Sophomore Mary G. receives "live it, share it, show it" scholarship from the Alliance Catholic Foundation.
Take a listen to the introduction that Mary recorded for contest:
When given the assignment to “create an idea for a podcast designed for high school students about the Catholic faith,” Mary G came up with the idea when baking with her grandma. “I realized that religion can sometimes make people feel like they must be perfect…” and with her grandma, she brainstormed ideas and the direction of the concept. Mary created the following proposal and also a short introduction.
No matter who you are or what you did, you are good enough for God, and he loves you. Gossiping about the Gospels will show the not-so-pretty side of the saints to show that everyone makes mistakes and that no one is perfect. Everyone is good enough for God, regardless of whether they fail a class, are testy with their friends, or gossip. A different saint will be discussed in each episode, and instead of admiring their good deeds, their evil deeds will be on display. The Saints' vices and virtues will be discussed along with what we can learn from each Saint. Teens love gossiping whether they openly admit it or not, this will engage your inner teen in a religious way. However, we will not be bad talking about the saints, just uncovering their bad sides to learn about how we can relate to them. Let's get started!
We asked Mary, who is also active in the theater program, if she was interested in a career in pursuing a broadcast career or would want to make this idea a reality. She replied:
Broadcasting is not something I am interested in pursuing as a career, but if I had a chance, I would love to make this an actual podcast. This idea is something I feel passionate about, and I would very much enjoy spreading it to others. The important lesson of this podcast is no matter who you are or what you've done, you are not below the standards of God loving you. Everyone is worthy of God's love, and sometimes we need a reminder of that. That is exactly what this podcast would be, this would highlight the Saint's sins, so that listeners can realize that Saints were also sinners, and you don't have to be perfect to be a saint. Of course, it is good to have positive role models, but sometimes it is a good thing to realize that there are people that have done worse things than you have, and they still did amazing things and became amazing people. I had five Saint that did horrible things in their lives, and was going to highlight their downfalls and show that they still ended up creating strong bonds with God.
Mary enjoys listening to podcasts with her dad on his days off, and hopefully, one day, we can listen to “Gossiping about the Gospels” on ours! Congratulations on your tuition scholarship for the 2023/2024 school year!