Most people who are even a little familiar with church history will recognize the image of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to a church door in Wittenberg. While there’s no conclusive evidence that he actually did this, we do know that the Augustinian friar succeeded in kicking off the Protestant Reformation by promulgating his then-controversial treatise and that his primary objection was to the practice of selling indulgences. Basically, Luther thought the institutional church was in the business of “selling salvation.”

But what is an indulgence, really? Is it a “get out of hell free pass,” as some seem to think? Did the church really take money in exchange for the promise of forgiveness of sins? How did this practice originate, and how did it deteriorate into something associated with widespread abuse? , Does the Vatican currently have a stance on indulgences, or is this one of those practices that the church changed or discarded over time? 

On this episode of the Glad You Asked podcast, hosts talk to guest Kathleen Manning about the concept of indulgences, how the practice developed, the controversies around it, and what Catholics believe today. 

Manning teaches history at Loyola University Chicago and is a frequent contributor to U.S. Catholic’s Glad You Asked column.  

You can read more about this topic in these links.

“The Catholic view on indulgences and how they work today,” by Myriam Renaud  https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-view-on-indulgences-and-how-they-work-today-193066

“For Catholics, a Door to Absolution Is Reopened,” by Paul Vitello https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/nyregion/10indulgence.html#:~:text=You%20cannot%20buy%20one%20%E2%80%94%20the,indulgence%20per%20sinner%20per%20day.

“Can Catholics celebrate the Reformation?” by Jacob Kohlhaas https://uscatholic.org/articles/201702/can-catholics-celebrate-the-reformation/

“The surprisingly Catholic Martin Luther,” a U.S. Catholic interview https://uscatholic.org/articles/200409/the-surprisingly-catholic-martin-luther/

Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries. https://www.claretians.org/

What do we know about the life of the early Christians in the first few generations after the death of Jesus? While there’s a lot of debate about such topics as leadership roles and gender equality, Acts is pretty explicit about a few details: The very first Christians held all things in common. When people joined the community of believers, they would sell their possessions and distribute the proceeds. They made sure everyone’s needs were met. 

Some people reading these passages have concluded that the first Christians practiced an early form of communism. While this notion aligns with other ideas in the Bible, especially Jesus’ teachings about giving up one’s possessions, it’s still a controversial claim—especially since many conservative Christians view communism and socialism as completely antithetical to Christian values. So which is it? Is communism an evil, atheistic ideology? Or is it the best possible way to live out the gospel? 

On this episode of Glad You Asked, the hosts talk to guest Angela Zautcke about the communal life and values of the early church, how to interpret those Bible passages, and whether we can call the practices of the early church a variety of communism. Zautcke is an advanced doctoral student at the University of Notre Dame. Her fields of scholarship include the gospels, narratology, Second Temple Judaism, and apocalyptic literature.

Read more about this topic in these links:

“Is social justice the same as socialism?” by Kathy McGourty https://uscatholic.org/articles/201008/is-social-justice-the-same-as-socialism/

“Catholics should learn from Marx, not fear him,” by Sam Rocha https://uscatholic.org/articles/202305/catholics-should-learn-from-marx-not-fear-him/

“Do we need more liberation theology?” by Abby Rampone https://uscatholic.org/articles/202401/do-we-need-more-liberation-theology/

“Can Catholics and socialists build a better future together?” by Fran Quigley https://uscatholic.org/articles/202010/can-catholics-and-socialists-build-a-better-future-together/

Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries. https://www.claretians.org/

From Hebrew scriptures to contemporary television, from Medieval manuscripts to Victorian greeting cards, angels loom large in the collective imagination of Western culture, and not only for Christians. But the word angel seems to cover a multitude of possible beings. To judge from their many and varied representations, a vision of an angel might involve a giant three-headed winged monster, a chubby winged baby, or maybe an elegant androgynous figure.

Given the diverse ways angels have been represented across different eras and traditions, it is difficult to get a sense of what Christians actually believe about angels. Where did the idea of angels originate? Are there really different ranks of angels? What about guardian angels? Or fallen angels? And why are they so frequently depicted with wings?

On this episode of the Glad You Asked podcast, hosts Emily Sanna and Rebecca Bratten Weiss speak with guest Matthew Arnold about angels in the Bible and why our ideas about them are so varied. 

Arnold has written extensively on the paranormal in the Bible and spent over 10 years investigating the paranormal from a Christian perspective, drawing on his background in both theology and science. He is author of The Invisible Dimension: Spirit-Beings, Ghosts, and the Afterlife (Anamchara Books), and the editor of The Christian Parapsychologist, a publication of The Churches’ Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies.

Learn more about angels and read some of Arnold’s writings in the links below.

“Messengers of comfort and courage: The truth about angels,” By Lisa Raatikainen. https://uscatholic.org/articles/202006/messengers-of-comfort-and-courage-the-truth-about-angels/ 

“Fallen Angels and Satan,” By Matt Arnold. https://ghostsghoulsandgod.co.uk/2020/06/fallen-angels/ 

“Did Angels Marry Human Women?” By Matt Arnold. https://ghostsghoulsandgod.co.uk/2020/09/did-angels-marry-human-women/ 

“Guardian angels are life's traveling companions, pope says,” By Junno Arocho Esteves. https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/francis-comic-strip/francis-chronicles/guardian-angels-are-lifes-traveling-companions-pope 

“The Angels,” From The Catechism of the Catholic Church. https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/86/ 

The Invisible Dimension: Spirit-Beings, the Afterlife, and Ghosts, By Matt Arnold. https://a.co/d/70V0iOi 

Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries. https://claretiansusa.org https://myclaret.org 

Mary Magdalene is probably one of the most recognized saints in the Catholic Church. She’s also one of those saints whose true history is obscured behind various stories and legends, from the early church to the modern era. Who was Mary Magdalene? Was she the woman who washed Jesus’ feet? Was she the same person as Mary of Bethany? 

According to multiple popular accounts, Mary Magdalene was a sex worker who converted and followed Jesus. According to a few arcane theories, she even married Jesus. The sex worker theory has been a popular one for centuries. People seem to enjoy stories about women who go from lives of transgression to lives of austere holiness. But is the story true? Where did it come from? And what are its roots—if any—in scripture and tradition? 

On this episode of Glad You Asked, the hosts talk to guest Heidi Schlumpf about the origins, development, and accuracy of this tradition. Schlumpf is a senior correspondent and former executive editor of the National Catholic Reporter. She previously served as the managing editor of U.S. Catholic. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including CNN Opinion, Sojourners, and Huffington Post. She is the author of Elizabeth A. Johnson: Questing for God (Liturgical Press), and While We Wait: Spiritual & Practical Advice for Those Trying to Adopt (ACTA).

You can learn more about this topic, and read some of Schlumpf’s writing, in these links.

“Who framed Mary Magdalene?” by Heidi Schlumpf. https://uscatholic.org/articles/201603/who-framed-mary-magdalene/

“Nevertheless, Mary Magdalene persisted,” by Megan J. Clark. https://uscatholic.org/articles/201806/nevertheless-mary-magdalene-persisted/

“Mary Magdalene knew she was an apostle. Why don’t we?” by Alice Camille. https://uscatholic.org/articles/202304/mary-magdalene-knew-she-was-an-apostle-why-dont-we/

“Pope’s recent appointment of women is too little, too late,” by Heidi Schlumpf. https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/ncr-connections/popes-recent-appointment-women-too-little-too-late

“Women’s ordination, synodality and hope for the future,” by Heidi Schlumpf. https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/ncr-connections/womens-ordination-synodality-and-hope-future

Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries. https://www.claretians.org/

Some Catholic apologists talk about the church as though it were a kind of data repository, filled with answers to any possible question a person might have. But in reality, Catholic thought is filled with gray areas and open-ended questions. Even when it comes to questions pertaining to faith and morals, the jury—or the magisterium—is still out, on many of them. 

So what does it mean to understand a topic from a Catholic perspective, if there’s no official teaching on it, or if the teaching has developed and even changed extensively over time? The Glad You Asked podcast digs into the questions about Catholicism that don’t have easy, obvious answers—or don’t have “official” answers at all.

In the past three seasons of Glad You Asked, the hosts and their guests tackled such topics as why God chose Mary, whether Catholics should celebrate Passover, and what the Bible says about LGBTQ people. Now the podcast is back for a fourth season, with a new lineup of exciting guests ready to discuss the questions about Catholicism that are easy to ask but not so easy to answer.

Season four will launch on April 5. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

When Mary gave birth to Jesus, what was it like? Did she experience the same anxiety, fear, mess, and pain that any woman can expect when preparing for childbirth? Many people might find this question strange. Of course Mary, being fully human, and not God, would share in all the usual feelings and emotions—both pleasant and unpleasant—associated with bringing a baby into the world. Wouldn’t she?

For centuries of church history, many Catholics would have answered this question with a resounding “no,” or at least with a “probably not.” This is because of a complex intertwining of beliefs and theories, some associated with theologies of sin, others associated with ideas about women’s bodies. Even today, there are many Catholics who are appalled at the idea that Mary experienced pain when she gave birth to baby Jesus.

On this final episode of this season of the Glad You Asked podcast, the hosts talk to theologian Julia Feder about the background of this tradition, why it has been so popular among some Catholics, what the church actually teaches, and what’s at stake for people trying to assess what they should believe. Feder is the assistant director of the Center for the Study of Spirituality, as well as an associate professor of religious studies and theology at Saint Mary’s College, and is the author of Incarnating Grace: A Theology of Healing from Sexual Trauma (Fordham University Press).

Learn more about this topic and read some of Feder’s writing in the links below. 

“The Pregnancy of Mary,” by Nathan Schneider https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/pregnancy-mary 

“There would have been a midwife at the stable,” by Christine Schenk https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/simply-spirit/there-would-have-been-midwife-stable 

“What are we missing in our depictions of the nativity?” by Kelley Nikondeha https://uscatholic.org/articles/202212/what-are-we-missing-in-our-depictions-of-the-nativity/ 

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary,” by Elizabeth Johnson https://uscatholic.org/articles/201101/mary-mary-quite-contrary/ 

“Reclaiming the virgin martyrs from purity culture,” by Julia Feder https://uscatholic.org/articles/202302/reclaiming-the-virgin-martyrs-from-purity-culture/ 

Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries. https://claretiansusa.org https://myclaret.org 

Different Christian denominations hold varying views on multiple topics. Over the past two thousand years, these doctrinal differences have often generated conflict, even to the point of religious wars. Despite huge variations in belief on some topics, however, one thing all Christian denominations agree on is that Jesus is the Son of God and the third person of the Trinity. They also believe that Jesus is the Christ—from the Greek chrīstós, a translation from the Hebrew Mašíaḥ, (messiah), meaning “anointed one.”

But what do the Jewish people think about this? How does Judaism regard the Christian claim that Jesus is also the Hebrew Messiah? And how do practitioners of the Jewish religion, today, regard the historical figure of Jesus in general? 

On this episode of the podcast, the hosts welcome back guest Joshua Stein, to discuss how Jews regard Jesus. Stein currently holds a postdoctoral fellowship at the Georgetown Institute for the Study of Markets and Ethics. His work focuses on intersections between moral, economic, and political theories and their practical application to social interactions between people and social institutions. 

You can read more about this topic, and read some of Stein’s writing, in these links:

“What Do Jews Believe About Jesus?” by My Jewish Learning https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-do-jews-believe-about-jesus/

“Six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus,” by Julius Ciss https://jewsforjudaism.org/knowledge/videos/six-reasons-why-jews-don-t-believe-in-jesus

“Behold! The Jewish Jesus,” by Howard Jacobson https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/09/christianity-judaism

“Why do we call Jesus the Messiah?” A U.S. Catholic interview https://uscatholic.org/articles/201712/why-do-we-call-jesus-the-messiah/

“Should Catholics celebrate Passover?” by Joshua Stein https://uscatholic.org/articles/202304/should-catholics-celebrate-passover/

Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries. https://claretiansusa.org/

Christian history is full of stories about relics, from the quest of the holy grail to tales about unscrupulous medieval merchants hawking fake relics. Today, the practice of collecting and venerating relics of dead saints or artifacts from the life of Jesus might seem backwards and superstitious to some, disturbing or macabre to others. But the tradition of venerating relics is not simply an oddity on the margins of Catholic faith practice. For centuries, many have derived spiritual enrichment from this practice. And others enjoy it precisely because of its strangeness.

But what’s the theological and spiritual significance of this tradition? Why do Catholics venerate relics anyway? On this episode of the podcast, guest Jessica Mesman joins the hosts to discuss this ancient practice, some of the controversial history around it, and why Catholics today still collect and revere bits of bone and body parts of deceased holy people. 

Mesman is an associate editor at the Christian Century and formerly a culture columnist for U.S. Catholic. Her articles have appeared in LitHub, Elle, Vox, America, and Christianity Today, among others. Her first book, Love and Salt: A Spiritual Friendship in Letters (Loyola Press), coauthored with Amy Andrews Alznauer, won the Christopher Award in 2014.

Learn more about this topic and read some of Mesman’s writing in these links:

“Are relics a thing of the past?” by James P. Cahill https://uscatholic.org/articles/201512/are-relics-a-thing-of-the-past/

“To pray with the dead, find God’s grace in a family heirloom,” by James Breig https://uscatholic.org/articles/199607/to-pray-with-the-dead-find-gods-grace-in-a-family-heirloom/

“8 prayer practices to honor the dead on All Saints and All Souls Days,” by the U.S. Catholic editors https://uscatholic.org/articles/202010/8-prayer-practices-to-honor-the-dead-on-all-saints-and-all-souls-days/

“Remembering our mortality is a practice worth reviving,” by Jessica Mesman https://uscatholic.org/articles/201904/remembering-our-mortality-is-a-practice-worth-reviving/

“How to time travel at Mass,” by Jessica Mesman https://uscatholic.org/articles/201806/how-to-time-travel-at-mass/

Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries. https://www.claretiansusa.org/

Do Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25 because that was the day when the Romans celebrated the feast of Sol Invictus, the “unconquered sun,” as the winter days began to get longer again? Or perhaps because that date aligns with the festival of Yule in Scandinavian cultures? Are Christmas trees a part of seasonal festivities because some pre-Christian cultures worshiped trees as deities?

Every December, it seems, people commemorate the holiday season with heated debates on these and other topics pertaining to the origins of Christmas. Some like to argue that Christmas is almost exclusively rooted in non-Christian or pre-Christian customs. Others are appalled at the notion that any of our beloved holiday rituals were once also beloved by people of other religions. So what’s the truth of the matter?

Our guest on this episode discusses about the origins of the Christmas celebration, some of our most popular holiday rituals, and whether it really matters where these customs originated. Pastor and educator Kenneth McIntosh has degrees in English and theology, and has written extensively on Celtic spiritualities. He is the coauthor, along with Lilly Weichberger, of Brigid’s Mantle: A Celtic Dialogue Between Christian & Pagan (Anamchara Books) and the author of Water from an Ancient Well: Celtic Spirituality for Modern Life and Oak and Lotus: Celtic Christian Spirituality in the Light of Eastern Wisdom (both from Anamchara Books).

Read more about this topic in these links:

“Do Christmas trees have pagan roots?” by Don Beaulieu https://uscatholic.org/articles/202011/do-christmas-trees-have-pagan-roots/

“Who invented Advent?” by Victoria M. Tufano https://uscatholic.org/articles/201212/who-invented-advent/

“Happy New Year, it’s Advent,” by Thomas Reese https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/happy-new-year-its-advent

“Christmas: December 25 or January 6?” by Michael Peppard https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/christmas-december-25-or-january-6

“What Is Yule? What Is a Yule Log?” by Catherine Boeckmann https://www.almanac.com/content/what-yule-log-christmas-traditions

“Sol Invictus and Christmas” https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/invictus.html#anchor5371

Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries. https://www.claretiansusa.org/

Catholics have a veritable treasury of beliefs and traditions about Jesus’ family life, but some of these are only tenuously connected with the information we have from the Bible. While the gospels are full of stories about Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection, we are left to piece together details about his early life and his familial connections on the basis of a few tantalizing passages.

One tenet of Catholic belief is that Jesus was Mary’s only child. Since this is connected with the dogmatic teaching about Mary’s perpetual virginity, it’s a pretty serious tradition for Catholics. What, then, should be made of the scripture passages that reference Jesus’ siblings? Do these references undercut Catholic tradition and dogma?

The guest on this episode of the podcast is going to help clarify this issue. Alice Camille is a nationally known and award-winning writer, religious educator, and retreat leader. She has worked in parishes and campus ministry, and published extensively on scripture, including for U.S. Catholic, in our monthly Testaments column. She has been a guest on Glad You Asked before, discussing other topics pertaining to the Bible. 

Read more about this topic, and read some of Camille’s work, in these links:

“Did Jesus have brothers and sisters?” by Megan Murphy-Gill. https://uscatholic.org/articles/201312/did-jesus-have-brothers-and-sisters/ 

“Why was Mary a virgin?” by Alice Camille. https://uscatholic.org/articles/201612/why-was-mary-a-virgin/ 

“Would Jesus recognize the ‘nuclear family’?” by Jeannine Pitas. https://uscatholic.org/articles/202212/would-jesus-recognize-the-nuclear-family/ 

“Scripture interpretations are never set in stone,” by Alice Camille. https://uscatholic.org/articles/202306/scripture-interpretations-are-never-set-in-stone/ 

Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries.https://claretiansusa.org