The Cordial Catholic

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Erick Ybarra, Catholic re-vert from Protestantism, author, and blogger to unpack his conversion story. Erick was raised Catholic, left for a Reformed Baptist church after an encounter with a university roommate, but came back to the Catholic Church, by way of Anglicanism, after he began an earnest search for the "true church" fo...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Dr. Brett Salkeld, Archdiocesan Theologian for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina , author, and the co-host of the Thinking Faith podcast to discuss the Eucharist, the Real Presence, and Transubstantiation – with a special emphasis on how Evangelicals can understand this incredible belief, and how Catholics can explain it better. We...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by celebrated Catholic author, academic, and columnist Randy Boyagoda to talk about the Catholic imagination. How should Catholics uniquely see and interact with the world around them? How do Catholics truly live out their faith in the Public Square? What do authentic Catholics have to contribute to discussions within and outside of the Chur...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the one-and-only Rod Bennett, author and Early Church historian extraordinaire, to talk about the earliest witnesses to the Christian Church – the Early Church Fathers – and how they describe the worship, faith, and beliefs of the very first Christians ... and who look very Catholic indeed! We'll dig into evidence for belief in bapti...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic Podcast , I'm joined by the former editor of the evangelical flagship Christianity Today, Mark Galli, to talk about his conversion to the Catholic Church. Mark spent 10 years as a Protestant pastor, 20 years editing the world's largest evangelical publication, and has recently come into full communion with the Catholic Church. We unpack his journey...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Father Jeffrey Kirby, STD to unpack the Catholic view of evil and suffering. We dig deeply into a topic that is maybe the biggest struggle for believers – and a barriers for those who don't believe: suffering. With Father Kirby's help and expertise, we discuss where suffering comes from, why we suffer, why God allows certain suf...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Dr. John Bergsma, biblical theologian, professor, author, and Catholic convert, to talk about how to read the Bible like a Catholic, from the heart of the Church. We begin by digging into Dr. Bergma's wonderful conversion journey – as a Protestant pastor and biblical theologian, he decided to become Catholic – and, from there, discus...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by author, podcaster, and Catholic convert Haley Stewart to talk about her experience converting to Catholicism. On a search for a liturgically minded church, and through reading the Early Church Fathers, Haley and her husband Daniel, became interested and then deeply immersed in the Catholic Church. Their story is one of starting a family,...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Father Nathan Caswell, an Evangelical convert to Catholicism with an incredible conversion story to share. Father Nathan was raised Charismatic Evangelical, converted to Catholicism with his family on an Indigenous Reservation in Northern Canada, and spent the next several years wandering and soul-searching in the Canadian wilderness whi...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by my good friend, YouTuber Austin Suggs from the wildly popular Gospel Simplicity channel to talk about why he isn't Catholic – after a year of asking questions about the Catholic faith. Austin stumbled into a world of digging deeply into questions of the ancient Christian faiths. From his experience of going to a Catholic Bible study...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by author, and professor of Catholic history, and popular guest on this program Steve Weidenkopf. We talk about Steve's latest book Light from Darkness and discuss times when the Catholic Church was in complete turmoil, morally bankrupt, failing, and near collapse – and how each and every time it came back from the brink, stronger than...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined once again by renown patristics scholar Mike Aquilina to talk about how the Early Church – the very first Christians following the apostles – evangelized, how they spread the Christian faith. Through this conversation we dig into the early Christian sources like no one else can, expertly guided by Mike Aquilina, an author, podcaster, and po...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm re-joined by Father Blake Britton, the author of the fantastic new book Reclaiming Vatican II: What It (Really) Said, What It Means, and How It Calls Us to Renew the Church . Fr. Blake was a guest on this show exactly 100 episodes ago when we discussed Vatican II and what would, eventually, become this fantastic book. A book which has been sent, w...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by author, podcaster, and Catholic convert Tsh Oxenreider to unpack her incredible journey into the Catholic Church. Tsh and her husband Kyle met as missionary church planters, served and travelled with their family around the world, and eventually landed in the Anglican Church where they found the beauty and truth they were looking for in...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Dr. Matthew J. Thomas, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology and the author of the incredible Paul's "Works of the Law" in the Perspective of Second Century Reception . Dr. Thomas joins us to look at the two perspectives on "Works of the Law" and what Paul may...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Dr. Denis McNamara, associate professor and Director of the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College to talk about Pope Francis's Motu Proprio on the celebration of the Mass, Traditionis Custodes  and how we can make the Mass great again. We dig into how to. understand the parallel forms of the Mass: the Extraordinary (L...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by missionary, church planter, and organizational leadership expert Dr. MaryJo Burchard to talk about her incredible journey into Catholicism. It's a wild one and really the title of this episode – and these show notes – just can't do justice to what brought her into the Catholic Church and her insights, but we'll try anyway!...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Catholic author and columnist Eve Tushnet to talk about her writing, her journey into Catholicism, and navigating her the faith as a gay Catholic. Eve's insights – living and writing from the heart of the Catholic Church about some deeply personal, and challenging, issues – are flecked with her trademark humour and self-deprecation...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined once again, by popular demand, by author and catechist Jeffrey Pinyan. This time, we continue to dig into the prayers, actions, and meaning of the Mass beginning with the second-half of Mass, the Liturgy of the Eucharist. As in Episode 125, Jeffrey shares his immense knowledge of the "behind-the-scenes" workings of the Mass to hel...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by author and co-founder of ENDOW (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women) Terry Polakovic to tell the stories of some of the incredible women Doctors of the Church. This is a really incredible episode. Terry is a fantastic storyteller and in this conversation she sets up these incredible women Doctors of the Church as the perfect ant...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by author and catechist Jeffrey Pinyan to talk about what's going on in the Catholic Mass. In this conversation, we dig into the first part of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word. Jeffrey draws on Scripture, the Church Fathers, and the rich traditions of the faith to explain what each and every aspect of the Mass means – from actions lik...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by biblical scholar, theologian, and author Dr. Michael Dauphinais to talk through some biblical answers to question about Catholicism. We tackle topics of why people should listen to the Catholic Church, how the Holy Spirit can work through a hierarchical structure, what the Mass is and does, and how to share the incredible gift of Catholi...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by the incredible Father Mauro Gagliardi, STD, Catholic theologian, to talk about Mary. Fr. Gagliardi is the author of an enormous 1,000 page book on Catholic Dogmatic Theology and, within the context of this massive work, we're talking about his chapter on Mary. It's an absolutely fascinating discussion. We talk about Mary's...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined once again by one of the Catholic Church's leading theologians (and one of my favourite guests) Dr. Lawrence Feingold. In this episode, we're talking about the Sacraments. We go in depth on how and why the sacraments make sense including: how we know that Christ founded the sacraments, why Christ gave us the sacraments, what Prote...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Timothy Ezat. Timothy grew up as a nominal Muslim and then a nominal atheist in Kurdistan, Iraq. Under threat of violence and persecution, he converted to Evangelical Christianity at the age of 15 in an underground church. From there, Timothy moved to London, became involved in missionary work, and eventually became ordained as an Anglic...