Chris Stefanick Catholic Show

What do you say when someone asks, "Who are you to judge me?"

Dr. Cary Dabney, a professor of theology at Walsh University, returns to the show to unpack the simple framework he uses to teach moral theology to students who are devout, on the fence, or completely unchurched. It's the same framework that can help you talk with your kids, your grandkids, or a friend about hard moral choices without sounding judgmental or getting shut down.

In this episode:

- The four kinds of students in his classroom

- The one question he asks before mentioning a single theologian

- The three fonts of choice

- What Robin Hood can teach us about good intentions

- What relativism does to our ability to talk to each other

- Why Dr. Cary calls Jesus "the pattern of righteousness"

Dr. Cary also shares three things to check before any decision, and why humility and the option of reconciliation are always on the table when we get it wrong.

Highlights

04:44 – The question that opens every moral theology class

06:16 – The three fonts of choice

07:32 – Robin Hood and the problem with good intentions

12:10 – Circumstances: same act, different gravity

13:47 – The object of the act

17:55 – Starting with what everyone shares: reason

19:26 – Taking the emotion out of hard conversations

32:12 – Silos, echo chambers, and Benedict XVI on relativism

34:38 – Three things to check before any choice

36:44 – Humility and the door to reconciliation

37:37 – Jesus, "the pattern of righteousness"

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Support the creation of this content by becoming a Missionary of Joy with a monthly gift to Real Life Catholic and get free access to 9 transformative courses: https://bit.ly/4nTHbN0

Chapters

(00:00:11) - Introducing Dr. Dabney and the Dab Name Joke
(00:01:18) - Teaching Moral Theology at Walsh University
(00:02:51) - The Four Buckets of Students
(00:05:33) - Three Fonts of Choice: Intention, Object, Circumstances
(00:07:32) - Robin Hood and Intention vs Object
(00:09:50) - Support Real Life Catholic
(00:10:40) - Teaching Critical Thinking, Not Just Answers
(00:11:57) - Circumstances and Culpability Explained
(00:13:51) - The Object and the Four Ends of Aquinas
(00:16:42) - From Human Reason to Divine Revelation
(00:19:22) - Removing Emotion from Moral Discernment
(00:21:48) - Relativism's Self-Contradiction
(00:22:40) - Arriving at Jesus as the Moral Standard
(00:23:37) - Law, Love, and the Judging of Nations
(00:25:42) - Applying the Framework to Abortion
(00:27:30) - Pastoral Compassion Meets Moral Truth
(00:29:04) - Hiroshima/Nagasaki as a Moral Case Study
(00:31:58) - Relativism Isolates Rather Than Unites
(00:33:11) - Summarizing the Framework for Parents and Teens
(00:37:18) - Jesus as the Pattern of Righteousness
(00:38:17) - Closing Thoughts and Farewell

One of the coolest things about being Catholic? You don't have to feel it to know you're getting it.

In this episode, Chris sits down with Fr. Chris Alar — author of Understanding the Sacraments: God's Grace Guaranteed — to unpack why the sacraments are so much more than symbols, and why so many Catholics never learned what they actually do.

Fr. Chris explains why infant baptism isn't about "letting a kid choose later," why Confirmation is the underrated "activation code" for the Holy Spirit's gifts, what it really takes for a confession to be valid, and why the Eucharist is literally the body and blood of Christ — not a metaphor.

Along the way, Chris and Fr. Chris talk about the difference between true contrition and mere remorse, why evangelization has to come before catechesis, and Fr. Chris's answer to "which sacrament is your favorite to administer?"

Highlights
[00:01:09] – Why Fr. Chris Alar wrote a book on the sacraments
[00:02:27] – The "wait till 18 to get baptized" argument — debunked
[00:10:00] – Confirmation: the "activation code" for the Holy Spirit
[00:16:39] – Heaven as a wedding feast — and why you need an invitation
[00:18:41] – The three conditions for a valid confession
[00:23:36] – Contrition vs. remorse: the difference between Peter and Judas
[00:47:26] – Fr. Chris Alar's favorite sacrament to administer

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Sign up for The Daily Anchor to get Chris Stefanick's bite-sized reflections every morning and be entered for a chance to win a trip for two on our Pilgrimage to Beauty: https://bit.ly/4tQCXtP

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Support the creation of this content by becoming a Missionary of Joy with a monthly gift to Real Life Catholic and get free access to 9 transformative courses: https://bit.ly/4nTHbN0

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Order Fr. Chris Alar's book, Understanding the Sacraments: God's Grace Guaranteed (https://shopmercy.org/explaining-the-faith-understanding-the-sacraments.html), Check out his work with the Marians of the Immaculate Conception / Divine Mercy here: https://www.thedivinemercy.org

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Crucified: Grace guaranteed with Father Chris Alarm
(00:00:36) - Chris Stefanick
(00:01:09) - Understanding the Sacraments
(00:07:15) - Priests baptisms too often
(00:07:44) - Mission to Joy
(00:13:42) - Evangelicals on the Sacraments
(00:18:42) - The 3 Conditions for Valid Confession
(00:23:44) - Saved by Faith alone and not by Works
(00:28:37) - The Sacraments: God's Love into Action
(00:32:38) - On the Sacraments
(00:37:09) - The Priesthood in the Bible
(00:40:34) - What's Missing in Praise and Worship
(00:41:52) - Francis Chan on the Catholic Sacraments
(00:45:06) - Catechesis ahead of Evangelization
(00:47:23) - The Sacrament of Confession

Fr. Robert Spitzer has spent his life studying the two most well-documented sets of miracles and healings in Church history. Blind since his early thirties from a degenerative eye condition, he joins Chris Stefanick to lay out the evidence behind Fatima and Lourdes like you've never heard it.

In this episode: how losing his sight deepened his prayer life, his theory that St. Paul himself may have been going blind, the eyewitness account of the Miracle of the Sun and the staggering odds against a natural explanation, the discovery of the healing spring at Lourdes, a man's leg instantly restored after being severed by a falling tree, and the Nobel Prize-winning doctor who went to disprove a miracle and left converted instead.

Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., is President of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith and President Emeritus of Gonzaga University. Learn more at magiscenter.com

Highlights
4:01 – How Fr. Spitzer prays through blindness
5:41 – "How has blindness blessed you?"
8:00 – A theory on St. Paul's "thorn in the flesh"
13:10 – The story of Fatima: what Mary told three children
20:29 – The bloodless miracle behind the Cold War's end
24:12 – The Miracle of the Sun and its 40,000 witnesses
28:25 – The "supernatural lens" theory, explained
38:16 – Bernadette and the apparitions at Lourdes
48:00 – The instantly healed leg of Pierre de Rudder
54:43 – Why the real number of Lourdes miracles is far higher than reported
56:00 – The political battle over the Lourdes grotto
1:01:37 – The Nobel laureate who tried to disprove a miracle
1:09:30 – Why Fr. Spitzer believes he was never healed
1:16:40 – Gabriel Gargam: paralyzed, then instantly healed
1:22:00 – "35,000 miracles... something is going on"

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Sign up for The Daily Anchor to get Chris Stefanick's bite-sized reflections every morning and be entered for a chance to win a trip for two on our Pilgrimage to Beauty: https://bit.ly/4tQCXtP
........
Support the creation of this content by becoming a Missionary of Joy with a monthly gift to Real Life Catholic and get free access to 9 transformative courses: https://bit.ly/4nTHbN0

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Fatima and Lourdes
(00:00:39) - A Taste of God's Presence
(00:01:14) - The Joy of Prayers
(00:03:06) - Blind People Praying
(00:09:38) - How to Know the Lord Loves You
(00:10:58) - Daily Inspiration
(00:11:38) - Wonders of the World
(00:12:52) - Fatima
(00:20:30) - In the Elevator With Mikhail Gorbachev
(00:21:38) - John Paul II and the Soviet Union
(00:24:01) - Miracle of the Sun
(00:33:22) - The Miraculous Lens at Fatima
(00:38:12) - The Story of Lourdes
(00:39:00) - Bernadette at the Lourdes
(00:44:59) - Wonders of the Water
(00:51:43) - 7,000 Naturalistically Indefensible Miracles
(00:57:27) - The Miracle of Bernadette Subaru
(01:01:28) - The story of Alexis Carroll and Marie Bailey
(01:09:29) - Paul on the Miracles
(01:14:06) - Blind People's Joy and Acceptance
(01:17:35) - The story of Gabriel Gargam
(01:24:05) - The Miracles of Lourdes

He's about to be declared a saint, and Dr. Peter Howard has spent nearly 30 years tracing his every word. Founder of the Fulton Sheen Institute, Dr. Howard earned his Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, where he specialized in dogmatic theology and Mariology.

Dr. Howard joins Chris Stefanick ahead of Archbishop Fulton Sheen's beatification to talk about the man who shaped his entire life.

In this episode: the cassette tape that changed Peter's life at 22, the actual microphone Sheen used on that retreat now sitting in Peter's office, why Sheen called Mary a "spiritual Trojan horse," the one direct appeal Christ ever made of His followers, the falling out with a cardinal that got Sheen's show pulled off air overnight, and what Sheen predicted decades ago about identity, AI, and the "economic savior" the world is waiting for.

Peter also opens up about his son Beckett, now 15, who started tagging along to daily Holy Hour... and hasn't stopped.

Highlights:

04:42 – When Peter's heart caught fire for Fulton Sheen
08:36 – The retreat tape that became "the genesis of everything"
11:00 – The actual microphone Sheen used, now in Peter's office
22:03 – Mary as the "spiritual Trojan horse"
27:05 – Why Jesus asked for one hour in Gethsemane
34:08 – "You will win the war before the Blessed Sacrament"
38:14 – Peter's son Beckett and his own daily Holy Hour
50:31 – The falling out with Cardinal Spellman
52:54 – John Paul II's words Sheen waited a lifetime to hear
1:02:26 – What Sheen predicted about AI as a false savior

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Sign up for The Daily Anchor to get Chris Stefanick's bite-sized reflections every morning and be entered for a chance to win a trip for two on our Pilgrimage to Beauty: https://bit.ly/4tQCXtP

........

Support the creation of this content by becoming a Missionary of Joy with a monthly gift to Real Life Catholic and get free access to 9 transformative courses: https://bit.ly/4nTHbN0

........

Learn more from Dr. Peter Howard: FultonSheenInstitute.com and FultonSheenMovement.com

Chapters

(00:00:02) - Peter Howard on Becoming a Doctorate
(00:04:00) - Martin Sheen on His Love Letter
(00:07:45) - Floyd Sheen's On Retreat With Irene Sheen
(00:12:19) - Philip Sheen on His Message
(00:18:33) - In the Elevator With Martin Sheen
(00:20:58) - Sheen on the Life of Martin
(00:25:25) - The Life of Saint Patrick
(00:30:19) - The HOLY AMATEUR
(00:34:50) - We're Living in an Extraordinary Era
(00:40:15) - Why Don't We Run to the Real Source?
(00:42:52) - Martin Sheen on His Priestly Life
(00:45:19) - Martin Sheen on the Why of Life
(00:50:31) - Martin Sheen on His Conflict With Cardinal Spellman
(00:55:35) - The Immaculate Conception of Our Lady of Guadalupe
(00:59:21) - The Epic End of the New Evangelization
(01:04:50) - Sheen on the Daily Holy Hour
(01:08:37) - I'm so grateful for Fulton Sheen. Can I preemptively say, blessed Fulton Sheen

Is female athletics hiding an identity crisis nobody names out loud? Sam Kelley, founder and president of FIERCE Athlete and a former Division I soccer player at UConn, joins Chris Stefanick to unpack it. A nine-time state champion in high school before a career-ending knee injury forced her to rebuild her sense of self, Sam now leads a national ministry mentoring female athletes toward their identity as daughters of God.

In this episode: the toxic pressures nobody talks about in women's sports, how same-sex attraction gets tangled up with team bonding and abuse, why Sam's encounter with the Eucharist changed everything, the theology of the body applied to competition, and why the tide on transgender athletes is finally turning.

HILIGHTS

00:00 – Intro: The identity crisis hiding in women's sports
02:06 – Sam Kelley joins to talk Fierce Athlete's mission
07:09 – Nine state titles, then a career-ending knee injury
10:25 – A toxic locker room and an unplanned encounter with Jesus
13:18 – Same-sex pressure and coaches in women's sports
19:10 – Why sport surfaces so much sexual confusion
22:07 – The real fix: Jesus, then deep inner healing
42:13 – A closing prayer for identity and healing

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Sign up for The Daily Anchor to get Chris Stefanick's bite-sized reflections every morning and be entered for a chance to win a trip for two on our Pilgrimage to Beauty: https://bit.ly/4tQCXtP

........

Support the creation of this content by becoming a Missionary of Joy with a monthly gift to Real Life Catholic and get free access to 9 transformative courses: https://bit.ly/4nTHbN0

........

Head to https://fierce.org for everything Sam and her team are building. Dive deeper with Sam's book, her podcast, and more at https://fierceathlete.org/

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Fierce Athletes: When They Forget Who They Are
(00:01:06) - Chris Stefanick Inspiring Triathlete
(00:03:36) - Fierce Women Athletes
(00:07:06) - An Athlete's Struggle With Identity
(00:10:14) - How I Was Saved By The Eucharist
(00:14:14) - Domestic Abuse in Women's Sports
(00:19:21) - Ex-athletes on Sexual Hypertension
(00:23:30) - The Real Life of Sport
(00:27:48) - Do Sports Make Women More Feminine?
(00:31:50) - John Paul II on Gender Roles
(00:35:09) - Fierce Athletes: Coming soon to Sports
(00:37:28) - Be Fierce: The Athlete's Guide To Growing Physically
(00:40:33) - Both Walsh University Commencement Speakers
(00:41:30) - Jesus Prays for Sam's Knee
(00:46:06) - Fooled by Nature