We review Seventh Son on DVD, Kat has a birthday, and we discuss how to respond to atheists.
Katherine’s Stich Fix referral link.
Movies & TV:
Seventh Son (DVD)
Watership Down (Netflix)
Key & Peele (Hulu)
Books:
Watership Down By Richard Adams
Blogs:
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Find us at catholicinasmalltown.com
Catholic In A Small Town 
Alexander Ngai
/ July 28, 2015I agree with Mac, Jeff Bridges sounds like a bad version of Gandalf! LOL 😉
Jeff Miller
/ July 28, 2015Dear Mac and Katherine,
As for books on atheism I have reviewed several. My absolute favorite is a fairly recent one from Trent Horn of Catholic Answers called “Answering Atheism”. This book is totally non-polemic and goes through a whole bunch of objections. Very well researched and accessible. I have found often that in Catholic books on atheism that they can be somewhat insulting regarding motivations – even otherwise very good books on the subject.
Each month now Catholic Answers has a two hour block where Trent Horn answers questions which is quite exceptional. Mostly he uses the Socratic method in asking questions. As a former atheist though I find it rather embarrassing many of the questions atheists ask and their foundation is almost always “because science”. Maybe embarrassed because that would have been my level.
By the way Mac semi-refrenced a quote “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words” This is often falsely attributed to St. Francis who never said anything like it. There is a truth that it contains, but it is really a both/and in that we must live our faith along with communication that faith. So a pet peeve of mine. Although considering your podcast, you are doing the both/and thing.
While I am pet peeving. I would suggest more context regarding the throwaway comment on the Crusades. In our culture it seems totally forgotten that it was a response to Muslim conquests of the Holy Land and the increasing murder of pilgrims. One thing that gave it priority was the murder of 12,000 pilgrims headed to the Holy land including women and children by Seljuk Turks. Sure the Crusades were complicated where there was certainly evil done by crusaders. But the story of holy men and saints is usually totally disregarded. Historically it was much later that the Crusades became black legends as Protestants used it as a pretext to attack the Church and the myth of the “noble” Salidan took hold. Really where would we be now without the battle of Lepanto which is connected to the Feast of the Holy Rosary? (G.K. Chesterton’s poem on Lepanto is a wonder)
Steve Weidenkopf a scholar on this period of history has a new book called “The Glory of the Crusades” which is outstanding and heavily footnoted. Really in the last decades Crusade scholars have started to paint a totally different picture regarding this period of history from source documents. Thomas F. Madden another scholar also has some good books on the subject and both authors are quite balanced and do not minimize the evil that was done.
Oh and a while ago I was mentioned on the show by Mac, who suspected I wasn’t listening anymore since I had sent in no comments. No it is just that I have been sending complaints directly to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which of course was once called the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition. Another area of history usually misrepresented (but nobody expects that). Still the CDF will likely put your podcast on the Index of Scandalous.
Pet peeving over and as always I do love your show. So God bless to you and your family.
Erin Bias
/ July 31, 2015Hi Mac and Katherine!
About a month ago my sister recommended your podcast to me, and I have been thoroughly enjoying listening to you. I too, am a Catholic from a small town in Minnesota. Now I’m Catholic college student, in a slightly larger town.
I have two recommendations for TV shows that you can watch with your family. Maybe you have already discovered these shows, but I thought I would let you know in case you had not.
“Merlin” by the BBC currently on Netflix. It follows the adventures of the young wizard, Merlin and the future King Arthur. It’s family friendly, has great character development, and the friendship between Merlin and Arthur is fantastic. There is occasional violence and by season 3, you do see the character Morgana turn evil, but in the Arthurian lore, Morgana is the main antagonist. However, Merlin always strives to do what is right, and Arthur grows from selfish prince, into a self-sacrificing king.
“Avatar the Last Airbender” by Nickelodeon, currently on Amazon. It’s an animated show about the Avatar (and no, I do not mean James Cameron’s giant blue people) named Aang and his friends and their quest to save the world. I cannot recommend this show enough. Yes, it’s a kids show, but I seriously think more adults watch this show than kids because the writing is that good. The characters are incredible, the stories are fun and filled with adventure with a lot of great messages about life, and by the third season, the animation is gorgeous to watch.
May God Bless you,
Erin
P.S. My family enjoys Key & Peele as well. We named one of our cats D’Squarious after we watched their East/West College Bowl sketch.
John Marsh
/ August 4, 2015Katherine-regarding Atheism…check out the Peter Kreeft podcast for his talk on the proofs for God. Quick concise, debate style, and entertaining.