The Cordial Catholic

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by the very cordial John Martignoni, an author, speaker, long-time radio host, and the founder and president of the Bible Christian Society to mine some of the questions that Protestantism – that I, as a Protestant Evangelical Christian – had the hardest time answering. These are questions like that John calls the "pea under the mattre...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Catholic convert and author Shaun McAfee to talk about the wonderful, wild, and sometimes downright weird world of Catholic sacramentals. What is a sacramental? Why does the Church think they may be helpful in our faith journeys? What do they do? What don't they do? What are some common misconceptions about sacramentals? And how to...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Talia Kruze, a wife, mother, mental health coach, and a convert to the Catholic faith to talk about her absolutely incredible journey of conversion to the Catholic faith. The theme throughout Talia's journey is the effect of good Catholic witnesses. Beginning when her own sister converted to Catholicism after the witnesses of the go...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by my new friend Phillip Campbell, a Catholic convert from charismatic, evangelical Christianity, to talk about his truly remarkable faith journey. Raised nominally Catholic Phillip never went to Mass or received any of the sacraments but found Jesus through the evangelization of some close friends and their incredible examples of faith. Af...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by podcaster, writer, and speaker John Edwards to share what I think is the most incredible conversion story ever. John breaks the record previously held by the wonderful Tsh Oxenreider as he speaks for a full hour unpacking his whirlwind conversion story: through a crippling drug addiction, successes and failures, ups and downs, and an inc...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Bishop Athanasius Schneider to talk about what new Catholics, non-Catholic Christians, and even Catholics who have been around the faith for a long time can, and should, make of the current state of affairs in the Catholic Church. How to thrive and live faithfully, following Christ, when it seems sometimes like the Church is in crisis. H...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by my friend Joe Goodwin. Joe was an evangelical seminarian, worship leader, and a Catholic convert. Since his conversion, Joe's gone on to work in campus ministry for a number of years and is currently the Executive Director of Canadian Priests for the Third Millennium , a group working to meet the needs of the next generation of prie...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Dr. Matthew J. Thomas to talk about justification, salvation, and whether or not Evangelicals and Catholics can agree on how we're saved. This is a wonderful topic and one of the bread-and-butter type conversations on this podcast: unpacking what both Catholics and Evangelicals believe about how we're saved and trying to come u...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Catholic convert, author, speaker, and, of course, Catholic priest Father Ken Geraci, CPM to talk about the realm of spiritual warfare and the uniquely Catholic tools we have to combat sin, Satan, and the demonic. Father Ken is a truly wonderful priest – with a great conversion story! – and is full of fascinating insights into the spirit...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Dr. Samuel Klumpenhouwer, an expert in Medieval Catholicism, to talk about the day-to-day realities of what it was like for Catholics in the Middle Ages? Did the Catholic Church really keep the Bible out of the hands of average Catholics? Was doctrine, dogma, and theology out of touch with Scripture and the history of the Church? Did Cat...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by author, podcaster, and Catholic convert Tsh Oxenreider to talk, first of all, about how the liturgies like those surrounding Advent drew her and her family deeper into the traditions and practices of Catholicism. And then about how each of us can deepen our own walk towards Christmas through embracing the season of Advent and the liturgi...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my friend Taylor Schroll from Forte Catholic, among other things, to talk about what's wrong (and what's right?) about the official process for converting to Catholicism. The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (R.C.I.A.) is a long-standing, historical process of initiating non-Catholics into the beauty of the Catholic Churc...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my friend and fellow Catholic convert Brantley Rutz to share the story of his conversion. Brantley is a wonderful guy. A "dyed-in-the-wool" Protestant who even named one of his children after a famous Baptist preacher – yes, he was that serious of a Protestant. It wasn't until Brantley and his wife began investigating what...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Adam Blai, an expert on exorcism out of the Diocese of Pittsburg. Adam has witnessed hundreds of solemn exorcisms, written several fine books on the topic, and helps to train exorcists in his official capacity in his diocese and also all over the world. In this episode we talk about the nuts and bolts of exorcism, the stages and signs, wh...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Dr. Gilbert Lavoie, MD to talk about the incredible Shroud of Turin. Dr. Lavoie, a medical doctor who has undertaken a more than 40 year forensic study of the Shroud, shares his incredible insights on what is supposedly the burial cloth of Jesus, venerated by Christians for 2,000 years. Dr. Lavoie digs deeply into the evidence – what we k...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the remarkable Sister Mary Ann Fatula, O.P. to talk about non-Catholic Christians who were converted, and then became saints, through the witness of the Eucharist and the Real Presence of Christ at Mass. These are some incredible stories of how real people encountered the theology of the Catholic Church – the belief that Jesus is really p...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by author, speaker, and star of the  Word on Fire show, Rachel Bulman. Rachel joins me to talk about Catholic relationships, marriage, and how to understand and approach these from the perspective of the rich teachings of the Catholic Church, as understood through the lens of a convert to Catholicism. There's so much in this wonderful c...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Catholic Answers apologist extraordinaire Joe Heschmeyer to talk about Jesus and the Eucharist. Together we unpack the history of the Eucharist from the Early Church to today, what we mean by "real presence" and how the very first Christians understood this, the Eucharist in light of the Old and New Covenants and much, much more...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Andrew and Sarah Swafford to talk about the idea of virtue and how to have meaningful Catholic relationships at all stages of life. Dr. Andrew Swafford and his wife Sarah are the authors of Gift and Grit: How Herotic Virtue Can Change Your Life and Relationships our from Ascension Press . Sarah, the founder of Emotional Virtue Ministries...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my good friend Robert LeBlanc, co-host of the Pints and Pews Podcast, author,  speaker, Catholic educator, and lay leader in his parish community to chat through some of the most frequently asked questions that we hear about Catholicism. I asked listeners, viewers, and some discerning non-Catholic friends to send in their burning question...

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 roots of Catholicism which stretch back not only into the Old Testament with the Levitical Priesthood but the very beginning of the Old Testament itself in Genesis and the Garden of Eden. Dr. Bergsma unpacks his own conversion to Cathol...

In this special episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm happy to share a livestream I recorded with Keith from Grassroot Catholic and Keith Nester from Down to Earth Ministries. It was a chaotic mess but lots of fun and, I hope, worth listening to! For more from Keith check out Grassroot Catholic on Instagram and YouTube . You can find out more about Keith Nester from his website or on YouTube...

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 to talk about the Eucharist. In this conversation, Dr. Feingold explains why, according to St. John Paul II, the Eucharist is the greatest gift God gave the Church; an enduring presence, closer even than what was experi...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by my friend historian, researcher, apologist, and author Gary Michuta to talk about his latest masterpiece The Gospel Truth and how the Catholic Church helps to prove the veracity of our accounts of Jesus in the Gospels. Gary, in typical fashion, approaches the question of the veracity of the Gospels like a dog with a bone. His research is...

In this special episode of The Cordial Catholic , I join my good friend Suan Sonna on his YouTube channel Intellectual Catholicism to share some of my research on St. Jerome and the monepiscopate. The monepiscopate, or the monarchical episcopate, is the idea from the Early Church that one bishop was put in charge of a church, a city, or a diocese and that this is how Christian churches were govern...