Catholic Answers Focus

Theologian and Catholic Worker Larry Chapp joins us for a discussion of Pope Francis’ Motu Proprio on the Latin Mass. Was this a missed opportunity for the pope to achieve his larger goals? Is there any better way available to reach those goals? Cy Kellett: Is this a self-defeating papacy? Dr. Larry Chapp is next. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. I’ve been wanting to have Dr. Larry Chapp on the program. Lots of folks actually recommend him all the time...

In the first of two conversations with Karlo about the soul, Cy asks Karlo to explain what a Christian means by “soul.” Where is the soul? Does everything have a soul? What is the point of having a soul? Using the tools of philosophy, Karlo gets us some answers. Cy Kellett: What is a soul anyway? Karlo Broussard, next. Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding and defending your Catholic faith. I have to admit this one comes from me. I wanted to have this conversation with Karlo, because I struggle with the idea of the soul because I think ...

We ask Jimmy Akin, apologist and host of Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World, whether there is a Catholic way to understand the mind. Jimmy reviews some of the current thinking about what the mind is, and explains what a Catholic can, and cannot, accept. Cy Kellett: What is a mind anyway? Jimmy Akin is next. Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host, very glad you are here with us. Hey, right up front, let me just say if you could maybe like and subscribe if you’re watching on Yo...

In her new book, Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology, Noelle Mering argues that our “woke” moment is, in fact, a surrender to the age-old temptation to take the place of God. It is also the direct consequence of the sexual revolution. She joins us to explain how an awake Christian can help free the world of the destructive ideology of “woke”. Cy Kellett: Can a Christian get woke? Noelle Mering is next. Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding and defending your Catholic faith. ...

Can a Catholic assent to blowing up entire cities? What about when to do so will save perhaps millions of lives? Catholic Answers President Chris Check joins us as we consider again America’s use of Atomic weapons to end a long, bitter war with Japan. Cy Kellett: Why would a Catholic support nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Chris Check is next. Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic answers podcast for living, understanding and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett your host, and this week, as this episode is posted, we’re commemorating the anniversary o...

To lure parents who want their kids to be competitive in a high-tech society, some Catholic schools promote themselves vigorously as providing a top-notch STEM education. But just how compatible is the STEM mentality with Catholic ideas about formation and education? Dr. William Fahey, President of New Hampshire’s Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, joins us to explain why the Catholic educational tradition is better for students than STEM training. NOTE FROM HOST: Dr. Fahey and I both used the word “Medicine” instead of “Math” as the last word in the STEM acronym. This use is uncommon,...

Why is studying the Bible in college so often injurious to faith? Is it because scientific investigation of the Bible has the power to debunk it? urney toward answering these questions.

What is the Church hiding in keeping the Book of Enoch out of the Bible? Genesis mentions him, and the New Testament includes reference to...

How on Earth could it really be a mortal sin to miss Mass? This seems so harsh! Catholic Answers Apologist Karlo Broussard takes up a hard challenge...

Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers has an apparently unpopular answer to the scourge of racism -- imitating Jesus. Our society refuses this path...

From the beginning, support for abortion has relied on using language to hide reality -- specifically the reality of killing an innocent boy or girl.

Mark Brumley, the well-read president of Ignatius Press, joins us for a brief conversation about books in which he gives his suggestions for Catholics looking for some good summer fiction.

Does the Catholic Church still teach that divorce is wrong, even sinful? And if so, why, especially given that so many Catholics are divorced?

Catholic author and speaker Elizabeth Kelly joins us for a discussion of the supposed "anti-woman" bias in Christianity. Is it real?

You can hardly tune into a Catholic podcast or read a Catholic publication these days without someone complaining about the lack of manliness?

Todd Algioloro, director of publishing here at Catholic Answers, offers ideas for some "delightful" Catholic summer reading.

Catholic writer Shaun McAfee joins us to defend the Catholic use of sacramentals -- holy water, crucifixes, blessings, etc. This practice looks a lot like magic to both our Protestant and secular friends.

Supreme Court decision that allowed a Catholic social service agency to continue refusing to place foster children in the custody of gay couples...

Our own Tim Staples discusses the Catholic claim that there is no salvation outside the Church? How are we to understand this truth, and what does it mean for those who do not enter the Church?

In his new book, Love Never Fails, Madison Wisconsin Bishop Donald Hying helps Christians to take up the adventure of living in Christ, even in the modern world, every day.

Karlo Broussard, author of Prepare the Way: Overcoming Obstacles to God, the Gospel, and the Church, answers the common Freudian objection to belief in God -- It's just wish fulfillment.

Tim Staples is here to address the growing reluctance of some Catholics to accept the authority of church councils. Where do councils get their authority, and how much deference must a Catholic give them?

Karlo Broussard takes up the challenge of those who say Romans chapter 8 assures the Christian that salvation cannot be lost.

Tim Staples returns to Focus with a question taken from his School of Apologetics course "Evidence for the Church": Did Jesus really give his authority to a human institution?

Clearly Catholic bishops need closer collaboration with lay Catholics if we are ever going to get past the leadership models that led to the sex abuse crisis.

The call to evangelize has only grown more important, though it may look different today than it did in 100 A.D. Fr. Simon Esshaki talks about the call from Jesus Christ for all Christians to go out into the world, sharing the good news.

With his death and resurrection, Jesus completes the great work of our salvation and gives us the perfect sign that he has conquered sin and death.

A prominent strain of Christianity denies free will as it strives to defend the omnipotence of God. But does such a strategy turn God into a monster?

Does neuroscience, or any science, pose a challenge to believing human beings have free will? Trent Horn joins us for a discussion of today's fashionable denial of the fact of free will.

Karlo Broussard responds to an atheist critique of the God of the Bible, that he is a narcissist whose ego makes him hungry for the worship of his creatures

A common pop-culture assertion is that if there are intelligent extraterrestrials then Christianity is ruined. Would this discovery disprove the Bible?

Renowned scholar of St. Augustine, Father David Meconi, SJ, joins us for a discussion of the Apostolic Fathers. Did these men really know the Apostles?

In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus seems to soften his usual crystal-clear teaching against divorce. But what is he saying? Is adultery an exception?

What if my conscience says one thing and the Church says another? The Catholic Church clearly teaches that I must follow my conscience...

Karlo Broussard, author of Meeting the Protestant Challenge, takes on a common challenge to the Catholic priesthood. If all Christians are priests...

It seems like Scripture is so solid, and Tradition is so ephemeral. Why should we trust that God has revealed himself to us in Sacred Tradition?

Canon lawyer and journalist Ed Condon from pillarcatholic.com joins us to answer some hard questions about tithing. Is tithing required of every Christian?

As tempting as it may be to treat social activism as if it is our highest calling, in fact, it is not. Father Jeffery Kirby's new book, Real Religion...

Karin Oberg is a professor of astronomy at Harvard University who also teaches Aquinas at the Thomistic Institute. Who better to ask?

Jimmy Akin breaks down the antichrist foretold in Scripture. Can we know who it is? What will the signs be that we are truly dealing with the antichist?

Modern governments sometimes demand that entire populations participate in this program or that, which regularly raises the question of the Mark of the Beast.

Taking our cue from his new book Real Religion, we asked Father Jeffery Kirby to explain a distinction he makes between the religion of self-help and the religion of the Bible.

CNN host Don Lemon took on the Vatican in a conversation with the women of The View. He explained that he doesn’t think God approves of the Catholic refusal to bless same-sex unions. We asked apologist Karlo Broussard to respond to Mr. Lemon’s take. Cy Kellett: Don Lemon lectures the Catholic Church. Karlo Broussard responds next. Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic answers podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. And the Vatican said recently Catholics are not going to bless same-sex unions. And you might be surpr...

A listener asks us if it is wrong to say bad things about others, especially online, if the bad things are true. Turns out, it is, and theologian Dr. Scott Hefelfinger explains why.

Our friend from down under, Monica Doumit, the Director of Public Affairs and Engagement for the Archdiocese of Sydney, shares another legal innovation from Australia, laws that are meant to protect gay people by making it illegal to teach chastity as Catholics understand it. We ask her what the laws require, and what the Catholic Church actually teaches about human sexuality.

Chris Check wraps up our three part series on Catholics and Inquisitions with a sober look at an iconic time in Catholic history. Learn more here.

Do you really suppose that your families care as much as you do about the latest supposed outrage half a world away that you have learned about on your computer?

Why did the Church end up in such a bitter struggle against the Cathars, and how did that struggle play out? Our three-part dive into the various Catholic inquisitions continues as we ask Catholic Answers President Chris Check what really happened in the Medieval Inquisition. How bad was the Medieval Inquisition? Chris Check is next. Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers Podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host, and the Medieval Inquisition is the one that started it all. Before we talk about the Spanish Inqu...

Geraldine writes in to ask for an episode on "indifferentism." Just how are we supposed to share the Faith with people who show no interest?

We begin a three-part dive into the various Catholic inquisitions with Catholic Answers President Chris Check. In part one we ask about the mindset of the Catholics...