Soul Food Priest
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.
Listen on:
Episodes
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Fr. Ben serves up small ways in which one can grow in their spiritual life that can have a large impact.
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear from you! You can visit Ask Fr. Ben | St. Michael Church (stmichaelmemphis.org) to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on Facebook at Soul Food Priest and let us know what you think of the podcast.
Thursday Dec 28, 2023
Thursday Dec 28, 2023
Fr. Ben serves up tapas on flavors that don't work well together, opposing flavors that do, and moral relativism. Not sure what all that means? Take a listen!
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear from you! You can visit Ask Fr. Ben | St. Michael Church (stmichaelmemphis.org) to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on Facebook at Soul Food Priest and let us know what you think of the podcast.
Thursday Dec 21, 2023
Thursday Dec 21, 2023
People have submitted various questions, so Khira and Silvia decided they would put Fr. Ben in the Hot Seat! Little did they know, he would would turn the tables on them. Take a listen!
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear from you! You can visit Ask Fr. Ben | St. Michael Church (stmichaelmemphis.org) to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on Facebook at Soul Food Priest and let us know what you think of the podcast.
Monday Dec 18, 2023
Monday Dec 18, 2023
Fr. Ben serves up a great homily to bring clarity to such a confused culture. Does right and wrong still exist? What do we believe as Catholics? Listen as Fr. Ben gives a lesson on moral theology and how it applies to everyday life.
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear from you! You can visit Ask Fr. Ben | St. Michael Church (stmichaelmemphis.org) to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on Facebook at Soul Food Priest and let us know what you think of the podcast.
Thursday Dec 14, 2023
Thursday Dec 14, 2023
Fr. Ben's tapas for today is one of his favorite dishes in the world along with a message on knowing one's faith. We hope you enjoy!
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear from you! You can visit Ask Fr. Ben | St. Michael Church (stmichaelmemphis.org) to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on Facebook at Soul Food Priest and let us know what you think of the podcast.
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
It's the holiday season! Not only are we preparing the house, the tree, and the meals to celebrate, but we're possibly preparing ourselves to deal with the difficult people we'll be surrounded by. Are there people in your life who you find difficult? How can you best prepare for these occasions? Listen as Fr. Ben serves up amazing tips to help prepare you so peace may reign in your heart this season.
Go to Ask Fr. Ben | St. Michael Church (stmichaelmemphis.org) to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on Facebook at Soul Food Priest.
Thursday Dec 07, 2023
Thursday Dec 07, 2023
Here are the couple of major questions Fr. Ben receives around the holidays:
How do you properly cook a turkey?
How do we teach our children a healthy balance of receiving gifts and giving gifts?
Listen as Father and Silvia discuss the answers to these questions and provide a few tips.
Fr. Ben serves up ways in which one can be a better leader for their family, friends, and community. Hint: a key ingredient is humility (and maybe some butter)!
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear from you! You can visit Ask Fr. Ben | St. Michael Church (stmichaelmemphis.org) to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on Facebook at Soul Food Priest and let us know what you think of the podcast.
Monday Dec 04, 2023
Monday Dec 04, 2023
Enjoy this homily Fr. Ben served up at mass on how to grow older gracefully. Take time to listen to this message and savor the richness of it in your life.
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear from you! You can visit Ask Fr. Ben | St. Michael Church (stmichaelmemphis.org) to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on Facebook at Soul Food Priest and let us know what you think of the podcast.
Thursday Nov 30, 2023
Thursday Nov 30, 2023
Do you ever get into discussions where you and someone else disagree on which type of food is the best? Burgers vs Hot Dogs, French vs Italian, Steak vs Everything Else, etc. There are not only discussions people have about this but also about topics regarding what Catholics believe. This teaching tapas is robust with truth that will hopefully help you in these discussions.
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear from you! You can visit Ask Fr. Ben | St. Michael Church (stmichaelmemphis.org) to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on Facebook at Soul Food Priest and let us know what you think of the podcast.
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/.
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.