maps where servants of God, venerables, blesseds, and saints are buried across 133 countries. Brian traces it back to a 2003 trip to Rome, where he visited the tomb of Saint Monica without knowing that Venerable Giuseppe Minocchio lay beneath a small square of black marble in the same church. He and Christina talk about pilgrimage, relics, forgotten martyrs, and what happens when a person goes to pray where the saints are laid.
What We Talk About:
The 2003 Rome...Not a Cry Room, but a Training Room: Author Steve Walton on Children at Mass
Steve Walton is an author, former Army Ranger, father of four, and grandfather of five. Steve joins Belle Meade to talk about converting to Catholicism at fifteen, a career built on writing, and his new board book, Loving God: A Mass Book for Little Hands.Â
Steve describes finding illustrator Claudia Corrales in Savannah, why he set out to make the Mass book he never found as a young parent, and how the finished book is reaching parishes and Catholic bookstores. He also covers the free coloring sheets on his website, the Mass book for older children now i...
Signs of Hope in a Pornography-Filled Culture w/ Fr. Carter Griffin
Belle Meade welcomes Fr. Carter Griffin for a conversation about chastity as the power to love well rather than a list of restrictions. Fr. Carter is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, a former Navy line officer, and the author of Reclaimed: Win the War of Freedom, Self-Mastery, and Holy Purity.Â
Fr. Carter recounts his conversion at Princeton, the four years at sea that shaped how he understands discipline and fatherhood, and the dissertation that grew into Why Celibacy? He then walks through the practical battle plan behind his new book: honest limits on screens, real b...
The Only Wrong Way to Pray: Tanner Kalina on Prayer, Heartbreak, and Wholeheartedness
Christina Sabo is joined by co-hosts Fr. Kevin Braski and Belle Meade for a conversation with Catholic evangelist, author, and speaker Tanner Kalina about his new book, All Your Heart: How to Live for Christ Without Holding Back. Tanner traces the yes that took him from chasing acting and comedy in Los Angeles to campus ministry in Colorado, then opens the question at the center of his book: what the heart actually is, and why loving God with all of it depends on the intellect and the will as much as the affections. Fr. Kevin brings a priest's perspective...
Holiness in the Ordinary: Meg Hunter-Kilmer on The Everyday Yes
Guest host Belle Meade welcomes Catholic author, speaker, and Notre Dame campus minister Meg Hunter-Kilmer to talk about her own everyday yes and her new twelve-week Bible study, Who Is Jesus? Discovering Christ in the Gospels, published by Ave Maria Press. Along the way she shares the moment a familiar parable broke her open in the middle of Mass and why she thinks fifteen minutes a day of silence — one percent of your life — is within reach of almost anyone.
What We Talk About:
The daily habit for growing closer to God that Meg hope...The Only Approved Apparition in America: The Story of Our Lady of Champion
Guest host Kaylee Stoll sits down with Father Tony Stephens, CPM, rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, for a conversation about his own yes to God and the only Church-approved Marian apparition in the United States. From a farm in western Kansas to the Fathers of Mercy, Father Tony traces the series of yeses that shaped his vocation, then tells the story of Adele Brice, the 1859 apparitions, the Miracle of the Fire, and the annual Walk to Mary pilgrimage.
What We Talk About:
Father Tony's path from a Kansas farm...Jeff Cavins on Walking Through Every Door God Opens
This episode is a re-air.
Jeff Cavins never planned any of it. A confirmation Bible at thirteen, a stack of colored markers and a sheet of butcher paper at twenty-six, and a habit of walking through whatever door opened. That is how the Great Adventure Bible Timeline was born and how a former Protestant pastor became one of the most recognized voices in Catholic media. In this conversation, Jeff traces his yes across five decades, from Mother Angelica's studio to the Holy Land to the balcony of St. Peter's, and lands on the single priority...
Sharks, Street Gangs, and the Making of a Monk w/ Fr. Augustine Wetta, O.S.B.
Father Augustine Wetta, O.S.B.—Benedictine monk, teacher, surfer, and former professional juggler—joins the show to talk about Georges Bernanos's classic novel Diary of a Country Priest and the new unabridged translation that restores it to its full power.Â
Along the way he traces his own half-hearted, failure-strewn "yes" to God: riding waves at the beach that inspired Jaws, blessing a Los Angeles street gang at two in the morning, and praying the rosary beside the very protesters he came to disagree with.Â
What We Tal...
What Kids Know That We Forget: The Grace of Yes w/ Lisa Hendey of Chime Travelers
Lisa Hendey, founder of CatholicMom.com and bestselling author of fiction and nonfiction for adults and children, joins the show to share her own yes to the Lord and discuss Chime Travelers — the animated children's series based on her beloved books. Geared toward ages six to eleven, the series follows twins Katie and Patrick as they travel back in time to walk alongside saints like Saint Patrick, Saint Clare, Saint Francis, and Saint Joseph. Along the way, they face real-life struggles and discover how faith forms us into the people God is calling us to become.
Wh...
What No One Taught You in CCD: Steve Hemler on the Apologetics Gap
Steve Hemler traded a 33-year engineering career—including 13 years living inside a gated oil compound in Saudi Arabia—for full-time Catholic ministry, and the journey shaped everything he now teaches. In this conversation with Kaylee, he unpacks the apologetics gap in how most Catholics were formed, explains the "stages of faith" research behind his work, and shares how his newest book, The Busy Parent's Guide to the Catholic Faith, gives parents the tools they've been missing.
What We Talk About:
How Steve went from structural engineering and...The Role That Changed Everything: Michael Iskander of House of David on Saying Yes to the Lord
Michael Iskander plays David in Prime Video's House of David—but his real story begins with a restless search for truth that led him, step by step, to a breakfast with a priest and an answer he couldn't give lightly: yes. Christina is joined by co-host Fr. John R. Johnson, STL to walk through Michael's conversion, his calling to play David, and what his journey reveals about the kind of faith this generation is desperately looking for. Together they take up Pope Leo XIV's new encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, reflecting on how sacred storytelling, silence, and an unfiltered encounter with th...
How Fairy Tales Carry What Sermons Can't: E.P. Cowley on Tolkien and Lewis
E.P. Cowley is a retired homeschooling mother and author living in southern British Columbia whose debut novel, Tales from Wakken Wood, published by Ignatius Press, draws on the folklore of the Isle of Man to tell an enchanted story of courage, virtue, and wonder. In this conversation with Kaylee Stoll—part of the Tolkien and Lewis series—E.P. shares how entering the Catholic Church transformed her writing, how Tolkien's vision of sub-creation shaped every scene of the novel, and how wonder at Marian apparitions quietly shaped the book's spiritual heart.
What We Talk About:<...
What C.S. Lewis Teaches Us About Heaven, Hell, and the Choices We Make Now w/ Andrew Swafford
Andrew Swafford, professor of theology at Benedictine College and author of Next Stop: The Afterlife, joins us to explore how C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce illuminates the reality of heaven, hell, and purgatory and why every ordinary choice we make is quietly shaping our eternal destiny. Andrew also shares the pivotal yes that changed his own life: a football scholarship to Benedictine College, an unexpected encounter with Christ, and the discovery that going all in with Jesus never costs you who you are—it makes you more fully yourself.
What We Talk About:
Ho...The Spiritual Wisdom of J.R.R. Tolkien w/ Kaitlyn Facista (Tea with Tolkien)
Kaitlyn Facista is the founder of Tea with Tolkien, an online community celebrating the life, writings, and Catholic faith of J.R.R. Tolkien and the author of Into the Heart of Middle-earth, published by Ave Maria Press. In this episode, she shares her journey from Protestant roots to Catholicism, how Tolkien's fiction was woven into her conversion story, and why the spiritual depth of Middle-earth is anything but accidental.
What We Talk About:
How Kaitlyn's winding path through medical school moves...Reluctant Converts and Quiet Heroism: Joseph Pearce on Tolkien, Lewis, and Mary's Fiat
In this episode of A Resounding Yes!, Christina Sabo and co-host Franci Revel Eckensberger welcome back the internationally acclaimed Catholic author and literary biographer Joseph Pearce for a rich conversation on imagination, conversion, and the Marian threads woven through the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.Â
What We Talk About:
How Joseph Pearce's journey from neo-Nazi politics to Catholicism was shaped by the writings of Chesterton, Belloc, Tolkien, and Lewis—and what his conversion reveals about the slow, grace-filled nature of...Finding God in the Sacred Chaos of Motherhood with Jennifer Stavinoha
In this special Month of Mary episode, Christina Sabo is joined by Jennifer Stavinoha — ministry leader, theologian, and author of Sacred Chaos: Finding Joy and Jesus in the Messiness of Motherhood — to explore what it looks like to say yes to God in the beautiful, exhausting reality of motherhood. Recorded in honor of Our Lady of Fatima and timed for Mother's Day, this conversation is a gift for every mother who has ever wondered where God went when the quiet prayer life disappeared.
What We Talk About:
Jennifer's conversion moment at Eucharistic Adoration as a te...Tell Them About Me: How Maria Eva Jacobs Overcame Bipolar Disorder Through Faith, Music, and Surrender
Maria Eva Jacobs is a national recording artist, published author, and vocal jazz professor at Kent State University whose yes to God has unfolded over decades of struggle, surrender, and extraordinary fruit. In this episode, Christina and Maria trace the arc of her faith journey—from her Byzantine Melkite roots and a life reshaped by bipolar disorder, to a supernatural encounter with God that set her on a path of ministry through music and writing.Â
What We Talk About:
Maria's background as a cradle Catholic in the Byzantine Melkite Greek Catholic Church and how mus...The Voice the Church Forgot: Translating Ida Görres w/ Dr. Jennifer Bryson
Dr. Jennifer Bryson joins Christina to discuss her translation of Bread Grows in Winter, a collection of essays and lectures by the largely forgotten mid-20th-century Catholic writer Ida Görres. Together they explore why Görres's voice—marked by unflinching honesty, poetic depth, and a long view of the Church—speaks with remarkable urgency to Catholics navigating confusion and upheaval today.
What We Talk About:
Jennifer's journey from a secular upbringing in the San Francisco Bay Area to entering the Catholic Church, sparked by an encounter with God in communist East GermanyWho Ida Görres...A Once-in-a-Generation Moment: Jonathan Strate on the New Liturgy of the Hours
Jonathan Strate, President and CEO of Ascension, shares the personal yes that led him from aerospace engineering to leading one of Catholic media's most impactful organizations. He opens up about the projects now reshaping how Catholics encounter the faith, including the historic second edition of the Liturgy of the Hours and the new K–8 religious education curriculum, Pillars of Faith.
What We Talk About:
How Jonathan went from aerospace engineer to CEO of Ascension—and what made him say yesWhat the Liturgy of t...He Calls You by Name: An Easter Reflection
In this Easter reflection, Christina Sabo meditates on the resurrection account in the Gospel of John—exploring what it means to hear Christ call us by name and step into new life. With guest Fr. Tom Dillon unable to join due to illness, Christina leads listeners through a prayerful reflection on Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb and what Easter truly invites us to live.
Chapters:
00:00: Welcome and Introduction02:20: Scripture Reading—John 20:11–1805:45: Reflection on Mary at the Tomb07:42: Easter's Invitation to Listen08:24: St. John Paul II—We Are an Easte...Placing Ourselves Under Our Lady's Mantle w/ Fr. Joseph-Anthony Kress, O.P. of Godsplaining
Fr. Joseph-Anthony Kress, O.P., promoter of the Holy Rosary for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, joins the show during the closing days of Lent to share his journey to the priesthood, the spirituality of St. Dominic, and what it means to stand with Mary at the foot of the cross. He also shares about the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage, the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary, and the Godsplaining podcast.
Chapters:
00:00: Introduction and Opening Prayer03:16: Fr. Joseph-Anthony's Yes08:02: The Gift of Preaching and the Dominican Vocation12:08: St. Dominic and the Beauty of Embracing...A Boy-Sized Cross: The Story of St. Louis Ibaraki w/ Paul Fox
In this Lenten episode with guest host Kaylee Stoll, Paul Fox shares the story of his journey to the Catholic faith and the true history behind his recently published book about St. Louis Ibaraki, a 12-year-old martyr who said yes to Christ at the cost of his life.Â
Paul has been drawn to Japanese language and culture since high school, but it was a visit to the 26 Martyrs Monument in Nagasaki that became a turning point, not just intellectually, but spiritually.Â
Chapters:
00:02: Welcome and In...You Cannot Choose Your Cross w/ Sr. Mary Grace of the Sisters of Life
Christina Sabo sits down with Sister Mary Grace, S.V. of the Sisters of Life, for a Lenten conversation on discernment, religious life, and the courage to say yes to God.Â
Sister Mary Grace traces her journey from Sydney, Australia, including walking away from an Olympic rugby dream and to entering the convent. She shares her personal relationship with Cardinal George Pell and her contribution to Remembering George Cardinal Pell, published by Ignatius Press. She closes with a moving reflection on how we move from resisting o...
Processing Jesus Through the Algorithm w/ Courtney Roach of FOCUS
Guest host Kaylee Stoll sits down with Courtney Roach, Senior Digital Marketing Manager for FOCUS and host of The Daily Nothings podcast, for a joyful conversation on digital evangelization, authentic Catholic witness, and the power of saying yes to God online.
Courtney shares her conversion story from a non-practicing Protestant freshman at IUPUI to a devout Catholic, reflects on the founding of her personal platform, Becoming Courtney and The Daily Nothings podcast, and unpacks why meeting people through the algorithm is one of the...
Music, Beauty, and Heaven: Peter Carter on the Renewal of Sacred Music
 Guest host Kaylee Stoll sits down with Peter Carter, Director of the Catholic Sacred Music Project and Sacred Music Director at Princeton's Aquinas Institute for a rich conversation on the beauty and spiritual power of sacred music.Â
Peter shares his journey from childhood piano lessons to singing at Carnegie Hall, offers thoughts on navigating liturgical divisions and unpacks the ideas behind his newly published book, The Song of the Lamb: Sacred Music and Heavenly Liturgy, co-authored with Cardinal Robert Sarah...
Faith, AI & the Digital Age w/ Theresa Payton
In this timely Lenten episode, host Christina Sabo welcomes back Theresa Payton — CEO and founder of Fortalice Solutions, cybersecurity expert, and the first female White House Chief Information Officer under President George W. Bush.Â
The two have a wide-ranging conversation on navigating faith, technology, and truth in today's digital world. The conversation covers how Catholics can respond faithfully to the Nancy Guthrie disappearance case amid a flood of AI-generated misinformation, how AI scams are specifically targeting the faithful and what to do about it...
Saying Yes to Catholic Education with Kyle Pietrantonio
This Lenten season, we are so grateful to welcome Kyle Pietrantonio, Senior Partner at Partners in Mission, to the show. Kyle's yes is rooted in a deep Catholic upbringing, a providential detour through Classics and Medieval Studies, and a leap of faith that led him straight into the heart of Catholic education.Â
In this episode, Kyle shares how God's hand guided him to where he is today, why Catholic schools are one of the most powerful vehicles for evangelization in our time, and what it means to truly c...
Return to the Lord this Lent
Christina offers a short reflection to help you start Lent on the right foot this Ash Wednesday, and offers a teaser for what the podcast will look like these next few weeks đź‘€
May you have a blessed and fruitful Ash Wednesday and Lenten season!
Verses mentioned:
Joel 2Â Luke 4Â Psalm 51Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios
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