Controversies in Church History

Hello friends! The latest episode episode of Controversies in Church History is a replay of what was originally a patron-only episode for patrons on Patreon, which I now make available to everyone. In it, I take a look at a work of history written nearly a hundred years ago, The Problem of Unbelief in the Sixteenth Century, by Lucien Febvre, a French historian who published his book during the dark days of World War II. In this book, he tries to explain why modern atheism was impossible for people in the sixteenth century writer, focusing on the poet Francois Rabelais, a Franciscan friar famed for his skepticism. I take a look at Febvre's work in this episode, and try to explain why it is a topic that is important for Catholics to understand. Cheers!

The latest episode of Controversies in Church History is an interview with James Green, a Catholic teacher and writer. James has penned a series of articles at his Substack taking a closer look at the data on vocations, church attendance and other data on key indicators in the Catholic Church before and since the Second Vatican Council. In our discussion, which is a long one, we look at the impact of the Council but also consider how the trends that became prominent with that Council began in the decades before it took place, and what might have caused them. Finally, we end our discussion by looking at some projections James has made based on current data and what signs of hope one can find in the data, despite the downward trends in the Church. This is a very deep dive into statistics and a very long discussion, so I hope my listeners and viewers enjoy it. Please let me know what you think.

Note: the video of the interview contains charts that James has made available, and which we reference in the interview, which can access here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Y_mvSpIkAbIEBep2mfQJp4-PSdLnIz9o44ejZTWxGP0/edit?slide=id.p#slide=id.p

Originally a bonus episode for patrons of the podcast, this episode takes a look at some of Charles De Gaulle's recorded opinions concerning the Second Vatican Council. De Gaulle led the Free French forces during WWII and served ten years as president of France (1958-1968). De Gaulle had a keen political sense and his comments on Vatican II are both interesting but also prescient. Enjoy.

The latest episode is a walk-through of what yours truly has been the past year (or so), and gives an update on upcoming episodes and their content (hint: there will be new episodes and they will be awesome). Cheers!

Hello everyone! Controversies in Church History is back after a long hiatus, and we are bringing you an episode about two popes: Pius IX and Francis. We dive into the question of whether the centralization of power in the papacy that began under Pius IX (1848-1878) led to the reign of the late Pope Francis (2013-2025), and whether Pius IX can be said to be responsible for it. Also, I update the state of the podcast and preview future episodes. Enjoy!