Episodios

  • 343: An Evangelical Author Finds Christ in Catholicism (w/ Traci Rhoades)
    Apr 15 2026

    In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by author Traci Rhoades to talk about her remarkable faith journey into the Catholic Church.

    Traci is a brilliant and insightful writer who I first met as someone exploring the different roots of Christian traditions. When I heard that Traci had, in fact, become Catholic I knew I needed to have her on the show!

    Traci's story is a fantastic one – and she's a great storyteller. From trying to incorporate the ancient elements of Christianity into her non-denominational church to realizing, ultimately, that those elements can only be rightly found in the most ancient churches, it's a wonderful story of following Christ to the absolute ends of where he leads, and a lovely tale of family and faith, too.

    For more from Traci visit her website.

    Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com.

    Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.

    To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.

    Please consider financially supporting this show!

    For more information visit the Patreon page. All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.

    If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.

    Thank you to those already supporting the show!

    Theme Music: "Splendor (Intro)" by Former Ruins. Learn more at formerruins.com or listen on Spotify, Apple Music,

    A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.

    Beyond The Beacon
    Join Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!

    Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

    Support the show

    Find and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:

    Instagram: @cordialcatholic
    Twitter: @cordialcatholic
    YouTube: /thecordialcatholic
    Facebook: The Cordial Catholic
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    1 h y 24 m
  • 342: Yes! Catholics Have a Personal Relationship with Jesus! (w/ Meg Hunter-Kilmer)
    Apr 8 2026

    In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Catholic evangelist, missionary, and Bible teacher Meg Hunter-Kilmer to talk about two of the most widely spread misconceptions about Catholics: that Catholics don't read their Bibles and that Catholics don't have a personal relationship with Jesus.

    We dig into the places where Catholics hear Scripture, why the Catholic-Protestant misunderstanding about Scripture exists and what it means, and how to empower Catholics to read more Scripture. Plus, we dig into that ways that Catholics know Jesus intimately including confession, the Eucharist, and through the Mass.

    Meg is an absolute fireball and she brings it this week on the show!

    For more from Meg check out her website and her books, especially her new Bible study, Who is Jesus? from Ave Maria Press.

    Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com.

    Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.

    To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.

    Please consider financially supporting this show!

    For more information visit the Patreon page. All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.

    If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.

    Thank you to those already supporting the show!

    Theme Music: "Splendor (Intro)" by Former Ruins. Learn more at formerruins.com or listen on Spotify, Apple Music,

    A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.

    Beyond The Beacon
    Join Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!

    Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

    Support the show

    Find and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:

    Instagram: @cordialcatholic
    Twitter: @cordialcatholic
    YouTube: /thecordialcatholic
    Facebook: The Cordial Catholic
    TikTok: @cordialcatholic

    Más Menos
    1 h y 7 m
  • 341: From Adventures in Odyssey to the Catholic Church (w/ Paul McCusker)
    Apr 1 2026

    In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Paul McCusker, the Peabody Award-winning creator of Adventures in Odyssey and the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre to discuss his incredible conversion to Catholicism.

    McCusker's worked defined generations of Evangelical Christians and as someone steeped in the Protestant, sometimes anti-Catholic world, we find out, in this episode, what made him consider Catholicism: what drew him in, what drew him deeper, and the questions and realizations that eventually led him to join the Catholic Church.

    Paul's story is amazing. And, as you might expect, he's a fantastic storyteller.

    For more from Paul visit his website. And check out his work from the Augustine Institute including our family favourite new series Welcome to Hope Springs available on podcast everywhere.

    Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com.

    Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.

    To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.

    Please consider financially supporting this show!

    For more information visit the Patreon page. All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.

    If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.

    Thank you to those already supporting the show!

    Theme Music: "Splendor (Intro)" by Former Ruins. Learn more at formerruins.com or listen on Spotify, Apple Music,

    A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.

    Beyond The Beacon
    Join Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!

    Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

    Support the show

    Find and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:

    Instagram: @cordialcatholic
    Twitter: @cordialcatholic
    YouTube: /thecordialcatholic
    Facebook: The Cordial Catholic
    TikTok: @cordialcatholic

    Más Menos
    1 h y 36 m
  • 340: A Catholic Priest in a Long Line of Methodist Ministers (w/ Fr. Matthew Hawkins)
    Mar 25 2026

    In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Father Matthew Hawkins, a former Agnostic and a convert to the Catholic faith from a long line of ministers in the American Methodist Episcopal Church. Father Matthew's story is an incredible one and he's a wonderful storytellers.

    From early touchstones and experiences of Catholicism to a deep and abiding love of Scripture to a phase of serious rebellion and turning away from the Church to his ultimate conversion to Catholicism and, decades later, his amazing call to the priesthood – this is a wonderful story you aren't going to want to miss.

    You can also read about Father Matthew's story in the article where I first found him from The Coming Home Network.

    Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com.

    Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.

    To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.

    Please consider financially supporting this show!

    For more information visit the Patreon page. All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.

    If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.

    Thank you to those already supporting the show!

    Theme Music: "Splendor (Intro)" by Former Ruins. Learn more at formerruins.com or listen on Spotify, Apple Music,

    A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.

    Beyond The Beacon
    Join Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!

    Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

    Support the show

    Find and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:

    Instagram: @cordialcatholic
    Twitter: @cordialcatholic
    YouTube: /thecordialcatholic
    Facebook: The Cordial Catholic
    TikTok: @cordialcatholic

    Más Menos
    1 h y 26 m
  • 339: A Catholic Conversion from Behind the Berlin Wall (w/ Dr. Jennifer Bryson)
    Mar 18 2026

    In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined for an absolutely astounding conversation with Dr. Jennifer Bryson, a scholar, a military analyst and lecturer, a former Guantanamo Bay interrogator, and a Catholic convert to talk about the incredible life she's lived – and her amazing conversion to Catholicism!

    This episode is absolutely packed. Dr. Byrson begins talking a bit about the work she is currently doing translating the writing of Ida Gorres for Ignatius Press and then launches into the amazing story of her Catholic conversion – from inside Communist East Germany! – and up to her work today in peacemaking, ethics, and freedom of religion.

    What an amazing story.

    For more from Dr. Bryson visit her website. And check out her books from Ignatius Press.

    Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com.

    Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.

    To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.

    Please consider financially supporting this show!

    For more information visit the Patreon page. All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.

    If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.

    Thank you to those already supporting the show!

    Theme Music: "Splendor (Intro)" by Former Ruins. Learn more at formerruins.com or listen on Spotify, Apple Music,

    A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.

    Beyond The Beacon
    Join Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!

    Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

    Support the show

    Find and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:

    Instagram: @cordialcatholic
    Twitter: @cordialcatholic
    YouTube: /thecordialcatholic
    Facebook: The Cordial Catholic
    TikTok: @cordialcatholic

    Más Menos
    1 h y 15 m
  • 338: Catholic Mass as Truth, Beauty, and Evangelism (w/ Peter Carter)
    Mar 11 2026

    In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Peter Carter from the Catholic Sacred Music Project and the author, with Cardinal Robert Sarah, of The Song of the Lamb, a wonderful new book from Ignatius Press which explores the idea of the sacred Mass and all its beauty.

    We talk about the idea of creating the sacred space appropriate for Mass, the evangelistic opportunities present in Mass, and how we can make the Mass mean more and grow deeper in our relationship to Christ through beauty and through truth.

    This was a wonderful conversation that I truly hope you love!

    For more from Peter Carter check out The Song of the Lamb from Ignatius Press and visit his project The Catholic Sacred Music Project to learn more.

    Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com.

    Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.

    To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.

    Please consider financially supporting this show!

    For more information visit the Patreon page. All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.

    If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.

    Thank you to those already supporting the show!

    Theme Music: "Splendor (Intro)" by Former Ruins. Learn more at formerruins.com or listen on Spotify, Apple Music,

    A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.

    A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.

    Beyond The Beacon
    Join Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!

    Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

    Beyond The Beacon
    Join Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!

    Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

    Support the show

    Find and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:

    Instagram: @cordialcatholic
    Twitter: @cordialcatholic
    YouTube: /thecordialcatholic
    Facebook: The Cordial Catholic
    TikTok: @cordialcatholic

    Más Menos
    1 h y 12 m
  • 337: A Baptist Pastor Discovers the Early Church (w/ Justin Hibbard)
    Mar 4 2026

    In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my friend Justin Hibbard. Justin is a former Baptist pastor, a convert to the Catholic faith, and the host of the Why Catholic Podcast and Instagram profile – and he's here this week to share his incredible conversion story with us!

    As a pastor and worship leader, Justin had decades of evangelical church experience under his belt when he began to question some of the foundations of the evangelical church structure: which Church was the one founded by Christ? How do I find it? What was the Great Apostacy? When did it happen?

    These questions and more led Justin to look deeply into Church history and, to his surprise, the answers began to come back Catholic. This week on the show, someone so in love with Christ searing for him more deeply ... and ending up in the Catholic Church!

    For more from Justin check out Why Catholic and his Instagram profile.

    Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com.

    Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.

    To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.

    Please consider financially supporting this show!

    For more information visit the Patreon page. All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.

    If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.

    Thank you to those already supporting the show!

    Theme Music: "Splendor (Intro)" by Former Ruins. Learn more at formerruins.com or listen on Spotify, Apple Music,

    A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.

    Beyond The Beacon
    Join Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!

    Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

    Support the show

    Find and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:

    Instagram: @cordialcatholic
    Twitter: @cordialcatholic
    YouTube: /thecordialcatholic
    Facebook: The Cordial Catholic
    TikTok: @cordialcatholic

    Más Menos
    1 h y 45 m
  • 336: Who Shrank the Protestant Bible? (w/ Gary Michuta and Matthew McWhorter)
    Feb 25 2026

    In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by two of the best experts on the Canon of the Bible, my friends Matthew Mark McWhorter and Gary Michuta. Together, we'll dig into exactly why Protestant Bibles are smaller than Catholic Bibles – what happened to the missing books and the unfounded theories that led to them being removed.

    We look at modern evidence which proves that the Catholic canon of Scripture was what Jesus and the apostles were reading, that it contains more intact and reliable versions of Scripture, and that Jerome's famous thesis – which led Martin Luther to REMOVE books from the Bible – is historically false, and has been proven so!

    For more from Gary check out his YouTube channel and his incredible books available from Catholic Answers.

    For more from Matthew McWhorter including his incredible book Canon Crossfire: Does the Protestant Bible Blow Up the Case for Christianity visit his website.

    Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com.

    Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.

    To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.

    Please consider financially supporting this show!

    For more information visit the Patreon page. All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.

    If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.

    Thank you to those already supporting the show!

    Theme Music: "Splendor (Intro)" by Former Ruins. Learn more at formerruins.com or listen on Spotify, Apple Music,

    A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.

    Beyond The Beacon
    Join Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!

    Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

    Support the show

    Find and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:

    Instagram: @cordialcatholic
    Twitter: @cordialcatholic
    YouTube: /thecordialcatholic
    Facebook: The Cordial Catholic
    TikTok: @cordialcatholic

    Más Menos
    1 h y 16 m