A BRIEF TIMELINE OF THE APOSTOLATE

2000

  • Programmed by Deacon Joshua LeBlanc cyberCatholics.com launches as a web portal for Catholic seminarians. One of the first blogs on the internet for Catholics. (Of course, they didn’t call it a “blog” then.)

  • (Then seminarian) Fr. Chris launches a webcomic “The Road to Emmaus” drawn and written by him.

2001-2002

  • “The Road to Emmaus” is found by a German Catholic website who dubbs Fr. Chris’ comic part of “the Catholic underground” Liking the name, Fr. Chris registers the catholicunderground.com domain.

  • Fr. Ryan Humphries and Fr. Chris Decker (then seminarians) brainstorm possible projects under the “Catholic Underground” banner. Ideas include a priest-portal, an interactive liturgical calendar, and weblog community.

2004

  • A meeting takes place at a coffee house between Fr. Chris, Fr. Ryan, Deacon Joshua, and Daniel Kedinger, in which a casual conversation about a shared like for technology and its usefulness in learning, defending, and evangelizing the Catholic Faith.

2006

  • Catholic Underground launches as an audio podcast about the intersection between faith and technology.

  • The podcast is hosted live at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Baton Rouge, LA, while Fr. Chris served there for his diaconate internship.

2008

  • The Catholic Underground incorporates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Any donations are tax-deductible.

2010

  • The Catholic Underground begins a video webcast.

2011

  • The Catholic Underground organizes and hosts CatholiCon Expo 2011 in Houston, TX, to begin to "think tank" some of the issues facing the Catholic Church and its use of technology.

2012

  • The Catholic Underground begins to broadcast its live weekly webcast from Catholic Community Radio in Baton Rouge, LA. It is available on radio, on the Catholic Underground live stream, and on the Catholic Community Radio webstream.

  • The Catholic Underground announces “The CU Later Show” which is the webcast version of the podcast that continues after the radio show ends. (This was discontinued in favor of “The CU Earlier” which takes place 30 minutes before the radio show begins.)

2013

  • The Catholic Underground webcast goes on the air in The Diocese of Baton Rouge on Catholic Life Television.

  • The Catholic Underground begins its live weekly broadcast on YouTube Live.

2015

  • The Catholic Underground moves to new permanent studio facilities in Baton Rouge with Catholic Community Radio. (Previously, the studio was in Fr. Chris' bedroom!)

2016

  • The Catholic Underground goes on the air with CatholicTV, placing it in major U.S. cities.

  • The Catholic Undergound goes on the air with Telecare Television (now the Catholic Faith Network in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.