In Podcasts, The Inner Life

St. Thomas Aquinas – The Inner Life – January 28, 2026

Patrick Conleyby Patrick Conley

Fr. Michael Hurley joins Patrick to discussSt. Thomas Aquinas

  • (4:43) who was St. Thomas Aquinas
  • (11:15) what is the Albigensian heresy?
  • (18:19) Brendan – The one that impacted me was Thomas Aquinas’ 5 proofs. I saw a video in middle school that challenged atheists. I didn’t know there were such intellectual people in the church. It really shook my faith and eased my anxieties in it and have more faith in God.

(25:05) Break 1

  • Madeline – He’s not my saint…I’m trying to love him as a brother and I don’t know how to reconcile. I love St. Faustina. I don’t like him because he said pets don’t go to heaven and that’s why I left the faith. I’m back in the faith now because of St. Faustina and St. Maximilian Kolbe.
  • (32:53) Role of Reason in our life today
  • (34:47) Jean – My most favorite thing about him…he admitted at the end of his conversations that all of his writings meant nothing. He found what he was writing was useless. Once he spoke to the Lord, he found that he was so inadequate from what he learned from the Lord.

(39:48) Break 2

  • (40:52) Regina – He taught that women are defective. I want to know how to get around that. It’s offensive. I have a reference from Summa Theologica.
  • (45:03) Thomas Aquinas’ Devotional life
  • Where should people start when reading about St. Thomas Aquinas?

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Patrick Conley

Patrick Conley

Patrick Conley was born, raised, and baptized in Wisconsin in a Protestant tradition. After meeting his wife, Kendra, through an Evangelical ministry at the University of Minnesota, they entered the Catholic Church in 2010. They listened to Relevant Radio, specifically The Inner Life, while preparing to enter the Church. Conley now holds a degree in theology from Oxford University and has served the Church in both academic theology and grassroots pastoral ministry. Conley teaches religion classes in a Catholic elementary school, serves as his parish Director of Religious Education, and is in formation for the permanent diaconate. He also hosts Practicing Catholic on Relevant Radio, exclusive to the Minneapolis area’s airwaves, and is a traveling presenter for the Catherine of Siena Institute apostolate. He lives in rural Wisconsin with his wife and their bulldogs, Georgie and Bingley.