The Art Of Catholic With Matthew Leonard

Are you concerned about your children and grandchildren? Do you worry whether or not they'll stay in the faith? Have they already left? Allow me to introduce you to someone who has devoted his life to doing everything he can to help them stay, or bring them back. His name is Mark Hart, and he's the Executive Vice President of Content and Identity at Life Teen, one of the leaders in evangelizing young Catholics. Join us as we discuss the current state and future of our youth...the future of our Church. And we're not just talking problems. We're talking solutions. God bless! Matthew “All who have been lost were lost because they did not pray.” St. Alphonsus Liguori. Don't be lost! Grab your FREE copy of my quick guide to deeper prayer 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life!  It's an easy step-by-step summary of the spiritual giants of the Church designed to help you rocket to God!   Please take a moment to leave the show a rating! Doing so helps promote the podcast and gets Catholic material in front of people wh

You can have all the money in the world, but you can't buy suffering insurance. Doesn't matter if you're Catholic, Protestant, Pagan or Martian. Everybody experiences it. And when Jesus offered himself back to the Father for our sake, he didn’t merely deal with the consequences of sin. Rather, he struck at the root of suffering - Original Sin - the sin of Adam. But he did it in a way that seems crazy in the eyes of the world. He took the very consequences of sin - suffering and death - experienced them as one of us, and made them the path to salvation. This is the mystery of the Cross...a mystery he invites us into through Redemptive Suffering. To dig into this deep subject, I brought in Jeff Cavins. You may know Jeff from his stint as host on EWTN's Life on the Rock, or his Bible Timeline videos, or even his books and speaking gigs. He's one of the most well-known Catholic evangelists in the world. And his preferred topic is suffering. Why? Because as he'll share, he's suffered. And he knows you do, too. But

Question: What do adoption, 80s singer El DeBarge, and the spiritual life have in common? Answer: Bob Rice. Any man who plays the accordion (and has an album starring said instrument titled "The Gospel Accordion to Bob Rice") is just a little on the unusual side. But if by "usual" you mean boring and predictable, I'll take unusual any day. And trust me when I say this show was anything but boring and predictable. It goes in a lot of crazy directions, all of which point up to Christ. In addition to the oddities of his instrumentation, Bob is an author, speaker, musician, and theologian. Many of you have experienced his dulcet tones at a summer conference at Franciscan University or another venue. For those of you who have not, you're about to. Five will get you ten that you've never heard some of the things you'll hear on this podcast anywhere else. Grown men aren't supposed to have this much fun. So buckle up, prepare to smile, and click the "play" arrow below for a good time. God bless! Matthew “All who have

"Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. Amen" We say that "Fatima prayer" at the end of every decade in the rosary. But what exactly are we begging deliverance from? This is probably the deepest podcast I've done to date. How could it not be when dealing with the scariest topic in the world...hell. Nobody wants to think about eternal damnation, but many of us have questions like: Does hell actually exist? How is a place of eternal, unending pain and punishment compatible with a God of perfect love and mercy? How can we be truly happy in heaven if those we love are suffering in hell? Is it possible we'll all end up in heaven eventually? Do some people actually choose hell? Is it true that the constant repetition of Barry Manilow's greatest hits play a role in eternal suffering? To answer these questions and more, I've brought in Dr. Michael Healy, a professor of philosophy at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Question: What do you get when you take a Canadian Presbyterian pastor’s kid and send him to an orthodox American Catholic university where he has to take a Natural Family Planning class with a pretty girl? Answer: A convert with eight kids! That's what. But unlike a lot of Catholic converts in the public eye, Kevin Lowry is a businessman. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t do the normal convert stuff. His conversion story, which we’re going to hear a good bit of, is in Surprised by Truth 2. He’s also the author of a book titled Faith at Work: Finding Purpose Beyond the Paycheck. Kevin speaks at parish missions and conferences, too, and even serves as a consultant for The Coming Home Network for Marcus Grodi. But as I said, he’s a little different than many converts with a platform. Kevin’s full-time gig is that of Chief Financial Officer for a digital marketing company (not to mention being a father to all those kids). What does that mean? It means he’s a practical guy that a lot of people can relate to. He’s a pa

Paul got knocked off his high horse (maybe). Augustine heard a voice say "take and read." David Currie got a catalog. The Lord moves us to conversion in mysterious ways. If you're thinking "a catalog doesn't seem like the most interesting of manners in which to convert", you're wrong. I love this conversion story. I mean, how many convert stories have you heard where a guy who really, really wants to become Catholic is refused entry? And David Currie is not only the author of some very popular books (e.g. Rapture: The End Time Error That Leaves The Bible Behind and Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic), he is one of the most genuine people I've ever met. This man loves the Catholic faith like few others. You can literally hear it in his voice. So sit back and enjoy the beautiful, heartfelt, often humorous journey of one man (and his family) into the arms of Mother Church. God bless! Matthew “All who have been lost were lost because they did not pray.” St. Alphonsus Liguori. Don't be lost! Grab your FREE c

Do you consider yourself an evangelist? Can you easily share the Catholic faith with others? Does the phrase "New Evangelization" conjure up images of people knocking on your door? Even if your answers were "No." "No." "Yes.", you can relax...but not too much! My guest on this edition is Terry Barber, founder and President of St. Joseph Communications, and founder and chairman of Lighthouse Catholic Media. Many regard him to be the godfather of Catholic apologetics and evangelization in the United States. In fact, if you've ever listened to a Catholic cd featuring someone like Scott Hahn, Jeff Cavins, or a host of other speakers, odds are it's because of Terry Barber.  As you're going to see, this guy is a fireball. And he's got a lot of practical tips and advice for how anyone - even a wallflower - can effectively share the faith. No joke. In fact, he’s got a new book out titled – “How To Share Your Faith With Anyone – A Practical Manual for Catholic Evangelization”. We all know people who have fallen away o

Lots of people have stories. Few of them are as exceptional and inspirational as this one. Shak Hill is a former Air Force fighter pilot pilot who flew classified Top Secret missions, including combat in Desert Storm.   He finished off his military career serving as a flight commander in the presidential wing at Andrews AF Base, MD, providing congressional and VIP support. He made a run at the US Senate in 2014 in the state of Virginia. He’s authored two books and is a public speaker, as well. That's the bio. But you've got to hear the story. God bless! Matthew “All who have been lost were lost because they did not pray.” St. Alphonsus Liguori. Don't be lost! Grab your FREE copy of my quick guide to deeper prayer 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life!  It's an easy step-by-step summary of the spiritual giants of the Church designed to help you rocket to God! Don't forget to head over to iTunes and leave the show a rating! Doing so helps promote the podcast and gets Catholic material in front of people who may

Lots of saints make strong statements about prayer. St. Alphonsus Ligouri is probably the scariest. Referencing St. Teresa of Avila, he once stated that "He who neglects mental prayer needs no devil to carry him to hell. He brings himself there with his own hands." Yikes! Lucky for you (and me), we're not talking prayer with him today. Instead, Mr. Dan Burke is the featured guest in this episode of The Art of Catholic podcast. While not a saint (yet), Dan is definitely a sage when it comes to the spiritual life and loves to quote Teresa of Avila, too. In fact, he's the founder and president of The Avila Institute, as well as the Executive Director of EWTN's National Catholic Register. He also blogs and podcasts over at SpiritualDirection.com. Dan has written a wonderful series of books under the heading of "Navigating the Spiritual Life" through Emmaus Road Publishing. And in this episode we're discussing some of the contents of one of those books titled, "Finding God Through Meditation." It's all about St. P

Everybody comes from some kind of family. Some are good. Some are bad. Most are crazy in some way or another. Regardless, family is the building block of all society because our families image the family of God. And as we all know, families are under attack. In fact, one of the biggest problems men face in today’s society is that we’re constantly being fed this ludicrous idea that men are idiots. Family life, particularly the role of father, needs to be reclaimed. Join Matthew this week on The Art of Catholic podcast as he interviews activist and author Brandon McGinely about the importance of family life, particularly from the perspective of fatherhood. Brandon's work has appeared in print in National Review, Fare Forward, and the Pittsburgh Catholic and online at First Things, The Federalist, Public Discourse, and Acculturated. He's also the editor of a new book from Our Sunday Visitor titled The Joys and Challenges of Family Life: Catholic Husbands and Fathers Speak Out... a book to which I contributed a c

This is a great conversion story. Dr. Taylor Marshall is the president and founder of the New St. Thomas Institute. But in a previous life he was an Episcopalian priest who found the Lord through a chance encounter with a baseball card. You heard me right...a baseball card. Give it listen and don't forget to please leave the show a rating! God bless! Matt “All who have been lost were lost because they did not pray.” St. Alphonsus Liguori. Don't be lost! Grab your FREE copy of my quick guide to deeper prayer 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life!  It's an easy step-by-step summary of the spiritual giants of the Church designed to help you rocket to God!

Did you know that check you just wrote to your favorite charity may actually be hurting the very people you're trying to help? It's true! How is that possible? In quite a few ways, actually. In fact, certain kinds of aid can actually devastate them. In the 4th episode of The Art of Catholic podcast, I interview Michael Matheson Miller from the Acton Institute about the harm that can actually come from some of the forms of charity with which we've grown familiar. Odds are this episode will totally change your view (and actions) regarding foreign aid. God bless! Matthew “All who have been lost were lost because they did not pray.” St. Alphonsus Liguori. Don't be lost! Grab your FREE copy of my quick guide to deeper prayer 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life!  It's an easy step-by-step summary of the spiritual giants of the Church designed to help you rocket to God! Don't forget to PLEASE head over to iTunes and leave the show a rating! Doing so helps promote the podcast and gets Catholic material in front of p

Can you think of anyone better? I don't think so. Teresa of Avila is one of greatest spiritual theologians in the history of the Church. In fact, this 16th century Spanish mystic is the "Doctor of Prayer". Join me in discussion with Dr. Anthony Lilles about the spiritual legacy of this dynamite Carmelite nun on her 500th anniversary. But this episode isn't all history. Not even close. The spiritual life is meant to be practiced! And nobody is more practical than St. Teresa of Avila. So listen up and be transformed! God bless! Matthew Oh yeah...PLEASE head over to iTunes and leave the show a rating! Doing so helps promote the podcast and gets Catholic material in front of people who may never otherwise be exposed to the faith. Thank you! “All who have been lost were lost because they did not pray.” St. Alphonsus Liguori. Don't be lost! Grab your FREE copy of my quick guide to deeper prayer 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life!  It's an easy step-by-step summary of the spiritual giants of the Church designed to

Remember that old Beatles lyric: "You say you want a revolution?" There are a lot of people feeling that way these days. And today I interview the incredibly prolific, Mike Aquilina. Mike has written more than 50 books and co-hosted more than a dozen EWTN specials with Dr. Scott Hahn. He knows the Fathers of the Church and early Church history like no other. Along with Jim Papandrea, Mike wrote a book called Seven Revolutions: How Christianity Changed the World and Can Change It Again. As you can see from the title, this isn't just an exploration of the past. It's a prescription for the future of our Church, society, and the world. Join me and dive into Mike's deep well of knowledge about the early Church, and much, much more. God bless! Matthew “All who have been lost were lost because they did not pray.” St. Alphonsus Liguori. Don't be lost! Grab your FREE copy of my quick guide to deeper prayer 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life!  It's an easy step-by-step summary of the spiritual giants of the Church de

On the first edition of The Art of Catholic, Matthew interviews John Henry Crosby, founder of the Hildebrand Project. The discussion is about the incredible life and beliefs of Nazi fighter and Catholic philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand. It's a pretty incredible story and, given recent cultural and political events, contains a warning for our present circumstances. Pope Benedict XVI thought von Hildebrand to be one of the most important voices of the 20th century. I think you'll agree. God bless, Matthew       “All who have been lost were lost because they did not pray.” St. Alphonsus Liguori. Don't be lost! Grab your FREE copy of my quick guide to deeper prayer 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life!  It's an easy step-by-step summary of the spiritual giants of the Church designed to help you rocket to God!