Crash Course Catholicism
A summary of the teachings of the Catholic Church, given to you in short, easy-to-digest episodes, uploaded fortnightly. --- www.caitlinwest.com
Episodes
Happy New Year, friends! Welcome to the first episode on our next deep dive into the Social Doctrine of the Catholic church! This is an incredibly rich and important area of Catholic teaching that helps us to understand how human beings should function in societies. It covers topics such as human rights, the rights of workers, the responsibilities of employers, governments, and individuals, and the conditions necessary for human fl...
What do we know about the life of St Nicholas of Myra? What is his relationship with the modern-day Santa Claus? Should Catholics tell their children that Santa exists?
PLEASE NOTE: This entire episode is one giant spoiler about the existence of Santa Claus. If you have small children who have not yet been disillusioned, you might want to listen to this one when they're not in the room.
This podcast relies 100% on the genero...
Cardinal St John Henry Newman is a Catholic saint who lived in the nineteenth century and was canonised in 2019. In November 2025, he was officially declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIV. This is a title held by only 38 saints in the entire history of the church, and it is given to those whose writings are of benefit to the whole church.
John Henry Newman was an Anglican priest and Oxford academic who converted to Catholi...
FINAL EPISODE OF THE DEEP DIVE LET'S GOOOO
In this episode, we consider common moral problems that people encounter when they read the Bible. Why does the God of the Old Testament seem so angry and cruel, while Jesus seems merciful and loving? Why does God give such harsh punishments to people in the Old Testament? Does the Bible condone things like slavery and genocide? What about all those people who do terr...
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What should we do about all those apparent historical and scientific inaccuracies in the Bible? Like Genesis telling us the world was made in seven days, or that there was a flood that covered the whole earth, or that Jonah survived in the belly of a whale for three days?
And what about contradictions within the Bible? Why do some of the Gospel writers recount events differently? Do these discrepancies undermin...
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How did the Church decide which books to include in the Bible? Why are Catholic Bibles bigger than Protestant Bibles? Should we read the Old Testament? How do I read the Bible?
In this episode, we continue our deep dive into the Bible by addressing common questions about the Bible.
This podcast relies 100% on the generosity of listeners. If you have found these episodes helpful and would like to support...
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In this episode, we conclude our overview of the Bible by looking at the 7 catholic epistles, and the book of Revelation.
The aim of these episodes is to provide us with a bird's-eye view of the whole Bible, to help equip us to begin reading it, or to read it more deeply.
In this episode, we'll look at the following books:
- Hebrews
- James
- 1 and 2 Peter
- 1, 2, and 3 John
- Jude
- Revelation
This podcast re...
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GUYS IT'S OUR 100TH EPISODE!!!
In this episode, we continue our overview of the Bible by looking at the 13 Pauline Epistles. We consider when each letter was written and why, and what its key aims and themes are.
The aim of these episodes is to provide us with a bird's-eye view of the whole Bible, to help equip us to begin reading it, or to read it more deeply.
In this episode, we'll look at the foll...
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In this episode, we continue our overview of the Bible by looking at the first five books of the New Testament: The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. We consider who wrote each book, when it was written, and what its key aims and themes are.
The aim of these episodes is to provide us with a bird's-eye view of the whole Bible, to help equip us to begin reading it, or to read it more deeply.
In this epis...
In this episode, we take a brief intermission from our Bible deep dive to chat with Tim Hutchinson, a convert from Protestantism to Catholicism. Tim grew up in a vibrant Evangelical Christian community where he learned to love God and the Bible deeply. But one question kept troubling him: why are Protestant denominations so divided? Surely the Church Jesus founded wasn’t meant to be so fractured. For years, h...
In this episode, we continue our overview of the books of the Old Testament. We discuss the Wisdom books and the Prophetic books, and consider what each book is about, who wrote it, when it was written, and what its key themes are.
The aim of these episodes is to provide us with a bird's-eye view of the whole Bible, to help equip us to begin reading it, or to read it more deeply.
In this episode, we'l...
Welcome to the books of the Bible!
In these next few episodes, we'll go through all 73 (!!) books of the Bible - both the Old Testament and the New Testament. We'll briefly summarise each book, and discuss what it's about, what its key themes are, and where it sits in the Bible and the broader narrative of salvation history.
The aim of these episodes is to provide us with a bird's-eye view of t...
What is the Bible, really, and how do we read it? How can we say that the Bible is both the Word of God and the work of human authors? What should we do when we come across a tricky passage that we don't know how to interpret?
Welcome to our next deep dive! In these next few episodes, we'll unpack some of the most common questions about the Bible, and lay a foundation for how to approach it as Catholi...
To wrap up our deep dive into the existence of God, in this episode we take a look at the life of St Augustine.
St. Augustine is a doctor of the church, and one of the greatest saints in the history of Christianity. But before his conversion, he spent his youth struggling with sin, heresy, vanity, and lust. He was the product of a culture that celebrated male sexual exploits as a sign of status and masculinit...
"The fact that people's religion tends to align with the culture and country that they grew up in shows that religion is just a cultural construct"
"There are so many hypocritical people who have used religion to abuse others, to start wars, or to seek power. These people undermine the validity of religion."
"We no longer need God; science explains everything we need to know."
&...
"Atheists don't need to substantiate their position; the burden of proof lies with the theist because they're the one making a positive claim to belief."
"God is just something people turn to for comfort."
"Atheists just believe in one god fewer than Christians do."
"There is no evidence for the existence of God."
"If God is good and He loves me, then why is He so difficult to find?&...
In this episode, we continue our deep dive into the question: How do we know God exists?
Today we will give an overview of various popular arguments for the existence of God, including the Kalam Cosmological Argument, the fine tuning of the universe, William Paley’s Watchmaker Argument, the argument from aesthetic experience, and Pascal’s wager.
Contact the podcast: crashcourseca...
In this short, bonus episode, we discuss what a papal conclave looks like. How does voting work? How many votes are needed for someone to be elected pope? Why is the process so secretive?
The information in this episode comes from "Universi Dominici Gregis", an apostolic constitution which outlines the prescriptions for papal elections. The full document can be found here.
In this episode, we continue our deep dive into the question: How do we know God exists?
Today we will wrap up our discussion of St. Thomas Aquinas's Five Ways by analysing the Fourth Way (the argument from gradation/degree) and the Fifth Way (the argument from order).
Aquinas' Five Ways are among the most famous arguments for the existence of God, and they have been hugely influential in the history of the Philosophy of Re...
Welcome to our deep-dive into the question: How do we know God exists?
In this series, we return to the topic of God's existence, which we covered aaall the way back in Episode 2 (!!), and we break it open to explore it more deeply.
In this episode, we look at St. Thomas Aquinas's first three 'ways', or arguments for God's existence. These are among the most famous arguments for the existence of God, and they hav...
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