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Many Catholic parents wonder, will our kids stay Catholic? How likely is it that faith can be handed down to the next generation? Are certain parenting methods more or less effective in raising children who will practice faith when they are grown? What practices matter and how much influence do parents have? Dr. Amy Adamczyk and Chris Smith actually looked at the data and conducted hundreds of interviews with religious families to find out the answers to those questions. The results are fascinating!

Dr. Amy Adamczyk is Professor of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Programs of Doctoral Study in Sociology and Criminal Justice at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her research focuses on how different contexts (e.g. nations, counties, friendship groups), and personal religious beliefs shape people’s attitudes and behaviors. She has published over 50 journal articles and her first book, Cross-national Public Opinion about Homosexuality, received the 2018 Outstanding Book Award from the International Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Her second book, Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation, (coauthored with Chris Smith) was published by Oxford University Press in 2021. Currently, she is conducting research for her third book, which will examine differences in views about abortion around the world.

In this episode we ask Dr. Adamczyk how likely it is for religious parents to successfully pass on their faith (spoiler: very likely!) and we discuss what relationships and attitudes are key. We talk about the difference between authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles and which is most effective if we want our children to adopt our religious faith as their own. While religious parents often carry a lot of worry about whether their children will participate in religion as grown ups, we think that what Dr. Adamcyzk’s research unearthed will actually set your mind at ease. It’s an interesting and enlightening conversation and we think you’ll really enjoy it!

Sponsor: Monk Manual

This episode is sponsored by Monk Manual, a company focused on helping men, women, and now children grow in peaceful being and purposeful doing.

If you are looking for a great gift for a friend, family member, or yourself this holiday season the Monk Manual has you covered. The Monk Manual 90-Day Planner is a daily system designed to help men and women intentionally focus on the things that matter most.

The Monk Manual supports the whole person through its integration of busy everyday life with ever-present spiritual growth. At times we are all prone to fall into the trap of seeing our lives as two disconnected realities, separating our work lives from our spiritual lives. The Monk Manual is designed to reflect the fact that we only have one life and everything in it has a spiritual dimension.

Inspired by monks, and backed by science, the Monk Manual is perfect for anyone who wants to transcend a life of grind to one that is full of peace and purpose. It’s the perfect way to support your growth and intentional productivity during the upcoming Advent season, the new year, and beyond.

The Monk Manual team also just released The Sprout Journal, a daily reflection practice for children 8-12. With the Sprout Journal, kids are able to build a daily practice of gratitude, generosity, and discernment. Through the daily prompts and weekly themes, children learn to engage their unique purpose, setting them on a path of generosity and gratitude. In a world that is increasingly noisy, the Sprout Journal’s daily practice of quiet reflection will plant the seeds for a more contemplative and intentional life, one rooted in the development of the whole person. Find all Monk Manual products here.

We are also sponsored by Homeschool Connections

HomeschoolConnections.com is an authentically Catholic resource for home educating families. Their mission is educating the heart, mind, and soul in the Catholic tradition with online classes for 3rd grade and above. They offer live interactive classes as well as unlimited access to recorded courses that are available 24/7/365 with top quality teachers.

If you’re a brand new homeschooler or a seasoned homeschooler, head over to HomeschoolConnections.com to see the great resource they can be for your student!

Connect with Dr. Amy Adamczyk:

• Web site

England Trip!

WE ARE GOING TO ENGLAND next summer and we want you to come with us! Check out our previous episode or view the travel details here.

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you!

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community! You’ll also have access to our patron book clubs and receive a cute sticker in the mail from us. We’re reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion and we’d love for you to participate so join today.

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,900+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

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What can we do as Catholic laypeople to end racism and support our Catholic brothers and sisters of color? Chenele Shaw asked just that questioned and started her own non profit, The Before Gethsemane Initiative, which seeks to educate on difficult topics with an authentically Catholic understanding of the inherent dignity of the human person. We’re so thrilled to be talking with Chenele in this episode!

Chenele is a former youth minister and theology teacher and a current young adult trying to live her life for Christ, frequent her therapist, and eat all the cheese! She desires to be her authentic self and help others to as well. Chenele has written for many Catholic publications including The Grotto Network and The Catholic Woman. She is a member of the board for The Human Condition Community which focuses on the integration of faith and mental health. Chenele is also working towards beginning her Masters education for clinical mental health counseling. In her free time you can find her watching reality tv, going to confession, and updating her Spotify playlists.

In this episode Chenele shares about the exciting new initiative she helped to form. She is so full of hope and passion for loving the Church by pursuing truth, justice, and unity in the Body of Christ and after listening we think you’ll have more hope, too.

Things we talked about in this episode:

The Pillar article about Before Gethsemane

Sponsor: The Little Catholic Box

The Little Catholic Box is a quarterly subscription box for Catholic women.  Each quarter, the owner Erica curates a bunch of fun, unique Catholic items around a spiritual theme.  It’s a delight for subscribers, and a blessing to the artists, creators and small businesses whose items get featured.

Their fourth quarter boxes are shipping to subscribers this month, and they have a limited number of single boxes available for purchase!

If you’d like to take a look, visit thelittlecatholicbox.com. You can order a single box directly from their home page.

While single boxes are currently available, new subscription signups are closed until December.

If you need a fabulous Christmas gift idea for a Catholic woman in your life, you can hop on their waitlist now so that you have early access when subscriptions are available in December.

New subscribers signing up in December will get their first box in February, but if you purchase as a gift, Erica will send a personalized Christmas card to either you or the gift recipient with a bonus gift, so that there’s something tangible to stick under the tree.

Get on the waitlist at thelittlecatholicbox.com/FOC to get access to the bonus gift when subscription signups are opened back up in December.

This episode is also sponsored by Happy Nest Home Goods. 

Happy Nest Home Goods celebrates doing small things with great love with their modern Catholic embroidery art, patterns, and kits as well as their line of beautiful sacrifice beads for the whole family. 

Sacrifice beads are the perfect spiritual stocking stuffer for everyone on your list, including those hard-to-shop-for men in your life.

Sacrifice Beads were used by St. Therese as a little girl to count small acts of kindness or little sacrifices made for love of others throughout the day. Each time you offer something up (being patient, stubbing your toe, doing a hated chore, feeling disappointed or hurt,) slide a bead towards the Crucifix and unite your sacrifice to Christ’s on the cross, making it a “little present” for Jesus as St. Therese did. This beautiful practice will help foster your ability to see opportunities to offer every moment to God. 

Sacrifice beads come in a wide variety of beautiful styles, including stunning ceramic floral and genuine olive wood beads from Bethlehem! There are even adorable peg doll ones for kids and they can even be used as a decade rosary.

Theresa of Happy Nest Home Goods also just released new beginner-friendly embroidery kits for Advent and Christmas that are perfect to gift to the crafter in your life OR for you to add a handmade touch to your Christmas gifts this year! She also has a wide variety of instant download embroidery patterns that are perfect for last-minute gifts.

Don’t forget to check out her whole line of gorgeous stickers, jewelry, and needle minder lapel pins featuring her original artwork!

Grab yours at www.happynesthomegoods.com and use code FOC10 for ten percent off your entire order over $35 through December 14th! You can also follow her @happynesthomegoods on Instagram and Facebook.

Connect with Chenele:

• Instagram
• Before Gethsemane

England Trip!

WE ARE GOING TO ENGLAND next summer and we want you to come with us! Check out our previous episode or view the travel details here.

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you!

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community! You’ll also have access to our patron book clubs and receive a cute sticker in the mail from us. We’re reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion and we’d love for you to participate so join today.

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,900+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Catholic social teaching is an important part of our Catholic faith–but do most of us have a sense of how its all connected rather than simply know about certain key issues? We need to understand the scriptural and magesterial foundation for how we care for vulnerable people, the essential demands of charity and justice, care for our common home, support for the family, and fighting the evils of exploitation and racism. Without understanding how it’s all connected, we won’t get very far! That’s why we’re so excited that Fr. Josh Johnson collaborated with Ascension Press (and some other great Catholic voices like Mari Pablo) to create a video course for young people that introduces them to Catholic social teaching.

Fr. Josh is the Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Baton Rouge and in this episode he shares his own vocation story with us (it’s a good one!). He is also the author of Broken and Blessed: An Invitation to My Generation, the Pocket Guide to Adoration, and the Pocket Guide to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And he hosts a weekly podcast and YouTube show called Ask Fr. Josh.

In this episode Fr. Josh reminds us that as part of the Body of Christ, we have a responsibility to each other. Our talents, blessings, and gifts should be brought to serve God through serving the most vulnerable. He also shares about the importance of Eucharistic adoration and how prayer before the Blessed Sacrament can powerfully transform our hearts. This is a great episode so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

Sponsor: The Little Catholic Box

The Little Catholic Box is a quarterly subscription box for Catholic women.  Each quarter, the owner Erica curates a bunch of fun, unique Catholic items around a spiritual theme.  It’s a delight for subscribers, and a blessing to the artists, creators and small businesses whose items get featured.

Their fourth quarter boxes are shipping to subscribers this month, and they have a limited number of single boxes available for purchase!

If you’d like to take a look, visit thelittlecatholicbox.com. You can order a single box directly from their home page.

While single boxes are currently available, new subscription signups are closed until December.

If you need a fabulous Christmas gift idea for a Catholic woman in your life, you can hop on their waitlist now so that you have early access when subscriptions are available in December.

New subscribers signing up in December will get their first box in February, but if you purchase as a gift, Erica will send a personalized Christmas card to either you or the gift recipient with a bonus gift, so that there’s something tangible to stick under the tree.

Get on the waitlist at thelittlecatholicbox.com/FOC to get access to the bonus gift when subscription signups are opened back up in December.

We are also sponsored by Homeschool Connections

HomeschoolConnections.com is an authentically Catholic resource for home educating families. Their mission is educating the heart, mind, and soul in the Catholic tradition with online classes for 3rd grade and above. They offer live interactive classes as well as unlimited access to recorded courses that are available 24/7/365 with top quality teachers.

If you’re a brand new homeschooler or a seasoned homeschooler, head over to HomeschoolConnections.com to see the great resource they can be for your student!

Connect with Fr. Josh Johnson:

• Twitter
• Instagram
• Podcast: Ask Fr. Josh

England Trip!

WE ARE GOING TO ENGLAND next summer and we want you to come with us! Check out our previous episode or view the travel details here.

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you!

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community! You’ll also have access to our patron book clubs and receive a cute sticker in the mail from us. We’re reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion and we’d love for you to participate so join today.

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,900+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

St. John Henry Newman is one of the Catholic Church’s newest canonized saints but he’s been a huge theological figure for ages due to his brilliant writing and high profile conversion from the Church of England to Rome. What makes this saint extraordinary and what can we learn about his writings that can help us in our own spiritual lives? Dr. Ryan “Bud” Marr joins us on the show today to share about this English saint and his legacy.

Like St. John Henry Newman, Bud Marr is a convert to Catholicism (and he shares about his conversion story in this episode). He is the Associate Provost at Mercy College of Health Sciences in Des Moines, Iowa and is the author of Seeking God with St. John Henry Newman (Our Sunday Visitor, 2019) and To Be Perfect Is to Have Changed Often (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018). Before coming to Mercy College, Dr. Marr served for three years as the director of the National Institute for Newman Studies in Pittsburgh, during which time he was also Associate Editor of the Newman Studies Journal. He and his wife Rachel have been blessed with seven children.  

In this episode we asked Bud about Anglican priest St. John Henry Newman’s shocking conversion to Catholicism after his prominence in the Oxford Movement and former belief in Anglicanism as a “via media” or middle way between Protestantism and Catholicism. He also shares about Newman’s practical spirituality and where to begin with his writings (some of which can be very challenging!). Listen in and learn more about this saint in this episode!

Sponsor: The Little Catholic Box

The Little Catholic Box is a quarterly subscription box for Catholic women.  Each quarter, the owner Erica curates a bunch of fun, unique Catholic items around a spiritual theme.  It’s a delight for subscribers, and a blessing to the artists, creators and small businesses whose items get featured.

New subscription signups are currently closed, but you can get on the waitlist for when they open back up in December.

If you need a fabulous Christmas gift idea for a Catholic woman in your life, hop on the waitlist now so that you have early access.

Sign up for email waitlist notifications at thelittlecatholicbox.com/FOC and if you choose to subscribe to their box later, you’ll get access to a special deal they are offering to our listeners.

Visit thelittlecatholicbox.com/FOC and get on their wait list today!

This episode is also sponsored by Happy Nest Home Goods. 

Happy Nest Home Goods (by Theresa) celebrates doing small things with great love with their modern Catholic embroidery art, patterns, and kits as well as their line of beautiful sacrifice beads for the whole family. 

They just released new beginner-friendly embroidery kits for Advent and Christmas that are perfect to gift to the crafter in your life OR for you to add a handmade touch to your Christmas gifts this year!

Open-and-go kits are easy enough for total beginners (even kids!) and feature custom designed pre-printed fabric (so you don’t have to transfer the pattern yourself!) and they include everything you need from start to finish and ship for free!

Theresa’s new kit designs include: A set of 4 watercolor Advent Candle hoops, a gorgeous Madonna and Child ornament, and a set of 3 Scandanavian-inspired Snowflake ornaments.

Don’t forget to check out her whole line of gorgeous stickers, jewelry, and needle minders featuring her original artwork!

Grab yours at www.happynesthomegoods.com and use code FOC10 for ten percent off your entire order through October! You can also follow Theresa @happynesthomegoods on Instagram and Facebook

Connect with Bud:

• Twitter

England Trip!

WE ARE GOING TO ENGLAND next summer and we want you to come with us! Check out our previous episode or view the travel details here.

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you!

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community! You’ll also have access to our patron book clubs and receive a cute sticker in the mail from us. We’re reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion and we’d love for you to participate so join today.

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,900+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

When a huge crisis hits like a devastating medical diagnosis for your child–how do you go on? Is it possible not only to live through this kind of suffering but to truly embrace your life with joy? In her brand new book, Kelly Mantoan shares her story as a mother with two sons who have spinal muscular atrophy. What she shares is vulnerable and real and she never offers the easy, dismissive, or trite answer. Her book Better than OK: Finding Joy as a Special Needs Parent is going to be a gift so many families.

Kelly is one of our all-time favorite people. She’s funny, she’s faithful, and she’s entirely authentic. She’s a mom of five with a popular blog, This Ain’t the Lyceum, where she writes about family life, homeschooling, her Catholic faith, and navigating care for her two sons with SMA. Her life is a witness to the idea that when life doesn’t look how we expect, it can still be full of beauty, joy, and humor alongside grief and difficulty.

In this episode we talk about the stages of grief that must be walked through in order to embrace the lives we’ve been given. Kelly also shares what friends and family can do to support special-needs parents (and what well-intentioned but hurtful things you should never ever ever say to them) as well as about the new ministry she has started, Accepting the Gift. Even if you’re not a parent of a child with special needs, this episode is full of Kelly’s incredible wisdom about embracing your life and how to walk the difficult road of finding joy and hope. We know you’ll love this conversation so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

Sponsor: OSV’s Marian Consecration for Families with Young Children

Bring your family to Jesus through Mary with Marian Consecration for Families with Young Children. Featuring a traditional 33-day preparation for consecration, this book is written and beautifully illustrated to help children ages 3-7 to understand and grow in faith and Marian devotion. Each day includes an image of Mary, a short reflection, and discussion questions to spark faith-filled conversations. Supplementary material for parents helps you lead your family through preparation for the consecration at a pace that works for you. Marian Consecration for Families with Young Children combines magnificent, original Marian art and simple, child-accessible text to immerse your entire family in Mary’s love and care.

Use this book to place your whole family in the care of our Blessed Mother, allowing her to bring each of you closer to Jesus.

Order Marian Consecration for Families with Young Children today at OSVCatholicBookstore.com or wherever books are sold.

We are also sponsored by Walking with Purpose

Walking with Purpose has just released a new Bible study titled “Reclaiming Friendship”–a 6 week dive into God’s purpose and plan for our friendships and we think that this is the perfect time to offer women a study like this.

Finding out what God has to say about friendship will help women to not only rebuild their friendships but do so in a way that will help them to make Jesus the center of their relationships and their lives.

For those of you not familiar with Walking with Purpose, it is a ministry seeking to bring every Catholic woman and girl to Jesus through their amazing Bible studies. Walking with Purpose is currently at over 400 parishes around the nation and reaches about 40,000 women a year.

Use the code CARROTS15 at checkout for 15% off your order of Reclaiming Friendship: shop.walkingwithpurpose.com

Offer expires October 31, 2021!

Connect with Kelly:

• Blog
• Accepting the Gift
• Instagram
• Facebook

England Trip!

WE ARE GOING TO ENGLAND next summer and we want you to come with us! Check out our previous episode or view the travel details here.

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you!

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community! You’ll also have access to our patron book clubs and receive a cute sticker in the mail from us. We’re reading Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi next and we’d love for you to participate so join today.

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,900+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Don’t tell us you haven’t wondered what it’s like to be Kathleen Kelly from You’ve Got Mail because we know you have! We’ve wondered the same thing which is why we decided to get answers from the co-owner of our very favorite book store: Fabled Bookshop and Cafe in Waco, Texas. If you attended our Raspberry Cordial Gathering in 2019 you know that we had our first night of the event there. It’s a magical place and we talked with co-owner Alison Frenzel to learn all about the ins and outs of owning a bookshop.

While working in marketing and photography, Alison Frenzel did not think that she’d ever see her dream of owning a bookstore come true. But when she met her business partner, Kimberly Batson, the pair realized that they shared a vision for a bookshop that champions reading and the impact it can have on a community. Together they started Fabled which offers new books in a myriad of categories, a cafe that features literary drinks, and a wardrobe you can enter through to the children’s section. Alison is married to Brandon, a First Methodist pastor, and has two children, Ava and Asher. Her favorite books to read usually feature time travel, unrequited love, western themes, and meticulously researched historical fiction.

In this episode we asked Alison all about how Fabled was born, the inner workings of a bookstore, how to choose what to stock, how to create a space where people love to gather, the gift of bookshops to communities and how to encourage kids to read. It’s a cozy and delightful conversation, so grab a glass of Raspberry Cordial and enjoy!

Sponsor: The Little Catholic Box

The Little Catholic Box is a quarterly subscription box for Catholic women.  Each quarter, the owner Erica curates a bunch of fun, unique Catholic items around a spiritual theme.  It’s a delight for subscribers, and a blessing to the artists, creators and small businesses whose items get featured.

They only offer a limited number of subscriptions each quarter, and the signup window closes at the end of September.

If you’d like to try them out, visit thelittlecatholicbox.com/FOC by the end of September and get an exclusive free bonus only available to Fountains of Carrots listeners.

Sign up now for the next box that ships the first week of November!

We are also sponsored by Homeschool Connections

HomeschoolConnections.com is an authentically Catholic resource for home educating families. Their mission is educating the heart, mind, and soul in the Catholic tradition with online classes for 3rd grade and above. They offer live interactive classes as well as unlimited access to recorded courses that are available 24/7/365 with top quality teachers.

If you’re a brand new homeschooler or a seasoned homeschooler, head over to HomeschoolConnections.com to see the great resource they can be for your student!

Connect with Alison:

• Fabled web site
• Instagram

England Trip!

WE ARE GOING TO ENGLAND next summer and we want you to come with us! Check out our previous episode or view the travel details here.

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you!

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community! You’ll also have access to our patron book clubs and receive a cute sticker in the mail from us. We’re reading Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi next and we’d love for you to participate so join today.

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,900+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The saints are one of the best things about being Catholic. But often, we think of the saints as cardboard cutouts and not real people who were very human, often messy, and struggling just like us. What if we all had friends in heaven that we found completely relatable because of their situation in life, personality, or ethnicity? If you had a friend in heaven like that, don’t you think you could imagine yourself becoming a saint? That’s just what today’s guest, Meg Hunter-Kilmer wants to help you do!

You might remember Meg from previous episodes on the podcast or as a speaker at our Raspberry Cordial Gathering in 2019. She’s one of our favorite people, a fellow Anne of Green Gables fan, and one of the most fascinating folks we know. Meg lives out of her car and travels the globe as a missionary, sharing about God’s love and the saints. She’s a highly sought after speaker, a longtime podcaster, and now, a published author. This year her children’s book illustrated by Lindsay Sanders, Saints Around the World was released and her book about the saints for grown-ups, Pray for Us: 75 Saints who Sinned, Suffered, and Struggled on Their Way to Holiness is available for pre-order.

In this episode Meg talks about the importance of finding saints we connect with–be it because they are like us or because they reach out to us in some way. She shares about what it means to have relationships with the saints, what exactly it looks like to befriend them, how they find us, and how they help our spiritual lives. You’re going to love this episode!

Sponsor: The Little Catholic Box

The Little Catholic Box is a quarterly subscription box for Catholic women.  Each quarter, the owner Erica curates a bunch of fun, unique Catholic items around a spiritual theme.  It’s a delight for subscribers, and a blessing to the artists, creators and small businesses whose items get featured.

They only offer a limited number of subscriptions each quarter, and the signup window closes at the end of September.

If you’d like to try them out, visit thelittlecatholicbox.com/FOC by the end of September and get an exclusive free bonus only available to Fountains of Carrots listeners.

Sign up now for the next box that ships the first week of November!

We are also sponsored by Walking with Purpose

Walking with Purpose has just released a new Bible study titled “Reclaiming Friendship”–a 6 week dive into God’s purpose and plan for our friendships and we think that this is the perfect time to offer women a study like this.

Finding out what God has to say about friendship will help women to not only rebuild their friendships but do so in a way that will help them to make Jesus the center of their relationships and their lives.

For those of you not familiar with Walking with Purpose, it is a ministry seeking to bring every Catholic woman and girl to Jesus through their amazing Bible studies. Walking with Purpose is currently at over 400 parishes around the nation and reaches about 40,000 women a year.

Use the code CARROTS15 at checkout for 15% off your order of Reclaiming Friendship: shop.walkingwithpurpose.com

Offer expires October 31, 2021!

Connect with Meg:

• podcast
• website
• Instagram
• Facebook

England Trip!

WE ARE GOING TO ENGLAND next summer and we want you to come with us! Check out our previous episode or view the travel details here.

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you!

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community! You’ll also have access to our patron book clubs and receive a cute sticker in the mail from us. We’re reading Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi next and we’d love for you to participate so join today.

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,900+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

Do the storms of life ever catch you by surprise? We often navigate our days expecting smooth sailing and are unprepared for the storms that inevitably arise. None of us could have anticipated how stormy the past two years have been, of course! But have they been even harder because we anticipate ease in our lives? Have you found yourself lacking the resources you need to weather life’s storms? Today’s guest Sally Clarkson is here to help!

Sally is well known for her wonderful podcast, her many (many!) books, and her ministry to mothers and families. She has four amazing grown kids and is now a grandmother! She is so gifted and talented, but what we love most about her is how she encourages women and challenges us to be faithful. Sally is inspiring because her life has had storms and she has learned to cultivate the virtues and habits that make it possible to survive them. Her newest book Help, I’m Drowning: Weathering the Storms of Life with Grace on Hope is on this theme.

In this episode Sally shares some of the storms she’s faced and we share some of ours as well. We talk about preparing ourselves for storms and practical things we have learned to do to get through hard times. Habits of faith, self-care, grace for ourselves and others, and strong relationships can help us develop what we need to weather life. We think you’ll be so inspired by Sally’s wisdom and encouragement!

Sponsor: CatholicMatch

This episode is sponsored by the largest dating app specifically for single Catholics: CatholicMatch!

Online dating has become the new norm. Why not being a relationship knowing you already share the same faith? Unlike other dating websites that encourage casual relationships, CatholicMatch primarily strives to help singles connect for the purpose of Sacramental Marriage. CatholicMatch also provides a community where Catholics can share their challenges of living life in a single state and make new friends.

These days, it’s harder than ever for single Catholics to meet each other, but CatholicMatch is here to support single Catholics from all over the world by allowing them to easily connect online!

Use the CatholicMatch app or website to start connecting with other singles through messaging or video chat. You can create a free profile in just minutes and start meeting other single Catholics now by going to www.catholicmatch.com/carrots !

We are also sponsored by Homeschool Connections

HomeschoolConnections.com is an authentically Catholic resource for home educating families. Their mission is educating the heart, mind, and soul in the Catholic tradition with online classes for 3rd grade and above. They offer live interactive classes as well as unlimited access to recorded courses that are available 24/7/365 with top quality teachers.

If you’re a brand new homeschooler or a seasoned homeschooler, head over to HomeschoolConnections.com to see the great resource they can be for your student!

Connect with Sally:

• her podcast: At Home with Sally
• her website: SallyClarkson.com
• Instagram
• Facebook

England Trip!

WE ARE GOING TO ENGLAND next summer and we want you to come with us! Check out our previous episode or view the travel details here.

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you!

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community! You’ll also have access to our patron book clubs and receive a cute sticker in the mail from us. We’re reading Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi next and we’d love for you to participate so join today.

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,900+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

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Subscribe: RSS

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Before we dive in to this episode’s details, don’t forget that WE ARE GOING TO ENGLAND next summer and we want you to come with us! Check out our previous episode or view the travel details here.

We’ve all found ourselves at the beginning of a new academic year–and we’re all still waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel. Things are not…ideal. We’re all facing another tough season. So how do we start anew and cultivate a new beginning even in difficult circumstances?

We knew just who to ask: our friend Laura Kelly Fanucci, a writer, speaker, and author who is wonderfully wise and who truly understands what it means to commit to a new beginning in the midst of trials. Laura joined us years ago to share her family’s story of losing their twin daughters, Maggie and Abby. Laura understands what it means to carry grief, navigate pain, and yet she always inspires us to thoughtful and intentional living.

Laura lives in the Twin Cities with her husband Franco and her five sons. She’s written multiple books including Everyday Sacrament and Grieving Together. And she has a nationally syndicated column for Catholic News Service. You may know Laura from the viral poem she wrote at the beginning of the pandemic or from her breathtakingly beautiful prose on her Instagram account. We love Laura for many reasons but especially admire her wisdom, courage, and tender kindness in the way she navigates the world.

In this episode we talk about new school years. bouquets of sharpened pencils, and why we’re all nostalgic at the beginning of the academic year. We get vulnerable about what makes this phase of the pandemic so hard, discuss cultivating hope while being honest with ourselves about pain, ways to intentionally turn a new leaf and why that matters and helps us move forward, and giving ourselves a lot of grace in the ups and downs.

We’re so excited to kick off our new season of the podcast with this episode. It’s a really beautiful conversation and we know you’ll love hearing from Laura!

Sponsor: Into the Deep

This episode’s sponsor is the new catechetical resource that parents have been looking for: Into the Deep!

The aim of Into the Deep is to not only help our children know about Jesus, but to know Him. So each lesson offers the child an opportunity to encounter the Person of Jesus Christ, and we always point to the sacraments. It’s a parent-led, open-and-go resource inspired by the Charlotte Mason and classical education philosophies.

This resource will help you teach your children about the Catholic Faith through beautiful art, music, poetry, nature study, and story. Each lesson is accompanied by beautiful original watercolor illustrations. Each lesson is based upon Scripture, immersing children in the Living Word.

Learn more and purchase at intothedeep.co !

Connect with Laura:

• Web site
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Substack: The Holy Labor

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you!

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community! You’ll also have access to our patron book clubs and receive a cute sticker in the mail from us. We’re reading Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi next and we’d love for you to participate so join today.

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,900+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

We’ve got big news! We’re going to England next year on a bookish pilgrimage!

We’ve created the perfect tour of all the English sites of our dreams! We’re going to be going with Select International as they’ve allowed us to craft this tour of dreams for you to just hop aboard with us! (Have I been using all the exclamation marks? Can you tell I’m excited??) We will be visiting Oxford to visit the familiar landmarks in the life of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, we’ll visit Beaconsfield and the home and parish of G.K. Chesterton, we’ll see Bath, the regency city of our beloved Austen novels, and we’ll make a special stop to Jane Austen’s home! We will then have 3 glorious days in London where we’ll see the beautiful city that is practically a character in so many novels we love. And we’ll be able to visit the relics of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher and stunning English churches.

In this episode we’ll tell you all the great details of the trip, including special talks and evenings with us, and very special guests Sally and Joy Clarkson! You’ll want to hear all these great details so you can begin dreaming and planning for this very bookish and British trip we can’t wait to go on next year.

All the details for the trip can be found here!

Let us know if you have any questions, we’d love to help you out.

And just a note – we’ll be starting our next book club pick, Piranesi, this week! To join in the reading fun become a member of Patreon today!

Patreon!

Do you love FoC and want to help us keep doing what we’re doing (and more!)? Well, we have just the thing for you!

Head on over to support the podcast as a patron and get access to special episodes available exclusively to patrons as well as to the FoC Slack community! You’ll also have access to our patron book clubs and receive a cute sticker in the mail from us. We’re reading Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi next and we’d love for you to participate so join today.

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,800+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.