PODCAST · religion
The Walk
by Fr. Roderick Vonhögen
A weekly walk with Fr. Roderick during which he shares his thoughts as a priest on the struggles and challenges as well as the joys and surprises of day-to-day life.
Episodes
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My Fantasy Novel Sent Me Back to Seminary
Today, I ran into some parishioners while walking in the woods. “I thought you were going to be in Ireland,” they said. So did I. For months, October had been blocked out in my calendar as my writing month. The original plan was to travel to Ireland, move from hostel to hostel, walk for hours…
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I Think I’m Suffering From Time Travel Whiplash
I think I might be suffering from time travel whiplash. A couple of days ago, I spent most of an afternoon editing a podcast I had recorded at the Elfia fantasy festival in Arcen two weeks earlier. The recording had gone badly wrong. My ancient audio recorder had apparently decided that fifteen...
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I’m Excited to Be Writing Again
October has finally arrived, and I’ve been looking forward to it for quite some time. I deliberately cleared as much as possible from my calendar. No big recording trips. No looming podcast deadlines. No administrative projects. For once, I want most of my days to revolve around one thing…
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You Don't Have to Finish Everything You Start
At the beginning of this year, I decided I was going to read 100 books. It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. I’d read even more than that in previous years, and although I knew 2026 would be busy, surely I could manage 100? We are now approaching October. I recently looked at my Goodreads...
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How to deal with a disturbance in the Force
I knew exactly what I wanted to work on this week. I was going to continue rewriting my fantasy novel. I had made some good progress on the worldbuilding and the magic system, and I was finally getting back into a rhythm. Then a letter arrived from the Dutch tax authorities. Our non-profit...
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What Season of Life Are You In?
One of the unexpected gifts of this past week didn’t happen while writing my novel or recording a podcast. It happened while walking through the woods. As autumn slowly announces itself here in the Netherlands, the first mushrooms are appearing among the fallen branches. They’re easy to miss, but...
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Back in Medieval Ireland
Home again Every weekday morning this week, I’ve found myself back in early medieval Ireland. The morning mist still hangs over the valley as monks make their way across the monastery grounds. The bell has just called the community to prayer. In the scriptorium, novices bend over their desks,...
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The Version of Me That Doesn't Exist
A decluttering expert said something this week that I haven't been able to get out of my head.We often buy things not for the person we are today, but for the person we hope to become. Running shoes for the future athlete. A bread machine for the baker who’s definitely going to make fresh…
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The Story Underneath the Story
This week I finally began preparing the rewrite of my novel. Over the past year I’ve recorded hundreds of voice notes whenever an idea appeared, while walking through the woods, riding my bike or making dinner. Most of them last less than a minute. A better ending to a scene. A new character. A...
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The Eclipse That Measured My Life
When a partial solar eclipse became visible across Europe this week, I grabbed the most sophisticated piece of scientific equipment I own. A kitchen colander. I’d read that the tiny holes work like a pinhole camera, projecting dozens of miniature eclipses onto a sheet of white paper. It sounded...
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I Didn't Expect to Fall in Love Again
On Sunday afternoon at the Castlefest fantasy festival, I made a last-minute decision. I’d already spent the previous day interviewing authors for my new Dutch podcast, Fantasyfans.nl. Instead of recording more conversations, I decided to spend the rest of the festival making a short documentary....
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Too Many Good Ideas
Every creative life has one problem that success doesn’t solve. Sometimes it actually makes it worse. Earlier this week, I found myself looking at my calendar with a growing sense of unease. It should have been a quiet week. After walking two hundred kilometres during the Nijmegen Four Days...
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For Four Days, the World Felt Different
For four days, I walked fifty kilometres a day. I came home with sore feet, very little sleep, and a renewed faith in people. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. By Friday afternoon, every step hurt. After four...
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The Camino Didn't End in Santiago
When I arrived in Santiago de Compostela two months ago, I assumed the journey was over. I’d recorded forty podcast episodes along the way, filled my phone with hundreds of photos, and written a short diary entry every evening before going to bed. Surely that would be enough to remember what had...
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Learning to Stop
On Monday evening, I finally uploaded the first chapter of my Camino book. By the time I’d published the accompanying newsletter and shared it online, it was already half past ten. I stared at the clock with mixed feelings. Not because the chapter had taken longer than expected, but because I’d...
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Time Traveling Through Ireland and Scotland
This morning, I found myself back in Ireland on top of a cliff at the end of the Pilgrim’s Path in County Donegal. A little later I wandered through the Scottish Highlands near Ullapool. By the afternoon I was standing inside a medieval chapel in Brittany, listening to the echoes of footsteps…
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What the Camino Taught Me About Writing
In this episode I record during a historic Dutch heatwave, on a day officially marked as code red. I talk about waking up at five to cool the house, improvising sun‑blocking with bedsheets, and trying to adapt to temperatures that feel increasingly normal in a changing climate. I explain why I...
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The Walk - The Joy of Missing Out
This week I take an evening walk through the woods during a heatwave and reflect on a surprising decision: skipping one of my favorite events of the year. Comic Con Holland was happening just down the road. Friends were there. Authors I admire were there. Under normal circumstances, I would have...
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The Walk - The Question That Changed My Week
This week I'm reflecting on something that many creative people struggle with: what happens when motivation disappears. After several busy weeks filled with podcast production, events, travel, administration, and a growing backlog of unfinished tasks, I found myself dealing with fatigue, brain…
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The Walk - Momentum Before Motivation
For a long time, I thought that progress depended on inspiration. If only I felt more motivated. If only I had more energy. If only I could find a few uninterrupted days to focus on the things that matter most. But the older I get, the more I discover that meaningful work is rarely built on...
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The Walk - What Happens When You Challenge Your Own Beliefs?
For most of us, it happens without us noticing. Our world slowly becomes smaller. The people we follow think like us. The news we read confirms what we already believe. The conversations we have rarely challenge our assumptions. Social media is especially good at creating that kind of comfortable...
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The Walk - The Pressure That Finally Caught Up With Me
Last week I found myself doing something I haven’t done in a long time. Instead of working on the mountain of deadlines waiting for me, I disappeared into video games for three days straight. On paper, that made no sense at all. I had twenty-two podcast episodes still to produce, unanswered…
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The Walk - Imagination Is Not Escapism
Some weeks feel like spring sunlight breaking through the trees. Other weeks feel like standing in the hail with your hands in your pockets, wondering why everything suddenly turned cold again. This past week felt like both at the same time. After returning from the Camino, I found myself...
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The Walk - Returning to Work After the Camino
Coming home from the Camino felt stranger than I expected. Not because I missed the walking itself, but because I suddenly had to switch back into a life full of deadlines, obligations and screens. After weeks of spending my days outdoors, telling stories while walking through forests and…
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The Walk - What the Camino Taught Me
I didn’t expect the hardest part of the Camino to come after I got home. A week after arriving in Santiago de Compostela, I found myself walking again, this time through familiar surroundings. Same blue sky. Same rhythm. But everything felt… different. During the Camino, life was simple. Walk,...
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The Walk - My Camino Week 4
The arrival at Santiago de Compostela. Get full access to Father Roderick at fatherroderick.substack.com/subscribe
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The Walk - My Camino Week 3
My thoughts on the third week of my Camino. Get full access to Father Roderick at fatherroderick.substack.com/subscribe
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The Walk - My Camino Week 2
My impressions on the second week of my Camino to Santiago de Compostela. Get full access to Father Roderick at fatherroderick.substack.com/subscribe
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The Walk - My Camino Week 1
My impressions on the first week of my Camino to Santiago de Compostela. Get full access to Father Roderick at fatherroderick.substack.com/subscribe
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The Walk - Preparing for my Second Camino
I’m getting ready for a trip that feels both exciting and slightly overwhelming: I'm going to walk my second Camino to Santiago de Compostela! There’s a long list of things that need to be done, deadlines that don’t move, and a body and mind that are already feeling the pressure. Normally, this...
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The Walk - Finding Peace in What I Choose Not to Do
Lately, I’ve been noticing a deeper question underneath everything I do. Not just how I plan my days, or how I manage my energy, but something more fundamental: can I actually trust the rhythm of my life? Because if I’m honest, I often try to control it. I plan, I push, I expect myself to…
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The Walk - Don’t Let the News Steal Your Hope
The news has been heavy lately. Every day brings new reports about the war in Iran, images of destruction, and stories of people whose lives are suddenly turned upside down. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by it. In this episode I reflect on what it means to stay attentive to that suffering…
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The Walk - Between Doomscrolling and Escapism
Sometimes the world feels like a constant stream of urgency. News updates, deadlines, expectations, and worries about things far beyond our control. In this episode, recorded during a quiet walk through the woods on a bright spring day, I reflect on how easy it is to get pulled into that…
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The Walk - When Protecting Your Evenings Changes Everything
The birds are loud again. The days are getting brighter. And somewhere between winter and spring, I’ve made a decision that is changing everything. In this week’s episode, I talk about something very simple: stopping at five. No more “just one more thing.” No more evenings that slowly dissolve…
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The Walk - Lent Without Pressure: Rebalancing Life in Forty Days
On the verge of Lent, I found myself asking a different question than usual. Not, what big project can I launch, or how can I make these forty days impressive, but what actually needs rebalancing in my life right now? The past few months taught me that enthusiasm and overcommitment can look very...
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The Walk - The Boundary Experiment That Changed My Week
A few weeks ago, I could feel it in my body before I fully admitted it to myself. My blood pressure was up. My sleep was fragmented. Even at night, my brain was on orange alert. And during the day, I had this nagging feeling that I was living for work instead of working so I could live . On…
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The Walk - What Happens When You Actually Slow Down
This week, I realized something I didn’t expect: doing less can actually help you do more. After weeks of high blood pressure and creeping exhaustion, I finally took a step back to reevaluate how I work. With the help of an AI coach, I started looking at the patterns behind my stress. What…
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The Walk - How My Body Forced Me to Listen
This week might quietly become one of the most important of the entire year. Not because of a big success or dramatic moment, but because something inside me finally shifted. After weeks of pushing myself beyond the limit to finish a major podcast project, I crashed—hard. My sleep was awful. I...
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The Walk - What January Taught Me About Recovery
I had a clear plan for January. It was going to be my month to get away, take a writing retreat, change my surroundings, and recharge after the intense December production sprint. Instead, I stayed home. And I worked. Hard. The new daily podcast about saints has been very well received, which I’m...
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The Walk - One Week to Save My Month
This week, I finished something I didn’t think was possible: I wrote 20 podcast scripts in just a few days. That’s about 25,000 words. I recorded and edited a dozen of them. I skipped walks, meals, sleep. I pulled the lever on the Millennium Falcon and went full hyperfocus. But this post isn’t a...
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The Walk - The Crunch of Snow and the Start of Something New
On the Feast of the Epiphany, I kicked off my new daily Dutch podcast Heilige van de Dag with the first episode about the Magi. It’s a year-long journey, telling the stories of saints and martyrs—one per weekday. The project began with a simple idea: what if I could bring these sometimes dusty…
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The Walk - This Year Was Wild (But I’d Do It Again)
It’s the day before New Year’s Eve. I’m walking through the woods, watching my step—there’s still some sneaky patches of ice on the pavement. The sun is out, the air is crisp, and despite everything, I’m still going. Still walking. I never expected this year to be what it turned out to be. In…
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The Walk - This Christmas Feels Different
I don’t know what happened, but somehow, I’m ready for Christmas this year. Not the scrambling-at-the-last-minute kind of ready. Actually ready. The house is clean, the work is done, the pantry doors are closed on all the clutter—and I’m not hosting. That alone feels like a small miracle. I…
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The Walk - The Art of Doing Less (and Meaning More)
Every December, I tell myself the same story. That I’ll slow down. That I’ll spend my afternoons reading by the fire, catching up on the books I didn’t finish during the year. That I’ll rest, breathe, and maybe even enjoy doing nothing for a change. And every December, reality unfolds…
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The Walk - The Deadline, the Danger Light, and the Walk I Almost Skipped
I almost didn’t go outside to record this episode. I was sitting at my desk, staring at my to-do list, convincing myself that staying put was the responsible thing to do. After all, I had committed to finishing twenty scripts by the end of the week for a new podcast series about the saints. And I...
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The Walk - I’m Finally Allowed to Talk About It…
December is already wild, but this week has been next-level: I can finally reveal the huge project I’ve been hinting at. Starting January, I’ll be writing, narrating, and producing a daily podcast about the lives of the saints for the Dutch national broadcaster KRO-NCRV. This isn’t your typical...
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The Walk - The Advent Dilemma: One More Story or Take a Break?
It’s pitch dark outside as I’m recording this. Advent has begun, and while the Christmas lights sparkle on leafless trees, I’ve been working like a madman indoors—writing, pacing, writing some more. Because today, on the 30th of November, I did something I’ve never done before: I finished writing…
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The Walk - Sometimes, You Just Need a Potato Day
Today was a potato day. Not the comforting kind with blankets and movies, but the kind where your brain checks out and refuses to clock in. The kind of day where you sit at your desk and just can’t get into gear, no matter how many productivity tricks you try. I’ve had fewer of these days over…
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The Walk - This Time Last Year, I Didn’t Think I Could Do This
This week, the forest floor turned golden under my feet. The air was still, the sun low. One of those rare perfect fall days that remind you how good it is to be alive and outside. I’ve come to think of walking as a “non-negotiable”—something my body and mind need, like food or prayer. It’s my...
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The Walk - When Reality Hijacks Your Plans
This wasn’t the month I had in mind. Originally, I planned to be walking the windswept hills of Scotland on a writing retreat—journaling by candlelight, breathing in crisp air, and letting new stories rise up from silence and solitude. Instead, I’ve been home. At my desk. Every day. With the...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A weekly walk with Fr. Roderick during which he shares his thoughts as a priest on the struggles and challenges as well as the joys and surprises of day-to-day life.
HOSTED BY
Fr. Roderick Vonhögen
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Walk have?
The Walk currently has 383 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Walk about?
A weekly walk with Fr. Roderick during which he shares his thoughts as a priest on the struggles and challenges as well as the joys and surprises of day-to-day life.
How often does The Walk release new episodes?
The Walk publishes regularly with 383 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Walk?
You can listen to The Walk on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Walk?
The Walk is created and hosted by Fr. Roderick Vonhögen.
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