On The Road To Perfection

On The Road To Perfection Episode 157: Beginning With The End In Mind Kristofer’s sister comes to mind as we begin by talking about pickle juice. Beginning with the end in mind in our conversation is not a discourse on Stephen Covey, though we do give him credit here and intertwined throughout On The Road To Perfection for bringing Kristofer to the Catholic Faith, and it is a conversation th...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 156: Am I Good Enough To Be Catholic? It’s Romper Room time at Holy Owned and Operated! Who do you see? After a list of names and a Laurie Anderson reference, Beth hits Kristofer with a topic out of the blue. Kristofer answers right away, and condemns the rest of us – including him – but of course leaving out Beth. But wait for the end to be sure. We see eve...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 155: Is There Cake? Summer Catholicism And Our Third Anniversary Summer Catholicism does not make sense. The Church is Universal, and Summer happens every year. Why do we turn into summer Catholics when the kids get out of school? So many seem to take the summer off, as if a change in schedule justifies a change in celebrating days of holy obligation. We discuss t...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 154: Levels Of Love Are there levels of love in how we love others? Is how we love God different than how we should love one another? Are caritas, agape, storge, filial, eros different levels? In this episode, we talk about that, and how love is a many splendored thing – but does it have levels, or people who are subject to or should receive more or less lov...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 153: Joy In Obedience Joy in obedience? How’s that?! Come again? As Beth explains in the beginning, it makes sense that a virtue begets a fruit of the Spirit. Kristofer picks up the ball and goes big picture, explaining that doing what God says leads to joy. But what about the suffering that comes about when obeying God? Still = supreme joy! From God to the...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 152: Our Favorite Scripture Our Favorite Scripture may seem a bit-self-serving, but this episode is actually the first one for us to offer you to directly participate in On The Road To Perfection! Priming the pump with our individual favorite scripture passages, we end by encouraging you to send us your favorites, in a short video. After an impromptu musical inter...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 151: Why Do We Go On Retreat? Why do we go on retreat? Is it really just to get away from people we do not want to be around> Well… Elijah, Moses, Jesus – these guys went on retreat, so why not us? In fact, they went on retreat more than once. All the time, it seems! We often say to ourselves we should go on retreat, which is a great indication tha...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 150: Just War (and Explaining It To Kids) The doctrine of Just War is a difficult thing to comprehend, let alone explain. We all question every armed conflict, and support or decry it based on our own perceptions of the situation. Is that right? How does the Church view the conflict in Ukraine? How does the Church view its own armed conflicts, and those warriors w...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 149: Indulgences Indulgences are controversial because they are confusing, and confusing because they are controversial. What gives!? You got questions? We got answers…but not all of them! But certainly, the big ones to help you understand indulgences, and even answer a few questions others might have. In this episode, we tackle indulgences at the request of...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 148: Faith And Reason Faith and Reason do not conflict – in fact, they MUST co-mingle in and infuse our daily lives. This week Beth and Kristofer discuss a topic on which they should be called experts. For many years they have catechized us, adults, elementary, middle-school, high school, and college youth on this topic that some of the greatest minds have n...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 147: Why Do We Believe In and Follow Church Teachings? Beth and Kristofer answer the question and right from the beginning explain where we can find the answer about the Truth of Church Teachings. Kristofer explains his own revelation that God gave him, and they discuss the Magisterial infallibility and when it is infallible. They give us some ways to defend our f...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 146: Making Time For Prayer A segue from last week’s episode, Beth and Kristofer discuss this emotional topic they have struggled with, to help us all (including themselves!) lead better prayer lives! After Kristofer defines the difference between making time for prayer and praying out of love for our creator, they dive into why we need to, as Beth puts it,...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 145: How Do I Listen To And Hear The LORD? Kristofer and Beth did not want to do this emotionally packed episode, as evidenced by the pregnant pause at the beginning and the tears that follow. They share the difficulties of knowing how to listen to God and not being able to do it; the busy-ness of life getting in the way when you crave to just hear The LORD. With...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 144: Foul Language Spurred on by nothing but their wit and experience, Beth and Kristofer bring forth a topic in need of much discussion: Language! Or more specifically, foul language. Many use it in their day-to-day and don’t even think about it; others are highly offended by it, and some don’t care one way or the other. In this episode, Beth and Kris...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 143: That’s The Resurrection We Believe In You have to believe in the resurrection to be a Catholic. But what does that mean? In this episode, we get into this specifically, invoking Pope Benedict, and our own pastors, Father Brian Eilers and Father Will Rooney in the process. We dive right in on this topic that Beth sprung on me…but I put her on the s...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 142: Why Catholics Do Not Celebrate Passover Today is Holy Thursday. It is also Passover which began yesterday and continues through April 13 this year. The Jewish holiday of Pesach, or Passover, falls on the Hebrew calendar dates of Nissan 15-22. Catholics do not, and other Christians should not, celebrate Passover. Passover is a Jewish Liturgy; it is a beautiful...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 141: HOO Is At A Crossroads We wonder if HOO is really worth it, and ask for your help in navigating this crossroads. HOO may be throwing in the towel. Coming off a few weeks of intra-organizational and inter-personal conflict and second-guessing, we have a bit of an impromptu soul-searching moment that might just last for longer than this episode. That’s ki...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 140: Is My Penance Enough Short answer: No, our penance is not enough! What is a “good penance”? Why do we sometimes get what seems so insignificant a penance relative to our sins? Spoiler alert – our penance is not meant to be commensurate with the crime! If it was, we would never go to Confession! In God’s infinite mercy, He asks of us ex...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 139: Cultural Catholicism Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Why do we say that and not “Happy Saint Mark’s Day!”? Beth and Kristofer explore Cultural Catholicism in this episode of On The Road to Perfection. They discuss the importance of the underlying Catholic culture and why it is so much a part of our world, and they also explain why it is imp...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 138: Here Come The Scrutinies! What are the Scrutinies? In this season of Lent, we may have heard about them on the periphery, but do we know what they are? Beth and Kristofer explain this minor rite to help us better realize the beauty of the Church and prepare us for when they happen at Mass in the coming weeks! Beth wonderfully covers the connection of the read...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 137: How Do I Love My Enemies? How do I love my enemies? Beth and Kristofer answer this question as well as defining what an enemy is beyond, as Beth put it, “That nebulous group of people.” They discuss why we should love our enemies and then Beth and Kristofer explain how we love our enemies. Take this opportunity to learn about the importance of for...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 136: Are You Saved? Are You Saved? Oftentimes our evangelical brothers and sisters ask this question, and we often ask it of ourselves, but do we know the answer? Beth and Kristofer answer this rather elusive question in this episode of On the Road to Perfection, and you may be surprised to learn the answer! We have to accept salvation to get into heaven as Bath a...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 135: Spreading The Good News Can you evangelize? Let’s get into the practicals! Most of us are not street preachers and do not go up to strangers asking about their salvation. That does not mean we cannot spread the Good News – the Kerygma – in a way we are naturally called. We all have a natural way to evangelize, and this episode covers how to...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 134: Evangelization Evangelization sounds scary – like the vulture that was circling and following during the show! But do we know all that it entails? What is it? It’s not what you think, unless you want to think that’s what it is. In this episode of On the Road to Perfection, Beth and Kristofer go in depth into the history of evangelization and...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 133: Lust And Love What is the difference between lust and love? During this “season of Valentines” Beth and Kristofer cover this (often unknowingly) confusing and vitally important topic before we dive headlong into the pink and roses and hearts and whatnot. Beth and Kristofer share how to tell the difference between lust and love, and how to teach th...