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 Nov 28, 2023
Tuesday Nov 28, 2023
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 Nov 20, 2023
Monday Nov 20, 2023
Fr. Ben serves up great wisdom and practical insight as to why it's important to apologize and how to apologize in a healthy way. This is vital, especially as we approach the holidays. Do you need to forgive? Are there people you need to apologize to? Take heart and 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 Nov 16, 2023
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Are there times when you try a new recipe, and something goes wrong? You followed all the instructions! Now you need to reach out to an expert. Do you reach out? What do you do with his/her's advice? Fr. Ben serves up a great tapas on this very topic and how it also relates to one's spiritual 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 09, 2023
Thursday Nov 09, 2023
In this show, Fr. Ben highly recommends the show The Bear. It's about a chef taking over his deceased brother's restaurant and the struggles that he has to endure.
This then pairs well with the topic of choice for the week which is intercessory prayer. Here are some questions we've received on this topic:
What is intercessory prayer?
Why do Catholics pray to saints?
Where can you find that in the Bible?
All this plus, an extra helping of crostatas! Here's Fr. Ben's recipe (remember that he cooks for the masses):
20 cups flour
5 pounds of butter
5 cups sour cream
3 eggs
salt
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.
Monday Nov 06, 2023
Monday Nov 06, 2023
There are so many conflicts going on in the world, and we sometimes wonder what we can do about it. Fr. Ben provides an answer to this with a sense of urgency. Take a listen to this great homily and hopefully peace will reign.
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 Oct 30, 2023
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Fr. Ben serves up a healthy portion of gratitude in this homily. He also speaks on why it's so important to have gratitude in one's daily diet. Listen and pray about how the Lord is calling you to be grateful in this upcoming month.
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 Oct 26, 2023
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Fr. Ben, Silvia, and Khira sit down to talk about the do's and don'ts of Halloween.
Is it ok to be Catholic and celebrate Halloween?
Is Halloween an evil holiday?
What is Halloween?
What can and can't we do to celebrate Halloween?
All of these questions plus a discussion on some of the best fall recipes! Our favorite!!
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.
Tuesday Oct 24, 2023
Tuesday Oct 24, 2023
There are times in life when love requires telling the truth to those we love or listening to the hard truth about ourselves. It takes courage to speak and to listen in a humble manner. Fr. Ben discusses this point in this homily and the ways he's applied it to his 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 Oct 19, 2023
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
American cuisine comes variety of positive influences. Your life can also become amazing through positive influences! Enjoy this small plate Fr. Ben has served up to encourage you to listen to the powerful witnesses in your life.
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 Oct 12, 2023
Thursday Oct 12, 2023
Fr. Ben explains the beauty of souffles and the beauty of traveling to shrines in one's life. He discusses the top five shrines in the world people should visit. Listen to his suggestions on where you should travel.
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.