A new podcast on evangelization comes to the Archdiocese of Newark
The Archdiocese of Newark has a new podcast: “The Heart of the Ark” from the Office for Evangelization.
The podcast, launched in September, is hosted by Father John Gordon, Director of the Office for Evangelization and Secretary of Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Newark, and Jennifer Behnke, Associate Director of Evangelization. The aim is to “help equip listeners to better know, love, and serve God,” according to the podcast’s page.
Behnke said the name “The Heart of the Ark” was chosen because of the layered meaning it carries.
“We’re the Archdiocese of Newark,” she said, emphasizing the “ark” in Newark. “There is a reference to the Ark of the Covenant, the holding place where the Jews put the Word, the Torah, but it’s also that the Blessed Mother is the new Ark of the Covenant because she bore in her body Christ. She bore the Word. So, we’ve got those two images, and then the heart is because of the Sacred Heart — the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart (the seat of the Archdiocese of Newark).
What does “equipping listeners” to know God better sound like?
Evangelization is broad, and each episode has different themes and discussions. In the six episodes broadcast so far, Father Gordon and Behnke are joined by experts ranging from mental health, bereavement, music ministry, and more. Some broadcasts are timed to discuss topics that coincide with the time of the year, such as the beginning of school, Halloween, or Thanksgiving, giving listeners practical, timely advice.
Practical for whom?
Father Gordon and Behnke’s approach to the podcast is with everyone in mind.
The idea began with the Office of Evangelization’s established audience of more than 7,000 subscribed to the ministry’s weekly newsletter.
“It seems right to reach out to these people directly,” Father Gordon said. “Not just with a list of various things that are going on, which is what the [email] blast is, but some content. Some practical ways of how they can implement some things in their own lives and their own homes and their own families.”
Behnke said people are hungry for more content that brings them closer to Christ.
“They’re hungry, not just for what’s happening in the news, but they’re hungry for a different way of getting the Good News,” Behnke said.
Podcasts are uploaded bi-monthly, and listeners can access them at any time.
“It allows people to access it on their schedule as opposed to a webinar or something like that,” Father Gordon said.
But the podcast project hopes to reach a younger audience and people who aren’t already coming through the Churches’ doors.
“Most people who listen to podcasts typically tend to be younger,” Behnke said. “[They are] people who are comfortable with technology, and those are typically not the people that are connected to parishes. So, the idea is that we’re trying to reach the people who are not already coming in our doors.”
With that in mind, the conversations in these episodes might range widely in topic.
In “Holiday Conversation tips: Talking Turkey with compassion” Father Gordan discusses how to navigate the challenge of table-time talk with family and friends whom you haven’t seen in a while and might have had a difference of opinions in the past. He advises starting with common ground.
Still, within those conversations, Father Gordon and Behnke seek to answer the simplest questions of faith that Catholics and non-Catholics ask: Why do we believe? How do we pray? Why do we grieve?
As Behnke puts it: “I want a podcast that someone could listen to and share with their friend who’s nominally Catholic or a fallen-away Catholic. We’re coming up on Thanksgiving. There will be people at my family’s table who don’t go to church, but they have the same questions of how God fits into their life.”
And that gets to the heart of the podcast: equipping listeners with the knowledge and comfort level to have a conversation about the Catholic faith in whatever setting that might arise.
“We wanted to package some of the ideas of sharing the faith, having conversations, and being good Christians and parents and colleagues and friends. To have these conversations, because evangelization and conversion happen amid [these] conversations,” Behnke said.
And these tools are needed now more than ever, Behnke said, teasing an upcoming episode hosted by Father Gordon that frames the landscape of evangelization.
“He’s going to be talking about how we used to live in a world that was Christian; that was dominated by Christendom, the idea that most things were taken from a Christian perspective,” Behnke. “We’re not there anymore. We’re in a world that’s much more secular and almost looks like the landscape of evangelization that the first apostles encountered.”
The hope for the podcast, Father Gordon said, is “fostering and cultivating a culture of evangelization so that people realize that evangelization isn’t somebody else’s job. It’s just living our own gospel faith in a way that is attractive to others. So, we’re strengthened in our faith; we’re not afraid or defensive.”
In Behnke’s mind, she hopes “The Heart of the Ark” will lead us to the Church.
“It’s the image that we’re all in our own boats, each with our own heart. Christ is with us, and it’s easier if we all get into the one big boat, which is the Church, and we’ll have the support we need to get through this crazy world.”
The Office for Evangelization seeks to assist parishes and individuals in fostering and cultivating a culture of evangelization throughout the Archdiocese of Newark. Their new podcast can be found here, and their website is at rcan.org/office-evangelization.
The Office for Evangelization can be reached at evangelization@rcan.org.
Featured image: Father John Gordon, Director of the Office for Evangelization and Secretary of Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Newark, and Jennifer Behnke, Associate Director of Evangelization, produce the Heart of the Ark podcast. (Joe Jordan/ Archdiocese of Newark)
