Since beginning production in 2019, the Everyday Holiness, produced by FaithND, has recorded over 70 episodes featuring a wide variety of guest speakers sharing myriad experiences about their faith.
Dan Allen, associate director of spirituality and service at the Notre Dame Alumni Association, serves as the host of the podcast. While Allen is the main contributor, many people at the alumni association and FaithND have helped increase awareness for the podcast in instrumental ways such as planning and marketing.
In an interview with The Observer, Allen explained how the podcast got started.
“For many years, we have shared our very popular daily gospel reflection email, and we were looking for another way to offer longer stories in a format besides writing, and a podcast seemed like the perfect fit,” Allen said.
Allen further explained the podcast aims to reach anyone who wants to live a life of deeper meaning with a stronger presence of spiritual engagement, emphasizing the need to rely on the knowledge and wisdom of others.
“When we were conceiving what the podcast would be … the theme that continued to come back to me was the universal call to holiness that is described beautifully in the Second Vatican Council’s document, ‘Lumen Gentium.’ The main idea conveyed there [is] that each person in the Church is called to holiness, but it happens in various states of life,” Allen said.
The guests chosen for the podcast all have one thing in common: they hold faith at the center of their lives. These speakers, who typically have a connection in some way to the Notre Dame family, explore how they have strived to live a holy life while navigating big life decisions, seeking out their vocations and dealing with the surprises of life.
“It is telling that some of our most inspiring guests have been reluctant to come on the podcast, humbly admitting that, like all of us on this side of heaven, they are works in progress,” Allen said.
John Cavadini, the McGrath-Cavadini director of the Institute for Church Life and professor of theology at Notre Dame, reflected on his experience as a guest of the podcast.
“I have to say it’s a little intimidating, the thought that one is being proposed as an example of holiness whether everyday holiness or any kind,” Cavadini said. “But then I realized as I listened to the questions of the interviewer that that wasn’t the point.”
“The point is to have everyday, ordinary, off-the-shelf people like me who aren’t heroic saints or anything talk about the struggles and issues involved in striving for holiness and that that sends an encouraging message,” he elaborated.
Cavadini went on to explain the importance of ordinary people striving to be holy in their commonplace circumstances and being able to speak about their shared experience of faith.
“The bar isn’t Teresa of Ávila. It’s OK not to be her, but to be yourself, striving as best you can with God’s grace to be holy,” Cavadini said. “The point is to encourage others, not to claim perfection, far from it.”
The podcast is usually recorded and produced in Allen’s office using tabletop recording equipment, but if guests are not local, they can join the podcast virtually.
“We have learned a lot in six years, and we try to stay current with the tools that can help us make quality recordings and episodes,” Allen said.
Allen also stressed the importance of gathering many perspectives that “reflect the wonderful variety of God’s creation and vocational states in life.”
“We have been blessed with a wide variety of guests who have been gracious enough to share their stories with us,” he said.
Allen expressed optimism about the future of the podcast and encouraged listeners to reach out with any ideas for new guests.
“If people listen to the podcast, they are always welcome to email us with future guest ideas at faith@nd.edu. We keep a running list of suggestions and try to feature as many people as we can,” Allen said.
