Taylor explains that he's an idiot that keeps making the wrong choice with cohost Shaun McAfee. They discuss how getting old and pride aren't mixing well & the lessons he still needs to learn.

This episode also has the RARE occasion where the Catechism is quoted. Taylor has been talking about his struggles in prayer over the past few weeks and found that the Catechism actually has a section for people struggling with prayer. Who knew!?!? Shaun shares his sage advice throughout the episode.

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All music used on the show is by Brandon “BeTheSymbol” Morel. Find his music at bethesymbol.com.

Episode art by Sarah Allen

Special Guest: Shaun McAfee.

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• Monks' Bread: Made fresh in their Western New York bakery by Catholic Monks, Monks' Bread comes in 8 delicious varieties and ships right to your door! Every sale of delicious, monastery-prepared products helps to support the monks of the Abbey of the Genesee in their ministry of prayer and hospitality. Enter Discount Code: FORTE23 at checkout to save 10% on your entire order at MonksBread.com. Support a great cause while enjoying world-famous Monks' Bread! Promo Code: FORTE23

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Allison joins Taylor as he shares about something most people keep pretty close to their chest: money. He shares that money has been a constant stressor for over a decade and Allison thinks he's not alone. They discuss financial stressors, the pit of comparison & what role money plays in on spiritual lives.

In the second segment, Allison helps Taylor prep for two new talks on the Vine & Branches and Martha & Mary. They discuss the Scriptural texts, their thoughts on what they would preach about and how to adapt it for a younger audience.

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All music used on the show is by Brandon “BeTheSymbol” Morel. Find his music at bethesymbol.com.

Sponsored By:

• Monks' Bread: Made fresh in their Western New York bakery by Catholic Monks, Monks' Bread comes in 8 delicious varieties and ships right to your door! Every sale of delicious, monastery-prepared products helps to support the monks of the Abbey of the Genesee in their ministry of prayer and hospitality. Enter Discount Code: FORTE23 at checkout to save 10% on your entire order at MonksBread.com. Support a great cause while enjoying world-famous Monks' Bread! Promo Code: FORTE23

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Liv Harrison is back in studio to talk with Taylor about Main Character Energy. We all think from our own point of view, so how do we break out of thinking we're the main character in the story. Taylor shares a strange tactic he uses to try and not make everything about him.

Liv shares about her new tattoos & alliterative faith advice. Taylor is incredibly proud of one of his jokes & they discuss a possible solution to dryness in prayer. We hope you enjoy this episode!

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All music used on the show is by Brandon “BeTheSymbol” Morel. Find his music at bethesymbol.com.

Episode art by Sarah Allen

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Taylor & his kids were on their own this last weekend and it was a glimpse into how much things have changed over the years. We often don't notice gradual change until something special happens(like a rare weekend where Taylor's wife gets a break). Kathryn also shares how she has been in a season of change and the importance of continual change in the spiritual life.

Next, Taylor shares a story about how he saw a grown man shaming some teenagers and it enraged him. He & Kathryn talk about battling shame and how it has no proper place in the lives of Christians.

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All music used on the show is by Brandon “BeTheSymbol” Morel. Find his music at bethesymbol.com.

Episode art by Sarah Allen

Sponsored By:

• Monks' Bread: Made fresh in their Western New York bakery by Catholic Monks, Monks' Bread comes in 8 delicious varieties and ships right to your door! Every sale of delicious, monastery-prepared products helps to support the monks of the Abbey of the Genesee in their ministry of prayer and hospitality. Enter Discount Code: FORTE23 at checkout to save 10% on your entire order at MonksBread.com. Support a great cause while enjoying world-famous Monks' Bread! Promo Code: FORTE23

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Shaun is back! One of the OG cohosts returns for a fun conversation.

How to live your faith in the workplace has been a frequently requested topic for us to tackle so we finally found someone who doesn't work for the Church lol. Shaun talks about how he is able to live his faith in his fancy government job.

They also talk about Sacramentals which is one of Shaun's favorite topics & Taylor doesn't understand all the hubbub. Shaun does his best to convince Taylor of their importance in the lives of Catholics. It's almost like he wrote a book about them or something...(https://tanbooks.com/products/books/compendium-of-sacramentals-encyclopedia-of-the-churchs-blessings-signs-and-devotions/)

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All music used on the show is by Brandon “BeTheSymbol” Morel. Find his music at bethesymbol.com.

Episode art by Sarah Allen

Special Guest: Shaun McAfee.

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Taylor & Allison both share about their vastly different summers. Allison took on a new mission while Taylor dealt with something he never thought he would have to.

They also discuss what we can still learn from Moses 4000 years later about choosing the right thing even if it's not the easy thing. They also chat about a moving story about how positive reinforcements can truly work wonders.

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All music used on the show is by Brandon “BeTheSymbol” Morel. Find his music at bethesymbol.com.

Episode art by Sarah Allen

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When Taylor visited Fr. Anthony in Pittsburgh, Father made him watch wrestling for the first time and it was an...interesting experience to say the least. They talk about how it was going well for a while until...well...then it wasn't lol.

The guys introduce a new game: Catholic Word Association. They have some ho-hum answers but some that get them all riled up that they discuss for a while. A wide gamut of topics!

Finally, Taylor shares some wild claims about himself & Jesus. Comparing yourself to Jesus ALWAYS goes well. He also makes claims about Jesus' liturgical preferences, His views on lights in Church, healing ministry & Catholic conferences. It's a blast!

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All music used on the show is by Brandon “BeTheSymbol” Morel. Find his music at bethesymbol.com.

Episode art by Sarah Allen

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• Forte Catholic YouTube Channel: Our YouTube channel has every episode of this podcast in video form, along with our Catholic Foundations series on the basic teachings of Catholicism, our Catholic Perspective series on our favorite tv shows and movies, talks, worship music and much more. Subscribe today!

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The Johnny Manziel documentary just came out. Kathryn is a fan of Johnny. Taylor can't stand him! They discuss a plethora of topics surrounding this Texas A&M College Football star, his rise, fall & how we are left to sort through the wreckage.

While Johnny is the impetus for our conversation, we discuss topics from a Catholic point of view like tribalism, sports, consequences for our actions, forgiveness & how all of those things together make life a bit more complicated than we might like.

This is a rare ONE SEGMENT episode because there was just so much to dive in to on this topic. We hope you enjoy this rare episode :)

Check out Kathyrn's viral open letter to Johnny here: https://kathrynwhitaker.net/2013/02/an-open-letter-to-johnny-football/

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All music used on the show is by Brandon “BeTheSymbol” Morel. Find his music at bethesymbol.com.

Episode art by Sarah Allen

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• Catholic Man Show: The Catholic Man Show has partnered with The Catholic Customs Company, who built Sr. Wihelmina’s shrine, for an epic giveaway.

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Guest Cohost Chris Bartlett joins Taylor to discuss the frustration of not being given parameters within which to work, how that works when they're invited to speak somewhere & topics they typically don't share about. For example, Taylor doesn't usually speak about Mary because it isn't his strongest topic, but he tests out some new material on Chris to see if he should expand his horizons or stick with the status quo (que High School Musical)

Then, Taylor finally has a worthy challenger for Freestyle Preaching. The guys take turns giving 60 second sermons on the spot where they have to include three random words given to them by their challenger. Can these two guys who have been giving random youth ministry talks for decades rise to the occasion?

Finally, Chris bring up a situation that got brought up in his family in regards to nostalgia. This leads to a conversation about the Care Bears & Taylor has to hold back the tears. Because of the Care Bears? You'll have to listen to the end to find out ;)

Listen to "Old Church Basement", the song Taylor discusses in the final segment on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/5j4EazAPhtFyHhwNpbNzEx?si=aa87cb18f4764a59

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All music used on the show is by Brandon “BeTheSymbol” Morel. Find his music at bethesymbol.com.

Episode art by Sarah Allen

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• Forte Catholic Renew Retreats: Our Renew retreats are where a group of men or women can come together to relax, take the next step in their faith and have a blast doing it! We spend 4 days praying together, celebrating the Sacraments, hanging out with each other, and of course enjoy some adult beverages :)

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Our 350th Episode Live from Fr. Anthony's Rectory!

They discuss a fancy candlelit Mass that Taylor attended & Fr. Anthony's parish. They have a conversation about fancy Churches, prayer entrapment & the grace of ordination. They also have a long awaited conversation about the morality of the zombie apocalypse! What would you do!?!?

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All music used on the show is by Brandon “BeTheSymbol” Morel. Find his music at bethesymbol.com.

Episode art by Sarah Allen

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