Discussion Group

DISCUSSION & DISCIPLESHIP

Why does the Church believe that? How can I explain this to others? 

Sometimes, we have difficulty understanding Catholic teaching and even greater difficulty in explaining it to others.

Discussion & Discipleship is a collaborative group where participants come together to examine controversial issues of politics, culture, science, law, theology, and philosophy, all from the Catholic perspective.

General Format ~ 

Before each meeting, participants will be presented with a hot topic and an official Church document on the topic. Then, during each meeting, participants will take part in a moderated, two-part discussion on the topic and reading material, and ways to explain the Catholic perspective to others.

Meeting Details ~ 

Meetings are typically held on the last Friday evening of every month.

Please contact [email protected] for location and reading materials. RSVP required. 

Previous Topics ~

• In vitro fertilization (IVF) – discussion materials found here.

• Gender ideology – discussion materials found here and here.

• Collaboration between the sexes – discussion materials found here. 

• Assisted suicide – discussion materials found here and here.

• End-of-life decision-making – discussion materials found here and here.

• Death penalty – discussion materials found here and here. 

• Human freedom – discussion materials found here.

• Laudato Si’: Technology – discussion materials found here. 

• Laudato Si’: Value of labor – discussion materials found here. 

• Desire for God – discussion materials found here. 

• Laudato Si’: Integral Ecology – discussion materials found here. 

• Civic engagement – discussion materials found here. 

• Church-State relationship – discussion materials found here. 

• Dignity and economics – discussion materials found here.

• Peace and war – discussion materials found here. 

• Contraception – discussion materials found here. 

• Sex abuse crisis: lay response – discussion materials found here. 

• #MeToo movement and Catholicism – discussion materials found here. 

• Loneliness and alienation – discussion materials found here and here. 

• Moral conscience – discussion materials found here. 

• Excommunication and the Eucharist – discussion materials found here and here.

• Immigration – discussion materials found here and here. 

• Racism – discussion materials found here and here. 

• Homosexuality – discussion materials found here and here.

• Evangelization – discussion materials found here.

• Role of women – discussion materials found here and here. 

• Male-only ordination – discussion materials found here.

• Natural law – discussion materials found here.

• Violating the confessional seal – discussion materials found here.

• Healing the Church: the sex abuse crisis – discussion materials found here.

• Marijuana legalization – discussion materials found here and here.

• Church response to COVID-19 – discussion materials found here.

• Hope during uncertainty – discussion materials found here.

• Religious freedom – discussion materials found here.

• Catholic identity – discussion materials found here and here.

• Heaven, hell, and purgatory – discussion materials found here.

• Catholic voting principles – discussion materials found here.

• Authority of Church teaching – discussion materials found here and here.

• COVID-19 vaccines – discussion materials found here.

• Social justice – discussion materials found here and here.

• Catholic school system – discussion materials found here.

• Gun control – discussion materials found here and here.

• Civil disobedience – discussion materials found here and here.

• Finding a Godly spouse – discussion materials found here.

• Holiness – discussion materials found here.

• Religious accommodations to vaccine mandates – discussion materials found here and here.

• Catholicism in corporate America – discussion materials found here and here.

• Restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass – discussion materials found here and here.

• Obedience and unjust laws – discussion materials found here and here.

• Nuclear weapons – discussion materials found here and here.

• Transgender ideology and the youth – discussion materials found here.

• Abortion and the Dobbs decision (Part 1) – discussion materials found here and here.

• Abortion and the Dobbs decision (Part 2) – discussion materials found here.

• The Church and slavery – discussion materials found here and here.

• Building community – discussion materials found here and here.

• Respect for the truth – discussion materials found here.

• Spiritual warfare – discussion materials found here and here.

• Boycotts and morality – discussion materials found here and here.

• Brain death – discussion materials found here and here.

• Social media and Catholicism – discussion materials found here and here.

• Pride month and the Catholic response – discussion materials found here and here.

• The problem of evil and human suffering – discussion materials found here and here.

• Sin, crime, and the Church – discussion materials found here and here.

• The Synod on Synodality – discussion materials found here.

• Blessings for same-sex couples – discussion materials found here.

• The Catholic Church and Zionism – discussion materials found here.

• Embryo adoption – discussion materials found here and here.

• Spiritual trauma – discussion materials found here.

• The Cross and Catholic dating – discussion materials found here and here.

• A roadmap for Catholic dating – discussion materials found here, here, and here.

• Voting for pro-abortion candidates – discussion materials found here and here.

• Examining Christopher Columbus – discussion materials found here.

• Abortion and medical necessity – discussion materials found here, here, and here.