Episode 2: Pastor Weed

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Sean O'Brien talks to Pastor Brian Weed of Calvary Chapel in Philadelphia about Calvary's mission, his interpretation of the Bible and the Bible's place in the modern world, and some of the toughest logical questions facing Christians today.

Episode I - The Mission, and Deacon Dan

Greetings and salutations, all.

My name is Matt. On behalf of my friend, co-host, and theological mind/Mario Party fiend Sean, we'd like to present to you the first episode of the Religiosity podcast.

We discuss our goals at the beginning of this first episode, but to summarize: the intent of this podcast is to learn how people of various faiths came to the doctrine they believe in, and why they continue to believe today.

Sean and I were both raised Catholic; our levels of belief have both changed in different ways over the years, but "hopefully skeptic" is probably the best way to describe us. Though there will obviously be some conflicts between us and our guests from time to time, the tone of our discussions is not antagonistic. We're looking for just that: a discussion, an exchange of ideas.

That said, we're also jackasses, so expect some dumb jokes. It happens.

If you're heavily invested in your religion of choice (i.e. if you're a minister, a Rabbi, an Imam, or somehow active in your particular religious community or equivalent), we would love to talk with you. E-mail us at religiositypodcast@gmail.com and we'll set something up.

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Our first guest is our friend Deacon Dan, a deacon and seminarian at St. Charles in Philadelphia. We talked to Dan for over an hour about his Catholic background and how he came back to his childhood dream of becoming a priest after drifting away for some time. Play the episode above or click here to download.

Unfortunately, as we get the technical side of things worked out (read: we're Luddites), we had a couple segments of the show that had to be cut because they were unlistenable. In fairness to Dan and to ourselves, a quick recap of what we cut:

-At 22:15, we discussed how serious the Eucharist is in the Catholic faith and how the level of piety surrounding it has changed - how most non-Catholics err on the side of not taking communion. We also began to discuss how a major difference between venial and mortal sin is the intent to turn away from God, which is how we began talking more in-depth about sin at 22:20.

-At 40:18, Dan mentioned that he did not feel the Church had been "attacked" during the priest sex abuse scandal. He said he believed the actions were reprehensible, but also reiterated that the clergy are "human too," and not infallible. We also began to discuss the public role of the Church and what it can provide that secular communities cannot, which segued into proselytizing at 40:20.

-At 58:34, Dan claimed the difference between magic and Holy Communion is that free will remains during the eucharistic transformation, whereas magic turns individuals into "puppets." He also mentioned a story about a piece of eucharistic bread bleeding at a "black mass," and recounted instances of people dropping or leaving pieces of eucharist on the ground during mass. Sean and I expressed more bewilderment at the second one of those.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed the show. If you have any thoughts, feedback, questions, or snide remarks, please don't hesitate to send them our way. Unless it's really mean. Then, keep it to your damn self.