The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

During the past five decades, the Second Vatican Council has been alternately celebrated or maligned for its supposed break with tradition and embrace of the modern world.

But what if we've gotten it all wrong?

Have Catholics—both those who embrace the spirit of Vatican II and those who regard it with suspicion—misunderstood what the council was really about?

Fr. Blake Britton discovered the truth and beauty of the council while he was in seminary and he has witnessed firsthand the power of its teachings in the life of his own parish.

In his new book, Reclaiming Vatican II: What It (Really) Said, What It Means, and How It Calls Us to Renew the Church, Britton presses beyond the political narrative foisted upon the post-conciliar Church and contends that Vatican II was neither conservative nor liberal, but something much more beautiful and challenging.

Today, Word on Fire Institute Fellow Robert Mixa sits down with Fr. Britton to discuss how Catholics can reclaim the teaching of Vatican II and embrace it as one of our greatest resources for being in the Church in a way that is faithful, engaged, and effective if we answer its radical call to worship and renewal.

• Reclaiming Vatican II book - https://wordonfire.org/reclaim

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Bishop Barron takes several questions from non-Catholics, including:

• How does the Catholic Church think about sola Scriptura and Bible interpretation?
• Since we can't know beyond a reasonable doubt that Christianity is true, why should I become a Christian?
• Any tips for a Protestant transitioning to Catholicism?
• Why are some sins considered mortal?
• Is there a realistic possibility of reuniting the Christian churches, and if not, what are the major stumbling blocks?
• What is the role of saints? Why aren't they considered to be idols?
• What is the Catholic view of the apocrypha (deuterocanonical books)?
• What about apparent contradictions in the Bible? Does this undermine the Bible's inerrancy?

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

In a recent talk, Bishop Barron presented on the importance of not dumbing down the faith as we engage in religious education. Young people enjoy asking about and discussing the big questions, from God's existence, to how to be a good and moral person, to the problem of suffering. A disconnect takes place when we meet these intellectual questions with watered-down catechesis. Instead, we must remember the central teachings of Christianity. We must present the fullness of truth, the reality of the Incarnation, and the good news of grace.

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Friends, today we continue our "Word on Fire Show" series on how to understand Genesis by discussing Abraham and Isaac. Watch and learn about these two pivotal figures in salvation history.

A listener asks, where can I learn more about God's non-competitive transcendence?

• Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard
• Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus
• The God of Faith and Reason: Foundations of Christian Theology by Robert Sokolowski

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Friends, at the recent FOCUS SEEK, seminarians and young people discerning their vocation asked me range of questions about calling and vocations, including:

• Did Bishop Barron ever consider religious life?
• How should we use philosophy to approach and interact with theology?
• What should we do about a "dark night of the soul" when it comes to discernment?
• How should one discern between dating versus pursuing a religious vocation?
• What should women in particular look for when discerning a religious order?
• How should one sift through fears and anxieties during discernment?
• What is something that Bishop Barron learned as a priest, that he wish he had known as a seminarian?

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Modern psychiatry tends to downplay spirituality, but in today's episode of "The Word on Fire Show," Bishop Barron and Brandon discuss a new Scientific American article suggesting that "Psychiatry Needs to Get Right with God."

The author explains how belief in God is associated with significantly better treatment outcomes for many patients, and therefore patients should have the option to include spirituality in their treatment.

A listener asks, where does one go to get the Catholic Church's official interpretation of Scripture?

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Earlier this year, Bishop Barron joined Sal Di Stefano from Mind Pump Media for a great conversation. They discussed the great social upheaval and political division in our culture—including its intellectual, moral, and spiritual dimensions—and why a purely secular framework is not enough to solve it.

• Dei Verbum Reading Challenge

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Today we continue our series on "Understanding Genesis." Last time we focused on Creation and today we're discussing Adam, Eve, and the Fall. How should we understand the creation of Adam and Eve? What actually happened at the Fall? Bishop Barron and Brandon Vogt discuss.

A listener asks, why would Mark end his Gospel with the women not telling the Apostles about the resurrection?

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Today we share a Q&A session between Bishop Barron and Maronite clergy following a talk he shared on the priesthood. In the Q&A, he answered several questions, including:

• Did Adam love Eve for the sake of God?
• What is Mary's role in Jacob's ladder?
• Do you have practical advice for people feeling confined by their vocation?
• How should we pick our battles as we wrestle with the world?
• How do you approach the concept of free will and reconcile it with our slavery to God?
• What practical steps can we take in our parishes to keep people from disaffiliating from the Church?

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!

Pope Francis just announced he's planning to declare a new Doctor of the Church, St. Irenaeus of Lyon. Who was he? What were his key ideas? Why does he still matter? That's what Bishop Barron and Brandon discuss in today's episode. Topics include:

• What's a Doctor of the Church, and why should Irenaeus be declared one?
• How did Bishop first become acquainted with Irenaeus?
• What was Irenaeus' approach to battling Gnosticism?
• Irenaeus taught that God has no need of anything outside of himself. What does this mean, and why is it good news?
• How to understand Irenaeus's pithy line, "The glory of God is man fully alive"?
• Irenaeus' theology of recapitulation
• How Irenaeus remains a great spiritual and theological bridge between Eastern and Western Christians
• Why Irenaeus is still relevant today

A listener asks, how should I respond to the idea that nothing really exists because we can't prove that it exists?

• New editions of Bishop Barron's books: https://bookstore.wordonfire.org

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!