Controversies in Church History

Help me grow my podcast and bring Church History to the mases!

In this episode, we look at the life and times of Sir Thomas Malory, author of Le Morte d'Arthur, the most famous of medieval renditions of the story of King Arthur, during the Wars of the Roses in fifteenth century England. Please subscribe to our podcast on Anchor and check out Controversies in Church History on our other platforms: LINKS: YouTube Website SOCIAL: Facebook Twitter

*The talk is a bit rambling, as it was recorded while I was traveling. Apologies for any confusion or difficulty in listening.* In  1967, students and faculty at a weekend retreat at Duquesne University  in Pennsylvania experienced what they believed was a movement of the Holy Spirit, which led them to embrace what they called "baptism in the  Holy Spirit," a form of spirituali...

Dignitatis Humanae, the document on religious liberty issued by the second Vatican Council, states that "that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power." And yet, nearly a century before, pope Pius IX condemned the proposition that "every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which...he shall consider true." Because it s...

In the early twentieth century, a group of Catholic scholars tried to  argue that the Catholic Church needed to adapt fundamental doctrines of  its faith to match with the findings of modern historical and biblical  scholarship. In doing so, they challenged both some of the most  fundamental doctrines of the Catholic faith, as well as the authority of  its hierarchy. In th...

In this episode, we take a look at the history of how the Catholic Church has navigated the issues surrounding the scientific theory of evolution, what its teaching is regarding evolution, and how it came to that position.  From the initial reception of Darwin's ideas, Catholics have debated the implications of his idea for the Catholic faith, and over time it has come to be accepted by...

The episode of Controversies in Church History examines the theory of doctrinal development in the history of the  Catholic Church in the 19th and 20th centuries. Associated with St. John Henry Newman, we will discuss how this idea became has become central to debates on controversial issues in the life of the Church today. LINKS: YouTube  Website SOCIAL: Facebook Twitter

This episode of Catholic Lives focuses on the extraordinary Esther Wheelwright (1696-1780).  Born in a Puritan family in colonial Massachusetts, she was abducted from her family  at age seven by a Native American tribe, eventually converted to Catholicism and became mother superior in a convent of colonial Canada.  Please subscribe to our podcast on Anchor and check out Controversie...

Our eighth installment of Catholic Lives is a two for one deal! We look at the lives of two men loyal to the Confederacy during the American Civil War, one of whom entered the Catholic Church after the war was over. Father Abram Ryan (1838-1886) was a priest and poet, know both for his poetry eulogizing the fallen South but also for his great preaching and love for the Catholic faith.  James...

*Recorded on May 27, 2020* In 1968, Pope Paul VI issued his encyclical on the regulation of birth,  which reaffirmed Catholic teaching on the nature of human sexuality. The  ensuing controversy led to open defiance of the encyclical by both  clergy and laity alike, and so great was the outcry against it that Paul  VI never issued another encyclical during his reign as pope. Thi...

In 1858, a scandal rocked Europe. The Vatican removed an eight year old  Jewish boy from his family and pope Pius IX raised him as a Catholic. The boy's name was Edgaro Mortara, and he would eventually become a  Catholic priest. The Vatican based its decision on the claims that the  boy's nurse had baptized him during a serious illness when he was one  year old, and that theref...

In recent years, the existence of a "pontiff emeritus" has caused some confusion for faithful Catholics, with two living popes at the same time. But imagine if there were THREE living popes, none of them "retired," all with their own rival supporters among the cardinals of the Church--what would this be like? How would we know whom to follow as Catholics? In  this episode, Controversies in Ch...

He has been called "The Morning Star of the Reformation" by Protestants,  and is sometimes regarded as the last great scholastic theologian of the Middle Ages. He denied the doctrine of transubstantiation, translated  parts of the bible from Latin to English, and sent lay preachers out  into the English countryside to teach poor people.  His followers were  condemned by th...

In the year 1054 AD, representatives of Pope Leo IX and the patriarch of  Constantinople, pronounced a mutual excommunication upon each other. This event usually is remembered as the beginning of the schism that has  lasted since then between the Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox. But  how did this excommunication come about?  And was this event really the  beginning of...

"I believe in one God, the Father Almighty..."  Each week, Catholics  recite the Nicene Creed in the liturgy.  Why do we do this? The first lecture of Controversies in Church History for the 2019-2020  academic year will be on the First Council of Nicaea, the first  ecumenical (or general) council in the history of the Christian Church. In 325, the bishops assembled promul...

"Why were there no wars of religion in the pagan world?" the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau once asked. His answer was that their religions made no universal claims, unlike Christianity, which he called "the most  violent despotism in the world." "The Wars of Religion, 1524-1549," discusses the wars fought between Catholics and Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries, and how much Chris...

In the sixteenth century, the Spanish brutally conquered a more civilized  and advanced Aztec civilization, and imposed Catholicism on the native peoples of the Americas.    Or did they?   In this special episode, Dr. Ezekiel Stear of the University of Auburn, dispels the myths surrounding the Spanish colonization of the Americas,  and the conversion of their native people...

*Originally recorded April 30 2018* This episode of Controversies in Church History assesses the charges against the Catholic Church and pope Pius XII as being culpable in some way for the Holocaust during WWII. In this talk, we explore the Church's relationship with Nazi Germany, and its actions with regards to the Jewish people during the war. The talks concludes that the charges are  mostl...

*Recorded March 26 2018* Popes have always exercised "immediate jurisdiction" over the entire  Church, and have always been proclaimed to speak infallibly when pronouncing upon matter of faith and morals--haven't they? Though popes long claimed some sort of infallibility with regards to their teaching,  it was only in the late 19th century that papal infallibility was  solemnly defi...

This week's episode of Catholic Lives recalls the life of Barnaba Chiaramonti (1742-1823), known to history as Pope Pius VII (1800-1823), the pope who dealt with the aftermath of the French Revolution in Europe, including the general and statesman Napoleon Bonaparte, whom he excommunicated in 1809.   Please subscribe to our podcast on Anchor and check out Controversies in Church History on ou...

*Recorded on February 26 2018* Ever since the Inquisition condemned him in 1633, critics have used the story of Galileo Galilei to illustrate the conflict between faith and science, and the obscurantism of the Catholic Church. In this episode, we will explain why the Church condemned Galileo's heliocentric theory, and what the ramifications are of this historical event for the  relationship b...

In this episode of Catholic Lives, we discuss the heroism of Witold Pilecki (pronounced Vitold Piletski, 1901-1948), a member of the Polish resistance against the Nazi occupation of Poland who volunteered to enter the concentration camp of Auschwitz to gain information. Captain Pilecki wrote a hundred page report on the camp, and both it and his life testify to the enduring power of the Catholic f...

*Recorded January 29 2018* This episode covers one of the most divisive events in all of Church  history: the Protestant Reformation. Why did the Reformation happen? Is  it still important for Catholics today? This talk will address some of  these basic questions, and provide some basic historical background for  those still unfamiliar with the great divide within the Western &...

Today we take a brief look at the life of Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos (1404-1453), the last Emperor of the Romans, who came to the throne of Constantinople at the very end of the Roman (i.e. "Byzantine") empire's life, and fought a heroic 52 day siege against Ottoman forces before succumbing in May of 1453.   Please subscribe to our podcast on Anchor and check out Controversies in Chu...