Studio: Father Roderick Vonhogen
Category: Christianity
What It Is
Father Roderick chats about Catholic issues and takes the listener on “audio tours” of interesting locations.
Technical Details
This show started back in 2005 and hasn’t been updated since 2014. iTunes has the last ten episodes. For more, check out the show’s website. Episodes tend to run twenty to thirty minutes.
What About It
I didn’t find much of interest here. The podcast was initially so popular that Father Roderick ended up launching Star Quest Production Network, which continues to put out numerous Catholic related podcasts. The good Father seems a likable enough fellow, but I failed to find the “audio tour” aspect of the show particularly compelling. The idea is that Father Roderick wanders about a location where most listeners will never get to go while recording and describing what he’s seeing. In one episode, he remarked that someone had e-mailed him and accused him of fraud, of essentially just strolling around outside his own house or perhaps just sitting at a desk with some nice sound effects to create these episodes. Well, I don’t think he is doing that, but he might as well be, for my money. Just hearing the sounds of footsteps or a distant choir or whatever isn’t really all that compelling; no matter what hallway the footsteps are going down and regardless of whether someone is also whispering into the microphone about what a cool hallway it is. A lot of people really loved this show, apparently, and it’s not bad exactly, just based on a premise that does nothing for me at all.
1 star.
Essential If
The power of audio compels you.
Avoid Like the Plague If
There was a joke here but it was a bridge too far even for me.
Best Entry Point
I actually enjoyed the last two episodes of the series. Those episodes focused on the canonization of a couple of saints, including Pope John Paul II. I thought there was some interesting info in there about the way the Church canonizes saints and when and why and such. I mean, they were the best of the stuff I heard.