Jul 10, 2018
This episode is for anyone who believes he is called to found a
Catholic apostolate, or anyone who is overseeing one already. In
this second part of a two-part interview, CatholicCulture.org
founder Jeff Mirus shares more lessons from his decades of
experience founding several Catholic organizations.
In the mid-80s he left Christendom College to start a publishing
company. Then circumstances forced him to transition away from
full-time apostolic work which, though painful at the time,
providentially set the stage for him to return on more sustainable
terms, leading to the present online apostolate.
Links
Part 1 of the Jeff Mirus interview https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=9
Books mentioned
Fr. William Most, The Consciousness of Christ
Read online:
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/most/getwork.cfm?worknum=215
Buy used: https://amzn.to/2N3Kgsy
The Fr. William Most Collection https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/most/
Timothy T. O’Donnell, Heart of the Redeemer https://amzn.to/2zpGrMC
Warren H. Carroll, The Guillotine and the Cross
https://amzn.to/2uiShSL
Jeffrey Mirus, Reasons for Hope https://amzn.to/2L0oaXs
Jeffrey Mirus, The Divine Courtship https://amzn.to/2zzsdsL
Dennis Larkin, A Walk to Rome https://amzn.to/2MXqkri
Review of St. Katharine Drexel biography https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1266
Show Notes:
Jeff Mirus interview
3:51
1:20 Summary of Part 1
3:50 Jeff leaves Christendom College to start a publishing
company, Trinity Communications
5:54 Why Jeff doesn’t like looking backwards
8:49 Getting Trinity off the ground using Christendom’s mailing
list
10:45 Jeff’s two books, Reasons for Hope and The
Divine Courtship
11:34 Efficiency of running a small company without a board of
trustees and political battles
12:50 Some of the best books Jeff published: Carroll’s The
Guillotine and the Cross, Fr. Most’s The Consciousness of
Christ, Larkin’s A Walk to Rome, O’Donnell’s
Heart of the Redeemer
15:37 Failure of Trinity as a publisher in 1991, Jeff’s
realization that he could not do apostolic work full-time
16:34 Jeff learns to program, begins computer consulting and
online apostolate, Catholic Resource Network, work for EWTN
19:35 CatholicCulture.org’s predecessor, PetersNet, begins in
1996—funded by computer consulting business
21:24 Trinity does all the programing for Phil Lawler’s Catholic
World News, then a separate company
23:16 Importance of making it so Jeff could be removed by other
board members if he ever went against the Church
24:27 Why God forced Jeff away from full-time apostolic work in
order to put him in a position where he could both support his
family and serve the Church without overworking himself
25:33 Programming analogy: Elegant solutions to problems vs.
using “brute force”; importance of standing back from problems and
learning to delegate and work with a team
30:12 Differences between PetersNet and CatholicCulture.org
32:31 Ethos distinguishing CatholicCulture.org from other
faithful Catholic websites when it started in 2003
35:56 Trinity buys Catholic World News in 2006; transition from
funding via for-profit company to email-solicited donations just in
time for 2008 financial crisis and dissolution of Trinity
Consulting
43:19 CatholicCulture.org’s reciprocal model of support;
depending on Divine Providence rather than being an institution
that exists to perpetuate itself
48:03 Future of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org:
transitioning away from Jeff’s leadership
50:01 Final advice for those doing apostolic work: “Unless the
LORD builds the house, he labors in vain who builds it.” (Psalm
127)
51:59 This week’s excerpt: St. Katharine
Drexel
