Where We've Been and Where We're Going

What revival really means and how we can participate in it (it's not what you think).

This week on the Raised Catholic podcast, we’ll look back on an older episode all about revival - what it means, who needs it, Who brings it, and how we can participate in it. Revival is something I’ve been thinking a lot about as we look to three upcoming events this fall: the Synod on Synodality meetings at the Vatican, the Eucharistic revival here in the states, and the three-year (!) anniversary of the Raised Catholic podcast.

If you’re new here, you might not know that I started the podcast in late 2020 in response to a call from the Holy Spirit to make a space for Catholics on the margins to nurture, discover, learn about, and own their faith practice for themselves. In this hard season, many of us have left a community behind, or we’ve left the feeling of a church home community behind, and as we talked about last week, that can feel like a kind of wilderness. Here on Substack, I hope to make a little space for us out here where we can discuss the topics of the Raised Catholic podcast or any other faith topic you’re thinking about in this little ramshackle wilderness community, asking the questions we want answers for or seeking the encouragement or direction we need, because one thing I’ve learned for sure is that we really are all in this together as the Body of Christ, and it will take all of us healthy, strong and clear to try to open ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit in this critical time. Thank God we’re not in this alone.

So, let’s listen to this week’s episode (or read the transcript) and let’s prayerfully ask ourselves: what is the kind of revival we most need this fall? What would we most like to see for our Church or our community or family or even for ourselves? Let’s ask God for it together in the comments. (I’ll start.)

Come, Holy Spirit.

PS - Here are a few resources from the show notes of this week’s episode for you to dig into for yourself:

1. Song: ⁠⁠Awakening⁠⁠, by Amanda Lindsey Cook

2. ⁠Ongoing coverage on the Global Synod on Synodality⁠ from America Magazine

3. Letters: ⁠⁠Readers Thoughts⁠⁠ on the $28 million Eucharistic Revival, from National Catholic Reporter

4. Album: ⁠⁠Survey Part One⁠⁠, from Amanda Lindsey Cook

5. Article: ⁠⁠12 Signs of a Revival⁠⁠, from Northwest University

6. Deconstruction = revival IG Follows: ⁠⁠The New Evangelicals⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Kate Boyd⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠The Jesus Lens⁠

7. Song: ⁠Common Ground⁠, by Matt Maher, featuring Dee Wilson