Catholic Answers Focus

A common pop-culture assertion is that if there are intelligent extraterrestrials then Christianity is ruined. The idea is that such a discovery would disprove the Bible. Is that true? We asked astro-chemist Karin Oberg to give us her view. Cy Kellett: Would discovering aliens disprove Christianity? Dr. Karin Oberg 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. And when you go to the movies as a Christian person, do you ever feel like maybe in the movies or even in wh…

Renowned scholar of St. Augustine, Father David Meconi, SJ, joins us for a discussion of the Apostolic Fathers. Did these men really know the Apostles? And if they did, what do they tell us about the kind of Faith the Apostles preached and lived? The forgotten wisdom of the early church, Father David Meconi 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. And I can remember the very first time that I heard about the Apostolic Fathers, people who knew the apostles, and then wrote d…

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus seems to soften his usual crystal-clear teaching against divorce. But what is he saying? Is he saying that adultery is an exception that allows for divorce? Karlo Broussard tackles this tough question. Cy Kellett: Does adultery cancel marriage? 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. In practice, we Catholics and Protestants probably don’t live very differently when it comes to marriage. I don’t know what the statist…

What if my conscience says one thing and the Church says another? The Catholic Church clearly teaches that I must follow my conscience at all times while also teaching that the Church has authority over me. Joe Heschmeyer offers some help for those who are confused about conscience. Does conscience trump doctrine? Joe Heschmeyer 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 and a listener, Jason K, sent us a suggestion for an episode and we thought it was a perfect epis…

Karlo Broussard, author of Meeting the Protestant Challenge, takes on a common challenge to the Catholic priesthood. If Peter says all Christians are priests — and he does — then what need have we of a Catholic priest? Why have priests if all Christians are priests? Karlo Broussard 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. A common challenge that’s made to Catholics from our Protestant brothers and sisters, we don’t need the priesthood. Pete…

It seems like Scripture is so solid, and Tradition is so ephemeral. Why should we trust that God has revealed himself to us in Sacred Tradition? And which traditions, exactly are revealed truths? Catholic Answers’ newest apologist, Joe Heschmeyer, explains. Is Catholic tradition really trustworthy? Joe Heschmeyer 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. One of the things we Catholics have to defend is this idea that we’re taught almost from the beginn…

Canon lawyer and journalist Ed Condon from pillarcatholic.com joins us to answer some hard questions about tithing. Is tithing required of every Christian? If so, is it just a tax? And if not, then what is required? Is tithing just a Catholic tax? Ed Condon 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 and a very happy Easter to you. Not many people attending parish services, at least in a relative sense this Easter and as a matter of fact, throughout the last year. This…

As tempting as it may be to treat social activism as if it were our highest calling, in fact, it is not. Father Jeffrey Kirby’s new book, Real Religion, attacks the idea that biblical religion can be reduced to a kind of social activism. We asked him about how Christianity views social activism. Read more from Fr. Kirby here. Is biblical faith anything more than social activism? Father Jeffrey Kirby 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. I always enjoy talkin…

Karin Oberg is a professor of astronomy at Harvard University who also teaches Aquinas at the Thomistic Institute. Who better to ask about whether or not the Big Bang gives us slam dunk evidence for the existence of God? Does the science of the Big Bang prove that God is the creator? Scientist Karin Oberg is next. Cy Kellett: We’ve got a big time topic for you this time about whether or not the Big Bang proves that God is the creator of the universe. And we thought if we’re I ask a big question like that, we need a big time guests to give us an answer. So we got professor Karin Ob…

We couldn’t get him to name any names, but we did get Jimmy Akin to explain what the Bible has to say about the nature of the anti-Christ. Without doubt many will be surprised by just how little the anti-Christ is mentioned in the Bible, and that it is probably more accurate to talk about “anti-Christs.” What does the Bible really say about the antichrist? Jimmy Akin next. Kind of continuing our end times theme from our last episode with Jimmy Akin, where we talked about the mark of the beast, in the modern world, we also have these figures who arise. There’s figures l…

Modern governments sometimes demand that entire populations participate in this program or that, which, quite naturally for Christians, regularly raises the question of the Mark of the Beast. So, what is this mysterious mark? Jimmy Akin joins us to give us some insights into how we can identify it. How to avoid the mark of the beast. 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. We live in a highly integrated society. In such a society, from time to time, the…

Taking our cue from his new book Real Religion, we asked Father Jeffery Kirby to explain a distinction he makes between the religion of self-help and the religion of the Bible. Cy Kellett: Biblical religion is not just a self-help program. Father Jeffrey Kirby 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 this time we welcome the author of a brand new book here at Catholic Answers. The book is called Real Religion: How to Avoid False Faith and Worship God in Spirit and Truth. The…

CNN host Don Lemon took on the Vatican in a conversation with the women of The View. He explained that he doesn’t think God approves of the Catholic refusal to bless same-sex unions. We asked apologist Karlo Broussard to respond to Mr. Lemon’s take. Cy Kellett: Don Lemon lectures the Catholic Church. Karlo Broussard responds 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 Vatican said recently Catholics are not going to bless same-sex unions. And you might be surpr…

A listener asks us if it is wrong to say bad things about others, especially online, if the bad things are true. Turns out, it is, and theologian Dr. Scott Hefelfinger explains why. Cy Kellett: When’s it wrong to share the truth about someone? Augustine Institute Professor Scott Hefelfinger, 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 Tony in Canada sent us an email about doing an episode on detraction. And we discussed it for a long time, whether we wanted to d…

Our friend from down under, Monica Doumit, the Director of Public Affairs and Engagement for the Archdiocese of Sydney, shares another legal innovation from Australia, laws that are meant to protect gay people by making it illegal to teach chastity as Catholics understand it. We ask her what the laws require, and what the Catholic Church actually teaches about human sexuality. Cy Kellett: Is chastity a hate crime? Monica Doumit 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 we …

The boss is back, and this time he’s taking on the big daddy of Catholic misbehavior: the Spanish Inquisition. Our president, Chris Check, wraps up our three part series on inquisitions with a sober look at an iconic time in Catholic history. And if this piques your interest, take Chris’s class on the Inquisition at the Catholic Answers School of Apologetics. schoolofapologetics.com Cy Kellett: Trying to make sense of the Spanish Inquisition, Chris Check is next. Hello and welcome to Focus, the Catholic Answers podcast for living, understanding, and defending your Catholic faith. …

It’s a delicate time to talk about anger. There is a lot to be angry about. There’s a lot in the secular world to be angry about. There’s a lot in the church to be angry about, but we want to be giving an account of our faith that draws other people—most especially our children—towards the faith. Matthew Walther and Cy Kellett discuss how anger can ruin apologetics. “Which brings me to my final point, the harshest of all the censures that I intend to present here. It is one that I hope will, literally speaking, hit very close to home. I am talking about what you are do…

Why did the Church end up in such a bitter struggle against the Cathars, and how did that struggle play out? Our three-part dive into the various Catholic inquisitions continues as we ask Catholic Answers President Chris Check what really happened in the Medieval Inquisition. How bad was the Medieval Inquisition? Chris Check 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, and the Medieval Inquisition is the one that started it all. Before we talk about the Spanish Inqu…

Listener Geraldine writes from the Netherlands to ask for an episode on “indifferentism.” Just how are we supposed to share the Faith with people who show no interest? We get some helpful answers from Matt Nelson, author of Just Whatever: How to Help the Spiritually Indifferent Find Beliefs That Really Matter. Cy: Can we reach those who just don’t care about God? Matt Nelson is next. Hi, Geraldine. Thanks for your email. We always ask at the end of these episodes for people to send us emails and Geraldine took us up on that offer with a great question. Hello and welcome to f…

We begin a three-part dive into the various Catholic inquisitions with Catholic Answers President Chris Check. In part one we ask about the mindset of the Catholics who first established the mechanisms of inquisition. Cy Kellett: Part one of our deep dive into the Inquisition, Chris Check 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 hardest things to defend the church against are the historical accusations that we have behaved badly sometimes. You all did those crusades…