In this episode of The Creative Catholics, Alex sits down with Dr. John Wood—eye doctor, author, speaker, and founder of Extraordinary Mission—to explore the creative world behind his inspiring Seven Deadly Dragons series and the deeper truths hidden within fantasy, imagination, and storytelling.

Together they discuss why dragons resonate so deeply with children, how stories shape the moral imagination, and how families can use the language of "dragon slaying" to talk about sin, temptation, virtue, and God's grace in everyday life.

John also shares the unexpected journey that led him from medicine to ministry, the family collaboration behind the Seven Deadly Dragons books, and why creativity, storytelling, and wonder remain powerful tools for evangelization in today's world.

• The inspiration behind the Seven Deadly Dragons series
• Why stories help us remember, love, and live the truth
• The connection between imagination and spiritual formation
• Building a family mission through creativity
• Encouraging children to develop their God-given gifts
• Why fairy tales and fantasy matter
• The dragons families face most in modern culture
• Trusting God when He calls us somewhere unexpected

At its heart, this conversation is about more than dragons. It's about helping children—and ourselves—recognize the spiritual battles we face, grow in virtue, and become the saints God created us to be.

• The Seven Deadly Dragons: A seven-book fantasy series helping children understand virtue, vice, and the spiritual life through the metaphor of dragon slaying.
• Extraordinary Mission: Faith formation resources, retreats, books, games, and media for Catholic families.
• Dragon Slayers TV: Streaming platform featuring family-friendly Catholic content, podcasts, and educational resources.

Connect with Dr. Wood:
extraordinarymission.com

Connect with The Creative Catholics:
Instagram: @thecreativecatholics
Website: thecreativecatholics.com

Until next time, stay creative and keep making what matters most.

In this episode of The Creative Catholics, Alex sits down with Adele Collins of Simple Life Musings to explore the hidden creativity woven throughout family life, motherhood, and the home. Together they discuss cultivating beauty in seasons of scarcity, building a strong family culture, finding joy in hospitality, and why the second decade of parenting may be one of the great untold gifts of family life.

Adele also shares insights from Josef Pieper's Leisure: The Basis of Culture, reflecting on the importance of Sabbath rest, presence, wonder, and the role of leisure in a world obsessed with productivity.

Whether you're a parent, artist, homemaker, gardener, or simply someone longing to live more intentionally, this conversation is a beautiful reminder that holiness is often found in the ordinary moments of daily life.

• How My Ántonia shaped Adele's vision of motherhood
• Creating beauty and hospitality on a tight budget
• Why family life becomes richer over time
• Homemaking as a deeply creative vocation
• Gardening, pruning, and spiritual growth
• The wisdom of Leisure: The Basis of Culture
• Building family culture around the table
• Why mothers are guardians of culture
• The role of books, music, and beauty in the spiritual life

• My Ántonia — Willa Cather
• Leisure: The Basis of Culture — Josef Pieper
• East of Eden — John Steinbeck
• The More-with-Less Cookbook — Doris Janzen Longacre

Follow Adele online: @simplelifemusings

This episode is sponsored by Riverside.fm — the platform used to record this episode.

If this episode encouraged you, please share it with a friend, leave a review, and subscribe to The Creative Catholics Podcast.

A Catholic podcast exploring creativity, faith, vocation, and the hidden life.

Until next time, stay creative and keep making what matters most.

In this episode of The Creative Catholics Podcast, Alex reflects on creativity, craftsmanship, embodiment, and the hidden spiritual cost of becoming passive consumers instead of active participants in creation.

From social media performance culture to the deeply incarnational nature of Catholicism, this episode explores why so many people today feel mentally exhausted, creatively numb, spiritually restless, and disconnected from their own lives — not necessarily because we are overworked, but because we have slowly stopped creating.

Alex reflects on:

• the difference between performance and transformation
• why modern life trains us to consume instead of participate
• creativity as a path to holiness
• the hidden life of Christ
• Catholic craftsmanship and slow formation
• Ephesians 2:10 and the idea of being God’s poema — His workmanship
• bread, wine, and the spirituality of patience
• why gardening, knitting, baking, painting, and making things with our hands can feel deeply healing
• God as the master craftsman shaping each human soul

The episode also explores how Catholicism has always been rooted in beauty, embodiment, craftsmanship, and faithful participation in the physical world — from cathedrals and illuminated manuscripts to the Eucharist itself.

Ultimately, this episode is a quiet invitation:
to slow down,
to participate again,
to create beauty faithfully,
and to remember that hidden work still matters deeply.

Whether you are an artist, homemaker, parent, teacher, writer, gardener, or simply someone longing to live more attentively and meaningfully, this episode is an encouragement to keep making what matters most.

#CatholicPodcast #CatholicCreatives #CreativityAndFaith #OrdinaryHoliness #HiddenLife #CatholicLiving #FaithAndCreativity #CatholicSlowLiving #CreativeLiving

Intro/outro music by Marie Miller

This episode is sponsored by Riverside

Enter the Launch Giveaway 25 May – 1 June 2026

Follow @TheCreativeCatholics on Instagram to share your creations and join the community.

In this episode of The Creative Catholics Podcast, Alex sits down with Jesuit priest, author, theologian, and creator Fr. Michael Rossmann, SJ, for a thoughtful conversation about creativity, vocation, discernment, and the hidden spiritual life.

Together, they explore what it means to create a life with God in a culture shaped by endless options, comparison, distraction, and fear of commitment. Fr. Michael shares the powerful idea of “creating the best option” instead of constantly looking over our shoulder wondering if there is something better somewhere else.

The conversation dives deeply into:

• Ignatian imagination and praying with Scripture
• creativity as a path to holiness
• vocation and discernment
• creating with God in ordinary life
• God as relationship
• social media evangelisation
• Catholic creativity and the digital age
• pre-evangelisation and reaching people before theology
• young adults returning to the Catholic faith
• masculinity, identity, and meaning in modern culture

Fr. Michael also shares insights from his books The Freedom of Missing Out and Online Pre-Evangelization, reflecting on how Catholics can live more rooted, meaningful, and faithful lives in an age of distraction and endless consumption.

Whether you are an artist, homemaker, writer, teacher, entrepreneur, parent, or simply someone trying to live more intentionally and faithfully, this episode is an encouragement to stop endlessly optimizing your life — and instead begin co-creating something meaningful with God.

This episode explores:

• Catholic creativity
• creativity and faith
• the hidden life
• ordinary holiness
• Catholic creative living
• faith-filled creativity
• creativity in ordinary life
• Catholic vocation and discernment
• meaningful Catholic living

Connect with Fr. Michael:
Substack: The Ruckus
Instagram: @rossmannsj

Fr Michael Rossmann's Books

The Freedom of Missing Out

Online Pre-Evangelization

Intro/outro music by Marie Miller

This episode is sponsored by Riverside

Enter the Launch Giveaway 25 May – 1 June 2026

Follow @TheCreativeCatholics on Instagram to share your creations and join the community.

#CatholicPodcast #CatholicCreatives #CreativityAndFaith #OrdinaryHoliness #CatholicLife #FaithAndCreativity #CreativeLiving #HiddenLife

What If Creativity Was Never Meant to Distract Us from Holiness?What if creativity is not separate from the spiritual life… but part of how God draws us closer to Him?

In the very first episode of The Creative Catholics Podcast, Alex shares the deeply personal story behind the creation of the podcast and the longing that inspired it: a desire for companionship, beauty, creativity, and faith in the middle of ordinary life.

This episode is an invitation into a slower, more meaningful way of living — one rooted in creativity, Catholic faith, the hidden life, and the belief that beauty and craftsmanship matter deeply to God.

The story begins with five hand-knit Christmas sweaters.

After deciding — somewhat ambitiously — to knit five Molly Weasley-inspired sweaters for her children despite barely knowing how to knit beyond very short scarves, Alex found herself spending long autumn evenings creating quietly alongside her husband, who was restoring a secondhand dollhouse for their daughter.

While knitting late into the night, she realized she was longing for something deeper than entertainment:
something companionable,
something spiritually nourishing,
something creative,
and something rooted in Catholic faith.

What she wanted was the feeling of:

• storytelling
• warmth
• gentle companionship
• beauty
• reflection
• and quiet encouragement while creating

And slowly, the idea for The Creative Catholics Podcast began to emerge.

At the heart of this episode is one central belief:

creativity is not a distraction from holiness.

Alex reflects on how modern Catholics often separate “spiritual life” from “creative life,” as though artistry, craftsmanship, homemaking, storytelling, music, or beauty are somehow less sacred than explicitly religious activities.

But Catholicism has always been deeply rooted in:

• beauty
• craftsmanship
• storytelling
• architecture
• music
• visual art
• meaningful work
• ordinary hidden faithfulness

This episode explores how creativity can become:

• a path to holiness
• a form of prayer
• a participation in God’s nature
• a way of sanctifying ordinary life
• and a means of drawing closer to Christ

One of the most beautiful themes in this episode is the idea of creativity as companionship.

Alex reflects on childhood memories of listening to Love Songs with Delilah late at night in the backseat of the car and the feeling of warmth, gentleness, and emotional connection that storytelling can create.

This podcast was born from the desire to create something similar:
a space where Catholics can:

• create together
• reflect together
• work quietly alongside one another
• and feel spiritually encouraged in ordinary life

Whether listeners are:

• knitting
• painting
• gardening
• planning lessons
• baking
• building businesses
• writing
• homeschooling
• or creating quietly at home

…the podcast is meant to become a companion in the creative and spiritual life.

The episode also reflects on the spiritual beauty of hidden work.

Alex discusses:

• motherhood
• ordinary life
• creativity behind the scenes
• the hidden years of formation
• and the slow process of sanctification

Drawing from her own experience of deeper conversion and purification in recent years, she reflects on the idea that God often works most powerfully in hiddenness rather than visibility.

The hidden life is not wasted.
Quiet creativity matters.
Ordinary faithfulness matters.
The unseen work matters.

This becomes one of the defining spiritual themes of the podcast itself.

One of the most fascinating reflections in this episode centers around Exodus 31 and the story of Bezalel.

Alex points out something many Catholics have never noticed before:
the first person in Scripture specifically described as being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a prophet, king, or warrior.

It is an artist.

Bezalel is filled with:

• wisdom
• understanding
• craftsmanship
• artistic skill
• and creativity

This passage becomes a powerful meditation on how deeply creativity matters to God.

The episode explores:

• Catholic creativity
• craftsmanship and holiness
• artistic vocation
• beauty in ordinary life
• creating with God
• faith-filled creativity
• and the spiritual significance of making things well

This episode is also an encouragement for people who do not consider themselves “professional creatives.”

Alex reflects on the idea that creativity is not reserved for artists alone.

Creativity can be found in:

• homemaking
• teaching
• gardening
• parenting
• storytelling
• cooking
• entrepreneurship
• knitting
• music
• design
• hospitality
• and building meaningful lives

The goal is not perfection or performance.
It is participation.

And perhaps every human being carries a creative spark that reflects the Creator Himself.

Alex also shares the vision for future episodes of The Creative Catholics Podcast, including:

• reflective solo episodes
• conversations with artists and creators
• Catholic entrepreneurs
• priests
• musicians
• actors
• writers
• storytellers
• and people quietly building beauty in ordinary life

The heart of the podcast is simple:
to accompany Catholics toward holiness through creativity.

Ultimately, this first episode is an invitation:
to create,
to participate,
to cultivate beauty,
to nourish the soul,
and to remember that creativity matters spiritually more than modern culture often allows us to believe.

Because beauty matters to God.
Craftsmanship matters to God.
And the hidden work of ordinary life matters too.

• Catholic creativity and faith
• Creativity as a path to holiness
• The hidden life and ordinary holiness
• Motherhood and creativity
• Creativity as companionship
• Craftsmanship and Catholic culture
• Bezalel and Exodus 31
• Creativity and the Holy Spirit
• Sanctifying ordinary life
• Storytelling and spiritual formation
• Homemaking and holiness
• Artistic vocation and Catholic living
• Hidden work and faithful presence
• Creating with God in ordinary life 

Intro/outro music by Marie Miller

This episode is sponsored by Riverside

Enter the Launch Giveaway 25 May – 1 June 2026

Follow @TheCreativeCatholics on Instagram to share your creations and join the community.

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/synod/simple-life

License code: RBW5GGUUTKNYNK6C