Catholic Answers Focus

Defending the Faith can take an emotional toll. Rather than turn to bitterness, the person who engages with those who attack the Faith will be most effective with some distance and calm. Psychologist Dr. Ray Guarendi offers tips on how to gain this distance and calm. ...

Mike Aquilina, author of Africa and the Early Church, explains the African roots of much of what we now take for granted in Christianity. His work reminds us of an age when Christianity spread quickly in all directions so that before the Muslim invasions, a fruitful Christianity had taken root in Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Eritrea, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.   ...

Once again, legislatures in some states are considering bans on the seal of confession. We asked the chaplain of Catholic University of America, Father Aquinas Guilbeau, to explain why we have the seal, and why breaking it won’t to anyone any good.   ...

Anti-Semitism is the bigotry that never rests. And these days, there are Catholics in the public sphere once again proposing degrading ideas regarding Jews. How is a Catholic to understand Catholic/Jewish history in a way that comports with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Joe Heschmeyer joins us. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding, and defend...

Faith or works or faith plus works or just lots of good works? How are we justified before God? Tim Staples explains the Catholic understanding of the role of grace before all else. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome again to Focus, the Catholic Answers Podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host, and Tim Staples here with us again, this time to...

What is religious freedom? Did the Church err about religious freedom at Vatican II? Michael Lofton from “Reason and Theology” tackles one of the great controversies of the council. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome to Focus the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding and defending your Catholic Faith. I am Cy Kellett, your host. And this time we talk a bit about a controversy w...

Why is it so difficult to explain the Sacrament of Confirmation? And why does the Latin Church seem to offer it just at the wrong time? Simone Rizkallah digs into the controversy. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers Podcast for living, understanding and defending your Catholic faith. I am Cy Kellett, your host, and one of the things we need to live better, understand bette...

With the strident morality of modern movements such as “Me Too,” it would seem that relativism has been replaced with moralism. Well, maybe not, says Karlo Broussard in his latest book, “The New Relativism.” In this episode, he explains how moral outrage is often a cover for an entrenched relativism. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers Podcast for l...

Having started from scratch himself, John Martignoni explains how to get started as a Catholic apologist. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding and defending your Catholic faith, I am Cy Kellett, your host. And we get asked a lot, how do I do what you all do? Not talking about me specifically but about the folks around here, this whole apolo...

Dr. Craig Turczynski, the former director of in-vitro fertilization, andrology, and hormone assay laboratories at Louisiana State University Medical Center-Shreveport explains how IVF is done, and why it raises grave moral concerns. CORRECTIONS: 1. The number of IVF procedures annually is about 250,000 not 250. 2. Cytoplasmic transfer is taking cytoplasm from a young woman’s egg and injecting it i...

American racism was given the power of religious fervor by those who thought the Bible alone provided the rule of faith. Don Johnson, author of “Twisted Unto Destruction: How ‘Bible Alone’ Theology Made the World a Worse Place,” explains. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers Podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I am C...

Modern people often have an unrealistic view of “development” in the early Church, thinking that ideas such as the divinity of Christ or practices such as the celebration of the Mass were products of early Church life rather than things received directly from Jesus. Joe Heschmeyer, author of The Early Church Was the Catholic Church, helps debunk some myths about where the Mass came fro...

Many Catholic/Protestant doctrinal differences have their roots in misreadings of the Apostle Paul. EWTN’s David Anders explains the relatively simple message of Paul and why modern ideas of Paul so often miss the mark. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome to Focus the Catholic Answers Podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I am Cy Kellett, your host, delighted to wel...

Scott Weeman, founder of Catholic in Recovery, sits down with us to talk about how Jesus is the answer to finding healing from addiction. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome to Focus the Catholic Answers Podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I am Cy Kellett, your host, and today we got one of our favorite guests from Catholic Answers Live and someone who’s doing jus...

Recently there has been controversy over who can and can’t receive communion. Msgr. Eugene Morris joins us to help clarify this important question and gives us the proper parameters when knowing who can and cannot receive communion. Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding, and defending Your Catholic faith. Today we talk about why some...

Tim Staples has shared his conversion story around the world, but one part of that story is of particular importance today: How the moral teaching of the Church, far from driving everyone away, often provides a powerful incentive to become Catholic.   ...

Michael Lofton, from the Reason and Theology podcast, gives us a primer on the words that many people think are the main divider between Orthodox and Catholic Christians. Does the question about whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father “and from the son” really divide churches? Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers Podcast for living, understanding, and...

In the Western societies, fewer men than women practice religion. Karlo Broussard argues that, at least in part, this means they are likely failing at the hard work of manliness. Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. Karlo Broussard, our guest this time. And we’re goi...

His sudden death and final writings have put Australian Cardinal George Pell into the headlines around the world. Given his importance, we went down under to get insights into his view of the Catholic role in today’s world. Our guest, Monica Doumit, is the Director of Public Affairs and Engagement for the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia. Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic...

Tim Staples shares the story of the dark figure early Church writers say motivated John to clarify the truth about Jesus Christ. Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host, and it may not seem obvious, but many of the earliest Christian writings had to do with defending the fait...

Philosopher Edward Feser has read the major texts of critical race theory and has some concerns. He joins us for a discussion of his newest book, All One in Christ: A Catholic Critique of Racism and Critical Race Theory. Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers Podcast for living, understanding and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host, and maybe we&#8...

For most people, the Parish is where the Catholic Church happens. But something is not quite right in parish life. JD Flynn, founder of pillarcatholic.com, digs into why today’s parish is not quite what it could be. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers Podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. And today we t...

Sometimes the Second Vatican Council gets a weak defense: “Well, it was just a pastoral council, so why worry about it?” Michael Lofton, from Reason and Theology, asks whether this defense is true? Is Vatican II really “just pastoral”? Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers Podcast for living understanding and defending your Catholic faith. I’m...

Jeremy Christiansen, author of From the Susquehanna to the Tiber: A Memoir of Conversion from Mormonism to the Roman Catholic Church, joins us for a conversation about arguments against Mormonism. Which will work and why? Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. We’ll ta...

Jason Evert from chastity.com joins us for a discussion of transgenderism from a Christian perspective. Most importantly, what is driving the current mania for switching genders, and how might a disciple of Christ respond? Cy Kellett:                    Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers Podcast for living, understanding and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your h...