Manly Catholic: Igniting Men to Light the World on Fire

What does true spiritual toughness look like when the world demands passivity?In this episode of The Manly Catholic, host James Caldwell welcomes back Dr. Dan Schneider—professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and expert on spiritual warfare—for his fourth appearance on the show. Together, they break down a lineup of the most relentless, courageous, and "gangster" saints in Church history—men and women who refused to back down in the face of violent empires, interior vices, or demonic forces.From a Capuchin friar leading 20,000 men into battle holding only a wooden crucifix, to an elite Roman Praetorian Guard left for dead who walked right back to confront the Emperor, this discussion pulls no punches on what it takes to forge heroic virtue today. Dr. Dan and James explore the difference between physical combat and the interior battles every man must fight, the trap of spiritual softness, and why modern men need to direct their strength toward the true enemy rather than those they are called to protect.Consider supporting the podcast on our https://buymeacoffee.com/tmcpage (https://buymeacoffee.com/tmc) to help grow the show to reach as many men as possible!  Subscribe to our https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxrRLZNk4WqPdgcac5vuWEQ page: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxrRLZNk4WqPdgcac5vuWEQ) Check out our https://themanlycatholic.riverside.com/ (http://themanlycatholic.riverside.com/) Get delicious coffee from https://www.mysticmonkcoffee.com/ Downloadhttps://tanbooks.com/tan-digital-app/?gc_id=10316277314&h_ad_id=730848595836&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=10316277314&gbraid=0AAAAADyykAwicqF-HKPia6TTPy8QAcIPz&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtfXMBhDzARIsAJ0jp3BvOz3u8c1HzCclma7fM0Vf-DUe6eJ5O0dUN0jTbV4sZZaLuCg6lZMaAomQEALw_wcB to access the incredible TAN Library! Use code ‘MANLYCATHOLIC’ to get 50% OFF your subscription!  Contact us at [email protected]

Fr. Dom's homs is back this week (well, the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time). He talks about the one thing that can destroy that love in us. Sin. The first line of today's reading from Sirach tells us that wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. Fr. Dom admits he gets that one personally. Before he gave his life to God at 27, anger and pride felt good in a twisted way...like control. Sound familiar? That grip broke the day he actually let God in, and he's been trying to hand that same freedom to other people ever since.Sin drags you down, he says. It drags you down into the cold and dark, and the only way out is to actually let go of the weight. Don't play with it. How often do we try and justify our actions in our minds? We've been forgiven a debt we could never repay, and the real test of whether that's sunk in is whether we'll forgive the small stuff we're owed.Subscribe to our YouTube page Get delicious coffee from Mystic Monk CoffeeDownload TAN Digital to access the incredible TAN Library! Use code ‘MANLYCATHOLIC’ to get 50% OFF your subscription!  Contact us at [email protected]

Alphonse Ratisbonne hated the Catholic Church. He put on a Miraculous Medal as a joke, just to win a bet with a Catholic friend. Days later he walked into a church in Rome, saw Our Lady standing exactly as she's pictured on that little medal, and walked out a changed man. He became a priest. That conversion, and the hidden nun behind the medal that caused it, is the whole episode today.Shaun McAfee joins James for his fifth appearance on The Manly Catholic (he's officially in the Five-Timers Club now) to talk about his newest release for TAN Books, Saints and Sacramentals: Saint Catherine Labouré and the Miraculous Medal, the second book in his Saints and Sacramentals series written to give parents a way to explain Catholic devotions to their kids.In this episode:Who Saint Catherine Labouré was, and how a farm girl became the visionary behind the most-produced medal in Church historyWhy she refused every bit of credit for the rest of her life, and how nobody knew it was her until after she diedWhat's actually on the Miraculous Medal, and what the serpent, the twelve stars, and the two hearts on the back really meanThe wild true story of Alphonse Ratisbonne, an atheist who wore the medal to mock it and ended up a missionary priestPRODUCTS & REFERENCES MENTIONED:Saints and Sacramentals: Saint Catherine Labouré and the Miraculous Medal by Shaun McAfeeCompendium of Sacramentals and Compendium of Eucharistic MiraclesSaints and Sacramentals: Saint Dominic and The RosaryShaun McAfee's websiteKEY TAKEAWAY:Stop outsourcing your faith to a shopping cart. This week, go find a local Catholic bookstore and pick out a sacramental in person — a medal, a scapular, a rosary. Hold a few in your hand before you choose one. The intimacy of picking it yourself is part of the point.Thank you for your prayers and support!Consider supporting the podcast on our Buy Me A Coffee page to help grow the show to reach as many men as possible!Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxrRLZNk4WqPdgcac5vuWEQCheck out our websiteGet delicious coffee from Mystic Monk CoffeeDownload TAN Digitalto access the incredible TAN Library! Use code 'MANLYCATHOLIC' to get 50% OFF your subscription!Contact us at [email protected]

With the school year kicking off, Fr. Dom ties together three straight Sundays of readings around one line from St. Catherine of Siena, which is also this year's parish (OLC) theme: "Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire." And that only happens when the three virtues we're given at baptism, faith, hope, and charity, actually get put to work.He starts by walking back through the last two weeks. Elijah, hiding in a cave from a queen who wants him dead, finally hears God in the whispers of the wind and that's what steadies his faith. Then Peter, watching the storm swallow the boat, doesn't ask Jesus to calm it. He asks to get out and walk toward him instead. Fr. Dom's point: faith, hope, and charity don't get unlocked when life is calm. They get unlocked when we actually step out of the boat.From there he circles back to last Sunday's gospel regarding the Canaanite woman who won't take no for an answer, even after Jesus tests her with a hard line about dogs and table scraps. Her comeback earns her one of the only "great is your faith" lines in all of scripture. Wit is one of her strong suits.Fr. Dom notes the real audience for that moment was the apostles, who'd wanted to send her away. Jesus was showing them the kingdom was bigger than they thought.Which brings him to today's gospel: Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi, standing in front of a pagan temple built over what people believed was a literal gate to the underworld. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And Jesus hands him the keys right there. Fr. Dom shares that this exact passage is what pulled him into the Catholic Church in the first place.He wraps it all up together: every one of them had faith, hope, and charity unlocked by leaning into something hard, not by avoiding it. That's the challenge this week: let God do the same in you.Consider supporting the podcast on our Buy Me A Coffee page (https://buymeacoffee.com/tmc) to help grow the show to reach as many men as possible! Subscribe to our YouTube page: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxrRLZNk4WqPdgcac5vuWEQ)Check out our website (themanlycatholic.riverside.com/)Get delicious coffee from Mystic Monk CoffeeDownload TAN Digital to access the incredible TAN Library! Use code ‘MANLYCATHOLIC’ to get 50% OFF your subscription! Contact us at [email protected]

"Quo vadis, Domine?" Lord, where are You going?That's the question Christ asked Peter on the road out of Rome, and it's the last thing Peter heard before he chose to die on a cross turned upside down. Fr. Robert Nixon is back on the show with a brand-new translation almost nobody has read: the Life and Martyrdom of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, written by a man who was practically an eyewitness. Simon Magus, a demonic flying "miracle," a Roman emperor demanding Peter read his mind, and two apostles who walked to their deaths without a shred of fear. This is the episode that'll make you rethink what courage actually looks like.Fr. Nixon's latest translation for TAN Books brings us the lives of Peter and Paul as recorded by Saint Abdias of Babylon, one of the seventy-two disciples and a near-contemporary of the apostles themselves.Grab a coffee, brothers. This one puts real flesh and blood on two men you think you already know.PRODUCTS & REFERENCES MENTIONED:Life and Martyrdom of Saint Peter and Saint Paul by Saint Abdias of Babylon, trans. Fr. Robert Nixon (TAN Books) -- use cpde "manlycatholic" at checkout for a discount and suppor the podcastFr. Nixon's prior episodes: #167 (Eucharistic Visions of Saint Frances of Rome) and #208 (The Mystical Meaning of Numbers in Sacred Scripture)Thank you for your prayers and support!Consider supporting the podcast on our Buy Me A Coffee page (https://buymeacoffee.com/tmc) to help grow the show to reach as many men as possible!Check out our store! https://the-manly-catholic-store.checkoutstores.com/Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxrRLZNk4WqPdgcac5vuWEQCheck out our website (https://www.themanlycatholic.com/)Get delicious coffee from Mystic Monk Coffee (https://www.mysticmonkcoffee.com/)Download TAN Digital (https://tanbooks.com/tan-digital-app/) to access the incredible TAN Library! Use code 'MANLYCATHOLIC' to get 50% OFF your subscription!Contact us at [email protected]: 00:00 - Intro & Welcome 01:55 - Opening Prayer 02:25 - How Fr. Robert Nixon Translates Ancient Texts 04:45 - Who Was St. Abdius of Babylon? 09:00 - St. Peter & St. Paul’s Personalities Beyond Scripture 14:20 - St. Peter vs. Simon Magus (The Showdown in Rome) 22:40 - The Preaching Styles of the Apostles 25:30 - The Martyrdom of St. Peter (Quo Vadis & Vatican Hill) 29:45 - The Martyrdom of St. Paul (Via Ostiense) 32:10 - Key Takeaways for Catholic Men Today 34:40 - Fr. Robert Nixon’s Final Blessing & Upcoming Books