Max Montana, senior writer for The Torch, sat down over Zoom with Alejandra Aquino, BC ‘17, former Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) missionary, and current Associate Product Manager for Ascension Press where she has spent much of her time on the world famous Bible in a Year podcast.
Max: Tell me about your story leading up to your job at Ascension Press, especially at BC and how your faith developed before and during your time here.
Alejandra: When I was at BC, I grew a lot in my faith and I owe that to a lot of different factors. One of them being obviously the opportunity to go to a Catholic university that has Mass on campus and opportunities for prayer and just a Catholic presence. I started going to daily Mass when I was an undergraduate, and that really helped me build my prayer life and get to know Jesus more and learn more about my faith. It really just grounded me spiritually.
My brother was actually a missionary with an organization called FOCUS for several years … His example and witness as a missionary really inspired me to go deeper myself so I went to a couple of FOCUS events. I went to this big conference called SEEK when I was at BC. That was really a life changing experience for me, just to be around so many young college students and, again, encountering God in the Sacraments, in Confession and Mass, hearing from all these great Catholic speakers. That was definitely a big part of my faith formation. I actually went on to become a missionary myself with FOCUS before getting this job with Ascension. I served with FOCUS for three years as a full time campus missionary. I served on two different campuses [in George Mason and Westchester University of Pennsylvania]. I did that right after I graduated from BC, so I really felt this call to serve God and to do something with my faith and my brother’s experience with FOCUS was so positive that I decided to apply and become a missionary … After I finished up with FOCUS, I wanted to go back to my career, but I still wanted to work with my faith. I studied communications, and so because I wanted to still serve God, but more so in my field, I started looking at Ascension. I had already been a big fan of all of their digital content and so I was really drawn to the way that they were packaging digital media content for young Catholics and the way that they were just helping people learn more about their faith using videos and podcasts. I applied and have been with Ascension ever since. It’s been almost two and a half years [now].
Max: Could you talk about what it’s like to work on the Ascension Press team, especially with Fr. Mike Schmitz?
Alejandra: It was such an amazing experience to work on the Bible in a Year. I think we weren’t prepared for the success that it was going to have and it almost felt miraculous for us, because we never produced a podcast with that reach. But it was such an incredible experience, it was a huge team effort … We produced just over 365 episodes and Fr. Mike was reading the Bible, and so we had to make sure that he was reading word for word and making sure everything was accurate … It was just really neat to work with other team members who have different sets of skills all come together and produce this project and this podcast … I’ve never actually met [Fr. Mike] in person … Since I got hired during the pandemic, I only ever interacted with him virtually. I don’t really have an anecdote, but listening to him, the raw unedited audio, is really funny because he is so joyful … He’s just very funny and goofy and, when he makes mistakes, he’s so optimistic and keeps going. He kind of makes jokes and says to the editor, ‘Oh I’m so sorry I messed up so many times’ … If you meet him behind the scenes, either when he’s not recording or he’s not doing talks or videos, he’s just as joyful, just as genuine, just as intentional, so that’s just really neat to meet someone who is really who they are or how they portray themselves on camera or behind the mic. [It was a] huge blessing working with him.
Max: Why should Catholics and anyone who’s interested listen to the Bible in a Year?
Alejandra: The Bible in a Year guides you through … the greatest love story, it’s like God’s letters to humanity about His plan of salvation, how much He loves us, and how He’s been pursuing us since the very beginning … But if you want to understand how it all fits together and how it applies to you personally, it’s just such an easy and accessible way. [The Bible] can be very confusing and hard to navigate if you don’t really understand the historical context, how all the books fit together, and you aren’t encouraged and don’t understand how it applies to you today. The Bible in a Year does that job for you, it guides you through it, gives you the context, it encourages you and, with the commentary, gives you those practical takeaways that make Scripture relevant to you and so if you want to learn more about God and the Bible, it’s just such a great tool to do that.
Max: Can you talk about the new Catechism in a Year Podcast?
Alejandra: Yes, we are currently in production mode. That is coming out January 1st, 2023. It’s with Fr. Mike again … Essentially the Catechism in a Year builds off of the Bible in a Year in the sense that it’s the same format and you’re reading through the Catechism which really gives you an understanding of the tradition of the Church and Scripture, [which] is really important [as] Divine Revelation is both Scripture and Tradition. They’re the two lungs of Catholicism, you can’t have one without the other, and they’re not interchangeable, they’re different, but they come from each other.
The Catechism is a book that a lot of Catholics haven’t read or don’t really know how to approach it because it can be intimidating, very technical, very dense and rich, and it’s also oftentimes seen as a reference book, almost like a dictionary, so if you have a question about what the Church teaches you go to the Catechism, but very few people actually sit down to read the Catechism, and the Catechism is just so beautiful … [and a] continuation of where the Bible leaves off. It gives you the history of how we ended up with Church teaching today and how those teachings were developed over time through so many different councils and so many different decisions … So if you want to learn how to actually live the Catholic faith, I think the Catechism in a year will really help you to understand what the Church teaches, why it teaches what it teaches, how it builds off Scripture, and how to actually implement everything that the Bible teaches in your life today … We’re [also] using a special edition of the Catechism that Ascension got permission to publish by the USCCB.
Max: What’s one thing you would say to a student at BC who’s interested in growing deeper in the Catholic faith?
Alejandra: Definitely take advantage of the Sacraments. It’s such a blessing to be able to go to Mass on campus and BC offers Mass several times a day … just encountering God in the Eucharist whether that’s Mass or Adoration, is just in my opinion the best way to cultivate a relationship with God, because He’s truly present in the Eucharist and so if you’re seeking God and seeking a relationship with Him, just run towards the Sacraments, where He makes Himself known to us and then find friends who will run along with you in your faith journey, so don’t do it alone, find friends, get involved with whatever group … Don’t be afraid to go against the current, it can be challenging to be Catholic on a college campus, even a Catholic university and so just cling onto Christ and don’t be afraid to pursue Him even if it makes you stand out, because you’re made to stand out.
Max Montana is a senior studying philosophy and theology. When not writing for The Torch, he enjoys reading more about the Catholic faith and philosophy, serving the unborn and mothers in need, and hanging out with friends. Max is honored to hail from the state with many gators and the bishop of the moon: Florida.
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