The Cordial Catholic

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by former Anglican priest and Catholic convert John Bacon to talk about his conversion story – and it's an incredible one! Ordained a priest in the Anglican Church in North America, John tells his story of encountering Catholicism through the Liturgy, the Early Church Fathers, Mary's role in exorcisms (which he encountered as a pol...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined once again by world renown Early Church expert and author (and one of my favourite guests) Mike Aquilina. On this episode, Mike joins us to talk about how the Early Church read, understood, and used the Scriptures. What does it mean that the primary place of Scripture was in the Liturgy? What's more important Scripture or Tradition? Cou...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the incredible, world-renown theologian Dr. Margaret Turek to provide the Catholic case for the atonement. And, boy, is it ever incredible! Dr. Turek lays out in beautiful depth and poetry, the whole of salvation history. Why Jesus had to come, die, and rise from the dead. Why Jesus had to die the way He did. What was the Father's ro...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Catholic Answers apologist extraordinaire Joe Heschmeyer to discuss the structure of the Early Church. Was the Early Church made up of loosely affiliated groups of believers, or did the Early Church inherit a clear hierarchical structure from the apostles? The question is one of the most important ones to answer, considering it'll he...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Dr. Steven Christine, a medical doctor, lawyer, a lecturer and speaker on Catholic social issues, and the author of Speaking for the Unborn: 30-Second Pro-Life Rebuttals to Pro-Choice Rebuttals . Here, Steve walks us through how to talk to just about anyone about abortion: those that have had abortions, those that advocate for abortions,...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my good friend Keith Nester to unpack some of the problems with Protestant Christianity that drove us to convert to Catholicism. Keith Nester is a former Protestant pastor – he spent over 20 years in ministry before converting to Catholicism. Keith is the host of the Catholic Feedback podcast , the author of a fantastic book for new conve...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Father Jeffrey Kirby, STD to talk about ascetical theology: the ancient and holy Catholic practice of dying to yourself. We dig deeply, with Fr. Kirby as our guide, into how understanding the purpose of our lives, through a knowledge of Scripture and God's plan, we can more fully and truly live out our Catholic lives and vocations. I...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Shannon Wimp Schmidt, one of the co-authors of Fat Luther, Slim Pickin’s: A Black Catholic Celebration of Faith, Tradition, and Diversity , to talk about some of her thoughts on the black Catholic experience. This is a topic I've had a lot of requests to tackle on the show and I'm so pleased, and grateful, to have Shannon as a...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined once again by my good friend Catholic convert, author, and historian Rod Bennett to talk about the apostles, apostolic succession, and how the Early Church understood the role of these very first Christian leaders. Rod always brings incredible insights into Early Christianity and this episode is no different. We dig deep into the historical...

While the show is on hiatus until May 25, allow me to share one of my favourite conversations from last  year: my chat with Evangelical convert to Catholicism, a biblical powerhouse, Dr. Scott Hahn. In this episode, I'm joined by fellow Catholic convert, author, and biblical theologian Dr. Scott Hahn from the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology to talk about the Eucharist. In this discussio...

A short announcement to let you know that this show will be on a short hiatus until May 25, 2022 as our family gets our house ready to sell! We'll be back with an all-new episode on May 25 and, in the meantime, we'd appreciate all of your prayers for the smooth sale of our house and for the sanity of our family as we try to navigate it all with young kids, a dog, and a cat! Oh my! St. Jo...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined once again by Dr. Brett Salkeld, theologian for the Catholic Archdiocese of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada and host of the Thinking Faith podcast to talk about purgatory. What exactly is purgatory? Why does it make sense? Where can we find it in the Bible? In Church history? Isn't it just a medieval invention? Didn't it go complet...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by returning guest Suan Sonna from Intellectual Conservatism to talk to us about the papacy, and the pope. Suan is making major waves these days strongly defending the papacy and he's here today to tackle some of the most popular (and difficult) objections that you've probably heard to the idea of the pope. Where is the papacy in...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Jason Bulman, a father, candidate for the diaconate, and one of the "stars" of the Word on Fire show Meet the Bulman's where Jason and his wife Rachel, a previous guest on our show, open their home and their lives up for viewers to see a picture of a Catholic family, living and loving their faith. In this episode Jason and...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by The Jewish Catholic, Daniel Suazo, to unpack the absolutely incredible story that's led to his decision to become Catholic, this Easter 2022. Daniel was raised Protestant, from a Jewish background, and began exploring his heritage after asking some difficult questions about his Protestant beliefs. After discovering the Messianic Jud...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Catholic convert Christian B. Wagner, the Militant Thomist , to share the story of his incredible journey into Catholicism. From an upbringing as a Baptist, Christian was exposed to the Early Church Fathers through some of the Reformed theologians he began reading in college. His exploration of Early Christianity led him to ask questions...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by the inestimable Father Gregory Pine, OP to talk about grace, prudence, and how to live out the virtues in our Catholic faith lives. We talk about exactly how grace infuses our lives and helps us to live more virtuously, the role of prudence in the life of a Catholic, how to make decisions in God's will (and how to understand God&apo...

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 Father Harrison Ayre to talk about the Sacramental Worldview at the centre of Catholicism. To the Catholic, our view of the world, our faith, and everything God created is through the lens of the Sacraments – through Christ himself – and, this week, Fr.  Harrison is here to talk all about it: the mind-blowing reality of what it means to...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Dr. Matthew J. Thomas to talk about this vitally important Early Church Father and the newest Doctor of the Church: St. Irenaeus and unpack his theology, his writings, and what he can teach us about the faith? And, we tackle the question, what does Irenaeus sound more like: Catholic or Evangelical? We discuss some of the issues in the Ea...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Dr. John Bergsma from the Franciscan University of Steubenville and Dr. Michael Dauphinais from Ave Maria University to talk about their experiences crossing paths as John, a former Protestant pastor and Bible scholar, was on his way into the Catholic Church. What a fun discussion! John and Michael will share about their encounter, their...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Catholic Answers apologist Joe Heschmeyer to talk about the Early Church – was the original, pristine Christian Church corrupted by Constantine? Did the Roman Emperor "romanize" the Christians? Joe and I dig into this premise and look at the earliest evidence of how Christians lived, worshipped, and what they believed to see wh...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic , I'm joined by Catholic convert, speaker, author, and evangelist Kathryn Whitaker to talk about falling deeper in love with Christ in the Catholic Church. From her early days, roaming throughout different non-Catholic Christian churches to her decision to become Catholic – her radical attraction to a deepening relationship with Christ – her journey is...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Kenny Burchard, Director of Development at The Coming Home Network, to talk about the Catholic practice of praying to saints. Kenny spent 33 years as a Charismatic, Evangelical Christian, more than twenty of those in full-time ministry, including planting and pastoring churches, before becoming Catholic in dramatic fashion and joins us he...

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by author, speaker, and star of the new show from Word on Fire, Rachel Bulman. Rachel joins me to unpack her incredible conversion story from the streets of the Philippines to Florida; from a place of deep love of Christ and an encounter at Mass that forever changed the course of her life – it's an incredible conversion! Listen, a hear...