For College Catholics

This week our Miles Christi religious community in Michigan will be doing its week-long annual retreat in an atmosphere of silence. We do it according to the Spiritual Exercises written by St. Ignatius of Loyola. My good friend Matthew, who graduated from UCLA and is now in his third year as a FOCUS missionary, discusses with me his experience in doing the Spiritual Exercises right out of college,...

In this episode we talk about how, from her own words we learn that Mother Teresa of Calcutta would not have done what she did for many poor people even if they had given her a million dollars. However, she did it for Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man. In John 1:1-3 we read “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word is the Second Person of the Ho...

In this episode I talk about how God created the world to be a place where Adam and Eve and their descendants could live in peace and harmony, with God, with each other, and with the world around them. However, through Original Sin, Adam disregarded the law of God, and rebelled against Him. This Original Sin separated man from God, and brought disorder into creation. The book of Genesis in its fir...

In this episode I talk about the fact that God is the ultimate cause for the existence of the entire world, man and all the spiritual beings, which we commonly call Angels. He also created those angels that would eventually fall from their state of grace through sin, and separate themselves from God—the demons. I mention how the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis are not supposed to be i...

In this episode I welcome Jennifer Fulwiler, who is a standup comic, bestselling author, podcaster and mom of six. Her podcast, “This Is Jen”, debuted in the Comedy Top 10 on iTunes. She wrote three books: Something Other than God, a memoir about converting to Catholicism from lifelong atheism, One Beautiful Dream, and Your Blue Flame, which is about sharing your God-given gifts with the world. As...

In this episode I discuss how as Catholics, our faith centers around the belief in the existence of ONLY ONE GOD. We will address some of His characteristics. We could know some of these characteristics through reason alone, but they were also positively revealed by Him: for example, that he IS, that He is Infinite, all-powerful and creator of all things. We will also look at the consequences of t...

In this episode I will begin the presentation of the Catholic Creed, that is, a summary of the Truths of Faith that we profess as Catholics. This particular episode was recorded away from home, in Chicago, IL…! I am joined by Fr. Matthew Maxwell, to discuss some of the main “professions of faith” that were put forth through the centuries. We will look at the purpose of these written professions or...

In this episode I invite a guest, Kevin Becker, who shares how he got to know about Pier Giorgio Frassati. He tells the story of how, in 2011, he severely injured his head (multiple fractures in his skull and severe brain inflammation) falling from the roof of his house while a junior in college. He remained several days in a coma, and the doctors started to fear the worst. During that time, his f...

In this episode we discuss the impact faith can have in a person’s life, and in the life of the whole Church. I invite a guest, Matthew Zahn, to talk about the life of Pier Giorgio Frassati, his virtues and some aspects of his spiritual life. Born in Turin, Italy on April 6, 1901, Pier Giorgio had a great faith from his youth. Two main pillars of his spiritual life were a great devotion to the Hol...

Some characteristics of our Catholic Faith: In this episode we address some consequences that are derived from a correct, Catholic understanding of what FAITH is. Faith is an act of our intelligence, moved by our will and by the Grace of God, by which we accept all the truths that God has revealed and the Church teaches as revealed by God (see St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II, 2, 9; and...

What does it mean to have Faith? What is the Catholic meaning of Faith? There are so many ways in which the word “faith” is used that it can almost mean anything you want! The Catholic meaning of faith can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church #150. “Faith is the supernatural virtue which is necessary for salvation. It is a free gift of God and is accessible to all who humbly seek it. T...

Join our conversation with Tim and Peri Rose Force, who have dedicated the last four years to serve the Catholic student community at “The Grotto” (that is, the Catholic Newman Center at Hillsdale, MI, part of the local St. Anthony Parish). We talk about Peri Rose’s conversion from the Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS, a.k.a., Mormons) to Catholicism, how they met and decided to get married. W...

In this episode we welcome Fr. Matthew Maxwell. We will discuss in detail the meaning of the Sacred Tradition of the Church, the Sacred Scriptures, and the role of the Magisterium of the Church. Apostolic Tradition: Jesus Christ did not write a “text book” to transmit the revealed truths to all men, but instead established His Church on St. Peter and the Apostles, and entrusted to them the respons...

In this episode we discuss how the Fullness of God’s Public Revelation came through Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. (Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum, 2) He passed on the "Deposit of Faith" to the Apostles. This was transmitted in the Church, to future generations in two ways, through Tradition and The Sacred Scriptures. God granted the Holy Spirit to assist the Church in faithfully preserv...

In this episode we discuss first how God created the world from nothing, and how he continues to maintain the world in its being. This action of God implies that He provides the means for each being to obtain its purpose in this world. However, the reality of EVIL is a stumbling block for many to accept that a good God could have created this world. With our guest, John Dejak, we look at the life...

In this episode we discuss how God has chosen to reveal Himself to man. He did so first of all at the beginning of time, to Adam and Eve. However, after the fall, He also revealed Himself to Abraham, and his descendants. He did so gradually, little by little throughout the centuries. This revelation reached its culmination in Jesus Christ. Jesus established the Catholic Church, giving her the miss...

In this episode we discuss the existence of God, what obstacles one could find in accepting His existence, and what rational ways we have of showing that God exists. We welcome a guest, Fr. Paul De Soza, who is a priest living in San Diego. After addressing the different reasons why many Catholic young people tend to doubt—and sometimes deny—the existence of God, we take a bird's-eye view of the d...

In this episode I discuss how every human being is created by God with an inherent capacity to know and love God. This gives all men their GREATEST DIGNITY. Our Creator instilled in us that capacity and a desire to know and love Him, which cannot be fulfilled by any other created being except by God. This is why, as St. Augustine said in his Confessions (book 1, chapter 1) that “You have created u...

In this episode we are joined by my good friend, Colton Duncan, who is a college student. We talk about the impact that knowing about you faith will have in your life. Colton shares with us the example of the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis, a young man who died at 15 years of age, and was beatified by Pope Francis. Born in England, he lived between 1991 and 2006. He lived most of his life in Italy....

In this episode we discuss the importance of knowing your Catholic Faith, and understanding the purpose of your life. The knowledge that St. Joseph received from the angel (Mt 1:18), about God’s plan over the Child to be born (Jesus), the virgin Mary and himself made him CHANGE THE COURSE OF HIS LIFE entirely. There is no doubt that understanding why you were created by God, that is, the PURPOSE w...

Welcome to our podcast "For College Catholics"! In this episode we discuss the purpose of this Podcast, the general content and format for future episodes, and a great example from the life of Saint John of God!