In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by my friend Dr. Andrew Swafford to talk about C.S. Lewis' masterpiece The Great Divorce and how this Protestant book creates so many questions and so many conversions to Catholicism with its incredible picture of purgatory.

We talk about the Catholic understanding of purgatory, participation with Christ, suffering, and how C.S. Lewis presents a vision of the afterlife that simply doesn't line up with Protestant theology – and leaves many Protestants asking questions that just can't be answered outside of the ancient faith traditions like Catholicism.

For more from Dr. Swafford check out his book Next Stop: The Afterlife or his other fine books on C.S. Lewis from Ave Maria Press.

Visit the website he has with his wife Sarah have and be sure to listen to their episode of the show 218: How to Have Meaningful Catholic Relationships on your podcast platform of choice.

Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com.

Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.

To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.

Please consider financially supporting this show!

For more information visit the Patreon page. All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.

If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.

Thank you to those already supporting the show!

Theme Music: "Splendor (Intro)" by Former Ruins. Learn more at formerruins.com or listen on Spotify, Apple Music,

A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.

Beyond The Beacon
Join Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Support the show

Find and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:

Instagram: @cordialcatholic
Twitter: @cordialcatholic
YouTube: /thecordialcatholic
Facebook: The Cordial Catholic
TikTok: @cordialcatholic