BONUS: How Do We Trust in Church Authority? (with Bishop Cozzens)
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Ascension
4.9 • 11.6K Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this special bonus episode, Bishop Andrew Cozzens joins Fr. Mike Schmitz to talk about his role as a bishop of the Catholic Church, his involvement in the Catechism in a Year podcast, and why we can continue to trust in the authority of the Church despite the brokenness of its leaders at times.
Bishop Andrew Cozzens is the Bishop of the Diocese of Crookston in northern Minnesota. He currently serves as the chair of the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis where he has been tasked by the Bishops with leading a three-year National Eucharistic Revival.
This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB.
For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy
Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast. |
| 0:09.4 | In today's pre-launch episode, I have Bishop Andrew Cousins with me, who's going to be our special |
| 0:13.8 | guest that introduces the second pillar of the catechism later on. No, he's introducing |
| 0:17.9 | the pre-introducing the second pillar of the catechism. Today, |
| 0:21.8 | we had Jeff Kavens. We have others who will be after Bishop Cousins. Jeff talked about the |
| 0:26.6 | creed, and though the second pillar of the catechism is the sacraments. And that third pillar |
| 0:31.9 | is life in Christ, the moral life. The fourth pillar is, of course, prayer. But today, in this first episode, the catechism will start in January 1st, but in this first pre-episode, I guess I'll say it like this, he's going to be sharing with us a little bit about his background as a bishop, his involvement in the catechism in a year. He'll also offer us some guidance as we prepare to learn about the authority and the mission of the church, which are |
| 0:54.2 | so critically important, especially as we launch into this whole year of studying the catechism, |
| 1:00.3 | what God has to say through his church to us in our day and age. |
| 1:04.0 | So without anything further, I'm so grateful, Father, Bishop, I remember when you're |
| 1:09.2 | Father Cousins, but I'm so grateful to have you, Bishop Cousins. |
| 1:13.6 | Delighted to be with you, Father Mike. It's an honor to be on your podcast. |
| 1:16.9 | Oh, it's just, this is such an incredible. |
| 1:18.7 | It really is a gift. |
| 1:20.0 | When we asked, who could be the person to introduce that second pillar? |
| 1:24.1 | I was like, well, I don't know. |
| 1:25.1 | What about Bishir cousins? |
| 1:26.0 | Because when you taught at the seminary, the seminary that I also had gone to, I was already gone, unfortunately, because everyone that I talked to who had your sacraments class, in particular, your class on the Eucharist, they were just raving about this class. And I'm like, why did I get ordained so early is my question? And why didn't I get to |
| 1:47.3 | have father cousins, now Bishop cousins, as my seminary professor? But I'm so grateful for this. |
| 1:45.4 | Could you give us, you know, there are some people who might be listening to this podcast who don't |
| 1:52.0 | know of your story. Would you mind just kind of sharing with us how you got to be where you're at right now? |
| 1:55.9 | Yeah, I'm very happy to share. You know, I grew up in a good Catholic family and had the blessing |
... |
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