The Joyful Friar – Details, episodes & analysis
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The Joyful Friar
Father Nathan Castle, O.P.
Frequency: 1 episode/7d. Total Eps: 188

The Joyful Friar Podcast explores the soulful, the meaningful, and the mystical in three different ways. First, Afterlife, Interrupted stories, in which someone who died suddenly and traumatically seeks my help and the help of my prayer partners.
Second, Compassionate Responses, to readers’ and listeners’ questions and concerns that arise from those stories. And third, Spiritual Practices, influenced by the Catholic Christian tradition I’ve been shaped by that reveal how goodness is at work throughout the universe and within each of us.
Each episode reveals insights about living in the present with faith and joyful hope. Be inspired to more fully receive, magnify, and share love.
www.nathan-castle.com
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Publication history
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Spiritual Practice: Pete, Angel Marco and Erik
Season 4 · Episode 163
mardi 16 décembre 2025 • Duration 37:37
Fr. Nathan shares the spiritual practices arising from the story of Pete, Angel Marco, and Erik. This story is new and being heard here for the first time, and it is not included in any of the "Afterlife, Interrupted" book series.
Click this link and let us know what you love about The Joyful Friar Podcast!
Connect with Father Nathan Castle, O.P.:
http://www.nathan-castle.com
https://www.facebook.com/fathernathancastle
https://www.youtube.com/c/FatherNathanGCastleOP
Listen to the podcast: https://apple.co/3ssA9b5
Purchase books: https://tinyurl.com/34bhp2t4
Donate: https://nathan-castle.com/donate
My Dominican brothers and I live a vow of poverty. That means we hold our goods in common. If you enjoy this podcast, please donate https://nathan-castle.com/donate. 501©3 of the Western Dominican Province.
Father Nathan Castle, O.P., is a Dominican Friar, author, podcast host, and retreat leader. Over the past 27 years, his unique ministry rooted in the Catholic Church's mystical tradition has helped more than 700 souls transition from one afterlife plane to a more joyful one. Father Nathan believes that providing such help is something the Holy Spirit has given him and his prayer partners to do.
Theme music: Derek Gust
Compassionate Response: Pete, Angel Marco and Erik
Season 4 · Episode 162
mardi 9 décembre 2025 • Duration 28:45
Fr. Nathan shares the compassionate responses to the story of Pete, Angel Marco, and Erik. This story is new and being heard here for the first time, and it is not included in any of the "Afterlife, Interrupted" book series.
Click this link and let us know what you love about The Joyful Friar Podcast!
Connect with Father Nathan Castle, O.P.:
http://www.nathan-castle.com
https://www.facebook.com/fathernathancastle
https://www.youtube.com/c/FatherNathanGCastleOP
Listen to the podcast: https://apple.co/3ssA9b5
Purchase books: https://tinyurl.com/34bhp2t4
Donate: https://nathan-castle.com/donate
My Dominican brothers and I live a vow of poverty. That means we hold our goods in common. If you enjoy this podcast, please donate https://nathan-castle.com/donate. 501©3 of the Western Dominican Province.
Father Nathan Castle, O.P., is a Dominican Friar, author, podcast host, and retreat leader. Over the past 27 years, his unique ministry rooted in the Catholic Church's mystical tradition has helped more than 700 souls transition from one afterlife plane to a more joyful one. Father Nathan believes that providing such help is something the Holy Spirit has given him and his prayer partners to do.
Theme music: Derek Gust
Afterlife, Interrupted: Lupe, Angel Shelley, and Jane Stanford
Season 4 · Episode 152
mardi 7 octobre 2025 • Duration 35:00
Fr. Nathan introduces us to college student Lupe, Angel Shelley, and Jane Stanford. This story is in Afterlife, Interrupted Book Three: Please Let Me Explain, available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/bIai64v
*Warning: this episode discusses suicide.
Click this link and let us know what you love about The Joyful Friar Podcast!
Connect with Father Nathan Castle, O.P.:
http://www.nathan-castle.com
https://www.facebook.com/fathernathancastle
https://www.youtube.com/c/FatherNathanGCastleOP
Listen to the podcast: https://apple.co/3ssA9b5
Purchase books: https://tinyurl.com/34bhp2t4
Donate: https://nathan-castle.com/donate
My Dominican brothers and I live a vow of poverty. That means we hold our goods in common. If you enjoy this podcast, please donate https://nathan-castle.com/donate. 501©3 of the Western Dominican Province.
Father Nathan Castle, O.P., is a Dominican Friar, author, podcast host, and retreat leader. Over the past 27 years, his unique ministry rooted in the Catholic Church's mystical tradition has helped more than 700 souls transition from one afterlife plane to a more joyful one. Father Nathan believes that providing such help is something the Holy Spirit has given him and his prayer partners to do.
Theme music: Derek Gust
Finding Joy with Guest: Dr. Bruce Greyson
Season 2 · Episode 63
mardi 16 janvier 2024 • Duration 40:20
Fr. Nathan discusses Dr. Bruce Greyson's research work on near-death experiences.
Dr. Bruce Greyson is the Chester Carlson Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. He was previously on the medical faculty at the University of Michigan and the University of Connecticut, where he was Clinical Chief of Psychiatry. Dr. Greyson has consulted with the National Institutes of Health and addressed symposia on consciousness at the United Nations and at the Dalai Lama’s compound in Dharamsala, India. He has earned awards for his medical research and was elected a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, the highest honor bestowed by that organization.
Dr. Greyson’s interest in near-death experiences began just a few months after graduating from medical school, when he treated an unconscious patient in the emergency room who stunned him the next morning with an account of leaving her body. That event challenged his beliefs about the mind and the brain, and ultimately led him on a journey to study near-death experiences scientifically, leading to more than a hundred publications in medical journals. He co-founded the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), an organization to support and promote research into these experiences, and for 27 years edited the Journal of Near-Death Studies, the only scholarly journal dedicated to near-death research. Through his research, he has discovered common and universal themes in near-death experiences that go beyond neurophysiological or cultural interpretations, as well as patterns of consistent aftereffects on individuals’ attitudes, beliefs, values, and personalities.
Dr. Greyson is the author of After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond. The book challenges our everyday ideas about our minds and our brains and offers key insights on how we can begin to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
https://www.brucegreyson.com
Click this link and let us know what you love about The Joyful Friar Podcast!
Connect with Father Nathan Castle, O.P.:
http://www.nathan-castle.com
https://www.facebook.com/fathernathancastle
https://www.youtube.com/c/FatherNathanGCastleOP
Listen to the podcast: https://apple.co/3ssA9b5
Purchase books: https://tinyurl.com/34bhp2t4
Donate: https://nathan-castle.com/donate
My Dominican brothers and I live a vow of poverty. That means we hold our goods in common. If you enjoy this podcast, please donate https://nathan-castle.com/donate. 501©3 of the Western Dominican Province.
Father Nathan Castle, O.P., is a Dominican Friar, author, podcast host, and retreat leader. Over the past 27 years, his unique ministry rooted in the Catholic Church's mystical tradition has helped more than 700 souls transition from one afterlife plane to a more joyful one. Father Nathan believes that providing such help is something the Holy Spirit has given him and his prayer partners to do.
Theme music: Derek Gust
Spiritual Practice: Tony, "The Floating Anthony's" and Tinkerbell.
Season 2 · Episode 62
mardi 9 janvier 2024 • Duration 22:21
Fr. Nathan discusses the spiritual practices that arise from the story of Tony, "The Floating Anthony's" and Tinkerbell. Told in greater detail in “Afterlife, Interrupted Book Three: Please Let Me Explain.”
Click this link and let us know what you love about The Joyful Friar Podcast!
Connect with Father Nathan Castle, O.P.:
http://www.nathan-castle.com
https://www.facebook.com/fathernathancastle
https://www.youtube.com/c/FatherNathanGCastleOP
Listen to the podcast: https://apple.co/3ssA9b5
Purchase books: https://tinyurl.com/34bhp2t4
Donate: https://nathan-castle.com/donate
My Dominican brothers and I live a vow of poverty. That means we hold our goods in common. If you enjoy this podcast, please donate https://nathan-castle.com/donate. 501©3 of the Western Dominican Province.
Father Nathan Castle, O.P., is a Dominican Friar, author, podcast host, and retreat leader. Over the past 27 years, his unique ministry rooted in the Catholic Church's mystical tradition has helped more than 700 souls transition from one afterlife plane to a more joyful one. Father Nathan believes that providing such help is something the Holy Spirit has given him and his prayer partners to do.
Theme music: Derek Gust
Compassionate Response: Tony, "The Floating Anthony's" and Tinkerbell.
Season 2 · Episode 61
mardi 2 janvier 2024 • Duration 27:58
Fr. Nathan shares the compassionate responses to Tony, "The Floating Anthony's" and Tinkerbell. Told in greater detail in "Afterlife, Interrupted Book Three: Please Let Me Explain."
Click this link and let us know what you love about The Joyful Friar Podcast!
Connect with Father Nathan Castle, O.P.:
http://www.nathan-castle.com
https://www.facebook.com/fathernathancastle
https://www.youtube.com/c/FatherNathanGCastleOP
Listen to the podcast: https://apple.co/3ssA9b5
Purchase books: https://tinyurl.com/34bhp2t4
Donate: https://nathan-castle.com/donate
My Dominican brothers and I live a vow of poverty. That means we hold our goods in common. If you enjoy this podcast, please donate https://nathan-castle.com/donate. 501©3 of the Western Dominican Province.
Father Nathan Castle, O.P., is a Dominican Friar, author, podcast host, and retreat leader. Over the past 27 years, his unique ministry rooted in the Catholic Church's mystical tradition has helped more than 700 souls transition from one afterlife plane to a more joyful one. Father Nathan believes that providing such help is something the Holy Spirit has given him and his prayer partners to do.
Theme music: Derek Gust
Afterlife, Interrupted: Tony, "The Floating Anthony's" and Tinkerbell
Season 2 · Episode 60
mardi 26 décembre 2023 • Duration 22:07
Fr. Nathan introduces us to Tony, "The Floating Anthony's" and Tinkerbell. Told in greater detail in "Afterlife, Interrupted Book Three: Please Let Me Explain"
Click this link and let us know what you love about The Joyful Friar Podcast!
Connect with Father Nathan Castle, O.P.:
http://www.nathan-castle.com
https://www.facebook.com/fathernathancastle
https://www.youtube.com/c/FatherNathanGCastleOP
Listen to the podcast: https://apple.co/3ssA9b5
Purchase books: https://tinyurl.com/34bhp2t4
Donate: https://nathan-castle.com/donate
My Dominican brothers and I live a vow of poverty. That means we hold our goods in common. If you enjoy this podcast, please donate https://nathan-castle.com/donate. 501©3 of the Western Dominican Province.
Father Nathan Castle, O.P., is a Dominican Friar, author, podcast host, and retreat leader. Over the past 27 years, his unique ministry rooted in the Catholic Church's mystical tradition has helped more than 700 souls transition from one afterlife plane to a more joyful one. Father Nathan believes that providing such help is something the Holy Spirit has given him and his prayer partners to do.
Theme music: Derek Gust
Finding Joy with Guest: Dr. Jan Holden
Season 2 · Episode 59
mardi 19 décembre 2023 • Duration 37:14
Fr. Nathan discusses Dr. Janice Miner Holden's research focus on counseling implications of near-death experiences, after-death communication, and other transpersonal experiences.
After earning her Doctor of Education degree in Counselor Education in 1988, Dr. Janice Miner Holden served 31 years on the University of North Texas (UNT) Counseling Program faculty—12 of those years as chair of the Department of Counseling & Higher Education. In 2019 she retired as professor emerita. Dr. Holden’s primary research focus has been near-death experiences, after-death communication, and other transpersonal experiences—those that transcend the usual personal limits of space, time, and identity. In this research area she has over 50 refereed journal publications and over 100 national and international presentations. She served as lead editor of the 2009 Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation, and she co-edited the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling’s (ASERVIC’s) 2017 Connecting Soul, Spirit, Mind, and Body: A Collection of Spiritual and Religious Perspectives and Practices in Counseling.
Dr. Holden currently serves as President of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), and since 2008 she has served as editor-in-chief of that association’s peer-reviewed scholarly Journal of Near-Death Studies. For her outstanding and sustained contributions to scholarly-creative activity, teaching, and service, she received the UNT Foundation’s 2019 Eminent Faculty Award. Today, Dr. Holden continues her role as a researcher, President of IANDS, Journal editor, graduate counseling adjunct instructor, and other scholarly activities. Through her various research endeavors, she often collaborates with Dr. Bruce Greyson, who is the leading scholar in the field of near-death studies.
Connect with Dr. Jan Holden
https://www.janholden.com/
Click this link and let us know what you love about The Joyful Friar Podcast!
Connect with Father Nathan Castle, O.P.:
http://www.nathan-castle.com
https://www.facebook.com/fathernathancastle
https://www.youtube.com/c/FatherNathanGCastleOP
Listen to the podcast: https://apple.co/3ssA9b5
Purchase books: https://tinyurl.com/34bhp2t4
Donate: https://nathan-castle.com/donate
My Dominican brothers and I live a vow of poverty. That means we hold our goods in common. If you enjoy this podcast, please donate https://nathan-castle.com/donate. 501©3 of the Western Dominican Province.
Father Nathan Castle, O.P., is a Dominican Friar, author, podcast host, and retreat leader. Over the past 27 years, his unique ministry rooted in the Catholic Church's mystical tradition has helped more than 700 souls transition from one afterlife plane to a more joyful one. Father Nathan believes that providing such help is something the Holy Spirit has given him and his prayer partners to do.
Theme music: Derek Gust
Christmas Part 2
Season 2 · Episode 58
mardi 12 décembre 2023 • Duration 44:32
Fr. Nathan discusses the two Christmas stories from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in this episode of The Joyful Frair Christmas Part 2.
Click this link and let us know what you love about The Joyful Friar Podcast!
Connect with Father Nathan Castle, O.P.:
http://www.nathan-castle.com
https://www.facebook.com/fathernathancastle
https://www.youtube.com/c/FatherNathanGCastleOP
Listen to the podcast: https://apple.co/3ssA9b5
Purchase books: https://tinyurl.com/34bhp2t4
Donate: https://nathan-castle.com/donate
My Dominican brothers and I live a vow of poverty. That means we hold our goods in common. If you enjoy this podcast, please donate https://nathan-castle.com/donate. 501©3 of the Western Dominican Province.
Father Nathan Castle, O.P., is a Dominican Friar, author, podcast host, and retreat leader. Over the past 27 years, his unique ministry rooted in the Catholic Church's mystical tradition has helped more than 700 souls transition from one afterlife plane to a more joyful one. Father Nathan believes that providing such help is something the Holy Spirit has given him and his prayer partners to do.
Theme music: Derek Gust
Christmas Part 1
Season 2 · Episode 57
mardi 5 décembre 2023 • Duration 45:21
Fr. Nathan discusses the two Christmas stories from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
Click this link and let us know what you love about The Joyful Friar Podcast!
Connect with Father Nathan Castle, O.P.:
http://www.nathan-castle.com
https://www.facebook.com/fathernathancastle
https://www.youtube.com/c/FatherNathanGCastleOP
Listen to the podcast: https://apple.co/3ssA9b5
Purchase books: https://tinyurl.com/34bhp2t4
Donate: https://nathan-castle.com/donate
My Dominican brothers and I live a vow of poverty. That means we hold our goods in common. If you enjoy this podcast, please donate https://nathan-castle.com/donate. 501©3 of the Western Dominican Province.
Father Nathan Castle, O.P., is a Dominican Friar, author, podcast host, and retreat leader. Over the past 27 years, his unique ministry rooted in the Catholic Church's mystical tradition has helped more than 700 souls transition from one afterlife plane to a more joyful one. Father Nathan believes that providing such help is something the Holy Spirit has given him and his prayer partners to do.
Theme music: Derek Gust









