The Catholic Mama

The dilemmas most people have with Christianity on a whole and Catholicism in specific are pretty common. So when trying to go out and share your faith, you'll most likely come across the same objections over and over again. In this episode, Pat joins Christine to discuss how to approach these objections and refute them when you go out to evangelize. For a more nuanced discussion of Christian philosophy and doctrine, listen to Pat's podcast episodes of Sunday School. This is a great one to start with, dealing with objective morality and if it's possible without God.

In this episode, Christine defends - and redefines - the To-Do List, a source of dread and a sort of indentured servitude for many moms and dads. Many times, you'll read about ditching the To-Do List with messages such as "Just be happy with who you are;" "you're enough," etc. While these are helpful to an extent, these kinds of messages lack strategy that household managers need. But by reexamining your "To Do's," you can set high expectations for yourself, meet many of those expectations, and learn to have mercy with yourself when you don't. Does this sound familiar? It should. It's how the Catholic Church operates its ministry: High in its standards and high in its mercy. Taking that motto will take your own To-Do List to another level.

In this episode, Christine is joined by Catholic spirituality writer Jeannie Ewing (JeannieEwing.com). Jeannie's writing focuses on grief, redemptive suffering, and waiting aka getting a "not yet" from God in response to our prayers. As the mother of three young girls, including one who has a rare disease, Jeannie is familiar with the every day feelings of grief and hopelessness, but through an extensive prayer life, dependence on her faith, and keeping Christ at the center of her home and marriage, she has given us the gift of her insight. Please visit her website for to learn more about her books, including From Grief to Grace at http://jeannieewing.com/ In the episode we also talk about teaching our children to pray. She has a wonderful five step formula for children's prayers. Read the article here.

In this episode, Christine has Pat back on the show to discuss the philosophical case that can be made to prove the existence of God, as well as to start to dabble in who God is and ultimately, why believing in Jesus Christ is the sound and logical conclusion. This will be a multi-part miniseries on The Catholic Mama. Part 1 discusses how we can get to the "God of the Philosophers," the first step in building the case for Christianity.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of the greatest gifts that God has given us, and also one of the least utilized. In this episode, Christine breaks down what exactly is the Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as confession, why it's important, why you should take part in it, and how to do it. Practicing Catholics are required to go to confession at least once a year, but if you've never been or if it's been a long time, or maybe you simply want a reminder of the importance of reconciliation, this episode is a must-listen.

**Spoiler alert! Save this episode for a time when there aren't kids in the room who believe in Santa** Is it better to teach your children that Santa is real or is it better to teach them the truth? The Catholic Mama advocates truth - why? Because if we teach them fantasies that we later redact, it is easy to see that they may question whether what we've told them about God is simply one of those fantasies as well. If you're worried about how to make the holidays special without Santa, this episode will help you find ways to do just that.

Welcome to The Catholic Mama podcast! For our inaugural episode, your host Christine Mooney-Flynn is joined by a special guest, her husband Pat. Together, they share their path to Catholic conversion, a very surprising destination after years of atheism and nihilism. But spurred on by logic, reason, and apologetics, they found they were ready to make that necessary leap of faith...into faith.