This article first appeared in the July 16, 2017 edition of Vidi Dominum, the parish bulletin of St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church. Re-published here with permission. The all-time stats number below has been changed to reflect the numbers as of today.

Are you aware that the Sunday homilies and the Saturday Morning Speaker Series talks are available on iTunes and Google Play Music? Have you subscribed yet to receive our podcasts from one of these two sources?

As long as I can remember from the time I started working here at the parish, we have wanted to make our homilies available digitally. The Sunday homilies and Saturday Morning Speaker Series talks have now been available for download on iTunes and Google Play Music for 16 months. As of the final edit of this article, there have been 18,296 downloads (all-time) since the beginning of July 2016. Each month has seen a steady increase.

When I share this bit of information with my friends that work for other parishes across the country, they are always eager to learn how we do it. It’s definitely a small segment of the New Evangelization. Not only can our own parishioners download our homilies, but anyone that has an iPhone or Droid across the country and the world can access them as well.

We provide you with the homilies and talks for the simple reason that if you were unable to be physically (or mentally) present during the time that they were given, you can download them to your phone, computer, or tablet and listen at a time that’s convenient for you.

Some practical ways you can make the most of our podcasts: 

1. If you have a long commute to work, you could listen to the podcasts as you drive into the office or job site. Do you travel on a plane for work? You could download them before you take off in order to listen in-flight.
2. You could listen to the podcasts while you work out at the gym, or while you’re out for a walk or run (of course, when it’s not as hot as the surface of the Sun).
3. Are you taking any vacation time this summer and spending time in the car for long hours? Here’s another time that podcasts might come in handy.
4. Sometimes we get distracted at Mass or our children need our attention during the homily. If you missed something, you could always go back and listen to it again.
5. Perhaps you particularly like the preaching style of one of our priests, and he wasn’t celebrating the Mass you attended. You could listen to his homily later for some mid-week inspiration!

Here is the simplest way to find the podcasts:

1. On your phone, computer, or tablet, go to our website: smarymag.org
2. In the right hand corner of the website are icons – if you have an iPhone click on the “Apple”; if you have a Droid, click on the “G” – you will then be brought to those respective sites where you can download the homilies and talks.
3. Both iTunes and Google Play Music give you the ability to “subscribe” to the podcasts. If you choose to do this, then each week when we put up the homilies/talks, you will automatically receive them to your device. You might have to “refresh” your account to get them.

If you don’t have an iPhone or Droid, or maybe you’re not that technologically savvy, you can go to the Podcast page of our website and listen to the homilies and talks there as well: smarymag.org/audio

Only the homilies and talks from May 2017 to the present are available. If you want to listen to the homilies or talks from before this date, you can find them on the Podcast webpage listed above.

What can I do to help with the New Evangelization?

“The Church recognizes that these media, if properly utilized, can be of great service to mankind, since they greatly contribute to men’s entertainment and instruction as well as to the spread and support of the Kingdom of God.” (Inter Mirifica, 2)

You can share all of this information with your family and friends, no matter where they are. I know iTunes gives you the ability to share any homily or talk that you would like to give others the opportunity to hear. If you have any social media accounts, such as Facebook, share this information on there as well. You will be surprised how many Catholics are seeking this kind of service, but their own parish does not provide it.