In January of 2025, I  walked into Rick Ouellette's office at the Catholic Diocese of Memphis headquarters.
 
"Rick, I've been feeling a prompting lately. I want to do more to help the Church while I still have some functioning brain cells left. Do you have any jobs around here for a person with my skill set?" 

"Who knows? Let's take a look." He said.

Rick pulled up some job listings they were looking to fill, but they really weren't a good fit for me.
 
"Well Rick, if something comes up down the road, please keep me in mind."

 We talked some more, and somewhere in the conversation I just happened to mention that I had begun recording episodes of a new podcast that I wanted to pitch to EWTN called "Mysteries of Creation Radio". 

I have been in radio for 10 years, hosting shows on 98.1 The Max and 98.9 The Roar, and it's a lot of fun, but these are secular shows, so I don't have the opportunity there to talk about what's most important in my life, which is my Catholic faith. So I began working on Mysteries of Creation Radio to be able to discuss those topics.

At the end of the meeting we shook hands, and Rick said he would keep his eyes open for any job openings in the future, but I got the sense it could be a long wait before the right job opened up.
 
Inside I was disappointed. I was eager to get to work for the Church, and I had entrusted the mission of my job search to Mother Mary, just like I always do with everything else in my life, but of course sometimes we don't get the answers we hoped for....

The next day I got a call from Rick. "Hey Brother" (He always calls me Brother) "I've been thinking about your Catholic podcast that you were talking about. Since you're looking to do more of that kind of thing, what do you think about hosting a podcast for the Diocese? It could be a good way to evangelize, and talk about all the things going on here." 

Within about 5 seconds, an idea dropped fully formed into my mind. 
"Rick, why limit it to one podcast? Why not make an entire podcast network for the Diocese? We can have shows on all sorts of Catholic topics, all hosted by Memphians." 

Rick loved the idea, and by the end of the phone call, the groundwork for the Memphis Catholic Radio Network had been set. (I like to imagine that somewhere over my shoulder Mother Mary had a knowing smile on her face.) 

The idea for the Memphis Catholic Radio Network was solid, but there would be a lot of work to do in the months ahead to get it launched. 

In the course of that time, there were all sorts of roadblocks and obstacles that sprang up, any number of which could have derailed the whole enterprise. 

However, one after the other, right at the moment it seemed like the entire project would collapse, those blockades were somehow removed from our path. It sure felt as if someone was watching out for us....

And now the Memphis Catholic Radio Network is here! 

In the months and years ahead we look forward to bringing you shows that we hope you will find inspiring, informative and entertaining as we explore the truth and beauty of our Catholic Faith. 

So a big thank you to Rick Ouellette for starting this ball rolling, to the CDOM for supporting us all the way, to all of our podcast hosts, to our listeners, and to everyone in the Memphis Catholic Radio family!

And above all, thank you to Our Lady for helping us in this enterprise, and please guide us on our mission as we work to point others to your Son......

Sincerely,
Joe Thordarson
MCR Founder