Sometimes it seems God steers us along a particular path, guiding our hearts and preparing us for what will become our life's work. That's what I thought, talking with Peter Atkinson about how he founded the Merry Beggars, the entertainment division of Catholic broadcaster Relevant Radio.
From Homeschool to Shakespeare
Atkinson was homeschooled, he explained, but his family banded together with other homeschool families to form a theater troupe. So, the performing arts were a part of his curriculum from his earliest years.
As an undergrad at Ave Maria University, he majored in the classics, studying Shakespeare, both in London and in Massachusetts.
He applied and was accepted into Columbia University's Master of Fine Arts program in New York City. Upon graduation, Atkinson ended up teaching high school and founding a Shakespeare program for high-school students.
But his exposure to the professional acting scene and the professional drama scene, while it prepared Atkinson for a career in entertainment, also engendered in him a certain wariness.
“I knew,” he explained, “that it was not the most friendly environment for someone who wanted to be a faithful Catholic.”
Atkinson realized that he would need to either (a) abandon the desire that he had to go into that industry; or (b) create a safe space for himself.
“I needed to create a space for someone like me to exist,” he said. “That is, I needed to create a space where one could be totally on fire as a Christian, as a Catholic, and also totally committed to being a 'creative,' to being an artist.”
The Creation of the Merry Beggars
While still a student at Columbia University, Atkinson founded the Merry Beggars. In its earliest stages, it was simply a nonprofit, with a mission to heal the culture.
The Merry Beggars offered staged readings, and had planned a conference –- a means of networking for artists. But when COVID struck, shutting down theaters and public forums, Atkinson resorted to producing audio dramas.
“We pivoted to producing these shows called the Quarantine Place,” he said. “Everyone was locked in our homes, experiencing a weird monastic existence. So we launched a contest! We said, 'Playwrights, whoever you are: Write a ten-minute play in response to the theme of quarantine, which is a great prop!'”
Atkinson was surprised that, within a couple of weeks, his challenge had brought in more than 120 short plays from wannabe playwrights.
“Most of them were terrible,” he admitted, “but we found about twelve plays that we thought were really good, and we produced those as audio dramas.”
Union With Relevant Radio
One of the first scripts that caught Peter's attention was a story called “I Do Like the Rain,” by Kiley Hatch. It recounted the story of a young couple who were traveling with their kids, going to see the in-laws.
Atkinson explained, “The whole drama of marriage and family life and tension and the covenant of marriage – it all plays out in a really human way in this ten-minute radio drama!”
Atkinson produced “I Do Like the Rain,” and the drama was well received; in fact, it came to the attention of Father Rocky Hoffman, Executive Director/CEO of Relevant Radio.
Father Rocky called Peter and invited him to come to work with Relevant Radio. At first Peter was reluctant, explaining that he hoped to grow his own company; but three months later, Merry Beggars had merged with Relevant Radio -– producing original shows which aired on more than 200 radio stations nationwide.
Telling Stories for the Whole Family
Atkinson's vision for a family-friendly broadcast has continued to expand.
His project “The Christmas Carol,” a 25-episode retelling of Charles Dickens' classic story, ranked #1 among fiction podcasts across America.
The biggest collection of stories on Merry Beggars is “The Saints” –- with 33 new stories planned for release in 2025, bringing the project to more than 300 episodes in all.
“We follow what I call a Pixar model,” Atkinson said, explaining how his episodes appeal to even young children.
“We try not to have too many mature themes, and we include nothing that's overly gruesome or explicit. We write so that it's accessible for children; we found that our 'sweet spot' is middle school, ages 9 and 10; but the themes are profound enough and smart enough so that adults can really enjoy them, too.
"And we've found that senior citizens love the series! They love the nostalgia of a radio drama, and they love that there's a sense of hope around their faith.”
Profiling the Saints
Atkinson ranked the episodes on Joan of Arc among his favorites in “The Saints.” The story begins and ends with Joan singing the Magnificat. As a young girl, she weaves flower crowns with her mother; and then she gets pulled into a war.
Atkinson was grateful to the writer, Kiley Hatch, for depicting Joan not as a rebellious feminist, as do many modern-day productions, but as an absolutely feminine woman who had surrendered to God and was willing to go where God called her, even where devils fear to tread.
Among the saints whose stories in the Merry Beggars' line-up for 2025 are well-known holy heroes like St. Cecilia, Padre Pio and St. Dominic, as well as lesser-known saints, including Jeanne Jugan, a French religious sister who served the elderly poor; and St. Roch, patron of dogs, invalids, falsely accused people, and bachelors.
Atkinson named four other saints whose stories will be published in 2025, and which are likely to be popular with listeners: Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer and conscientious objector during World War II; Isidore the Farmer, patron of farmers and rural communities; Martin de Porres, patron of social justice, racial harmony, and mixed-race people; and Father Emil Kapaun, Catholic priest from Kansas and a U.S. Army captain who served as an army chaplain during World War II and the Korean War.
More Than Just Saints
Merry Beggars has much more to offer. Besides the 100 episodes of The Saints currently available on the website, there are 21 episodes of Night Train, an exciting race across America aboard the Midnight Express.
There are heartwarming Christmas stories, and 12 of the original ten-minute “Quarantine Plays.”
Atkinson added that he hopes to add an educational program which diocesan schools, private schools and public schools can use, offering the stories from Merry Beggars to educate people about the history and the beauty and the witnesses of the Catholic faith.
He envisions a Vacation Bible School program for parishes to use, based on the lives of the saints; and he's developing a series of trading cards, each one focused on a saint and including a biography, a prayer, and a map of his/her life.
Merry Beggars is also working with Catholics in Tanzania, Africa, to begin translating the scripts for use in their schools.
And for those who have fallen in love with the Merry Beggars series, there is more to come. Atkinson is preparing new content for 2026, including a Biblical series which is already in development.
Image: Courtesy The Merry Beggars/Relevant Radio
Kathy Schiffer writes regularly for the National Catholic Register and Catholic World Report, and for other Catholic publications, including Evangelization and Culture, Crisis Magazine, Aleteia, Zenit, the Michigan Catholic, and Legatus Magazine. She’s worked for Catholic and other Christian ministries since 1988, as radio producer, director of special events, and media-relations coordinator.
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