Southern Nebraska Register
Jeff Cavins was the keynote speaker for the 2023 Spirit Celebration Dinner hosted by Spirit Catholic Radio. One thousand people attended the dinner held Feb. 4 at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Cavins is known nationally and internationally as a Catholic author, speaker and Bible teacher. He was a Protestant pastor before his reversion to the Catholic faith. He is the creator and founder of the popular “Great Adventure Bible Study” program. Cavins has also worked with Father Mike Schmitz on the very popular podcasts “The Bible in a Year” and “The Catechism in a Year.”
Before his keynote speech, entitled “Life of a Disciple - Taking Your Faith to the Next Level,” Cavins talked with Dennis Kellogg, director of communications for the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, about the podcast projects, discipleship and the Catholic Church in 2023. The following transcript of that interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Southern Nebraska Register: You’ve done the “Bible in a Year” (podcast). You’re doing “The Catechism in a Year” (podcast) with Father Mike Schmitz, both immensely popular. Why do you think that is?
Jeff Cavins, author/speaker: Well, I think that the reason that “Bible in the Year” first of all was really, really popular was partly due to the times that we’re living in. People are looking for a brighter future and someone to trust, and they’re not finding it. We’re not finding it in network news. We’re not finding it in politics, Hollywood, and I think that people were looking for truth. And so all we did was we decided that we were going to read the Bible in chronological order using the Great Adventure (Bible Study).
And by the time that it actually aired on Jan. 1, I forgot about it. I forgot that we did a show. And it was on Jan. 2, that my producer called and said, “Are you sitting down?” I said, “Why?” And she said,”You’re number one in the country.”
And it blew our socks off. We said no way. And we looked and it was true. But I think it’s more the Lord is drawing people to Himself. There’s no way to account for it. You can’t do that. And if that was the goal, Father Mike and I both agreed we would not have done that. If the goal was to be the top podcast, we wouldn’t have done what we did. We would have tried to be funny or something. So, I think it’s really the Lord that is doing something and drawing people to His Word, and we’ve just never seen anything like it.
Register: When it comes to the Catechism, why should a Catholic study the Catechism in depth?
Cavins: That’s a good question. I think that Catholics should get into the Catechism because first of all, “The Bible in a Year” is the story. It is the story of salvation history, where God reveals his heart, he reveals his plan. And the Catechism is the next step, because the goal is not just to know about the faith—the goal is to live the faith.
And in the Bible, for example, when it says “husbands love your wife, as Christ loved the Church,” I get it. I’m supposed to do that. But what does that look like? How do I actually do that? How did Christ love the Church? And how do I love my children? What’s so special about the family?
So the Catechism fills out a lot of these things that we’re supposed to be doing. Otherwise, all you have is just a command in the Bible. And then people are going to try to fulfill it the best that they can. But the Church is teaching us how to do that. And actually the way the Catechism is put together is a teaching tool all on its own.
So you’ve got four pillars. You’ve got the Creed number one, which is the story. Number two, you have sacraments and liturgy. So you get into the story. Number three, is the life in Christ, the moral law, that’s what you live in this story. The life of Christ. And then prayer. So, the way that it’s organized. It even gives us a life, if you will; not only a plan, but how to live it.
Register: Through time, the Church has always seen divisive times. In these current times we live in, we have the situation in Germany with the bishops, or here in the United States, talking about what inclusivity means or what being a welcoming church means. Is that healthy to have that kind of tension in the Church?
Cavins: I don’t know if it’s healthy. It’s a reality. We’ve always had tension. We’ve always had people who were kind of on the outskirts of what the Church taught, and there’s always been this struggle to understand what Jesus taught and how to live it. I think that as long as there’s going to be a Church, there’s going to be problems, because we are the people who make up the Church. And there isn’t any of us who don’t have problems.
You can go into the family, any family in America, and I can interview them and I can find out what kind of problems are in that family, but it’s not a reason to abolish the family. It’s just the way it is. And that’s why the Lord came. He came and he died for our sins, to help us to hit the mark, to live according to His Word rather than the ways of the world.
Register: So when it comes to being a good disciple, what’s your advice?
Cavins: That’s a good question—to become a good disciple. As I said earlier, you can only go so far with learning. And one of the problems that we face is, we face a problem of people being habitual consumers of Catholicism. They live to consume it. They want the next book, they want the next study, they want the next conference. And you have to get around to doing it.
If we’re going to change the world, you have to get around to doing it. And the only way we’re going to change the world is to be disciples, and the only way that you can be a disciple, which the goal is to become like Jesus, is to be with Jesus. And there aren’t any shortcuts. You have to be with Jesus to become like Jesus. And you have to follow his lead.
Imitation is the goal—to imitate Christ, and to bring Christ to the world. And so I think that that close proximity, that close relationship with the Lord is the key—staying with the Church, staying with the teaching, but always, always with the view of I’m going to do what Christ did. That’s what I’m going to do. And I’m not just going to be a habitual consumer.
Register: Are you optimistic about the Catholic Church in 2023?
Cavins: I am, yes. I’m always optimistic about the Church. That doesn’t mean that you don’t see problems, even in my own life. But I’m optimistic because of who’s leading the Church, which is Jesus and the Holy Spirit leading the Church.
There’s great opportunities for us right now. When it gets dark out there, and people are discouraged with what’s going on in the world, it really is our opportunity to let that light shine, and to be the light in the world, to be the salt in the world. And so, I’m optimistic that we can do it.
And I’m always optimistic that there will be a move of the Holy Spirit. Again, I am not interested in just producing things that people can consume. That doesn’t trip my trigger. What trips my trigger is when people start to walk in that truth, and then they see transformed lives. They see people who are giving their life to Christ and that’s why I do what I do.
I just finished my 60th pilgrimage to the Holy Land two weeks ago, and I was asked in Israel, why do you keep doing this? And I said, because I just really like to watch changed lives. I guess that’s my addiction. I like to watch people who are experiencing a conversion in their life.
You can watch this interview on the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln YouTube channel. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos on the Catholic faith.
