Description I’ll be back w in a few weeks time, BUT in the meantime I wanted to share, for the next couple of weeks, some of my favorite interviews from early in Season 1. Last week I re-shared my interview with Sarah Kaczmarek, today I want to share my convo w Dan DeMatte - one of the founders of Damascus and it’s Executive Director of Missions and Advancement. ++ If you are speaking to Catholic audiences you don’t want to just to pass on correct information, you want to make a de...
Jan 15, 2024•37 min
Description This is a bonus replay of my original conversation, back in Summer of 2022, with Sarah Kaczmarek. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with new episodes for Season 3. In the meantime, enjoy this powerful conversation with one of the best in the business! 1. How crucial is it that the message you are sharing into a microphone matches up with who you are without a microphone? 2. What are the challenges and superpowers for Catholic speakers who are introverts? 3. Is it possible...
Jan 08, 2024•47 min
Description In this week’s episode I sit down, again, with trusty occasional co-host, Connor Flanagan, to discuss the how, why, and how to get better at using vulnerability in talks, particularly through storytelling - Download PDF Overview of Episode 64: Vulnerability through Storytelling - Link to “Matt Regitz” episode on Better Preach - Link to “Craig Groeschel” episode on this leadership podcast. - Here’s a link to the 2023 Better Preach survey ! Links For more information about the Better P...
Dec 18, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 64
Description What is the interplay, in Catholic preaching and teaching, between the natural gifts of communication and charisma and God’s supernatural power moving through the speaker and audience. How do these things complement (or cancel out) the other? In my far-reaching and fascinating conversation with Deacon Keith Strohm, we jump right into what makes for good and bad homilies, how he prepares for preaching at the Liturgy, and the role of the Spirit and Spiritual Warfare i...
Dec 11, 2023•51 min•Season 2Ep. 63
Description The way that you improve is to get feedback and to ask people for their input. So often, those of us who are, are speaking or leading, we have just one perspective. It's helpful but I know that I can't see everything that needs to be seen about this podcast. Your perspective is invaluable. As we prepare for season three, I've put together a very simple listener survey. I'm talking 10 questions, 10 minutes max. Could even be quicker than that. Click the link below! Here’s a link to th...
Dec 04, 2023•6 min
Description We love to overcomplicate things. Let me restate that. I love to over complicate things. More of a really good thing - like preaching the Gospel - has to be better right?!? Not always. In my conversation today with Pete Burds he shares how his approach to giving Catholic talks has shifted and developed over the years. And what he chooses to prioritize in a 30 min talk might surprise you. It did me. And I’m the better for it! And ironic...
Nov 27, 2023•47 min•Season 2Ep. 62
Description Every talk that I give, I want to make sure that there are three things that are really easy for the audience. I want to make sure that the talk is easy to follow. Easy to remember and thus easy to apply. And while there are a number of factors that go into this, and this podcast is dedicated to the many and varied ways to do all three of these things, there's no magic bullet. And while there's no magic bullet, I'm convinced that I found, and I'm love to hear your experience to...
Nov 20, 2023•22 min•Season 2Ep. 61
Description I can’t tell you how many things I’ve learned how to do by watching video tutorials on YouTube, just for this podcast alone..but it doesn’t stop there - plumbing, drywall, auto repair - you name it! YouTube is incredible because any one of these ‘how to’ videos combine all three styles of learning. You can see and hear and learn exactly the steps you need to take to find a broken piece of glass that might be causing your dishwasher to not drain all the way.. ...
Nov 13, 2023•46 min•Season 2Ep. 60
Description I want to give you simple and practical tips to ensure, every time you speak to Catholic audiences, that you absolutely have something to say; something worth listening to and acting on. In this episode I will share four things that need to be true of the words you use when you speak about the Catholic faith. Download PDF Overview of Episode 59: How to Have Something to Say Links For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach Better Preach ...
Nov 06, 2023•25 min•Season 2Ep. 59
Description God’s Approval, Human Applause, Abundant Affirmation. I’d be lying if I said these three things DIDN’T factor in deeply to my motivation and experience as a Catholic Speaker over the years. You want to do an excellent job, that brings God honor, meets the expectations of your boss or whoever has hired you, and you want it to be received well by everybody listening. But is that approval, applause, affirmation, solid ground to stand as the motivation and criter...
Oct 30, 2023•45 min•Season 2Ep. 58
Description “Always be ready to give a reason for your hope.” 1 Peter 3:15. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone remind me of this passage, I’d be well really rich, but if I had to pay back every dollar for every time someone explained to me an ‘easy way to always be ready’, well I’d still be rich. :) This is one of those verses that Catholic speakers, priests, Catechists like to throw around WITHOUT also equipping us to make it a reality in our lives. Wel...
Oct 23, 2023•16 min•Season 2Ep. 57
Description If we aren’t teaching and preaching the gospel to change lives then what in the world are we doing? Right? But heres the thing, no one would likely suggest any other goal, but at the same time, also not know how to teach and preach in such a way that actually leads to life change. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy, and just saying that’s what you are doing doesn’t make it so, In my conversation today with Michael Gormley, aka Gomer, we set our sights on this very th...
Oct 16, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 56
Description I love checklists and systems; doing it once, writing it down and then putting the plan on repeat. Why keep reinventing the wheel? When the routine needs tweaking, make the edit, update it, and put it back on repeat. This is especially true for me “Day of” for the talks that I give. I have routines and checklists I follow BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER a talk. Again, this is just my routine. What I hope is that it inspires you to make your own! What do you need “Day of”, at the venue and ...
Oct 09, 2023•28 min•Season 2Ep. 55
Description Giving a great Catholic talk is hard to do. It takes a lot of practice, grace, life experience, confidence, and knowledge to pull it off. Now try ratcheting up the degree of difficulty a few notches by also addressing difficult and thorny topics, especially hot-button issues today around sexuality, gender, and marriage. This is a tall task for anyone. But every once in a while you hear someone speak on difficult topics and they make it look effortless, almost...
Oct 02, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 54
Description If you’ve been listening to the Better Preach Podcast, even for just a few episodes, you know that one of my favorite questions to ask is: What is your process for preparing a talk? This one question, actually, is what drove me to start the podcast and to keep going. I thought - I’d love to know what different speakers do, behind the scenes, to bring great talks to life. So, I thought, I’d love to share my process too - again with the help of my favorite trusty occa...
Sep 25, 2023•36 min•Season 2Ep. 53
Description Have you ever wondered what it would be like, as a layperson to go from listening to homilies to giving them? I know I have. What if you as a ministry leader, professor, and conference speaker were also called to be a Deacon in the Catholic Church? You’ve been giving talks, thousands of them, for many years and now you are giving homilies in a local Church on a weekly basis. What would that transition be like? What are the challenges, hiccups, and new lessons to lea...
Sep 18, 2023•49 min•Season 2Ep. 52
Description For many of us a big challenge we have in ministry is NOT developing and delivering talks ourselves, it’s being confident that we have an effective plan to help OTHERS develop and deliver talks. For many years I took the easy way out. I’d be in charge of, let’s say, getting others to give talks at a retreat, and I’d wind ‘em up and let em go. Very little engagement, oversight, and almost NEVER any feedback. And you could tell. They could too. No one felt good ...
Sep 11, 2023•37 min•Season 2Ep. 51
Description What happens when you really stand back and let Jesus lead the way? Yes, in every aspect of your life - career, vocation, raising kids, etc.. But what if Catholic speakers, with great talent, opportunity and ambition don’t follow this principle. I shudder to think, but then again I just have to look at my own life to see the results. Self-reliance is an idol that needs to be crushed in each our lives as disciples, and certainly foremost for those who come to serve t...
Sep 04, 2023•42 min•Season 2Ep. 50
Description In this podcast we have focused almost all of our attention on helping people get better at giving discrete talks, teachings, or testimonies to Catholic audiences (at retreats, conferences, in homilies, ministry nights, you name it.). But there’s another kind of speaking, in the Catholic world, that is super important and often overlooked and it DOESN’T involve addressing an audience through a keynote talk, teaching, or testimony. And that’s the role of a...
Aug 28, 2023•35 min•Season 2Ep. 49
Description There may have been an era in the history of the Church when Catholic teachers and preachers didn’t need to share anything really at all from their own lives in their talks. This is not that era. With all of the Church’s teachings available free of charge on that smart phone in your pocket, knowledge and information isn’t where we are lacking. But there is one thing that I can’t access on the internet - your story, your experience, and your struggles to live a...
Aug 21, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 48
Description it's been well-documented that the Catholic church has, historically, had something of a proclamation problem. The gospel, the good news hasn't been a regular part of our spiritual diet. It's not something we hear week in and week out. And yet I'd say that things have been shifting, things have been changing. And I'd say over the course of the 25 years that I've been in ministry with college students and young adults, the tide has turned and it's really exciting. And yet while ...
Aug 14, 2023•29 min•Season 2Ep. 47
Description As the three year Eucharistic Revival began in 2022 in the U S. 50 different Catholic priests from around the country. We're commissioned and sent to preach: to announce again to the church that Jesus is Lord and that a perpetual sign of his love and mercy has been given to the church through the gift of his real presence in the Eucharist. When Jesus said just before he ascended into heaven, that he would be with us always. He meant it. Both in his personal ministry as a Bishop...
Aug 07, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 46
Description What's so good about the good news? As much as I've shared this and reflected on it, has it taken proper root,, in my life? Have I heard it fully, to the depths of my being? Have I allowed myself to receive it and to be transformed by it? The answer's gotta be sort of, mostly. . So much of it has taken root in my life and transformed my life. I just got off a four day silent retreat and oh my goodness, the gospel being proclaimed for a few days and me just again, receiving it,, and s...
Jul 31, 2023•24 min•Season 2Ep. 45
Description There is a weightiness to preaching that differs from every other kind of speaking. The message isn’t our own. The impact isn’t up to us. It’s power comes from without, by grace lives within, and cannot be tamed, controlled, or cajoled. As the Spirit blows where it wills, the preacher waits on the Lord. This is the burden of preaching. But it’s not a burden that rests heavy, only to crush, but a weight imbued with the Spirit that can (and must) be carried as the Preacher ...
Jul 24, 2023•38 min•Season 2Ep. 44
Description There are thousands and thousands of people in the Church today, youth ministers, DRE’s, Catechists, Priests, Deacons, Religious, who are teaching the Catholic faith to others. And from me to all of you, first of all ‘Thank You!!” You are sharing the best news on planet earth with a world that desperately needs to hear the truth that will set them free. And if I could be so bold I just want to offer only one small piece of advice - today’s episode sums it up. ...
Jul 17, 2023•24 min•Season 2Ep. 43
Have you ever been asked: “if you could have lunch or dinner with any saint, who would it be?” Well today we are going to have a conversation of sorts with a great saint in our Church’s history, a renowned teacher and preacher. St Augustine. And we are going to interview St. Augustine by way of a conversation with a theologian and Augustine expert, Dr. John Cavadini. His knowledge of St. Augustine, the preacher, teacher, theologian Bishop and Doctor of the Church can give us an...
Jul 10, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 42
Whether it’s at a retreat, a Conference, a prayer night, parish mission, even in the midst of a homily - there’s a fine line between a powerful effective testimony and a true ineffective one. Can you share the truth about God’s action in your life in a compelling and powerful way, and in such a way that it deepens the hearer's relationship with God and His Church? In this episode I want to share five pitfalls to avoid when developing and delivering a personal testimony. A...
Jul 03, 2023•19 min•Season 2Ep. 41
When we see great Catholic speakers at conferences or giving talks online, we experience a brief snapshot in time, not just of stories, humor, and application of scriptures and Church teaching to our everyday lives, but a whole person. We see it simply as a person with a microphone, but in reality the moment they grab the mic is simply the current state of the journey that began years and years before with countless hours of prep, prayer, and a consistent desire to be a disciple before eve...
Jun 26, 2023•36 min•Season 2Ep. 40
Have you ever heard a bad homily? No clear connection to the readings, it rambled on and on, and didn’t in any way apply to your everyday life. While this may not be the case at every Mass, bad preaching happens more often than it should. In my conversation with Fr. Joshua Whitfiled, we discuss where this crisis come from, and what can Priests and lay people can do about it, and among many other things - what role might the Liturgy of the Hours, yes the official prayer of the Church,...
Jun 12, 2023•42 min•Season 2Ep. 39
Description Let’s be honest, the Great Commission of Matthew 28 won’t commission itself. While it stands in graphic relief in the New Testament as the hinge between Jesus’ time on earth and the era of the Church, it must be encountered and announced to be unleashed. Because if you look around the Church today - it doesn’t appear to be an obvious self-evident truth, that we must preach the gospel to all nations. We have to be reminded, exhorted, and given a living example to follow.&...
May 29, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 38
