When Father Kevin Sweeney became the bishop of the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, in 2020, he bid farewell to the Diocese of Brooklyn after serving 20 years as a priest here. The transition did not mean, however, that he stopped looking to his longtime home for ideas and inspiration in his own diocese.

So when Bishop Robert Brennan began “Big City Catholics,” his podcast with Father Christopher Heanue, Bishop Sweeney listened in. 

The Queens native appreciated being able to hear about New York City news from a Catholic perspective directly from diocesan leadership and its guests, and it further sparked his interest in starting his own podcast for the Diocese of Paterson. Call it a domino effect.

In early 2023, he did just that. There are now over 30 episodes of “Beyond the Beacon,” the weekly podcast hosted by Bishop Sweeney along with Jai Agnish, communications director for the Diocese of Paterson. Together, they are working to educate the lay people and clergy that tune into the podcast and to encourage Catholics in their faith lives.

“One of the reasons for having a podcast is to be able to communicate with people in real time. To be able to comment on things that come up,” Bishop Sweeney said. “I hope it’s a way to communicate directly with people in the diocese.”

Similar to “Big City Catholics,” Bishop Sweeney and Agnish have guests come to share their testimonies while also discussing Church-related news along with evangelization to the faithful. 

Following the success of “Beyond the Beacon,” the Diocese of Paterson launched two other podcasts. “The Paul Street Journal” was launched on May 31, and explores the Catholic Church’s social teaching about economics.

The following week, “Coffee with Kupke” took to the airwaves, in which diocesan archivist Msgr. Raymond Kupke discusses the history of the Paterson Diocese. 

“Both myself and the bishop … are super curious about people. It evolved in a really cool way where it’s mostly about featuring guests who are living out their Catholic faith,” Agnish said. 

The “Beyond the Beacon” podcast can be found on a variety of audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Among these, there are around 1,000 monthly listeners, according to Agnish, who is also the editor of The Beacon, the newspaper of the Diocese of Paterson. On YouTube, there are about 800 viewers per month. 

“We want to reach the faithful of the Diocese of Paterson wherever they are at, whether it’s through the more traditional print media, the web-based version of our paper, social media … or through these podcasts,” Agnish said.

Catholic podcasts have popped up across the United States, as diocesan leadership recognizes the need for modernized evangelization methods. They have topped the streaming charts in viewership, and some, such as Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire, have amassed followers in the hundreds of thousands. 

Their popularity, in part, can be attributed to the growing interest amongst the adult population in the U.S. for the medium. Statistica reports that as of 2022, nearly 80% of Americans over age 12 listen to podcasts. It is estimated that there will be 100 million listeners in 2024.

Bishop Sweeney’s appreciation for the conversational aspect of podcasts drew him into “Big City Catholics,” a podcast Father Heanue describes as Bishop Brennan’s tool to “help spread the message of Catholicism.” 

Bishop Sweeney said, “When there are co-hosts, the dynamic between the two hosts is important. I think that’s a real strength of Big City Catholics.” 

Among his favorite episodes so far was when Bishop Brennan attended the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Catholic Schools Night at Maimonides Park in July and interviewed players from the “Collars vs. Scholars” softball matchup. 

“Big City Catholics” is not the only podcast that Bishop Sweeney tunes into weekly. A lover of podcasts since 2018, he recommends that listeners also check out Conversations with Cardinal Dolan produced by the Archdiocese of New York.