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 through these questions to answer what he argues is one of the most fundamental questions of Christianit...
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 become to accustomed to led him to pursue Christ right into the Catholic Church. Nic discusses the importan...
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!Gary explains the process used to discern which books of the Bible belonged in the Canon, how this began...
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 about divisions in the Church, what happens when the truth of Catholicism is tested against fringe ideas on the l...
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, and about being attracted to the beautiful and ancient contemplative prayer practices of Catholic mysticism...
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 today's virtual landscape. It's a fascinating conversation about evangelizing online without losing our...
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 movement in the 1980's which would forever shape the trajectory of David's faith life – and this would only be t...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by JuliaMarie Woolbright, an atheist convert to Catholicism to tell, first of all, her story of conversion to the Catholic faith, but then the story of her ongoing conversion through the experience of her daughter, Anastasia. Diagnosed in utero with Anencephaly – a fatal type of neural tubal defect where a baby is born without parts of their skull or brain – JuliaMarie shares deeply from her experience of Anastasia's life, from the time of d...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Cameron Riecker, a Catholic apologist, speaker, and YouTuber to share his thoughts on a variety of topics including discernment, evangelizing our Protestant brothers and sisters, common Evangelical misunderstandings of Catholicism, Mary's role in the Church, and much more. It's a great conversation and Cameron is a phenomenal apologist and a wonderful guy!For more from Cameron check out his YouTube channel and make sure to subscribe while...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Nathan Lancaster, a campus missionary completely sold out for Jesus Christ and His Church – with a fantastic passion for his faith and a great story to tell! First, Nathan talks about his incredible story of deeper conversion to Christ through campus ministry. Then, Nathan and I dive into what's going on on college and university campuses around North America, what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, what it's like to do missionary work o...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the incredible Ken Kopelson to tell what I think is one of the most unique and amazing conversion stories I've ever heard.Raised in a conservative Jewish home, Ken began asking questions about Christianity when a family member converted and began to share about Christ. Those discussions sparked a radical conversion to Christ and 45 years of serving as God's "errand boy" across all manner of ministries, crisscrossing the world, to go where...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Brandon Eaves and Chris Kellam, two former Evangelical seminarians, to talk about how, as Evangelicals studying Scripture, they discovered the Biblical basis for the papacy and the Catholic view of justification. Brandon and Chris, two good friends with a great dynamic, explain how many of their misconceptions about Catholicism were dismantled as they looked into Scripture, the witness of the Early Church, and in the actual practice of th...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the incredible Austin Molt, an Evangelical pastor, who's invited me to try and convert him to Catholicism – in 60 minutes!Austin, the pastor of New Vintage Church in Richland, WA, introduced himself to me a while back and we struck up an online friendship. He's doing and has done some great, deep thinking about the Catholic faith and invited me, in 60 minutes or less, to try to convert him to Catholicism. Of course, that's impossible! But...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my new friend Joseph Dinesh from the incredible JD Catholic Engage YouTube channel to talk, first of all, about his amazing faith journey and then to dig into some of the anti-Catholic misunderstandings and misconceptions that Protestants have about Catholicism. JD's journey is one of a passionate young man converted away from the nominal Catholicism he was raised in, into a vibrant Evangelical faith only to come storming back into the Ca...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Soren and Ever Johnson. Soren, a convert to Catholicism, and his wife, raised in a large Catholic family, are pioneering authentic Catholic communities in parishes across the world. They join me to discuss the "Evangelical sacrament" of fellowship and the need to bring authentic community to Catholics. We talk about the importance of doing life together, the reality of fellowship in Catholic parishes today, and practical steps to begin to...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Scott Oakland, a former Baptist pastor, a Reformed and Lutheran elder and, finally, a grateful Catholic convert. Scott shares the story of how his love for the Bible and his quest to find the Church founded by Christ drew him ever deeper in towards the ancient Catholic Church. From a Baptist pastor, questioning his beliefs about infant baptism, to a Reformed Calvinist, steeped in the theology around predestination, to a Lutheran elder, ho...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Dr. Douglas Beaumont, a former Evangelical seminarian professor and a convert to the Catholic faith, to unpack how trying to decipher the "Evangelical essentials" led to his conversion. Dr. Beaumont, a student of the late Evangelical theologian Dr. Norman Geisler, studied deeply into the history of the Church, the Bible, and tried to identify the "essentials" that all Evangelical Christians held in common. Using the Bible as the sole infa...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the legendary, pioneering Christian musician John Michael Talbot to share his incredible journey into the Catholic faith. John Michael is a natural born storyteller so you'll want to buckle up for this story; from encountering Christ in an Evangelical context as a country rock musician, to wrestling with denominationalism, questions about the Early Church, and a draw towards charismatic, mystical prayer traditions – the conversion j...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by veteran Catholic apologist Tom Nash to talk about the biblical basis for the Catholic Church. How can we use the Bible to explain the origins of the Catholic Church? We dig into apostolic succession, the centrality of the Mass, Jesus' desire for Christian unity in John 17 (and how to accomplish this), and some of the Church-dividing problems with the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. Plus much, much more. Tom is a veteran apologist with a lot t...
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by the legendary Brandon Eaves to talk about his journey from Evangelical Christianity through to the Catholic Church. Brandon, who you've heard about on this show before, has an incredible story to tell. After the Catholic conversion of a close friend, Brandon began to ask questions about the Catholic Church – what would compel such an intelligent, Spirit-filled person to become Catholic, of all things. And was in Brandon's pursuit of those...
Quinton Owens
I am still considering RCIA, and I could not help myself from asking for Padre Pio to pray for guidance and help in my wife to respect my decision whilst listening to this podcast. Thank you. I never comment on these but when I retrieved my phone from my pocket I started a "pocket comment" and decided to share.
Geneviève Boily
I love your show!! Your voice is so calm and easy to listen to, and your guests are very knowledgeable! Keep it up!!