| Diocesan News

That’s how the soothing, Italian-accented voice of Father Stanislao Esposito welcomed listeners to one recent episode of his spiritual “podcast."

Associate pastor of Holy Cross Church in Dover, Father Esposito - who goes by “Father Stanislao” on the podcast - uses the podcast (think of it as an Internet talk show) to preach God’s message of love. That has been the priest’s mission since young Stanislao - inspired by a book given to him by the pastor of his parish near Naples, Italy - would read parables from the gospels to his fourth-grade classmates during recess.

Father Esposito, 37, entered the digital world in 1994, developing a web site so he could expand on a Bible-study group he had formed. Last summer a seminarian friend of his suggested he try a podcast. After listening to another priest’s podcast, Father Esposito recalled, “I said to myself, I can do this.”

Early one morning in mid-November, in his bedroom in the rectory at Holy Cross, he produced his first podcast. “It was recorded at 5 o’clock; I had the 6 o’clock Mass,” he said. “I was whispering into the microphone so I did not wake up the other priests.”

Since then, each of the approximately 50 episodes of “The Daily Walk Heavenwards” has begun with a welcome to join Father Esposito on a “walk” toward heaven. He reads the day’s Gospel, provides a short reflection and offers a prayer. Some days he will talk about items of current interest, such as last month’s West Virginia coal mine disaster. Sometimes he will answer questions from listeners or play some recorded music.

Weekday podcasts run about 10 minutes and are produced and posted on Web sites Monday through Thursday most weeks. Sunday podcasts are longer but rarely exceed 30 minutes.

Once on the Web, the podcasts can be downloaded to iPods or mp3 players around the world. Father Esposito said he has heard from listeners across the United States and from Europe.

“I feel like my parish is way larger than Holy Cross, and Holy Cross is a large parish” with more than 3,200 families, he said.

One of his extended parishioners, Marty O’Toole of Cleveland, listens to “The Daily Walk Heavenwards” while driving to work. “It’s like being able to dial up Father Stanislao at my convenience for a bit of theological teaching with a personal touch,” O’Toole said. “He doesn’t burden his content with topics related to challenges or controversies in the church; he just talks simply to the Catholic message and challenges us each to have a personal relationship with God.”

Closer to home, Lisa Smith of Clayton checks for a new episode every morning. “It is wonderful to be able to start the day with prayer and the Liturgy of the Word,” Smith said. “Father Stanislao really brings the Scripture to life, and his meditations give me something to reflect upon throughout the day.” She attends a Bible-study group that Father Esposito leads at Holy Cross.

Podcasts are just the latest way Father Esposito has found to communicate the Gospel message. In Italy, before he came to the United States in 1992 as a novice of the Holy Cross brothers, “I used to do voiceovers, I used to do theater, musicals, play the guitar, whatever it took to bring out the fact that God loves you,” he said.

“There are so many ways to minister,” said Father Esposito, who left the Brothers of the Holy Cross in 1998, then taught at St. Peter the Apostle School in New Castle before entering the seminary. He was ordained in 2003.

He would like to start a book club and a program called Words of Life, which each month takes a sentence from Scripture and asks members to make it a part of their lives. Words of Life is part of Focolare, a Catholic lay spirituality movement.

He hopes to have several podcasts on “The Da Vinci Code” ready before May, when the movie based on the popular but controversial novel is released. He also envisions a commentary on the “Our Father” and programs to help people learn ways to pray.

Those initiatives will take time, something already in short supply for the priest. “I have to steal time to do this,” Father Esposito said of the 40 minutes it takes to produce each weekday podcast. In addition to his duties as associate pastor at Holy Cross, he is chaplain at St. Thomas More Academy in Magnolia.

To help accomplish his podcast goals, Father Esposito hopes to organize volunteers to research topics such as “The Da Vinci Code.” “I can’t just talk about it,” he said. “I need to have data and dates and facts. It requires some kind of research and also writing. I would like to get more people involved so it is not always me talking.”

Even with other voices, the focus of “The Daily Walk Heavenwards” will remain the same, as Father Esposito described at the end of a recent episode: “I hope you are encouraged to keep God as the priority of your life. As we go our separate way, remember, remain in God’s love, because he loves you enormously.”

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This story was made available to Catholic Online by permission of The Dialog (www.cdow.org/dialog.html), official newspaper of the Diocese of Wilmington, Del.