Do Daleks Have Souls? Star Wars Catholicism & More Weird Questions

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MYS439: Do Catholics believe in ghosts, and if some ghosts are souls from purgatory, why don’t they all ask for Masses to be said for them? On a Halloween edition of Catholic Answers Live, Jimmy Akin takes a stack of listener Weird Questions from host Cy Kellett, with Dom Bettinelli introducing the episode and reading your feedback.

The ghost questions come first: what a soul in purgatory might consider more urgent than a Mass, why Martin Luther treated Mass-requesting poltergeists as deceptive spirits, and what parapsychologists mean by a residual haunting that replays like a recording. A later listener asks why God would let a soul stay on earth at all, and Jimmy separates a spirit’s location from its appearance.

Then the questions range widely. Is it moral to use AI and automation at work when it might cost a coworker a job? Do incorruptible bodies belong only to saints? Jimmy traces the Catholic themes in Star Wars, from Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey to the Jedi as a monastic order, and asks where “May the Force be with you” came from.

Two guardian angel questions follow: are the angels of a husband, wife, and children friends, and could your angel console Christ in Gethsemane? Then a listener asks whether prayer is like telepathy, which leads to the question of whether saints in heaven can communicate with each other, and where Jimmy parts ways with St. Thomas Aquinas.

Other listeners ask whether God could speak to us in the womb, what Jimmy would change with a time machine, whether you pray the rosary clockwise or counterclockwise, and, from the world of Doctor Who, whether Daleks have souls.

The episode closes with feedback on episode 428, covering the Lenten fast, the naked young man in Mark’s Gospel, Occam’s razor, and the Catechism on physical evil.

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Links for this episode:

Chapters:

  • 0:00:00 – Intro
  • 0:00:46 – Programming note: Weird Questions Month
  • 0:01:00 – Today’s weird questions
  • 0:01:58 – Catholic Answers Live: Halloween with Cy Kellett
  • 0:03:01 – Jimmy’s Mysterious World plug on Catholic Answers Live
  • 0:03:57 – Why don’t all ghosts ask for Masses? (Philip)
  • 0:14:08 – Is All Saints a holy day of obligation this year?
  • 0:14:57 – Why would God allow residual hauntings? (Jim)
  • 0:21:30 – Is it moral to use AI that could cost a coworker’s job? (Jordan)
  • 0:30:06 – Do non-saints’ bodies stay incorrupt? (Daniel)
  • 0:32:01 – Catholic themes in Star Wars (Miguel)
  • 0:39:39 – Are a family’s guardian angels friends? (My Home-T D 6 S V)
  • 0:44:37 – Could your guardian angel console Christ in Gethsemane? (Teresa)
  • 0:49:53 – Jimmy Akin Podcast plug on Catholic Answers Live
  • 0:53:03 – Basil Rathbone, Sherlock Holmes and Son of Frankenstein
  • 0:54:04 – Is prayer telepathy? Do the saints communicate telepathically? (Basil)
  • 1:06:27 – Thank you to Patrons
  • 1:06:56 – Sponsor: Miss D’s Honeybees
  • 1:07:41 – Sponsor: Fr. Dwight Longenecker
  • 1:08:58 – Jimmy’s next book
  • 1:09:25 – Can God speak to us in the womb? (Brianna)
  • 1:14:44 – What would you change in history? (Robo Squid)
  • 1:18:01 – Dark Shadows and the secret bunker
  • 1:22:14 – Time travel with no choice of destination
  • 1:28:26 – Do Daleks have souls? (Maximilian)
  • 1:33:44 – Why would God let a ghost stay on earth? (M Jul 84)
  • 1:41:20 – Clockwise or counterclockwise rosary? (Grant)
  • 1:43:03 – Mysterious Feedback: #428 The Devil’s Bible, Jesus Was an Alien?, Psychic Powers in Heaven, and Weird Questions
  • 1:53:04 – Your mysterious feedback
  • 1:53:37 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
  • 1:53:42 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
  • 1:54:19 – Next Time: More Weird Questions
  • 1:54:31 – Share the show
  • 1:54:41 – Get your Mysterious merch
  • 1:54:49 – Show notes
  • 1:54:56 – Become a Patron
  • 1:55:08 – Sponsor: The Grady Group
  • 1:55:23 – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
  • 1:55:46 – Outro

This Episode is Brought to You By:

The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroup.us.

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Father Dwight Longenecker. Are you inspired by sharp, witty writing about faith and culture? Does imaginative, thought provoking content help you see the world, the church and yourself with fresh vision? Popular convert, Catholic priest and author Father Dwight Longenecker writes daily at his Substack and at his award winning website, Standing on My Head, where you can read answers, apologetics and explorations of the mysteries of this world and the next. Read his blog, get his new book, Bloodshed and Blessing, and be in touch at dwightlongenecker.com.

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