When Andrew Hansen, editor of the Catholic Times, sat down with Deacon Michael Halbrook this month, the conversation was less about a Catholic media company and more about the deeper questions underneath it - the domestic church, the Communion of Saints, and a moment during Adoration that made the whole leap possible.
The Diocese of Springfield's Catholic Times published the feature interview on July 23, 2026. It will appear in the August 2026 print edition of Catholic Times.
Andrew asked about the vision behind Domus Formation, the & Altar app, and the newer projects at Ordo: A Chronicle of Lux Perpetua and Two Lamps. The interview covers what Domus is, how it's different from other Catholic apps, and the theological weight behind each project.
The moment that runs underneath the whole conversation is what Deacon Michael calls the answer underneath all the other answers - the consecration of every project to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Christ the King Sunday, and the moment during Adoration in February when he heard:
"Silly. It's never been you that provided. It's always been me that provided."
Matthew 6 tells us that if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all we need will be provided. That is the trust underneath the leap into building Domus Formation full-time.
The interview also explores the vision behind Domus and the & Altar app - the domestic church taken seriously as a place of formation, and simplicity on purpose in a Catholic app market crowded with menus longer than the prayers.
On Ordo: A Chronicle of Lux Perpetua, Deacon Michael discusses what the story is actually about beneath the plot - what has been lost because we have thrown out the proper ordering of things, and what is restored when the right order is restored.
On Two Lamps, he names the doctrinal weight underneath the fiction - that the saints are our family, and fiction is one of the ways that distance closes.
For anyone sensing the Lord calling them higher - verso l'alto - Deacon Michael has a message at the end of the interview:
"He means it. He's good for it. Climb."
Read the full interview at the Catholic Times website or in the August 2026 print edition.
We are grateful to Andrew Hansen and Catholic Times for their care with this feature, and to the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois for the ongoing support of the work.
In fieri. Ad alta.