The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Catholicism: How to Explain It

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

How do you explain the Catholic faith to someone who asks, "Why are you Catholic?" For many Catholics, the answer isn't a lack of belief—it's not knowing where to begin. Jeff reveals the simple framework the Church has given us through the Catechism to understand, live, and confidently share the beauty of the Catholic faith. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

This podcast is brought to you by Ascension. To discover even more free Catholic podcasts, videos, and resources, to help you live your faith every day, visit ascensionpress.com. Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 489, Catholicism. How to explain it. Hey, welcome to the show this week. I'm Jeff Kavins. And, well, every week we talk about the scriptures. We talk about discipleship. We talk about the church. We talk about current events and how the faith applies to your life in those current events. And today, today, my friend, we're going to talk about one of the most difficult things that people are faced with, and that is how do I

explain the Catholic faith? How do I explain this amazing church? this amazing story to people. And maybe you've had people come up to you and in your life. And they said, you know, I know you're a convert or you were raised in the church and you seem to be very excited about Catholicism. Tell me about it. Well, right away, people kind of pause and think, well, where do I begin, you know? And here's the reason for it. And by the way, before I give you the reason for that, if you do want the show notes, all you got to do is

text my name, Jeff Kavins, one word, Jeff Kavins, to the number 3377. That's 3377. I'll get you to show notes at that point. So why do people have such a hard time with this of explaining the faith? Well, I think it gets down to the fact that there's so much in the church. And a newbie who's coming to faith is face to face with all of this. but nobody gave them a context or a structure in which to understand everything. And so, as Frank Sheed said one time from England, he said that people go through school, you know, grades kindergarten all the way through high school, and at the end they end up with what he calls a pile or a heap of Catholicism. And isn't that true?

That was true with me. But they don't know how to organize it. don't know how to dive in and make sense out of the particulars like the Eucharist, the papacy, Blessed Virgin Mary, saints, sacraments, liturgical year, sin, mortal sin, venial sin, heaven, purgatory, hell, they're not sure how to go about explaining all of it. And the reason is, quite simply, they do not have a context or a structure on which everything finds its home. It finds its place. So that's what I want to talk to you about today.

So let me say this, before I get into this, what I want to share with you about the catechism, same thing with the Bible. People have conversion experience. They go and they buy a new great adventure Bible or they get a Bible from somewhere. And they get all excited about it. and so they start reading through the Bible in January. That's Genesis. February, man, they're into the Exodus now.

March, they quit. Why? Because they're in Leviticus, and they have no idea what's happening anymore. We solve that problem with the Great Adventure Bible by developing the Bible timeline chart and showing people how to read the stories in the Bible in light of the story.

In other words, the big picture. Same thing with the catechism. really is. And so, well, the catechism, what is it? Well, we use these words in the Catholic Church, catechism. And we're really talking about the passing on of the faith. We're talking about presenting all of the faith in a systematic, organic presentation. So the catechism of the Catholic Church really originated. There were other ones, don't get me wrong, there were other ones in history, but the one that you have with you right now originated with a recommendation. And that was a recommendation by Pope John Paul II, who appointed a commission of cardinals and bishops to develop

this compendium of Catholic doctrine, but not just to put it together by topics, but to put it together within a fourfold framework that makes sense out of all of it. So a catechism is a text that contains the fundamental Christian truths that have been formulated in a way that really facilitates understanding, that you will understand it, which leads to that you will live it, that everything you're learning in the Catholic Church is for the purpose of putting it into practice at home, your marriage, your children, at work, your own life, of course, friends down the street, people you meet in the parking lot at Walmart, right? So it is a text that contains the fundamental Christian truths,

and it's really to give us understanding. And there are, there's a number of purposes for this. The catechism serves several important functions. Like, for example, number one, it conveys the essential and fundamental content of the Catholic faith and morals, also morals, in a summary way. Number two, it is a point of reference for national and diocesan catechisms that are being written around the country. In other words, it's the launching point. It is the plum line. And number three, it's a positive, objective, and declarative exposition. of Catholic doctrine. And it's also number four. It's intended to assist all of our catechus,

parents, teachers, priests, bishops, all of them. Right. So who is it intended for? Well, it's intended, number one, of course, for the bishops, the cardinals, the priests, the deacons, people who are in responsible positions to hand on the faith in a teaching form. But John Paul II also said that the catechism is offered to all the faithful who want to understand better the inexhaustible riches of salvation. That's you. That's me. That's all of us, right?

Now, my favorite paragraph in the catechism, and I'm going to get to how it's divided up and how you can explain to someone the Catholic story, but my favorite one, as far as paragraphs go, is the first paragraph. Why you say? Well, it's my favorite because I think it does the best job of summarizing the entire story of salvation history. I really do. I ran into a teacher the other day who teaches the faith at a Catholic school. And one of the things that she did was that she required that every student would memorize the first paragraph. And that sounds like a tall order, doesn't it? But doable and doable it was. Because those kids all learned the first paragraph.

and when a guest would come into the classroom, the students would stand and the teacher would say, share with them. And they would share the faith by doing what? Reciting the first paragraph. Here it is. God infinitely perfect and blessed in himself in a plan of sheer goodness,

freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men scattered and divided by sin into the unity of his family, the church. Now to accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his son as Redeemer and Savior. In his son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, is adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life. Bingo bingo, that's it. That is the story

right there. Now, what I'd like to do, we're going to take a break when I come back. I'm going to show you in a very simple way how to understand all things Catholic. And I got to tell you, you'll understand it. And you can do it. But more than anything, you can can live it. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Someone shows up in your parish because they're being drawn towards the Catholic Church. Maybe they can't quite explain why, but something is pulling them. OCI could be the moment that changes everything for them,

where a quiet curiosity becomes a real encounter with Jesus Christ. But the gap between how OCIA is and how it could be is real. And the catechus leading it need more than a second. schedule. They need vision, tools, and a program that actually forms disciples. Invited, your journey into the Catholic Church is Ascension's new OCIA program. 28 lessons that walk participants through the Catholic faith with theological depth, personal warmth, and a focus on conversion, not just completion. Invited includes a participant guide that meets the seekers exactly where they are. a leader guide with catechus formation built right in.

A trade book with questions and answers many newcomers might be afraid to ask, and a mass companion book to help them participate in the mass actively, both interiorly and exteriorly. Our hope at Ascension is that Invited will help make OCI in your parish what it was always meant to be, a true journey into life with Christ. To learn more, visit ascensionpress.com slash invited. Welcome back. We're talking about Catholicism, how to explain it. In the first half of this

podcast, I have been talking about the catechism as a whole. And I've got to mention to you, again, that Ascension Press has put together the finest catechism. They really have. It is gorgeous. It is well built. And it adds a cost. color code system for you to learn what I'm talking about as well as some additional helps and notes. I say additional, additional to the regular catechism that you see in the stores. Same words, same paragraphs. It's just organized in a beautiful, beautiful way. Make a great gift. People getting married, people coming into the church, people being confirmed, visiting someone at the hospital, a newbie. They want to know more about the faith. This is perfect. So here's how the catechism is

organized and it is in the organization of it that you will find the structure on which to understand everything, everything except one thing that I know of is not in there. Bingo. It's not in there. It doesn't mean you can't play bingo. It doesn't mean you can't take the winnings and give to your favorite charity, but it's not in there. Everything else is. Oh, the fall festival is not in there either. Other than those two things, it's in there. So here's what we do.

We take the complex, which is your view of Catholicism right now, it takes the complex and it makes it simple. In other words, it gives it some structure that will guide you along the way and then place in that structure, the individual. aspects of the faith, like the Eucharist, the papacy, and morals and sin, mortal, venal, all of it. So what the church has done in her genius is divide up everything we know, or that pile of Catholicism that you have, into four pillars. We call them four pillars.

Now, I'm going to give you those four pillars right now, and they'll go back and explain a little bit about it, and this should help out quite a bit. when we take that pile of Catholicism or your entire knowledge of Catholicism that is thrown into, well, you probably have a junk drawer at home, don't you? And that's where everything goes. Well, I don't want to call this a junk drawer, but we'll call it that drawer in your life, where you've thrown all these Catholic things in there. And you know you need to clean it up.

You know you need to straighten it up and find a place for everything. but it just kind of grows, right? So we have four pillars, and these are the pillars. Number one, the creed. It's the largest part of the catechism. Number two, sacraments and liturgy. We'll get to these. Number three, life in Christ, and number four, prayer.

That's it. Those are the four pillars. Now, in each of those are the things that you are confused about. Maybe you understand going to confession, but understanding the background of it, understanding how it fits into the disciples' life, how it fits in the kingdom of God, that's what the structure will help you understand. So let's do this. Number one is the creed. What is the creed? Well, you've recited the creed over and over and over.

And the creed sounds like at first, like we're just simply kind of rattling off all the things. things we believe, but upon closer examination, you will see that the creed is the entire story of salvation history from Genesis to Revelation in a very compact form. You go through the creed and you're following the story of salvation history. Now, a lot of people don't even know that, but just knowing that is very powerful. the creed takes the amazing story of salvation history and it does something very very important. It squishes it. Now, squish is from the Greek word to make smaller. Okay, I'm kidding about that. Do not bring that to your pastor. Okay. But it takes the story and it gives it a very compact form. So the idea behind the first creed is, my friend,

You got to know the story. And I just mentioned about the Great Adventure Bible and the Great Adventure Studies. This is what we're on earth for. This is my purpose in life, is to tell that story, that first pillar, the creed. You see, the second, third and fourth pillars, that's sacraments in liturgy, life in Christ, and prayer, they don't stand alone. They come from the story. They emerge from the story. They spring from the story.

But if you don't understand the sacraments in liturgy and life and Christ and prayer in any context, well, it can be as dry as toast with no butter. And so it's important to know the story. So as you read through the creed, you're going to see the story expanded. And that's the first order for us. In fact, it was Cardinal Ratzinger before he was Pope Benner. he said that understanding these four pillars in their proper order is the key to understanding the Catholic faith. So I would say if you want to understand the Catholic faith or you want to

tell someone and explain it to someone, you have to start with the overarching story. And feel free to take paragraph one right out of the catechism and memorize it, make it your own. and it's your launching point because everything that the catechism covers can be found or at least hinted at in that first paragraph so when i explain the catholic faith to people i always share with them in some way kind of a paraphrase even of that first paragraph right so the story comes first you want to catch young people's attention tell a story You want to bore them, tell them doctrine. Simple as that.

Don't email me. It's the truth. We know it's the truth. Now the second pillar in the catechism is the sacraments in liturgy. By sacraments, we mean the seven sacraments, which are direct encounters with Jesus, and it gives us the opportunity to interface with him the way the early disciples did at the crucial events like baptism and confirmation, a last supper with the Eucharist, right?

So there's seven of them, these sacraments. And then the liturgy, it's our celebration of the greatest thing in the history of the world, and that is the Eucharist, the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. Not a memory, not a pure symbol, but literally the body and blood of Christ coming from bread and wine during Mass in the words of institution. This is my body. See, this is a way for Jesus to continue the story into your life and you're not looking back as a cool story and saying, wow, that was really neat. No, you're entering the story. And that's what the second pillar is all about, sacraments and liturgy. That is you entering the creed. It's you entering the story.

Wow. You get to be a part of it. You're not an observer. You're not in the fans section watching the game. You're not just critiquing an old story. Man, you're in it. You are in the story. Sacraments and liturgy, isn't that beautiful? No, number three is life in Christ. This is traditionally called the moral law, right?

And the Ten Commandments and it's Jesus teaching. So what would life in Christ, the third pillar, mean, in terms of sacraments and liturgy in the creed. Well, if the creed is the story, and sacraments and liturgy is how you get into the story, life in Christ is your script. It's what you live in this story. You're living the life of Christ. I love what Paul says in Galatians 5, Galatians 2, rather.

He says in verse 20 of chapter 2, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who is. lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered himself for me. Man, that's good. I have a life and my life is in Christ. And I am in relationship with him sacramentally and in worship and liturgy. And in the Word of God, creed. I'm in this story. Yay. Now number four, the fourth pillar is. prayer. Now this is interesting because prayer is our communication with Jesus as we live his life

in a sacramentical and liturgical way and we're in his story. And so in his story, there needs to be some conversation here. And so prayer is conversation with God. It's worship, praise. And the fourth pillar uses the Lord's prayer as the structure on which to learn how to pray. In fact, the disciples said, Lord teaches to pray and he said, okay, and he gave us the Lord's prayer. It might be good idea to learn that and live it and pray it and make it a part of our daily life. So those are the four pillars. The creed is the story. Sacraments and liturgy is how we get into it. Life in Christ is our script. What we live in the same. story and prayer is the communication as a church, as a family, but also as individuals.

We have that conversation with God. It comes down to at the end we see that it's not just a matter of learning doctrines and theology. We're not going to win the world just by talking about doctrines and theology. We're going to win the world by inviting them into the greatest story, the greatest plan of sheer goodness. But if you're not excited about it, if you don't know it, and you're not enthusiastically sharing this with people, seriously, what's going to happen to them? What's going to happen to the mission of the Messiah

that's been given to us? And so I cannot encourage you enough to get a catechism. I'll put in the show notes for you and how to get that beautiful Ascension Catechism. If you have a Catechism, yay. If you're writing in it, yay. If you are memorizing parts of it, yay. If you are passing it onto your children, super yay.

But we have to do it. This is our story. This is it. Whoa. So I'm going to put that in the show notes for you. I'd love to hear from you too and see how this is going with you. whether I'm providing enough for you to get started in learning the entire story and then passing it on.

Perhaps in the future we'll do a show on how do you actually talk to someone about it and what do you bring up and so forth. But we have run out of time today. Shall we pray in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? Amen. Lord Jesus, we love you so much. And we thank you, Lord, that you are the Lord of salvation history. You see our plight.

you have come to us with the solution, to give your own life. Lord, we respond in faith. We believe you. We thank you for bringing us into this amazing story. We thank you for giving us a life to live, and that is your life. And, oh, God, we thank you that you created us in such a way that we can talk to you. You are so good, so, so good to me, to all of us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. God bless you.