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
Tuesday Jul 23, 2024
Tuesday Jul 23, 2024
Fr. Ben speaks of the beautiful women of the Old and New Testaments who brought God's love in the world in amazing ways. All women have the capability to do this. Listen and be inspired to act!
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 Jul 18, 2024
Thursday Jul 18, 2024
Are there pet peeves you have when eating at a restaurant? These pet peeves can make or break a dining experience. This is the same for one's spiritual and home life. July 11th is the feast day of St. Benedict, the father of monasticism, so Fr. Ben, Silvia, and Khira discuss the importance of healthy practices in the home that help prevent chaos and yuckiness.
Got a question you'd like to ask Fr. Ben? 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 Jul 15, 2024
Monday Jul 15, 2024
Grudges can truly poison people from the inside out. Fr. Ben gives helpful insight as to how face the grudges and overcome them with the Lord's help.
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 Jul 11, 2024
Thursday Jul 11, 2024
Do you know where brownies came from? Fr. Ben serves up a small platter of brownies in this episode and teaches us how we can me more comfortable in our faith. It's a simple recipe!
Got a question you'd like to ask Fr. Ben? 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 Jul 04, 2024
Thursday Jul 04, 2024
According to Craig Claiborne, a New York Times food critic, various regions in the United States have food rights. People want more authentic food true to the region they're from. This topic then leads to Fr. Ben, Silvia, and Khira talking about basic human rights and voting, and what it means to be an authentic Catholic American. This is a hot topic, especially for voting year! We hope you enjoy!
Got a question you'd like to ask Fr. Ben? 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 Jul 01, 2024
Monday Jul 01, 2024
Fr. Ben explains in this homily what it means to be an indivisible country with true patriotism. What does this look like in your everyday life? What does this mean in your life as a Catholic? 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 Jun 27, 2024
Thursday Jun 27, 2024
Fr. Ben serves up a small platter of why English cuisine has had a bad reputation in the culinary world and what we can learn from them in the spiritual life.
Got a question you'd like to ask Fr. Ben? 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 Jun 24, 2024
Monday Jun 24, 2024
Do you ever question whether or not God is listening to your prayers? This is a struggle for most. Often times we struggle with trust in the Lord and why we are enduring the trials we have to endure. Listen as Fr. Ben provides beautiful insight and encouragement that the Lord is with you.
Fr. Ben also talks about the process of electing a new pope and fascinating facts about the papacy.
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 Jun 20, 2024
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
Fr. Ben talks about a great restaurant in Venice he recently visited called The Devil in Holy Water! Listen to hear that experience. With that in mind, he, Silvia, and Khira talk about Hell and what it really is.
We're also so excited to announce that Soul Food Priest will be going visual in AUGUST!!!! Please pray for us as we prepare to take on this new, exciting endeavor!
Have a question for Fr. Ben to address? 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 Jun 13, 2024
Thursday Jun 13, 2024
TV dinners were once a thing and now they're not. Times change, tastes change, but does truth change? Fr. Ben takes on this question and serves a great, succinct answer.
Got a question you'd like to ask Fr. Ben? 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.
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.