WOF 022: The Both/And of Catholicism

As Bishop Barron shows in his new book, Vibrant Paradoxes, Catholicism is both/and, not either/or. It celebrates the union of contraries—grace and nature, faith and reason, Scripture and tradition, body and soul—in a way that the full energy of each opposing element remains in place. In this episode, Bishop Barron explores several examples of this both/and embrace. A listener asks about the difficult passage in Acts 5 involving Ananias and Sapphira.

Topics Discussed

0:22 – Exciting upcoming events for Bishop Barron
2:04 – What does it mean to say Catholicism is “both/and”
5:29 – G.K. Chesterton on red, white, and the Church’s healthy hatred of pink
7:42 – Why Catholics “want it all”
8:38 – The extreme demands of sin and mercy
11:25 – Why reason and faith are no mutually exclusive
15:58 – Faith/reason in the realm of science
17:59 – Bruce Jenner and the dichotomy of matter and spirit
21:59 – How discipline leads to real freedom
25:53 – The path from suffering to joy
27:59 – Question from listener: how can we reconcile the loving, non-violent Jesus with the angry God who kills Ananias and Sapphira?