Good Distinctions January Update
January Update
Hello everyone,
I hope you’re having a fantastic 2024 so far.
January 2024 has been an explosive month for Good Distinctions! Over the past 30 days, there have been about 6,000 views on Substack alone! Instagram and YouTube continue to grow little by little. And I have had a lot of people that I do not know telling me that they are really enjoying the content!
Over the past year, I have started communicating with TAN Books, Ignatius Press, and OSV to review upcoming new releases and have their authors share the themes and ideas from their books on Good Distinctions. I have also been reaching out to folks with a flurry of emails to see who is interested in coming on the show.
In December 2023 and January 2024, I have recorded with:
John Kraemer - Lego Church Project
Check out John’s Substack here
Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers - The Catholic Response to Racism
Sammie Carel - Converting Hearts and Minds on the Abortion Issue
My colleague Sean Maddigan - Did Pope Francis allow for same-sex couple blessings?
Recorded and coming soon!
Martha Richardson, cousin of Fr. David Michael Moses - Catholicism, Social media, priestly ministry in person and online, and more
Rae-Mi LeRoy - New Age Practices and Catholicism
Sr. Therese Maria Touma - Maronite Servants of Christ the Light
Larry Chapp - Dr. Chapp’s new book for Ignatius Press that covers a lot of ground - he is one of my favorite theologians and writers!!
Thomas Quackenbush of FLORIANI - Sacred Music and the ensemble Floriani
Yet to be recorded:
Samantha Stephenson of Brave New Us substack and podcast - Controversial bioethics topic yet to be determined
Jennifer Arnold, M.A. Theology - Introducing a Lenten series for her blog Catholic Heart Ablaze
In the works:
David Calavitta, Nicole Delaney, Abigail Favale, Fr. Robert Nixon, OSB, John Clark, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Steven Mosher, Dr. Greg Bottaro, Dan Oblinger, Claire Dwyer, Miara Cash, Christine Marie Lacayo, and more…
Become a Member
If you have enjoyed the content at Good Distinctions and are excited about the upcoming interviews, please become a member of Good Distinctions. For as little $5/month or $50/year, you can help Good Distinctions continue and grow. The cost and time commitment of Good Distinctions is significant. For it to be feasible, I need your financial support to continue producing the written, audio, and visual content here!
I work full-time as a History and Religion teacher for a Catholic High School. I am an adjunct faculty member with the Institute of Catholic Theology. I recently applied to begin a PhD in Theology. And, most importantly, I have a wife and two boys. In order to continue Good Distinctions, I need financial backing from you!
I am so grateful for all of you, dear subscribers - paid and unpaid. The average open-rate for emails is around 21.5%. You all consistently are at a 39-40% open rate, which shows me that you care about the content being shared!
I am also humbled and grateful to the Lord for how this channel is resonating throughout the world. We currently have email subscribers from 40 US states and 34 countries - including Australia, the U.K., Ireland, India, Japan, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Nigeria, Iran, Vietnam, and much of continental Europe.
Moving Forward
Substack has added a new video feature that links to the Podcast feed! That may not be exciting to you, but it is to me! When I post the videos directly to Substack, you will still be able to listen or watch the same, but it allows me to post everything here first! I will still be posting to YouTube and the feed will still go to Spotify and Apple Podcasts. But you will not need to leave Substack to watch the videos or listen to the audio.
That being said, if you listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, please rate and review the show! That will help it grow on those platforms more than anything else. And please please take a few moments to subscribe to the show on YouTube, even if you do not normally use that platform. Thank you for taking the time to do this; it lets the algorithm know that other people should listen to Good Distinctions!