Fr. Eric Mah is pouring faith into the digital space through Catholic Latte, a virtual blend of timeless Church teachings through the lens of a modern podcast.

For Mah, the project began during the peak of the pandemic as a way to reach out to parishioners unable to attend Mass due to COVID restrictions. Years later, the podcast has cemented itself as a testament to approachable Catholic media across various online platforms. 

The project has only grown since its earliest incarnation and this Lent, Mah is harnessing the power of his podcast to deliver daily Lenten reflections to the faithful. Through his multimedia platform, Mah has used his social space to launch a series of short reflections, uploading one each day for all 40 days of Lent.

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“These reflections show that the technology is in service of the Word being spoken as opposed to it being the other way around,” he said. “It’s  creating new opportunities for people to experience the Word in a way that was not possible before.” 

As the online views of his video series amass, Mah harkens back to his initial plans for the podcast venture, an attempt to make the online world a true place of encounter. 

“ Before COVID was even on the radar, I knew I wanted to do this sort of thing and so we bought a bunch of equipment and while I was doing research on YouTube, the first lockdown hit,” said the pastor of St. James Parish in Colgan, St. Mary’s in Achill and St. Francis Xavier in Tottenham, northwest of Toronto.  

“All of a sudden, I had all this time to explore this as a real way to bring an encounter online. A student showed me the basics of how to get started, and those first couple of months were all about trying things out and seeing what worked. It was invaluable at the time.” 

What began as an offhand lockdown project became something of a re-ignited passion for Mah.  He began exploring how Catholic Latte could become a hub people would continue to visit after COVID, knowing that, as church attendance diminished, his duty was to bring people back to Christ by showing the values of faith, albeit virtually. 

This season, Mah has been brewing a unique offering from his digital ministry, one that has proven that even in a fast-paced world, faith can find a home in 40 days of quiet reflection.

While the name may suggest coffee-related content, Mah was quick to dispel the notion. He explained the idea was to create a brand  that sounded fun, accessible and open while tying in a Catholic angle — the same as his approach to sharing the faith with his viewers. 

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“ Whether it’s on social media or through the internet, it's almost like people are inviting you into their homes with a certain curiosity with regards to the Catholic faith and for me, it’s about what can I do to grease the wheels in that regard,” he said.

“If people want to delve into specific answers to hardcore questions, it's not like Catholic Latte doesn't address those things. However, in the back of my mind, it’s about being mindful of how to best bring these people back to a sense of peace and of exploring their faith, and that’s the encounter I’ve always hoped to facilitate.” 

It’s an expression of ministry that’s seen clearly in Catholic Latte’s content, which has become widely accessible on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, Podbean and Stitcher. There, both long- and short-form content that ranges from casual faith-based conversation to delving into core tenets of Catholicism can be seen through both audio and video formats.  

Mah says the different mediums through which his content is shared allow people to find what they enjoy and consume the podcast in a more engaged way. With modern, influencer-like preachers common in the online space nowadays, Mah’s unique position as a practising Catholic priest has allowed him to reach audiences far beyond his local pews. 

“It’s not typical ministry communication through bulletins and posters, but it is still very connected to aspects of the Mass,” he explained, speaking to his ability to share direct homilies from his Masses via the podcast. 

“Initially, I would just speak to the camera from the studio, but I know that ministry is incarnational. The game changer for me was that I started filming the weekend homilies and then cutting that footage up to share online. It’s been helpful for the community and even wider with people overseas messaging me saying how much they are enjoying it.” 

The Catholic Latte community has been growing steadily since 2020, with the project’s YouTube channel alone boasting thousands of subscribers and close to 750,000 total video views. 

For Mah, this success reflects not just a widening audience but a chance to blend his vocation with a creative outlet to reach the faithful in new ways.

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“The opportunity to be able to write, produce and edit this content that is dear to me has been amazing, and I feel so privileged just to be at this stage where the Church is beginning to understand social media and to begin using it effectively,” he said. 

Catholic Latte can be found on YouTube.