Considering Catholicism

Marxism has been in the news again lately. Cultural Marxism (i.e., "wokeism," DEI, and radical social justice movements) and various globalist ideologies try to challenge, undermine, and overwhelm historic Catholic Christianity despite every pope since the mid-1800s specifically condemning Marxism and communism. Every Marxist or communist government around the globe has persecuted Christians and t...

All Christian churches practice the sacrament of baptism, but they don't all understand it in the same way. From a Catholic perspective, Greg answers three questions: 1) Why do we baptize? 2) Who/what/when/where do we baptize? 3) Why did Jesus get baptized by John the Baptist if Jesus had no sin? Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholi...

As our society kicks out the load-bearing walls of the civilization that Catholicism built, things are going to get weirder and darker. Spiritual warfare and demonic activity will become more obvious. But we have armor and weapons for times like these. Greg shares two powerful Catholic prayers of protection. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consid...

On the second anniversary of the podcast, Greg finally tells his own story: how he became a Christian, his life as a Protestant, and his conversion to Catholicism. Learn why he started this podcast, what motivates him, and the vision to take it to the next level. Support the Vision 2024 campaign: https://givebutter.com/dbN25v Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatho...

On January 1, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. For most American Protestants, especially evangelicals and Pentecostals, the idea that Mary could be called “the Mother of God” is jarring, even offensive. But as Greg explains, this ancient truth only reinforces the power of the Gospel. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Send me an email...

Anyone considering ancient and biblical Christianity, particularly Catholicism, has to ask, “Why does the Christian life have to be so hard? If God wants us to follow him, why doesn't he just make it easier? Is living the Christian life, as the Catholic Church lays it out, worth it?" Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Send me an email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com  ...

What was Mary doing in the manger? Obviously she gave birth to Jesus among the sheep, but why her? Why was she chosen? And did her role end once he was born and raised? As Greg explains, Mary's place in the manger, and the Church that would eventually come from it, was and is far more significant than we realize. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Send me an email: cons...

Part 2 of Greg's conversation with Angie Griffith, a Considering Catholicism listener who spent over a decade as a music industry executive in Nashville. After COVID lockdowns disrupted her career, she found herself immersed in New Age religion as a way to "manifest" success in online businesses and podcasting. But she has since burned her Tarot cards, crushed her crystals, and is entering the Cat...

Angie Griffith spent more than ten years as an executive in the music industry in Nashville. She was also enmeshed in New Age religion. Then the Holy Spirit, through a range of events and influences (including the Considering Catholicism Podcast), opened her eyes. She burned her Tarot cards, smashed her crystals, and began taking steps to enter the Roman Catholic Church. In this episode, Angie sha...

If you’re not crazy for being a Christian, can you realistically pull it off? Because living out your faith, living the Christian life, in the face of all of the struggles of this world and all that life in general throws at us? Well, that can sometimes seem impractical or even impossible. So, is Christianity impractical? I mean, can anyone really live this way? YouTube: Is Christianity Impractica...

How do all the agnostics, atheists, secularists, nihilists, and neopagans that make up our 21st-century culture view the Christian religion? Culturally, we’re living through the last days of the new Roman world. And how did the Romans view Christians? Generally, they thought that they were crazy. They considered the Christian religion silly and nonsensical and Christians to be dangerous anarchists...

Every year, Greg tries to build a new Christmas playlist on his phone, and every year, he realizes how few decent Christmas carols there are. Why not? Why haven't any new Christmas carols been written in the last 100 years or more? Ed the Protestant and Cory lend their insights into the problem. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Send me an email: consideringcatholicism...

A listener named John asks, "What about bad popes who lived immoral lives, etc? How can they lead the Church?" As Greg explains, there have been good popes, bad popes, and mostly average popes, but the office of the seat of Peter is greater than any man who occupies it. Listen to two previous episodes about the papacy: #38: “A Protestant Asks, ”Why Do Catholics Have a Pope?” #39 “More Protestant Q...

We have begun Advent, the liturgical season of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Advent means "coming" or "arriving," but what, exactly, is coming? And has it all arrived yet? To learn more, watch the series of four videos, "Discover Advent:" Part 1: https://youtu.be/DxxC6UkyMGM?si=4_ysAk9YE165btSy Part 2: https://youtu.be/d0dST3iZKs4?si=iJa1n6yrpxkdZLOk Part 3: https://youtu.be/RwFjqu0zuV...

Those who want to change the Church's teaching on homosexuality and same-sex marriage like to argue from Jesus' silence on the issue: "If Jesus didn't bother mentioning it in the gospels, it shouldn't matter." Protestants have made similar arguments against Catholicism for 500 years. Greg points out that this is a crazy standard, because there are a whole lot of things that Jesus never talked abou...

Ed asks about the Crusades: did the Catholic Church really launch brutal wars of colonization, invading Muslim ancestral lands with hordes of Catholic knights to rape, pillage, and steal the Middle East? Greg explains that much of what people think they know comes from Hollywood and isn't exactly what happened. Buy Me a Coffee? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/consideringcatholicism Write me an email:...

In the last snapshot ("The End of Ordinary Time"), Greg pointed out that the Catholic Church has a major feast to celebrate the end of ordinary time and the liturgical year. That feast is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, or Christ the King. It anchors us in the truth of Christ's supremacy and gives us hope that whatever the world throws at us, he is greater. Buy Me a C...

Ordinary Time is coming to an end, very soon. If that sounds alarming and weird to you, then listen to this short explanation of the Catholic conception of time, and the cycles and landmarks that ought to define our lives. Buy Me a Coffee? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/consideringcatholicism   Send me an email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com   Visit the website: https://www.consideringcatholicism...

Ed the Protestant asks about the Catholic Church's commitment to charity and the poor. Greg explains where that comes from and the related but very different concept of Catholic Social Justice. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz Visit the website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ ----more----Keywords: Catholic, Catholic Church, charity, social justice

Greg answers questions sent in by listeners (send your own to consideringcatholicism@gmail.com ): "I'm a recent convert to Catholicism, but my wife is still Protestant. We disagree over which church to raise our children in. My wife loves the passion of her evangelical church and Catholics seem so lukewarm. Do y9u have any advice?" "When the priest consecrates the Eucharist, how does the Catholic...

What does the Catholic Church teach about Satan and demons? Is he, or are they, the opposing force in the universe to God and angels? What do they know? What can they do? Can they possess us? What is an exorcism? Greg and Cory explain that in Catholic doctrine, while the demons possess vast intelligence, their power leads nowhere because in futility they have chosen nothing, an emptiness of God's...

This iconic motto is all over merchandise at the University of Notre Dame. Non-Notre Dame fans find it arrogant and annoying. But most don't realize that it's a double entendre, and that the real meaning, the deeper meaning, is perhaps a formula for how to live well, on the path to sainthood. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz Visit the website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.c...

What does the Catholic Church teach about what evil actually is? Is it the opposite of good, like light/dark or yin/yang? Is it moral failing? Being outside of God's will? A social construct? Greg and Cory explain that in Catholic doctrine, evil is nothing at all: it is literally no thing, a void, an emptiness, non-being. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz Visit the website: https:...

In this snapshot, Greg discusses why it's important to take death seriously in a culture that doesn't, and takes comfort in Catholicism which offers a coherent, comprehensive, and mature approach to death, dying, and remembering those who have gone before us. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz Visit the website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ ----more----Keywords: Catholic...

For secular folks this is Halloween, for Catholics it's the eve of All Saints Day, but for Protestants it's Reformation Day, when Martin Luther nailed his complaints against the Catholic Church to a cathedral door in Germany. Today, Protestants celebrate what they imagine is a heroic and prophetic scene. But as Greg explains in this snapshot, it's nothing to celebrate. Please support the podcast:...