Considering Catholicism

Ed was deeply moved by Greg's explanation of the significance of the Blessed Virgin Mary back in Episode #29, and wrote an article about how it impacted him. In this follow-up conversation, they explore what "To Jesus Through Mary" really means.

J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, in a letter to his son, said, "Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament." Greg and Cory explore what he meant and why.

Protestant theology flat-out rejects Catholic Eucharist doctrines. Why? And how should Catholics respond to the objections of their Protestant friends and family?

In our ongoing series on the Eucharist, Greg and Cory explore why the Eucharist is also called "Holy Communion," and why that communion is a miracle, not just a vague sense of community.

In November, Michigan voters will face a decision. "Proposal 3" would permanently amend the state constitution by enshrining the most extreme pro-abortion laws in the nation. Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has vowed to "fight like hell" for it. In response, a priest in Lansing has launched a 54-day prayer campaign to "fight like heaven" for the protection of life. Greg and Father Gordon Re...

In a series of ongoing conversations about the miracles of the mass and the Eucharist, Greg and Cory try to explain exactly what the Church teaches about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

In this ongoing series on the Eucharist, Greg and Cory talk about miracles, how the priest acts in the person of Christ, and the invocation of the Holy Spirit during the mass.

Every Catholic mass is nothing short of a miracle. As part of our series on the Eucharist, Greg and Cory discuss how the field of "metaphysics" helps us to wrap our minds around how the supernatural intervenes in the natural world during the celebration of the mass.

The whole Old Testament points towards the Gospel, and so it is full of hints, clues, and foreshadows of the Eucharist. Part of the series of episodes on the Eucharistic Revival.

Ed asks Greg, "If I become Catholic, how will it make my life better in the here and now?" (Part 3 of 3 about Salvation).

Ed asks Greg if Catholics can lose their salvation once they join the Church (Part 2 of 3 about Salvation).

Greg and Ed compare Protestant anxiety about being saved to the comfort of Catholicism (Part 1 of 3 about Salvation).

In the first of a series of lessons on the Eucharist, Greg explains why it's such big deal to Catholics when it's only a medium-sized deal to Protestant Evangelicals.

The bishops of America are deeply concerned that too few Catholics understand, believe in, or take the Eucharist in a "coherent" way. And so, they have launched a three-year "Eucharistic Revival." In this first episode in a regular feature on the Eucharist, Cory and I discuss the why, what, and how of this revival.

Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory and Shusaku Endo's Silence both tell the story of a persecuted Catholic priest forced to choose between martyrdom and apostasy. In this installment of Book Club, Cory and I explore how the two novels are mirror images that explore the same theme with inverted characters and plots.

Who is, or isn't, "Catholic?" What do you have to believe or do to "be Catholic?" What about people who don't or won't do those things? Are they still Catholic?

In Episode 32, I answered Ed's question, "Why do Catholics have a pope?" But we kept going, and covered the everything from whether the pope can make up new doctrines, to megachurch pastors, to why Pope Francis seems to meddle in politics, and whether papal infallibility means he can tell me who will win the Super Bowl.

Ed asked why Catholics have a pope, which seems crazy to them. I gave him an answer that most "cradle Catholics" wouldn't typically give.

Some argue that the novels of JRR Tolkien, particularly his 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, are the greatest Catholic novels of the 20th Century. Generations of converts to Catholicism have cited it as an important step on their Road to Rome--including Cory and I. In this installment of Book Club, we share why.

We're launching a new recurring feature on the podcast: "Book Club." In this first installment, Cory and I talk about what, exactly, makes a story "Catholic."

My Protestant friend Ed finally got around to asking me about the biggest problem that Protestants have with Catholicism: the Virgin Mary.

I was asked to speak at a conference just a few days after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs decision. Here's what I said.

Part 2 of a two-part episode exploring how and why the Catholic Church in America has shrunk and Catholicism has lost influence over the last half century. (Episodes 26-27.)

It's been exactly 30 days since the last episode released. An update on what's been going on, what's happening, and what's ahead for Considering Catholicism.

Over the last half century, the Catholic Church in America has shrunk and Catholicism has lost influence. Why? Part 1 of a two-part episode.