The Future of Catholic Media is Here!

We're live. Welcome back to the LOOPcast, the special edition. The LOOPcast is brought to you by CatholicVote, but it is actually now brought to you by Zeal as well. We are joined here by Kelsey Reinhart, president of CatholicVote, president and CEO of CatholicVote, and visionary, early visionary for Zeal. Excited to have you. We have Josh and Erika, too. This is the big announcement. We have, I mean, so much to talk about here, but the biggest is that we've launched this platform, this media platform called Zeal.

Kelsey, a lot of work on your end. How are you feeling today on launch day? I'm just thrilled. Thrilled, Tom. It's a great day bringing this out to the public. That's awesome. Josh even wore his orange. He's looking very festive. I did. I've got to break out the orange for zeal. I love it. So, here is the deal. You even have the orange loop mug. Yeah, we do. Yeah, Kelsey, you got one on you? That is not even out. Melting bottle, yeah.

That is exclusive. So, here is the deal. You know, not a huge schedule here. I guess we scheduled the loop cast pretty tight, although we go over every time. But what I am especially excited about this session is, I mean, these are people, everyone here that is in the loop cast, especially those of us live. Are people. I know that you're going out and you're pitching Zeal to a lot of people that may never have heard of CatholicVote, may never have heard of the LOOPcast, haven't had to listen to Josh, but these are people that have been with us, some of them three times a week, excited about our mission, excited about what we do, and so in some ways, I'm most excited for these people to experience it, our people, in a way, because they're already so deep, and I think that Zeal really expands on a lot of the things that they already really like.

So, we open this up to a broad Q&A about what is Zeal, but I guess, I mean, Kelsey, no one better than to start with you. What was the story and the inspiration behind Zeal, and what is it? What are you excited to bring to everyone? Yeah. Well, I really am... Thrilled to announce this, and I will bring in Josh as some of this, too, because he and Brian Birch had this great idea together to really bring the best of what the Loop and the LOOPcast and the CV media ecosystem brought to the original audience to an even bigger audience.

And what they understood back when they founded the Loop was that Catholics needed a place for reliable media. There was so much bias. There was so much. A happening that was propagandized, and people just needed a reliable source, not just for Catholic news, but for political news. And so, they brought The Loop to our audience, and there was born The LOOPcast as well. And this really is an expansion on that. It's just taking a look at what's been best in Catholic Votes' ecosystem, helping the public live the truths of the faith in their public life.

Here we are just saying, you know what, let us take the next tranche of our audience and let us just offer them what they need in order to find their faith and their voice in the public square. And so, we have done that in some really creative ways, really understanding that we need to get, you know, for some of these younger generations and whatnot, we might need to rethink how we reach them and rethink some of the cultural battles that are upstream of politics.

We know that that's... It's kind of a swirling stream. Politics and culture, they go back and forth. They influence one another. So, we said, you know, let us take a look at some creative ways that we can get ahead of some of these political questions, and let us do some really imaginative visual work around these. So, I am excited about the original shows in Zeal. I am excited about the news in Zeal. I am excited that The Loop still exists in Zeal, your favorite format, and we have also incorporated an expansion of the prayer section.

A little bit of games for all you Catholic word nuts out there, and we've really made something here that's very exciting, very accessible to the younger generations, but also great for the older as well. Yeah, I think just accessible in general. I mean, maybe to ask a more specific question, a technical question. Not what is Zeal, what we're excited to do, but physically, or I guess digitally, what is Zeal? So, I can share the website here. It's zeal.co, if anyone wants to head over and explore maybe as we're doing this.

You've got to get that second E at the end, so Zeal with an E. Zeal with an E. It's zeal.co. What it is, Tom, is an online platform and an app, so we aim to reach all users. There are some people who only open apps, you know, in order to be able to... To look at their news scores or their news articles of choice. And then there are some people who really like their desktop or their mobile. They just want to open, you know, Chrome or Safari, whatever it is that you're still using, and be able to look at the website.

So, we have both a website and an app available on Google Play and Apple and in the Apple Store. Which you can use on? Both your mobile device or if you've got like an iPad or tablet, that can be helpful, too. Exactly. And I feel like a lot of people have given us positive feedback over the last 10 years about the loop, and they like it because We are just trying to cut through a lot of the noise, the propaganda, to try to provide news and information from a Catholic perspective, but there is only so much you can do.

There is only so much about what we understand as Catholics, about the way we look at the world that can be constrained by just news and information. In fact, we want to give people the opportunity to share these stories, to watch what is going on, and experience what is going on. You know, Forgotten USA, where we're able to go, you know, into western North Carolina and talk to some of these people that had their homes ravaged by hurricanes. You get that real-life story, find out what they had to deal with, what they've had to struggle with.

And so, you know, there's so great stories of perseverance, joy. I just think that we as humans. We can pretend that all that matters is facts, figures, and logic, but the fact of the matter is so many of us are motivated by truth, but also beauty and holiness, what is good, beautiful, and true. And so, this is just another way to kind of... A more powerful way, I think, actually, to try to reach people. I love that. Versal, yes. It's so fun.

She was talking about me when she was talking about all these word game stuff. I love it. I love Wordle. I love playing Queens on LinkedIn. I love playing all these games. I love it. Well, and if I could just highlight something. I actually, with my kids for the last couple of weeks, the younger kids, we've been listening to Saint of the Day, and obviously, one of the great parts about The Loop since its inception was that... The daily readings were always included right at the bottom there, so it could incorporate your prayer into reading the news, and that was, from the beginning, one of your goals, Mercer, I believe, and so that continues here, but so much more, and we've been listening to the little podcast.

It's just a quick little story from the saint of the day, great for kids, and also watching the Dominicans, or Father Gregory Pine, to be exact, doing, oh, Tom's gone. He's special. So, having the Dominican lead the rosary, just all of the beauty of it really strikes my kids every time that we open it up together. So, we've been enjoying that a lot. Awesome.

Sorry, I had a little technical issue on my end. That's all right. You're back. Now, we're just playing around with all of this. I just want to talk for a moment about storytelling, because Josh mentioned that truth, goodness, and beauty are also important parts of changing hearts and minds in terms of debates and things like that. Logic can take you so far. It's important. I'm Dominican trained, so the logical element here is essential, but so is the storytelling. And some of these original shows that we've done, I'm so proud of our team, so proud of the collaborators that we have with this.

And so, Forgotten USA, in this semi-sequentennial year of celebration, America 250, to really look at the heroes that have been hidden or washed behind the cultural, moral, economic changes in the United States, to rediscover those, to love America, to love American heroes, Forgotten USA is just a phenomenal watch for your America 250 year. So, You know, I say bring a box of tissues if you're going to watch these first two episodes that are linked here, because it's actually about Hurricane Helene and how the communities, we sent a producer three days after the storm on the ground to really see how these communities were grappling with the most devastating storm in their lifetimes, and the stories that come out of this, the heroism, the neighbor helping neighbor, the Americans being Americans, It's beautiful, and it'll bring you to tears.

Well, that one is just crazy because, you know, people in Florida and Louisiana expect to get hurricanes, but in the mountains of western North Carolina, they don't expect a hurricane not like this, and it was, you know, a once-in-a-century kind of a storm.

It's an amazing experience. You know what's cool, and just because, Josh, you've been around the block, I've been around the block. It feels like this is the most ambitious thing we've ever done. I mean, we've done a lot of different initiatives, and even when you talk about, we did a documentary about Hurricane Helene. It almost is hard for me to compute, because we've just been doing one specific thing for so long, and that is just such a big step up in terms of production value.

I mean, it literally is like going to National Geographic or something like that and watching a documentary. I almost just want to get that across to people, and that you have the access to then go watch it on the website. One thing that I think... And I'd like to hear more from you on Kelsey. I'm sure it was intentional. For this show, we have to go scrub a lot on dark places of the internet, particularly places like X or other social media, and it feels like you go on and you just get bombarded by either stuff that's fake, sad, depressing, angry, etc.

You go kind of get the news, you bring it back, we put it out in form of the LOOPcast or the loop, and when I was scrolling through the website and the app, So, what immediately hit me was, I was just, it almost felt like a weight off my shoulders or something. Like, I just realized that I have this instinct where I have to put some armor on before I go, and I know that I'm going to see, you know, some heavy stuff.

But I come here, and it's like, oh, you know, the bright colors, it's very calm. There's a prayer element to it. A message. Which is, like, totally different. And then, like, strikingly beautiful stories, like documentary quality stories. So, I guess, could you go a little bit more into the emotion, or why you created this, and what are you hoping that people feel when they go through Zia? What kind of feeling are you trying to get across? Yeah, I think the overwhelming thing here is hope.

You know, I think that we have really... I mean, it is so connected to beauty. It is so connected to goodness, but what do these things give you? They give you hope. They give you this motive power. They give you this ability to fight and to realize that there are things worth fighting for, and that is how it ties into the CatholicVote mission. We want to inspire people to live the truths of the faith in the public square, and to do that, they cannot just be political.

They have to be faith-filled. They have to have a vision of the world. They have to understand what some of these cultural goods are, and I really love the editorial breadth of the shows that we have. We have Erika anchoring the deep, getting into the nitty-gritty of certain issues. We have Tom, your new show, Tom Across America. I can't wait to see the Minnesota ice fishing community. I've never fished before, by the way, so this is going to be fun. This is going to be phenomenal.

Okay, wait a minute. You're not even not ice fishing, but you've never even fished. So, I called my mom and told her, I was like, hey, guess what? Well, first off, she was like, you're going to Minnesota? I was like, oh, yeah, I'm going to Minnesota. And I was like, yeah, I'm going ice fishing. She's like, Tom, you've never even fished before. Why are you going ice fishing? Like, not only that, Mom, I'm competing in the largest ice fishing competition in the world.

So, she's just like dumbfounded. She's like, what are you doing? You know what? I don't even really know, Mom, but I'm going to go figure it out. We're going to have a good time. Yeah, I'm super excited. I almost want to even just denote a section for Time Across America. I'm so excited. I'm so grateful for the opportunity, because I spend a lot of time in the studio, and I'm a really curious guy, and I want to...

Kind of part of maybe the hope element of it. I have already recorded two episodes. This will be the third. Actually, two more before that, and every time that I go and I meet people in their habitat, basically, I always left so uplifted, and specifically with the plumber and the farmer, they both face very real challenges that they address in the show, but I left it being like, okay, this is the American dream, and there is like thousands of people doing exactly this.

...that were so inspiring, both of them, and neither of them wanted the spotlight or the attention, so I had to go find them, and I'm like, there's no... I couldn't have picked better people to give attention to and give some shine to because they are making the country spin around, and they both are a part of these local, like, Indiana cultures where they're kind of pillars of their community, and then in Minnesota, too, like, obviously a lot of anxiety going on in Minnesota, but we almost forget, like, oh, it's actually a big state, and people have lived there for a long time, and it has its own unique culture, its unique celebrations, and I'm super excited to be a part of that.

Hopefully, I don't get frostbite. We will see, but anyway. You have to give us some pointers, Josh. You are from Minnesota. Yeah, give me some pointers. That is all right. Yeah, I mean, be ready for cold weather. You mentioned about a lot of the social media outlets, and also it is the same for cable news. They want you in a constant state of agitation. They want to get you upset and upset and upset and upset, so you keep watching, keep watching.

We've created a wholly different platform. I think that's one thing that's going to be really, you know, as you mentioned, you walk in, it's like opening up the door of a beautiful church. It's like, wow, this is amazing, and it's not just devotional. We have that, but there's also stories of, you know, of hope, of people's experiences, and so, you know.

We're not, there's no algorithm where we got to keep you in this constant state of agitation. It's like, no, actually, we think these stories are wonderful and edifying, and they're not just happy, happy, happy. Sometimes they're, you know, difficult stories, but there always is an element of hope in them, and so I think that's what really kind of sets us apart. Yeah. Yeah, and we've spent a lot of time talking about the shows, but I think the unique thing about the app as a whole and what distinguishes it, the platform and the app.

It's just the uniqueness of what it is that we've combined. So, there is news, so that you can get news from a faithful perspective. There is the loop, so if you don't like to touch the news in its raw form, you just want your four-minute, I'm going to be an informed citizen daily roundup, it's there. If you want a selection of shows that are original, that are a lot of times informed by natural law, natural loves, civic goods.

Wholesome, wholesome. I hate to say the word wholesome because, you know, it sometimes is a translation for boring. Awesome, awesome shows, you know, that you really get to, you know, things that you want to watch. I mean, we can talk a little bit about Food Fight, you know, sitting down Republicans and Democrats at the same table, having them talk without limits, without rules, without prompts about the things that are of interest to them. Sometimes sparks fly, sometimes they don't, but it's authentic, it's real.

And then, you know, there's this prayer element. So, it's a combination of So many different things, and so we really think that it's unique because of its ability to really weave all of those intersections in and out together, and of course, you know, the versal. So, you know, if you are one of those people like the Pope who plays Daily Wordle with your brother across the globe, then maybe you want to try.

The word game on Zeal. I think it is a great start. I think that might be the place for the greatest expansion, because I love stuff like that. Yeah. We need to go hard. We need crosswords. We need all the games. Yeah, I will get going on that. Here is what has always been shocking to me. Catholic life.

Catholicism touches everything, and sometimes what we see is just that people are like, oh, it's a Catholic platform, and then it only has the rosary, or it only has the things that you think are very obviously Catholic. But here at CatholicVote, we know that Catholicism touches the way that you live everyday existence. My husband watches, you know, 50% of his consumption is... So, we have this great fan show. Why? You know, called Home Team, because we think that it is important that people have natural loves in a city.

You know, with NIL destroying everything, let us bring them home. Uh-oh. Amen. Yeah, controversial opinion. I will take the other end of that. I actually think it is good that they are getting paid, but you are also, you and your husband have the most athletic background ever, and I was 5'8 and barely made it out of high school. We can break on that, but home team, I don't even think you're selling that enough because I literally, I think it was like a shark tank pitch.

We were together, and I could not stop talking about this show where they followed around a basketball team, like a community college JUCO-type basketball team in California, and it was so well done. It was so human, and I was like, how did these guys get me to care about a JUCO basketball team in California? Like, I'm from Detroit. I have my fandom, obviously. And so, it's like, okay, let's get a little bit of that spirit, and then you and Brian, for people that don't know, Kelsey, you played basketball at Notre Dame.

It just like immediately clicked for people that understood sports and gained a lot of virtue through sports and loved those stories. I mean, it's like the ultimate soap opera. That's why people love live sports, and then you get the behind-the-scenes stuff, and so I know you guys went to Wyoming. You went to Notre Dame, and one of those beautiful stories where... I think you were talking to a grandma or whoever was doing the show. It was like a mega fan, grandma, Notre Dame fan, and I'm like, how did they get me to care about this one?

It's just so well done, it almost tricks you. So, super excited about that, but I don't want to take... No, that's actually, though, I think that's a good point, though, because one of the things that motivated Brian with regards to CatholicVote 20 years ago was we were watching... ESPN 30 for 30, and there is this episode when the Indianapolis Colts football team packed up in the middle of the night and moved to Cleveland, and it shocked the entire city of Baltimore, and the marching band for the football team said, we are going to stay true, and we are going to still do it, and they would go around them.

Birthday parties, corporate Christmas parties, bar mitzvahs, whatever, and they bring the band, and they play the Colts fight song, and people were like, just, what? And they got really excited by it, and ultimately, when lawmakers were trying to get a football team back in Baltimore for the Ravens in 1999, the lawmakers didn't want, oh, we don't want another stadium, they'll just do the same thing. The marching band came out on the steps, and all the lawmakers came out, and they're like, whoa.

It was just so moving. They went right back in. I am not a big fan of paying money on teams, but it spoke to how music, how beauty, these things, what Kelsey was talking about, these loves that we have, the different loves that we have, it can speak to the human heart in a way that facts and figures alone just cannot really touch.

So, Kelsey, if you're not familiar, the LOOPcast chat has some of the most informed, handsome, beautiful, striking members. They're with us all the time, and so they have some questions, if you're ready. Put you on the hot seat. Okay, first question. How will Zeal be different from Truthly, Halo, Formed, other Catholic media platforms, etc.? Yeah, I think the news element is one of those particulars, as I mentioned before. The combination of everything that we're doing, you know, this is not the Catholic Netflix.

It is not formed. It's just a selection of great original content alongside your favorite podcasts, alongside your trusted source of news, alongside your... I'm going to waste five minutes playing a word game and growing my faith and my literacy somehow, you know, so alongside, I'm going to pray with the Dominicans or the Norbertines or the Sisters of Life. So, it's different in all of these in that each one of those has a very specific venue or angle that they're trying to get to, whether it's Catholic saint movies or just prayer, focus on prayer and reflections and homilies.

Ours is unique because it's an everyday experience in life. What do you need? A little bit of news, a little bit of entertainment. You can't live your life on this. A little bit of podcasts, you know. So, basically, something for every day.

Awesome. When can I get this on TV, like a streaming service? I assume like a Roku TV or something like that. Is that coming at some point? Yes, it is in the works. So, I just want to encourage everyone. This is Zeal 1.0, and we have launched, and we are working on all the things that need to be improved based upon the customer feedback and whatnot.

And then we have a vision for some of the things that we would like to implement in the future. Stay tuned for some of the fun Bible stuff that we're going to do in there, in terms of having the Bible be read to you while you're driving. But one of those things is to get it on Roku and Apple TV. It's a Zeal 2.0 project for sure, but right now, if you want to, you can take a show like the LOOPcast, and you can actually streamcast it up to your TV.

Just hit those three dots in the top of your phone, and you can actually put it on the TV now. Not sure you would ever want to do that by making Josh larger than he is, or, you know what I'm saying, get too close. Oh, come on.

Okay. Exactly. Good question here. Will the Refine website be going away? Will the CatholicVote website be going away? What about all these other, you know, brands of circulation that people may like or visit? Are they going to stay there? What's going to happen to them? Yeah, CatholicVote is not going away. Its website will be launching in a... in all its glory in a new form and fashion here, um, shortly, but we, we wanted to keep it as it is right now, just so that people felt comfortable surfing and knowing where everything is.

Obviously CatholicVote is going to do what CatholicVote does advocacy, um, reports, accountability, heroes and zeros statements from the president. Um, you know, all the things that we do to motivate people to participate in their government, um, through the CatholicVote action network. So. All of those things are staying. We're just adding a giant top funnel to that and saying, hey, if you also like truth, goodness, and beauty, and you want to understand a little bit more about your faith and about civic goods, join us here at Zeal, and then you can join us at CatholicVote as time passes.

But CatholicVote website will definitely be there. For Refine, we launched this as an anticipation to be able to move into a huge lifestyle and culture. ...component of Zeal News. So, we're really proud of the fact that our news doesn't just cover, as I said, you know, the sort of what's happening in the Catholic Church. It covers national politics, it covers international politics, it covers, you know, the weather storm of the century that's breaking across the South, and it also covers lifestyle and culture.

And actually, these have been among some of the famous things in the loop. The recipe section Erika can talk about. Yeah, for sure. The launch of Refine, it was over a year ago now, as a way to really beef up that lifestyle and culture section was so important because, as we know from watching the Loopers over the last 10, 12 years, when people are weary of the news, they want to feed their souls, and it is not like, okay, well, I am done with CatholicVote because I cannot take any more news.

It is like, CatholicVote also has been providing this. Reliable lifestyle, like how to cook a dinner, how to host friends over, how to celebrate Advent with your kids. In a meaningful way. Dating advice. I mean, all of it was there in the lifestyle section, and Refine was really bringing that all together so that now with the launch of Zeal, there is already a robust, established lifestyle section that, honestly, there is so much content in there, I don't have time to absorb it all.

So, it's wonderful to have that bank that is going to continue to bring that original lifestyle content as part of this. It's a message of hope to go back to Kelsey's. Point that whatever is happening in the world, first we build our homes, we reinforce our families, and then we go out and transform the culture. So, very excited for that all to continue.

What was the Cicero quote, Erika? It is like the nursery. About the nursery? The Cicero quote? The domestic, gosh. What are you trying to say here, brother? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no. I was like, okay. If you were really deep, Erika, you would have the Cicero quote. Yeah, I thought you just got those on hand. That was, all right. The hand that rocks the cradle? Is that what you're saying? No, it's like the nursery being like the domestic society, basically. Okay, I'm going to go Google it.

You guys keep talking. Go ahead, Google that one. For the lifestyle stuff, it used to be that we couldn't put a recipe in there until I made it first in the kitchen. Well, it had to involve meat, so we couldn't have you do that for Meatless Fridays. We're like, all right, Josh, you got a sideline for this one. Nothing vegan. Nothing vegan. We are excited to say that the lifestyle and culture is very easily navigable through the top menu bar and whatnot.

So, if you're a person who likes to just gloss over the headlines in the news, you can find those sections really easy, and we're going to make them more beautiful and more refined. I guess time goes on. Awesome. Another question. Will there be a charge or membership fee? This is the best part about Zeal. It's completely free. So, right now, we are donor-supported, so if you want to join us in this mission of giving hope to the culture, helping people live their Catholic faith boldly in the public life, understanding everything that flows from that and the downstream effects, then join our Champions Club.

Well, not only do we get more work that way, but you have the opportunity. Is there an opportunity, an extra benefit if they join the Champions Club for Zeal on that? Yeah, actually, you can then view the platform ad-free. So, you know, I mean, if you're one of those people who is like, you know, my time, my attention is really valuable. I don't like to be bombarded by different things.

Join us at the Champions Club, and then you can have your own promotional code sent to you, so that you can view all of these things completely ad-free. And I think what we're trying to help people understand is that we're trying to work with our audience here to try to build something together. Like you said, we're not Netflix. We're not Paramount. We don't have a massive library of TV shows and movies. We're not CBS.

But we are trying to build something together, and we're looking for your feedback. Tell us what you think about these shows. Tell us what you'd like to see more of, and then if you do join the Champions Club, you get that ad-free experience, but not only that, you're helping us to get the resources we need to make more of this content that can be really edifying and bring people in, win over those hearts and minds to our view. There's so many people in our lives, whether they're co-workers or family or friends, that you just wish...

You wish that they could see the world like we do, and that is what we are hoping to accomplish with Zeal. Help people see, hey, check out this story. You should watch this episode. You know, we know Hollywood does that so effectively. Unfortunately, oftentimes, most of the time, for bad, they use these stories to try to pull people towards, you know, propaganda. We want to do it in a way that is actually true, good, and beautiful. So, I think that sets us apart.

Hey, Josh, so I am already seeing a ton of great suggestions and comments, and again, these are kind of like our people, so these are exactly what we are making this for. I think I opened the app, and it said, hey, this is 1.0. If you have suggestions, you can email this address. Do you have the address that you can email with, say, ideas or bug fixes or stuff like that? Hello at zeal.co. Hello at zeal.co. And I almost want to nail this even more.

I saw Emily, I think, in the chat was talking about this. Places like, almost like, people are calling it alternative media. It almost feels like something different. As Josh said, we're building this with you, and there's already a lot of great ideas, some of which we may not have even thought of, and honestly, I feel like everything we've done. Has been an offshoot of, we've just had these awesome grassroots supporters. I've gotten to meet, actually, many of them in the back of the vestibule.

They're just like our people, you know? I've always been very cognizant and grateful that people have supported us financially to allow us to do this, and through, say, Oh. He was so excited we lost him. He was so excited. It is absolutely true, though, that the support has been phenomenal, and I think that, you know, in talking to people, we were able to come up with some of these shows as well, you know, looking at, gosh, the timing of our intentional living show called Flourish, you know, which is just this great Catholic influencer, Cecilia Pappas, and she is She is bringing her particular… You know, best of how to live life as a young mom to our show.

I mean, great timing in this world and this culture where, you know, the difference between men and women is so stark, not just politically, but also like, you know, women value marriage and family, 12, you know, out of 12 possibilities, and men are, you know, valuing it the most. So, you know, to have this show that you can We were getting feedback on, hey, what are you doing for young women? Join Flourish. Watch Flourish. Be a part of this show. So, you're right, Tom.

There's a ton that we can do in listening to our audience to be able to give them something fantastic. And finally, you have more experience with prayer than maybe Erika, Josh, and I combined. I don't want to speak on how you spent some time in the convent. I don't even know. We haven't hit this hard enough, I don't think. If you go over to the Zeal website. Prayer is integrated in not just the prayer section. I mean, we have the beautiful, you can pray along a rosary, you can pray along divine chaplet, beautifully shot with the Norbertines, but then also in the articles themselves, there's prayer integrated into reading the news.

So, like, you read an article, you get to the bottom, you see a prayer, and unsurprising, but it took a shocking amount of time for someone to be like, I can't believe you don't have a prayer at the end of the Luke cast. Like, that's actually what we need the most. I'm like, you are absolutely right, and I can't believe I didn't think of that, so now we do that. But it seemed like it was really intentionally designed in a way that is unique, specifically to Zeal.

I just haven't seen elsewhere. So, can you, I guess, I always like digging into your experience a little bit. Why was that such a priority to you, and why was it designed? How did you pull it off with Zeal?

Yeah, I think the prayer wall, which I'm really excited about, too, which allows people to interact with each other. You know, you go through these crises as a nation, and you just want to be. Be able to connect with people and pray for them, you know, pray for everybody who's affected by what's happening down south, you know, all the cold weather. Pray for people during the March for Life, you know, join the cause, even if you can't protest in Washington, D.C., you can join with them in prayer and whatnot.

So, for me, as a person who discerned religious life and prayed for three and a half hours a day and, you know, found that solace in Walking with the Lord so closely, I think that there's just a real shining light to that, and just an indispensable component of how we deal with the news, how we deal with everything that's happening. People ask me all the time, how do you read the news? How do you stay in when it's so negative? And I say, well, you should never read more news than your faith, hope, or love can sustain.

But guess what? Those are intangible goods. You can grow those infinitely. Your circle of concern is never smaller than your circle of influence when you pray. So, you know, no matter what you read, you can make an effect on what's happening in the world if you pray about it. And that's the single most important thing that people need to understand when they consume the news regularly. It shouldn't lead you to anger. It shouldn't lead you to despair. It should lead you to prayer, first and foremost.

And that way, you can kind of avoid some of these cliffs that people can fall off of. Good answer to me. Maybe we can make this a final question. Zeal. It has an E at the end of it. It is a hot topic with my mother, who does not like misspelled words. Why did we land on the word zeal, and why does it have an E on the end? Yeah. Listen, I don't know that anybody thinks about the literal interpretation of things so seriously.

You know, we don't criticize Lyft for having a Y. Apple to sell apples, you know. So, I mean, I think I just encourage the audience to take broadly the name of Zeal, be inspired by it, be inspired by the brand, the colors, the movement.

The hope, the generosity, the impetus to do something. That is really what Zeal is about, and that is why the name was chosen. So, don't focus just on the very literal aspects here. Open your mind to something that is expansive, that is just going to light you on fire. I like the person in the chat, though. The last E is to take it to eternity there. Ah, there you go. I know. That was very creative. We should adopt that explanation, I think.

There you go. Let it be lore. You know, I have a brother named Sundance. What? Yeah, I know. You have a brother named Sundance? Yes. Did you call him, like, Sonny or something? Son? Actually, at his last—he's a basketball coach—at his last— At his last game, they passed out Sunny Delight, and they put his picture on it. Even better.

Yo! So, I have a brother named Sundance, and it's literally lore in our family. Like, what is he named after? The town in Wyoming, the car, the Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Kid. Native American ritual, you know, like the Sundance Kid.

Every time it changes, they tell the story, but that's part of the lore, and it's awesome. So, yeah, make your own reason for zeal with an E. And let it be a growing lore. Some are saying it makes it sound pretty luxury. Very luxe, with a knee on the end. That's what we've been saying. This is a very, very luxurious way to start your day.

Okay, can't beat Sundance, can't beat Zeal. Kelsey, did I miss anything, or is there anything else you would like to get across to the ground floor Zealers? I just want to say, you know, for those that love what we do and what we have done, you know, the loop, if you like your loop, you're still going to get it via email. Don't worry, it's not going to disappear.

And, you know, just thank you for joining us on this new and bold mission to really recover, you know, even more people, as Josh said, to believe in the mission, to live the truths of the faith in the public square, and to be transformed by those so that, you know, we know that people who have their faith and study it, live it, breathe it, also vote with it, also move. To sign petitions for it and things like that. So, thank you for joining us on this new expansion of what we're doing, going after the younger generations while retaining what's best in what we do so that everyone who's been a follower before also feels known, seen, and loved, and yet here we have this new audience that we're going to just inspire.

Take over the world with. Do we have an official name for people that really like zeal? Are we going with zealers, zealots? No, no. Jen Zeal, some are saying? Is there an official, or is this kind of like a Sundance situation where we've got to let it play out and see what people come up with? Let's see what people come up with. All right. We're not going with that. All right. There was actually one other question that I wanted to ask Kelsey, because I think that the listeners are going to really want to know this.

And someone suggested that our patron saint be Simon the Zealot, which is a very funny. idea, but Kelsey, do we actually have a patron saint? Obviously, Catholic Boat has it. Yes, yes. Tell us. It's actually Saint Gabriel the Archangel, so the person who announced the good news. As Josh keeps repeating, you know, the true, the good, and the beautiful. There was one saint who really spoke the words that would give the mission to the Blessed Virgin Mary that changed the whole world.

So, we really invoke Saint Gabriel. As the patron saint of zeal. Beautiful. Awesome. Oh, and then, sorry, just thinking one more. People are asking about the orange. Why did we choose orange? I really like it. Why orange? Why did you guys go with that?

Vibrant? New? We have zeal. Makes me feel like fire passion. Very bold. I just didn't know if there was an official on the record. I mean, I like how we turned out, but... It's very nice. Sundance, you can come up with your own interpretation. Orange has got the passion, it's got the fire, right? And it also is very complementary with Catholic votes, like aqua blue color, if you ever noticed. So, it's not opposite. It's complimentary. It's basically like you'd look like you like the Miami Dolphins if you were to rock both Catholicville and Zeal at the same time, and who doesn't love the Miami Dolphins fun uniforms?

Very bright, very vibrant. All right, I actually did promise no more questions than I asked three more, so. Thank you for joining us. Of course, I think the next order of business is to go to zeal.co, download it on your phone, go through it, watch all the shows, tell us what you like, tell us what you want more of, tell us what you love. And, yeah, I'm headed to Minnesota, like, Thursday, and it's supposed to be very cold, so I got to get some bibs, I got to get some wool socks, so I'm off.

Erika, the deep, is, of course, going to be on zeal as well, and the loop cast, still churning. One final note, too. Sorry, I don't want to steal your time. Another thing that you were instrumental in, Kelsey, and we're excited about is we kind of have our first step in the iteration of somewhat of a daily roundup, video roundup of The Loop. So, The Loop email newsletter, a lot of people have been asking us for a long time, can I get this in some audio form or video form, something other than the email?

And, of course, we're not going to stop the email. You can get it there. You can get it in the app. You can get it wherever you want. But now on the LOOPcast YouTube channel, we have something called The Morning LOOPcast. It is a rundown in a pleasing-to-the-ear way of what was in the loop that morning. So, just another place to get it.

Again, iterating, trying to figure out what works. But, yeah, if you're on the go, you just want to catch, hey, I'd rather have a plane or something in the car, LOOPcast YouTube in the short section. If you see that there, that's what that is.

And shout-out to our editors and people working on it. It is very challenging to do a daily news show. We're a very lean team here, so I'm really happy with it. And my producer would be mad if I didn't mention that. So, I'm excited to have that. Let us know what you think, and go check out zeal.co. It's going to be awesome. See you guys. Thank you. St. Michael, sorry, Gabriel the Archangel. St. Gabriel, pray for us. Pray for Zeal. Pray for the Zealers. We'll see what we end up calling them. Amen, and we'll catch you guys on the LOOPcast Wednesday. Peace. Thanks, guys.