PODCAST · religion
Considering Catholicism
by Greg Smith
The Catholic Church, its faith, culture, and history are explained clearly and simply for anyone curious about historic Catholicism. Faithful to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Episodes
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Drawn to Rome, Part 3: A Quiet Place (#488)
Nine or ten at night, fog on a mountain road, and a Catholic chapel the size of a tool shed. A crucifix, a couple of benches, a place to pray. It was the first Catholic building Greg ever walked into, and it was quiet. A lot of people describe the same pull. An empty church on a Tuesday that is...
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Drawn to Rome, Part 2: The Search for the Source (#487)
A Christianity of new beginnings gets old. The megachurch was the recovery of real church, and before that the Jesus Movement, and before that some other return to the original, each one arriving as the source and aging into a period style. For a lot of people the pull toward Rome starts there…
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Drawn to Rome, Part 1: No One Gets Argued into Love (#486)
Nearly five hundred episodes of this show have been about why the Catholic Church is true. That work was real, and it is not being retired. It was also incomplete. Most people do not start down the Road to Rome because they won an argument. They start because something draws them — a longing, a...
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Beyond and Behind the Four Spiritual Laws (#485)
Four true sentences became, for a lot of us, the entire gospel. They were a trailer. They were never the film. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. You are a sinner. Jesus is God’s only provision. You must receive him as Savior and Lord. Whether or not anyone still uses the name,...
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Romans Road or Road to Rome? (#484)
The Romans Road is the gospel many of us first learned: all have sinned, the wages of sin is death, Christ died for us, confess and believe, call on the Lord. Those verses are true. This episode asks why a handful of lines from Romans 3, 5, 6, and 10 should be the front door of the whole Bible…
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The Catholic Bogeyman, Part 2: Responding with Love (#483)
A myth does not want a conversation. It wants you on defense: ten charges in a minute, each one cheap to shout and expensive to answer. This episode is about refusing that game without refusing the person. Love runs both ways — toward the critic, and toward the Catholic who has been worn down by...
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The Catholic Bogeyman, Part 1: A Myth, Not an Argument (#482)
Anti-Catholic propaganda is not a pile of arguments waiting to be answered one by one. It is a story: a pure church, a theft, a long night, a remnant, a monster with a face. That story has kept the same shape for five hundred years. It works by emotion, not evidence. Once the plot is in place,...
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Ed the Candidate, Part 2 (#481)
In the second conversation, Ed turns from his own story to the people who write in every week and say they are exactly where he was two or three years ago. He talks about the things that actually help: treating your relationship with God as the most important thing in your life, finding a few...
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Ed the Candidate, Part 1 (#480)
Ed is no longer just considering. After four-plus years of conversations on this show, he is now a candidate in the mid-year OCIA cohort at our parish and will enter the Church on the Feast of Christ the King. Sitting at the secret compound (earth-movers optional), he talks about what it actually...
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When Catholicism Becomes a Wedge (#479)
The hardest part of becoming Catholic is often not the doctrine. It is the moment a friendship, a marriage, or a family table starts to feel the strain. In this episode, Greg talks about recent conversations with listeners and people in OCIA whose families experience their interest in the Church…
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Why Not "Mere Christianity?" (#478)
In this re-release of one of our earliest conversations, Greg and Ed sit down on the podcast’s first anniversary to explain why this show is called Considering Catholicism—and not something more generic. Drawing on C.S. Lewis’s own hallway analogy in Mere Christianity, they make the case that the...
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Sacraments: You Can’t Unring the Bell (#477)
You cannot unring a bell. Once it has sounded, you can leave the room or cover your ears, but you cannot reach backward and make the ringing not have happened. That is the Catholic claim about the sacraments: they are not snapshots of a spiritual mood, and they are not memorials of a decision you...
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Why Don't We Just Dedicate Babies? (#476)
Why don’t Catholics just dedicate babies the way so many evangelical churches do? In this episode we look carefully at the difference between a sincere baby dedication and the Catholic sacrament of baptism. Dedication is a beautiful public commitment by parents and the church to raise a child in...
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"Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 7: The Church on Paper vs. the Church in the Pews (#475)
Thomas named a frustration many people feel when they look seriously at Catholicism: on paper and in history the Church looks strong, bold, and majestic, yet in many ordinary parishes and contemporary voices it can feel soft, embarrassed by its own doctrine, and eager to concede to the spirit of...
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"Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 6: Why Should I Trust Your Pope? (#474)
Thomas named the papacy as one of the biggest speed bumps on the Road to Rome. The questions are familiar: Who made a man in Rome the boss of Christianity? What about the corrupt popes? Can he just make things up? In this episode Greg takes those questions head-on, beginning with Jesus’ words to...
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"Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 5: What Happens on the Altar in the Eucharist? (#473)
Thomas raised two related difficulties with the Mass: what the Catholic Church actually claims is happening on the altar, and how underwhelming or casual many ordinary parish celebrations can feel. In this episode Greg stays focused on the first question. Drawing on Scripture, the early Church…
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"Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 4: Why Would We Need Purgatory? (#472)
Thomas asked the natural follow-up question to the “broken window”: if forgiveness cancels the debt but the damage remains, what happens to that remaining damage after we die? In this episode Greg takes up the common Protestant objection that any further purification after death seems to add...
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"Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 3: Why Do Penance if Christ Already Paid the Price? (#471)
Thomas asked a question that a lot of people carry quietly: if Christ has already paid the full price for our sins, why does the Catholic Church still talk about penance, temporal punishment, and making satisfaction? In this third episode of the Dear Doubting Thomas series, Greg takes up the...
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"Dear Doubting Thomas..." Part 2: Why Confess to a Priest? (#470)
Thomas wrestled with a very practical and painful question: Why does the Church insist we confess our sins to a priest when we can just tell God directly? In this episode Greg addresses the deeper anxiety underneath that objection—the fear that we’ll never really know if we’re forgiven, and the…
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"Dear Doubting Thomas,..." Part 1: Is the Catholic Church for Real? (#469b)
Thomas wrote with a question that sits underneath almost everything else: Can the Catholic Church really be trusted with its extraordinary claims? In this first episode of the series, Greg responds personally and honestly to that foundational doubt. Drawing from his own long journey out of...
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Mary in the Dock, Part 7: Her Bodily Assumption into Heaven (#469)
In this final episode of the Mary in the Dock series, we examine the Assumption of Mary — the solemn teaching that, at the end of her earthly life, the Immaculate Mother of God was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory. Many Protestants find this doctrine especially challenging, arguing that...
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Mary in the Dock, Part 6: Her Perpetual Virginity (#468)
In this installment of Mary in the Dock, we put the claim of Mary’s perpetual virginity on trial. Many Protestants see the “brothers of Jesus” mentioned in the Gospels and the word “until” in Matthew 1:25 as decisive proof that Mary and Joseph had a normal married life after Jesus’ birth. We...
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How Do Altar Rails Make You Feel? (#467)
In recent years, a number of dioceses have moved to remove or ban altar rails, even as some younger priests have begun reinstalling them. These disputes often follow a familiar pattern: one side appeals to history and theology, while the actual arguments on the ground tend to revolve around how a...
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Who Is a "Christian?" (#466)
In the wake of the Pentagon’s recent effort to simplify its religious affiliation codes — and the resulting controversy when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was initially listed separately from other Christian groups — Utah senators Mike Lee and John Curtis publicly pushed back,...
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Where Peter Is (#465)
In a world flooded with thousands of competing voices — each claiming to represent “biblical Christianity” with their favorite proof texts — how do you actually tell authentic, orthodox Christianity from heresy? From the Gnostics and Arians of the early centuries to today’s endless online…
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Mary in the Dock, Part 5: The Immaculate Conception (#464b)
In Episode 5 of the series Mary in the Dock: Ordinary or Extraordinary?, Greg Smith puts the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception on trial. Protestants often object that it has no clear biblical basis, appears to contradict “all have sinned” in Romans 3:23, and was a late invention that elevates...
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Mary in the Dock, Part 4: The Ark of the New Covenant (#463b)
In Episode 4 of the series Mary in the Dock: Ordinary or Extraordinary?, host Greg Smith puts the Catholic doctrine of Mary as the New Ark of the Covenant on trial. Protestants often charge that this is fabricated typology with no explicit New Testament warrant, that it’s eisegesis used to…
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Development of Doctrine in Real Time: Live Debates and Clear Boundaries (#462b)
The Acorn and the Oak: Development of Doctrine, Part 2 Picking up right where Part 1 left off, Greg and Cory apply the principles of authentic development to some of today’s most contested questions. They examine recent papal teaching on capital punishment and just war as examples still unfolding...
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What Development of Doctrine Really Is (And Isn’t) (#461b)
The Acorn and the Oak: Development of Doctrine, Part 1. In this first part of our conversation with Cory, we explore the beautiful Catholic understanding of how doctrine develops. Far from “making things up” or changing with the culture, the Church deepens her grasp of the unchanging deposit of...
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Mary in the Dock, Part 3: Is Mary the New Eve? (#460b)
In Episode 3 of the series Mary in the Dock: Ordinary or Extraordinary?, host Greg Smith puts the Catholic doctrine of Mary as the New Eve on trial. Protestants often object that it’s typology overreach with no explicit New Testament warrant, risks elevating Mary at Christ’s expense, and…
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Mary in the Dock, Part 2: Mother of God — Blasphemy or Biblical Truth? (#459b)
In Episode 2 of the series Mary in the Dock: Ordinary or Extraordinary?, host Greg Smith puts the Catholic doctrine of Mary as Mother of God (Theotokos) on trial. Many modern evangelicals recoil at the title, calling it blasphemous or idolatrous and unknowingly echoing the ancient Nestorian…
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Mary in the Dock, Part 1: Is Devotion to Her Idolatry? (#458)
In the powerful opening episode of the new series Mary in the Dock: Ordinary or Extraordinary?, host Greg Smith puts the Catholic practice of Marian devotion on trial. Are prayers like the Hail Mary and the Rosary, asking for Mary’s intercession, and venerating her images really idolatry — or are...
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Mystery, Magic, and the Search for Meaning (#464)
In this unscripted, freewheeling conversation recorded at the secret compound, Ed shares the profound shift happening in his heart as he prepares to enter OCIA and come into full communion with the Catholic Church. He reflects on how years of Protestant experience left him with a flattened faith…
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Why I’m Not Giving Hot Takes on the New AI Encyclical (Yet) (#463)
Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical today — Magnifica Humanitas — addressing the dignity of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and rapid technological change. In this short update episode, Greg reflects on the long anticipation for this document (echoing...
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The Sexual Subtext Behind So Many Anti-Catholic Arguments (#462)
Greg dives into a surprising pattern that keeps surfacing in Catholic-Protestant conversations: why so many objections to Catholicism quickly circle back to sex, sexuality, and gender. From the intense pushback on Mary’s perpetual virginity and clerical celibacy, to contraception, the male-only...
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Moral Theology, Part 3: Prudential Judgments (#461)
In the final part of this three-part series, Greg takes the philosophical foundation from Episode 1 and the moral schematics from Episode 2 and applies them directly to four very ordinary, everyday situations: money lending and usury, lying versus legitimate deception, disciplining children...
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Moral Theology, Part 2: Tools and Norms (#460)
In the second part of this three-part series, Greg builds directly on the foundation laid in “The Anatomy of Evil” and moves into the practical schematics the Church has spent two thousand years refining. He walks through the key categories of Catholic moral reasoning: universal, unchanging...
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Moral Theology, Part 1: The Anatomy of Evil (#459)
In a world of loud moral arguments and social-media slogans, real precision often gets lost. In this three-part series, Greg unpacks one of the most attractive features of Catholic moral theology: its remarkable clarity around evil as a privation (not a substance), intrinsically evil acts,...
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10 Years Catholic: What We’re Grateful For, and What Still Surprises Us (#457)
In this special conversation episode, Greg sits down with his friend and longtime collaborator Cory to mark the 10th anniversary of the night they both entered the Catholic Church together at the Easter Vigil in 2016. They share what they’re most grateful for after a decade—everything from the...
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Just How Depraved Are You? (#456)
In this candid monologue, Greg retraces his own path from campus-ministry apologetics at a liberal university into the tight, intellectually satisfying world of Calvinism—training in a Calvinist seminary, embracing TULIP, and finding real comfort in the doctrine of Total Depravity. He walks…
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"I Never Said You Stole His Money:" Why "Bible Alone" Doesn't Work (#455)
What if the way we’ve been taught to read the Bible is actually creating the very divisions we see today? In this episode of Considering Catholicism, host Greg Smith shares his experience from classical Calvinist seminary training 40 years ago — investing in 22 volumes of Calvin’s commentaries…
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Imago Dei in the Age of AI, Part 4: Our Destiny Lies Beyond the Machines (#454)
This is Part 4 of our four-episode series “What Is Man That You Are Mindful of Him? Imago Dei in the Age of AI.” As artificial super-intelligence seems ready to out-perform us on every measurable scale, the Catholic Church gives us a breathtaking final answer: our destiny is not obsolescence or a...
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Imago Dei in the Age of AI, Part 3: Will AI *Really* Change the World? (#453)
This is Part 3 of our four-episode series “What Is Man That You Are Mindful of Him? Imago Dei in the Age of AI.” Everyone says AI is going to completely remake human civilization. Greg agrees it will change many things — work, education, medicine, daily routines — just as farming, the Industrial...
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Imago Dei in the Age of AI, Part 2: The Problems AI Can’t Solve (#452)
This is Part 2 of our four-episode series “What Is Man That You Are Mindful of Him? Imago Dei in the Age of AI.” In a world that increasingly measures human worth by output, efficiency, and market utility, the Catholic Church insists our dignity is ontological—not something we earn or lose when...
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Imago Dei in the Age of AI, Part 1: Why the Devil Envies You (#451)
This is Part 1 of our four-episode series “What Is Man That You Are Mindful of Him? Imago Dei in the Age of AI.” In a world racing toward artificial super-intelligence that threatens to out-think and out-perform us at almost every task, the Catholic Church points us back to an older drama:...
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The Real Reason the Catholic Church Ordains Only Men (#450)
In this episode Greg unpacks one of the most emotionally charged questions on the road to Rome: why does the Catholic Church ordain only men to the priesthood? Drawing from his own painful experience in the Christian Reformed Church’s ordination battles of the 1990s, he shows how the debate…
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Elders or Priests? Why Catholic Authority Isn’t Earned—It’s Entrusted (#449)
In the New Testament, Paul gives clear qualifications for presbyteroi—elders—who must be the husband of one wife, manage their household well, and hold fast to sound doctrine. When Greg was a Protestant pastor, that seemed to describe exactly what church leadership should look like under sola...
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Blessed Triduum 2026: Gratitude, Love, and a Peek at What's Coming (#448)
On Holy Thursday, Greg sits down with a warm, personal message for listeners as the Church begins the Sacred Triduum. He explains the meaning, etymology, and profound significance of these three holy days that form the very heart of our Catholic faith—the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus...
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Holy Week in Jerusalem: Walking Where the Gospels Happened (#447)
In this re-released classic from the vault, Greg shares fresh impressions and profound insights from his recent pilgrimage to Jerusalem and its surroundings, timed perfectly for Holy Week. Walking the Via Dolorosa, kneeling in Gethsemane, touching the stone of the crucifixion and the slab in the...
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Easter in Jerusalem: The Garden Tomb vs. the Real Empty Tomb (#446)
This Easter, millions are posting from Jerusalem’s peaceful Garden Tomb saying “This feels like the real one.” But just down the street sits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—venerated for 1,700 years—and 2025 archaeology just uncovered 2,000-year-old olive trees and grapevines exactly where John...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Catholic Church, its faith, culture, and history are explained clearly and simply for anyone curious about historic Catholicism. Faithful to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
HOSTED BY
Greg Smith
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Considering Catholicism have?
Considering Catholicism currently has 499 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Considering Catholicism about?
The Catholic Church, its faith, culture, and history are explained clearly and simply for anyone curious about historic Catholicism. Faithful to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
How often does Considering Catholicism release new episodes?
Considering Catholicism publishes regularly with 499 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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Who hosts Considering Catholicism?
Considering Catholicism is created and hosted by Greg Smith.
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