Annelise Motto, a CCHS Staffer, wrote an article about the “Superman of Priests”, Fr. Mike Schmitz.

In the article, Motto infers how Schmitz has “Over 100,000 followers on Instagram, millions of views on Youtube, over 100,000 Twitter followers.”

Father Mike is a social media sensation, who uses modern technology to inform the world about God. One way he does this is by hosting a podcast entitled “The Bible in a Year.” In his work, Schmitz inspires the world to read the Bible by breaking it up into a simple daily task, so that by the end of the year, the podcast listener would have completed the entire Bible.

The meaning behind Schmitz’ inspirational podcast is affirmed by 9 year old Teddy Howel. This young third grader described how when he grows up, he wants to be like Schmitz and continue his own podcast as well as be a priest at his local church in Michigan.

While Teddy Howell was expressing his love for his faith, his parents would play Schmitz’ podcast in the car, but be forced to shut it off or skip through some parts due to material that was unsuitable for children. This was a main guiding factor in Howel’s wish to create a podcast that was “child safe” and could be listened to in its entirety.

With the help of his parents, Howel created his very own kids version of the podcast entitled, “Kids Bible in a Year With Teddy.”

Since March 12th, Howel has posted a new episode on Sundays and Wednesdays each week.

The podcast is arranged in the same way as the “Bible in a Year Podcast”. However, it puts each story into less detail, while still keeping its meaning, making it easier to understand for kids.

Howel’s podcast is structured by beginning the audio with a Howel’s self-written prayer and then reading a passage from the “Great Adventure Kids Catholic Bible Chronicles,” published by a group called “Ascension” and containing 70 fully explained and shortened Bible stories.

With just financial resources coming from his parents, Teddy Howel writes his own scripts, records, and edits the podcasts on all his own!

Teddy Howel had not grown up in a faith based environment, but rather self-created this atmosphere.

Teddy’s mom, Stephanie Howel claims how “Once we saw Teddy reading a Bible with a headlight at night, we decided to become more involved in our parish, where our family and Teddy now serve at the altar in our Southeast Michigan parish.”

Howell described how “[His] favorite Biblical passages to trade at night include all passages about the crucifiction and resurrection of Jesus.”

As of early May, Teddy Howell has posted over a dozen episodes, and he plans to continue!

Howell claims that besides his podcast helping his faith grow, he shares that the goal of his recording is to “Help people become Christian through following his podcast, even if they were not Christian beforehand.”

The podcast is ideal for children ages 5-13 who are looking to grow in their spiritual life. It is currently rated an average of 4.7 stars on both Apple Music and Spotify.

Each episode averages from 4-9 minutes, making them an extremely short and easy way to incorporate the Bible into one’s daily life.

Addie Callagy, a high school student, states how, “I listened to my first podcast on May 1st, and ever since, I have made it a weekly habit. With the episodes being extremely short, I find it a great way to incorporate the Bible into life each day!”

When Callagy was asked why she began listening to the podcast, she responded saying “I was inspired that 9 year old Teddy was so accomplished and unashamed to spread his faith, and I wanted to see what Teddy was able to do.”

Ultimately, one can’t help but acknowledge the effort that Teddy Howel has made to spread the word of God. With completing his “given vocation” at just 9 years old, it makes me wonder what I could be doing in my life to live out my vocation. If one is wanting to begin reading the Bible, listening to Howel’s under 10 minute passage can happen anywhere, making it simple to listen to God’s word daily.