Ave Explores

A Family’s Saint with Mary and Jerry Lenaburg

October 16th, 2020  |  Season 7  |  50 mins 28 secs

Mary and Jerry Lenaburg share the story of their daughter, Courtney, who died at the age of 22 after living her whole life with profound disabilities. The Lenaburgs explain how Courtney continues to be part of their life today, and explore how their faith carried them through the challenging years that were also marked with goodness and joy, sharing how in her time on earth, she was a witness to God’s goodness and is a remarkable gift to so many today through her prayers and intercession.

Eyes Fixed to Heaven with Sr. Bethany Davis, F.S.P.

October 14th, 2020  |  Season 7  |  49 mins 45 secs

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Sister Bethany Davis of the Daughters of St. Paul sits down with Katie Prejean McGrady to explore what it means to be holy and keep our eyes fixed to heaven, not just because that makes us “a good Catholic,” but because it’s what Jesus wants for our lives. Sister Bethany tells her vocation story, explores the charism and mission of her congregation, and also shares about the new book of saints from the Daughters of St. Paul, In Caelo et in Terra: 365 Saints, and how this project ten years in the making is finally coming to fruition.

Cultivating a Culture of Grace with Danielle Bean

September 11th, 2020  |  Season 6  |  41 mins 34 secs

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Danielle Bean, author, speaker podcaster, and the brand manager of CatholicMom.com, talks with host Katie Prejean McGrady about the challenges of parenting, and offers advice on how to stay grounded throughout the stages of family life. Bean also shares how cultivating a “God will give me the grace” attitude is the best way to form a healthy and holy family culture.

Welcoming Jesus Into Your Family Life with Emily Jaminet

September 9th, 2020  |  Season 6  |  45 mins 16 secs

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Emily Jaminet is a Catholic author, speaker, mother of seven, and the executive director of the Sacred Heart Enthronement Network. She talks with host Katie Prejean McGrady about how family prayer and welcoming Jesus into your home can transform your family dynamic. Jaminet also explains how the ability to pivot in the midst of life’s changes is a mother’s greatest strength. When a mother is centered in prayer, she’s able to change course with grace and patience, Jaminet says.

Fruitfulness & Infertility with Timothy P. O'Malley

September 4th, 2020  |  Season 6  |  39 mins 21 secs

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Timothy P. O’Malley, director of McGrath Theology Online at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, talks with host Katie Prejean McGrady about he and his wife Kara’s struggle with infertility. A professor who also teaches a course on marriage, O’Malley offers insights into discernment and dating for young adults, and ways that we can encourage prayer as a family.

Forming Families & Finding Joy with Marcia Lane McGee

September 2nd, 2020  |  Season 6  |  54 mins 52 secs

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Marcia Lane McGee is a birth mother with an open adoption and a foster mom who lives with six teenage boys at the Mooseheart Home near Chicago. She tells host Katie Prejean McGrady that we are all called to creatively foster family life based on our unique state of life and vocation. Lane McGee also explains how we must invest in people, even when they are at their worst, to help them find joy and to lead them to a fullness of love in Christ.

Heroic & Empathetic Fatherood with Brian Greenfield

August 28th, 2020  |  Season 6  |  50 mins 56 secs

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Catholic speaker Brian Greenfield talks with host Katie Prejean McGrady about a father’s role as provider and protector, and as an affirming, empathetic, healing presence in the lives of his wife and children. A theology teacher at an all-boys high school, Greenfield also shares how walking with young people through their wounds and helping them to find peace and love is a key role that all men can play in helping to heal a broken and selfish culture.

Lighting a Fire within your kids with Damon and Melanie Owens

August 26th, 2020  |  Season 6  |  52 mins 40 secs

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Damon and Melanie Owens, founders of Joyful Ever After Ministries, talk with host Katie Prejean McGrady about finding healing within a marriage, especially when working through resentment and frustration. The couple also shares about raising their eight children in the faith, ultimately entrusting their hearts to the Lord and his will for their lives. The Owenses also offer insights into the ups and downs of married life, homeschooling, and finding balance at home.

A Twitter Romance & a Covid-19 Wedding with Nick & Riley Sciarappa

August 21st, 2020  |  Season 6  |  54 mins 7 secs

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Newlyweds Nick and Riley Sciarappa talk with host Katie Prejean McGrady about meeting online and about their lives while dating and discerning marriage and what they’ve learned and how they’ve grown in trust throughout their engagement. The Sciarappas also share what it was like to plan a wedding in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

Making Marriage Abundantly Joyful with Jackie Francois Angel & Bobby Angel

August 19th, 2020  |  Season 6  |  59 mins 14 secs

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Jackie Francois Angel and Bobby Angel, authors, speakers, and parents of four, explain to host Katie Prejean McGrady that marriage must be rooted in friendship, attentiveness to the other’s needs, communication, and a dedication to prayer. The Angels say that marriage is meant to be abundantly joyful, established in a love of Christ that flows into family life.

Regroup and Let it Go with Jeannie Gaffigan

August 14th, 2020  |  Season 6  |  56 mins 25 secs

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Jeannie Gaffigan, author of the bestselling When Life Gives You Pears, wife to comedian Jim Gaffigan, and mother of five, talks candidly with host Katie Prejean McGrady about balancing family life, her Catholic faith, and maintaining a sense of sanity and fun in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic in New York City. Gaffigan shares practical tips on how Catholic family life can thrive by lowering your expectations and letting stressful things go so you can focus on your family’s health, happiness, and holiness.

Finding Ways to be Generous with Beth and Dr. Edward Sri

August 12th, 2020  |  Season 6  |  54 mins 27 secs

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Theologian Edward Sri and his wife Beth talk with host Katie Prejean McGrady about how marriage and parenting is meant to be centered in love of God and a couple’s call to mission— to generously love, serve, teach, and proclaim the Gospel. With stories of raising their eight kids (ranging in age from nineteen to four years old), the realities of balancing work, home, and travel, and how to find healing from past wounds, the Sris explain how generosity is the key to thriving within Catholic family life.

Introducing Ave Explores: Catholic Family Life

August 7th, 2020  |  Season 6  |  2 mins 1 sec

Katie Prejean McGrady's parents, Marie & Garland Prejean, introduce the upcoming Ave Explores series on Catholic Family Life

Restoring Justice with F. DeKarlos Blackmon

July 3rd, 2020  |  Season 5  |  44 mins 17 secs

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F. DeKarlos Blackmon, director of the Secretariat for Life, Justice, and Charity in the Diocese of Austin, Texas, explains why people of faith should be concerned with advocating for justice, especially in prison systems and in the ongoing fight against racial inequality.

A Personal Mission Field with Fr. Michael Thomas, C.S.C.

July 1st, 2020  |  Season 5  |  47 mins 19 secs

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Fr. Michael Thomas, C.S.C., a teacher and campus minister at St. George’s College in Santiago, Chile—a K-12 school apostolate of the U.S. Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross— explains what led him to mission work in Chile. Thomas says that much of our mission work will occur within our own families, workplaces, and parishes.

Using Our Gifts to Help Those in Need with Steve Camilleri

June 26th, 2020  |  Season 5  |  39 mins 49 secs

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Steve Camilleri, executive director of the Center for the Homeless in South Bend, Indiana, explains how each of us are called to use our gifts to help those who need food, shelter, clothing, and financial assistance, not only tangibly, but also by loving and engaging them.