I’m so thankful for this podcast. I ingest nightly as a salve for the day’s accumulation of my negative thoughts. It’s a great reset and such a calming way to end the day.

A beautiful series of talks with Father Richard Rohr. I listen to this series repeatedly every night and it helps me fall asleep. Not because the content is boring, but due to Father Richard’s sweet voice to fall asleep to. I also listen to this during the day while I am fully awake and learn something new with each listening. I feel like I can listen to this series on repeat indefinitely and continually learn something new every time.

I’ve walked with God via traditional Christianity for nearly 40 years. Listening to this podcast and reading The Universal Christ has been freeing, eye-opening, challenging, and comforting. Thoughts I had were being said by another- finally! The journey feels softer, more contemplative, more loving, more humble. My hope is that I can radiate this to others and be the loving Christ in the world. Thankful.

I stumbled across this after looking for Richard Rohr work via podcasts because I really believe the work he does and I feel like he’s a safe person for me to learn from in Regards to Christianity. So i found this podcast! I am very late to the podcast but I think it will always probably be relevant and important. I just listened to the first episode they did and I really liked it. And I can’t wait to listen to them all! Thanks. Hope this review helps someone decide to press play!

I know, God brought me to this podcast (as presumptuous as it sounds) because it’s filled so many spiritual questions, and needs that I had that weren’t being fulfilled where I am at. I have journey spiritually my whole life, and started to feel stagnant, and now, the contemplative ideas in the Franciscan theory that Richard is presenting, gives me a whole new perspective to think about and explore. Not a replacement for my current Christianity but another lens on it. “Yes, AND.“

I’m only two episodes in and wow. Just wow. I’be learned so much. Sharing this podcast with all the people ❤️

I never read the book that inspires this podcast, but the discussion leaders enabled me to follow and reflect on their illuminating exploration of living the Gospel in the light of Father Rohr’s ideas.

I have been a Christian all my life- raised Catholic, moved to Lutheran as an adult. There was always something missing in my faith upbringing. I could never put my finger on it and have been spending 45 years trying to name it. THIS BOOK, these words!! They shine light into the dark places allowing me to really see what is it to have faith, to believe in God. Thank you CAC and Richard for the book, the beautiful podcast and for your gift of time. ❤️

A great and enlightening podcast that seeks to be true to complex truths.

It is December 19th and today is the first day that I listened to your podcast. It came at the most perfect time, of course. I’m so deeply moved by the content, by the heartfullness, by the sincerity, and the love behind these episodes. I wish I could have followed along in real time but it’s alright, I’m just so grateful I came across your podcast. Thank you for the devotion and dedication you’ve put into making these. I’m starting to listen from the beginning and can’t wait to see, to feel how these talks will plant seeds of openness and contemplation throughout my journey. Many blessings to you all, to all beings.

I enjoyed every episode. It is great to hear the deep insight of 3 individuals that have lived and wrestled in this arena for decades.

Thank you for the copious amounts of wisdom shared on this podcast. I am truly humbled & honored to learn from each of you.

This podcast changed my life, gifting me with so much hope. I learned more here than I did in my 25 years of trying to connect with my spirituality. Thank you thank you thank you Richard, Brie, and Paul.

This podcast has been a life saver to me. Richard and the team have genuinely been a life line for me over the last couple of years. The humility, vulnerability, grace and strength that they have in sharing their thoughts and ideas have challenged me, inspired me and enlightened me in my spiritual journey. I was in tears of gratitude when I heard it was coming to an end and so thankful that you all invested your time to capture these thoughts of Richard’s. Thank you and please don’t stop - you’re giving away eternity.

Richard has changed my life from burdened , fundamental background . Thanks Fr Richard .

Thank you for this Podcast, it is a refreshing and amazing listening for a daily meditation. It is helping me to put together what I have always thought in my mind and heart and now , I am finding that I was not too far from understanding the love of Christ. I love it , I hope you keep doing the work that you are doing . This world needs people like you all. Thank you for making it available for anybody.

Thanks for this series and these seasons. The explanations and re examinations of so many aspects of Christian cosmology, theology, doctrine, history, denominationalism, etc., is such a holistic and progressive manner was very helpful. Somehow the relevance and rightness of it is reflected in how heretical it sounds on so many levels and to so many traditional aspects of so many different sides of Christianity. Sigh. I was particularly amused, in the Season 2, Episode 2 about The Holy Spirit, how the terms “running interference” and “pass interference” were used. You were correct in your use of “running interference”, an organizational political term alluding to advocating for and tamping down barriers. The “pass interference” term, a football term applies less so. It was cool hearing you wrestle with that. Thanks again for a timely and illuminating podcast. Please keep is coming. Be well and blessed.

Thank you Richard, Brie, and Paul for the time and work you have put into this podcast. You all continue to help me grow as I move from order, disorder, and reorder. The depths of theses conversations have me wrestling in the disorder but moving to reorder. I know that when I finish this series I will most likely start over and listen again. You have strengthened what I have always had a intuition for when thinking about who God is.... LOVE Much Love to you all. Susan

I say this with sincere love: I have listened to nearly the entire podcast except the last three episodes just to realize that most of what’s said is distracting abstraction. If the podcast is an accurate representation of the CAC, I think Richard is right that there is a concerning lack of solidarity with the Poor — one can tell by what’s said and not said in the conversations. I stopped listening to podcasts made by Poor people to listen to this and I feel I’ve wasted my time in some ways. Near the end of the whole project, there’s an attitude of “Gosh, what do we do now??” that brings frustrated tears to my eyes, Beloveds. There are other Voices who have had answers to these unanswerable(?) questions for a while now. It seems the group didn’t get serious about the question, “How does this help the Poor?” until the end. Why did you not start there? I do concede that, given the assumed timing of the recordings versus this review, I probably made a similar journey along the same timeframe as you all did. However, hindsight 2021, this podcast only begins to be somewhat helpful in the last season. To be specific: there’s much talk about forgiveness and “the story” vs “our story”. Beloveds, can you accept that your message is more appropriate for the colonizer? Can quantum mechanics not be true at the social level, too? There’s no delineation between forgiveness in the context of the colonized vs the colonizer. For you to not make it clear that one should *never* ask the abused to forgive their abuser is *very* harmful to many people, Beloveds. Please consider that your “the story” is not quite a good fit for some people (marginalized people). Maybe it’s “our story” for those who benefit from colonialism.

I’m just starting this series, up to episode 4 of the first season, so enjoying the conversation on my drives. I recommend it to everyone, so important. I’m eternally grateful to Richard Rohr, Bri Stoner and Paul Swanson (I hope I’m spelling your names correctly) and everyone at the C.A.C. for all you do, as we continue to navigate difficult times. I’m truly grateful.

This is the best podcast I’ve heard in a long time. I have gone back and listened to it several times, it’s that good.

In the podcast I have found like-minded individuals who are concerned with spiritual growth and the love of all creation. There is no negativity here, only the community of believers who truly seek after Christ’s heart and the hope that His love can bring for all mankind. It is sanity to me, proof that there IS true goodness and there IS true light to be found in today’s world, even among the religious :-).

Wow! I cannot thank you all adequately for this powerfully moving podcast for me today. Just this morning I found myself so lonely and alienated for the very reasons discussed in this episode. Thanks for clarity in knowing that the “unknowing” and evolving is real and okay. Brie, can we be best friends?!? 😉 New subscribe hit for me ...

I have to say the truths unraveled and revealed in this show have given me such a sigh of relief and desire for more of the beauty that is God. If it weren’t for these hosts being so truthful and authentic it wouldn’t mean a dent to me. It’s the souls caring and sharing their experience that makes me see my own heart. Thankyou guys .. I’ve shared this show to many in my family and friends in hopes that they could expand their cosmic circle ⭕️. Love to you all. I will pray you keep creating more because I will dearly miss these conversations.

Thank you all. Thanks especially to Father Rohr for sharing something like, Blaming others is done by those who haven’t begun their education. Blaming oneself...one has merely begun one’s education and blaming no one, one has finished one’s education.

I love Richard’s writings but you all lose me when you start both sidesing by trying to claim holding people accountable for their words and actions (what you call political correctness or cancel culture) is on the same level as white supremacy. Just a little too smart for your own good.

You missed such an opportunity with this today! So many at-risk youth and folks on the margin CANNOT tell their story —do not know what that means... You did not show or illuminate why we each need a “my story”; you only bashed us privileged folks who over-do it and live too much in it.... 🤷🏽‍♀️

I listened to all seasons of ANFE and mostly enjoyed the podcast. But sometimes I also experienced something like grad school deja vu with all the jargon, nominalizations, well-worn words like “lens,” “unpack,” “frame,” etc., etc. Rohr is the best part, and he knows how to use simple language to explore complex ideas.

This podcast has me transfixed and it’s always over way too quickly. I will definitely be sorry to have this end. But then I’m hoping CAC is hatching something else.

Thank you, CAC.

Thank you 🙏 Richard, Paul, and Bree for these wonderful conversations that feed my soul so deeply. Listening to you is a balm on those days that are difficult, and simply extend my joy on the days are already great. I love all three of you, and I’m in awe of your work and contribution to this wonderful world we all share!

I first was introduced to Richard many years ago when he came to our parish for a parish retreat. I feel refreshed and renewed in my Christianity from listening to this series. It is also confirmed for me many things that I have found and lived on my own, which I feared might be heretical. Thank you for this wonderful teaching!

Richard is my favorite spiritual leader. His books brought me back to Christianity. Bree and Paul are wonderful too. I listen in the evening to unwind. Helps me sleep when I might otherwise be sleepless due to worry about the state of our world. Everything belongs!

Brie and Paul help bring much clarification to Richard’s book. I plan to continue listening and re-listening to these for years to come. So inspiring.

The Universal Christ was a call to action for this “former” Catholic. I love how Richard makes GOD mine, and not something that belongs to the church - and this isn’t limited to the Catholics. On my journey, I have found many wounded soldiers that have fallen at the hands of their churches. Richard helped me to see that GOD is incarnate in me and you. That God isn’t about me, or you, he is about all of us. What a beautiful message. Without a doubt a lovely part of my journey, I love listening to Richard, Brea, and the “Pauls”. Peace and all things good. Patiently awaiting next season.

I wish our language had words for depth of gratitude. Thank you for your thoughts, your wonderings, your enabling me to consider my own thoughts and wonderings. Thank you, and Thank you

I LOVE this podcast! It’s the best ever! It feeds my soul! I may not have tapped the stars correctly so I’m sorry if I gave you 4 or 5 single stars.

The podcast “What is the Alternative Orthodox” gave rest, peace, and warmth to my soul. There was language put to the longings and pains of my heart. A “hug from God,” as a friend would say. Here’s to learning to take “a long loving look at the real.” Thank you.

This is the most courageous, humble Christian speaking I have come across and it gives me great hope to listen. Thank you to all the hosts for speaking the words of Christ - they are setting me free and inspiring me to love more and more.

I listen to these podcasts over & over. Such insights, always “expanding my views”. Enjoy listening to them all. It’s like watching birds migrate. Riding the currents in unison. In formation, swooping gracefully. They work together beautifully. Naturally. I heard this today from Richard. I’m Paraphrasing “Our God clearly is comfortable with diversity”. “In the entire know universe” “the seas, or the Heavens, or the lands.” “That there is no indication that God is interested in uniformity” “Different”. Different”. Different”. And that he (Richard) believes in a “unifying field” And Brie says (paraphrased) “and because of that, you’re not threatened by diversity. And that differences just “expand his views”.

I cannot thank you enough, Richard, for so courageously and beautifully giving voice to the ideas that have been developing in my heartmind for more than 30 years. I’ve been wrestling with them since I was a kid and desperately longing to find a way to express them — but have been repeatedly stymied by self-doubt and fear. And huge gratitude to Brie and Paul for making these conversations possible, for so capably drawing out ever more insights from your teacher, and for making it all available for us to participate in! What an act of generosity on all your parts!!! I no longer feel alone; just knowing you all are out there emboldens me to take more radical positive action. Immeasurable gratitude and LOVE for all of you and your community at CAC!

I was sent an article written by Richard Rohr a few years ago & remembered thinking “this is a Buddhist Philosopher that I have never heard of”. Imagine my surprise when I found out he was a Franciscan priest. I left the religion of my youth, Catholicism, at age 18. I did not have a bad experience with it, I just didn’t believe the simplistic theology, or care for the demeaning of women, & the dictum that it was the one, true faith. Jung encourages us to return at some point to examine the faith we were raised with. Rohr’s writings & this podcast has deepened the exploration & similarities of the many wisdom traditions. I have been delighted that this excellent podcast has continued with all three of these thinkers: Brie, Paul and Richard. Keep up the thoughtful, relevant and often humorous repartee!

Love this!!!! All of it!!!

I was introduced to Fr. Richard’s daily meditations a couple of years ago and have been reading and listening and all the words I have are....thank you for bringing me back on my journey with Christ. I think I may have been lost forever if it weren’t for his teachings. The podcast is often my companion on walks around my neighborhood, yet I feel as if I’m walking right through the center of the world!

This podcast has saved me. The true essence of grace and love and loving acceptance of all God’s children. Thank you for being on the airwaves.

My husband and I are neophytes, and this podcast is a huge gift. Thank you for filling my cup with peace and for helping us to grow in our relationship with the life of Christ inside us, where catechism left off. It’s been challenging being received into the church during the pandemic—we were very active in our parish before, butI feel more connected to the body of Christ through our faith after listening. Be well & peace be with you.

I find the last minutes with the voicemails very disappointing. The speakers are hard to understand and seem to talk for several minutes before getting to their question. I think Richard et al. should summarize the questions and then respond. I don’t need to hear the author.

Father Richard is a true gift to us . Paul and Brie are smart , insightful. I really enjoy their contributions. But sometimes Brie talks way too much

The conversations between Bree, Paul, and Father Rohr are unlike any other exchange in our current world. Each brings their own experience, questions, struggles, and revelations to share with listeners. Fr Rohr's way of framing the lived experience of being in America today is invaluable for anyone who seeks a way forward.

Any words seem to cheapen the effect that these discussions have in my life. However, having claimed Christ for 30 years and being one that is invested in study of scripture, through interaction with these podcasts, Hebrews 4:12 really comes to life and helps me to move IN to a flow of understanding what it is to be an earthen vessel and live WITH us (humanity)- the body of Christ, being incarnated. I’m fairly positive that should I re read this in weeks or months to come, I will wish I used different verbiage....but suffice it to say, I am grateful that God is bigger, more loving and holy as I progress in this learning.