The Cordial Catholic

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Avery Reukauf, a Catholic convert with one of the most incredible conversion stories you'll ever hear! From the untimely death of her mother following a radical decision to be baptized to her decision to join the military and her deployment to Iraq to her whirlwind marriage and the birth of her children to miracle upon miracle as Ave...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by speaker, author, and accomplished Catholic Answers apologist Dr. Karlo Broussard to talk about praying to the saints. How do we know it's OK to pray to the saints? Why would the Church encourage it when it seems discouraged in the Bible? How do we know they can hear us? How is that even possible? This, and much more, as Karlo uses Sc...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Dr. Matthew Wiseman for one of the most phenomenal conversion stories we've had on this podcast. Raised in a devoutly Southern Baptist home, Dr. Wiseman and his family, seeking a deeper understanding of the Bible, found themselves immersed in the Messianic Movement – also known as the "Hebrew Roots" movement – and seeking t...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my friend theologian, biblical scholar, and former Protestant pastor Dr. John Bergsma to talk about the deeply biblical roots of the Year of Jubilee. Pope Francis has declared 2025 a "Year of Jubilee" but what exactly does that mean? What are the "sacred portals" opening up across Rome? What kinds of special graces are...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined once again by one of my favourite guests and yours, my good friend Rod Bennett. Rod is a Catholic convert with a unique way of looking at the faith and a penchant for asking some of the most penetrating questions about what connects as divides us as Protestants and Catholics. On this episode, we talk about the question of Christian unity an...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by celebrated Catholic author and convert (or, revert) to the Catholic faith Emily Stimpson Chapman to talk about all things Catholic. We dig into her own conversion story as someone who was raised Catholic during the "Father Ted in leotards" era of post-Vatican II Catholicism, her rediscovering Christianity in Protestant denominat...

In this special episode from our archives, I'm joined by Dr. Michael Foley, renown author, professor of theology, and one of the best storytellers out there to explain some of the incredibly weird and terribly wonderful Christian roots of our favourite Christmas traditions. Dr. Foley unpacks the dating of Christmas, the roots of Santa Claus, the incredibly weird world of "Mutant Christma...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Nathan Smith, the  Director of Ecumenism for Glenmary Home Missioners, a Catholic religious community, and as a consultant for the USCCB’s Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and one of the authors behind The Gift of Being Christian Together , a new document seeking to build a bridge between Catholic and Evangelical comm...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the inestimable Kenny Burchard. A convert to the Catholic faith, Kenny joins us to tell the remarkable story of his encounter with purgatory while preaching and studying the Bible. It was in his preparation work for a sermon series that Kenny first encountered the idea of purgatory – and it changed his life! Listen and learn, in this epis...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Wendy and Zoe, from the Instagram page Catechumemes , to talk about their absolutely remarkable conversions to Catholicism – as two best friends on a wild theological and spiritual journey! Wendy and Zoe are truly amazing. As two Christians taking their faith seriously they dug deep into every theological topic imaginable, sharing late ni...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Catholic convert, or revert from non-denominational Evangelical Christianity, Austin Habbish. Austin is the founder of Think Catholic, the host of the podcast Summa in a Year, and the heart and mind behind Sent Evangelization. In this episode Austin shares some of his experiences, as a Catholic, evangelizing door-to-door in his parish nei...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by one of my all-time favourite guests Steve Weidenkopf. Steve is a lecturer, author, renown speaker, and an absolute expert on the subject of Church history and he brings his knowledge to bear on today's fascinating topic: the greatest myths of the Reformation. We tackle the underlying philosophy of the Reformation – what is a reformat...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Evangelical convert to Catholicism Brandon Forschino to talk about his journey into the Catholic faith. Brandon was a zealous evangelist for Christ who went to Evangelical seminary to deepen his understanding of the faith, evangelism, and apologetics and after encountering crippling divisions in the faith he began to investigate other Chr...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the wonderful Sam Nunnally. Sam spent two decades as a charismatic, evangelical pastor before leaving to pursue the truth of Catholicism – a journey which took him many more years to confront, understand, and finally embrace... and it's all on his story, this week on the show! Sam's story is a phenomenal one – clocking in at one...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the extraordinary Justine Callis from The Theology of Conversion . She shares her journey from a staffer at a non-denominational, Evangelical Mega Church to a Catholic convert – and what drew her in. Her story – of learning about the Eucharist, the magisterium, the Early Church and more – is the story of so many converts but the incredibl...

In this not-to-be-missed episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Catholic Answers contributor, speaker, and apologist Joel S. Peters to talk about arguments for Sola Scriptura – "Bible alone" Christianity – and reasons why he thinks non-Catholic Christians should reconsider this theological position. For me, as host of this show, this topic gets to the core of what drove me t...

In this not-to-be-missed episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Russ Breault, a long-time researcher, writer, speaker, and evangelist who has made it his life's mission to share the incredible miracle that is the Shroud of Turin with audiences across the globe. Russ brings an absolute wealth of knowledge about this intriguing biblical artefact to explain why it is absolutely a mi...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the incredible Brayden Cook, the host of The Catechumen YouTube channel, to talk about his conversion to Catholicism as an intern Baptist minister. Brayden's story – which is my own story in so many aspects – begins by encountering the Early Church Fathers and realizing that they didn't look like his local Baptist and non-denomi...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Paul Zucarelli. A Catholic author, speaker, and evangelist to talk about the Church. Did Jesus found the Catholic Church – or many, different churches? What was Christ's plan from the beginning, and how do we know? What evidence do we have from Scripture? The Early Church? And from history... With charity and clarity Paul walks us th...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my new best friend Nic Davidson to talk about how he, and his whole family, converted to Catholicism. Nic's got an amazing story to tell. As a missionary following the call of Christ Nic has some amazing adventures to recount, how God was with him and his family every step of the way, and how listening and following that call he had...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the renown expert on the Bible, apologist Gary Michuta. With bucketloads of insight, wisdom, and decades of research and experience Gary explains exactly how the Bible came out of the Catholic Church and why understanding the origins of the Bible is so important when talking to our non-Catholic Christian friends – who love their Bibles! G...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the indefectible Dr. Larry Chapp to talk about the heart of what draws Catholic converts into the Catholic Church – the truth, beauty, and goodness – and what sucks when those things don't seem to exist in the way they ought to in day-to-day, on-the-ground Catholicism. With Dr. Chapp's trademark clear-eyed perspective, we talk a...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Catholic convert Nate Ebel to explain how he became Catholic – by accident! Nate walks us through his faith journey. A journey not unlike my own conversion – it was in dispelling the misinformation he had about Catholicism, about looking into Catholic sources to discover how seamlessly the Church's theology and practice fit together,...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Noah Bradon, the Director of Marketing at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and the founder of Cross the Tiber , to talk about his conversion journey, his experience in evangelization, and what the work from his Master's Degree in Theology and Communication says about how we can be Catholic, online...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by David Douglas, President of the St. Therese Institute of Faith and Mission , to tell us his long, winding, and incredibly compelling faith journey. It begins, for David, in a socialist commune, the son of a prominent bluegrass musician, David's parents had a radical conversion to Evangelical Christianity through the Jesus People move...