Last week I was searching for Lord of the Rings related  podcasts in iTunes and I stumbled on a podcast called “The Secrets of the Lord of the Rings”. Attracted by the title, I started listening to episode 3 and was very much surprised. In a few hours of time i also listened to the previous 2 episodes. Today I saw another episode has been released and after finishing this article I’ll go and listen to it. So why all the excitement?First of all, the postcast is created by a Dutch Priest (who would suspect that?), secondly he takes us on a sightseeing trip through the online game “Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar” and stops playing once in a while and cover serious subjects. Never heard any podcaster actually playing and describing an on line game before ... it is a one of a kind podcast! While only four podcasts  sessions are available  it promises to become a lovely and interesting series. And one thing is sure, the episodes get better everytime.

Here is the info I gathered on this new Lord of the Rings Podcast:"The Secrets of the Lord of the Rings" is a thrilling audio podcast that takes listeners on a voyage through the mythological and religious themes that have made J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional work loved around the world.

It has been created by the Internet’s most popular portal for Catholic podcasts, the Star Quest Production Network (sqpn.com), and was launched on the same day as the online game “The Shadows of Angmar”.

Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, Catholic priest and host of the new podcast, says about the podcast:

"People continue to be intrigued by these stories and want to know more about the events, the characters, and the mythology of the world that Tolkien created, however, few people realize that the Lord of the Rings and other books by this great author are deeply rooted in Tolkien's Catholic faith."

In his works, Tolkien expresses fundamental themes like love and hate, selfishness and self-sacrifice, loyalty and betrayal, good and evil, and shows the Catholic perspective on these matters in a subtle and non-allegoric way. In this new podcast, I want to highlight these deeper layers of the mythology of Middle Earth."

So far the Lord of the Rings podcast, while hosted by a catholic priest, does not feel as ‘catholic’ propaganda. Same counts for the Lord of the Rings, written by a catholic, does not feel like ‘catholic’ (at first sight). Fr. Roderick clearly loves the online game, the books and has no intention to convert people towards Catholicism, he just talks about the fundamental themes, characters in a fun and amusing way!

Fr. Roderick is founder and CEO of SQPN inc., an international Catholic multimedia organization focusing on Catholic evangelization and education. Its website www.sqpn.com hosts nearly 30 catholic audio and video podcasts, and reaches a worldwide audience of an estimated 100,000 people.

Information and links to subscribe to "Secrets of the Lord of the Rings" can be found at sqpn.com, the home of the Star Quest Production Network.

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