Footsteps of Faith: A Celtic Pilgrimage
National
A podcast about a group of Catholic education leaders on a pilgrimage through Ireland recently won three major international awards. Katie Spain chats to James Meston, the Adelaide man behind the emotive four-part mini-series.
Award-winning Footsteps of Faith: A Celtic Pilgrimage isn’t your average podcast. Listen for just a few minutes and you’re on an immersive journey through Ireland’s rugged landscape.
That’s exactly what producer James Meston, from Catholic Education South Australia’s educational podcasting and radio program Arch D intended.
How did a podcaster from Adelaide beat some of the world’s best audio producers at their own game? Through thoughtfully crafted storytelling. That, and simply saying ‘yes’.
James had just finished a day of recording and podcasting with students at St Mary’s College when he received a phone call from Dr Jill Goudie, director of Catholic Education South Australia – Catholic Identity and Mission, in 2025.
“The first thing she said when I picked up was, ‘James, are you sitting down?’”
The second was to ask James to accompany 18 Catholic education leaders on a pilgrimage through sacred sites in Ireland.
“And would I like to come along and create a podcast series about it?”
The brief was simple: create a piece that communicates the transformational, human side of the experience for people who might not otherwise imagine themselves on such a journey.
Footsteps
Two weeks later he was on a plane, looking down at rural Ireland’s patchwork of green fields and stone walls. It was June 2025, 180 years since the founding of the first Catholic school in South Australia.
“So many schools that had been established traced their roots directly back to religious orders that had trekked from Ireland since the late 1800s,” James says in the podcast’s first episode.
Once they landed, the group’s Australian host, Paul Skippen set the tone.
“Welcome to a journey that’s not just across seas and skies, but deep into the soul of our shared story,” Paul said. “For the next 12 days, we’re not just tourists; we’re pilgrims, and pilgrims travel differently. A holiday is about escape, but a pilgrimage is about encounter.”
With more than 25 pilgrimages under his belt, Paul knows they can be unsettling.
“And that’s a good thing,” he says on the podcast. “We’re not here simply to look at the beautiful stone buildings, but to hear the heartbeat within them. Not to tick off sights, but to honour the footsteps of the women and men who left everything here to come to something there; in Catholic schools and communities across South Australia, in dusty towns and coastal settlements, with very little except the fire of faith. Now, you are the living legacy of those who said yes.”
The land the group traversed is holy ground.
“Not just because this land is Saint Patrick, Bridget, and Columban, but because it birthed the Christian Brothers, the Sisters of Mercy, the Dominicans, the Presentation Sisters,” Paul says. “Courageous religious orders that crossed oceans, uncertain, unarmed, yet carrying the gospel in their bones. They didn’t go for an adventure, they went for mission. They went because they believed that education, Catholic education, was not just about information, but about transformation.”
To reveal what happens next would be unfair to the podcast narrative. But what unfolds is a story about 18 different people who had unique personal experiences.
“I wanted listeners to feel like they’re there,” he says.
As the pilgrims embarked on the sacred route he captured hushed conversations, raw moments of awe, ambient sounds, and even tears (including his).
James captured it all and for his efforts Footsteps of Faith: A Celtic Pilgrimage won three global awards at the recent New York City Podcast Awards.
Footsteps of Faith was up against the likes of the University of California, and audio powerhouses The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) and CBC Canada.
The awards are a big deal, largely because they are judged on quality and craft rather than download numbers or celebrity reach.
The ceremony was held at Bravo Studios in Manhattan and James watched on from Australia online, in his dressing gown due to the international time difference.
His humble South Australian podcast came away with awards for Best Education Podcast, Best Personal Growth and Spirituality Podcast, and Best Editing.
James was as surprised as he was thrilled.
“The podcast was made for a smaller audience,” James says. “So I put it in without any real expectation that it was ever going to get anywhere.”
This is typical of the humility for which James is known and respected for in work and in life.
The immersive four-episode experience is testament to the power of great storytelling. James manages to make the listener feel as though they’re on the pilgrimage; each step of the way.
He hopes the international awards inspires the Catholic education students he works with.
“It gives you that air of legitimacy,” he says.
“I can go out into schools now and say…these are the professional skills that you can use in the future to make your own podcasts.”
Footsteps of Faith: A Celtic Pilgrimage is a reminder that calm, carefully executed storytelling has the potential to resonate deeply. James says it’s not about striving for download numbers.
“If 100 people listen and then five people decide they’re going to do the pilgrimage, that’s a win.”
Find Footsteps of Faith: A Celtic Pilgrimage at linktr.ee/archdradio
