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.
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Episodes
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Life has its challenges, and they can happen suddenly. What type of people are you when this happens? Do you get bitter or better? Fr. Ben addresses the self-talk we have and how we can be beacons of hope in this world, esp when it all goes wrong.
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
In this brief episode, Fr. Ben reflects on the beauty of Fall flavors, a good bisque, and how we can make a good spiritual soup.
Monday Oct 24, 2022
Monday Oct 24, 2022
What is discipline and how can it affect our lives? In this awesome homily, by Fr. Ben, he answers these questions as well as giving us the tools to be better.
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
The holidays are coming! Have you ever built a gingerbread house? It's a delicate process that takes patience, care, and proper communication. Do you sometimes feel like building your marriage and family life can be like that sometimes? Join Fr. Ben as he provides great tips for helping with both gingerbread houses and marital communication.
Monday Oct 17, 2022
Monday Oct 17, 2022
This homily is all about healing high conflicts and how you can bring peace into high tense situations.
Thursday Oct 13, 2022
Thursday Oct 13, 2022
This is a short teaching on the gift of food & grace and how they affect our memories.
Monday Oct 10, 2022
Monday Oct 10, 2022
Walking Upstream: Catholics Are Different
In this homily, Fr. Ben encourages us to be not afraid and try something new. Follow God's ways and be uniquely you!
Thursday Oct 06, 2022
Thursday Oct 06, 2022
Fr. Ben and Khira continue their amazing conversation with Dr. Christopher West, the President of the Theology of the Body Institute and top scholar on Pope St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body. In this discussion, they talk about food, the universal longing we all have to be fulfilled, and how food points us to that ultimate fulfillment- God! Be prepared to be amazed by the beautiful insight shared during this conversation.
Dr. Christopher West will be in the Memphis at St. Michael's Church for the Made for More event Nov. 15, 2022. To experience more of a talk like this, music by Mike Mangione, and an evening of beauty go to memphism4m.eventbrite.com to purchase your tickets! Space is limited, so get your ticket today! All are welcome.
To find out more about Dr. Christopher West and the Theology of the Body Institute, where Fr. Ben and Khira have both studied, go to tobinstitute.org or go to the Institute's YouTube channel.
Monday Oct 03, 2022
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
What can the art of braising teach us about the spiritual life, esp. the virtue of patience? Listen to this short clip!
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 regarding food or faith email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.org 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.