Brandon Vogt's Blog

As the Vatican kicks off a four-day summit addressing the Church’s sexual abuse crisis, I’ve been asked by many non-Catholic friends, “Why are you still Catholic? How could you remain tied to such a dirty institution?” Those questions are especially pointed given that my latest book was bluntly titled Why I am Catholic (And You Should Be Too).

Since I wrote the book over a year ago, before revelations of then-Cardinal McCarrick and the horrific “summer of shame,” I barely addressed the abuse crisis. It just wasn’t a burning issue at the time. In fact, up until 2018, in surveys asking former Catholics why they left the Church, the sex abuse crisis never appeared among the top three responses in any survey I saw.

But that’s all changed. More recent surveys put the abuse crisis at the top of almost every list. The crisis has dominated the news coverage, both religious and secular, and it’s an issue no Catholic can ignore, especially ones trying to convince others to become Catholic, too.

So when my publisher, Ave Maria Press, told me that after strong sales of the hardcover edition, they wanted to release a paperback version of the book (which you can order here), we both agreed it should feature a new preface that addresses this topic explicitly, especially as it’s now become the number one reason not to become Catholic.

They graciously allowed me to share the full preface below. Enjoy, and be sure to pick up your copy of the new paperback edition of Why I am Catholic!

 

 

Preface from new paperback edition of Why I am Catholic (And You Should Be Too)

 

Recently, while in Rome for some meetings, I had a chance to visit some of the city’s popular plazas and squares with friends and a video camera. Our goal was to interview young people at random and discover what they thought about God, religion, and the Catholic Church.

We asked simple questions like “What is God?”, “Can you name any saints?”, and “What’s the most important thing Jesus ever did?” Most of the answers were confused or disappointing. “I don’t know” was the most common reply. But one question generated lots of responses. We asked young people, “What’s the best and worst thing the Catholic Church has ever done?” Only a few people could think of anything good associated with the Catholic Church. Some gestured to the beautiful artwork and churches that surrounded us in Rome. One young woman acknowledged that the Catholic Church greatly helped the poor (“but a long time ago,” she added, “not so much now”).

Most revealing were the answers to the second part of that question, about the worst thing the Church has ever done. Several people mentioned the Inquisition or the Crusades. However, by far the most common answer was “the sexual abuse of kids.” Nearly everyone mentioned it. Most strikingly, one person reflected for a moment, then said, “It’s tough for me to answer that question because I honestly don’t know which is worse: killing people or raping young kids.”

Between the publication of the first edition of this book in October 2017 and these street interviews a year later, the Church was rocked by new revelations of sexual abuse and cover-up. Many American Catholics thought that after the bombshell abuse revelations in 2002, the worst was behind them. They were wrong.

An avalanche of new scandals tumbled into the news, from the account of a high-ranking Cardinal accused of abusing young men to grand jury reports chronicling decades of abuse against hundreds of victims in one state alone. The stories are harrowing. Even the few I read made me nauseated and enraged, especially as a father of six young children. And though the majority of these cases occurred in the past—mostly during the fifties, sixties, and seventies—it’s clear that many Church leaders still don’t recognize the gravity of these abuses.

Those initial reports have since been followed by near-daily revelations of sexual impropriety at seminaries, bishops shuffling abusive priests between parishes, and Church leaders not only failing to address the problems but also actively participating in them.

Without question, the revelations of the summer of 2018 have established the last few decades as one of the darkest periods in American Church history. And that has caused many Catholics to understandably wonder why they should remain Catholic. How can I remain associated with such a corrupt institution? How can I keep my children in Catholic parishes and schools if the Church seems incapable of protecting them from sexual abuse? These are questions I’ve asked myself.

At the same time, people outside the Church who are considering becoming Catholic must wonder, Why should I become Catholic in light of all this sickening news? Wouldn’t life be easier in some other church or religion? Those are good questions, too.

So, in a book titled Why I Am Catholic, I can’t avoid the elephant in the room, the most obvious reason not to be Catholic: the sexual abuse crisis. In response, I’ve written this preface to answer why I, a Millennial Catholic, young husband and father, remain Catholic despite these horrific cases of abuse and cover-up.

The main answer is that I’m Catholic because of Jesus, not because of the leaders of the Church. As you’ll see in this book, the principal reason to become Catholic is because you’re convinced Catholicism is true and you believe what the Church teaches about faith, morals, and its own identity. I’m convinced Catholicism is true because of Jesus. I believe the Church wasn’t just started by a group of bumbling bureaucrats but by Jesus himself, God in the flesh.

It’s Jesus I’m drawn to, Jesus I’m committed to, and Jesus I trust. It’s true that Catholics are often drawn to the faith by charismatic leaders, warm parish communities, or impressive schools. There’s nothing wrong with those entry points, as long as we remember that our faith is not ultimately rooted in those things and isn’t compromised when they fail.

As a Catholic, my faith is in Jesus Christ, not his followers. When sin and evil swirl through the Church, I keep my eyes fixed on that reliable center, that untainted source of the Church’s authority and attraction: Jesus.

My second answer is that I know that the sexual abuse crisis is not indicative of the entire Church. The percentage of priests and bishops complicit in these crimes is relatively low (smaller, in fact, than in many other religions). The vast majority of priests and bishops are good, holy men who are just as disgusted as the laity about this abuse. Some of my closest friends are priests and they’re among the most selfless, virtuous people I know.

One reason there’s so much outrage over sexually abusive priests is because most people know, intuitively, that priests are supposed to be moral exemplars. I’m convinced most still are, and it’s a reason I remain close to them.

My third and final answer is that I remain Catholic because I want to be part of the solution. The Church is not just an institution but also a family, and when your family faces a crisis, you don’t flee—you stay and help. When we experience evil or terror, our natural reaction is to run. That’s understandable; we’re scared and scandalized.

But for Catholics, the Church is our family and home; and when evil threatens your family or home, you don’t give up and run away. You batten down the hatches. You plant your feet. You resolve, “This is my home, and I will not let evil destroy it.”

Or, to switch metaphors, when a family member has cancer, you don’t just give up on them and leave. You move closer to them. You resolve to stay by their side and help battle the cancer. You give all you can offer.

That’s what the Catholic Church needs now. In times of crisis—and there have been many such crises throughout the Church’s history (and indeed there will be more)—the Church summons new heroes who are committed to holiness and driven to uproot whatever sin and evil have infected the spiritual family.

So, scandals don’t push me away from the Church, just as a relative’s cancer diagnosis doesn’t push me away from her. In both cases, the evil demands a heroic resolve to stay and fight, to be part of the solution, especially on behalf of the victims.

I want to be very clear: these sexual abuse cases are horrific. There’s no downplaying them or justifying them or explaining them away. They’re egregious and scandalizing. But Catholicism doesn’t fall when its members fail. I’m Catholic not because Church leaders are perfect, but because the Church channels to me the love and forgiveness of Jesus in unparalleled ways: his body and blood in the Eucharist, his forgiveness in Confession.

Life may seem easier outside the Church. But these divine treasures are only found within, and they carry Catholics through even the darkest of times.

 

Pickup your copy of the new paperback edition of Why I am Catholic (And You Should Be Too)

The post Why I’m Still Catholic Despite the Sex Abuse Crisis appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

Did Jesus actually rise from the dead? William Lane Craig’s “Reasonable Faith” ministry just released two short videos, each only seven minutes long, that make a short, clear case for the Resurrection of Jesus.

(For a deeper look at this question, read Craig’s book Reasonable Faith or Gary Habermas’ and Michael Licona’s classic text, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus.)

 

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The post Did Jesus Rise From the Dead? (2 Great New Videos You MUST Watch) appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

NOTE: This is Video #5 in my new 5-part series “Why It’s Time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army (and Why You Need to Join)”! Watch the video above or read the transcript below. And sign up to get the rest of the videos at CatholicHogwarts.com!

 

 

Welcome back to this free video series on “Why It’s Time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army (and Why You Need to Join)”!

I’m Brandon Vogt, bestselling author of seven books, including Why I Am Catholic and RETURN.

Now, we’ve covered a ton of stuff in this video series, all these epiphanies and strategies. And I’m sure it’s been super helpful.

But I want you to take a breath right now and think carefully about this next question. Really think about it, because it’s important:

If you followed what I showed you in this video series, and joined a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, which taught you how to masterfully discuss any hot-button issue, and you were able to do all that in just 15 minutes per week, how would that change your life?

Really think about it. What would it be like if you were a confident Catholic, and never afraid to discuss these hard topics?

Can you imagine if you were just as confident as Harry Potter, or his friends, or even Dumbledore when discussing these hard topics? Think about it.

Remember, to do this, you need one important thing: a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, a community of other Catholics who will teach you, coach you, encourage you, and get you up to speed—who will give you the 5% you need and help you master it.

And that’s exactly what happens inside ClaritasU.

“Claritas” is the Latin word for clarity, and that’s what ClaritasU is all about: helping you get clear about the hardest issues you face as a Catholic, so you can discuss them with friends and family with confidence. Whether it’s atheism, same-sex marriage, transgenderism, abortion, science—ClaritasU will get you up to speed, fast.

ClaritasU is the Catholic Dumbledore’s Army we’ve been describing throughout this entire video series. Basically, I wanted something like this for years, but nothing like it really existed—so I created it myself.

It’s now one of the most innovative movements in the Church. Over 4,000 people have signed up, and we’ve built this massive community of Catholics, just like you and me, who are learning the best tips and strategies. It’s become sort of an online Hogwarts, but for Catholics and not wizards.

So if you’re ready to join this new movement, just open a new tab or window and go to ClaritasU.com/potter to sign up now, or just click the button below.

However, this is important: next Thursday, the doors will close. After that, you won’t be able to get in. If you go to that website, you just won’t see a signup button. So now is the time to signup.

Now, in the last video, Video #4, I explained the basic premise of ClaritasU: we move through a series of video courses on each topic, and each course lasts for two months. During those two months, you get one 10-15 minute video lesson per week.

But you’re probably still wondering, “What do you learn in those video lessons?” Well, here’s the key: the video lessons follow the same pattern of mastery that Harry Potter and St. Thomas Aquinas used, the one we learned earlier in this series. Remember that?

So, typically, the first video in each course will give you an overview of the topic, telling you why it’s important, and giving you a big-picture view.

Then you’ll learn the Catholic view on the topic, and how to explain it easily and clearly.

Next, I reveal the best objections to the Catholic view, the ones you’ll hear most often in conversation. This is critical because once you’ve encountered the best objections, you simply won’t be surprised or nervous by them when discussing the topic with friends, because you’ve already mastered the best they can throw at you.

After learning the objections, you’ll then learn the best responses to those objections. I’ll tell you exactly how to answer them, giving you simple, memorable talking points.

Finally, every course includes a book talk video (where I share my favorite books on the topic, in case you want to go further), an expert interview video (where I sit down with one of the best Catholic experts in the world on that issue, so they can give you their best tips and advice), and finally a live Q&A where you can ask me whatever questions you have about the topic (it’s kind of like you and me going out for coffee every couple months so you can pick my brain, ask me questions, and talk through your struggles.)

So you get all that within every course at ClaritasU. Then once you finish the course, you will be a master on the topic. It’s that easy. In two months, you’ll be discussing the topic as if you were Dumbledore.

But then here’s the great part: after those two months end, and we finish whatever topic we’re studying, we then shift to a new course over the next two months, on a new hot-button topic, and repeat the same pattern.

So ClaritasU is an ongoing series of courses, not a one-time thing. This means you’ll be constantly growing. You’ll constantly have cutting-edge skills and advice, and you’ll remain on top of the current issues. You’ll never be behind the curve.

But here’s another big reason ClaritasU works: it’s not just abstract theory. I mean, I could stand behind a podium and give you 20 or 30 hour-long lectures on a given topic, going into all the abstract details.

But that really wouldn’t help you. That would be like a Dolores Umbridge class. Instead, at ClaritasU, you’ll learn real, practical skills that you can use in real conversations—the key 5% of tips and strategies that will actually make a difference for you.

Also, this is really cool: we have a big Community area inside ClaritasU where we practice with one each other, honing our skills and discovering what works and what doesn’t. Just picture Harry, Ron, Hermione, and all their friends in Dumbledore’s Army—that’s what the ClaritasU Community area is like.

So that’s the core of this special offer. When you join ClaritasU today, you become part of this Catholic Dumbledore’s Army. You get a new course every two months, with new lessons each week, and you’ll master all the most difficult topics.

So just open a new tab or window, and go to ClaritasU.com/potter to sign up right now.

Don’t forget though: the doors close next Thursday, so you want to sign up today.

Now as I mentioned, I’ve worked with thousands of students at ClaritasU, so I’ve applied and refined this process over and over—course after course, topic after topic. I can confidently say: it works. And it’s worked for all kinds of people.

There are just so many success stories, but I’ll share just one with you. This is Greg from Madison, Wisconsin—he’s one of our students at ClaritasU and recently posted this update in our Community area.

Greg had just finished our “Answering Atheism” course at ClaritasU. I won’t read the whole comment—you can pause the video and read it if you want—but just noted the highlighted portion.

After explaining how effortlessly he spoke about God to his atheist friends, Greg observed:

I just love that. Isn’t that cool? Again, Greg had just gone through our “Answering Atheism” course at ClaritasU when he found himself hanging out with an atheist friend. They were discussing science, when Greg used one of the arguments for God he learned in the course.

Greg laid out the argument so effortlessly and clearly that his atheist friend had no good counter-arguments! It wasn’t Greg who was tongue-tied; it was his friend! Greg was cool and confident. How awesome is that??

I especially love what Greg says at the end: “Nice to not have to struggle with the thought process—just rolled off the tongue like we were having a beer; fun and not confrontational. How refreshing!”

Imagine feeling like that. Imaging being able to discuss the hardest topics effortlessly, without any struggle, with the words just rolling off your tongue. Imagine it being fun and not confrontational! How relieved and happy would you feel?

Well, that’s exactly what Greg experienced thanks to ClaritasU, thanks to this Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, and that’s exactly what you’ll experience, too.

Again, that’s just one story but we have SO many others from men and women all over the world: young and old, teenagers, young adults, moms, dads, grandparents—even priests, religious, and seminarians!

Here’s what Maggie, another one of our students said:

“Being part of ClaritasU is the greatest thing I have done for myself!”

Awesome, right? “Being part of ClaritasU is the greatest thing I have done for myself.” Just amazing!

Now, I want to be frank: normally, membership to something like ClaritasU would cost at least $67/month. In fact, many online coaching programs and communities charge way more than that—they charge upwards of $150/month to $200/month for personal coaching.

But here’s the thing: if you sign up today, you will not be paying $200/month, or $150/month, or even $67/month. Your cost is only $20/month, which is an enormous bargain for what you’re getting.

Just let me put it into context for you: last year, tuition at the average Catholic university in America was $28,875 per year—that’s almost $30,000.

Yet your price at ClaritasU is only $20/month, which is just 0.8% the cost of a big Catholic college—less than 1%!

So which would you choose: $20/month or $30,000/year?

Plus with ClaritasU, there’s no busy-work or boring lectures. You only get practical advice that you can use immediately in your ordinary, day-to-day conversations.

Also, it’s totally flexible. You can watch the videos wherever you want, whenever you want, on any device! You don’t have to move or travel or commute or show up to class at a particular time, like you do at a college. It’s all about making things easy and convenient for you.

So just go to ClaritasU.com/potter to sign up now and get started.

But remember, one more time: this special offer is only available for the next few days. Next Thursday, I’ll be taking the page down, and you won’t be able to sign up. The doors will close. So now is the time to sign up! Just go to ClaritasU.com/potter to sign up right now.

Well, I want to thank you again for watching this free video series. I hope you enjoyed it. And I hope you’ve seen why it’s critical that you join a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, so I’ll look forward to seeing you inside ClaritasU!

The post Join the Movement [VIDEO #5] appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

NOTE: This is Video #4 in my new 5-part series “Why It’s Time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army (and Why You Need to Join)”! Watch the video above or read the transcript below. And sign up to get the rest of the videos at CatholicHogwarts.com!

 

Welcome back to this free video series on “Why It’s Time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army (and Why You Need to Join)”!

I’m Brandon Vogt, bestselling author of seven books, including Why I Am Catholic and RETURN. I also work for Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.

Let’s quickly recap what we’ve learned so far in this series (and by the way, if you missed any previous videos, just click the videos on this page to go back and watch.)

In Video #1, we learned how Harry Potter saved the entire wizarding world by creating Dumbledore’s Army. It was a brilliant strategy.

In Video #2, we saw why we Catholics are in the same position as Harry and his friends: we’re in a battle, we need practical skills, a leader, a community, all that stuff, but we’re just not getting those things from our parishes and institutions. So we need to learn them ourselves. We need a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army.

Then in Video #3, the last video, we learned how Harry Potter and Thomas Aquinas both followed the same pattern to become masters in their crafts. They learned three things. In Harry’s case, the three things were good spells, the opponent’s curses, and the counter-curses. For Thomas, it was Catholic beliefs, the best objections to those beliefs, and how to answer those objections. Same pattern in both cases.

But all of this raises an obvious question, which we’ll discuss in this video: won’t all this stuff take a long time? Won’t it take a long time to form this Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, and then to learn and practice all these things?

Well, what if I told you could master any hot-button issue and discuss it like Dumbledore, in just 15 minutes per week?

Now, I know that’s a bold claim. Fifteen minutes a week? That sounds crazy, so let me unpack it for you and show you how.

First, let’s go back to my conversion again. In the first video, I explained how after becoming Catholic, I was faced with so many challenges and objections, many of which I just couldn’t answer. I was frustrated and scared.

 

So in response, I spent many hours reading. I easily read 50 books during my conversion period, which meant conservatively, at five hours per book, I spent over 250 hours reading and studying. Two hundred fifty hours! I thought that’s what it took to get up to speed on these issues, to confidently handle the toughest objections and questions.

I followed the same pattern, over and over. I would be confronted with a tough challenge, whether it was atheism, same-sex marriage, abortion, or science, questions I just couldn’t answer without sounding nervous and confused.

Then after I failed to answer, my next move was to absorb as much as I possibly could on the topic—I gorged myself on books, blogs, articles, podcasts, videos, whatever I could find.

You might call it the Cookie Monster Solution—num, num, num, num, num—just shoving everything into my mouth. I wanted to inhale and absorb everything I could.

But as I discovered, and I’m sure you can guess, that strategy didn’t work. There were two major problems with it:

First, it just took a ton of time. In order to get clear and confident about any one issue, I had to read maybe five books per issue, which meant I was spending 25 hours trying to get clear about each subject. And those books were in addition to the other stuff I was absorbing—videos, podcasts, articles, and more. So that’s one big problem—it just took way too much time.

Here’s the second problem, though: it led to information overload. You know what this is like, right? I was taking in so much stuff, and most of it I really didn’t need. But my hope was that, over time, the really valuable stuff would just float to the surface and stick in my mind.

But how many of you have tried that strategy? You know exactly how it works out, right? It doesn’t!

What I came to realize was that 95% of what I was reading was irrelevant, at least when it came to my conversations with friends and family. I just wouldn’t use 95% of that stuff in those discussions.

But that still left me with a problem: how could I identify the 5% I actually needed? How could I separate the 95% of fluff, the 95% I didn’t really need, from the critical 5% that I really needed, the 5% of key facts, tips, and strategies that really made a difference in my real conversations?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying the other 95% is pointless or uninteresting. I’m not saying don’t read books or don’t study.

It’s just that relative to this particular goal—being able to confidently discuss thorny religious and moral questions with your friends and family—most of the information out there just isn’t going to pay off. It’s interesting, but it’s not a good investment of your time.

I’m guessing when it comes to the tough issues of our day—same-sex marriage, transgenderism, faith and science, atheism, the sex-abuse crisis—you desperately want to get up to speed so you know what to say and how to say it, but you also don’t have 25 hours to spend researching every topic, right?

 

You don’t have time to read 50 books on these topics—you just don’t. You’re busy and you have so many other things going on.

 

So what you need is someone who has already done the hard work for you, someone who has absorbed all that information and has determined exactly what you need to succeed, and gives you just that, without any fluff. You need someone who can help you identify the key 5% of ideas, and boil it all down to a few simple things you need to know, in just a few minutes a week.

In other words, think back to Dumbledore’s Army: what you basically need is someone like Harry Potter, someone who is maybe just a few steps ahead of you in this area, someone who has already studied, who has already tried these things out in the trenches to verify what works and what doesn’t, so he can share exactly what you need to know and not waste your time with additional facts and theory.

Well, here’s the good news: for Catholics, this actually exists.

It’s called ClaritasU, and it’s the online movement I founded a couple years ago. After having all these epiphanies about Harry Potter, Thomas Aquinas, the 5% and the 95%, I yearned for something like a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, some community, some movement where I could learn all this stuff, practice it, try it out, and prepare myself for the battles and conversations I was having.

But such a thing didn’t exist. So I did what Harry and his friends did: I created it!

Think of ClaritasU as a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, the thing we’ve been talking about during this whole video series. It’s designed to make you a clear and confident Catholic, and to do it fast.

ClaritasU filters out the 95% to give you the 5% of information and skills that will really make a difference in your conversations, so you can discuss all the hot-button issues with ease, without wasting your time.

Now, at this point, I know you’re probably wondering: “OK, this sounds amazing, but how exactly does it work?” Good question.

Here’s how: we have big community inside ClaritasU, and every two months, we all turn our focus to one hot-button topic. And we learn about that topic through a series of video lessons, which I teach, as well as discussions and role-playing in our community area.

So think of ClaritasU like a series of online courses, each lasting for two months. So for two months we might focus on atheism, then two months on same-sex marriage, then two months on transgenderism, and so on. Make sense?

Now during those two-month periods, you get you one short video lesson per week—that’s it! The video lessons are usually 10-15 minutes long, and that’s the only thing you have to watch during the week. I send it to you via email.

And that’s it. There are no other requirements at ClaritasU. There’s no homework, there’s no additional reading, no additional steps. You just open the email, click play, and spend 10-15 minutes learning the key tips and strategies you need to know that week—the 5% that really matters.

Then by the end of two months, after watching the videos, you’ll be totally prepared to discuss whatever hot-button issue we’re covering.

Now, this has worked over and over, for thousands of students. You’ll be clear and confident, able to talk about the issue with anyone, whether skeptical friends, children, family, or co-workers.

You see, again, here’s what makes it so great: I’ve already done the hard work for you. For each one of these issues, I’ve already read the books. I’ve already spent 25 hours or more on each topic. I’ve already honed these strategies in conversations with real skeptics. I’ve already separated the 5% (the key nuggets you need) from the 95% of stuff you don’t really need in order to confidently discuss these things.

I’ve done all that for you so that you don’t have to, so you can save the time and effort.

Just listen to what Gabriela says. She’s one of our thousands of students at ClaritasU. She’s a high-school theology teacher. It came time for her to teach her high-schoolers about same-sex marriage, and that’s an intimidating topic for many high-school teachers.

I mean just think about: imagine you had to get up, right now, and teach a class full of high-schoolers of same-sex marriage. What would you say? Most of us would be nervous!

But then Gabriela went through my ClaritasU course on same-sex marriage, which quickly gave her the 5% she needed to know, and the exact talking points. She then emailed me to say this: 

Isn’t that awesome?? Within just a few minutes of watching the same-sex marriage course videos, she was able to master the topic and explain it to a room full of high-schoolers, probably the most skeptical audience around!

And it didn’t take her years and years, or hundreds of books and articles; it took her just 15 minutes per week, to watch each video lesson.

Again, if you just stick to the 5% that really matters, you can master ANY hot-button issue and discuss it like Dumbledore, in just 15 minutes per week.

Now, I know you might also be thinking: “OK, I know the three things I need to memorize, and I get the 5% thing. But couldn’t I do all that myself? Couldn’t I find all the information I need on my own, by reading books and blogs, searching online, or listening to podcasts?”

Well, it’s true that you can find a ton of information for free on the Internet, or even by driving down to the library. So you could definitely go that direction. But there are a few reasons why that’s a bad idea.

First, you’ll inevitably get information overload. There’s just so much out there, it’s tough to find the stuff you really need, the stuff that’s really effective in conversation.

I mean, how many times have you looked something up on Google, then you start reading one article, which leads to another, and another, until you’ve read 10 articles and then afterward, you still feel stressed and frustrated because you’re hardly better off than before?

The second problem is time. It just takes too long to sift through all the websites, blogs, articles, podcasts, and books to find what you need. And most of us don’t have that much time, right?

Again, it’s kind of like Hogwarts. Sure, any of the wizarding students could have spent days and days in the library, trying to find the books and spells they needed on their own, but they didn’t have time. The battle was nearing; the clock was ticking. Voldemort was on the move.

What they needed was a leader who could bypass all of that and teach them only the important skills they needed, and fast, without wasting time—and that’s what Harry Potter did for them.

Finally, one more point: this isn’t just about getting information into our heads. If all you needed was information, then sure, you could park yourself in a library for a couple weeks, come out, and you would be the most confident Catholic in the world.

But we know life doesn’t work like that, right? What you also need is practical experience. You need to try out these tactics with friendly partners, you need to ask questions, you need to get feedback from others and improve.

And you just can’t get any of that from a book. I love books, but here’s one big problem with them: the author cannot interact with you. That’s why you need a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, a community of living, breathing friends and coaches who can work with you, grow with you, and offer feedback and encouragement.

Now, at this point, you’re probably eager to learn more about ClaritasU and how you can join thousands of other Catholics inside this Catholic Dumbledore’s Army.

But hang tight, the doors aren’t open just yet. In the next video, which you’ll get in a couple days, I’ll give you all the details on how to sign up, and how it will change your life, as it already has for so many others.

But in the meantime, before we go today, I want you to leave a comment right below this video and tell me this: If you could master ANY hot-button topic, and speak about it like Dumbledore, which topic would you pick?

Tell me: is it atheism? Science? Same-sex marriage? Transgenderism? The abuse crisis? What is it? I want to know, so tell me in the comment box.

Again, I’m going to read every single comment here, and I’ll respond to as many as I can.

Also, please share this link on Facebook, Twitter, or by emailing it to your friends and fellow parishioners. I want to draw as many Catholics as possible into this movement.

Finally, be sure to pop your email below so you get Video #5, the final video, as soon as it goes live in a couple days.

This is super important, because when I activate Video #5, and the doors open to ClaritasU, lots of people are going to rush in and I don’t want you get squeezed out.

Again, thanks so much for watching this video, and I’ll see you in Video #5, in just a couple days!

 

The post How 15 Minutes Can Change Your Life [VIDEO #4] appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

NOTE: This is Video #3 in my new 5-part series “Why It’s Time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army (and Why You Need to Join)”! Watch the video above or read the transcript below. And sign up to get the rest of the videos at CatholicHogwarts.com!

 

Welcome back to this free video series on “Why It’s Time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army (and Why You Need to Join)”!

Again, I’m Brandon Vogt, bestselling author of seven books, including Why I Am Catholic and RETURN. I also work for Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.

Let’s quickly recap what we learned in the first couple videos (and by the way, if you missed any previous videos, just click the videos on this page to go back and watch.)

In Video #1, we learned how Harry Potter saved Hogwarts and the entire wizarding world. Remember that? He created Dumbledore’s Army, this rag-tag group of students of taught themselves the practical skills they weren’t getting from their teachers.

Then in Video #2, the last video, we learned five reasons why we Catholics should imitate this plan, why we need a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army since we find ourselves in the same situation.

But here’s a question you’re probably wondering: what exactly are we supposed to do in this Catholic Dumbledore’s Army? What are we supposed to learn and practice?

Great questions! Now, Harry Potter and his friends spent most of their time learning spells and potions they used to fight Voldemort. But obviously, we’re not witches and wizards. We don’t need spells and potions. So what do we need to learn in order to face our big challenges, as Catholics?

Well, to answer that, let me take you back to my own conversion to Catholicism. Remember, I was in college when I became Catholic, and I was a new convert trying to figure things out.

Every new topic I discovered, from the Eucharist, to Mary, to the saints, to the priesthood was like opening a new door to a huge new room, lined with even more doors! There was just so much to explore.

But even after converting, there were still tons of questions and challenges I just wasn’t ready for. For example, my friends would confront me with something like, “You know the Catholic Church doesn’t like gay people, right?” or “You know Catholicism doesn’t respect women?” or “Why do you need God when science explains everything?”

To be honest, I just didn’t know what to say to most of those challenges. I was tongue-tied.

But I wanted to get better. So I started reading books. I read and read and read. In fact, I read at least 50 Catholic books around the time of my conversion. I read apologetics books by Scott Hahn and Peter Kreeft, I read spiritual books by the great saints, I read theology and philosophy books, I just absorbed as much I could.

On top of that, I spent hours and hours reading articles on Catholic websites and blogs and interacting in the comment boxes. I would ask questions, throw out objections, bounce ideas off other Catholics, and just read, read, read as much as possible.

But here’s the thing: I quickly became overwhelmed. I was taking in so much information, and I was hardly remembering any of it.

You know what that’s like, right? I’m sure you do. You read a good book and feel so strong and encouraged, but then a few days later, when you try to talk about the book out loud with someone, when you try to articulate what you read, you mumble out some confused words and realize hardly any of the ideas stuck in your mind! You know what that’s like?

Well, that’s exactly what happened to me. I was reading so much but very little of it was actually taking root. So I knew something had to change.

And that’s when I had my next big epiphany. It came while reading St. Thomas Aquinas.

Now, discovering Aquinas was a game-changer for me, in all sorts of ways. He just totally changed my life. I can’t remember how I first came across Aquinas. I think I kept seeing his name popping up in the books I was reading.

But in any case, I did what many people do when they first learn about Aquinas and want to study him: I found his most famous book, which is his Summa Theologiae.

Now it’s not an easy book to read. It’s very dense and heavy, especially if you come to it with no background in philosophy or theology, which I didn’t have. It’s also just a very long book: in the most popular edition, the Summa spans five books and over 3,000 pages

So when I first opened the Summa, I barely understood any of it. However, a huge light bulb still went off in my head. I wasn’t so much struck by what Aquinas was saying in the Summa—that came much later, once I began to actually understand it. My big epiphany had to do with his style—that’s what initially hit me.

The Summa is basically a collection of short articles—there’s around 3,000 articles—and each article wrestles with one difficult question. So it’s kind of like a massive Q&A with 3,000 questions, or if you’re a familiar with Reddit, a very long #AMA (Ask My Anything.) No question is off limits for St. Thomas.

Every article in the Summa follows the same format. Aquinas begins each article by posing a controversial question—such as “Does God exist?” or “Was the soul made before the body?”

Then, Thomas immediately lists out a few of the best objections to his own position. In fact, he usually phrases the objections so well, that he states them more forcefully than his opponents do. In other words, he understands the objections even better than the people who actually believe the objections!

Then, after listing the objections, he briefly explains and defends his own view, the Catholic view, which stands against all the objections.

Finally, he comes back to the objections themselves and carefully refutes them, one after another.

So that’s the rhythm. Thomas follows that style over and over, one question after another, for all 3,000 pages of the Summa—first the question, then the objections, then his view, then a response to the objections.

Now as I said, even before I understood much of the Summa, this format gave me an epiphany. I realized that in order to become a strong Catholic like Thomas Aquinas, or to switch back to our Harry Potter analogy, in order to become a strong member of Dumbledore’s Army, I just needed to follow that pattern.

In order to be confident and clear about the hardest questions, I really I didn’t need to read dozens and dozens of books or spend hundreds of hours reading articles and listening to podcasts.

All I really needed to know were those three things: First, the Catholic view of each topic. Second, the best objections to the Catholic view. And third, how to answer those top objections.

That’s it! That’s the secret. That’s what made Thomas Aquinas so effective and his Summa Theologiae one of the most powerful and enduring Catholic books in history.

Again, to be a strong and confident Catholic, someone who is no longer afraid to discuss your faith with friends and family, you only need to memorize three things: the Catholic view on each issue, the top objections to the Catholic view, and how to respond to those objections. That’s it! Those are the only three things.

Once you’re clear about those three things—what you believe, the best objections to those beliefs, and how to answer those objections—you’re equipped and confident. Then you’re ready for the battle.

Then you can walk into almost any situation, whether a conversation with your children, or a challenge from friends or co-workers, and know that you won’t be nervous, you won’t be afraid, and you won’t be tongue-tied. You’ll be confident, because you’re totally clear about what to say and how to act.

Again, this is the same pattern Harry Potter’s friends learned through Dumbledore’s Army. Harry helped his friends get confident by teaching them three things: first, the most important good spells; second, the most important bad spells, or curses, that the other side would try against them; and third, how to defeat or counter those curses. That’s it!

This is what gave Harry Potter and his friends so much confidence when they faced Voldemort and his dark wizards. The students had already practiced countering many of the dark spells in their Dumbledore’s Army sessions, so they knew what to expect when facing actual dark wizards.

So that’s the pattern. Learn those three things, and you’re ready for the battle. You’ll be confident and powerful.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: “OK, that’s great, but I’m just not smart enough to learn all that. I mean, I’m no Pope Benedict or Scott Hahn. I’m just a simple, faithful Catholic.” But here’s the thing: one of the biggest myths about becoming a confident Catholic is that it’s tied directly to your intelligence or IQ. But it’s not; that’s a lie.

In fact, some of the most effective Catholics I’ve ever met are just normal people. They don’t have advanced degrees. They haven’t read hundreds of books. They don’t have extraordinary IQs. But what they do have is mastery of a few simple principles, and they have clarity about those three things—what they believe, the best objections, and how to respond.

So don’t think you need to be a world-class genius. If you can memorize just a few key ideas and tactics, which virtually everyone can do, you can master this stuff.

Here’s another thing you might be thinking: “Hey, I like this Harry Potter/Thomas Aquinas strategy, but the problem is my memory is so bad. I forget most of what I read or learn.”

Now, I get that. It’s a common objection. But know this: the main reason we forget most of what we learn is that we take in too much information. It’s like drinking from a firehose. The information is just gushing into our heads and it’s tough to retain any of it.

But when you stop trying to remember 100 facts or insights or strategies, and instead break them down to the three most important things you need to remember, it suddenly becomes easy.

Think about Harry Potter again. The students in Dumbledore’s Army didn’t try to memorize every single spell in the entire Hogwarts library. They mastered a few key spells, a few key counters, and that’s all the needed.

Again, remember, to be a strong Catholic, there are only three things you need to memorize for each issue: what you believe, the best objections to those beliefs, and how to answer those objections.

Here’s one more question you might be wondering: “That sounds great, but won’t it take a long time to learn this stuff?”

I mean think about all the issues you wish you could master, as a Catholic: atheism, same-sex marriage, transgenderism, abortion, the Bible, the Eucharist, and more. Won’t it take a long time to learn all three things for each topic—what you believe, the best objections, and how to respond? Won’t it take hours and hours of study, memorization, and practice?

Well, I’m happy to tell you no, it won’t take that long. In fact, it’s possible to learn all this stuff in just 15 minutes per week. And that’s exactly what you’ll discover in the next video, Video #4. So stay tuned for that in a few days.

But in the meantime, before we go today, I want you to leave a comment right below this video and tell me this: How would your life be different if you were 100% confident about all these hot-button issues?

Picture it. Describe it for me. Tell me how you would interact with friends or family differently if you were 100% confident about those three things—your beliefs, the best objections, and how to respond to those objections.

Now again, I’m going to read every single comment here, and I’ll respond to as many as I can.

Also, please do me a favor: after you leave your comment, please share this link on Facebook, Twitter, or even by emailing this URL to your friends. Just click one of the share buttons below or copy-and-paste the URL up top.

Send this video to fellow parishioners, parents, your priest! I’m so excited about this Catholic Dumbledore’s Army movement, and I want to draw in as many Catholics as possible.

Finally, one more thing, be sure to click the big button on this page that says, “Send me Video #4” and pop in your name and email. That way, I’ll email you as soon as Video #4 is live in a couple days.

Again, thanks so much for watching this video series, and I’ll see you in a couple days in the next video, Video #4!

The post From Harry Potter to Thomas Aquinas [VIDEO #3] appeared first on Brandon Vogt.



NOTE: This is Video #2 in my new 5-part series “Why It’s Time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army (and Why You Need to Join)”! Watch the video above or read the transcript below. And sign up to get the rest of the videos at CatholicHogwarts.com!

 

Welcome back to this free video series on “Why It’s Time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army (and Why You Need to Join)”!

Again, I’m Brandon Vogt, bestselling author of seven books, including Why I Am Catholic and RETURN. I also work for Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, and I was recently honored by FOCUS, the Catholic campus ministry network, as one of the Top 30 Catholics Under 30…although I’m 32 now, so I feel like I’m kind of aging out of the young adult world. Ha!

Anyways, in the last video, Video #1, we learned the backstory on how Harry Potter saved Hogwarts and the entire wizarding world. Remember that? His solution was to create Dumbledore’s Army, a special training group where all his friends could learn practical skills for fighting in the battle to save the world.

But why should this matter for Catholics? Why should Catholics follow this strategy today?

Those are good questions, and here’s where I had another epiphany.

I realized this: we Catholics today are basically in the same situation as Harry and his friends.

To show you that, let me give you five specific connections between us and Harry’s group of friends. Sound good? OK.

First, we’re in a battle. Now, we talked about this a little in Video #1. Obviously, this was true for Harry and his friends—they were in a battle. The evil Lord Voldemort was back, and Voldemort wanted to kill Harry and rule the wizarding world.

But this is also true for us Catholics, and we can’t be naive about it. If you doubt me, if you don’t think we’re in a battle, just take a simple look around the culture. Our faith is being attacked on nearly every front.

Now, I don’t mean a physical battle. Obviously, in general, people aren’t threatening to burn down our churches or physically harm us. But we’re in a very serious spiritual battle; real souls are hanging in the balance.

You know, last year I emailed all of my email subscribers—that’s roughly 70,000 people–and I asked them, “What’s the #1 thing you struggle with as a Catholic?” I didn’t provide multiple choice options, because I wanted people to answer from their heart, to tell me in their own words what they most struggled with.

Thousands of people replied, and you know what the most common answer was? It was some version of, “I feel so nervous as a Catholic. I’m afraid. I’m scared. I feel squeezed in by the culture. I feel so much pressure from friends and family about what I believe as a Catholic, because I know my views are less and less popular.”

Specifically, they mentioned hot-button issues like sexuality, abortion, contraception, marriage, transgenderism, and more. In all those cases, they said, we Catholics are just out of step with the mainstream culture. They said, we’re terrified whenever we find ourselves in conversations about those things, because we have no idea what to say or how to act.

Does that sound familiar to you? Do you ever get nervous when these things come up?

Now, I was also struck by the emails I got from parents, who told me they had no idea how to talk about these difficult issues with their children, whether young children, teenagers, or young adults. Dozens of parents said their college kids came home from school, announced they were an atheist or they no longer attended Mass, and the parents just didn’t know what to say.

Has that ever happened to you? Has it happened to other parents you know? Can you think of someone in your parish whose children were raised in the Church, but have since drifted away? I’m guessing you can think of many examples.

We all struggle with these issues. So like Harry Potter and his friends, we know we’re in a battle. You know this: if you’re Catholic, your views are increasingly unpopular and are increasingly coming under attack. In fact, I’m pretty sure you’ve already experienced this. You’ve already noticed how unpopular your views are, right?

So we must face that fact: we’re in a battle. We can’t be like Dolores Umbridge—remember the last video—and pretend that everything is just fine, and that the Catholic Church is doing just great, and that there are no serious threats. That’s just not true. We are in a battle.

But here’s the second connection to Harry Potter: our professors are not training us on the skills we need.

Now, I touched on this in Video #1. Most Catholics just aren’t getting much help on these issues from their parishes and schools.

It was the same with Harry Potter and his friends. Their “Defense Against the Dark Arts” class, taught by Dolores Umbridge, was a complete joke. It gave them zero help for the impending battle against Voldemort.

And the same is true for most of us Catholics. Think about it: when was the last time you heard a priest or parish leader teach you how to handle conversations about atheism or same-sex marriage? When did they offer a course on transgenderism? When did they teach you how to explain why you can trust the Gospels, or why they’re reliable? If you’re like most Catholics, the answer is “never.”

So that’s another connection to Harry Potter: our professors are not training us on the skills we need.

Here’s the third connection: we need more than just information. Remember that with Harry and his friends, Dolores Umbridge basically made them sit and read from textbooks the entire class, every day.

Now that can be somewhat helpful. You’ll get some useful information from your textbooks. But textbooks won’t teach you the practical skills you need in the real world.

The same is true for us Catholics. Most of us went through religious education, or RCIA, or we’ve joined some sort of Bible Study or small group study. Or maybe we read Catholic books, or we often visit Catholics blogs or listen to podcasts.

All of that is good. But it’s one thing to consume a lot of information; it’s a totally different thing to apply it, to put it in action, to use it in the real world. That requires a whole different set of skills.

Harry Potter and his friends just weren’t getting that in their class, and Catholics today aren’t getting it from our parishes and schools.

Which bring us to the fourth connection: we need a guide.

Dolores Umbridge couldn’t give the students at Hogwarts what they needed, so they looked somewhere else: they looked to Harry Potter.

Now, this is important: Harry was not an all-star wizard at this point. He wasn’t on the level of, say, Dumbledore, his great hero and mentor. But he was just a couple steps ahead of the rest of his friends, and he did have a bunch of practical experience that they lacked, since Harry had personally battled Voldemort a few times in the previous books.

Again, this is important: the students didn’t just try to learn these practical skills on their own, without guidance. They turned to someone who was just a couple steps ahead of them, who could teach them, who had the skills they needed and who had honed those strategies in the real world.

We Catholics need the same thing. We need a guide.

If we want to learn how to be clear and confident in our beliefs, to discuss them with ease, we need someone to guide us and show us the way–someone like Harry Potter.

And that brings us to the fifth and final connection between us and Harry Potter’s friends: we need community.

Notice how Harry and his friends banded together to create Dumbledore’s Army. They didn’t go at it alone. They created this secret, underground group and helped each other learn these skills.

Now, this was critical because when they came together, they realized they each had strengths to offer each other. For example, Nevil Longbottom was clumsy with spells, but he was brilliant with herbology. So when all these students came together, they helped each other tremendously.

Also, during their secret gatherings for Dumbledore’s Army, they split off into pairs to practice the techniques they learned from Harry. I just love this.

Remember that Dolores Umbridge had the students sitting at their individual desks, reading textbooks all day—each student all by themselves. She kept them isolated, like many of Catholics are today.

But in Dumbledore’s Army, they not only joined a community of other wizards, but they got to practice—they got to try things out, to see what works and what doesn’t, and to learn from their mistakes. This is the power of joining a movement, of joining with other people. You’ll do far more in community than on your own.

So I hope you can see why Dumbledore’s Army is such a helpful model for us Catholics. To put it simply, we need a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army today.

If you aren’t part of something like a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, then I’m telling you: your faith will get battered, it will wither, and it will be drained of energy.

The battle over the coming years will just be too fierce. You’ll be weak without it. So you need to join a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army.

Now, I know you’re probably thinking: “Hey, I already go to Mass and I’m active in my parish, so why do I need a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army?” Right?

Well, here’s the problem: going to Mass or participating in parish activities just isn’t enough—and it won’t be enough for the challenges coming down the road.

After all, most of us already do this. We already attend Mass and we’re active in parish life.

Nevertheless, we still see our children, family, and friends drifting away from the Church in record numbers. Nevertheless, when our faith is questioned, we still feel unprepared to talk about tough issues. We still get tongue-tied precisely because our parishes haven’t taught us these skills.

So to put it simply: going to Mass, or participating in your parish, is good and necessary, but it just isn’t enough.

This objection is kind of like Harry Potter’s friends saying, “Well, I go to class and I’ve read a few textbooks, so I’m pretty much good to go—I’m ready to face Voldemort!” Well, no way. That’s just not enough. If you want to actually succeed in battle, you need to master real, practical skills, not just learn the bare minimum.

So that’s why it’s time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, a community where you can learn the practical skills you need to become a confident Catholic, ready to discuss any topic, with friends, family, and coworkers.

It’s the only way your faith will flourish against the challenges you’ll face from the culture over the coming years.

But where do you find something like this, a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, and how do we join? I’m going to share that later in the series, but in the next video, Video #3, I’m going to share how reading Harry Potter alongside St. Thomas Aquinas led to a another big epiphany.

This is key to the whole Catholic Dumbledore’s Army idea, so you don’t want to miss it. That video will go live in a couple days.

But before we go today, I want you to do something: I want you to leave a comment right below this video and tell me this: Who do you know who has left the Catholic Church, and why do you think they left?

Tell me, do you have children who drifted away? Parents? Relatives? Friends? Do you have co-workers who were raised in the Church, but no longer identify as Catholic? Tell us in the comments, and also tell us why you think they left, just your best guess.

I’m going to read every single comment here, and I’ll respond to as many as I can.

Also, do me a favor: after you leave your comment, please share this link on Facebook, Twitter, or even by emailing this URL to your friends. Just click one of the share buttons or copy-and-paste the URL up top.

Send this video to fellow parishioners and parents—and send it your priest! We’re building a movement here and I want to draw in as many Catholics as possible.

Finally, this is super important: after you leave your comment, and share this page, just click the big button on this page that says, “Send me Video #3” and pop in your name and email.

That way, I’ll email you as soon as Video #3 is live in a couple days. It will save you the worry of having to check back repeatedly for the next video.

So those are your three tasks for right now. They’ll take less than 30 seconds. First, leave a comment; second, share this video; and third, click the big button that says “Send Me Video #3” and pop in your email address. That’s it!

Again, thanks so much for watching this video, and I’ll see you in a couple days in the next video, Video #3!

The post 5 Reasons to Copy Harry Potter’s Strategy [VIDEO #2] appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

NOTE: This is Video #1 in my new 5-part series “Why It’s Time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army (and Why You Need to Join)”! Watch the video above or read the transcript below. And sign up to get the rest of the videos at CatholicHogwarts.com!

 

 

Welcome to this free new video series on “Why It’s Time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army (and Why You Need to Join)”!

I’m Brandon Vogt, bestselling author of seven books, including Why I Am Catholic (And You Should Be Too) and RETURN: How to Draw Your Child Back to the Church.

I also work for Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and run several websites and initiatives including StrangeNotions.com and ChurchFathers.org.

But here’s something not everyone knows: I’m also a convert to Catholicism. I was not raised Catholic. I was raised Protestant and converted to Catholicism as a senior in college, about 10 years ago. I won’t go into the whole story now—you can find the whole thing on YouTube, when I appeared on EWTN’s The Journey Home show.

But I wanted to share something here that I usually don’t tell people: as a new Catholic, after I converted, I was scared. Not just nervous, but scared.

What was I scared of? Well, I was scared of the questions and criticisms I would receive when people discovered I had become Catholic.

Just think about it: I converted to Catholicism in college, the same time when so many young people leave the Catholic Church. So as most of my friends were leaving religion, I was joining. I was swimming upstream.

Therefore, I knew I would face all sorts of questions from friends and family: “How could you become Catholic?” “Don’t you know what the Church teaches about X, Y, or Z?” “Don’t you know the Church abuses young children, or hates gay people?” “How could you possibly believe this or that?”

And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. My atheist friends started laying into me, suggesting that Catholicism was dumb and anti-science. My Protestant friends began grilling me about the Eucharist, Mary, and the saints. My secular friends asked me all sorts of uncomfortable questions about abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage, and the sex abuse crisis.

And I just wasn’t prepared for any of that. I didn’t know how to answer those challenges. When I went through R.C.I.A., to become Catholic, we hardly discussed any of those hot-button issues. So whenever they came up in conversation, I was scared—I would get nervous and afraid.

I had only one strategy, and that was to hope the conversation would turn away from that topic, in a new direction.

However, fast-forward ten years, and now I’m super confident and excited to discuss my faith.

So how did that mega-change happen? How did I go from a scared and nervous Catholic to someone excited to talk about any Catholic topic, even the hardest religious and moral questions?

Well, it started with an epiphany, And that’s what I want to share with you in this video. The epiphany came while I was reading one of my favorite books, Harry Potter, and it was a flash of insight that changed my whole life.

Now, before getting to the epiphany, let me just say this about the Harry Potter series. I love these books. I’ve read the whole series three times, and just marvel at the Christian symbolism, in which it’s drenched from beginning to end.

To understand its Christian meaning, read the writings of John Granger, an Eastern Orthodox scholar, or for a Catholic perspective read Nancy Brown’s great book or Haley Stewart’s blog posts.

Now, I know Harry Potter makes some Catholics nervous. They think it encourages witchcraft or leads to the occult. Apparently, an exorcist at the Vatican even warned parents to stay away from it (though it’s not clear whether he actually even read the book.)

Now, perhaps the books have led to bad outcomes in a few isolated cases, but any book can be abused. I’m convinced Lord of the Rings has led more people into pagan dark arts than Harry Potter, but we would never think of banning Lord of the Rings.

Virtually all Christians I know who have read Harry Potter have fallen more in love with the virtues and, indirectly, with the life of God.

Now, we can talk about the merits of Harry Potter some other time, but that’s not the point of this video series. It’s not essential that you like the books or have even read them.

I’m just using Harry Potter here to make a point, as a literary analogy, because that’s how I had this epiphany. So if you see someone critiquing this video series, saying, “How dare he promote Harry Potter!” you can just smile and know they never even watched this video to hear the caveats.

OK, so let’s move on. Anyways, my epiphany came while I was reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is the fifth book in the series.

Basically, at this point in the story, Harry Potter is a young wizard who attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, along with several young wizarding friends. Their beloved headmaster, the wise and generous Albus Dumbledore, was recently removed from the school (unjustly), and his evil replacement, Dolores Umbridge, is pretty much the worst teacher you could imagine. She’s cruel, she’s abusive, she’s condescending, she’s priggish—she’s just awful.

Now, in normal times, the students could probably stomach a bad teacher. We’ve all had bad teachers, and we just live with it. But here’s the problem: these are not normal times. Harry and his friends learn they are under serious threat. Lord Voldemort, the most evil and dangerous dark wizard, has returned to power, and his vicious followers are gathering around him. Their goal is to overtake the wizarding world—and destroy anyone who resists.

Harry and his young friends sense the danger immediately. But few of the professors do. Dolores Umbridge, the new headmistress, could hardly care less. She denies Voldemort is even alive, much less preparing an attack on Hogwarts. Whenever Harry suggests Voldemort has returned to power, she punishes Harry, gives him detention, and even tortures him.

The worst part, though, is that besides being headmistress of the school, Dolores Umbridge also takes over teaching the class on “Defense Against the Dark Arts,” which is the one class designed to actually teach the students valuable, practical skills to defend themselves in battle, the one class that might actually help them defend the school against Voldemort and his followers.

But get this: instead of teaching the students real-world tips and strategies, instead of giving them time to practice these skills, Dolores Umbridge forces them to just read their textbooks during every class, from beginning to end, in order to memorize abstract theory.

In fact, during the first class, she specifically tells them to put their wands away because they won’t be needing them at any point during the entire year.

Now, that’s crazy, right? It would be like you taking a basketball class, and during the first session, the coach telling everyone to put their basketballs away because they won’t be needing them during the year, because every class will be devoted just to reading books about basketball. It’s ludicrous.

And Harry and his friends agree. They’re so frustrated they aren’t learning the skills they need, so they know they have a choice. Either we can just go along with Dolores Umbridge, learn nothing, and be totally unprepared to face Lord Voldemort and his followers, or we can do something about it ourselves.

So they choose to act. They create a secret, underground community, which they call Dumbledore’s Army, named after their beloved headmaster. They set up secret meetings where they gather in hidden rooms to learn new spells and techniques, and then they split up into pairs so they can practice the new skills on each other.

Harry Potter is part of the group himself, but since he’s a couple steps ahead of the other students, he also emerges as the leader of Dumbledore’s Army, and coaches them through all the new spells and strategies. Since he has actual experience battling Voldemort, in the previous books, Harry is able to share real-world, proven advice with his friends—stuff that actually works and isn’t just abstract theory.

Harry encourages his friends with this thought: “Every great wizard in history has started out as nothing more than what we are now: students. If they can do it, why not us?”

In the end, the impact of this Dumbledore’s Army is incredible—even world-changing. I don’t want to spoil the books if you haven’t read them, but it becomes clear that Dumbledore’s Army—this rag-tag bunch of students who taught themselves practical skills they were not learning from their institutions—this Dumbledore’s Army was the main reason why Hogwarts and the entire wizarding world were saved from Lord Voldemort.

Now again, as I’m reading all this in Harry Potter, I had an epiphany: this is just like the Catholic Church today.

Like the students at Hogwarts, we Catholics are under serious threat. There are dark forces, growing stronger every day, aiming to crush your faith. They want to eviscerate it.

You know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t you? Think of all the TV shows and movies that depict religious people as stupid and backward and try to make you feel embarrassed about being religious. Think of the news stories and columns that scorn the Catholic Church. Think of the schools and colleges that undermine the faith of our young people. Think of the insidious sexual abuse crisis.

Consider the record number of people leaving the Church. Did you know that 50% of Millennial Catholics have left the Church? Or that for everyone person who joins the Church, 6.45 people leave?

We’re just hemorrhaging people. This is like the worst war zone, with maximum casualties. It’s like the Battle for Hogwarts in Harry Potter.

But to make matters worse, we’re in the same position as Harry and his friends: we’re getting little help from our parishes and institutions in this battle. Now just to be clear: I’m not bashing parishes and institutions. I love them and they do amazing things. If nothing else, our parishes offer us the sacraments, which are the most important gifts we have for strengthening our spiritual life.

However, when it comes to real, practical skills for discussing and defending our faith in the real world, most parishes just don’t offer much. They don’t teach us how to dialogue with our atheist friends or family members. They don’t coach us through leading our children or loved ones back to the Church after they’ve drifted away. They don’t show us how to talk effectively about tough issues like same-sex marriage, transgenderism, or abortion.

The problem is that many of our institutions operate like Dolores Umbridge. They mostly focus on abstract teachings and don’t offer us real-world, practical strategies for navigating these issues. And they don’t give us a place to practice these conversation techniques, to get better and more effective.

So that’s what led to my epiphany: it’s time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army. I’ll say that again: it’s time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army.

If we’re not learning this stuff from our parishes and institutions, we need to do what Harry and his friends did: we need to learn it ourselves. Otherwise we’ll lose the battle. Otherwise our faith will shrivel under the mounting pressure around us. Otherwise our young people will continue leaving the Church.

So like Harry and his friends, we basically have two choices. Choice number one is to follow the Dolores Umbridge plan, and just do nothing. However, that guarantees we’ll be weak and powerless in the battle. We’ll fail.

Choice number two is to follow the Harry Potter strategy and build and join a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army. Only then will we be prepared.

Now, as I thought about this epiphany, it led to a few other major insights which dramatically changed the way I approach my faith. And that’s what I want to teach you in the rest of this video series.

So, in Video #2, the next video, you’ll learn why we Catholics should copy Harry’s brilliant strategy for saving Hogwarts. This is key.

Then in Video #3, I’ll share an important discover I made while reading Harry Potter alongside St. Thomas Aquinas: a common pattern that both Harry Potter and St. Thomas Aquinas followed to become masters. This pattern will make your faith life so much easier.

In Video #4, we’ll tie things together. You’ll learn how to discuss hot-button issues as smoothly and effectively as Dumbledore, without being nervous or afraid—and the best part is that you can learn this skill in just 15 minutes per week.

Finally, in Video #5, you’ll learn what to do next, how to put all this stuff into practice and how you can join this new movement, this Catholic Dumbledore’s Army, which thousands of Catholics have already signed up for.

So, does that all sound good? Does that sound helpful to you? Great! If so, then be sure you catch Video #2, which will go live in a few days.

But before we go, I want you to leave a comment right below this video and tell me this: as a Catholic, what issue are you most afraid to discuss?

Maybe it’s atheism, abortion, same-sex marriage, or transgenderism. Perhaps is the sex-abuse crisis, contraception, or just why you’re Catholic in general. But tell me this: what are you most afraid people will ask you about? What hot-button question makes you most nervous and tongue-tied?

Leave your comment below this video. I’m going to read every single comment here, and I’ll respond to as many as I can.

Also, do me a favor: share this link on Facebook, Twitter, or even email this URL to your friends. I want to draw as many Catholics as possible into this movement.

And then be sure to pop in your email below so you don’t miss Video #2. That way, I can email you the next video right when it goes live in a few days. That’s it!

Again, thanks so much for watching this first video, and I’ll see you in Video #2, which you’ll get in just a few days!

The post Why it’s Time for a Catholic Dumbledore’s Army (and Why You Need to Join) appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

For the past month, our Word on Fire production team was in Rome with Bishop Barron for the big Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment. (I joined them there this past week.)

It was an amazing experience. We produced nearly 40 videos during that span, a testament to our phenomenal production team (shoutout to Manny Marquez, our tireless videographer!). You can watch all the videos at WordFromRome.com.

Throughout the month, we tried to provide three things. First, daily video updates and commentaries from Bishop Barron, giving followers a behind-the-scenes peek at the Synod proceedings. It was something no other bishop was doing, so it was unique and fun.

Second, Fr. Steve Grunow (CEO of Word on Fire) and Joseph Gloor (our Producer) visited nearly a dozen churches and holy sites around Rome, taking viewers on a virtual pilgrimage throughout the Synod. At each church, they sat down for a conversation about that church’s spiritual significance and the lessons it offers in regards to young people and the faith. The whole series is beautiful and profound, and we’ll be doing more with it in the coming months at Word on Fire, so stay tuned.

But the third series was probably my favorite: we hit the streets around Rome to interview random young people about God, religion, and the Church. We talked to people from all over the world, from at least 20 different countries, encouraging them to speak candidly so we could listen to them and better understand their beliefs.

Their responses were both discouraging and illuminating.

They were discouraging because they affirmed how profoundly we’ve failed at spreading the basic truths of Christianity. Most young people had, at best, a third-grade understanding of God and faith. Most of their answers were muddled and incoherent, and I say that with little judgement against them; the fault lies almost certainly with their parents, pastors, and teachers, who totally failed to pass on the faith.

Yet the conversations were also illuminating, because they revealed where we should focus our evangelistic energies: on the very basics. It was clear few of these people had ever been evangelized, much less catechized. They had never heard the kerygma, the basic Good News of Christianity. They couldn’t articulate what we mean by God, or anything the Church has done besides facilitate the abuse of young children.

They weren’t ardent anti-Catholics; they were mostly just apatheists, people who just don’t care about God or Catholicism.

Going into these interviews, we at Word on Fire had studied all the major surveys about young people and faith. So we knew the number one reason why they don’t practice any religion: they “no longer believe.” They doubt God exists, or they reject the Church, or they disagree with her moral or religious teachings. Whatever the case, they just no longer believe—they’re not buying what Christianity has to offer.

But these interviews taught us that when they say they don’t believe in God or the Church, they’re often rejecting a caricature. When they’re ambivalent about Jesus, it’s often because they were led to see him as just another nice, wise man who helped poor people, an interesting figure but not someone who upends your life or compels you to follow him.

In fact, as I sat next to Bishop Barron, watching one of these street interview videos, he said to me, “You know, for many of these young people, following Jesus makes as much sense as giving your life to Gandalf. It’s just non-sensical. For them, Jesus and Gandalf are basically the same: mythical figures who may be interesting, but have absolutely no relevance to the real world.”

I was especially struck by one respondent, whom we asked, “What’s the best and worst thing about the Catholic Church?” Shockingly, he couldn’t think of a single answer to either part of that question (he didn’t even mention the sex abuse crisis as an example of a bad thing.) Catholicism just wasn’t even on his radar. It’s not that he was anti-Catholic or had any resistance to the Church. He was just completely ignorant and ambivalent.

It would be like someone from the Church of Scientology approaching you on the street, and asking you to identify the best and worst thing about Scientology. You’d probably struggle to think of anything, and that’s because you basically never think of Scientology. For many young people, the Catholic Church is in the same category—it’s totally irrelevant.

Whether you’re a parent, pastor, youth minister, teacher, catechist, or anyone who cares about the faith of young people, take a little time and digest these five street interviews. Get a sense of what young people are actually thinking today. Share these videos with your priest; discuss them with your small group or friends. Ponder them. And then decide how you’re going to help reverse this terrible slide.

The answers here may be sobering, but as with any troubling diagnosis, they can also galvanize us, redoubling our commitment to this desperate work of evangelization.

  

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The post What Young People REALLY Think About God and the Church appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

Leila Miller and Trent Horn are two of my favorite people. They’re both smart, joyful, winsome, and faithful. Leila is a Catholic blogger and mother of eight children, and Trent is a staff apologist at Catholic Answers, where he writes books and engages skeptics on the radio.

Together they’ve written a new book titled Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today’s Tough Moral Issues, which was just published by Catholic Answers.

I’ve not only read and enjoyed it, but I ordered an entire case of books to pass out to friends and family. It’s that good.

(You can get a case of the books for just $5 per copy!)

Each chapter focuses on a different hot-button issue:

Sex outside of marriage
Same-sex marriage
Divorce
Contraception
Abortion
Reproductive technologies (e.g., in vitro fertilization)
Modesty
Pornography
Transgender Identity
Homosexuality

And each chapter follows the same structure: first, a clear and succinct overview of what the Church teaches on that issue, then advice on how to discuss it with small children (pre-pubescent), then advice for discussing it with older children and teens.

What I love is the book isn’t just theory. It’s rooted in Leila’s own experience discussing these topics with her eight kids, and Trent’s experience dialoguing with young people for years, on college campuses, at debates, and on the radio. It’s packed with practical advice and useful analogies for conversation.

Earlier today, Leila and Trent joined me for a LIVE Q&A on Facebook where we talked about the book and took questions from viewers. Click below to watch!

  

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The post [VIDEO] How to Discuss Hard Moral Questions with Kids: Interview with Leila Miller and Trent Horn appeared first on Brandon Vogt.

Today, Catholics are celebrating the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when at the end of her life she was assumed body and soul into Heaven.

Which makes it the perfect time to share this fun discussion I had with Julian Ahlquist, founding faculty member of Chesterton Academy, about Mary Poppins and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Julian makes a strong case that Mary Poppins represents the Mother of God, and one of his reasons is because both Marys experience an assumption (see the end of the Mary Poppins film.)

Julian and I walked through the entire Mary Poppins narrative, noting other Catholic connections, including Bert as St. Joseph and “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” as an unavoidably religious invocation.

Here are some of the connections we discuss:

8 reasons why Mary Poppins represents the Blessed Virgin Mary
Bert represents St. Joseph
George Banks embodies materialism
Winifred Banks embodies wayward feminism
Jane and Michael represents Marian visionaries
Wind represents the Holy Spirit
Bert’s chalk drawing as a religious icon
“Spoonful of Sugar” represents the acceptance of grace
“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” as an invocation of Mary’s salvific role
Uncle Albert as a Charismatic Catholic
Admiral Boom as a Traditionalist Catholic
“Feed the Birds” pointing to Mary Poppins as church
The main Christ-figure in the film
Mary Poppins’ final assumption

Enjoy the interview!

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