About the Host/ Podcast

(The following is an article written by The Catholic Week of the Archdiocese of Mobile. A link to the article is left below)

Author: Rob Herbst

At an age when most teenagers are scrolling social media or listening to podcasts, 15-year-old Win Tapia is doing something different — he’s hosting one.
The sophomore at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School produces “The Tapout Podcast,” a faith-based podcast that explores Catholic teaching, vocations and questions about the faith. The podcast has already featured several priests from the Archdiocese of Mobile. Archbishop Mark S. Rivituso and Archbishop Emeritus Thomas J. Rodi have been guests and their episodes will drop in upcoming weeks.
The podcast has reached listeners far beyond Alabama. For Tapia, however, the podcast is about more than building an audience. It’s part of his effort to discern whether God may be calling him to the priesthood.
“I hope listeners find Christ,” he said.
The idea for a podcast began before it had a religious focus.
Tapia first experimented with podcasting simply because he thought it would be fun.
“It was just kind of random trivia and different things,” he said. “I didn’t even know I could make a podcast.”
That changed during his eighth-grade year, when Tapia began to grow more deeply in his Catholic faith while attending St. Ignatius Catholic School.

He credits one teacher in particular for helping spark that growth.
“Andrew Thompson, who used to be a seminarian, was my teacher,” Tapia said. “He treated our class like it was a seminary class. … I always say that year was the year I learned the most about the Catholic faith.”
Around the same time, Tapia began thinking more seriously about a possible vocation to the priesthood. One encounter left a lasting impression.
During a school visit from Archdiocese of Mobile Vocation Director Fr. Patrick Gilbreath, Tapia saw something that surprised him.
Students were playing a game when a classmate hit the priest with a hacky sack.
“Not only was (Fr. Gilbreath) not yelling at the kid, he started playing with them,” Tapia recalled. “I realized priests are human too.”
That moment helped him begin thinking more seriously about priesthood and ultimately led him to reshape his podcast.
In November 2024, during his freshman year at McGill-Toolen, Tapia shifted the focus of “The Tapout Podcast” to the Catholic faith.
“I changed it to a religious-based podcast because I felt it would be a better way for me to discern my vocation,” he said. “To evangelize, but also share the knowledge I’ve been given through the Catholic school system.”
Today the podcast is available on multiple platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio and YouTube.
Tapia tackles a variety of topics, from discussing Catholic teachings to tackling issues facing young people today.
Other episodes are solo discussions where Tapia breaks down topics such as creation, sin or the Passion of Christ.
While the podcast began with family members as listeners, its audience has steadily grown.
“People aren’t just listening because I post it on Instagram,” he said. “They’re actually searching for it.”
The podcast has also sparked conversations at school.
“I have people walk up to me between classes and ask, ‘Don’t you have a podcast?’” he said. “Sometimes they’ll ask questions about the faith.”
Tapia even carries business cards in his wallet to share with curious classmates and parishioners.
Listeners span multiple generations. While many followers are young people, others include older Catholics who have discovered the podcast through friends and family.
Still, Tapia insists he isn’t seeking attention.
“It’s never my intention to be rich or famous from this podcast,” he said. “Any money that comes in goes right back into it or into helping others.”
For now, Tapia plans to continue producing the podcast while finishing high school, but he already has an end date in mind.
If he enters seminary as planned, he expects to pause the podcast in 2028 so he can focus fully on discerning his vocation.
“At the end of the day, my vocation is more important,” he said.