“One of the best places to cultivate a Catholic worldview in the hearts and minds of young people … is in the backcountry,” writes Fr. John Nepil in his recent release, To Heights and unto Depths.
Fr. Nepil, who has led dozens of group treks through the mountains of Colorado and said Mass atop every fourteener in the state, joins us to talk about adventure and a young man’s theological education. The backcountry, he says, is rich in lessons of creation, dependence, suffering, and beauty—restoring our sense of being created and loved by a self-giving God.
Chapters:
5:18 What draws us to the mountains
9:04 “Nature” vs. “creation”
13:16 Fatherhood
16:00 Dependence
20:44 Cultivating a worldview
25:54 Guiding the conversation (or not)
28:13 Redemptive suffering
31:23 Starting with beauty
38:59 Physical vs. metaphysical limits
46:46 Men doing hard things together
48:29 The backstory of the book
50:39 A habit of reading
Links:
To Heights and unto Depths by Fr. John Nepil
Rethinking Mary in the New Testament by Edward “Ted” Sri
Daughter Zion: Meditations on the Church’s Marian Belief by Joseph Ratzinger
Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton
Also on the Forum:
Why We Go: Seven Benefits of the Backcountry by Elias Naegele
The Way of Encounter by Joe Breslin
Why We Need Exposure to Nature by Eric Heil
Featured Opportunities:
Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)