The Catholic Man Show

Most Catholic dads are working hard in their home. The problem? They’re not working on it. There’s a difference between a household that runs because you’re there holding it together — and one that’s been designed to form your wife and children for heaven even when you’re not in the room.In this episode, Dave and Adam get into John Cuddeback’s framework for the domestic church, pull from their book Living Beyond Sunday, and share the 3 telltale signs your home is running on willpower instead of design. Plus: what to do about it, how morning chaos is actually a design problem, and why the living room might be the most important room in your house.In This EpisodeWhy Holy Week is the lens through which this entire conversation happensThe Deacon’s homily: “You are a thought of God made flesh” — and what that means at your most broken momentsAdam’s son Luke wins concert tickets — then realizes it’s Good Friday. What happened next.Adam announces M6 Marketing and The Grounded Builder SubstackThe body-soul composite of the home: daily life vs. moral and spiritual formationWorking IN your family vs. working ON your family (the entrepreneur analogy every dad needs)3 signs your home runs on willpower, not design:The same corrections keep happening to the same kids — it’s not a motivation problem, it’s a design problemMorning chaos — nothing was built right the night before to make it smoothYour presence is the only thing holding it together — when you’re gone, the wheels fall off3 diagnostic questions to ask when something keeps breaking in your homeThe Great Silence: Dave’s family morning prayer rule (and why it’s formed him more than his kids)Why bells beat yelling — and the sacramental case for ringing a blessed bell in your homeGiving kids real work with real consequences: why sweeping the floor doesn’t cut itThe dinner table as non-negotiable — and why screens are the enemy of family formationThe one room in your house not ordered toward a biological need — and why it matters mostWhy designing the household is a man’s domain and responsibility — ordered entirely in loveTimestamps00:00 — The manliness warning. Yes, they played it twice.01:30 — Blessed Holy Week + Deacon’s homily: “You are a thought of God”07:00 — Luke wins concert tickets. It’s Good Friday. What he said.09:30 — Mary’s procedure + prayer request11:00 — Adam announces M6 Marketing + The Grounded Builder Substack15:30 — White Lightning: the 1989 Chevy, the gas station, and the woman whose dad owned it22:00 — The topic: designing your home as the domestic church25:00 — Cuddeback’s 4 things a home must do + the body-soul composite of household life30:00 — Working IN the family vs. ON the family (business owner analogy)34:00 — The 3 signs your home runs on willpower, not design40:00 — The 3 diagnostic questions when something keeps breaking45:00 — Rules for the day, the Great Silence, and preparing kids to hear God’s voice53:00 — The case for blessed bells (and why yelling kills the spirit of what you’re doing)58:00 — Giving kids real work with real consequences1:02:00 — The dinner table: the most attacked and most essential daily ritual1:07:00 — The living room: the only room not ordered toward a biological need1:12:00 — Why this is a man’s job — and what authority granted in love looks likeResources MentionedThe American Catholic Land Movement — edited by Jason Craig and Jared Stout (TAN Books)Living Beyond Sunday: Making Your Home a Holy Place — by Dave Niles and Adam MinihanJohn Cuddeback, Ph.D. — philosopher, professor, and homesteader. Find him at LifeCraft.orgThe Grounded Builder — Adam’s Substack on virtue, business, fatherhood, and homesteading. Published every Thursday.Select International Tours — selectinternationaltours.com — The Catholic pilgrimage company Dave and Adam trust.Divine Mercy Chaplet — pray it daily at 3:00 PM, the Hour of MercyThe Great Silence — a monastic morning practice you can adapt for your home. Start with Psalm 51.Enjoyed This Episode?Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it’s the single best thing you can do to help other Catholic men find the show. Takes 90 seconds.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. New episodes weekly.Follow the show at thecatholicmanshow.com and find Dave and Adam on social media.

In this episode of The Catholic Man Show, Adam and David crack open a rare Teeling whiskey from Ireland and dive into a topic most men never examine: avarice.Often reduced to “greed,” avarice is far more subtle—and far more dangerous. Drawing from St. John Cassian, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the spiritual tradition of the Church, the guys explore how a disordered attachment to material things can quietly shape our lives, distort our priorities, and even blind us spiritually.They discuss how modern “grind culture” can normalize avarice, why money itself is uniquely deceptive among the vices, and how this sin can creep in unnoticed—even among faithful men striving for holiness. The conversation also tackles:Why avarice is different from other sinsThe “seven daughters” of greed according to AquinasHow avarice leads to restlessness, anxiety, and spiritual blindnessThe connection between avarice and a lack of trust in GodThe surprising concept of spiritual avaricePractical strategies to root it out, including manual labor, generosity, and communityIf you’ve never considered avarice in your examination of conscience, this episode will challenge you to take a deeper look—and give you a path forward.

What is time for?In this episode, Adam and David reflect on the gift of time through the lens of Catholic theology, fatherhood, prayer, suffering, work, and even Nick Saban’s famous process-driven mindset.The conversation begins with updates on baby Mary and a moving reflection on the fragile beauty of life, suffering, healing, and hope. From there, the discussion turns toward a deeper meditation on time itself: how easily we waste it, how often we rush through it, and how every moment is a gift given by God.Drawing from St. Augustine, St. Teresa of Avila, the Psalms, leisure, memory, mortality, and the demands of vocation, Adam and David explore what it means to live well in the present moment. They also connect this to Nick Saban’s practical framework of focusing on the now, controlling the controllables, and trusting the process over the outcome.This episode is a call for Catholic men to stop drifting through life, stop living in regret or anxiety, and start receiving time as the arena in which God prepares us for eternity.In this episode:An update on baby Mary and the power of prayerWhy suffering, life, and death sharpen our awareness of timeSt. Augustine on the mystery of past, present, and futureWhy Catholic men must stop wasting the present momentFatherhood, busyness, and the fear of missing what matters mostLeisure as the wise use of timeSt. Teresa of Avila on growth in prayerHow to stop rushing through lifeNick Saban’s “focus on the now” mindset through a Catholic lensControl the controllables and trust the processTime, judgment, memory, and eternityKey takeaway:You cannot control the future. You cannot relive the past. But you can receive the present moment as a gift from God and use it for holiness.

David and Adam are back in the groove for Lent. They open with a timely conversation about Pope Leo's call for priests to stop using AI to write homilies, and why that warning matters far beyond the pulpit. The guys explore how AI threatens the muscles of human creativity, the irreplaceable nature of human-to-human proclamation of the Gospel, and where men should draw their own lines before the technology draws them for you.Then it's deep dive time into Dante's Divine Comedy — specifically the Dantinian ordering of sin, love, and the moral life across the Inferno and Purgatorio. David and Adam unpack:Why lust is the first (mildest) circle of Hell — and why that's actually a message of hope, not a free passWhy fraud and treason sit at the bottom — and what it means to so disfigure your soul that evil looks like goodThe mirror structure of Purgatory — pride at the base, lust at the summit, and why the climb starts nowMisdirected love, deficient love, and excessive love — how Dante's ladder maps directly onto your daily examination of conscienceWhy Hell is isolation and Purgatory is communion — and what that says about Christian hopeAcedia (sloth) redefined — it's not laziness, it's spiritual sluggishness, and it may be the most dangerous sin of the comfortableCato's charge at the gate of Purgatory: Run. Don't wait a second.The guys also taste a rare bottle of Angel's Envy Rye finished in Anejo Tequila barrels (104 proof, surprisingly mellow), give a shout-out to their upcoming 10-year anniversary, and share a sneak peek at the Catholic Man Show Campout short film dropping soon on Patreon.Resources mentioned:The Divine Comedy by Dante AlighieriAscend the Great Books podcast with Deacon GarlickPatreon.com/TheCatholicManShowSelectInternationalTours.com