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A podcast for Catholic disciples who are wrestling to be missionary-minded in their normal, everyday lives. Joseph and Crystal were Catholic missionaries for over a decade with FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, serving at MIT, UW Madison, Carnegie Mellon University, Western Washington University, and then at a parish in Jackson, Michigan. They're now the co-founders of Our Outpost Marriage Ministry, Inc., a marriage ministry seeking to awaken authentic Catholic culture t ...
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Scripture is shallow enough for a lamb to wade and deep enough for an elephant to bathe, so saith St. Gregory the Great. So for this episode, we'll do a shallow review of salvation history with little vignettes that show some of the depths to be plumbed. There are six main salvation history moments before Christ: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, …
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Christ is king, but not like any other king. His authority comes from a completely different way of conceptualizing power. The constrained vision of authority as a permanent power struggle is something Christ totally side-steps, and that changes how we understand Him, our role in the world, and our role in our homes. Listen in to find out more! And…
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If we believe in a God Who hears us, intercessory prayer makes all the sense in the world. And yet. And yet, sometimes we relegate intercessory prayer to the background. This episode explores three reasons Joseph might do so-- maybe one or more might strike home with you, too! As always, check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ourou…
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Creation, Fall, Incarnation, Salvation. The gospel, if anything, is a response to the brokenness we all experience (and participate in...). Here's a way to talk about it! As always, check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/ catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/ …
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Evangelization has become something of a buzz-word in Catholic circles today. Worse than that, sometimes it takes on an inhuman and mechanistic tone that couldn't be further from the truth. So Joseph unpacks what he means by evangelization, and what he suspects the Church also means... Here's the cycle in picture form! If you're a Catholic husband …
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"Lord, don't trust Philip today." Simple, profound, hilarious, and supremely useful, this prayer has long been a favorite of Joseph's, and in this episode, he shares why. If you're a Catholic husband, you can sign up for 45 minutes with Joseph here: https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph As always, check out our work, and join our em…
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This past Sunday's gospel reading was about the rich young man, and one thing that may not have been immediately evident is how tied it is to the notion of marriage. Listen in to find out more! If you're a Catholic husband, you can sign up for 45 minutes with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph As always, check out our wor…
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Happy 200th episode, everybody!! Christ instituted seven sacraments. Three of them are sacraments of initiation, two of them are for healing, and two, friends, are ordered toward the salvation of other people. Those two sacraments are holy orders (deacons, priests, and bishops) and matrimony. Hear how we unpack how matrimony is meant to be an apost…
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Have you ever been to a talk on evangelizing and been told that everyone has a testimony to share? It's partially true. But where it's partially false, it can be extremely damaging to people. Because not everyone has a testimony to share right now, but everyone is in the midst of the greatest love story ever told. If you're a Catholic husband, feel…
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One thing missionaries need to be able to do is to start friendly conversations. Joseph may not be the most charming and extroverted fellow, but he spent years thinking and trying out different ways to start conversations with strangers-- here are some thoughts on the process! Here's a link for Catholic husbands to spend 45 minutes with Joseph: htt…
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One of Joseph's favorite questions to ask people is "What have you been reading recently?" It's both prompted great conversation, as well as produced a number of awkward moments. Matthew Kelly has said, "We become the books we read"-- so if we're interested in who people are and who they're becoming, what they're reading is incredibly important! He…
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We're in a pretty failure-averse world. There's not much mercy and not much margin for error in a world where our mistakes can be plastered across screens throughout the world. So how do we wrap our heads around failure, and what kinds of failure are out there? Turns out, there's at least three kinds of failures-- one for when we're learning and gr…
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Nathaniel Hawthorne has a lovely version of the story of King Midas, called "The Golden Touch," and Joseph read it aloud to his kids recently. While it's ostensibly about greed, it's also about exchanging real life for sterile, un-smellable, un-tasteable, un-nourishing shiny facsimiles. In other, unrelated news, how's your smartphone looking these …
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It's weird how scandalous it sounds, that life is worth living, sharing, and multiplying. But these are ways we're inclined to be, to behave, and to desire as human beings. So saith Aristotle, Aquinas, and me, your friendly neighborhood podcaster. (Joseph did mis-speak-- it's in question 94, article 2, not question 86, of first part of the second p…
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Our social fabric is threadbare these days, and making invitations is our way of re-enforcing, patching, and strengthening society. Joseph talks about having invite-to-able lives, about making clear invitations, and handling rejection. Those are the things he needs to hear, so he's guessing you might too! On our website, if Catholic husbands have a…
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How proud am I? Do I think I'm wiser than I really am? Do I think I'm stronger than I really am? Do I think I'm more excusable than I really am? Probably. And that, my friends, is prideful. Listen in to find out more! Here's the website for Catholic singles (aged 22-35ish): https://ouroutpost.org/dating/ As always, check out our work, and join our …
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If we want to live in harsh conditions, we could wear appropriate equipment, we could change the conditions, or (maybe impossibly) we could change ourselves to adapt to those conditions. If we want to live in perfect love, there's a temptation to either become superficial or water down what it means to live perfect love, while the only real option …
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Marriage can be great for many reasons, but its greatness is not one of the reasons Joseph talks about getting married. What does he talk about? The sacrament of marriage fundamentally re-orients us to with respect to time, it stitches together a broken society, and the process of finding a spouse can and should help raise the collective bar for me…
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Here's the text of the passage from Mark 4:35-41: On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. J…
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Aristotle writes about three different kinds of friendship in the Nicomachean Ethics. It's not uncommon to hear talks about friendship, and how of the three kinds, the best/truest kind of friendship needs to be focused on. We even have some episodes about that very thing. But what Joseph noticed recently is that we're suffering not just from a lack…
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While the Grubers have started a marriage ministry, that also serves Catholic singles, Joseph has been moonlighting as one of the pilot-ers of the pilot initiative of the Knights of Columbus, Cor. It's been a very different way to serve men in the community, both from what the Knights have been doing as well as from what Joseph has been doing. You …
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We are delighted to share a conversation with MaryRose Depperschmidt with you all! She is the host of two podcasts, The Crab and the Cross and The Catholic Dating Podcast. Our conversation ranged all over, getting some of her story, her takes on the dating culture, and some really interesting dives into issues facing men and women today. We hope yo…
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How to Organize Your Life and Make Sense of Your Vocation with Andy Hickman // Episode 185
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We're delighted to be joined by Andy Hickman, whose approach to work and organization somehow, and we're not sure how, contains elements that appeal to both Joseph and Crystal, who have...very different approaches to work and organization. Andy Hickman is the Founder of hēl, a ground breaking art form for clarifying thoughts, healing emotions, and …
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John Michael Talbot joins us for an engaging conversation about his life, his conversion, and his thoughts on Christian community and how lacking the American church is in contemplative prayer and the contemplative life. Joseph read his latest book, an autobiography, and recommends it to all of our listeners! If you haven't heard John Michael Talbo…
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If you asked Saint Paul to boil down his beliefs-- where they came from, what they are, and who they're for-- you couldn't get much better than what he offers at the end of 1 Corinthians. We're blessed with a Catholic anthropologist uncle again on this episode, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did! As always, check out our work, and join our …
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Jim Jansen, an accomplished evangelist, author, and all-around good guy, joins us for a conversation revolving around his book, "A Clear Path of Discipleship." We talk about what most parishes are missing, and also talk about how to apply the principles that he lays out in his book to family life, too. Heartily recommend giving this episode a liste…
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We're joined with JohnMarc Skoch-- musician, missionary, man of God, and all-around great guy-- to talk about the role of music in the home and in the liturgy. JohnMarc Skoch is the Director of Music for FOCUS, as well as a Senior Regional Director in FOCUS. Not only did he compose the music that he permitted to be used in our intro and outro, he w…
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How do we foster healthy masculinity in a world that is skeptical that such a thing even exists? We have John Bishop, founder of FORGE, on for an exciting discussion of things men can do to form the next generation of men. His website is here: https://myforge.org/ John started his professional career working at the Fellowship of Catholic University…
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Friendship! It's one of those things that, without which, we can't really say we're happy. We gave a talk to a group of missionaries a few weeks ago on this topic, and we cover not only the standard friendships of use/pleasure/virtue, but also what the levels of intimacy are, and how to communicate truth, goodness, and beauty to a friend on the reg…
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Marriage, that bedrock of society, is a little bit crumbling these days. So we invited Pete Burak, from Renewal Ministries, to talk with us about it. Pete has spent many years investing deeply in that vaguely defined group known as Catholic Young Adults, so if anyone has a clue about what's going on with this demographic, it's probably him. Find mo…
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The Sacrifice of Isaac: An Avuncular Episode with a Catholic Anthropologist // Episode 177
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One of the most jarring stories of all of Scripture, the sacrifice of Isaac invites deeper and deeper exploration. Come with us and an uncle as we go line by line through this densely told story from Genesis! As always, check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/ catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking h…
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'Tis the season to make goals, resolutions, pacts, vows, and Exoduses... And if you haven't taken time to consider what your hopes and dreams are, maybe now is a good time! We talk about common reasons to avoid our hopes and dreams, and then why it might be a good idea for them to see the light of day. Happy New Year! If you want some help to re-co…
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Romans 12:1-2 sounds an awful like we're all priests in the new covenant, with no room for a set-apart priesthood a la Leviticus...or does it? Always a joy to have Fr. Jacob with us, and we hope you enjoy as well! If you've been missing us (and we've been missing you too), we'll be offering a live video workshop with the founders of WalletWin! Plan…
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Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, we don't recommend listening with children present (you probably figured that out by the title, though...) We are delighted to have Steve Pokorny on our podcast to talk about his story and his mission! Steve Pokorny is the founder of Freedom Coaching (found at freedom-coaching.net), a one-to-one mission for…
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We have a great guest on, Daniel Boyd, who has spent years working to support the Catholic Church, with everything from campus ministry through RCIA through consulting to having a lovely marriage. And, almost needless to say, he has spent years letting the Catholic Church support him. We talk about some of the ideas from Msgr. Shea's little book, F…
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Speech is creative. It creates attitudes, relationships, tension, release, stories, purpose, etc. And when God speaks, He literally creates everything else. So we talk about the speech of God in Genesis 1. Check us out at ouroutpost.org, email us at hello@ouroutpost.org, and check out our instagram at @ouroutpost. And if you would be so kind, pleas…
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For whatever reason, our nature as humans seems to handle groups of three pretty well. Three stages to the spiritual life, three stages to acquiring knowledge according to classical education, three stages to a moral education...the list probably goes on, but those are the three groups of three we'll be talking about! We reference the book Morality…
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There's a crisis of loneliness in the world, and a lot of it has to do with being closed off to other people. If we want to be open to other people, it means we need to live in a world that's big enough for people to disagree. Being open to potential conflict and disagreement is a necessary step to having a deeper relationship. The book we mention …
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We don't think it's alarmist talk to say that the whole idea of marriage today is, well, fraying. And without strong marriages, there can be no strong society. And that's pretty well why we left our job as parish missionaries to start a marriage ministry. There's an enormous need out there, and when it gets as bad as it is now, even our help may be…
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Joseph sits down to talk with friend, former teammate, and civil-engineer-by-training, Alison De Lima Fernandez, to talk about community, zoning, suburbia, and the like. Alison referenced Jane Jacobs, who advocated for such things as mixed-use development, bottom-up planning, and treating a city as an entire ecosystem. Joseph had never heard of Jan…
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We may not like being wrong, but if there were no way to tell right from wrong, that seems a worse scenario. Joseph has been re-reading a book by Hilaire Belloc, called The Great Heresies, and he wanted to talk both about the book and the fact that Catholics belong to a substantial tradition and ascribe to a real body of teaching, to which we can b…
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Some people are embarrassed by doubts and difficulties, whether their own or others'. Some people people are inclined to find resolution to their doubts and difficulties in the faith on their own. And some people make it an adventure worth sharing with others. So we talk about the kind of desire for truth that gives us the confidence to say, "I don…
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Joseph and Father Peter talk about making time for Eucharistic adoration, and the difference it has made in their lives. As always, check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/ catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/ see what we have upcoming in terms of events here:…
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Eucharistic adoration: where did it come from and is it still of use? We get into the history and the relevance of Eucharistic adoration, using as our stepping-off point an article from September 2009 about Eucharistic adoration returning to perpetual status in Boston's Back Bay. This article was especially poignant for Joseph, as he spent many an …
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Hebrews, the Priesthood, and Mediation vs. Alienation with Fr. Jacob Gruber // Episode 163
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Have you ever read the Letter to the Hebrews? It's beautiful, it clarifies so much of the connections between the Old Testament and the New, and is supremely preoccupied with Jesus as the new high priest. And did you ever wonder, while reading it, whether it had anything to say about the ministerial priesthood? About the men who offer the holy sacr…
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Does it ever feel like the world is against building up true community? Depending on where you live, the world around you might truly be physically constructed to be antithetical to building true community. So you're not crazy that it's hard! We talk about suburbia, zoning, the rise of the automobile, and the desire to have so little "not in my bac…
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In 1975, Pope Paul VI wrote an apostolic exhortation called Evangelii Nuntiandi, or Evangelization in the Modern World. He asks 3 burning, important questions, so Joseph shares them and comments on them a bit! The full encyclical can be found here: https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii…
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Job and the Character of God and the Pattern of Being Chosen, Part 2 with Deacon Jacob Gruber // Episode 160
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Joseph and Deacon Jacob finish their discussion of the book of Job! Apparently there's a hugely significant pattern to life with God that is both good to recognize and good to live out! Again, the scholar we rely on quite a bit is Jon D. Levenson. As always, check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/ catch our other pod…
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Job and the Character of God and the Pattern of Being Chosen, Part 1 with Deacon Jacob Gruber // Episode 159
41:06
Joseph's seminarian brother, Deacon Jacob, hopped on a call to talk about the book of Job-- in part because it's featured in the Liturgy of Hours' Office of Readings right now, in part because it's an intriguing book, and in part because Deacon Jacob wrote a paper on the book of Job this past semester. The main thrust of his argument flows from the…
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Jesus gave us three great loves for our lives-- God, neighbor, and self. But what does love of self mean? Listen in to find out more! Please feel free to review, rate, and share this episode! As always, check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/ catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouro…
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