Catholic Answers Focus

Monica Doumit, the Director of Public Affairs and Engagement for the Archdiocese of Sydney in Australia, explains how anti-confession laws are bringing frightening implications not just for priests but for Catholic schools and other Catholic institutions throughout Australia. But do Catholics really have a right to keep secrets from secular authorities? What happens when the seal of confession is called a crime? Monica Doumit, 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 …

John DeRosa, author of One Less God Than You, explains what classical theism is, why the Catholic Church embraces it, and how to defend it against less noble visions of the divine. Cy Kellett: Does classical theism still work? John DeRosa 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. Cy Kellett: One of the things we have to defend is the existence of God, but it’s not just that we believe that God exists and we have to defend that. There are things that we can say …

Father James Boric, the rector of America’s first cathedral, the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore, joins us to explain why he chose Eucharistic adoration as a cornerstone of his parish-building efforts. It turns out there is a lot of power in sitting quietly with Jesus. Cy Kellett: Why bother with adoration? Father James Boric 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, and right in the heart of Baltimore is America’s oldest cathedral. Oh, well, we’ll ex…

Joe Heschmeyer, author of Pope Peter – Defending the Church’s Most Distinctive Doctrine in a Time of Crisis, is back with more help explaining how to deal with the modern papacy. In this episode, we talk about talkative popes and the proper way to disagree with them when what they say seems out of bounds. Cy Kellett: Is there a right way to disagree with the pope? Joe Heschmeyer next. Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. Poor Joe Heschmeyer, he wrote the book Pope Pet…

Karlo Broussard, the author of Purgatory is for Real, addresses an email correspondent who asks: “Isn’t eternal punishment unfair for finite sins?” Cy Kellett: Is hell unfair? Karlo Broussard, 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 today, we actually tackle what in many ways is probably the most difficult doctrine of Christian faith. The doctrine of hell, of the existence of hell and of the fact that some go there. It’s difficult for emotional reas…

The Bible seems conflicted on whether God can change his mind. Can he? And if he cannot, how do we explain those pesky Bible passages? Also, why pray if God can’t change his mind? Jimmy Akin tackles these tough questions for us. Cy Kellett: Can God change his mind? Jimmy Akin, 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 time we take a question that came from a listener. We’re delighted that people have been sending us questions. By the way, you can…

“Modernism” is the charge against the Church in many parts of the internet. In fact, it is common to find Catholics attacking the Second Vatican Council as modernist heresy. So what is modernism, and has it infected the Church? Father Sebastian Walshe, author of Secrets From Heaven and Always a Catholic, explains modernism and engages with the charge of modernism against the Church. Cy Kellett: Has the Catholic church fallen prey to modernism? Father Sebastian Walshe is next. Hello, and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Ca…

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls changed the way modern scholars view Judaism in the time of Jesus. John Bergsma, author of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Revealing the Jewish Roots of Christianity, joins us to explain some of the ways the scrolls shed light on the gospels. 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. One of the things we have to defend our Catholic faith against is the idea that modern scholarship debunks the Gospels, or somehow shows them not to be leg…

Especially in times of upset within the Church, we might well ask just what the Holy Spirit is doing. Does the Spirit really lead the Church? And if so, why so many problems and confusions? Jimmy Akin responds. Cy Kellett: How does the Holy Spirit lead the church? Jimmy Akin 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 question came to us via the email about just how does the Holy Spirit lead the church? And I think that it’s obvious to anybody why this question woul…

What is up with Germany’s bishops and their attempts to re-write some basic Church teachings? Is a schism in the offing? We asked Ed Condon, one of the founders of the The Pillar, a new “Catholic media project focused on smart, faithful, and serious journalism, from committed and informed Catholics.” Cy Kellett: What is up with the German bishops? Ed Condon 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, and Ed Condon, our guest today, is one of the founders of a n…

Tim Staples joins us for a conversation about just where things stand regarding the alleged apparitions to Ida Peerdeman given new communications from the Vatican. Also, what does all this have to do with the push to dogmatically define Mary with words such as co-redemptrix and mediatrix of all graces? Cy Kellett: The Lady of All Nations, Mediatrix of All Graces. Tim Staples 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.   Cy Kellett: There have been lots o…

As a leader in New Age thought, Deepak Chopra has taken it upon himself to explain the real meaning of Jesus. But does he shed light on the real Jesus or invent a new Jesus of his own? We asked Trent Horn. Has Deepak Chopra cracked the Jesus code? Trent Horn is next. Cy Kellett: Welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. Probably one of the big temptations of us modern people is the temptation to think, “Now that we’re here, now that we’ve arrived in the modern world and we hav…

We’re not kidding with this title. Catholic Answers Director of Publishing, Todd Aglialoro joins us for a conversation about the role sex robots could play in the destruction of civilization. Warning: this conversation includes a strong defense of Christian teaching on sexuality. Cy Kellett: We really need to talk about the danger posed by sex robots. Todd Aglialoro 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. And today, we talk about a looming threat, and let me warn you …

How can the Catholic Church teach that we actually eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus when Scripture forbids partaking of blood in Leviticus 17:10? The author of Meeting the Protestant Challenge, Karlo Broussard, explains why it is acceptable for Jesus to teach us to drink his blood, and, more than that, why it makes sense that he would. Cy Kellett: Is it unbiblical to drink Christ’s blood? Karlo Broussard, 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 among the th…

Modern movies continue to be problematic, promoting twisted popular agendas to young audiences and slipping past adult audiences. How can Catholics respond to movies and television that pose such grave moral challenges? Marie Bates: So, Cy sends me an email about Focus episode ideas, and it just says, “Is Enola Holmes the most evil movie to ever be made?” I stormed into his office, I sat down, and here we are. We’re about to have a great discussion about it. Next on Catholic Answers Focus. Hello, and welcome to Catholic Answers Focus, a podcast for living, understanding, and…

Tim Ryland, editor of Catholic Answers Magazine helps us close 2020 with a reflection on the state of journalism. Specifically, given the parlous state of journalism, how can anyone know the truth about what the heck is going on? Cy: I don’t know how to know the truth about anything anymore. Tim Ryland from Catholic Answers Magazine helps me 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 when it comes to certain things, it’s easy to know the truth. If it’s in th…

How can the Catholic Church teach that baptism is necessary for salvation when the Bible shows people receiving the Holy Spirit before baptism and Paul tells us that Christ did not send him to baptize but to preach the gospel? The author of Meeting the Protestant Challenge, Karlo Broussard, explains. Cy Kellet: Is baptism necessary for our salvation? Karlo Broussard 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. And I have to admit, as a cradle Catholic, as a Catholic from before …

The coming of the Lord as a babe in Bethlehem is perfectly arranged by the Lord. Drawing on Thomas Aquinas, Father Hugh Barbour explains some of the ways God arranged for his son to be born in just the right way, place, and time. Transcription coming soon.  …

Understanding what prayer is goes a long way when tacking problems with distraction in prayer. Father Hugh and Cy discuss how to start praying, and what distraction in prayer means, which is maybe less than you think. Cy Kellett: Distracted in prayer? Father Hugh Barbour with help next. Hello and welcome to Catholic Answers Focus, the podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host, and I get distracted constantly. Wait, should I start again? What was I saying? No. I get distracted constantly and my prayer life is full of distractions, and…

Our society has all but given up on protecting the innocence of children. This is a grave matter, one the Catholic Church must speak up against, and Bishop Thomas Paprocki joins us to do just that. Cy Kellett: How did the modern world turn out to be so abusive of children? Bishop Thomas Paprocki, next. Hello and welcome to Catholic Answers Focus, the podcast for living, understanding, and defending your faith. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. And today we tackle a tough subject with a tough Bishop. Let me just say it right out. The modern world has become abusive of children. We congratulate …