Catholic Answers Focus

Is fear a sin? Is it just an emotion? How are Christians meant to understand fear? Is there such a thing as fear that is actually a gift from the Holy Spirit? Father Hugh Barbour fearlessly tackles a host of questions about fear. CK: Is fear a sin? Father Hugh Barbour, next. Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I’m Cy Kellett, your host, and it’s a time of fear. There is a good deal of fear all around us. It’s in part because of the virus certainly, but we can live in a frightened age in many ways. We have our strange fears, sometimes nameless, sometimes they h…

How can the Catholic church teach that Peter is the rock or the foundation of the church when St. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 3:11 that there is no other foundation besides Jesus? Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus, I’m Cy Kellett, your host, joined in studio by Karlo Broussard, apologist here at Catholic Answers and author of a couple of very fine books, including Prepare the Way and Meeting the Protestant Challenge. Hello, Karlo. Karlo Broussard: Hey son. I thank you for saying they’re fine books. I appreciate that. Cy Kellett: They are fine books- …

The commandment to love our enemies seems impossible sometimes, especially for those who have been badly hurt. So what does Jesus mean by this commandment? Are we all obligated to follow it? And if we do follow it, what does it mean to love those we don’t feel any love for? Cy Kellett: Hello, and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I am Cy Kellet, your host, and I’m delighted to have you here with us. We have our chaplain with us, Father Hugh Barbour, a Norbertine priest of the Abbey of Saint Michael in Orange County, where they’re building a new and beautiful church. Y…

What is apostolic succession? Did the early Church believe in and practice apostolic succession? Find out here, with Tim Staples. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I am Cy Kellett, your host. There’s four marks to the church. It’s one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Pretty much every Christian would agree to that. So we focus on the apostolic nature of the early church this time with our guest, Tim Staples. Tim is director of apologetics and evangelization here at Catholic Answers, the author of Beyond Your Mother: A Biblical and Historical Defense of …

During this virus shutdown lots of people are giving practical advice on how to keep relationships healthy. We ask Father Hugh to give us a deeper look at friendship from a Christian perspective. Understanding the role of friendship in God’s life and plan can help us in living out friendship with others. CK: Friendships under strain, we’ve got help on the way. Father Hugh Barbour next. Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I’m Cy Kellett, your host and today, we talk a little bit about friendship and disagreement with Father Hugh Barbour. In part, I’m moti…

Sometimes it seems like nothing is solid. Everything, even within the Church, seems to be up for debate. Is this true? How solid is Catholic doctrine? On what basis can we trust that it won’t shift? CK: Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I’m Cy Kellett, your host, and we welcome back our Chaplain, Father Hugh Barbour, delighted to see you again, Father. FHB: Nice to see you. CK: For this episode of Focus in which we’re going to discuss Catholic doctrine and where it can change, where it can’t change, or where it might develop and where it can’t develop.…

Fr. Hugh Barbour and Catholic Answers’ president, Christopher Check, acknowledge the struggles that people are experiencing during this challenging time of coronavirus lockdown. They address how we, as Catholics Christians, can best react and deal with the loneliness, anger, sadness, and other feelings that such a crisis has generated. Christopher Check: Welcome to Catholic Answers Focus. My name is Christopher Check. I am president of Catholic Answers, sitting in for your usual host, Cy Kellett. Catholic Answers Focus is our podcast here at Catholic Answers, where we don’t take c…

“The tradition of the church has always upheld in spite of minimizing responses to this question that one might come across, that our Lord appeared to his mother in his resurrection. It almost goes without saying because of course she is the place and the person off his incarnation and the annunciation. And she stood at and she initiated his ministry with the wedding at Cana and the miracle at Cana, which she works in view of his hour, which he seems to be hastening in response to her request. And then she’s standing at the foot of the cross and then she’s at Pentecost prayin…

Even though we cannot attend Mass while we shelter in place, we can experience real liturgy in our homes by praying the Liturgy of the Hours— and it’s more accessible than you might think. Fr. Hugh Barbour explains how, even during the suspension of public Masses, you can still not just watch but participate in real liturgy. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. Strange times we’re living in at the moment with the virus around the world and people confined at home, and families, many families, without too many outlets, not …

Did the early Church believe that the Eucharist was the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ? Had that been the belief of the Catholic Church since the Last Supper? Find out today with Catholic Answers’ Director of Apologetics, Tim Staples. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I’m Cy Kellett, your host, and we’re going to take a look at the early church in this episode and in some coming episodes with Time Staples, director of Apologetics and Evangelization here at Catholic Answers. Hi, Tim. Tim Staples: Hi, Cy Kellett. How are you buddy?…

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear about the existence of angels. “The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition. St. Augustine says: “‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit’, from what they do, ‘angel.'” With t…

Senior Fellow in Ethics at the Culture of Life Foundation, RJ Snell, considers the difficult choices facing health care providers in the time of Covid-19. How can Catholic moral teaching inform these choices and ensure they are made humanely? Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I am Cy Kellett, your host. And in the midst of this Coronavirus pandemic that we are all struggling through together, first of all, many blessings to you and your family and with lots of hope that you are getting through it all right and staying close to the Lord. But as we go through thi…

Sometimes the post-Vatican II push for lay participation can become onerous. What is really needed to be fully Christian? Does everyone need to be a theologian, liturgist, and apologist? Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. And this time, an apologetic defense of a simple life of faith, I guess that’s how we could put it, a defense of a simple life of faith, or a life of simple faith, or just simply being faithful. We’ll go with any of those. Our guest, Father Hugh Barbour. Hello, Father. Fr. Hugh: Hello, hello. Cy Kellett…

Do Catholics favor traditions of men over the word of God? Jimmy Akin next on Catholic Answers Focus. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus I’m Cy Kellett, your host, joined by Jimmy Akin, Senior Apologist here at Catholic Answers. Hello Jimmy. Jimmy Akin: Howdy. Cy Kellett: I want to ask you today about some passages in the gospels that say not to replace God’s word with the traditions of men- Jimmy Akin: Okay. Cy Kellett: … particularly in Matthew and Mark’s gospel. Jimmy Akin: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Cy Kellett: So, and this is covered by the w…

For many people, it looks likely that the next few weeks will not offer a realistic opportunity to go to Mass. Our chaplain joins us for a conversation about the powerful option of “Spiritual Communion” during this time, and any time. Did you miss Fr. Hugh and Cy on our episode of Focus last week? Check out “Coronavirus and the Catholic Church”. You can find Fr. Hugh’s latest book, 20 Answers: Prayer, here. Spiritual communion in a time of coronavirus. Father Hugh Barbour is next. Cy Kellett: Hello again, and welcome to Catholic Answers Focus. I am Cy Kellett, your host, and…

Anxiety blossoms as the most recent coronavirus appears, though in low numbers, in the United States. People wonder if they should stop receiving the Eucharist on the tongue, others if they should receive at all. Fr. Hugh Barbour and Cy Kellett discuss the truth of the Eucharist and what to keep in mind through this period of uncertainty- a God who loves us and makes Himself available to us in the Eucharist. Cy Kellett: Coronavirus and the Eucharist. Next with Father Hugh Barbour. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I am Cy Kellett, your host. And our guest this epi…

The president of Catholic Answers shares insights into the reality of the Crusades to help the Christian who is confronted with that apologetics conversation-stopper: “What about the Crusades?” Cy Kellett: How to handle the challenge of the Crusades with Chris Check right now. Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I’m Cy Kellett, your host. Opponents of the Catholic Church often use the Crusades as evidence for the corruption of Catholicism and for the violence of religion in general. Their point is that Christian claims to be a religion of love and peace are de…

In the last century, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls raised the profile of the ancient community of the Essenes. Do these discoveries debunk Christian ideas about Jesus? Cy: Who were the Essenes and how are they connected to the Dead Sea Scrolls next with Jimmy Akin, and don’t forget to stay all the way to the very end. There’s a surprise coming up. Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I am Cy Kellett, your host, and we’re joined again by Jimmy Akin, the author of The Bible Is a Catholic Book among many other books and senior apologists here at Catholic A…

Best known for trying to catch Jesus in logical traps, the Sadducees had some strange beliefs for first century Jews. Why do they seem so tricky in their dealings with Jesus? And what can his interactions with them teach an apologist? Who is this mysterious group who challenges Jesus on the resurrection, but believes in God? We’ll tackle the Sadducees next with Jimmy Aiken. Hello, and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I am Cy Kellett, your host, and we’re in the midst of three conversations with Jimmy Akin on some of the movements in the Jewish world of Jesus’s time. …

The Catholic devotion to relics is, for some, an embarrassment and an echo of pagan practices. Father Hugh Barbour explains what’s going on with this ancient Christian practice and why it is perfectly consistent with the teachings of Christ and the Apostles. Cy Kellett: Hello and welcome again to Catholic Answers Focus. I’m Cy Kellett, your host, and maybe one of the things that we Catholics come into some criticism for, not maybe, we definitely come into some criticism for our attachment to relics. We’ll defend relics a little bit in this episode and here to do that is our good f…