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The Isabel Brown Show
Gen Z Is Becoming Catholic: Why Young Americans Are Flocking to the Church (With Matt Fradd)
00:44:48
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- [00:00]
Isabelle Brown
More than New Year's resolutions this year, I'm seeing people make a new kind of list, their ins and outs for 2026. There's a whole lot of stuff we know is culturally out and some really good stuff that's culturally in. But perhaps most shocking of all is the biggest in for Gen Z in America, Catholicism, apparently, which Gen Z now subscribes to more than any other kind of Christianity. What this means for the future of American culture. Young people are so deeply attracted to the Catholic Church and how we can continue as a generation to make this the focal point of our culture today. On the Isabelle Brown show, The Catholics are having a moment, people. And I know we've had a lot of big moments over the last couple 2,000 years or so, but there's a unique big moment happening for young Catholics right now in the United States of America. While I was struggling on my deathbed over the holidays and still somewhat recovering, as you guys can tell from my voice, I spent a lot of time scrolling through social media, not to create, but to consume, which was nice. It was a little change of pace for the first time in a long time.
- [01:25]
Matt Fradd
And.
- [01:26]
Isabelle Brown
And one of the most common stories that I was seeing pop up on my ex repeatedly, over and over and over again is that for the first time in American history, Generation Z is breaking records as the first American generation to have more Catholic Christians than Protestant Christians. And there's a lot of mixed reviews about exactly what this means for the future of the church in America, but certainly is a seismic shift historically and a first when it comes to American history. There has been a huge revival of Christianity across the spectrum for Generation Z for the last year or so, more than anyone could have ever predicted. Way outside of denominational differences, we're talking mass baptisms on our college campuses. Record Bible sales. Bible sales are up 21% this last year from the last several years in American history before that. You're watching young people start listening to religious podcasts more than anything else that we consume. Father Mike's Bible in a Year podcast is approaching its fifth anniversary in just a couple of weeks and is nearing 1 billion podcast downloads. If you look at the app charts. The number one app on the App Store every couple weeks right now is Hallow. Our friends over at Hallow, the world's largest Christian prayer app, where people like Chris Pratt and Gwen Stefani are leading devotionals and prayer series and going through different books of the Bible to break down scripture, there is a very interesting cultural moment happening with Christianity for Generation Z. Right now. But within that, there's this deep interest, curiosity, longing for and now identity in traditional Christianity, particularly the tradition with a capital T found in the Catholic Church. There is only one man in the Daily Wire ecosystem that I know we have to ask about that, and that is our friend Matt Fradd, the host of Pints With Aquinas, who is joining forces with the Daily Wire and having the new re relaunch of his show on Monday in just a couple days, January 12th. I am psyched for that, but more than anything, just psyched to get Matt's take on all of this as one of the leading Catholic creator voices in the world through his show, Pints With Aquinas, a dear, dear friend and an amazing man filled with so much wisdom from the Holy Spirit. So to break it all down for us today, please join me in welcoming in our friend Matt Frad to the show. Matt Frad, happy, happy Thursday and welcome back to the Isabelle Brown Show. It has been way too long since I've seen you. I have to say, before I even let you talk your video the other day, touring the Christmas decorations at our Daily Wire headquarters office, I was crying, laughing. You have captured the humor of our Daily Wire family so, so beautifully. And I have so many people pull me aside and tell me everywhere I go all over the world how excited they are that we have a pretty big new acquisition of Pints with Aquinas here at Daily Wire. So congratulations, my friend. We're going to talk about that in just a little bit, but I'm so happy to see you and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Welcome back to the show.
- [04:36]
Matt Fradd
Great to be on with you. I know I text you from time to time, but I'll say it publicly for everybody to hear. My beautiful daughters, big fans of the Isabel Brown show. And so thanks for putting out great content that young women can be genuinely edified by not just, not just young women, but my young women in particular, you know.
- [04:57]
Isabelle Brown
Thank you. Well, that edification is what life is all about, right? We're always on this journey of sanctification and trying to become saints ourselves, which is a little bit about what I want to talk to you today about. I don't know if you had seen this, but just before Christmas, I came across a post on social media based on a new survey of Generation Z. And I have been the Gen Z apologist for a long time. I am our resident spokesperson. I know just how based Gen Z really is. But we're taking the world by an additional degree of surprise Right now because we become the first generation in American history to. To have more Catholics than Protestants. Among Christians with young people, I think we have the graph to show you right now, actually. But Gen Z is the most conservative generation in American history. We're becoming one of the most Christian generations in American history. And here you go. Now we are the first American generation ever to have more Catholics than Protestants. And there was a bit of a mixed bag of reviews from this, this reporting that came out a few weeks ago. Some people were suggesting this is really bad for American culture because traditionally we have been a very Protestant Christian nation with our national identity. Some people are really excited about this because it signals a huge return of traditional values. But first and foremost, I just want to get your take on that information. What does that signal to you?
- [06:30]
Matt Fradd
Yeah, I have a lot of thoughts. I'm not sure how many of them will be good. The first thing to say is there's a lot of triumphalism on the Internet where people look down their nose and speak sardonically and cynically to one another and champion when their guy owns another guy. And I think we should have nothing to do with that. So if it is the case that more young people today are becoming Catholic than Protestant, I say as a Catholic, glory to Jesus Christ. I'm less interested in how that will affect American culture and more interested in people joining themselves to the church that Jesus Christ established. And with that said, you and I both love our Protestant brothers and sisters and have so much to learn from them. And so I would hate for anybody to think that I'm saying, take that Protestants. There's nothing like that. I love my Protestant brothers and sisters. I read their books, I learn from them. I become a better Catholic because of some of them. Now why is it happening? I don't know. Here's a couple of thoughts. You might know more than me being so interested in Gen Z as you are, but I think one is we desire to be part of a larger story and to be part of an actual culture. And I think many of us just feel like monads floating throughout the void of modernity. And we so long to attach ourself to something that's timeless and beautiful. And the Catholic Church has been around for 2,000 years. I think also there's been a backlash to the insane sexual immorality that has been foist upon us from powerful players in society. Be that Hollywood, the porn industry, etc. Any of us with any sense, I think, realize that it leads to a miserable life, that it's born out of and gives birth to a sort of nihilism. And so as a reaction to that, I would suspect many young people are looking for a church that doesn't waver on these issues. And while there might be bad Catholics and bad Catholic priests and bad Catholic bishops who promote or wink at what the Church condemns, the fact is that the Church does condemn the. And has been very clear on condemning these sexual immoral practices since her founding. And not for the sake of condemning what is bad so much, but as for the end being to promote what's beautiful. Genesis, chapter one, verse 28 is the first commandment from God to humanity in the Bible. And he says, be fruitful and multiply. So this. This conjugal relations or the sexual act within marriage is so beautiful that when you distort it, it can become one of the ugliest things on the planet. And so when the Catholic Church is condemning certain sexual acts, it's because of her high regard for the human person and marital intimacy. And I would think that that's beautiful for those who have kind of eaten out of the dumpster of sexual licentiousness. And then finally, I don't know. I think we live in a disenchanted world and we don't like that. And I think there's this maybe cultural return to fairy tales and beauty and ritual, and the church, at its best, gives that to us. You know, in fact, this Sunday, I'll be taking John Christ to Holy Mass, and we'll be going to the Latin Mass in Nashville together. And, you know, like, that's. That's absolutely beautiful. And so, yeah, that's what I have to say about that.
- [10:16]
Isabelle Brown
Oh, I'm excited to hear that about our friend John. I'm going to have to send him a nice text and see what he thinks. I didn't know you were going to be taking him to Mass, but we'll be praying for that. And I think you're right. I want to start there at the end because that's a huge component of why I'm hearing young people be so deeply attracted to. To the faith and to the Catholic Church right now is so centered around the Mass and in particular, the ritual and tradition and substance of the Mass as this enchanting fairy tale. I love the word that you picked there because it represents something so much bigger and more mystical than what you're looking at, even with your own two eyes. The Mass is something that creates a bridge, really, between our world and the next world. And you often hear Priests talk about. This art depicts this really beautifully. That you don't see the massive amounts of angels and saints that are in the room with you when you're practicing the Mass as a priest, but you know that they're there and, and that's really beautiful. And I'm watching people make tiktoks about this more than any other platform. Young people are sitting down saying, I'm Protestant, I'm evangelical. I was raised in a non denominational church. I've never been to a Catholic mass. But the way I see people talk about the mass is so interesting to me that, that I just had to go. I have one of these tik toks to show you of a young woman talking about why she feels so unexpectedly drawn to Catholicism. And it's for this exact reason. Let's watch.
- [11:43]
Young Woman TikTok User
I just got back from my first time going to mass. I'm still learning. Obviously I'm still very new to all this, so don't come for me, please, if I say something wrong. I honestly have been drawn to Catholicism since coming back to Christianity. I put a off going to mass for a while just because every time I would mention it to one of my Protestant peers, they would look at me like I just ran over their dog in my Hyundai Tucson. Yes, that's a joke, but it's really not an exaggeration. A lot of Protestants do not play about Catholicism, which is just strange to me because every Catholic I've told that I'm going to Protestant church, they're just like, okay, cool, have fun. And that's a generalization. But that is my experience. There does seem to be this very large rift. When I told someone that I was gonna go to Mass, he was like, jokingly, but he was like, okay, have fun, idolater. And I was like, dude, like the church we're going to right now, like the praise band is up there having like a pitch perfect style riff off, trying to like out sing each other. I was going to a non denominational church, so I think it was a very stark contrast between the nons and church and the Catholic Church. So one thing I really liked was there was no time wasted on personal anecdotes, metaphors, personal stories. I think those can be great. Sometimes I would rather just get into the scripture and like get into the meat of it instead of hearing about something that happened to you and how work is really like church if you think about it and blah, blah, blah. I understand that metaphors can make it easier to understand, but sometimes I think that those, those bother Me, I don't know. Sorry. I'm judging. I know I'm not supposed to do that. Another thing I liked was the tradition. Obviously, I couldn't participate in a lot of it because I'm very new to it and not that educated on what all of it means. I did like the traditional music. That was one thing at my Protestant church that, I mean, I mentioned briefly earlier, but it really. It really did bother me. And I understand all worship is worship. I'm assuming they have good intentions. But at the Nonzanam church I was going to. It truly felt like an American Idol audition. The praise band.
- [13:48]
Isabelle Brown
I hear this a lot from people, Matt. American Idol or like a rock concert or some sort of rave that you're going to. And that's fun. It's immersive. It certainly can move you in an emotional way. But what young people seem to be so attracted to, mostly young men, although young women as well. As you see in the. The evidence of this video, is this idea that the Mass is not about me.
- [14:11]
Matt Fradd
It's.
- [14:12]
Isabelle Brown
It's about something that's been so much bigger than me for 2000 years. And they're not trying to compare my relationship with God to my relationship with my boss or having too much homework at school or an argument I just got in with my boyfriend. Like, when I go to the Mass, everything is about the mysticism of the fullness of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. And there's something so alluring and mystical about that that I am just falling in love with all over again with our generation.
- [14:42]
Matt Fradd
Yeah. First of all, I don't. I mean, I do have a TikTok account that people post to. I'm never on it, but this is TikTok at its finest. And I say that not because she's on my side, this woman, but because of how beautiful she expressed herself and with such humility. I mean, she's dressed like a priest. That's fine. But. No, she dare. That's a joke. But beautiful woman. And I just love how humbly she expressed herself. Yeah. I think we should acknowledge that many people in Protestant denominations have beautiful hearts. And they. They want people to love Jesus Christ. And so that. And I. I enjoy certain praise songs that. That Protestants put together and Catholics who put praise and worship songs together. But it is interesting. Like, whatever we think about it, the fact is there is this cultural turn back towards tradition. So beautiful. Yeah.
- [15:36]
Isabelle Brown
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- [17:39]
Matt Fradd
There was more. I was going to say my head. Sorry.
- [17:43]
Isabelle Brown
Oh, it happens. It happens to me all the time. The other thing you were saying at the beginning as to why you think people are so attracted to this, is the perversion of the human experience into something that is ugly when it was supposed to be beautiful. And that's been something I've noticed a lot more of in the last five to 10 years in American Christianity. Uniquely, more than anything else, is this perversion of our faith into whatever is the politically vogue thing to be talking about at that particular moment in Time. And the Catholic Church is not immune to this. I do see some parishes individually falling victim to this as well. But whether it's flying the Black Lives Matter flag out front or reciting the Sparkle Creed on Sunday morning, which we've reacted to several times here on the show, real thing, unfortunately, replacing the Nicene Creed with something called the Sparkle Creed, giving honor to the non binary God and the whole thing, or even flyers like this one that I have for you about what type of church we are, who we represent and who our congregation is, is supposed to be. This is a real church flyer. We are the church for immigrants, the LGBTQ + community, people who have had abortions, and other marginalized and stigmatized folks with a she, her trans pastor. It just seems to be this, like, trying too hard woke, rainbow washed, shiny veneer of radical actual love and acceptance that is only offered through the nexus of Jesus Christ, through which we are all bonded together in our common shared humanity. And it's ugly. It's supposed to be beautiful, it's supposed to be welcoming, it's supposed to be unifying. And yet it has just like bastardized in many ways the true beautiful substance of our faith. Whereas I really think the, the way that Catholicism is bringing people together in a powerful way right now is through the true body of Christ in the Eucharist, the most beautiful human experience we could possibly engage in, where that beauty is never, ever tarnished. What's your take on that?
- [19:51]
Matt Fradd
Yeah, well, the first thing is to say, like, I looked at that flyer and I thought, no, the Catholic Church is the church for all of these individuals. But the difference between the Catholic Church and what I imagine, but do not know for certain, that this quote unquote, church, though we shouldn't call it a church, is doing is it's affirming people in their disorders. So the church welcomes all of us. I mean, it even welcomes knuckleheads like me and people who struggle with addictions or identity or who have unfortunately committed the sin of abortion. The Catholic Church welcomes all because God desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. So that's the distinction though, isn't it's? To welcome people who are broken and hurting or are confused, not so that we can keep them there and affirm them in that, so that we can teach the truth as has been revealed to us by Christ and the apostles, the fathers and the saints of the church. One thing I remember, I wanted to point out about that lady earlier on. You know, she talked about Protestant church and Catholic church. It is interesting and perhaps your listeners should think of this if they do consider themselves Protestant, that, you know, a lot of people might not realize this, but the word Protestant comes from the root word protest Protestant. So a Protestant is by. Is in one sense, in one definition, defining themselves in opposition to the one holy Catholic and apostolic church. And so I would ask my Protestant friends, like, what are you protesting? And Protestants might have some legitimate things that they're concerned about. And if they are concerned about it, I think they're right to give voice to those concerns. So this lady earlier was saying that her friend said, have fun with the idolatry or something. Now, obviously you and I as Catholics would recoil at that because we condemn idolatry. And we do not think, nor did the early church think that prayers to the saints in heaven constituted idolatry. Nor does statuary. I mean, if it did, then God commanding statues to be made in Exodus, you know, for the temple would have been God commanding something that would lead to idolatry or would be necessarily evil. And we wouldn't hold to that. Okay, but my only point is that if a Protestant does think that, then they're right to object. And I'd be more disappointed if they didn't object. I just would hope that. And I think we, hopefully we could both do this. Like, as a Catholic, if I don't understand, let's say, what a Calvinist thinks or what have you trying to understand from their own perspective what they believe. And I would ask the same thing for Protestants. If, you know, if you want to know what we teach, then you could pick up the Catechism of the Catholic Church and it all says it right there. So don't go to what the enemies of the Catholic Church have to say about the church. Go to what the church has to say about the church before you decide whether to agree or disagree with it.
- [22:38]
Isabelle Brown
That's beautifully said. And part of the journey that I'm hearing so many gen zers going on right now is I set out once and for all to. To prove all my Catholic friends wrong and to start studying exactly where everything went off the rails in church history. And then people find themselves really surprised to be falling in love with the church fathers, with some of the earliest traditions we have as Christians, the most beautiful chapters of sacred tradition and history. It's been really cool to see so many friends and personal family members in my own life go through this journey. Our listeners know my husband converted to the church just before we were married. He grew up in the Baptist faith tradition and then kind of went to a non denominational church as an adult. Until he met me, he was vehemently like, I am not about this whole Catholic thing. And now we joke that he's more Catholic than I am, largely because he went down this investigative journey of trying to understand, okay, if I have all of these hangups and all these problems, at least I want to understand why. And through listening to podcasts like yours, believe it or not, Matt, and reading a whole bunch of books and asking all of the right questions, he found a depth of faith that was so missing from his adult life before that. And I think that's the most beautiful thing that I'm loving our generation to encapsulate right now is a depth of intellect, of asking the tough questions, of going through this ideological journey of curiosity. In many ways, the way St. Augustine talks about that the more faith you have, the more questions you're going to have, and then you're going to have even more faith, and it's just going to be this lifelong circle and journey that you'll go through throughout your life on this side of heaven. You just witnessed an entire conference of thousands of young adults doing just this at Seek a few days ago. For those that have never been to Seek, can you give us a little overview on what it is? And then I'm dying to hear what you saw there, because I was unable to be there this year.
- [24:25]
Matt Fradd
Sure. Well, for those who don't know, Sikh is an annual conference that's put on by Focus, the fellowship of Catholic university students. They've been doing this, I think, for a decade or so, but about three or four years ago, they outgrew cities and so could no longer have one location to have everybody. So they had three locations this year. The one I went to was the largest. It was in Columbus, Ohio, with 16,000 people. But overall, I think it was over 22 or 25,000 people. It was their largest gathering ever. And it was incredible. Like, hats off to the people at Focus who put on this conference. Everything was so well done, so professionally done. Holy Mass was celebrated with tremendous reverence, despite the fact that you've got 16,000 people in front of you. I gave the opening keynote to 16,000 people, and then I gave another talk to about, I think, eight or 10,000 people. And it was really lovely. You know, sometimes you can be online and you can get an impression about what humans are like, but then you meet them and you go, oh, wow, they're way better than I thought. They were something like that. You know, I kept encountering people with their own hopes and joys and enthusiasms and struggles and fears and getting to talk to people was a real joy. So many young holy priests who are working away quietly for the salvation of souls. So many of them dedicating themselves to hearing confession, praying with students and things like this. So it was great. And so many people came up to me and said, you know, congrats on the enjoying the daily Y. And we're so excited to see, you know, your voice amplified through their means. And so, yeah, it was just a very encouraging time.
- [26:20]
Isabelle Brown
I love that you said you had a bit of a restored faith in humanity there because doing what we do and spending so much time online, Matt, it's so easy to get sucked into this. Like everything is awful, everything is miserable, the world is ending, everyone's mean. I just want to move to the woods and never speak to anyone again. But we are called to be in community with other people. We're called to reach people, to impact one another's lives and to be moved by those that God places in our path. And I loved seeing all of the clips of you doing just that at Seek. I saw one in particular that got quite an interesting reaction. And I don't know if you know this, you don't doom scroll quite as much as me, but somebody had clipped up your opening keynote where you literally got on your knees to pray and invite the audience to pray with you. And there were a lot of people who were uncomfortable by that that it was somehow like a play of. So, yeah, it was like too much almost. Like obviously he's just trying to put on a show, trying to look like such a great Christian or whatever. But you could see all of the people in the audience so tangibly moved by the action of someone who they love and they look up to and they listen to your show religiously, so to speak, having the humility to get down on one's knees and to thank God and ask for his guidance. And can you tell us a little bit about what that moment was like in the room?
- [27:38]
Matt Fradd
Sure, yeah. Well, first of all, the nice thing about growing in self knowledge is there's nothing anybody can say about you that you don't already know. And whatever horrible things they say about you pale in comparison to the truth you already know. So I'm not terribly worried about what people think about me online, but it was just a beautiful moment to pray with people towards the end of what was about a 17 minute speech that's It. It was just an invitation for people to surrender their life to Jesus Christ and to surrender their concerns to him and to. That's it. That's as. It's as simple as that. I can't help it. I got to say something about this. You know, it's funny. Christians, all right. As Christians, we are rightly concerned with certain sins, but oblivious to others, which is really bothersome, I think, to me, you know, we're all very rightly outraged about things like pornography. Good. We should be. But when it comes to things like rash judgment, slander, detraction, backbiting, it's almost like the Internet is there to pull that out of us. So just when you said people were saying this is just a show or something like that, I didn't see the comments, but it's like, okay, well, maybe it was like, maybe I am just sort of an arrogant person who's trying to look holy. And that probably is true. That isn't why I did that. But even if it was, you're in no place to know that. So you probably shouldn't be on the Internet saying, Accusing people of their motivations like you read Thomas Aquinas and what he has to say about rash judgment, slander. He considers these things grave sins that can lead you to hell. So just throw that out there, not just for my detractors, but for me as well. I've said it before. I think that social media and some forms are better than others, may pervert and inflame our social nature in a like manner to how pornography perverts inflames our sexual desire. I don't mean that social media is intrinsically evil in the way that consuming pornography is, but just that. Yeah, just that it might be unreasonable to expect somebody to sit before pornography and not fall into the sins of lust. It might be unreasonable, actually. And maybe everyone who's watching this has to consider this for themselves, whether it's possible to spend, you know, let's say, 20 minutes on Twitter, you know, without falling into the serious sins of rash judgment, detraction, and slander and so on, And. And if. If. If we find that we are falling into those things and they are stealing our peace and we do find ourselves growing more cynical and sarcastic and hateful of other people, that it would be a better thing to, you know, go to heaven without Twitter than to go to hell with it or something like that.
- [30:30]
Isabelle Brown
Oh, that's a slap in the face, Matt. That's gonna give me a lot to think about this week. This has been. You've articulated something that's been on my soul for a while and I just haven't known how to put it into words. But I think for me it's less so. The rush to snap judgment and the radical anger that people are experiencing with division from social media. What I've noticed more than anything with people around me is the immediacy of extreme narcissism that platforms like Twitter and social media bring up. Not in a vanity sense. More often than not, I think that era of the Instagram influencers and like face tuning your face for literally every single thing you post, I think largely that has culturally gone away, which I'm incredibly grateful for. People really do crave authenticity on the Internet. So with Generation Z, the content that we're posting is less so about physical vanity, but I think it has so much to do with self obsession of being right, being intellectually superior, being morally superior. And what you see on the Internet is designed to make everyone else look bad and you look smart or good or worthy in a way that other people aren't. That is so interesting to think about, if it's possible, possible to scroll through social media without feeding into your own ego to an unhealthy level.
- [31:47]
Matt Fradd
And it's, and this is my concern with Gen Z converting to Christianity. Like, I'm thrilled that, that, that many of them are, but I think like, our primary objective has to be continual repentance of our own sin, the acceptance of the beautiful love that God has for me, and then my kindness towards other people as I build up the kingdom of God. You know, if, if my just becomes a lens through which I look disapprovingly on other people for the reasons you've just outlined. You know, like, it's funny, like judgmentalism can, can look different. You know, like in the 80s and 90s, all the movies that came out about Christians, Christians were judgmental in a certain way, but we could be judgmental in different ways today and God have mercy if, if we do that. So yeah. So for example, you talk about narcissism. I did this experiment the other day. I wrote an article and I hadn't looked it up yet, but I typed, I bet if you type in dealing with narcissism, every single video has to do with somebody else's narcissism. In other words, like, you're fine, you're great, nothing wrong with you. It's all those other people that you just have to be careful of. So that's the other trap, right? Like to stay online and, and to judge other people's narcissism when really we're not in a place to judge it unless they're saying something intrinsically wrong. But we are in a place to be able to judge our own selfishness and solipsistic attitudes. So, Lord Jesus, let there be light and help me to see the ways when I'm acting in arrogance or pride or when I'm looking down my nose at somebody, you know, that's. We got to be on. You got to be on the. Watch out for that. But that's not as fun. That's not as fun. Like, I'd much rather go online and shame people. That's really what we'd rather do. And you have to acknowledge. Yeah, that is how awful you are. Like, you actually want to do that. That's how bad you are. And by you, I mean me and everyone.
- [33:43]
Isabelle Brown
No, me too.
- [33:44]
Matt Fradd
So now what are you going to do?
- [33:45]
Isabelle Brown
Point the finger? Please. I need it. I need the reality check as. As does everybody. And I think to bring things full circle. That's why people are so deeply attracted to and enamored by the church right now, because as you perfectly articulated at the beginning of our conversation, this is an institution established by Christ that the gates of hell will never prevail against, but has been willing at both the individual human level and the macro societal, cultural level to say hard truths when no one else is willing to say it, to look at the individual and to say, no, you are a disgusting sinner in desperate need of the grace of God.
- [34:25]
Matt Fradd
You.
- [34:25]
Isabelle Brown
Here is how you repent, and we give you the path for how to do that through. Through confession and through the sacraments. When you look at the culture that we're living in right now, to not just say, all of these horrible sins that are rotting our society are acceptable now because they temporarily make you feel good, but instead to say, we need a radical transformation of the hearts of our society to make sure that we are leading people toward eternal life, not toward eternal condemnation and death. That might temporarily feel really good, but in actuality is slowly killing our souls. And I think there's a really interesting cultural moment right now with young people wrestling with this internal struggle right now between good and evil, between sin and sanctification, and realizing that we cannot do it alone. And we are not perfect beings. We are far from perfect beings in desperate need of the grace of God, which is only offered to us through the sacraments in the church. So I'm really, really excited and quite hopeful about this pendulum shift that we're seeing generationally with Gen Z embracing the faith, A huge part of which has been people just talking a whole lot more about faith in society more than we ever have in my lifetime. We talk about this a lot. But for some reason my parents generation was really conditioned to believe that politics and religion were the two topics that you never ever, ever talk about around the family dinner table. It was impolite conversation and your kids didn't need to hear about this stuff. Just let your kids be kids. Luckily, my parents as Catholic lawyers adopted a very different approach and we pretty much only talked about politics and religion around the dinner table. But because of that void of conversation, shows like Pints with Aquinas were born to give people a venue to have these important, beautiful theological conversations in a casual, conversational way. And we at the Daily Wire are so excited to be welcoming Pints with Aquinast to our family right now. So tell us what people can expect from the new and improved show. Do you have any secret surprises up your sleeve? Where can we catch the relaunch and everything that you are working on?
- [36:34]
Matt Fradd
Thanks so much. Yeah, I'm thrilled. It's really just going to enable me to do a lot more shows and for things just, I think to reach a lot more people. So the 12th of January. So that's what next week will be. My very first interview in the brand new studio that we have built just for Pints with Aquinas. It's really lovely. When I walked in there, I thought, can I live here? This looks like the place I want to live in. It's just beautiful. The first interview will be with Dr. Brant Petra and we'll be talking about Christ's historicity, the historicity of the New Testament, the claim to Jesus Christ to be God. This man is one of the best scholars on this topic. So that'll be the first one. And we have some other very exciting ones coming out. So yeah, if people can go follow me over on Daily Wire or just, you know, type in Pints with Aquinas on YouTube or Spotify or what have you. And we also just, we released a Christmas episode with Dr. Scott Hahn in December. So that's not the set. That was just a set we created just for that interview. But people who go check that out if they want to see something, which.
- [37:41]
Isabelle Brown
Was also beautiful by the way, they set up an amazing setup for you guys for that. It looked absolutely spectacular and was a great episode. I did not know Dr. Petro was going to be your first interview. He is my favorite Catholic Author, I think I love all of his books. He's absolutely incredible. So I cannot wait to watch on Monday. Matt, do you have any words in closing for us of encouragement for this generation as we navigate our identity in Christ and we make our faith the pinnacle and center of American culture again?
- [38:14]
Matt Fradd
Yeah. You are deeply loved. Even if you don't like yourself, God really likes you. And I think it's because of that that sometimes Christianity isn't too hard to believe, but too good. The idea that our blessed Lord would take flesh and say, come to me, oh, you who are weary and burdened. I will give you rest. He desires, first of all, he notices we're exhausted, and that's nice. It's nice that we're not pulling wool over his eyes. And then he gives us a solution to that exhaustion and that anxiety, namely, himself. Come to me, you who are weary and burdened. And so the reason we shouldn't be afraid to repent or to confess our poverty is because his love for us is infinitely greater than our sin. And so we should always have confidence that the good God desires to save us from our sin and from hell even more infinitely more than a mother would desire to save her baby from a burning building. So when we cry out to God, we shouldn't do so with a sort of desperation, as if if we're not saying the right words or crying out with as much emotion as we think we should, he'll. Sometime, he'll somehow not hear us. Now he knows you and he cares about you intimately. And so you can just sort of entrust yourself to him and then be patient with yourself as you begin to live the Christian walk.
- [39:38]
Isabelle Brown
Beautifully said, my friend. I am so, so grateful that God is using your voice to transform so many other people's lives around the world. We cannot wait to catch the first new episode of Pints with Aquinas on Monday, and I hope I get to give you a big hug soon.
- [39:54]
Matt Fradd
Thanks, mate. Good to be with you.
- [39:56]
Isabelle Brown
So huge thanks to our amazing friend Matt Frad for joining us on the show today. All of his insights are just the most poignant wisdom. This man truly has been so instrumental in my faith journey and my husband's faith journey, and I know so many millions of you guys out there around the world as well. So I cannot wait for you to continue supporting his new show, new and improved version of Pints with Aquinas, now that he has joined forces and teamed up with our friends here over at the Daily Wire to. It's just amazing to see how God is continuing to use his megaphone to bring people back toward him, and I can't wait to see everything he continues to accomplish and work on. Make sure you guys tune into the first episode of Pints with Aquinas on Monday for that very, very exciting episode. And we will see you back for the Isabel Brown show tomorrow.
- [41:00]
Voice Actor/Character in Dramatic Reading
What was it like, Merlin, to be alone with God? Is that who you think I was alone with?
- [41:14]
Matt Fradd
Martin, I knew your father.
- [41:17]
Isabelle Brown
You. I am yet convinced that he was.
- [41:18]
Matt Fradd
Not of this world.
- [41:22]
Voice Actor/Character in Dramatic Reading
All men know of the great Taliesin. You are my father. That the gods should war for my soul. Princess Garrus, savior of our people. I know what the bull God offered you. I was offered the same. And there's a new part where in the world I've seen it. A God who sacrifices what he loves for us. We are each given only one life.
- [41:50]
Matt Fradd
Singer. No.
- [41:52]
Voice Actor/Character in Dramatic Reading
We're given another. I learned of Yazu the Christ, and I have become his follower. He's waiting on a miracle. And I think you can give him one. Trust in Ya Zu. He is the only hope for men like us to Britain ever rests in the hands of the great light. Great light, Great darkness. Such things mattered to me then. What matters to you now? Mistress of lies. You, nephew. The sword of a high king. How many lives must be lost before you accept the power you were born to wield? Still clinging to the promises of a God who has abandoned you. I cannot take up that sword again. You know what you must do. Great life, Forgive me. The time has come to be reborn.