Considering Catholicism

In this "Deep Dives" series, we explore what the Catholic Church teaches about the Bible and the role the Bible plays in the Catholic faith. In this installment, we discover what the Church teaches about how the sacred scriptures and sacred tradition work together. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

A listener wrote in about the challenges of inviting non-catholic friends to mass for the first time. Greg and Ed talk about the process of evangelization and whether an invitation to mass should always be the first move in sharing the Catholic faith. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Ed the Protestant recently led worship at a contemporary evangelical church, and describes it like visiting an old girlfriend. It was comfortable, but not where he wants to be anymore. He and Greg talk about what they found missing in that world and why they considered (or are considering) Catholicism. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

In this "Deep Dives" series, we explore what the Catholic Church teaches about the Bible and the role the Bible plays in the Catholic faith. In this installment, Greg asks how the Church functioned before the Bible as we know it was completed. And did the completion of the Bible render the teachings and traditions of the apostles invalid? Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

The Vatican, headquarters and home to the papacy, is its own sovereign nation. It's small (108 acres), but it has its own army (the Swiss Guard), embassies in 180 countries, status in the United Nations, and until 1999 printed its own currency. But why does the pope have his own country in the first place? In this second of two conversations, Greg and Cory explore the Vatican city-state since 1929. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

The Vatican, headquarters and home to the papacy, is its own sovereign nation. It's small (108 acres), but it has its own army (the Swiss Guard), embassies in 180 countries, status in the United Nations, and until 1999 printed its own currency. But why does the pope have his own country in the first place? In this first of two conversations, Greg and Cory explore the reason and history of the Papal States. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

In this new "Friday Deep Dives" series, we explore what the Catholic Church teaches about the Bible and the role the Bible plays in the Catholic faith. In this first installment, Greg asks what exactly is meant by the term "God's Word" or "Word of God." Is that the same thing as the Bible? Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Greg answers questions listeners have sent in about the Traditional Latin Mass and why some younger priests are starting to wear cassocks again. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Greg answers questions listeners have sent in about joining the Catholic Church, what relatives can (and can't) do if the parents aren't baptizing their kids, and whether you have to attend your "geographic parish" or if you can shop around for one that suits you. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Last week, two things happened on this podcast: we passed 100,000 total downloads and we wrapped up a 10-week Bible study of Genesis on Fridays. So, to start our run at 200,000 downloads, we're launching a new feature: Friday Deep Dives. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

For 1600+ years, the Catholic Church took the gospel to the ends of the earth. But eventually, revolutionary changes in Europe and the Americas (the Protestant Reformation, the Enlightenment, revolutionary ideologies, etc.) shattered the old Christian civilization and the Church's missionary efforts had to cope with hostile modern and post-modern cultures at home. Greg and Cory continue their conversation about the Church's missionary history. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Christianity was born in a pagan world. At first, it was an oppressed sect but it came to overcome the religions of Greece and Rome, the Celtic and Germanic tribes, and carried the gospel to the ends of the earth. How and why were Catholic missionary efforts so successful? Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

The sons of Israel lie to their father and sell their brother Joseph into slavery in Egypt. But the Lord takes what they intend for evil and lays the foundation to save the two nations. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

A listener asked why entering the Catholic Church is so much more complex than joining a nondenominational church. Greg and Ed discuss what entering the Church means and the steps involved. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Protestants like to say that Catholicism is a religion of merit that teaches we are saved by our own good works. Is that true? Greg and Ed discuss how salvation by faith gets us airborne, but good works pilot us to our destination. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

What's the origin of the word "Israel?" In Hebrew, it means "wrestles with God." Why was this the name of Jewish nation, both ancient and modern? Because the grandson of Abraham literally wrestled with God one night, and his descendants have metaphorically kept wrestling with the Lord ever since. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Greg knows a Catholic priest who was criticized for not having a "vision." Greg and Ed discuss how destructive the "vision thing" has been in the evangelical world, and how comforting it is that the sacramental and pastoral ministry of Catholic parishes is mostly predictable and consistent across the planet. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Evangelical and Pentecostal Protestants say that salvation begins with being "born again" or "born again in the Spirit." They also say that the Catholic Church doesn't believe in or help Catholics to become "born again," and so many or most Catholics aren't really saved. Is that true? Greg and Ed the Protestant explore what being "born again" means in the Bible and how the Catholic Church brings that about in the life of every baptized Catholic. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Abraham chose to believe God's promise for innumerable number of descendants, despite the circumstances of his life. And then God tested his faith through the loss of his nephew, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the command to sacrifice his only son. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Many listeners that are considering Catholicism ask Greg about whether they should consider Eastern Orthodoxy. In this second of two episodes, Greg and Cory discuss why they chose the Roman Catholic Church. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

The Orthodox churches of the East are the "other half" of the ancient Church founded by Jesus' apostles. They have been separated from the Roman Catholic Church since the Great Schism of 1054. In this first of two episodes, Greg and Cory discuss what Orthodoxy is and why it is separate from the Church of Rome. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

The Lord called a man to leave his country and travel to a distant land. He gave that land to this man and his descendants, and promised that one day they would be as numerous as the stars of the sky or the grains of sand on the beach. And he gave this man a new name: Abraham, the Father of Nations. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

As we reflect on the joy of Easter, Greg and Cory recall one of the most profound and revolutionary works of Catholic literature, St. Francis of Assisi's "Canticle of the Creatures. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

This was the 13th episode of Considering Catholicism, back in 2022. Since then, the challenges to a biblical and Catholic understanding of the human person and the resurrection have grown more dramatic. In 2024, the United States Government declared March 31, Easter, to be "Transgender Visibility Day." Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

In Genesis chapter 11, the story widens to encompass the peoples, tribes, nations, and languages that make up human history. And we begin to understand that God's plan of salvation will involve one small tribe, one chosen nation, through which he will bless the whole world. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

A 19-year old listener named "Kate" has been investigating and considering Catholicism. But she is facing harsh resistance and rejection from her Protestant friends and family who argue that Catholicism is a false Christianity and she is falling for an unbiblical religion. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

A 19-year old listener named "Kate" has been investigating and considering Catholicism. But as she discusses and debates with her Protestant friends and family, she still wrestles with an important question: how do we know that the Catholic Church is the original Church that Jesus established, instead of a distortion what Jesus intended? Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Almost everyone has heard of Noah's Ark, usually in Sunday School or children's bibles. But it's a very adult story that looks back to the Fall, establishes covenants with all mankind, and points forward to our salvation in Christ and his Church, the "new ark" of Peter. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

A young listener named Caiden wrote in to ask about the medieval Catholic religious military orders (like the Knights Templar) that fought in the Crusades. In the previous episode (#197), Greg and Cory discussed the medieval Catholic society that produced these orders, and in this episode, they get to specifics. Here’s our previous episodes on the Crusades: The Crusades (#157). Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

A listener asked about the medieval military religious orders; Catholic warrior monks like the Knights Templar that fought in the Crusades. To answer the question, Greg and Cory begin by exploring the Catholic society that produced them. Here’s our previous episodes on the Crusades: The Crusades (#157). Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

In Genesis 4, we see Adam and Eve, exiled from Eden. They begin their family, the human family, by having two boys, Cain and Abel. And the first death in human history isn't from old age or being stepped on by a Wooly Mammoth, it is a murder. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Our culture says that it values equality and democracy, but is really obsessed with functionality and power structures. Catholicism, on the other hand, presumes a sacred ordering of things. Why? Greg and Ed discuss hierarchy and ask whether we need more of it. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

A listener wrote in to share her journey from Wicca to full-blown Satanism, under the patronage of demons, to Catholicism, to entering the Church through the RCIA process. She also mentions that Ed and Greg's conversations on this show were helpful to her along the way. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

In Genesis 3, we learn how mankind fell from grace when Adam and Eve, tempted by the serpent, disobeyed God and ate fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil... and how they took the world down with them. But while the Fall brought death and decay, God responded with the promise and prophecy of a day when all will be made right again. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Before 1517, Christians imagined the universe as "enchanted," full of mystery, wonder, and awe. But the Protestant Reformation reduced Christianity to Bible study, the spiritual transaction of "accepting Jesus," and grateful obedience to God's law. The mysteries of the faith were intellectualized, spiritualized, and sanitized. Greg and Ed the Protestant discuss how Catholicism preserves the "mystical" quality of biblical Christianity and the faith as it was practiced for 1500 years. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Why is Catholicism more "mystical" in character and practice than Protestantism or Evangelicalism? And why does the Catholic Church refer to the sacraments as "mysteries of the faith?" A protestant evangelical listener named Doug asked why his evangelical friends speak of "accepting Jesus" as a mystical transformation but act as if after that, nothing "mystical" ever happens in the church or life of the Christian. Greg and Ed the Protestant discuss the biblical roots of the mystical nature of the sacraments. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Genesis chapter 2 tells the story of the creation of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, and Adam’s work. And we’ll see why mankind’s two genders, male and female, are an essential part of the image of God in man. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

We begin a study of the Book of Genesis with the creation of the cosmos and what the Bible and the Catholic Church tell us about how God brought it about. Greg unpacks the first chapter of Genesis, the six days of God's creative work, and the seventh day of rest. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Why is Mary sometimes called the "Star of the Sea?" And why are statues of her sometimes even more prominent than statues of Jesus in Catholic Churches? A listener recently visited a beautiful, historic Catholic church in Duluth, Minnesota, but was puzzled by one of its architectural features, so he emailed Greg to ask. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Most people today don't think that the Bible makes much sense. Even Christians who respect it as God's Word struggle to explain it. In this episode, Greg unpacks the big story that the Bible tells: it's bookends, it's plot, and it's central point. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Ed the Protestant returns to ask Greg about the differences between Protestant pastors and Catholic priests. In Part 2, they explore what a Catholic priest is, and how priests differ from Protestant ministers or pastors. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Ed the Protestant returns to ask Greg about the differences between Protestant pastors and Catholic priests. In Part 1, they explore how much contemporary evangelical Protestantism revolves around the personality of the pastor rather than doctrine and sacraments. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

How does someone officially enter the Catholic Church, so they become eligible for the Eucharist and other sacraments? Former guest Angie Griffith (episodes #164-165) rejoins us to share her experience of joining the Catholic Church through the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) program, which is something like the Church's "new members class." [Note: it's being rebranded by the Church as OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation for Adults).] If you're interested in Angie's podcast or the prayer videos she mentions in the episode, those links are down below. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected] Angie's podcast: https://www.yougetwhatimsaying.com/ Angie's Catholic prayers memorization videos: https://www.tiktok.com/@catholicprayersvault

Last year, Ed the Protestant asked Greg why Catholics make such a big deal out of Lent. In this re-released episode, Greg explains the liturgical season of "Quadragesima," Latin for "40 Days," which in Old English English came to be known as "Lent." Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

In the last of a series of episodes about marriage, guest Carla Niziolek explains the process by which the Catholic Church considers declaring that a valid sacrament of matrimony never occurred, leaving the parties free to remarry. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

In the third of a series of episodes about marriage, guest Carla Niziolek explains the various grounds the Catholic Church considers to declare that a valid sacrament of matrimony never occurred, leaving the parties free to remarry. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

In the second of a series of episodes about marriage, Greg and Cory take on some common myths about Catholic sacrament of holy matrimony. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

The Catholic Church's understanding of marriage differs greatly from Protestant, evangelical, or secular concepts. It's not just "traditional." The Church teaches that matrimony is a sacrament, that contraception is a sin, and that divorce is impossible. Greg and Cory highlight these distinctive Catholic teachings. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

What is the Catholic perspective on marijuana and its legalization for recreational use? Greg explains how it can diminish our essential human qualities. If you're interested, Denver's Archbishop Samuel Aquila has written a wonderful pastoral letter on the subject: "That They Might Have Life." Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]