{"store":{"baseInfo":{"podcastTitle":"Soul Food Priest","slug":"soulfoodpriestfrben","podcastDescription":"This is the podcast where culinary and Christianity collide. Each week Fr. Ben Bradshaw will serve up homilies, whip up Teaching Tapas, answer your burning questions, and pass along recipes.","podcastLogo":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/14526461/Soul_Food_Priest_Logo_Apple_nvi4vp.jpg","podcastShareLogo":"https://d2bwo9zemjwxh5.cloudfront.net/image-logo/14526461/Soul_Food_Priest_Logo_Apple_nvi4vp_1200x628.jpg?s=958250b7a97641d7140e082c369e4ad4&e=jpg","podcastUrl":"https://soulfoodpriestfrben.podbean.com","podcastCanSearched":true,"feedUrl":"https://feed.podbean.com/soulfoodpriestfrben/feed.xml","theme":"elegant","podcastDeepLink":"https://www.podbean.com/pu/pbblog-zwgw4-dda7fd","removePodbeanBranding":"no","brandingLogo":null,"timeZone":{"timeZoneId":11,"gmtAdjustment":"GMT-06:00","useDaylightTime":1,"value":-6,"text":"(GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)","daylightStartTime":"Second Sunday Of March +2 Hours","daylightEndTime":"First Sunday Of November +2 Hours","timezone":"America/Chicago"},"podcastDownloads":null,"totalEpisodes":236,"showComments":true,"iOSAppDownloadLink":null,"customizeCssUrl":null,"androidAppDownloadLink":null,"showPostShare":true,"showLike":true,"author":"Soul Food Priest","engagementStatsBaseUrl":null,"shareEmbedLink":"https://admin5.podbean.com/embed.html?id=pbblog-zwgw4-dda7fd-playlist","language":"en","sensitivitySessionExpireTime":3600,"podcastApps":[{"name":"Apple Podcasts","link":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soul-food-priest/id1636971587","image":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/fs1/site/images/admin5/apple-podcast.png","title":null},{"name":"Podbean App","link":"https://r4j68.app.goo.gl/?link=https%3A%2F%2Fsoulfoodpriestfrben.podbean.com%3Faction%3DopenPodcast%26podcastId%3Dpbblog14526461%26podcastIdTag%3Dzwgw4&dfl=https%3A%2F%2Fsoulfoodpriestfrben.podbean.com&utm_campaign=pb_web&utm_source=podbean_web&utm_medium=dlink&imv=670&amv=530&isi=973361050&ibi=com.podbean.app.podcast&ipbi=com.podbean.app.podcast&apn=com.podbean.app.podcast","image":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/fs1/site/images/admin5/podbean-app.png","title":null},{"name":"Spotify","link":"https://open.spotify.com/show/5EGW6FBZblXlC1PybSdJpU","image":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/fs1/site/images/admin5/spotify.png","title":null},{"name":"Amazon Music","link":"https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/56177f71-a71f-4b70-9f4f-f14f4d350efc","image":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/fs1/site/images/admin5/AmazonMusic.png","title":null}],"components":{"base":[{"id":"MainStyle","val":"light"},{"id":"Font","val":"Roboto"},{"id":"SecondaryFont","val":"Avenir"},{"id":"PlayerColor","val":"#8fc31f"},{"id":"PlayerStyle","val":"player2"},{"id":"PlayerWave","val":"show"},{"id":"Favicon","val":null},{"id":"CookiesNotice","val":"hide"},{"id":"CookiesNoticeContent","val":"

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Every other week Fr. Ben will be answering your burning questions regarding food and faith. He is joined by two of his friends and staff members, Silvia Vega and Khira Rotty, who will be the moderators for the upcoming Q & A episodes. If you have a question for Fr. Ben go to www.stmichaelmemphis.org/ask-fr--ben or the Soul Food Priest FB page at https://www.facebook.com/soulfoodpriest/.

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Fr. Ben Bradshaw S.T.L.

Originally baptized Lutheran, Fr. Ben became Catholic at a young age and attended Catholic schools in Memphis growing up.

He always loved to cook and always considered being a professional chef or a Catholic priest, and so he became both.

At age 17, he began working for a French chef in Memphis and worked in kitchens until age 20. He then entered Johnson & Wales University culinary arts program in Charleston, SC. There he earned an Associate’s degree in Culinary Arts.

Fr. Ben then decided to travel to Russia where he lived and worked as a missionary with a religious community. It was there, in a small village, where he began to consider a calling to be a missionary priest. (Since then he has spent time visiting and working in Guatemala, Mexico, Africa, and Eastern and Western Europe.)

He returned home to Memphis and worked as a pastry chef for 5 years. This led him study in Paris, France at the L’Ecôle Lenôtre school of Pastry Arts, where he studied chocolate and pulled sugar artistry. He continued to consider more frequently the call to be a missionary priest.

After returning to the United States he attended The New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Food and Beverage Management. After graduating from NECI, Fr. Ben began considering an option he had not yet considered: Diocesan Priesthood. After much prayerful discernment, he entered the seminary at the age of 27 and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Memphis in June of 2006.

Fr. Ben earned a Masters of Arts and a Masters of Divinity in Sacred Theology. He wrote his Master's thesis on Pope Saint John Paul II's understanding of femininity and womanhood as it relates to writings of St. Edith Stein. He also holds a Licentiate degree in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, D.C. The focus on his dissertation was on the response of the Catholic Church to the issue of Same-Sex attraction. Since 2005, his continuing education studies have been at the Theology of the Body Institute in Philadelphia, P.A.

Fr. Ben is currently the pastor of St. Michael's parish in Memphis, TN.

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In this homily, Fr. Ben discusses these hard questions that Catholics must face in order to grow in their own faith. Why do people leave the Church? Why do people stay? Why am I making the decision I am? What can I do in the Church to help people stay? Will the Church last in these hard times?

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Homily: Why Catholics Stay & Why Catholics Leave the Church

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