A new Catholic storytelling podcast, “Made for Love,” launched earlier this year.

Produced and narrated by Sara Perla, program specialist for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the podcast explores themes of marriage and family life by telling the stories of Catholics who are “living out the call to love.”

Perla created the podcast because she “saw a unique opportunity to make the stories of Catholics come alive” and plans to highlight the stories of lay Catholics as well as hear from bishops, priests and religious.

Joys and Messiness

Engaged and newly married couples might be particularly interested in the episodes that deal with real stories about the joys, messiness and difficulties of the vocation to marriage and family life.

For example, in the second episode, “When Love Meets Silence,” listeners hear the story of Terri and Vince, a married couple challenged by Vince’s rare and debilitating illness.

The third episode, “When Love Is Not Love,” focuses on annulments in the Catholic Church through the true story of Stacy and Nabil.

Episodes four and five look at “the power of the family table” – eating dinner together and talking things out as a family and Church teaching on domestic abuse.

The cross of infertility, and the gifts and challenges of adoption are discussed in episodes nine and seven, respectively.

Find the podcast online at www.marriageuniqueforareason.org/podcast/ and on iTunes under USCCB Clips.