The Cordial Catholic

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Claire Noel, a convert to Catholicism, with an absolutely compelling story to tell.  While almost impossible to summarize Claire's story is one that needs to be heard to be appreciated.  From Christianity to a major deconstruction and years in the New Age movement. Claire's story is punctuated by twist after turn including encou...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my new friend Deacon Patrick Lappert, MD a double-board certified Naval surgeon with what must be one of the wildest Catholic conversion stories you'll ever here. Seriously, buckle up for this one.  Deacon Patrick's story is one of God relentlessly pursuing someone in love. Raised Jewish, Deacon Patrick spent most of his life as...

No new episode this week but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We'll be back next week with an amazing new conversion story! Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com. Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on  episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests. To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel . Please consider fina...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my friend Jeff Lukich, author and revert to the Catholic faith, to talk about his miraculous Christmas Eve return to the Catholic Church, all of the factors and facets that led up to that experience, and how others can follow in his footsteps.  Jeff's written a fantastic book – The Long Way Home – featuring not only his story but his...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Father Tony Stephens, a Rector of Our Lady of Champion Shrine, the site of the first and only approved Marian apparition in the United States, to talk about Mary's miraculous appearances, the miracles associated with her intercession, and how to charitably help our Protestant brothers and sisters understand the role of our Blessed Mo...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Aaron Gunsaulus, the anti-Catholic, Calvinist pastor who became Catholic – although with 17 of his friends from the church he pastored!  This is an amazing story. Aaron is a good friend of another good friend of the show, former Protestant Pastor Keith Nester, and the way their stories are connected is incredible.  Aaron tells that story...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Professor of Philosophy, Dr. Christopher Kaczor, to discuss his new work on the reasonableness of belief in God and some of the most popular challenges – and changes – with how we approach this fundamental topic.  What can we make of the shifting landscape of belief? Catholic conversions are on the rise! How do we address the perennial pr...

n this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Matthew Mark McWhorter, a high-powered, high-profile corporate lawyer who turned his skills in the courtroom towards the Bible and Christianity. After a life-changing experience made him consider Christianity, McWhorter set out to research the evidence for belief in Jesus. He encountered the Bible and quickly realized that not all Christia...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by husband and wife Catholic power couple Katie and Tommy McGrady to talk about their work on First Reconciliation, First Communion, and on raising authentic, enthusiastic Catholic families.  We talk about the importance of approaching those first sacraments as a family, the joy and impetus of passing on the faith, and how to approach the Ch...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by author Mary O'Regan to talk about one of the most incredible, influential, and mind-boggling saints out there, our very favourite, Padre Pio.  Mary begins with her own amazing story of Padre Pio, a near-death experience, and some life-changing visions – and from there, it gets even weirder!  Mary is a wonderful storyteller and brings...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by one of the all-time great Early Church historians, Dr. James Papandrea to talk about what the Early Church really looked like.  We tackle subjects like baptism, the Eucharist, the sources of authority, and the structure of the Church – from the beginning and through to today – and tackle the question of, if our current Evangelical churche...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic it's near-Death experiences, demon-possessed cars, miraculous lottery wins, and miracles that seem absolutely unbelievable as I'm joined by Dr. John Sottosanti, an atheist surgeon, to tell his outrageous conversion to Catholicism and a deeper faith in Christ.  Raised nominally Catholic, John drifted away from the faith an into a successful dental p...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my friend Devin Schadt founder of the Fathers of St. Joseph , to talk about the critical need for authentic Catholic men and what it means to practice your Catholic faith for husbands, fathers, and Catholic men everywhere.  We talk about what it means to live an authentic Catholic life as a disciple, the role of humility (and pride!), and...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the elder statesman of American Catholicism the one and only George Weigel. Author of countless award-winning books, a regular columnist and commentator, and an all-around completely reasonable and decent Catholic guy, George joins us the week with a kind of State of the Union, a medical exam, if you will, of the Catholic Church with an e...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Barbara Heil a former Charismatic, Evangelical Ministry, Missionary, and Evangelist who heard the call of God – encountered Christ in a profound way – and became Catholic! This is an incredible story, buckle up! Barbara spent 30 years in what she called cutting-edge Evangelical ministry, always seeking to live on the margins of where God...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my friend Dr. Michael Barber, Professor of Sacred Scripture and Theology at the Augustine Institute, to unpack the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and throughout Church History.  This week is an awesome Bible study with a lens towards how we can understand this important sacrament – and al...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my friend Adom Postma and his brother Jason, a former Anglican priest, to talk about the incredible conversion – a journey made by three brothers into Catholicism.  Raised in the Reformed tradition, these brothers loved their faith deeply and regularly spared with one another, as iron sharpens iron, on all kinds of topics in Evangelical C...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the one and only Steve Kerekes to talk about the Brown Scapular. Steve, who's literally dedicated his life to the promotion of this Catholic devotion, joins us to unpack the origins of the scapular, dispel some of the common misunderstandings, and to share why he thinks that the Brown Scapular is the perfect companion to the rosary –...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the Dr. Shane Owens from the Franciscan University of Steubenville to talk about St. Augustine.  Often claimed by non-Catholic Christians to support a low view of the papacy, the symbolic nature of Communion, and the doctrine of Sola Scriptura I ask Dr. Owens exactly what *did* St. Augustine believe about these ideas and how we can succes...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by our Marriage Therapist's favourite Marriage Therapist: Dr. Ray Guarendi! We talk about one of the most difficult things to do as a Catholic convert: convert without destroying your marriage. Dr. Guardeni, a seasoned clinical psychologist and devout Catholic, shares his insights into how the convert without destroying your family, whi...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Taylor from GemmaintheRough (on Instagram and TikTok ) to talk about her journey as a charismatic, non-denominational Christian leading worship at her church to a full-blown conversion to Catholicism. Taylor's story is amazing as she asks incredible questions about how and why her non-denominational church worshipped the way they did...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my friend Carla Lynch to unpack her outrageous journey from Charismatic, Evangelical Christianity into full communion with the Catholic Church.  Carla's journey is one of a kind, beginning when her Evangelical Youth Group visited a well-known Catholic Church – the beauty, the stillness, and the devout worship of the Catholics she saw...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Levi Sikes, the musical genius behind Former Ruins , to talk about his journey into Catholicism. What drew Levi out of his Evangelical Christian tradition, what drew him into Catholicism, and what continues to draw him in, evermore. And, as a musician, how Levi strives to bridge this gap, to explain and wrestle with his own paradigm shift...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by former Protestant pastor Keith Nester and author and speaker Devin Schadt to discuss the process of Catholic conversion from two sides of the same story. In a first for this podcast we unfold the narrative of a Catholic conversion–Keith’s conversion, in this case–from two different perspectives; from the perspective of the Catholic lovin...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Piece Benefield. A fierce defender of Calvinism, Pierce converted to the Catholic faith after a long and fascinating journey – including going head-to-head with Catholics in a group chat, fulling intending to convert them to Calvinism, but being challenged by their through and thoroughly biblical responses to many of his objections to Cat...