Deacon Mark Campbell welcomes Fr. Travis Crotty, vocations director for the Diocese of Sioux City, to share how a new team of priests and a deacon is helping more young men discern the priesthood, and how a pioneer priest who founded 25 parishes on horseback inspires his ministry today. Katie Patrizio of Sunday Dive explains why OCIA classes are growing across the country and why young adults are drawn to the Catholic Church's liturgy, stability, and friendship. Plus breaking news on the 2029 National Eucharistic Congress, tonight's Orionid meteor shower, and news, sports, and weather for Wednesday, October 21, on the Memorial of Saint Ursula and Companions.
Deacon Mark Campbell, Brian Regan, and Ayden Pugh open Wednesday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time on the Memorial of Saint Ursula and Companions, early martyrs venerated at Cologne. Today's Mass is at 8:30 a.m. at Sacred Heart in Melcher with Fr. Hoffman, who Deacon Mark crossed paths with last night as his group made a pilgrimage to Saint Francis of Assisi in West Des Moines, marking 800 years since the death of Saint Francis.
Look up tonight: the Orionid meteor shower, debris from Halley's Comet, peaks tonight with roughly 10 to 20 shooting stars an hour. A bright moon will wash out fainter meteors early, so the best viewing comes after moonset in the hours before dawn Thursday.
Fr. Travis Crotty, vocations director for the Diocese of Sioux City and now parochial administrator of St. Patrick in Estherville, Holy Family in Emmetsburg, and Immaculate Conception in Graettinger, shares how the diocesan vocations office is growing. Fr. Shane Deman continues as director of seminarians while serving St. Rose of Lima in Denison, and Fr. Zach Jones of Divine Mercy Parish in West Bend and Deacon Dan Goebel, deacon chaplain at Gehlen Catholic, have joined the team. Fr. Crotty explains why young Catholics are hungry for a solid, serious faith, why a growing share of the diocese's seminarians come from Catholic high schools, and how summer pilgrimages and retreats are building brotherhood among young men discerning the priesthood. He also tells the story of Msgr. John Smith, who arrived in Emmetsburg in 1871 as the first priest in northwest Iowa and founded 25 parishes on horseback, and why that pioneer faith gives him hope for rural Iowa today. Learn more at the Diocese of Sioux City.
Breaking news from the newsroom: the 2029 National Eucharistic Congress will return to Indianapolis, about a seven-hour drive from Des Moines. Dates have not been announced yet; watch for updates at EucharisticCongress.org.
Katie Patrizio, director of faith formation at Saint Francis of Assisi in West Des Moines and host of Sunday Dive, joins Deacon Mark to talk about the surge of people entering the Church through OCIA (the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults). Katie says most inquirers today are in their twenties and early thirties, including a 16-year-old who found the parish website and drove himself in to say he wanted to become Catholic. She explains why newcomers keep naming the liturgy and the Church's stability as what drew them in, why a sense of the sacred attracts more than trying to imitate the world, and why authentic Christian friendship is a breath of fresh air for a lonely, disconnected generation. Katie also previews this Sunday's Gospel, Matthew 22:34–40, on the greatest commandment, including how Jesus, full of divine wisdom, first learned the Shema from Mary and Joseph. Hear the full episode at SundayDive.com or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Remembering the dead in November: throughout November, the Catholic Morning Show will pray for the dead by name. Submit the names of loved ones who have died through the prayer page at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
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