Patrick Madrid (born November 8, 1960) is an American

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, and

radio host A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a radi ...

. His many books include ''Why Be Catholic?'' (Penguin Random House), ''Life Lessons: 50 Things I Learned in My First 50 Years'' (Ignatius Press), and ''How to Do Apologetics'' (Our Sunday Visitor). His books have sold over one million copies, including foreign-language editions. He hosts the “Patrick Madrid Show” radio program on

Relevant Radio Relevant Radio (corporate name Relevant Radio, Inc.) is a radio network in the United States, mainly broadcasting talk radio and religious programming involving the Catholic Church. It is the largest Catholic radio network by owned station base. R ...

, three hours daily. Aside from his radio presence, Madrid is best known for his work in Catholic apologetics. He worked for eight years (1988 to 1996) at

Catholic Answers Catholic Answers is a Catholic advocacy group based in El Cajon, California. It describes itself as the largest lay-run apostolate of Catholic apologetics and evangelization in the United States. It publishes ''Catholic Answers Magazine'', a bi ...

, serving as vice president. He has published numerous articles on Scripture, Church history, patristics, apologetics, and evangelization in various Catholic and Protestant periodicals and has contributed scholarly articles on apologetics in the ''

New Catholic Encyclopedia The ''New Catholic Encyclopedia'' (NCE) is a multi-volume reference work on Roman Catholic history and belief edited by the faculty of The Catholic University of America. The NCE was originally published by McGraw-Hill in 1967. A second edition, ...

''. He and his wife, Nancy, have 11 children and 28 grandchildren.

Early life

Patrick Madrid was born on November 8, 1960, in Lynwood, California, a near suburb of Los Angeles. His father, Bernard Madrid served for four years in the U.S. Coast Guard as a sailor, after which he had a long career as an electronics engineer. His mother, Gretchen, was a housewife. Madrid is the oldest of their eight children, one of whom died shortly after birth of pulmonary complications. Growing up in Southern California, Madrid was baptized at Saint Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Whittier and was raised primarily in Orange County, attending the Mission San Juan Capistrano Grammar School for several years.

Biography

Patrick Madrid has been a Catholic apologist since 1987. He hosts ''The Patrick Madrid Show'' on Relevant Radio weekdays 9-noon ET, discussing current events, modern culture, apologetics, and a variety of "God topics." Madrid does not have guests or conduct interviews on his show, but instead, engages listeners with personal commentary and interacts extensively with callers. He has conducted thousands of apologetics seminars in English and Spanish at parishes, conferences, and universities across the United States, as well as throughout Europe, Canada, in Latin America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. Since 1990, he has been a regular presenter at the

Franciscan University of Steubenville Franciscan University of Steubenville is a private Franciscan university in Steubenville, Ohio. The university had 3,040 students as of fall 2019, including 2,317 students on campus, in 40 undergraduate and 8 graduate degree programs. The studen ...

's "Defending the Faith" summer apologetics conferences and has been a guest lecturer in theology at

Christendom College Christendom College is a Catholic liberal arts college in Front Royal, Virginia, United States, located in the Shenandoah Valley. It is endorsed by The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College and has been characterized as a conservative Catho ...

in their "Major Speakers" program. Madrid has engaged in at least a dozen formal public debates with

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

, and other non-Catholic spokesmen. He founded what is now known as the Envoy institute in 1996 with the launch of ''Envoy'' Magazine, which reached a peak circulation of approximately 12,000 paid subscribers. The magazine was discontinued in 2011 when it lost its institutional funding source. Madrid earned a bachelor of science degree in business management from the

University of Phoenix University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree lev ...

as well as a B.Phil in philosophy and an M.A. in dogmatic theology (cum laude) from the

Pontifical College Josephinum The Pontifical College Josephinum is a private Roman Catholic seminary and university in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded by Joseph Jessing in 1888 and was granted the status of a Pontifical College in 1892 by Pope Leo XIII, making it the only pont ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. He did graduate studies in theology at the

University of Dallas The University of Dallas is a Private university, private Catholic church, Catholic university in Irving, Texas. Established in 1956, it is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The university comprises four academi ...

. He has taught undergraduate courses on apologetics and the sacraments as an adjunct professor on the theology faculty at

. He currently serves as an adjunct professor of apologetics at

Holy Apostles College and Seminary Holy Apostles College and Seminary is a Catholic Church, Catholic seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut, Cromwell, Connecticut. It was founded in 1956 on a property in Cromwell by Eusebe M. Menard to provide a program of education and formation for ...

and at

Saint Patrick's Seminary and University Saint Patrick's Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California is a Roman Catholic post-graduate seminary whose primary mission is the formation of clergy for Western and Pacific Rim dioceses. It is located on a historic, beautifully landscap ...

in Menlo Park, California. A life-long avid fan of the Beatles, after playing trumpet in grammar school since the fourth grade, Madrid switched to the bass guitar at the age of 14, playing in various area garage bands, and eventually played bass for several years in Geneva Brown, an obscure Southern California rock band. He sometimes refers humorously on his radio show to his garage-band days by commenting on a particular word or phrase drawn news sources that he says would make for a "good garage band name."

References

Books

* ''Surprised by Truth'' (Saint Benedict Press), 1994 * ''Any Friend of God’s Is a Friend of Mine'' (Saint Benedict Press), 1996 * ''Pope Fiction: Answers to 30 Myths and Misconceptions about the Papacy'' (Saint Benedict Press), 1999 * ''Surprised by Truth 2'' (Sophia Institute Press), 2000 * ''Search and Rescue'' (Sophia Institute Press), 2001 * ''Where Is That in the Bible?'' (Our Sunday Visitor), 2001 * ''Surprised by Truth 3'' (Sophia Institute Press), 2002 * ''Why Is That in Tradition?'' (Our Sunday Visitor), 2002 * ''Answer Me This'' (Our Sunday Visitor) 2003 * ''More Catholic than the Pope'' (Our Sunday Visitor), 2004 * ''Does the Bible Really Say That?'' (Servant Books), 2006 * ''A Pocket Guide to Apologetics'' (Our Sunday Visitor), 2006 * ''A Pocket Guide to Purgatory'' (Our Sunday Visitor), 2007 * ''150 Bible Verses Every Catholic Should Know'' (Servant Books), 2008 ] * ''The Godless Delusion: A Catholic Challenge to Modern Atheism'' (Our Sunday Visitor), 2010 * ''Envoy for Christ: 25 Years as a Catholic Apologist'' (Servant Books), 2012 * ''A Year With the Bible: Scriptural Wisdom for Daily Living'' (St. Benedict Press), 2012 * ''Why Be Catholic? 10 Answers to a Very Important Question'' (Penguin Random House, 2013) * ''On a Mission: Lessons from Saint Francis de Sales'' (Servant Books), 2013 * ''Scripture and Tradition in the Church'' (Sophia Institute Press), 2014 * ''Now What? A Guide for New (and Not So New) Catholics'' (Servant Books), 2015 * ''How to Do Apologetics'' (Our Sunday Visitor), 2015 * ''Life Lessons: 50 Things I Learned in My First 50 Years'' (Ignatius Press), 2016 * ''Surprised by Life'' (Sophia Institute Press), 2017 * FORTHCOMING BOOKS: * ''What Am I Doing Here?'' * ''InQUIZition: Rack Your Brain & Stretch Your Knowledge'' (Sophia Institute Press)

External links

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Patrick Madrid
o
Relevant Radio
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Patrick Madrid on YouTube

"Catholic Apologist Makes No Apologies for His Deep-Rooted Beliefs"

Holy Apostles College: Professor Patrick Madrid
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madrid, Patrick 1960 births Living people American writers American radio personalities American Roman Catholic religious writers Christian apologists Franciscan University of Steubenville Pontifical College Josephinum alumni University of Dallas alumni University of Phoenix alumni