The Catholic faith is meant to lead us somewhere — to union with God and eternal life. What Catholics Believe — and Why explores the great truths of the faith with that destination in mind. Through book studies, Scripture, the Catechism, encyclicals and timely topics, we go beyond the surface to understand what the Church teaches, why it teaches it, and how it all fits together. Our first series is based on Frank Sheed’s classic book, Theology and Sanity.
Welcome!
If God needed nothing, why did He create anything at all?
In Episode 10 of Theology and Sanity, Frank explores the sheer freedom of creation. God wasn’t lonely or incomplete. He made us because His goodness could be shared. And creation isn’t only an event in the distant past. Everything that exists, including you, is held in existence by God at this very moment.
“For our sakes He made us for His sake.” (Frank Sheed)
Episode 10 of 32 in the Theology and Sanity series.
Is there a moms group in your parish? If not, you could start one up! Moms praying, talking, sharing, and supporting each other can make all the difference in parish life.
Visit https://catholicmomsgroup.com/ to learn how to start or lead a Catholic moms group in your parish. It’s easy and fun!
#Catholic #CatholicMoms #TheologyAndSanity
23 Oct 2026
Chapter 9 - Theology and Sanity
Welcome!
Why do we call the Father “Creator” and the Spirit “Sanctifier” if all three act together?
In Episode 9 of Theology and Sanity, Frank returns to the Gospels to hear how Jesus spoke of the Father and the Spirit. All three Persons act together in everything God does. But the Church sometimes links a work with one Person to help us notice something true about Him. Familiar Gospel passages take on new depth.
“God is one, but it is not the oneness of infinite solitude.” (Frank Sheed)
Episode 9 of 32 in the Theology and Sanity series.
Is there a moms group in your parish? If not, you could start one up! Moms praying, talking, sharing, and supporting each other can make all the difference in parish life.
Visit https://catholicmomsgroup.com/ to learn how to start or lead a Catholic moms group in your parish. It’s easy and fun!
#Catholic #CatholicMoms #TheologyAndSanity
21 Oct 2026
Chapter 8 - Theology and Sanity
Welcome!
Does understanding the Trinity mean solving it completely?
In Episode 8 Frank takes on harder questions, like whether the Father is somehow greater than the Son or the Spirit. His answer is clear: all three possess the same infinite knowledge and love. New questions will keep arising, and that isn’t failure. It’s what happens when a finite mind meets the infinite life of God.
“But the light is the light, however darkness may hem it in.” (Frank Sheed)
Episode 8 of 32 in the Theology and Sanity series.
Is there a moms group in your parish? If not, you could start one up! Moms praying, talking, sharing, and supporting each other can make all the difference in parish life.
Visit https://catholicmomsgroup.com/ to learn how to start or lead a Catholic moms group in your parish. It’s easy and fun!
#Catholic #CatholicMoms #TheologyAndSanity
20 Oct 2026
Chapter 7 - Theology and Sanity
If each Person of the Trinity is fully God, what makes them distinct?
In Episode 7 of Frank Sheed’s Theology and Sanity, Frank looks at the names Scripture gives us: Father, Son, Word and Spirit. The Son is the Father’s perfect knowledge of Himself. The Holy Spirit proceeds by way of love. The Persons are distinct but never separate, and each is wholly and equally the one true God.
“The Father has nothing that He has not given to the Son.” (Frank Sheed)
Episode 7 of 32 in the Theology and Sanity series.
Is there a moms group in your parish? If not, maybe you should start one up? Moms praying, talking, sharing, and supporting each other can make all the difference in parish life.
Visit https://catholicmomsgroup.com/ to learn how to start or lead a Catholic moms group in your parish. It’s easy and fun!
#Catholic #CatholicMoms #TheologyAndSanity
20 Oct 2026
Chapter 6 - Theology and Sanity
How can God be three and one at the same time?
“Three Persons in one Nature” can sound like a formula, or even like bad arithmetic. In Episode 6 of Frank Sheed’s Theology and Sanity, Frank shows that the contradiction disappears once we understand the difference between nature (what we are) and person (who we are). The mystery remains, but now we can begin to understand what the Church is actually saying about the Trinity.
“It is the surest mark of love to want to be known.” (Frank Sheed)
Episode 6 of 32 in the Theology and Sanity series.
Is there a moms group in your parish? If not, maybe you should start one up? Moms praying, talking, sharing, and supporting each other can make all the difference in parish life.
Visit https://catholicmomsgroup.com/ to learn how to start or lead a Catholic moms group in your parish. It’s easy and fun!
#Catholic #CatholicMoms #TheologyAndSanity
20 Oct 2026
God Tells Man - Ch 5 - Theology and Sanity
How can we know what God is like on the inside?
Reason can take us only so far. In Episode 5 of Frank Sheed’s Theology and Sanity, the direction changes: God comes to us in Jesus Christ. Through a real human life of hunger, friendship, joy and sorrow, the infinite God becomes someone we can know. And Jesus begins to reveal what no one could have guessed: the inner life of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
“He gives us more light upon God by being than by saying.” (Frank Sheed)
Episode 5 of 32 in the Theology and Sanity series.
Is there a moms group in your parish? If not, maybe you should start one up? Moms praying, talking, sharing, and supporting each other can make all the difference in parish life.
Visit https://catholicmomsgroup.com/ to learn how to start or lead a Catholic moms group in your parish. It’s easy and fun!
#Catholic #CatholicMoms #TheologyAndSanity
20 Oct 2026
The Mind Works on Infinity - Ch 4 - Theology and Sanity
If God is infinite, where was He before the universe began?
In Episode 4 of Frank Sheed’s Theology and Sanity, Frank uses that innocent question to explore how God relates to space and time. Both are part of creation, and God is beyond them. But a God beyond space and time isn’t distant. He is present to everything He holds in existence, at every moment.
“God’s knowing is not distinct from Himself. God and His knowledge are one.” (Frank Sheed)
Episode 4 of 32 in the Theology and Sanity series.
Is there a moms group in your parish? If not, maybe you should start one up? Moms praying, talking, sharing, and supporting each other can make all the difference in parish life.
Visit https://catholicmomsgroup.com/ to learn how to start or lead a Catholic moms group in your parish. It’s easy and fun!
#Catholic #CatholicMoms #TheologyAndSanity
23 Sept 2026
God, He Who Is - Ch 3 - Theology and Sanity
What if God isn’t just the greatest being in the universe — but the reason anything exists at all?
In Chapter 3 Frank takes us beyond the familiar picture of God as a powerful being somewhere “up there.”
Everything in our world depends on something else for its existence. But God is different. He does not receive existence. He is existence.
That is why God’s name — “I AM” — tells us something extraordinary about who He is.
This episode explores what it means to say that God is eternal, why creation depends on Him at every moment, and how understanding who God is can transform the way we see everything else.
Interested in leading or joining a Catholic Moms Group?
You are invited! (https://catholicmomsgroup.com/)
20 Sept 2026
Examination of Intellect - Ch 2 - Theology and Sanity
In Chapter 2, Frank examines four obstacles to developing a Catholic intellect: our reluctance to think deeply, our constant distractions, our dependence on imagination, and our struggle with mysteries. He asks... why do we confuse what we cannot imagine with what we cannot conceive?
Frank challenges us to stretch our minds beyond the familiar — because the mysteries of God aren't walls that stop us. They're invitations to go deeper.
Interested in leading or joining a Catholic Moms group?
You are invited! (https://catholicmomsgroup.com/)
19 Sept 2026
Religion and the Mind - Ch 1 - Theology and Sanity
What if loving God isn’t enough — if we barely understand the God we say we love? Frank Sheed begins Theology and Sanity with a striking distinction: the will loves and chooses, while the intellect sees and understands. We are saved by what we love, but Frank argues we can never reach our fullest love of God with only a minimal knowledge of Him.
Episode 1 asks what it means to develop a truly Catholic mind — one that learns to see the world as it really is... God-bathed.
Interested in leading or joining a Catholic Moms group?
You are invited! (https://catholicmomsgroup.com/)
19 Sept 2026
Introduction - Theology and Sanity
In this introduction to the series Theology and Sanity, we meet Frank Sheed’s remarkable way of looking at the Catholic faith — not as abstract theology, but as a guide to understanding God, ourselves, the world we live in, and the destiny we were created for... all as one seamless reality.
This 32-episode series will connect the pieces — God, creation, the soul, Christ, grace, the Church and heaven — into one coherent vision of the Catholic faith.
Interested in leading or joining a Catholic Moms group?
You are invited! (https://catholicmomsgroup.com/)
Contact What Catholics Believe--and Why
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of What Catholics Believe--and Why?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
