Episodes

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: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

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: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Within the next few years, artificial intelligence paired with mass-scale robotics manufacturing will change our economy, workplaces, and daily lives in ways we can't imagine. But our belief in technology as the solution to our problems and a means to shaping the world to our desires runs up against a Catholic vision of humanity, the place and role of science, and the nature of reality. In this bonus episode, Greg shares his thoughts from a couple of years ago on "plastic modernity." Support th...

If you're reading the news, you might be thinking that the Catholic Church is abandoning Catholic doctrine, morality, and tradition. It's like the old joke about whether the pope is Catholic. Greg and Cory explore this question and explain that, just as a human body gets sick when it fights a virus or infection, the body of the Church is showing the symptoms of fighting the viruses and bacteria of post-modern civilization. The Holy Spirit will pull her through, and eventually, she'll develop imm...

People who are considering Catholicism, especially those coming from Protestant or Evangelical backgrounds, are sometimes hesitant to commit because of doctrinal differences between Catholicism and what they were raised to believe. Greg and Cory explain why, in many cases, these are the easiest speed bumps to overcome on the way to becoming Catholic. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gma...

People who are considering Catholicism are sometimes hesitant to commit because of its historical baggage. Incidents like the Crusades, sexual abuse, or financial scandals can be a barrier to joining the Church. Greg and Cory share some perspective on the Church's very real, and sometimes exaggerated, historical baggage. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Many folks who are considering Catholicism have to overcome hurdles or barriers on their road to the Church. In this three-part series, Greg and Cory take on these speed bumps. This first installment, they explore the Catholic cultural barriers that can make non-Catholics uncomfortable. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Marxism has been in the news again lately. Cultural Marxism (i.e., "wokeism," DEI, and radical social justice movements) and various globalist ideologies try to challenge, undermine, and overwhelm historic Catholic Christianity despite every pope since the mid-1800s specifically condemning Marxism and communism. Every Marxist or communist government around the globe has persecuted Christians and the Catholic Church. In this episode, Greg explains why Catholicism and Communism (Marxism) are diame...

All Christian churches practice the sacrament of baptism, but they don't all understand it in the same way. From a Catholic perspective, Greg answers three questions: 1) Why do we baptize? 2) Who/what/when/where do we baptize? 3) Why did Jesus get baptized by John the Baptist if Jesus had no sin? Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

As our society kicks out the load-bearing walls of the civilization that Catholicism built, things are going to get weirder and darker. Spiritual warfare and demonic activity will become more obvious. But we have armor and weapons for times like these. Greg shares two powerful Catholic prayers of protection. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com ************************************...

On the second anniversary of the podcast, Greg finally tells his own story: how he became a Christian, his life as a Protestant, and his conversion to Catholicism. Learn why he started this podcast, what motivates him, and the vision to take it to the next level. Support the Vision 2024 campaign: https://givebutter.com/dbN25v Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com 1 Timothy 4:1-5: “Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convinc...

On January 1, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. For most American Protestants, especially evangelicals and Pentecostals, the idea that Mary could be called “the Mother of God” is jarring, even offensive. But as Greg explains, this ancient truth only reinforces the power of the Gospel. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Send me an email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com Visit the website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ --...

Anyone considering ancient and biblical Christianity, particularly Catholicism, has to ask, “Why does the Christian life have to be so hard? If God wants us to follow him, why doesn't he just make it easier? Is living the Christian life, as the Catholic Church lays it out, worth it?" Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Send me an email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com Visit the website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ ----more----Keywords: Catholic, Cathol...

What was Mary doing in the manger? Obviously she gave birth to Jesus among the sheep, but why her? Why was she chosen? And did her role end once he was born and raised? As Greg explains, Mary's place in the manger, and the Church that would eventually come from it, was and is far more significant than we realize. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Send me an email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com Visit the website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ ----more...

Part 2 of Greg's conversation with Angie Griffith, a Considering Catholicism listener who spent over a decade as a music industry executive in Nashville. After COVID lockdowns disrupted her career, she found herself immersed in New Age religion as a way to "manifest" success in online businesses and podcasting. But she has since burned her Tarot cards, crushed her crystals, and is entering the Catholic Church. Angie is the host of the "You Get What I'm Saying" podcast. Support this ministry so...

Angie Griffith spent more than ten years as an executive in the music industry in Nashville. She was also enmeshed in New Age religion. Then the Holy Spirit, through a range of events and influences (including the Considering Catholicism Podcast), opened her eyes. She burned her Tarot cards, smashed her crystals, and began taking steps to enter the Roman Catholic Church. In this episode, Angie shares her story. In the next episode (#165), she and Greg explore the seduction of New Age beliefs an...

If you’re not crazy for being a Christian, can you realistically pull it off? Because living out your faith, living the Christian life, in the face of all of the struggles of this world and all that life in general throws at us? Well, that can sometimes seem impractical or even impossible. So, is Christianity impractical? I mean, can anyone really live this way? YouTube: Is Christianity Impractical? YouTube: Is Christianity Crazy? Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism!...

How do all the agnostics, atheists, secularists, nihilists, and neopagans that make up our 21st-century culture view the Christian religion? Culturally, we’re living through the last days of the new Roman world. And how did the Romans view Christians? Generally, they thought that they were crazy. They considered the Christian religion silly and nonsensical and Christians to be dangerous anarchists, a threat to the order and worship of the State, to the civil religion of the empire. That’s what t...

Every year, Greg tries to build a new Christmas playlist on his phone, and every year, he realizes how few decent Christmas carols there are. Why not? Why haven't any new Christmas carols been written in the last 100 years or more? Ed the Protestant and Cory lend their insights into the problem. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Send me an email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com Visit the website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ ----more----Keywords: Cath...

A listener named John asks, "What about bad popes who lived immoral lives, etc? How can they lead the Church?" As Greg explains, there have been good popes, bad popes, and mostly average popes, but the office of the seat of Peter is greater than any man who occupies it. Listen to two previous episodes about the papacy: #38: “A Protestant Asks, ”Why Do Catholics Have a Pope?” #39 “More Protestant Questions About the Pope: Can He Just Make Stuff Up?” Support this ministry so more people can con...

We have begun Advent, the liturgical season of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Advent means "coming" or "arriving," but what, exactly, is coming? And has it all arrived yet? To learn more, watch the series of four videos, "Discover Advent:" Part 1: https://youtu.be/DxxC6UkyMGM?si=4_ysAk9YE165btSy Part 2: https://youtu.be/d0dST3iZKs4?si=iJa1n6yrpxkdZLOk Part 3: https://youtu.be/RwFjqu0zuVg?si=vPINRPz-hgwWIy3p Part 4: https://youtu.be/rTVP5iFnOwQ?si=UxhhotIV_wfoCwkm Buy Me a Coffee: ht...

Those who want to change the Church's teaching on homosexuality and same-sex marriage like to argue from Jesus' silence on the issue: "If Jesus didn't bother mentioning it in the gospels, it shouldn't matter." Protestants have made similar arguments against Catholicism for 500 years. Greg points out that this is a crazy standard, because there are a whole lot of things that Jesus never talked about that we recognize as essential to Christian morality, ethics, and social justice. Buy Me a Coffee...

Ed asks about the Crusades: did the Catholic Church really launch brutal wars of colonization, invading Muslim ancestral lands with hordes of Catholic knights to rape, pillage, and steal the Middle East? Greg explains that much of what people think they know comes from Hollywood and isn't exactly what happened. Buy Me a Coffee? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/consideringcatholicism Write me an email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com Visit the website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ ----m...

In the last snapshot ("The End of Ordinary Time"), Greg pointed out that the Catholic Church has a major feast to celebrate the end of ordinary time and the liturgical year. That feast is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, or Christ the King. It anchors us in the truth of Christ's supremacy and gives us hope that whatever the world throws at us, he is greater. Buy Me a Coffee? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/consideringcatholicism Send me an email: consideringcatholicis...