Respect Life Radio: Recent Episodes
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With the holidays fast approaching, most children are focused on the joys associated with Christmas. But, for some who have lost a close family member, the holidays can be very hard. In Anthony DeStafano's newest children's book, Christmas in Heaven, children find comfort in the theological virtue of hope - a hope that will assist them throughout their lives. A young boy saddened by his grandmother’s passing asks his grandfather where she might be. His grandfather tenderly explains his hope that she’s in Heaven, joyfully celebrating Jesus’ birthday. As DeStefano tells Deacon Geoff in this terrific podcast, it's a scene filled with angels and saints, music and laughter, joy and love, and most of all, abundant life!
To learn more about Mr. DeStefano and all of his books and other work, visit https://www.anthonydestefano.com
"For too many of us, life is harder than it needs to be. We have forgotten the ancient system of “super habits” — a specific set of habits for making decisions, managing our emotions and dealing with other people that fosters lives of greater ease, happiness and power," writes Dr. Andrew Abela in his new book Superhabits: The Universal System for a Successful Life." Abela highlights:
- How super habits make life easier — because once something becomes a habit, it takes less effort
- Why super habits lead to lasting joy rather than just temporary gratification
- The effects of super habits on physical, mental, and emotional health
Dr. Abela is the founding dean of the Busch School of Business and Ordinary Professor of Marketing at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. He is a faculty affiliate at the Harvard University Human Flourishing Program and a Contributor at Forbes.com. Dr. Abela also provides consulting and training in internal communications to Fortune 100 corporations. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, an MBA from the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, and a Ph.D. in Marketing and Ethics from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia. He and his wife, Kathleen, have six children, three of whom (so far) have graduated from Catholic U.
Learn more about Dr. Abela and his work at Catholic University and more about his new book here.
"The Ten Commandments are all about relationships. The first three commandments pertain to our relationship with God...and the next seven pertain to our relationships with one another," explains Ed Van Buskirk, Founder and President of If U Love Me. Established in 2018 by Ed, If U Love Me is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring the truth and wisdom of God's Ten Commandments in a world of confusion. As a Catholic apostolate, it focuses on teaching the timeless truths of the commandments to bring clarity and direction. In this podcast, Ed explores how each commandment serves as God's guidance for safeguarding our relationships with Him and with others. He emphasizes that these relationships are sacred and are the source of true joy in life.
Click here to learn more about Ed Buskirk and If U Love Me.
"Reducing babies to one among various competing goods—a child, a yacht or a house—reinforces our society’s disinclination to value them as ends," writes Emma Waters in her new article called "Pro-Natalism is Not Enough" on the First Things website. "Civilization depends on individuals recognizing that building a family and nurturing children is an essential part of the human journey. Promoting marriage, which is consistently the best predictor of birthrates, is the surest long-term strategy to reverse declining fertility." Emma is a Senior Research Associate for the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion and Family at The Heritage Foundation. Her work focuses on family, bioethics and reproductive technology policy.
Her work may be found in First Things, Fox News, Newsweek, World Magazine, RealClear Policy, RealClear Health, The Federalist, the Institute for Family Studies, Problematic Women podcast, The American Conservative, The American Mind, The Daily Signal, Washington Examiner, Washington Times and more.
Read the full article at https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/08/pro-natalism-is-not-enough and follow Emma through the Heritage Foundation https://www.heritage.org/staff/emma-waters and on Twitter/X at @emlwaters.
"Our Lady faced so many more trials and sorrows than we will ever face in our lives," Ruth Berghorst shares, drawing from her personal devotion and insights from her latest book, Contemplating the Seven Sorrows of Mary, co-authored with Dr. Joseph Hollcraft. Ruth explains how devotion to Mary’s sorrows reveals a path to overcoming temptations and trials. The book explores the spiritual practice of mental prayer, with guidance on the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, responding to Our Lady’s request for believers to stay close to her heart and pray for the salvation of souls. Ruth, a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and Catholic convert, has spent over a decade mentoring young women in their spiritual journeys. Her deep love for the Passion of Christ and the sorrows of Mary fuels her mission to help others find hope and strength through redemptive suffering. This episode offers a heartfelt glimpse into Ruth’s personal faith journey and her dedication to sharing Our Lady of Sorrows' transformative grace.
Learn more about Contemplating the Seven Sorrows of Mary here.
"The teaching that best describes St. Ignatius of Antioch....is that the only way to find yourself is if you're prepared to lose yourself and to give everything over to God," explains Dr. Regis Martin. Drawing from his latest book, March to Martyrdom: Seven Letters on Sanctity from St. Ignatius of Antioch, Dr. Martin highlights three key themes from St. Ignatius’ writings: the embrace of impending martyrdom, the call for unity in the Church, and the fight against heresy. With profound love for Christ, St. Ignatius of Antioch serves as a model for how we must humble ourselves and conform our lives to the truth of Christ. Dr. Martin has been a professor of dogmatic and systematic theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, since 1988 and is a regular panelist on Franciscan University Presents.
Learn more about Dr. Regis Martin here.
"God doesn't ask us to do anything we can't do. But that doesn't mean He won't give us some challenges along the way," says Phil Lawler, editor of Catholic World News (CWN). Phil is also the author and editor of 12 books on political and religious topics, with his essays, book reviews, and editorial columns featured in over 100 newspapers across the United States and internationally. In his recent article, Martyrs in Training, Lawler explores how life’s struggles, exemplified through trials faced in difficult marriages, shape us into "martyrs in training." He explains that these challenges are not only meant to strengthen us but also to forge heroes in all shapes and sizes.
Learn more about Phil Lawler here.
"They act like we're the evil ones, the subversive ones," says Anne Hendershott, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH. "They call us the bad people, the evil people when they are the ones promoting evil." Dr. Hendershott is the author of The Politics of Envy (Crisis Publications, 2020). In her new article Keeping Catholicism Weird in Crisis Magazine., Anne asserts that being a faithful Catholic in the modern world seems weird to those who have embraced the modernist radical materialism that permeates so much of the culture.
Learn more about Dr. Hendershott here.
"We are unapologetically Catholic and we bring our faith with us to every interaction with patients, their families and neighbors," said Vicki Owens, MS, BSN, RN is a nurse and has provided exceptional health care in the Denver area for over 42 years. Vicki is currently the Chief Executive and Nursing Officer for Emmaus Catholic Hospice in Denver, Colorado. The mission of Emmaus Catholic Hospice is to provide Catholic home hospice care, support and education that honors the dignity of each person we serve. Building on their loving service in Colorado for 100 years, Dominican Home Health Agency is now Emmaus Catholic Hospice. Emmaus Catholic Hospice adheres to Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs) for Catholic Health Care Services issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). This asserts that “patients should be kept as free of pain as possible so that they may die comfortably and with dignity, and in the place where they wish to die.”
To learn more about Emmaus Catholic Hospice visit, https://emmauscatholichospice.org/
Jim Valois holds a B.A. in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville. His articles and book reviews have been featured in The Wanderer Newspaper, Soul Magazine (World Apostolate of Fatima, USA), and Catholic Life Magazine. He is the author of Our Lady's Prophecies and reverted to the Catholic faith from Evangelicalism while studying at Franciscan University. Jim is a husband and father of two adult children. He has worked in business and previously served in youth ministry in both teaching and administrative roles.
In this discussion, Jim shares the inspiring story of Charlene Marie Richard, a young Cajun Catholic farm girl who died over 60 years ago at the age of 12 after a painful battle with leukemia. Charlene was known for her bright, generous and exuberant spirit. Even in her suffering, she served God by offering up her pain to help others—a practice known as redemptive suffering. Many believe she is a saint, with over 1,600 testimonials of miracles attributed to her intercession. Jim highlights how saints and holy people have historically offered their suffering to God for the redemption of others. He adds, "We may not always feel like we can offer up every single time we experience a suffering, but even if we could do it some of the time....direct it and offer it and give it to God and let him do what He can do with it."
Jim Valois books can be found here: https://catholicexchange.com/author/jim-valois/
"Early primers for learning how to read included the 10 Commandments... but in 1980, someone had a problem with it and raised it to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the 10 Commandments should not be part of the public space. Now there's something really critically missing now," said Ed Van Buskirk, the Founder and President of If U Love Me, a Catholic apostolate dedicated to teaching the wisdom of the Ten Commandments. "Now in our culture, we don't know the truth of God's moral laws. They've been pushed to the side and we look around and say we need something to tell us what is right and wrong so, in our mere human wisdom...relativism has become the order of the day and it's caused a lot of hardship, division and isolation. It leads us away from God." Van Buskirk is the author of the book and video course on the Ten Commandments, God’s Recipe for a Wonderful Life and creator of the “God’s Recipe for School and Family,” a program that teaches the Ten Commandments to school children and their families. He speaks nationwide and has been featured at the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocesan Eucharistic Congress. He also has written numerous articles that have appeared in Catholic Exchange.
Learn more about Van Buskirk's ministry at https://ifuloveme.org.
"If you don't know what you're talking about, you won't be able to convince anyone to take you seriously, no matter how pious you seem or how good your works are. If people can see that you lack understanding, they won't listen," asserts David Paul Deavel, an Associate Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas-Houston. Prof. Deavel is a prolific and widely published writer.
In addition to his book Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West, his academic work has appeared in journals such as Chesterton Review, Chicago Studies, and Faith and Reason. In his new article, which he discusses with Deacon Geoff, "Theology is Not Trivial Pursuit," Deavel argues that "Simply knowing doctrines is not the same as living them. Even believing them to be true isn’t enough. 'You believe that God is one,' St. James writes in his Epistle; 'you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder' (James 2:19). But knowing that 'God is one' is not a mere obscure factoid for a trivia game."
Deavel was recently named Chair of the Theology Department. He assumes this leadership role at a time when the department is pioneering a new curriculum for its M.A. program in Historical Theology and continues its collaboration with St. Mary’s Seminary to form priests, deacons, and laypeople equipped to serve Christ and His Church with both head and heart.
Read his latest article at https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2024/08/01/theology-is-not-a-trivial-pursuit/
“It's like the more we worship ourselves, and we certainly see this on social media, the less we worship God,” says Patrick O'Hearn, a devout Catholic, husband and father. "Most of the time I'm just telling Jesus what I think, even complaining to him. How often do I say to the Lord "What do you want from me? What do you need from me?" In his new new article in Catholic Exchange, How the Eucharist is Not Loved, Patrick confronts the reality that most Catholics fail to spend enough time adoring and revering our Lord. Patrick is an author, literary consultant, speaker and a freelance editor, previously serving as TAN Books' acquisitions editor for two years. He grew up in the Midwest and spent close to three years in a Benedictine Monastery before discerning the call to marriage. He graduated with a master's in education from Franciscan University of Steubenville and a bachelor's in marketing from St. Ambrose University. "
To learn more, visit https://patrickrohearn.com.
“Then finally I started to realize that the Catholics that I interact with are dying to know more about the faith. We have so many Catholics in America that if we simply get them on fire for the truth, we’d win the whole rest of the world because we really have a gold mine just with the people who are Catholic in in in sitting in the pews,” said Leila Miller, a Catholic writer and author whose passion is Church teaching on marriage, family, human sexuality. In her new article https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/its-good-to-preach-to-the-choir in Crisis Magazine. Leila is a prolific author and loves to discuss culture, society, and politics, and generally from a conservative perspective. She has published four books: Primal Loss: The Now-Adult Children of Divorce Speak; Raising Chaste Catholic Men: Practical Advice, Mom to Mom; Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today’s Tough Moral Issues (co-authored with Trent Horn of Catholic Answers); and her latest, “Impossible” Marriages Redeemed: They Didn’t End the Story in the Middle.
Learn more and read all of her articles at https://www.leilamiller.net
It’s Good to Preach to the Choir
Do not let anyone discourage us or tell us that it’s redundant, unnecessary, or foolish to speak the truth among our fellow Catholics.
"The Lord put it on my heart to write this article after He showed it to me and revealed it to my heart that this was a fault that I have and that it's something that's keeping me from being closer to Him and doing His will in my life," said Suellen Brewster, author of the new article "Does People Pleasing Lead to Holiness at catholicexchange.com. "It (constant people pleasing) is a way that doesn't work in the long run because the frame is constantly changing and shifting and you are continually trying to figure out another person's mind and that's never a good place to go. It's much better to figure out what God wants me to do." Suellen is a wife, mother and happy revert to the Catholic faith. She helps lead the local Ignatian Exercises and is a member of the Dominican laity. Suellen writes from her home outside of Buffalo, New York, where the long winters invite souls into quiet prayer and reflection.
Read her latest article here: https://catholicexchange.com/does-people-pleasing-lead-to-holiness/
"I think if more and more people could argue these issues from a child's perspective, we might be able to change some hearts," said Doug Mainwaring, author of a new article at LifeSiteNews.com about Scholastic's new "pride" guide calling on children as young as kindergarten to become involved in the LGBTQA+ effort. "Timeless truths are being discarded by media, by politicians, by corporations and instead we're being fed under the guise of tolerance a whole array of new understandings that we're supposed to embrace about marriage, family and humanity. This is a huge battle." Doug Mainwaring is a journalist for LifeSiteNews, an author and a marriage, family and children's rights activist. He has testified before the United States Congress and state legislative bodies, originated and co-authored amicus briefs for the United States Supreme Court and has been a guest on numerous TV and radio programs. Doug and his family live in the Washington, DC suburbs.
Read his articles at https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/author/doug-mainwaring/
"Society is lost and confused about God, morality, and eternity," said Bishop Schneider in his new book Flee from Heresy. "Catholics face persecution, from outside and inside the Church, for living their Faith. In his newest book, Bishop Athanasius Schneider — raised among persecuted Catholics in the Soviet Union — offers a systematic treatment of more than 130 doctrinal errors, from ancient times down to our own day, along with English translations of the Church’s major anti-heresy documents of the past two centuries. In this fascinating book, readers will discover the ideological roots of our own unsteady times and be better equipped to “test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21).
To learn more about Bishop Schneider and his new book, visit https://sophiainstitute.com/product/flee-from-heresy/
"If you're worried about everyone liking you so you don't say anything, then it's yourself you are worried about and caring about. It takes courage to speak up," says Patti (Maguire) Armstrong in this week's podcast. "Leave it to God and pray to the Holy Spirit. I don't know where to begin. I don't know who I'm supposed to sit next to but God does. And He can put us into the right places and, if we give Him permission to use us, He will." Patti and Deacon Geoff were talking about her article in the National Catholic Register "Nine Points of Advice to Fight the Devil."
Patti is an award-winning journalist and was managing editor and co-author of the bestselling Dear God, I Don't Get It, Dear God, You Can't Be Serious!, What Would Monica Do? and Holy Hacks. Patti worked in social work and public administration before staying home as a freelance writer while she and Mark raised their 10 children in North Dakota. Follow her on Twitter (X) at PattiMaguireArmstrong.com.
"There is no political, cultural or economic solution to the crisis we're facing because the crisis is not political, cultural or economic because it's spiritual. We're losing a spiritual battle. We're losing a war for the soul of the West. Everything else flows from that," says Michael Warren Davis, author of the upcoming book After Christendom. "Everything that flows from that the economic injustice, the cultural depravity, the moral decadence, the political corruption… all of that comes because we collectively as western civilization have rejected Jesus Christ. Until we commit our whole lives to the service of heaven, then nothing will change, nothing will get better." Davis is a contributing editor of The American Conservative and the author of The Reactionary Mind (Regnery, 2021). He previously served as editor of Crisis Magazine and U.S. editor of the Catholic Herald of London. His next book, After Christendom, will be published by Sophia Institute Press. Follow his Substack newsletter, The Common Man.
"As you get older, if you believe in a God who has promised us a life everlasting, it changes everything. It changes your anxiety level," said Robert Trussel, author of the new book The Logic that God Exists, a handbook on belief in God through simple reason to bring you peace. "If you believe that you're on a path toward eternal bliss and everlasting salvation with your Creator, it takes a lot of worry out and makes decision making much more clear."
Mr. Trussell is the Founder and retired Chief Executive Officer of Tempur-Pedic International Inc. of which he is currently Vice Chairman. Tempur-Pedic was a start up company in 1992, and recently reached a billion dollar a year in worldwide sales. Mr. Trussell successfully employed advertising media and public relations to spread the Tempur–Pedic story. He took the company public in 2003, where it trades on the NYSE as “TPX”. In 2006, he retired as CEO of Tempur-Pedic to serve Christ full-time by using the media for evangelization. He is also Chairman of VirtueMedia (a Catholic, pro-life media apostolate), and Chairman of 1380 Real Life Catholic Radio in Lexington, KY.
To learn more and find information about his book, visit https://sophiainstitute.com/product/the-logic-that-god-exists/
"The Catholic Church talks about the complementarity of men and women, the extent to which men and women compliment each other. Neither one is better than the other but they're different," says Bill Donohue, president and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. "But we live in a society that's radically egalitarian - everyone has to be exactly equal all the time. That is against human nature. We have different abilities, different talents, different strengths that we bring to the fore and we should praise people and develop them rather than trying to obliterate them."
Bill is the author of eleven books and thousands of articles. His latest book, Cultural Meltdown: The Secular Roots of our Moral Crisis, was published in 2024. Bill also serves on the advisory boards of many organizations, including the Society of Catholic Social Scientists and the Christian Film & Television Commission. Winner of several teaching awards, and many awards from the Catholic community, Bill has appeared on thousands of television and radio shows speaking on civil liberties, social issues, and religion. The publisher of the Catholic League journal, Catalyst, Bill served for two decades on the board of directors of the National Association of Scholars. He writes regular columns for Newsmax.com.
Learn more about the Catholic League and Bill Donohue by visiting https://www.catholicleague.org/.
"Every child is a gift from God, no matter how they're here," said Sarah Stula, an attorney in Kansas City. "The point is where do we go from here to protect unborn life?" Stula recently authored an article in First Things called "Evangelical America and IVF" in response to the February decision by the Alabama Supreme Court that ruled that human embryos stored in an IVF clinic are unborn children for the purposes of the state's wrongful death statute. Stula writes the article from the perspective of a woman who, together with her husband, suffered from infertility for almost seven years before they were able to adopt their baby girl in early 2024. As she writes, "To those experiencing infertility, my plea is this: Don’t turn a blind eye to what’s happening in the fertility industry. Don’t sacrifice one life for another. Consider the cost. Stay rooted in truth and don’t turn from it, even for your heart’s greatest desire."
Read the full article at https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/04/evangelical-america-and-ivf
"When you ask people who knew him to describe him, the first word out of their mouth is 'brilliant.' We throw that word around a lot but he was literally brilliant. The thing that made him so incredible was that scholars could talk to him about ancient languages but someone like me could talk to him about bass fishing and Nascar," said Karen Hall a television writer and producer of hit shows like MASH, Hillstreet Blues, Moonlighting and The Good Wife about conservative Jesuit biblical scholar Fr. Paul Mankowski, SJ, who died in September 2020. Hall's new book, The Sound of Silence: The Life and Cancelling of a Heroic Jesuit Priest,* exposes the silencing of Fr. Mankowski by his religious order for airing its dirty laundry and for upholding the two-thousand-year magisterium of the Catholic Church. With the same page-turning prose that brought her singular Hollywood success, Hall reveals how Fr. Mankowski was “canceled” long before the dawn of today’s pervasive Cancel Culture took root.
Click here to order the book and learn more about this remarkable priest.
"Mother Cabrini was incredibly politically savvy, more so than you would typically expect from a nun," said Kristen Van Uden Theriault, the author of The Mother Cabrini Companion, A Spiritual Journey with a Courageous Woman of God. "Her life of service is a testament that she wasn't doing this for herself, but for the glory of God." Theriault has degrees in history and Russian area studies and studies religious persecution in the 20th century. She is the media spokesperson for Sophia Institute Press and recently edited the new book on Mother Cabrini. The book helps readers immerse themselves in her inspired writings. Drawn from her letters from her international travels and her extensive spiritual retreat notes, these entries speak directly to souls seeking conviction and courage. Experience the beauty of Mother Cabrini’s inner world as she shares practical advice for spiritual development interspersed with poetic descriptions of creation, the sacraments, the virtues, and the joys of Heaven. A perfect enhancement to the blockbuster film, this devotional allows you to delve into the heart of Mother Cabrini’s spirituality and connect deeply with her teachings and insights.
To learn more about Theriault's newest book, visit: https://sophiainstitute.com/product/the-mother-cabrini-companion/
One night, I was out on the road with a band and I had an encounter with Jesus and it changed me," said John Michael Talbot, GRAMMY / DOVE Award winning Christian Music pioneer who has just released his first autobiography titled Late Have I Loved You. "I started reading the early Church Fathers and I saw the primitive expressions of what we now call the Catholic faith. Deacon Geoff, I wasn't looking to become a Catholic, I didn't even like Catholics that much. So the Lord gave me the word... 'She's my first Church. I love Her most dearly and I want you to be a part of Her. And so In 1978, I became a Catholic." After responding to the Lord’s call, God used John Michael to bless millions of lives through his unique and multi-faceted ministry. Today he is recognized as Catholic music's most popular artist with over $4M sales and compositions published in hymnals throughout the world. His newest album, “Worship and Bow Down” is the 53rd album in his 37 years in Christian music ministry. A respected (and prolific) author of over 30 books, John Michael’s newest book Late Have I Loved You was released in February of this year.
Learn more about John Michael Talbot and access all of his activities here: https://johnmichaeltalbot.com
"G.K. Chesterton wrote about everything. He defended God against a godless society, defended Christianity specifically against other religions and then ended up defending the Catholic faith against, well, everything else," said Dale Ahlquist, author of six books, editor of 16 more, public speaker, Evangelical convert to Catholicism and Catholic apologist. He is considered one of the world's foremost authorities on English writer, G.K. Chesterton. President and co-founder of the American Chesterton Society and the publisher of its magazine, Gilbert, Ahlquist is the creator and host of the television series, The Apostle of Common Sense, on EWTN. He is also the co-founder of Chesterton Academy, a Minneapolis-based high school rated one of the top 50 Catholic schools in the United States. In 2012, he was named a Senior Fellow of the Chesterton Library at Oxford University. Dale and his wife Laura have six children and live in Minneapolis.
Learn more about the new book he has edited called Localism: Coming Home to the Catholic Social Teaching, here.
"There is so much good scientific evidence for God, the soul and transcendence that I wanted to include in this book. There's so much to include that wasn't available to previous generations," said Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D., the founder and president of the Spitzer Center. A scholar, teacher, author and seasoned leader, Fr. Spitzer is a pre-eminently a theologian and philosopher. His new book, The Four Levels of Happiness: Your Path to Personal Flourishing, is available for pre-order in mid-May. Father Spitzer's other fields of expertise include management science, finance, ethics and physics. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1952, Fr. Spitzer entered the Society of Jesus in 1974, was ordained a priest in 1983, and took final vows in 1992.
To learn more about Father Spitzer and his wealth of information and books, please visit https://www.magiscenter.com/father-spitzer
“I discovered the Catholic Church and found a certain stability there that was just unlike anything I'd ever known,” says Dom David Watters, author of the new daily devotional Just for Today. “There's something really powerful in this institution and something truly, really real.”
The son of Protestant missionaries, Dom David grew up in Kathmandu, Nepal and moved to the U.S. at 12 years old. While attending Baylor University, he converted to Catholicism and began considering religious life shortly thereafter. In 2020, Dom entered the Benedictines of perpetual adoration with plans to make final vows this September.
In this episode, he delves deeper into his journey of faith and how it led him here today. His message of God’s love and truth is both personal and far-reaching to bring others closer to the Lord.
We invite you to join the amazing conversation with Dom David this week, and make sure you get Just for Today soon to start your day off strong with a powerful devotion.
“Men seem to have a delayed grief relative to women,” says Bryan Feger, co-author of The Grief of Dads: Support and Hope for Catholic Fathers Navigating Child Loss from Ave Maria Press. “And usually that's because they're focused on providing care and support for their wife, and so they delay their grief.”
A member of the Knights of Columbus, Bryan earned his doctorate in physiology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and serves as a high school catechist and a participant in Yoke Fellows prison ministry. After experiencing the loss of three children from miscarriage, he finds purpose in letting other dads know that they are not alone.
In this episode, Bryan discusses the intricate differences in grief experienced by men when a child passes away. The book was written by Catholic dads who have lost a child from various circumstances, and they provide the spiritual support and community needed to help others journey through the grief.
Listen in on this powerful conversation this week, and be sure to grab The Grief of Dads to learn more.
“There are countless different obstacles, all layered on top of each other,” says Rachel Hoover Canto of the journey to finding one’s spouse in today’s world. “It’s a very complicated situation, and I tried to address all the different obstacles I was hearing about and then provide at least a starting point, some tips for starting to overcome each one.”
Rachel shares these tips and more in her new book Pretty Good Catholic: How to Find, Date, and Marry Someone who Shares Your Faith. First taking her own advice, she found and is happily married to the love of her life and now lives in Nashville with her husband.
A graduate of Christendom College and new author blossoming onto the scene, Rachel also works as a freelance journalist and tech writer for Catholic news outlets.
Whether you are single, dating, engaged or waiting, be sure to grab Pretty Good Catholic and give ear to this week’s episode, as Rachel delves deeper into the modern-day landscape of relationship and marriage in the Catholic faith.
“To be honest, I was in a very dark place,” says Jason Jones, author of the new book The Great Campaign: Against the Great Reset. "I wanted to give people hope--I wanted to give myself hope, and I looked to the church."
Jason is also an activist, film producer, podcast host and the president of the Human Rights Education Organization (H.E.R.O.). He has been everywhere from the sets of great movies to the frontlines of war doing this amazing, selfless work.
In this episode and his newest book, Jason deals with the array of evil ideologies that comprise the Great Reset. He further explains how an elite class of individuals are attempting to take total control and tell people what to do and how to do it.
Join this compelling conversation this week, and go grab his new book soon to find out more about Jason and his work.
"We are constantly being tempted by demons throughout the day. It's not a big deal if you ignore it. That's just normal temptation. But there are billions, trillions of demons who are working to destroy everyone on the planet, whoever is on the planet at the time," said Charles D. Fraune, author of the new book "The Occult Among Us. "One of them is the occult and the corruption of culture and the suppression of Christianity and fear and addiction." Charles is an author, teacher, and speaker with a Master of Arts in Theology and an Advanced Apostolic Catechetical Diploma. He is the author of the best-selling spiritual warfare books – Slaying Dragons: What Exorcists See & What We Should Know and The Rise of the Occult: What Exorcists & Former Occultists Want You To Know, both of which have been endorsed by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Bishop Joseph Strickland and exorcist Msgr. Stephen Rossetti.
Find him and his other publications at www.SlayingDragonsPress.com.
https://www.theslayingdragonsbook.com
“Christ indicated in the revelations that it’s the greatest devotion to make reparation for the greatest crime,” says Mary Jane Zuzolo, author of the new book Unveiling the Sixth Station of the Cross.
The crime she speaks of is blasphemy, which she defines as any affront to God’s rights as outlined in the first three commandments. The devotion is penned by her renown great-great-great aunt Sr. Marie de Saint Pierre, the French Carmelite who received revelations from Christ Himself to create the Holy Face Devotion.
A summa cum laude Philosophy graduate from the University of Illinois and the keynote speaker for the first Conference on the Holy Face, Mary Jane’s work is discussed on several wide-reaching media outlets and even featured in publications such as Latin Mass Magazine and The Remnant.
Tune in to this week’s episode as she reveals more about her fascinating family tree and impactful work, and visit Mary Jane’s website at holyfacedevotion.org to access the book and learn more.
"We know that 93% of what is communicated in a conversation is non-verbal. That's a combination of our body language - Are we leaning in? Have we established eye contact? Have we put down our phone to signal to the other person that we're attentive? - so we have to be mindful of that as we prepare for sacred conversation," says Dr. Christopher Reed, author of the new book "Sacred Conversations: How God Wants Us to Communicate."
Dr. Reed is a Christian, a husband and a human communication teacher, consultant and coach. Christopher says that the Holy Spirit led him to the work of Sacred Conversations. He began studying human communication in 1998 at Western Michigan University and completed his doctorate degree and gained postdoctoral experience as a consultant in the University of Michigan's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. Today, his interest in human communication, relationships, organizational engagement and helping people discover and use their God-given talents is stronger than ever. His Sacred Conversations ministry is not just helping leaders, but everyone struggling to connect on a deeper level.
This captivating new book reveals how everyday interactions can lead to spiritual growth, deeper connections and meaningful impact. Learn more about Dr. Reed's work and new book at https://oursacredconversations.com
"It's a beautiful life that we could be living in each moment, but what many of us decide to do is to drown ourselves in false electronic contentment," said Michael Toscano, executive director of the Institute for Family Studies. In his new First Things article "Recovering our Memory" Michael writes, "It became quickly apparent to me that smartphones and social media were beginning to subject the people around me—smart, disciplined, hard-working people—to a profound change. They were more hunched over, prone to glancing at the device during conversations, and scrolling. Always scrolling."
Michael is a leader in efforts nationwide to adopt laws to make technology safer for kids. He has written on family policy, tech policy, the uses of technology to reshape work, and the effect of technological change on America's republican form of government. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The New York Post, First Things, Compact, The American Conservative, National Review, and elsewhere. Under his leadership, IFS has more than doubled its annual budget and quadrupled its research output. He is co-author with Peter Wood of "What Does Bowdoin Teach? How a Liberal Arts College Shapes Students" (2013).
Follow Michael and his work at the Institute for Family Studies at https://ifstudies.org
"You have to tune your antenna for what God wants you to do," said Anthony DeStefano, author of the new book "The Story of the First Easter Bunny," on how he decides what topics to write. Anthony is an American author, television host and activist. He has written five bestselling Christian books for adults, including: A Travel Guide to Heaven and Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To. He has also written eight bestselling books for children, including: The Donkey That No One Could Ride and Little Star.
In his most recent book, "The Story of the First Easter Bunny," Anthony delves into the story of the Easter Bunny. At a time when the profound significance of Easter is often overshadowed by commercialism, The Story of the First Easter Bunny is a refreshing and heartwarming reminder of the true meaning of this most holy of Christian holidays. The story focuses on a pint-size bunny with enormous ears who seeks healing for his sick mother by searching for Jesus and listening to His words. The bunny shows courage and compassion on his selfless journey. When all seems dark and he is afraid, the bunny remembers Christ’s words and takes refuge in God’s promise by calmly waiting for the light.
To learn more about Anthony, visit www.anthonydesefano.com and find his new book at https://sophiainstitute.com/product/the-story-of-the-first-easter-bunny/
"His audience was 60% non-Catholic and so he prepared his message in such a way that people didn't know he was referring to St. Thomas Aquinas or (other Catholic documents.) He simply wanted to start with something that was common to everybody and, from there, lead them to divine truths," said Dr. Peter Howard of the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen. Dr. Howard holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Angelicum in Rome and his passion IS Venerable Fulton J. Sheen -- the man and the mission. "For today, we have a world that is so wounded and psychologically twisted because of all the confusion and lies, here's a man who dedicated every moment of his life to understand what the world was thinking, what the errors are and how to provide the solution."
Dr. Howard is a leading expert on the teachings of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen. He is the author of The Woman: Mary as Mediatrix in the Teaching of Fulton J. Sheen -- the authoritative book on Sheen's Mariology -- and has traveled internationally, helping others discover this future saint. Peter has been featured on Catholic television and radio programs such as EWTN, Catholic Answers Live, the Patrick Madrid Show, CatholicTV, Shalom World, Radio Maria, and Relevant Radio. Peter is married to Catholic life and leaership coach, Chantal Howard, and they have six children. Dr. Howard and his wife Chantal are also the founders of Heroic Families.
Learn more about the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen Institute at https://www.fultonsheen.institute
When Servant of God Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres received her famous apparitions from Our Lady — known as the Quito apparitions — she was so appalled that she died. A doctor confirmed her shocking death. But thankfully, when her sisters prayed, she was raised to life again. This remarkable story is part of James Valois' new book "Our Lady's Prophecies." In it, James masterfully recounts the stunning prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success of the Purification. The relevance of many of these prophecies to today’s events, spoken, as they were, about what would begin in the twentieth century and spill over to today. Their gripping messages foretell the radical changes in customs and the disturbing state of our modern world that we are facing today.
Find more about James Valois and his new book at https://sophiainstitute.com/product/our-ladys-prophecies/
"Lent is an ideal time to make resolutions and go further. As scripture says - now is the beginning, now is the day of salvation," said Matthew Plese, author of Restoring Lost Customs of Christendom. In this informative book, Matthew Plese, who has devoted himself to studying and living the traditional calendar, takes us step by step through some of the most important ‘lost customs of Christendom.’ Restoring them, here and there, one by one, we restore ourselves and our families to all that Catholic life can be. "We want to be part of the heavenly liturgy."
Matthew is a Third Order Dominican who lives in Chicago. He's a practicing Certified Public Accountant and Catechist. He is the President of CatechismClass.com, an online based organization whose mission is to make the best in Catholic religious education and Sacramental preparation available for those who need it. Matthew writes a monthly piece on apologetics and catechesis for Catholic Family News and a weekly column for the Fatima Center. He is also the author of a number of books including Catholic Book Summaries: 54 Traditional and Contemporary Classics; Eschatology: The Catholic Study of the Four Last Things; Understanding the Precepts of the Church, and The Roman Catechism Explained for the Modern World as well as The Definitive Guide to Catholic Fasting & Abstinence. He also blogs at A Catholic Life.
"She's able to see our pain," said Patrick O'Hearn of Our Lady. Patrick is a devout Catholic, husband and father. He is an author, literary consultant, speaker and a freelance editor. He spent close to three years in a Benedictine Monastery before discerning the call to marriage. He graduated with a master's in education from Franciscan University of Steubenville and a bachelor's in marketing from St. Ambrose University. In his new book, "Our Lady of Sorrows, Patrick helps his young readers enter into the mystery of sorrows.
Imagine if you were privileged enough to sit beside Our Lady and hear from her very lips the story of Jesus’ birth and suffering. In these short, moving reflections, told from the perspective of the Blessed Mother to a child, readers young and old will experience a depth of love for God and closeness to Mary’s tender heart such as they have never felt before. This book contains a collection of traditional prayers in both English and Latin as well as four original prayers by Fr. Chad Ripperger that children can pray daily in gratitude to grow closer to Our Lady and for their vocation and protection.
Follow Patrick at https://patrickrohearn.com
"A lot of people don't want to accept that there's a lack of clarity within the Church today," said Anthony Stine, a Catholic convert from agnosticism whose conversion was influenced by G.K. Chesterton, Fulton Sheen, Hilaire Belloc, and St. Philomena. Anthony received a Ph.D. in Public Affairs and Policy in December 2020 and is Political Scientist in methodological approach. He is a married father of two (so far) and presently resides in central Oklahoma. He is the creator of “Return to Tradition” which covers the crisis in the Catholic Church and its connection to the ongoing degradation of society and preserving the Tradition of the Church. Return to Tradition also dives into current news and history. "There are people that believe morality changes with the time. They're being led astray."
Follow Anthony at https://returntotradition.org/author/returntotradition527909108/
"To grow stronger in your faith, it first starts with prayer, the most Holy Rosary, goes into meditation and a deep intimacy with Mary and Jesus. The love of knowing God more, of knowing Mary more, will propel you to learn more about the faith, to spread the faith," said Claire Aalerud, a youth minister in Sugarland, Texas.
She has her own YouTube channel called Catholic Rose, has a great devotion to the Virgin Mary and focuses on the beauty of the Mass and chapel veils. "If you're at the post office, you're at the grocery store, you can't help but smile with joy and want to share that love with others. If you give God a little bit of your heart, He will transform it and He will help you become a saint."
"The culture assaults good parents and essentially says you're out of touch. Your kid needs to think this way," said Dr. Ray Guarendi, author of the new book "Standing Strong - Good Discipline Makes Great Teens. "The kids look around them and see what their peers are allowed to do and they see all the opportunities they want that mom and dad won't let them have and that brings resentment and resistance that the "experts" say is natural. I don't think it's natural at all.
With wit and wisdom, Dr. Ray Guarendi gives parents the tools they need not only to navigate the teen years but also to enjoy them. Teens are "full of life, enthusiasm, energy, and laughter," Dr. Ray asserts, in defiance of a culture that conditions us to expect a far gloomier reality. Too often, the world tells parents to be content with mediocrity instead of the prospect of raising respectful and responsible children with strong character. This book is wise, perceptive, and laugh-out-loud funny. Dr. Ray uses his trademark humor-with-a-dash-of-sarcasm to give those parents who are barely treading water some good, sound, logical advice to change the tone and tenor of their households for the better.
Find Dr. Guarendi's new book at https://www.amazon.com/Standing-Strong-Discipline-Makes-Great/dp/1682782654 and follow all of his work at drray.com.
"Marriage is really a decision to love the other, in the sense of putting the other first," said R. Jared Staudt, Catholic father, teacher, writer, speaker and Benedictine oblate dedicated to helping others to experience and embrace the vibrant tradition of Catholic life. "And when you do that, it's fruitful. Marriage is meant to be fruitful and bring us to a deeper sense of who we are in relationship to the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Jared works in formation for men as director of content for Exodus 90 and teaches for the Lay Division of St. John Vianney Seminary. He earned his BA and MA in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and his PhD in Systematic Theology from Ave Maria University. He teaches, writes and speaks on the intersection of faith and life, including the fundamentals of faith, art, literature, history, philosophy and the principles of education.
Follow all his work at https://buildingcatholicculture.com
“The stakes are very high and the choices we have are simple and stark. You’ve got to choose. You can’t maneuver your way in. It’s God or the devil. Light or darkness,” said Regis Martin, Professor of Theology and Faculty Associate with the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. He earned a licentiate and a doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Martin is the author of a number of books, including Still Point: Loss, Longing, and Our Search for God (2012) and The Beggar's Banquet (Emmaus Road). His most recent book, published by Scepter, is called Looking for Lazarus: A Preview of the Resurrection. “I think if we live under the aspect of eternity, we will see things straight on.”
To follow Dr. Martin and learn more, visit https://crisismagazine.com/author/regis-martin
"Holy men and women will often have a clearer vision than the rest of us about our ultimate goal and of the fundamental moral principles that should guide our lives," writes Randall B. Smith, a Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas in his recent article called "Holiness and Prudence" in The Catholic Thing. "These gifts will not, however, always result in prudent decisions about particular matters. Such prudence is usually the result of long experience, trial and error, and good training by someone who already possesses good judgment."
Dr. Smith’s areas of research are moral theology, historical theology, sexual ethics, faith and culture, sacred architecture, and architecture and urbanism. He can speak on sin as a part of the human condition.
Learn more about his latest book is From Here to Eternity: Reflections on Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection of the Body.
"We want quick fixes and The Surrender Novena encourages us to let Jesus take care of it,"said Maria Palma Smith, a certified Catholic life coach and Italian translator who recently finished the transition of Father Don Dolindo, the author of the Surrender Novena, which will be published next year. "We need to surrender our will to God and that's the hardest thing. Father Dolindo did that and shows us how to surrender because he lived out struggles, poor health and rejection from the Church he loved."
Follow Maria on her YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSk-n4ZvXzmXDuXwIAjwTsg and learn more about Father Dolindo on Catholic Exchange.
"The whole point of love is to lead people to heaven," says Constance T. Hull, wife, mother, homeschooler, and a graduate with an M.A. in Theology with an emphasis in philosophy. "The way I look at it is that love is expressed most perfectly on the cross. Love is crucified so that means we draw people into that reality and we love them enough to love them towards heaven." Hull's desire is to live the wonder so passionately preached in the works of G.K. Chesterton and to share that with her daughter and others. While you can frequently find her head inside of a great work of theology or philosophy, she considers her husband and daughter to be her greatest teachers. She is passionate about beauty, working towards holiness, the Sacraments and all things Catholic. She is also published at The Federalist, Public Discourse and blogs frequently at Swimming the Depths.
Find more about Constance and read her weekly story at Catholic Exchange.
"Much of American culture, especially that in the coastal regions, is no longer set up to accommodate families. In areas with such a high cost of living, there is even greater emphasis on the assumed need to have two incomes," writes Anna Kaladish Reynolds in her recent article in Crisis Magazine, Why Are Americans Having Fewer Children Than They Want. Anna attended the University of Dallas and received an MA in Theology from Ave Maria University. She is a wife and mother, who lives in the great state of Texas, and she writes at InspireVirtue.com. "The inflexibility of a dual-career household means that having many children is often unattainable."
Follow Anna and her writings at https://inspirevirtue.com/about/
"We're going through a tough time in the church, in academics and the entire world right now," said Father Ed Broom, OMV, is Associate Pastor of St. Peter Chanel Church in Hawaiian Gardens, California. He is a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary and was ordained by Blessed John Paul II on May 25, 1986. Fr Ed's teaches Catholic Ignatian Marian Spirituality through articles, podcasts, a radio show, retreats and spiritual direction. "Like Peter, we have to make sure we don't lift our gaze from Christ. We focus more on the problems than the problem-solver, who is Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life."
In his article, Five Ways to Seek Grace in your Life, Father Broom reminds us that "off all of the gifts that we can receive on earth, as pilgrims traveling towards our eternal home, the grace of God is by far the greatest treasure. It is the pearl of infinite price!"
Follow Fr. Broom at http://fatherbroom.com
"It's one thing to be lost and know you're lost," said Stephen P. White the Executive Director of The Catholic Project in his newest article about faith and public life called Behold the Sin. "But many people today don't even recognize they are lost and need to heal."
Since 2019, Stephen has led The Catholic University of America's response to the clergy abuse crisis, focusing on the collaboration of clergy and the laity. He served as executive producer for the award-winning podcast, Crisis: Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church.
For over a decade, Mr. White has been a fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC. His work focuses on the intersections of faith, politics, and culture, frequently applying Catholic social teaching to contemporary issues. Mr. White is the author of Red, White, Blue, and Catholic (Liguori Publications, 2016) and writes a bi-monthly column for The Catholic Thing.
Learn more about the Ethics & Public Policy Center at https://eppc.org
"For over half of the twentieth century, across nearly half the globe, the Catholic Faith was repressed, restricted, or outright illegal," reports Kristen Van Uden in her upcoming book When the Sickle Swings. "From secret Masses in the prisons of Cuba, to clandestine clergy in the catacombs of Bratislava, to showdowns with Soviet tanks on the streets of Brno, Catholics resisted communist persecution in every way they could. Like their ancestors before them, they risked it all for their Faith. Kristen is the editor of Catholic Exchange and author spokesperson at Sophia Institute Press. Her first book, When the Sickle Swings: Stories of Catholics Who Survived Communist Oppression, will be available from Sophia Institute Press on November 21, 2023. She has been featured on a wide range of media platforms including Coast to Coast AM, First Things, and Sensus Fidelium. Book information, original articles, and links to interviews can be found at her Substack, On the Wheel.
Pre-order Kristen's new book at https://sophiainstitute.com/product/when-the-sickle-swings/
"It is time for honest women to recognize that feminism has not been the boon for women that it has been presented as. To be sure, there have been many advances under feminism, such as laws against sex and pregnancy discrimination, custody laws for mothers and many social and economic opportunities, says Carrie Gress, mother, author, philosopher and teacher. "But to focus on these genuine improvements is to overlook the irreparable harm feminism has done to legions of women."
Carrie is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a Scholar at the Institute for Human Ecology at Catholic University of America. She has a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of America and is the editor at the online women’s magazine Theology of Home, and she is a frequent radio and podcast guestand has appeared on Fox, BBC, CBC, EWTN, OAN, and Russia Times television. She is the author of Nudging Conversions , Ultimate Makeover, The Marian Option, and Marian Consecration for Children, The Anti-Mary Exposed and Theology of Home. Her most recent book, The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Destroyed Us, is the focus of this podcast.
Follow her at http://www.carriegress.com
“St. Jerome is best known for compiling the Latin edition of the Bible, called the Vulgate, and rightly so,” said David G. Bonagura, Jr., an adjunct professor of classical languages at St. Joseph's Seminary, New York, and adjunct professor of theology at Catholic Distance University. He serves as Religion Editor of The University Bookman, the flagship publication of the Russell Kirk Center. He is the 2023-2024 Cardinal Newman Society Fellow for Eucharistic Education. “He is also known for a famous quotation: ‘Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.’ But there is more to St. Jerome than this. We have 123 of his letters, written in a style equivalent to the modern essay, on a variety of topics. His letters of consolation stand out as some of the greatest examples of Latin prose and of pastoral care." The book contains seven letters written by St. Jerome from the years 389–412. In addition to translating the letters, Mr. Bonagura wrote an extended introduction to St. Jerome’s life, work, and thought. He also wrote a brief paragraph before each letter identifying the deceased, the bereaved, and the context.
Learn more about Mr. Bonagura's new book from Sophia Institute Press at Jerome’s Tears: Letters to Friends in Mourningand find out more about Mr. Bonagura athttps://www.davidgbonagurajr.com
"In this day and age, there is a great deal of focus on affirmation, which can be great. But we're not called to provide affirmation to the error in someone's ways," says Dom Cingoranelli, who recently wrote an article for the Catholic Stand called "The Advantage of An Outward Focus." Dom is a Benedictine-educated cradle Catholic—a revert to the faith—and an Oblate of St. Benedict. Recently retired from consulting to management in the CPA profession and elsewhere, he and his wife of 45+ years attempt to live according to the three pillars of Church authority--Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium. Dom encourages everyone to live with an outward focus, making God’s will and others’ needs the targets of your attention. God wants to use each of us for His greater glory where we’re at, now, in the moment. This requires us to look up and out- up to God, and out, for our neighbor.
Read the full article and others at: https://catholicstand.com/the-advantage-of-an-outward-focus/
"We hope this book will be helpful not only the young girls who have this aspiration to religious life, but also to their families to take away some of the misconceptions about religious life," said Sister Mary Josefa of the Eucharist about the new book that she and the sisters of her community recently wrote called Brides of Christ (Sophia Institute Press, 2023). Sister Mary Josefa of the Eucharist is a Benedictine nun in Missouri. Their new book invites the reader into the rhythms of their contemplative life through the course of the day and cycle of the year. "It is a very joyful, a very interior way of life, a very close union with God."
To learn more, visit:
- The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles website
- The new book, Brides of Christ, from Sophia Institute Press
"Saints did not respond to the evil around them, the negativity around them, the sin around them with anger or with anything less than love," says Alec Torres is the co-founder and president of Allo-graph, a writing communications, and design firm. Alec has written for some of the most prominent leaders in the world—including President Donald Trump and Kevin McCarthy. Through years in the public and private sectors, he has penned op-eds that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Reuters, ABC, CNN, RealClearPolitics, National Review and more. "The Saints really did live out Christ's call to love their enemies and to pray for those who persecuted them."
You can find his new book Persecuted from Within: How the Saints Endured Crises in the Church on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Sophia Institute Press.
"Most of us know what we believe as Catholics, but often we're unclear on why we believe it," says EWTN's John Martignoni. In his new book Blue Collar Apologetics: How To Explain and Defend Catholic Teaching Using Common Sense, Simple Logic, and the Bible. "At a time when vast numbers of Catholics are slipping away from the Faith, God has tasked you and countless other Catholics with understanding it so you will be prepared to defend it."
Martignoni was born Catholic but didn't learn the faith growing up. He was a so-called cafeteria Catholic for a couple of years until getting hold of Scott Hahn’s “Conversion Story” talk and delving deeply into apologetics. He's the director of the Office of the New Evangelization; Diocese of Birmingham; founder and president of Queen of Heaven Catholic Radio; 1480 AM in Birmingham; founder and president of the Bible Christian Society. He also hosts “EWTN Open Line”, a live, nationally-telecast, call-in radio program on Bible apologetics.
Follow John at https://www.biblechristiansociety.com and buy his new book at https://sophiainstitute.com/product/blue-collar-apologetics/
"When the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas addressed the best arguments against God in his masterwork, the Summa Theologica, he listed only two. The first was the problem of evil: How can God — who is perfectly good — exist alongside that which is against Him? His second: Is God really needed to explain the world?" asks Patrick Flynn, author of The Best Argument for God, his newest book. Flynn is a re-converted Catholic, philosopher, writer, musician, fitness and martial arts enthusiast and husband and father of five living in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
In this landmark work, Flynn presents the best arguments for God while also addressing the strongest objections. He evaluates whether it’s simpler to believe in God or not, and he provides numerous arguments from philosophy, science and plain common sense. Additionally, you will discover how even the traditionally held attributes of God point to His existence.
Flynn blogs at Chroniclesofstrength.substack.com and hosts the Philosophy for the People podcast with Dr. Jim Madden.
"Deep in every man's heart is a call to live the heroic way, to champion a cause greater than himself," writes Bear Woznick in his new book 12 Rules for Manliness: Where Have All the Cowboys Gone. "The everyday hero goes beyond the ordinary in the little moments of his life and rides high in the saddle as he achieves his principles and dreams."
In 12 Rules for Manliness, adventurer Bear lays out a plan to help men learn how to develop a proper personal creed, and then define themselves by the hardships they endure in pursuit of that mission. Bear is a World Champion surfer, certified ninja black belt and sought after speaker. He is the host of The Bear Woznick Adventure radio program and EWTN's motorcycle based immersive reality-show series, Long Ride Home with Bear Woznick. A Benedictine oblate, Bear is the author of several books including A Surfer's Guide to the Soul, Deep Adventure—The Way of Heroic Virtue, and 12 Rules for Manliness: Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? published by Sophia Press. Learn more about "Bear's Man Cave" and "Bear's School of Manliness" at DeepAdventure.com.
"We're in a post-philosophical world," says Fr. Brian Thomas Becket Mullady, OP and author of the new book, The Roots of A Christian Civilization: First Principles of a Just and Ordered Society.
Fr. Mullady entered the Dominican Order in 1966 and has been a parish priest, high school teacher, retreat master, mission preacher and university professor. He has had twelve series on Mother Angelica's EWTN television network. He is the author of four books and numerous articles and writes the Answer column in Homiletic and Pastoral Review. In the pages of his new book, Fr. Mullady, answers the question: Should law implement morality or not? He provides you with a compendium of accessible answers to a range of questions on spiritual and moral theology.
Find Fr. Mullady's new book at https://sophiainstitute.com/product/the-roots-of-a-christian-civilization/ and at EWTN, where he hosts a weekly radio show.
"During the last decades, sacramentals seem too often to have been marginalized, even though they are supposed to be the daily bread of any priest, as well as of the laity," affirms Fr. Ralph Weimann, author of the new book Sacramentals: Their Meaning and Spiritual Use. Drawing from Scripture and the Tradition of the Church, Fr. Weimann has succeeded in closing this gap by striking a proper balance between the natural and the supernatural, between reason and revelation. He breaks open how sacramentals developed in the history of the Church and their definition in modernity, both in the liturgical documents of Vatican II and the Code of Canon Law. Sacramentals are meant to "produce spiritual effects" in the daily lives of the faithful," Father shares.
To learn more about Father Weimann, visit https://www.domuni.eu/en/university-life/professor/?idTeacher=212.
"There's a long downward slope for children in this country over the last 60 years, starting with the sexual revolution," said John Bursch, senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy with Alliance Defending Freedom. "Kids become objects, mere commodities....and children aren't given the dignity and respect that human beings made in the likeness and image of God are supposed to have and gender ideology is the last bastion at the end of that line." Bursch has argued 12 U.S. Supreme Court cases and three dozen state supreme court cases, and he has successfully litigated six matters with at least $1 billion at stake. He's also the author of the new book, "Loving God's Children - The Church and Gender Ideology."
In this new book, Bursch helps explain what the Catholic Church teaches about the human person and why modern culture’s embrace of “gender ideology” is not only wrong but terribly dangerous for parents and families, female athletes, medical professionals — and especially those experiencing gender confusion. Drawing from Church documents and extensive scientific research, Bursch answers numerous questions that confront Catholics living in a culture that promotes gender fluidity. He covers a range of topics including how to approach the use of pronouns in the workplace, whether transgender individuals can receive the sacraments, and ways to accompany those struggling with gender confusion.
Learn more about John and his book at https://sophiainstitute.com/product/loving-gods-children/
"Someone can think they're sitting in a Chapel in silence and Adoration, but still inside their head, they have all kinds of noise," said Fr. Basil Nortz, author of the new book "Holy Silence: A Practical Guide to Recollection in God. "It's important to go through steps to achieve beneficial silence. Fr. Basil Nortz masterfully builds upon the classic reflections of Sr. Marie-Aimée de Jésus, a nineteenth-century spiritual mystic and Carmelite nun, on the twelve degrees of silence. By cultivating these types of silence, you will find out how you can — even amid your busy days filled with chatter, commotion, and noise — listen to the voice of God.In these profound pages you will find ways to overcome your fear of silence and discover:
- Keys to obeying God’s will
- Kinds of silence that are holy and kinds that are unholy
- Ten tips on what to do — and what to avoid — to bridle your senses
- Seven ways to guard your imagination and foster recollection
- How to direct your emotions with reason and foster silence of the heart
- Effective ways of responding to injustice
To learn more, visit https://sophiainstitute.com/product/holy-silence/
"Wokeness is basically an ideology that uses noble goals and manipulates them to control others and bring about evil in the world," said Teresa Mull, author of "Woke Proof Your Life", a new book from Sophia Institute Press. "I've also been saying it's essentially political correctness on steroids. It's just another name for radical liberalism." Americans are burned out, on edge and nostalgic for the time before bullying progressives turned every aspect of our lives into a radical social cause. This book provides practical, woke-proof ways in which the silenced majority--which feels disoriented, if not overmatched--can finally stand up and restore America's values and culture.
Learn more about Teresa Mull and her new book at https://sophiainstitute.com/product/how-to-woke-proof-your-life/
"If people are fearful (of dying), it's because they don't have a relationship with God and that makes all the difference in the attitude," said Dr. Paul Chaloux, author of the new book "Dying Without Fear."
Dr. Chaloux was a chemical engineer for over 30 years and, in 2015, after earning a master’s degree in religious education from Fordham University and retiring from IBM, Paul was accepted into the PhD program at the Catholic University of America to study Catechetics, with the goal of teaching future catechists. However, his plans changed dramatically when he was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s Disease just after moving to Washington, DC for his studies. His new neurologist, after learning that Paul was studying theology, asked him why people suffer. He had no answer since it was not his intended field of study, but the question intrigued him enough to cause him to take up the subject. Five years later, having earned his PhD in moral theology, Dr. Chaloux wrote Why We Suffer for general audiences as a follow on to his dissertation, The Grace Concealed in Suffering: Developing Virtue and Beatitude, which he defended at CUA on March 5, 2020.
Dr. Chaloux currently teaches theology as an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of America and serves as a catechist at St. Agnes Parish in Arlington, Virginia. He has been married for over thirty years to his wife Sue and they have 4 adult children and 2 granddaughters.
To learn more, visit: https://sophiainstitute.com/product/dying-without-fear/
Mary Beth Bracy is a consecrated virgin of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, New York. She is a writer who is blessed to research, publish and speak extensively on various aspects of Catholic spirituality. Her books include Behold the Lamb, Bread of Life and The Little Way of Healing Love Through the Passion of Jesus: The Stations of the Cross with St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Mary Beth has written articles for numerous Catholic publications and recorded some Catholic talks.
Recently, she helped launch Friendship Groups, a place to bring people together, read a book and ask questions of fellow participants and guest speakers.The response in people signing up for the Friendship Group has been wonderful and demonstrated that there is a real hunger for this type of spiritual enrichment opportunity. Monthly meetings will follow with opportunities to read other life-changing literature through November and, based on the response, the Friendship Group may continue into the future. An Oblate priest will present at each meeting and answer participants’ questions. Discussion questions will be sent out prior to the meeting to help members further glean from the experience.
Information on joining the group is available here. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at mbracy@sophiainstitute.com I look forward to welcoming you and growing together in this exciting spiritual adventure!
"God is still with us. He hasn't abandoned us and we're going to be imitating Him on some level by going into the Garden with him at Gethsemane," said Father Donald Calloway, Vocation Director of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. Father Calloway is author of 15 books, including a new one called Consecration to St. Joseph, the Wonders of Our Spiritual Father. In the midst of crisis, confusion, and a world at war with the Church, it's time to come home again to our spiritual father, St. Joseph. In this richly researched and lovingly presented program of consecration to St. Joseph, Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, brings to life the wonders, the power, and the ceaseless love of St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church and the Terror of Demons. "We have to resemble our Lord and it seems like right now he's offering that chalice to drink it to the last drop because these are crazy times we're living in."
Follow Father Calloway at https://fathercalloway.com
"If you really want people to stop making excuses and help them to do things right for a change and get back on track and do something radical like change their lives for the better, then you have to be a straight shooter. You've got to use tough love. I think that as long as they know that you're really, really trying to help them and maybe even on some level you love them, they yearn for tough talk. They want hear from people who have certitude," said Andrew DeStefano, returning guest and author of the new book 30 Days to Your New Life: A Guide to Transforming Yourself from Head to Soul. "One of the chapters is to get off your pity party and stop complaining. We all have to complain once in a while, but there comes a time when you really want turn things around and complaining paralyzes us and stops us from taking any productive action."
To learn more about DeStafano's other books, both for adults and children, visit anthonydestafano.com.
"There really isn't a middle ground. The world makes us think you can have it all. But, you can't ...and ultimately, what you want to have is God. You have to pick a side and, if you pick the side of truth and love, you can help yourself and help others," said Danielle Heckenkamp, wife, mother of six and author of many articles related to motherhood, modernity and Catholicism. "We need to help children understand what talents God gave them and what he wants them to do with those talents. And, ultimately, those talents need to lead you and other souls to heaven. By focusing on all talents, all of which are graces from God, we need to find what he wants us to do with them for His glory, not for our glory.
Read more pieces from Danielle at Catholic Mom, OnePeterFIve, and Catholic Exchange.
"Living out the faith and passing it on is more an action of something that is caught rather than taught," says David G. Bonagura, Jr., an adjunct professor of classical languages at St. Joseph's Seminary, New York, and adjunct professor of theology at Catholic Distance University. In his new article in the Catholic World Report: "Can Catholicism be passed along without Catholic Culture?" Bonagura argues that faith needs to be cultivated by more than "simply" going to Mass. It needs to be passed along through tradition and action. "Fast forward to today when we don't have those things. It's much more difficult for faith to take root because there's nothing supporting the supernatural element." Bonagura continues, "What did Christ promise us? He didn't promise us roses and victories in this life. He promised us the cross. The cross is the means to the Resurrection and fighting things like this difficult culture - that's part of the cross. It's not easy to do but it's how our Lord chooses to sanctify us. That's His means of crucifying us to the world so that we can share in the glory of Easter. There's no Easter without Good Friday, as unpleasant as Good Friday may be, nevertheless, we have to do it. That's what He asks. Just like He did it. We do it in imitation of Him."
Learn more about Bonagura's writings and work at https://www.davidgbonagurajr.com
"(In my new book) I analyze the crisis of the self, that as our Christian patrimony has been lost, many of our contemporaries have become slavishly obedient to political or ideological or sexual doctrines which make the parting of the Red Sea or the Resurrection of Christ seem perfectly logical by comparison," said Gil Bailie, Founder of the Cornerstone Forum and author of the forthcoming book, The Apocalypse of the Sovereign Self: Recovering the Christian Mystery of Personhood, (2023). "We're in a civilizational crisis because our culture depends entirely on the health and vitality of our Christian patrimony and today Western Civilization is hanging by a thread." Bailie continues, "I'm not an optimist by any means but I am hopeful and I do have confidence in the power of our religious tradition to revive and begin the reconstitution of our culture."
Find other works by Gil Bailie at https://cornerstoneforum.org/gil-bailie/
"We have to ask questions. You've got to make a nuisance of yourself. You've got to start with your kids. That's the only way we can take this back," said Sarah Parshall Perry, Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Reflecting on the situation facing parents now she reflects, "This is not a game any of us can afford to sit out. We've got to do our homework. You've got to ask questions of your elected representative, of your school board, of your local and state and federal politicians. This is a time to be as active as possible."
Parshall Perry continues, "We still trust that corporations, medical providers, educators and politicians might still have our best interest at mind and we're learning, painfully, that's not the case and so it's time for us to be the advocate top to bottom."
Follow Parshall Perry on twitter @sarahpperry and at the Heritage Foundation at heritage.org.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hot topic of conversation across the globe right now but who is standing up to make sure that it's in the best interests of humans? In this week's Respect Life Radio, Deacon Geoff tackles the topic.
"Think about artificial intelligence (AI) as social media on steroids - 10 times the impact that social media had on our society is what AI does. It will truly redefine the way that we live. There is nothing we can do at this point to go away from AI. It's arrived and it's here and we have to do everything we can to make sure it's in service of us and it doesn't do things that are against the best human interest for us," posits Jake Denton, Research Associate in the Tech Policy Center at the Heritage Foundation. "Ultimately, our regulators need to understand that and they need to be proactive. The question really becomes - who is going to be willing to do something about it?"
Follow The Heritage Foundation https://www.heritage.org for more information about the future of AI and big tech and follow Jake directly on Twitter at @RealJDenton
"The living of the Divine Law, the living of the mystery of the marriage requires grace and requires God's help. It's not something that humans can do on their own," said Peter A. Kwasniewski, who holds a BA in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College and an MA and PhD in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America. After teaching at the International Theological Institute in Austria, he joined the founding team of Wyoming Catholic College. Today, he is a full-time writer and public speaker whose work is seen at websites and in periodicals such as New Liturgical Movement, OnePeterFive, Rorate Caeli, Catholic Family News, and Latin Mass Magazine. "One of the insights that John Paul II helped us see was that through the sexual act, they are giving themselves in a symbolic way to other people. When they give themselves to multiple people, they're shattering themselves. Frankly, there is no successful relationship that doesn't require a certain amount of self-sacrifice. We need to work on another's behalf and sometimes that hurts." Visit his websites at www.peterkwasniewski.com and www.cantabodomino.com. Dr. Kwasniewski also runs a publishing house, Os Justi Press (www.osjustipress.com).
"There is a connection between some of the things we're seeing in the culture today and contraception because that's where a lot of confusion set in. As a culture, we shifted our priorities. Sex became about personal pleasure and no longer about relationships and marriage and welcoming children," said Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., the Kate O’Beirne Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. She directs the Catholic Women’s Forum, a network of Catholic professional women and scholars, and co-founded the Person and Identity Project, a new initiative that equips parents and faith-based institutions to counter gender ideology and promote the truth of the human person. "That attitude has really permeated so much of our culture in ways that are tremendously damaging to children."
More information about Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., can be found at https://catholicwomensforum.org/staff/mary-rice-hasson/
"We let the biggest educational system in the world shrink from 1965 to just the last couple of years, when the attendance at Catholic Schools has started to turn back up. But, in essence, it's been a shrinkage of 75% since 1965 on a percentage basis of Catholics," said Dr. Alex Lessard, author of the recent article "Catholic Education in the 21st Century. "In California, as an example, only one out of 13 Catholic students is in a Catholic school - that speaks to complacency and the desire to fit in." Alex Lessard studied theology as an undergraduate at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and took his doctorate in systematic theology at Boston College. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Institute for Catholic School Leadership at Saint Paul Seminary | University of St. Thomas, teaching the History, Philosophy & Mission of the Catholic School. "The good news is that a renewal of Catholic education has been underway for the past half-century in the homeschool and classical education movements."
To read Dr. Lessard's most recent article, click here: https://catholicexchange.com/catholic-education-in-the-21st-century/ and to follow what he's doing - including upcoming conferences - go to: https://adeodatus.com
"We are finding our identity is our sexual choices rather than finding our identity in our Creator," said Jerome German, who wrote a column for Catholic Stand, titled "Celibacy to the Rescue."
"You cannot have a just world without sexual purity," said German in this Respect Life Radio interview. "The same virtues that are required for living the life of a celibate are required for living a Christian marriage. You need to have personal purity if you're going to be faithful to your spouse; if you're going to place your spouse's well-being above your sexual needs, for example, as is often required in marriage."
On Catholic Stand, German is identified, in part, as "a retired manufacturing engineer, husband, father of eleven, and grandfather of a multitude." He also writes for Crisis Magazine.
"When I started to interview people about the challenges their facing in dating other Catholics, there were no shortage of takers who wanted to talk about this problem...I heard from people of different ages, different parts of the country who are all experiencing challenges meeting a fellow single Catholic that they might want to date, someone who is actually faithful to Church teaching, faithful to chastity, but also someone who would be pleasant to spend time with and carry on a good conversation," said Rachel Hoover, critic and essayist for several Catholic publications and author of several articles on the vocation of marriage. She holds a BA from Christendom College and lives in Nashville, TN. "People are struggling to meet each other in the first place and if they do meet each other, they're struggling with the relationship skills that are necessary to build a good dating relationship that could lead to marriage." Deacon Geoff and Rachel discuss this crisis of being able to form relationships and build faithful Catholic families.
The articles discussed in this podcast are available at OSVNews.com.
There are ten primary sources of the occult - ranging from witchcraft and satanism to astrology and yoga - and they used to be hidden, shunned and dangerous. "But now the occult feels very comfortable showing its face, revealing what it is so it's multiplying and taking on new forms," says Charles D. Fraune, author of Slaying Dragons: What Exorcists See & What We Should Know. "It's insinuating itself within all of these self-help movements."
Fraune is the founder of the Slaying Dragons Apostolate and Slaying Dragons Pressand isdedicated to writing, research, and other work on the topic of spiritual warfare. Charles was the founding Theology teacher of Christ the King Catholic High School in Huntersville, NC and was a Theology teacher there for ten years. He has a Master of Arts in Theology from the Christendom College Graduate School, as well as an Advanced Apostolic Catechetical Diploma. "Christianity has collapsed in the United States and really throughout the world. There are pockets of deep devotion, which is really remarkable and shows you the power of the Holy Spirit...but the rest of the world has given up on God and deified themselves...and that's where the occult really sneaks in."
"Everybody wants the American Dream," asserts Bill Donohue, President & CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. "But when the ruling class is working against the upward mobility ladder, particularly for African Americans, we have a serious problem." Bill is the author of ten books and thousands of articles. In his latest book, War on Virtue: How the Ruling Class is Killing the American Dream, Bill explains how there "are three virtues in every successful person. You have to have a sense of self discipline or self control. You must accept personal responsibility and you have to have grit - perseverance." In this podcast, he discusses how elites are working against people as they work their way up to capture the American Dream. Learn more about Bill Donohue at Catholic League https://www.catholicleague.org
"There are basic fundamental issues like the life of the unborn human that deserves full respect," reflects David Closson, Director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council. Closson researches and writes on life, human sexuality, religious liberty, and related issues from a biblical worldview. David is the author of FRC's Biblical Worldview Series, which seeks to help Christians and Christian leaders apply the teachings of the Bible to difficult moral questions. "As Christians we need to use whatever sphere of influence the Lord has given us to speak the truth about these issues," he reminds Respect Life listeners. "God has a very clear perspective on many of these issues."
Learn more about David Closson at the FRC website: https://www.frc.org/david-closson
"How's it working for you?" asks Dr. Ian Murphy, former lead pastor at a Baptist church in Texas who made the stirring decision to enter the Catholic Church. "People are hungry. They're hungry for healing that's sustainable, that works. That comes from turning inward. It comes from repentance." In his new book, The Road to Self-Awareness, a Therapy Book for Christians, Dr. Murphy explains how people are wounded by the fall, by evil, by other people's sins and their own. "People are hurting and want to heal. They're hungry for growth and healing but then pride rears up and screams, 'but I want to be as the Almighty. I want to play God.' They're broken and they cry out for healing. There's a way out of that circle and it comes from taking that turn inward."
Learn more about Dr. Murphy at his website DrIanMurphy.com.
"We're actually becoming more free as we understand more about what the truth is ... through Christ's teaching," said Father Mullady, Dominican Catholic Priest, Professor, Scholar and author of eight books. "People who commit sin, enslave themselves to a certain point of view and they're not free even though they interpret freedom as license." In his new book, A Primer on Fundamental Moral Philosophy, Father Mullady explains what a well-formed conscience looks like and underscores that following one's conscience isn't enough without guidance from God and His Church. Chaos follows for individuals and the society around us.
Learn more about Father Mullady at his website https://fatherbrian.weebly.com/
Christians are being persecuted at an alarming rate across the world. Churches are being burned and Catholic communities have been driven underground, but most major news outlets aren’t covering the deteriorating situation. “These things are happening, but we are often unaware of how pervasive the issue is,” said Dr. Thomas D. Williams, a 2018 Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for Ethics and Culture at Notre Dame University who has written extensively about theology, philosophy, ethics and spirituality. In his new book, The Coming Christian Persecution, Dr. Williams explains how the post-Christian West has abdicated their position to protect Christians and has become part of the problem, rather than the solution. Learn more about Dr. Williams at his website, thomasdwilliams.com.
“Cultivating this disposition of being able to enter into silence and to sit with the Lord can be absolutely central for growing in the spiritual life,” said R. Jared Staudt, Ph.D. “It's necessary to be very deliberate, to put up a fence...I want to really have peace of mind, I want to have peace of soul. I want my family to have peace in the home. So, we are going to foster that and protect it and guard it from these outside influences. So, that's the phone and any other devices...[to say] we're going to have a time when all these devices are turned off. And, as a family, we're going to foster silence. Not just me, individually, but I'm going to help my kids to develop this. We're going to get it out of the bedroom so my wife and I can actually see each other, talk to each other, grow in our relationship. Because there's a lot of couples — you see these stereotypical images, but it's true — of a couple sitting next to each other and they're both just on their devices.”
See Staudt's article, "Learn to do nothing" at the Denver Catholic, which also appeared as “Learning to do nothing: the art of sacred silence” in The Catholic World Report. Staudt is director of content for Exodus 90 and an author, most recently of “How the Eucharist Can Save Civilization" (TAN Books). Learn more at his website, Building Catholic Culture.
"What I've seen among the circles that I run in — and the survey, as well — is that a lot of young Catholics are looking to date and marry someone who is within the same camp or division inside the Church, as they are," said Rachel Hoover in this Respect Life Radio interview. "So, they're not just looking for fellow Catholics, they're looking for the right type of Catholic, so to speak, the type of Catholic that they are. Obviously, this is very limiting. There are already a relatively small number of faithful Catholics in the world; if you're shrinking your dating pool even further from that — to just the subset of Catholicism that you want to be in — and then thinking about things like the right age; do they find me attractive, at all; do they live in the same area or are they on the same dating website? You go through all those filters, so to speak, and you'll end up with almost no one left.”
Hoover, a writer based in Nashville, wrote a two-part article for The Catholic World Report: “Why aren’t young Catholics marrying?” and “How to help Catholics get married.”
The first article references Hoover's "anonymous survey of 300 self-identified practicing Catholics ages 18-39, asking them about obstacles they faced to marriage" and cites four primary reasons: dysfunctional discernment; Catholic "camps" within the Church; parent and mentor influence; and the difficulty in knowing how to go on dates. The second article takes on each of those challenges and proposes solutions.
“The Bible is intimidating and overwhelming until we know it,” said Fr. Jeffrey Kirby, STD, author of “Understanding the Bible: A Catholic Guide to Applying God's Word to Your Life Today” (Our Sunday Visitor). “The Bible is actually a library...of 73 books. Once we learn just a few basic things, suddenly it becomes very approachable, very comfortable. And then we start reading it, we realize this is actually really helping me. God's speaking to me. I know of His presence, I feel more loved, I feel more strengthened. I can do now what He's calling me to do. Once we take those first initial steps, we might ourselves be surprised at suddenly how easy the Bible is to read. And surprised, perhaps, by how much it really helps us in our lives today.”
Learn more about Fr. Kirby at his website, frkirby.com, and follow him @FatherKirby on Twitter. Listen to a previous Respect Life Radio interview with him, “How the Brown Scapular can deepen your life in Jesus Christ.”
“Jesus is calling us in this life, not just in the life to come, to throw off the disorder and the resulting evil — whether it's through our ignorance or through our deliberate sin — to throw that all off and come to stand upright. Don't go around crouched and bent over and twisted — and then: oh, we're going to accommodate you so you can walk around in that kind of distorted way.
"No. We have to stand up, walk on our two feet. And that transition from being twisted around — it's like physical therapy. It's painful for us. But it sets us free,” said Fr. Timothy V. Vaverek, STD, a parish priest in the archdiocese of Austin, Tex.
Vaverek is the author of “As I Have Loved You: Rediscovering Our Salvation in Christ” (Emmaus Road Publishing) and whose recent articles for The Catholic Thing include "Accompanying Those Innocently in Error” and “Of Sin and 'Mitigated Culpability.'”
Many of the titles given to Jesus “have Old Testament connotations. He's called Elijah, Jeremiah, King of Israel, Son of Abraham, Son of David. All these things have connections to the Old Testament. That's something we learn about in the Gospel of St. Matthew. Matthew is writing primarily to Jewish converts, people who have become Christian in the first century; they were Jews. Or, people that were thinking about Christianity from the Jewish background. So he really wanted to tie in that Jesus is that promised Messiah you read about in the Old Testament; here He is," said Eric Sammons, author of books, including “Who Do You Say I Am? Unlocking the 24 Titles Given to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew” (Sophia Institute Press).
Sammons is executive director of Crisis Publications and the editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine. Follow him @EricRSammons on Twitter. Listen to a previous Respect Life Radio interview with him: Pope Francis and the Latin Mass conflict.
A simple structure for prayer is "ready, set, go. 'Ready' is you just create a sacred time and a sacred space. I'm going to meet with God. I'm going to have my time alone with the Lord every morning, in this particular place. I'm going to light a candle...You begin that time, you turn off your phone, you recollect yourself...So that's getting 'ready,'" said Fr. John Bartunek, LC, author of books, including "40 Days to Peace and Union with God: A Journey in Prayer Through the Daily Gospels" (Sophia Institute Press).
"Then 'set' is the first things that you say to God. We recommend just thank God for something specific. Ask him for something that you need or someone you love needs. And then open yourself to receive whatever grace He wants to give you. So that's 'ready, set' and then you're ready for the 'go.' And the 'go' is the real substance of this time of prayer. And we've got five different steps that you can use during that."
"There's a meditation for every single day of Lent, typically about two pages long...focusing primarily on Scripture and on teachings of the Church Fathers. And yet, there's enough in each of those two pages — that meditation — that if you started that early in the morning, it will give you plenty to chew on, to ruminate, to ponder again throughout the day, in ways that will draw you closer to Christ every day as Lent progresses," said Dr. Kevin Vost, Psy.D., a professor and author whose recent book is "Aquinas's Lenten Meditations: 40 Days with the Angelic Doctor" (Sophia Institute Press).
Learn more at his website, drvost.com and hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with Dr. Vost: Taking care of your body for health and holiness.
"When a woman suffers sexual assault or rape — and especially, becomes pregnant in those situations — a woman is looking for justice. The abortion industry can so easily tell women to believe that justice in their circumstances would be having an abortion, and in fact, that having an abortion is the only just option," said Joy Stockbauer, policy analyst at the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council.
"When in reality, it's super important to speak the truth to women in this circumstance — and to anyone who cares about women in this circumstance — that the unborn child conceived by rape or incest had nothing to do with the circumstances of their conception. That child is in no way to blame for the acts of their father. To believe that an abortion is the right option in this circumstance is to say that child deserves to die for something that they didn't do — for something that someone else did. And so, it misplaces justice."
Stockbauer went on to say that "justice in cases of rape or incest is absolutely necessary. And pro-lifers need to be the first people to say that — to advocate for justice. But justice looks like punishing the wrongdoer, not punishing an innocent party."
Family Research Council has a webpage, titled "Difficult Conversations about Abortion," that includes links to PDF background papers on Rape and Incest, on Prenatal Diagnosis and on Ectopic Pregnancy.
Follow Stockbauer @joystockbauer on Twitter and follow Family Research Council @FRCdc.
"The saints are God's heroes but they're very humble because they recognize all the good that they can do is because God gives them the grace" that corresponds to it, said Fr. Ed Broom, OMV, an author who wrote a recent article at Catholic Exchange, "Humility: the Cornerstone of Holiness."
Later in the interview, Fr. Broom said, "A lot of people don't want to go to confession because they don't want to humbly admit that they have fallen. But the fact of the matter is, as the psalmist points out, even the just man falls seven times a day. If you do pursue frequent confession — I think we should all try to go to confession at least once a month — that's a safeguard against allowing these weeds of pride to grow up and to suffocate humility [and] other virtues."
Listen to previous Respect Life Radio interviews with Fr. Broom, including "Combating the lies of the devil" and "Fighting discouragement with Bible verses" and "How to resist the attacks of the devil."
Learn more at fatherbroom.com.
"There is no grand leader or political force that's going to ride in on the great white stallion to rescue humanity or to rescue your family. You have to be the hero. I don't care if you feel like it or not. God will give you the courage and the grace to be able to do that...," said Jack Rigert, co-founder of the John Paul II Renewal Center. "You have to be speaking about [cultural threats] in your house and your home. You have to be bringing your kids to Mass and the sacraments. You have to be praying the Rosary...and if you're not doing those kind of things, then you're just allowing these currents of evil to come in. And your family's going to pay the price."
Rigert, who also hosts the "Become Who You Are" podcast, recently wrote an article on Catholic Exchange, "Stolen Innocence: The Spiritual War on Children and the Family." Follow the John Paul II Renewal Center @JP2Renewal on Twitter.
"Various religious orders in the Church are failing precisely because they have abandoned their constitutions, their charisms — and for what?" said Ines A. Murzaku, Ph.D., professor of religion and director of Catholic Studies Program at Seton Hall University.
Murzaka wrote a commentary, "Like a Virgin?" for The Catholic Thing. She described what happened to Cristina Scuccia after winning "The Voice of Italy" in 2014. An Ursiline nun, Scuccia later left the religious order and "is now a waitress in Spain," according to the article, citing media reports.
See more from Prof. Murzaka at her webpage.
"If you're feeling helpless in your vocation, if you're feeling like you're resenting parenthood or marriage, family life — we want you to be able to find hope; to be able to have some practical tools for getting yourself out of that rut and to be able to experience the joy of your vocation and the love of God — and experience God's peace in your home. We really hope that our book accomplishes that for fellow Catholic parents," said Debbie Cowden, co-author with her husband, David, of "The Prayer Book for Tired Parents: Practical Ways to Grow in Love of God and Get Your Family to Heaven" (Sophia Institute Press).
Debbie Cowden is senior digital media specialist at EWTN. The Cowdens live in Ohio with their three young children. Learn more about the book at TiredCatholicParents.com.
"We live in a world that is so focused on the self and individualism and each person making him- or herself their highest authority, that when you apply that sort of worldview and that sort of way of thinking to reading Scripture, then it very quickly becomes...all about me. And that's entirely the wrong way to read Scripture...Especially as our culture has been influenced by the Protestant Reformation and Protestant Christianity, I think that we have lost our way in terms of how we are supposed to read Scripture," said James L. Papandrea, Ph.D., a professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill.
Papandrea is the author of books, including "Reading Scripture Like the Early Church: Seven Insights from the Church Fathers to Help You Understand the Bible" (Sophia Institute Press).
Learn more at his website and hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with him: "Pondering the truths of the early Church? It’s Catholic."
"Today I would like to speak to you about how the Eucharist is the source of our life and it enables us to live the gospel of life," said Sr. Maris Stella, SV, of the Sisters of Life. "As the basis of my reflection, I'll use the Gospel of John and I'll speak about three things: the dignity of the human person, transforming the culture and abiding in Jesus' Eucharistic heart."
St. Maris Stella spoke as part of the Gospel of Life Presentation 2022, sponsored by Respect Life Denver and held Oct. 22 at St. Thomas More Catholic Parish in Centennial, Colorado.
This episode of Respect Life Radio presents extended excerpts of her remarks. Video of her full remarks is at https://vimeo.com/765124079 and video of the full Gospel of Life event is at https://vimeo.com/764216851.
Sister Maris Stella was the first guest on Respect Life Radio in July 2018. You can listen to that episode at this link.
For more on the Sisters of Life, go to sistersoflife.org. For more on Respect Life Denver, go to respectlifedenver.org.
"What's really so parallel between communism and the culture of death in the United States is this common quality of failing to respect humanity, failing to respect the dignity of the human person. So we see that within communism — and then, of course, we see that within the abortion culture that has been built in the United States since 1973," said Joy Stockbauer, policy analyst for the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council.
"What Communism Can Teach Us About Rebuilding a Culture of Life" is the title of Stockbauer's recent commentary in The Washington Stand.Follow her @joystockbauer on Twitter.
Everybody knows "the Catholic position on abortion...on contraception and divorce and homosexual acts...so when Catholic priests or bishops or any kind of spokesman for the Church seems to shy away from saying what everybody knows the Church believes, it makes it look as if we're ashamed of our beliefs or we're hypocritical about our beliefs. It makes the witness of the Church — well, just wimpy. No one is attracted to an institution whose representatives won't be forthright in defending what we know the institution believes and preaches," said Phil Lawler, editor of Catholic World News and book author.
Lawler's commentary, "Apologizing for hard truths," described a homily on sin given in Ireland by Fr. Sean Sheehy, resulting in an apology from Bishop Ray Browne, Bishop of Kerry.
Follow Lawler @PhilLawler on Twitter and listen to a previous Respect Life Radio interview with him, "Denying Communion to Speaker Pelosi a teaching moment for us all."
Jesus Christ is present "body, blood, soul and divinity" in the Eucharist, "so why the lack of belief in that truth? And I suggest that it's because of the way we regard and handle — and manhandle — the Eucharist, so that the signs and symbols of the liturgy are not reinforcing the doctrine," said Fr. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., who wrote an article for The Catholic Thing, titled "What's Really Needed for a 'Eucharistic Revival.'"
In his article, Fr. Stravinskas cited a number of reasons for that lack of belief in the Real Presence, including the "Loss of Latin" and "Removal of the altar rails" and "Communion in the hand."
"In all of this talk about the Eucharistic Revival coming from the Bishops' Conference, none of these issues — not one of them — is addressed," said Fr. Stravinskas in the Respect Life Radio interview.
Fr. Stravinskas is a founder of the Priestly Society of Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman and president of the Catholic Education Foundation.
The Respect for Marriage Act "poses a pretty significant risk to religious Americans, both individuals and organizations. Like the Equality Act, it hopes to cement into federal law the idea that marriage is not the institution, defined by God, consisting of the union of one man and one woman. It goes, obviously, far beyond that...The first thing it does is to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act that was passed by huge bipartisan majorities and signed by Pres. Clinton in the 1990s. It also imposes an obligation on many — including, potentially, religious organizations — to recognize same-sex marriage. And that's the piece that creates a lot of the religious liberty problems. And then the last thing it does is to define marriage for federal government purpose," said Greg Baylor, director of Center for Religious Schools and Senior Counsel for Government Affairs at Alliance Defending Freedom.
Follow @GregBaylor on Twitter and listen to previous Respect Life Radio interviews with him: "Fairness for All Act a bad compromise on religious liberty" in 2020 and "Equality Act an assault on religious freedom" in 2019.
Citing the body as a temple of the Holy Spirit, "It is a call to properly care for our bodies," said Dr. Kevin Vost, Psy.D., a professor and author whose many books include, "You Are That Temple! A Catholic Guide to Health and Holiness" (Sophia Institute Press). "We're not talking about just the capacity that you can run miles or lift some huge weight, but just that we're properly maintaining our bodies, trying to minimize the chances of getting any diseases that are going to slow us down. So that we're hopefully going to feel good and have energy and be able to use our bodies to serve our families and to serve other people."
Learn more at his website, drvost.com.
"No one wants to be a member of this club. You just wake up and find out that you've got a card. But what I have found is there's a tremendous fellowship. I know of a couple of parishes where they've formed, quite literally, a St. Monica Club, and they started with reading the book and then they meet...to pray for their families and to have fellowship and to help each other bear the burden," said Maggie Green, the pen name of the author of "The Saint Monica Club: How to Hope, Wait, and Pray for Your Fallen-Away Loved Ones" (Sophia Institute Press).
"The number one thing you can do for whoever it is that you long to have united with Christ — is bring that person in your prayers, to the Blessed Mother," said Green later in the interview. "She knows exactly how you feel. She has heard that cry over and over again. Think of all the rosaries that have been said to her, on behalf of someone who loves someone else who does not know her son."
She recently published an article, "I Still Have Hope That Christ Will Bring My Kids Back to the Faith," on Catholic Exchange.
"The idea of us trying to impose our sense of right and wrong — especially on something that's so clear [as pro-life] and to tell God we know better — my goodness that is the height of arrogance. But we do live in an arrogant culture that thinks we know better than God," said David Closson, director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council. "In the dialogue and conversations around this particular issue, you see that coming out, unfortunately."
Download a booklet, "Biblical principles for pro-life engagement," from the FRC website. Hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with Closson, "Amid all the confusion, what is your worldview?" Follow him @DavidClosson on Twitter.
"The scapular literally sitting on our body reminds us that we are consecrated to Jesus Christ, through Our Lady; that we follow a different path; we carry His yoke, the scapular almost even looks like a symbolic yoke that we wear on our shoulders," said Fr. Jeffrey Kirby, STD, a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, S.C., and the author of books, including "A Journey to Mount Carmel: A Nine-Day Preparation for Investiture in the Brown Scapular of Our Lady" (Sophia Institute Press). "So every day, that scapular is a reminder that I'm going to talk about Jesus Christ. I'm going to follow His way and remain faithful to Him. I'm going to love Him and speak about Him and speak about moral truth and talk about prayer. I will not let myself be silenced."
Learn more about Fr. Kirby at his website, frkirby.com, and follow him @FatherKirby on Twitter.
For Aristotle and Aquinas, happiness is "a state of contentment, an ability not to get into the highs or the lows but to be right in the mean of the highs and the lows — which means that you're balanced about these things, so your balance of your own intellect and your own will and you're capable of not getting distressed or too depressed or too happy about any particular thing," said Charles P. Nemeth, Ph.D., author of "Finding Happiness in a Complex World: Rules from Aristotle and Aquinas" (Sophia Institute Press). Nemeth is a professor and program director of criminal justice at Franciscan University and the director of its Center for Criminal Justice, Law and Ethics.
"Most of these extraordinary cases come from violating the First Commandment and that means turning to a spirit other than God for comfort, information or power. So, if you're not playing around with other spirits than God, you're not usually going to end up in trouble. Now, if you start getting close to being in trouble, confession and the Mass — for the Catholic who has access to those sacraments — is going to resolve more than 90 percent of the situations," said Adam Blai, author of "The Exorcism Files: True Stories of Demonic Possession" (Sophia Institute Press).
Blai works in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and is an expert on "religious demonology and exorcism." Learn more at his website, "Religious Demonology."
"This book really shows us that atheism and communism were not natural disasters that were just bound to happen, but rather they were ideological revolutions that were carefully calculated," said Kristen Van Uden, referring to "The Gods of Atheism," a 1971 book by Fr. Vincent Miceli, S.J., recently republished by Sophia Institute Press.
Van Uden is the author spokesperson at Sophia Institute Press and also "studies the persecution of Catholics under communist regimes," a subject on which she is writing a book. Van Uden is editor of, and a writer for, Catholic Exchange, including the recent article, "How to Make an Atheist," which revisits Fr. Miceli's book.
Don't make any changes to your intended spiritual practice — such as going to confession, or attending daily Mass or making a planned retreat or reading Scripture — “when you're in the discouragement of spiritual desolation. That's [St. Ignatius of Loyola's Discernment of Spirits] classic Rule Five. I wish everybody in the Church knew that rule. I can't tell you how grateful in my own life I am for that rule; how many bad decisions I have not made because of Rule Five. People love it,” said Fr. Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V., author of "When You Struggle in the Spiritual Life: An Ignatian Path to Freedom" (Sophia Institute Press) and other books. Follow him at FrTimothyGallagher.org.
Hear previous Respect Life Radio interviews with Fr. Gallagher: Understanding “Discernment of Spirits in Marriage” and “Overcoming spiritual discouragement in a time of pandemic."
"We submit ourselves to fear and that's a kind of enslavement to passion. And that kind of enslavement to passions damages us. It leads us to sin. It leads us to not fight for the greater good — to sins of omission when we should have done the greater good," said Joshua Nelson, who wrote an article, "Offer Up Your Fear," on Catholic Exchange. "By keeping Christ in mind, and at the forefront, it helps us put our attachments in perspective. Because, in many times and many circumstances that I've experienced fear, it's because I'm overly attached to something else."
Follow Nelson's writing at his blog, Thoughts of a Christian Stoa.
"The attack is on the family. The family is the foundation for everything, in our own individuals lives, as well as for the Church and society. So for the good of our children — for the good, of course, of the married people — for the Church and society, as well, it's absolutely a necessity right now to really put the focus on marriage. You look at the history of the Church — and God always raises up people to come to the aid of whatever area is under attack. What the devil tries to do in destroying something, God brings good out of evil and actually makes it better," said Fr. Robert J. Altier, author of "God's Plan For Your Marriage: An Exploration of Holy Matrimony from Genesis to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb" (Sophia Institute Press).
Hear homilies from Fr. Altier, based in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, at CatholicParents.org and learn about his series, "Beauty, Truth, Goodness: The Fundamentals of Catholicism."
"Coming out of the pandemic, the widespread dissatisfaction with the way that colleges, as well as traditional district public schools, handled education is palpable. We see it in surveys, we see it in parents moving their kids from assigned schools and creating learning pods and choosing private schools and finding other options for them," said Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman Fellow in Education, Center for Education Policy, at The Heritage Foundation. He wrote a recent commentary, "Don't Reform Higher Education. Rebuild It."
Hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with him, "Critical Race Theory and the new intolerance" and follow him @JM_Butcher on Twitter.
"There are two models of courage: one is absence of fear — and the other is being afraid, but being steadfast in holding your position, even though you are afraid. The Christian notion of...courage, which Our Lord presents, is different from both of those," said Michael Pakaluk, Ph.D., professor of ethics at The Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America.
He wrote an article for The Catholic Thing, titled "The Four Deaths," in which he recommends reading "The Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ," written by St. Alphonsus Ligouri. See more on Pakulak, including his published books, at this Amazon.com link.
The intent of Pres. Biden's climate policy "is to get rid of coal, oil and natural gas in the long term. As I said earlier, 79 percent of our energy needs come from those three resources. And 90 percent of our transportation energy needs are met through petroleum. So, the president's climate agenda is in direct opposition to Americans' daily well-being. And yet he's out there making climate the issue, but apparently only one percent of Americans actually care about," said Katie Tubb, research fellow at the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment at The Heritage Foundation, who wrote a recent commentary, "What You Need to Know About Biden’s Climate 'Emergency.'"
Follow The Heritage Foundation @Heritage on Twitter.
“I hope that these colleges that are coming from a Christian worldview are teaching the goodness and the beauty and the truth of Western civilization. And the freedom that you experience when you conform your life to the will of God. These are the kind of people that we want coming out of Christian institutions and going into the public school system; to be a witness of that truth. And it's sorely needed. It's desperately needed. And we see that need when we see the videos on sites like Libs of TikTok, the kind of agenda that some of the teachers are leaving college with,” said Meg Kilgannon, a senior fellow for education studies at Family Research Council.
Kilgannon was recently quoted in an article, "'Center for Grooming Children': CDC Site Steers Minors to Facilitated LGBT Chat Forum," in The Washington Stand, a new FRC online "outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview."
Hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with Kilgannon, "Is God calling you to run for school board?" Follow Kilgannon @meg_kilgannon on Twitter.
"In some ways it's sad to see people identifying as Catholics but then pushing these issues — not just as things they think are good — but they talk about the language of rights: a right to contraception, a right to same-sex marriage,” said Lauretta Brown, Washington-based staff writer for the National Catholic Register. “In the years that I've covered politics, though, unfortunately I've gotten quite used to seeing this: people being Catholic, talking about their faith, but turning around and disregarding some central Church teachings.”
See Brown's recent article, “Democrats’ Proposal to Codify Same-Sex Civil Marriage Poses Religious-Freedom Issues, Critics Say" and follow her @LaurettaBrown6 on Twitter.
“We are living in a new age of tyranny...of relativism, the dictatorship of secular modernity,” said Derek Rotty, who wrote a recent column for the National Catholic Register, titled, “Natural Law and Moral Virtues Bring Independence From Tyranny.” “What America has lost is its understanding, and its foundation, on the natural law.”
Rotty, the director of evangelization and discipleship at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Jackson, Tenn., is the author of the 2019 book, “A Life of Conversion: Meeting Christ in the Gospels” (Our Sunday Visitor).
Follow him @derekrotty on Twitter.
“The most important thing for any Catholic — right now and frankly, at any time in history — is to focus on your spiritual life. That is what's going to give us the wisdom to deal with the culture and all the problems that beset us. It's going to give us the understanding, the knowledge, the counsel and the piety that we need today,” said Charlie McKinney, president of Sophia Institute Press for the past decade. “We really focus on producing books and producing content that helps people to deepen their spiritual life.”
McKinney told his story in 2014 on "The Journey Home" of converting to the Catholic faith from being a Southern Baptist.
Sophia Institute Press, based in Nashua, N.H., publishes books and Crisis Magazine, as well as the Catholic Exchange website and other initiatives. Follow @SophiaPress on Twitter.
In the recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the abortion issue to the people in each state, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively said, “'We've got to play fair. We need to obey the terms of the Constitution and nobody gets an unfair judicial advantage in these policy fights,'” said GianCarlo Canaparo, senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation. “Dobbs is the most pro-democracy decision the Supreme Court has handed down in several generations.”
Follow @heritage on Twitter.
"I realize that 90 percent of what I did that I regret would come from an emotional surge... Emotion doesn't last very long unless you feed it. If I can shut my mouth for...15 seconds and not say what I most had the urge to say, 15 seconds later the emotional surge will be probably cut in half. And then I will be able to control it," said Dr. Ray Guarendi.
Guarendi is "a Catholic father of ten adopted children, a clinical psychologist, author, professional speaker, and national radio and television host," according to his website, DrRay.com. He is the author of books, including the recently published, "Living Calm: Mastering Anger and Frustration" (EWTN Publishing).
Follow him on Facebook and listen to previous appearances on Respect Life Radio: "On what it takes to be married and raise 'upright kids'" and "Listening to Jesus, the master psychologist."
"I always try to write as simply as possible, whether I'm writing for adults or children. My whole goal of my writing career is to simplify complicated spiritual, theological concepts — without watering down or compromising the faith. It's really easy to simplify things if you want to water them down. The trick is to keep them orthodox and traditional, but at the same time make them easier to understand," said Anthony DeStefano, author of "How the Angels Got Their Wings" (Sophia Institute Press).
DeStefano, based in New Jersey, "is the bestselling author of over twenty-five Christian books for adults and children," according to his website, anthonydestefano.com.
Since the days of Saint Pope John XXIII, we were told “that we have entered — with Vatican II — a new time of the Church, a kind of new Pentecost and springtime. But everyone could state that it was really not a springtime. And now we are seeing that the churches are evermore empty and parishes are closed...convents are closed evermore and then the other aspects of the life within the Church, especially the great crisis of the clergy...the sexual abuses cases...and so on. In this sense, we cannot continue to speak about the springtime of the church,” said Bishop Athanasius Schneider, O.R.C., the auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, and author of "The Springtime that Never Came: In conversation with Paweł Lisicki" (Sophia Institute Press).
Hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with Bishop Schneider: Restoring Catholic liturgy among the ruins. Follow him at his website, Gloria Dei, and @BishopAthanas1 on Twitter.
"Whenever people ask me, 'Give me the short answer of why you reverted to the Catholic Church?' I tell them I discovered two things. Number one, I discovered sola Scriptura [Scripture alone] is false. The other one I discovered: apostolic succession is true. Apostolic succession is that process of the handing down of the truths of the Church through the Church Fathers. When you read the Church Fathers, you finally realize — wait a second — the early Church is Catholic," said Jim Papandrea, Ph.D., a professor at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and the author of books, including "Reading the Church Fathers: A History of the Early Church and the Development of Doctrine" (Sophia Institute Press). Papandrea, a former Methodist, told his reversion story in 2013 on "The Journey Home" on EWTN. Find out more at jimpapandrea.com.
“Part of respecting life, and having a pro-life sentiment, is creating a pro-life environment. That requires attention to family needs and personal needs and housing needs, etc. And all of that is undergirded by energy. America is what it is right now...because we have 150 years of reliable and inexpensive energy. And that has enabled us to move the vast majority of people into the middle class, to start jobs that open factories and businesses. And that brings with it dignity and purpose and opportunity. And quite frankly, the chance to glorify God, because you have value in your life," said Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of Power The Future, described on its website as a "501C4 with the mission of offering truth, facts, and research that will enrich the national conversation on energy."
Follow him @DanielTurnerPTF on Twitter.
In denying Holy Communion to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi until she publicly repudiates her advocacy of abortion, confesses and receives absolution, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is "protecting the integrity of the sacraments but...also trying to protect the person — in this case — from herself. Because if you are receiving the Eucharist unworthily, you're just heaping condemnation on yourself," said Phil Lawler, an author of books and editor of Catholic World News. He recently wrote an article, "Pelosi and the archbishop(s): what comes next?" Follow him @PhilLawler on Twitter.
"Let's just play a fun game and have people learn about themselves, and others, through that," said Laraine Bennett, a writer, author and the creator of "Know Thyself! The Game of Temperaments" (Sophia Institute Press), a game for those ages 12 and up, played with 480 temperament cards. Among her books, including those co-written with husband Art, are "The Temperament God Gave You" and "The Temperament God Gave Your Spouse." Follow her @larainebennett on Twitter.
“We should be referring to the laws that are passing here as 'pro-life protections' — not abortion bans. What we're doing with these laws is protecting unborn children's lives. The goal here isn't to ban things; the goal is to protect. So we need to flip that language and not allow the pro-abortion movement to control this narrative, this idea that we're somehow taking away someone's rights. We're not taking away rights; we're saving lives. And saving women and men from heartbreak," said Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council.
Follow them @FRCdc on Twitter and hear previous Respect Life Radio interviews with Szoch, including “The first 100 days of the Biden Administration gets a failing grade” and “How Planned Parenthood leads the culture of death.”
"For so long, the feminist movement has pitted men and women against each other, instead of allowing men and women to naturally complement each other — and encouraging them to work together to solve challenges [facing] families, individuals and societies," said Kelsey Bolar, a senior policy analyst at Independent Women’s Forum and contributor to The Daily Signal and The Federalist. "Women and girls, in particular, have been a focus of the feminist movement for the past few decades and so we've got this girl-boss, rah-rah women culture. And, in the midst of that, men and boys were really forgotten."
Follow her @kelseybolar on Twitter.
“These are people who want to control you. They are going to use information to try to do that. They are going to try to use the authority of the official stamp of government to try to convince a number of people that: that is true because we say it's true; that it's false because we say it's false," said Joseph Backholm, senior fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement at Family Research Council. "And the sad reality is — and what '1984' [George Orwell's dystopian novel that has a Ministry of Truth], a big lesson of that is — there are a lot of people who will agree with that.”
Backholm spoke regarding the recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of the Disinformation Governance Board.
Follow him @josephbackholm on Twitter.
"The notion of gender identity is internal, it is subjective, it is malleable. And it's the first time in all civil rights law in the history of America where we're being asked to acquiesce to someone's belief about themselves, treating it as though it is immutable fact," said Sarah Parshall Perry, an attorney and senior legal fellow at the Meese Center of The Heritage Foundation. Perry cowrote a recent commentary, "Lia Thomas Was Just the Beginning. Biden Administration Wants to Eliminate Women’s Sports."
Follow Perry @SarahPPerry on Twitter.
"Not enough people are standing up. Catholics, especially, have a role in society and the world to be salt and light, to be different. So when the world is becoming corrupt all around us, and when it's taking our children — when it's trying to steal our children for the devil — it's our job to be there as the one voice that says, 'No, we're not letting you have the children, we're not letting you have their innocence,'" said Leila Miller. "...It starts in the womb and goes all the way through. We need to be paying attention to every angle of this."
Miller is the author of books, including "Primal Loss: The Now-Adult Children of Divorce Speak," and co-author with Trent Horn of "Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today's Tough Moral Issues."
Listen to her previous appearances on Respect Life Radio: "Made This Way" and "Divorce makes children homeless" and "Wake Up! Our kids, and our souls, are in danger." See more at LeilaMiller.net.
"There are problems with drugs, but fentanyl clearly can kill and will kill a very large number of people if we don't do something about it," said Paul J. Larkin, senior legal research fellow, Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, Institute for Constitutional Government, at The Heritage Foundation.
"Enforcement has to be one of the three legs of any response. We have to educate people, we have to enforce the laws and we have to treat the people who wound up being addicted," said Larkin, who recently moderated a panel, "The Fentanyl Crisis: The Mexico-Texas Connection."
"What absolutely is a settled question is that something is missing in the worldview of a person who is raised without a mother," said Declan Leary, associate editor of The American Conservative. "Especially someone who is raised without a mother and told that that's the way things are supposed to be. There's a difference between the tragic circumstances where a mother dies and a child is raised by a single father in some other arrangement. But when they're raised in an unnatural arrangement and told that this is the way the world is meant to be — that this is actually good — rather than something unfortunate or accidental; obviously, that person is going to grow up viewing the world the wrong way. And we can't be afraid to say that."
Leary recently wrote an article, "No Allies Who Buy Babies," described as, "The problem of gay surrogacy reminds us that the right's alliance with anti-woke liberals cannot and should not survive."
Follow him @DeclanLeary on Twitter.
Päivi Räsänen, a member of the Finnish parliament, told me "she really hopes that her case will, as it has for many people, not scare Christians or others who have strong beliefs that matter to public discussion, but will embolden them to speak the truth in love. Because if you don't use those rights, then they are more likely to be eroded and taken away," said Joy Pullmann, executive editor of The Federalist.
Pullmann is the author of a recent article, "How A Trial In Finland Could Have Worldwide Effects On Government Persecution Of Religion," which begins, "The trial of two Finnish Christians for publicly stating mainstream religious teachings that reserve sex only for heterosexual marriage is heading towards a judgment scheduled for March 30.”
Follow her @JoyPullmann as well as @PaiviRasanen on Twitter.
“What is the Church living in the past decades since the (Vatican II) Council — in the liturgy? We have a ruin in many places...Therefore we have to restore the centrality of God, of the adoration, in the midst of the chaos. This shall give us hope that we can do this," said Bishop Athanasius Schneider, O.R.C., the auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, and author of "The Catholic Mass: Steps to Restore the Centrality of God in the Liturgy" (Sophia Institute Press).
“These bishops and priests who are against the Traditional Mass, and persecuting it, they are the new Pharisees and scribes who are forbidding the simple one, the little one — as you mention, the Traditional Mass is packed with young people — they are prohibiting them to glorify Christ in such a worthy and respectful manner as it is the Traditional Mass.”
Follow Bishop Schneider at his website, Gloria Dei, and @BishopAthanas1 on Twitter.
Digital IDs and digital passports are the gateway to the "social credit system, in addition to the second element and that is: tech companies doing the government's bidding to effectively cut you off from digital life, and a public life, if you have the wrong opinions, especially with regard to the government," said Kara Frederick, research fellow in technology policy at The Heritage Foundation who recently published a research report, "Combating Big Tech’s Totalitarianism: A Road Map."
Frederick was previously a fellow at the Center for a New American Security and, prior to that, "helped create and lead Facebook’s Global Security Counterterrorism Analysis Program," according to her Heritage bio. Follow her @karaafrederick on Twitter.
“We're used to seeing conflicts all around the world. What we're not used to is really seeing the population — average citizens, moms, grandparents, average people — rally together and make a unified effort to say, 'No, we're not all fleeing the country,' though many are. 'We're actually going to stay, we're going to fight, we're going to pitch in.' It's not just that Russia is attacking the Ukrainian military. [Russian President Vladimir Putin] really has to fight the entire country, because the entire country is rising up to fight him," said Family Research Council, who recently wrote a commentary, "Courage on Display in Ukraine."
Follow her @arielledelturco on Twitter.
"The rogue prosecutor movement operates under a misbelief that the entire criminal justice system is systemically racist. Of course it isn't. And that the only way to fix it is to fundamentally reverse engineer and destroy the existing criminal justice system. Which is hogwash," said Charles "Cully" Stimson, deputy director of the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. "You cannot find one of their policies, not one, that's pro-victim. Not one."
See Stimson's research at the Rogue Prosecutors web page and follow him @CullyStimson on Twitter.
“What most people assume is Vatican II is actually not Vatican II. It's this paracouncil, this false narrative constructed by these different theologians and thinkers, as opposed to the actual documentation itself," said Fr. Blake Britton, a priest in the Diocese of Orlando, a contributor to Word on Fire and author of "Reclaiming Vatican II: What It (Really) Said, What It Means, and How It Calls Us to Renew the Church" (Ave Maria Press / Word on Fire).
Follow Fr. Britton @frbritton on Facebook and @frblakebritton on Instagram.
“The Chinese Communist Party [is] not only posing a threat from far away, they are penetrating deeply in our society already, in every sphere of our society,” said Bob Fu, Ph.D., founder and president of ChinaAid, based in Midland, Texas. Fu, a pastor and author, is Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom at Family Research Council and "was a student leader during the Tiananmen Square demonstrations for freedom and democracy in 1989," according to his ChinaAid profile.
“Pray for those who are persecuted and write letters to them to encourage them,” said Fu. “Write to our elected officials, instruct them. They need to speak for the people's voice — not the special interests and the Chinese lobbyist's voice, who really compromise our society.”
Follow him @BobFu4China and @ChinaAid on Twitter.
"What I found was this 1,600 year development to Joseph, which is just so compelling and so beautiful, how he goes from being absent in the early history of art to being truly the patron of the universal Church," said Elizabeth Lev, Ph.D., art historian, professor and author of books, including "The Silent Knight: A History of St. Joseph as Depicted in Art" (Sophia Institute Press).
Lev said she was inspired by the 2020 apostolic letter (With a Father's Heart) from Pope Francis that described St. Joseph as having "creative courage."
St. Joseph is "a man of action, but then he's also a man of receptivity, of dreams, of meditation," said Lev. "So he has this wonderful balance between these angelic experiences he has — these angelic messages he's given — but then he gets up and he does something..."
Learn more at elizabeth-lev.com and follow her @lizlevrome on Twitter.
"Only recently have we started to see a resurfacing of an older type of conservatism — they call it a common good conservatism — which is trying to regain a little bit of a foothold in the recognition of the absolute universality of moral truth claims and trying to restore that recognition to the political philosophy of conservatism. Other than that, I think the capitulation to relativism is quite prevalent...," said Jonathan Culbreath, writer of a recent article, "Which Freedom? Whose Relativism?" for The American Conservative.
For more from Culbreath, see Postmodern Perennialist and follow him @maestrojmc on Twitter.
"Every philosophy of life, every worldview, every religion has to answer four basic questions: Why is there something rather than nothing? What's gone wrong in the world? Is there any hope? Where is all this headed?" said David Closson, director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at the Family Research Council, which is based in Washington, D.C. "Increasingly, even those who would call themselves professing Christians don't understand those basic questions. And that's one of the reasons we have the Center for Biblical Worldview. It's to remind pastors and to remind churches, and Christian parents, why they have to take this job of discipleship very seriously."
See resources from Closson, including "Year in Review: 10 Stories from 2021" and "Biblical Principles for Pro-Life Engagement." Follow him @DavidClosson on Twitter.
“The truth is, every single human being has been created by God for a relationship with Him. So the more the world tries to strangle out that reality, the brighter somebody saying, 'Hey, you were created to be unbelievably incredible, you were created to be a great saint' — the more that truth rings true in men's and women's hearts," said Brock Martin, director of regional evangelization for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS).
FOCUS “is a Catholic collegiate outreach whose mission is to share the hope and joy of the gospel with college and university students,” according to the Colorado-based organization, which cites a presence on more than 160 college campuses across the U.S., plus international locations. Its SEEK22 conference takes place online Feb. 4 — 6, with registration details at seek.focus.org. Follow @FOCUScatholic on Twitter, and the hashtag #SEEK22.
Marian apparitions are "proof positive, right there — in the flesh, so to speak — that God didn't just make us and leave us alone. He is still involved in us and His mother still prays for us," said Michael J. Lichens, editor at Catholic Exchange and the editor of the recent book, "The World of Marian Apparitions: Mary's Appearances and Messages from Fatima to Today" by Wincenty Łaszewski (Sophia Institute Press). Lichens also discusses the care taken by the Church in evaluating and approving apparitions.
“Intuitively, a lot of people know that divorce is this ugly, painful thing. But so often we focus more on the parents who are going through the divorce (rather) than the children. When it comes to the children, the cultural belief is that, 'They'll be fine, they're resilient.' The truth is: they won't be fine and they're not as resilient as you think,” said Joey Pontarelli, founder and president of RestoredMinistry.com and author of "It's Not Your Fault: A Practical Guide to Navigating the Pain and Problems from Your Parents' Divorce."
See also a Denver Catholic interview in 2021 with Pontarelli, "Ministry seeks to help children of divorce become ‘Restored.'" Follow him @RestoredHelp on Facebook.
“Today's Sex Ed is anti-human, I argue. It goes against what is best for the human person. And, of course, it's a lie. The truth is, every child is born in exactly the right body. Institutionalized, politicized sex education can never replace a healthy dialogue between parents and their children about the goodness and beauty of married love. Every person is made in God's image and likeness, unique and unrepeatable. We are created for each other, male and female, by God's design, to cooperate with Him in creating new life," said Cathy Ruse, Esq., who gave the Gospel of Life Presentation on Oct. 22, 2021, at St. Thomas More Catholic Parish in Centennial, Colo. The event was sponsored by Respect Life Denver. Listen to Part 1 of the podcast at this link. For the full video presentation, go to https://vimeo.com/639728100.
Ruse is a "longtime governor of the Ave Maria School of Law and has been a frequent lecturer for the Blackstone Legal Fellowship," according to her biography at Dominion Law Group LLP.
"And that's when I learned that right down the street a spiritual battle was raging over the bodies and souls of the next generation. And the sexual left was winning. And the other side, my side, wasn't even on the battlefield. But I am convinced, thanks be to God, that that is about to change," said Cathy Ruse, Esq., who gave the Gospel of Life Presentation on Oct. 22, 2021, at St. Thomas More Catholic Parish in Centennial, Colo. The event was sponsored by Respect Life Denver. For the full video presentation, go to https://vimeo.com/639728100.
Ruse is a "longtime governor of the Ave Maria School of Law and has been a frequent lecturer for the Blackstone Legal Fellowship," according to her biography at Dominion Law Group LLP. Hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with Ruse, titled, "Kids as lab rats in a Sex Ed social experiment."
“We have all the tools to resist this kind of thing, all the tools to understand that we're children of God, not just cogs in a machine that fit into your scientific database, all the tools to say that, 'No, our church will remain open...,'" said Christopher Bedford, senior editor at The Federalist, who recently wrote an article titled, "How COVID Lockdowns Handed Global Warming Extremists The Tools To Crush Freedom."
Bedford is also a founding partner of RightForge.com and author of "The Art of the Donald: Lessons from America's Philosopher-in-Chief" (Threshold Editions). Follow him @CBedfordDC on Twitter.
"We need to view the persecuted Church as our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we go to Communion, we can remember them, we can unite our prayers to their prayers, and their sufferings before Christ. The more that we do that — and really make...a spiritual communion of it and devote our prayers to it — the more that we will recognize them as those who are certainly deserving, not only of our prayers, but all the help that we can muster," said Casey Chalk, a contributor for publications including The Federalist, and author of "The Persecuted: True Stories of Courageous Christians Living Their Faith in Muslim Lands" (Sophia Institute Press).
Hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with Chalk, "How 'woke' parenting feeds kid's victimhood." Follow him at CaseyChalk.com.
"It's easy to get the impression these days that the main thing the Catholic Church is concerned about is getting people vaccinated or climate change or the Amazon, things like that," said Ralph Martin, president of Renewal Ministries. "Quite honestly, the primary mission of the Church isn't to save the Amazon, it's to save people from hell. It's to boldly proclaim Jesus Christ as the Savior of the whole world."
Martin, a professor of theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, is the author of books, including "A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward" (Emmaus Road Publishing). He recently posted a video commentary, "A Startling Warning from a Surprising Source," regarding remarks from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with Martin, "The biggest crisis in the world revealed."
"It just seems like some of our teachers and administrators and school board members have become so arrogant about their role and feel that they can supersede the role of the parents. And so we are seeing just tremendous pushback," said Katie Gorka, director of the Feulner Institute’s Center for Civil Society and the American Dialogue at The Heritage Foundation. Her commentaries include "Solving the Civics Crisis Begins at Home," as well as "Healing the Family and Saving the Country" and "The Great Parent Revolt." Follow her @GorkaKatie on Twitter.
"If there's anyone listening to this who has not been to confession recently, you should definitely go...The most powerful thing that the Church offers to cast out demons is the confessional. Plus Mass, of course, and the Eucharist. So, go to confession," said Monsignor Stephen J. Rossetti, Ph.D., author of "Diary of an American Exorcist: Demons, Possession, and the Modern-Day Battle Against Ancient Evil" (Sophia Institute Press). According to his online biography, he "has been an exorcist for the Archdiocese of Washington for over 12 years. He is a priest of the Diocese of Syracuse and is also the President and Founder of the St. Michael Center For Spiritual Renewal," which features his Exorcist Diary.
"We're hearing all the time in the media, 'Follow the science, follow the science.' But the reality is that a lot of the people who are saying that aren't actually following the scientific method and the tenets of the scientific method. So, I wanted to unveil the mystery behind what science actually is, and talk about what constitutes good science from bad science," said Jennifer Bauwens, Ph.D., director of the Center for Family Studies at the Family Research Council. She recently published an issue analysis, "Follow the Science: Does Anyone Know Where We Are Going?" (Part 1 of 2).
"Just stick with the Catechism, that's what Cardinal Burke's been saying... Fancy theology could get you to hell...Good theology that's fancy or sophisticated, that's fantastic. But a lot of it just wants to be cool," said Christopher Malloy, Ph.D., associate professor of theology at the University of Dallas and author of "False Mercy: Recent Heresies Distorting Catholic Truth" (Sophia Institute Press). Follow him @cmalloy70 on Twitter.
"One of the things this bill really wants to do is to enact a federal micromanagement of as many sectors of the economy as possible," said David Ditch, a policy analyst in the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at The Heritage Foundation. Among his recent columns is "Biden’s Absurd 'Zero Cost' Claim—$3.5T Is Real Money and It’s Coming Out of Your Pocket." Follow him @DavidADitch on Twitter.
"First and foremost, my target are the Catholics because Catholics don't know their faith as well as they should, on average," said John Martignoni, founder of Bible Christian Society, longtime former host of EWTN Radio's Open Line and author of Blue Collar Apologetics (Sophia Institute Press), as well as director of the Office of New Evangelization and Stewardship for the Diocese of Birmingham, Ala. "I use the hook of, 'Hey, I can teach you how to answer those questions that you've been getting from your non-Catholic brother-in-law or your neighbors or your coworkers.'"
For more, see a recent EWTN Bookmark show with Martignoni and his Bible Christian Society Facebook page.
The U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming review of a 2018 Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks "very much has the potential to undo all of the damage that Roe (v. Wade) and Casey (v. Planned Parenthood) have done and we are incredibly optimistic about it," said Katherine Beck Johnson, an attorney who is research fellow for legal and policy studies at the Family Research Council.
Beck's recent commentaries include "Explainer: What is Happening with Texas' New Pro-Life Law" and "Mississippi Boldly Leads the Fight to Overrule Roe." Follow her @_katherinebeck on Twitter.
The Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council also has available a publication, "The Best Prolife Arguments for Secular Audiences."
More than 62 million "Babies Have Been Killed in Abortions Since Roe v. Wade in 1973," according to LifeNews.com, based on estimates from the National Right to Life Committee.
The patriarchy "is Christianity in a very real sense. So, when feminists say they want to do away with the patriarchy — down with it — or Marxists say this, of any stripe, they're talking about Christianity. And the funny part is, Christians and Catholics and conservatives being the great losers we are...culturally...we don't know it that when they say, 'Hey, down with the patriarchy,' they're talking about Christianity. But they do," said Timothy J. Gordon, author of "The Case for Patriarchy" (Sophia Institute Press). Follow him @timotheeology on Twitter.
"The truths of the Church are truths, they're not just 'the Church truths.' They have worked this out, not only from a faith standpoint, but from a factual standpoint. One of the startling realities can be that: not only do I know that God exists, but I can prove it...factually and without exception. When you hear the case, you cannot disagree with this. All you can do is deny it. It's right there. It's so clear," said Frank Cronin, author of "The World According to God: The Whole Truth About Life and Living" (Sophia Institute Press). Learn more about Cronin's book and his reversion to the Catholic faith by watching his interview on EWTN's "The Journey Home."
"Our civil liberties hinge on our respect for religious freedom," said Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, an attorney focused on civil rights and director of the Conscience Project. "These ideologies demand conformity; they don't allow for dissent. And in that respect, it's very contrary to the American tradition of pluralism and allowing for vibrant debate and disagreement on a range of issues. If you don't allow that, and if people's voices who are inspired by faith are silenced, we've really got a totalitarian situation brewing right now."
Picciotti-Bayer is a legal analyst for EWTN News and columnist for the National Catholic Register, with which the Conscience Project has launched the "Religious Freedom Matters" podcast. Follow her @BayerPicciotti on Twitter.
"For a person to be fully alive, as a human being, grace is absolutely necessary," said Father Brian Mullady, O.P., author of books, including "Grace Explained: How to Receive — and Retain — God's Most Potent Gift" (Sophia Institute Press). "One of the reasons I wrote the book is because [in] giving parish missions around the country, I found out that most Catholics are clueless now as to what sanctifying grace means for them...The Council of Trent was very clear that said justification by grace means the forgiveness of sins, yes, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior person. So they don't realize they can have a relationship or friendship with the Holy Trinity."
"There's always been over the centuries attempts to infuse the definition of a gentleman with new meaning, and it usually means some kind of ethical and moral meaning that is perceived to be lacking," said S.K. Baskerville, Ph.D., author of "A Gentleman’s Guide to Manners, Sex, and Ruling the World: How to Survive as a Man in the Age of Misandry – and Do So with Grace" (Sophia Institute Press). "Is a gentleman a wealthy man, a high status man, or is a gentleman a man who behaves properly? Those are questions which we need to continuously ask ourselves." Follow him at StephenBaskerville.com.
“It's an unmitigated disaster for one reason: because the decision the president made. And all of the decisions the president made; made it harder to get out and more dangerous,” said James Jay Carafano, vice president of The Heritage Foundation's Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy. “And where are we? The answer is: we're in the same place when we started. Our interests in the region haven't changed. It's just now we have endured a lot of misery, an enormous amount of expense; we've gotten people killed. And doing the things that we would need to do to protect America's interests? They're just way, way harder than they were five weeks ago.”
Listen to a previous episode of Carafano on Respect Life Radio: Chaos in the streets is organized violence. Follow him @JJCarafano on Twitter.
A few months into his Administration, not only has Pres. Biden "rerouted money to Planned Parenthood, he's now reverting back to the Obamacare law...and they're going to bill abortion and Obamacare subsidies together, collect them together. And they're not going to let the American public know whether these plans cover abortion or not," said Connor Semelsberger, director of Federal Affairs, Life and Human Dignity at Family Research Council. "It's just important to know that our taxpayer funds are funding abortions through Obamacare."
Analysis by Semelsberger's includes a letter objecting to proposed federal rules, a research paper titled, "America's Direct Deposit to Planned Parenthood" and commentary, "When It Comes to Federal Abortion Funding, Biden Is the All-Time King." Family Research Council and the Charlotte Lozier Institute also have a website, "ObamacareAbortion.com," which provides details on that issue across the country.
Follow the Family Research Council @FRCdc on Twitter.
"This is a spiritual war, this is a cultural war. And we are largely fighting over our children and the future," said Meg Kilgannon, a senior fellow for education studies at Family Research Council, which recently launched a School Board Boot Camp. "We're trying to harness this energy that's out there right now around schools and channel it into, maybe some folks running for office and changing the balance of power on some school boards around the country." Kilgannon said that, "The fight over Critical Race Theory has really galvanized people in an unexpected and wonderful way. So, to sort of harness that energy and to channel it into — really prayerfully, thoughtfully considering — if God is calling you to run for office? Is God calling you to run for school board?" Videos of the School Board Boot Camp are online. Follow Kilgannon @meg_kilgannon on Twitter.
“I've been so busy now writing letters — or helping people to write letters — for religious exemption or for medical exemption, since I kind of have both avenues to go with, because there are a lot of people who don't want to get vaccinated with COVID-19 for medical reasons, and many of which for the spiritual or moral reason," said Sister Deirdre Byrne, who is also a medical doctor.
She was recently featured in a LifeSiteNews article, headlined, "'We have lost all common sense and as a result we are losing our religious freedom,’ Sister Dede Byrne warns." She makes reference in this Respect Life Radio interview to Dr. Peter McCullough, who was featured in a separate LifeSiteNews article, headlined, "Dr. Peter McCullough’s 5 most important truths about COVID-19."
Sr. Byrne, highlighted by the National Catholic Register in recent years as "Surgeon, Soldier, Sister, Servant," belongs to the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Listen to a 2020 interview with her on Respect Life Radio, titled, "Catholics, hear Sister Dede Byrne on life, then vote your well-formed conscience."
"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less," said Dr. Ray Guarendi, explaining that doing so would help people become "more settled, they'd be more at peace, they'd be much closer to joy and contentment. They wouldn't be at the mercy of whatever happens, whatever words happen to come their way."
Guarendi is "a Catholic father of ten adopted children, a clinical psychologist, author, professional speaker, and national radio and television host," according to his website, DrRay.com. He is the author of books, including the recently published, "Jesus, the Master Psychologist: Listen to Him" (EWTN Publishing).
Follow him on Facebook and listen to his previous appearance on Respect Life Radio: On what it takes to be married and raise "upright kids."
“The universal call to holiness that we're all supposed to respond to, I find it doable, attractive and fun thanks to the example of Blessed Pier Giorgio,” said Christine M. Wohar, executive director of Frassati USA and author of the forthcoming "Finding Frassati: And Following His Path to Holiness" (EWTN Publishing).
Blessed Frassati died at age 24 in Italy in 1925 and was beatified in 1990 by Pope St. John Paul II. Follow @FrassatiUSA on Twitter.
This week's episode is a lively conversation with Eric Sammons, Editor-in-Chief of Crisis Magazine and author of Deadly Indifference. Deacon Geoff and Eric discuss Pope Francis and his new restrictions on the Latin Mass.
"It seems like this is a cultural revolution that's bloodless — or seemingly bloodless, although I do think that there's human casualties, for sure — but I think it's really hard to see it," said Noelle Mering, author of "Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology" (TAN Books). She is a writer and an editor, and also a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. See more at NoelleMering.com and follow her @Noellem on Twitter.
"I've joked about the fact that, you know, I've met with the Taliban, I've met with Chairman Kim, but nothing frightens me more than what's happening in our schools today. We truly have to get our hands around this because they are educating the next generation that we are a racist nation and that will fundamentally put at risk our republic," said Mike Pompeo, the former U.S. secretary of state who also served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, congressman from Kansas and U.S. Army officer.
A graduate of West Point and of Harvard Law School, he has also been a business founder and CEO. Pompeo is a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute and is chairman of CAVPAC, the Champion American Values political action committee. Follow him @mikepompeo on Twitter.
Note: Given technical difficulties, sections of the host's questions were re-recorded after the interview.
“We have one judgment at the time of death. Maybe we need to go back to...really learning and teaching and meditating and praying on the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, hell. Because we are at a precipice and everybody is dancing around it, going, 'Well, you know, we don't want to be mean' or 'We don't want to look foolish in the eyes of the world.' It's like, what? We're supposed to look foolish in the eyes of the world. That was what Christ promised. So this is really do-or-die at this point. This is a time to pick a side," said Leila Miller, a Catholic author whose recent article, "Grooming Preschoolers? This Shocking Video Makes Clear: It’s Time to Pick a Side," was republished by the National Catholic Register.
She is the author of books, including "Primal Loss: The Now-Adult Children of Divorce Speak," and co-author with Trent Horn of "Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today's Tough Moral Issues."
Listen to her previous appearances on Respect Life Radio on "Made This Way" and "Divorce makes children homeless." See more at LeilaMiller.net.
"The devil really pushes to get dysfunctional families because...you have a lot of wounded individuals. The devil goes after us so that we become these gaping wounds that we don't bring these wounds to Christ. Now, if we bring these gaping wounds to Christ — he's known as the Wounded Healer — he can heal us. But if we don't bring the wounds to Christ, they become gaping wounds and we end up by wounding even more wounded people," said Fr. Ed Broom, OMV, who recently wrote about the "Ten lies of the devil — the father of lies."
Listen to previous interviews with Fr. Broom on Respect Life Radio, including "How to resist the attacks of the devil" and "Fighting discouragement with Bible verses." See more at FatherBroom.com, including links to his daily Facebook livestreams.
“A parade is a celebration of something. Our world is celebrating disorder all over the place. It is really a big parade marching down to, unfortunately — unless God stops it — to damnation for quite a number of people,” said Charles D. Fraune, author of the 2019 book, "Slaying Dragons: What Exorcists See & What We Should Know."
In a recent blog post, "The 'Big Parade' — Transitioning to Hell," he wrote, "So if we find ourselves becoming soft to the moral evils emerging around us, tolerant of the infection of evil into the souls of those we know and love, and less disturbed by the presence of blasphemy and irreligion in the culture, know that we too have been partly converted to the Kingdom of Hell."
Fraune appeared previously on Respect Life Radio to discuss his book. Follow him on Twitter @CharlesDFraune.
"The Sacred Heart is so powerful, precisely because it's that imagery of the actual human heart of Jesus that reminds us — not only of our own hearts physically, that we have one, that it's central to who we are — but that it's in hearts that are united in love that we find our greatest fulfillment," said Fr. Thomas F. Dailey, O.S.F.S., author of "Behold This Heart: St. Francis de Sales and Devotion to the Sacred Heart" (Sophia Institute Press). Fr. Dailey holds the John Cardinal Foley Chair of Homiletics and Social Communications at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
"Every time America is strong, our enemies don't mess with us. Whenever we have a weak Administration leading us, it empowers and emboldens the tyrants of the world — and they take advantage of it. We've already seen the opening salvos, barely a couple months into the Biden Administration. It's not likely to get better. So that's another reason [for] people to focus on what they need to do to ensure that we don't go down that path of weakness and socialism that the woke Left wants us to follow," said Jim Hanson, president of the Security Studies Group. He is the author of the recent book, "Winning the Second Civil War: Without Firing a Shot." Follow him @JimHansonDC on Twitter.
When Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "guidelines are taken nearly verbatim from language that justify powerful teachers unions, it diminishes the public trust in our civil institutions. Parents, the biggest stakeholders in education, do not have the political clout to affect CDC reopening guidelines, yet teachers seem to have a direct line to policymakers in the upper echelons of the CDC," said Jude Schwalbach, research associate and project coordinator in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation. He wrote a recent article, "Collaboration Between CDC and Teachers Union Doesn’t Help Our Kids." Follow him @JudeSchwalbach on Twitter.
“Traditional Catholic beliefs about life and about marriage and human sexuality — whereas they were at least uncontroversial decades ago, if not widely held — are now increasingly viewed as a threat to modern culture,” said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Goodrich is also the author of “Free to Believe: The Battle Over Religious Liberty in America.” Follow him @LukeWGoodrich on Twitter.
President Biden has "shown in the first 100 days that the only people whose opinion he's taking into account — the only people whose desires for America that he's taking into account — are those on the radical left," said Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council. Follow the Family Research Council @FRCdc on Twitter.
Szoch was on a previous episode of Respect Life Radio, discussing, "How Planned Parenthood leads the culture of death."
"Absent reason, faith will simply be based on emotion. We will never out-emote the pagan," said Steve Deace, host of the “Steve Deace Show” on Blaze TV and author of “Faucian Bargain: The Most Powerful and Dangerous Bureaucrat in American History” (Post Hill Press). Follow him @SteveDeaceShow on Twitter.
We're up against "sophisticated, uber-educated people who have screwy ideas. But a small group of very dedicated people can win," said Austin Ruse, author of the recent book, "Under Siege: No Finer Time to Be a Faithful Catholic" (Sophia Institute Press) and president of the Center For Family & Human Rights. Follow him @austinruse on Twitter.
"We're going to be a watchdog, making sure that the Biden Administration...will respect the mission of HHS (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services) which is to further the health and well-being of all Americans; and that includes from conception until natural death; that means science being the forefront over ideology; that means we respect conscience and religious freedom," said Roger Severino, a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, overseeing the HHS Accountability Project. Formerly, he was Director of the Office for Civil Rights at HHS. Follow him @RogerSeverino_ on Twitter.
"Unless we stand up today, women's and girl's sports and all of our opportunities will fade away. We all know it. It will not take long until there will be an entire male/female team," said Beth Stelzer, founder of Save Women's Sports. Stelzer is described as a "housewife, mom, and amateur powerlifter in Minnesota" on Save Women's Sports, which is "a coalition that seeks to preserve biology-based eligibility standards for participation in female sports." Follow her @BethStelzer on Twitter.
The Supreme Court in British Columbia ruled in 2019 that a "14-year-old girl can receive testosterone injections without parental consent, on the sole basis of her own consent" and "if either of her parents refer to her using female pronouns or address her by her birth name, they would be considered guilty of family violence," said Jeremiah Keenan, a writer at The Federalist.
Keenan has been covering the case of the father, including a recent article, "Canadian Father Jailed For Talking About Court-Ordered Transgendering Of His Teenage Daughter." Follow Keenan @jeremiah_keenan on Twitter.
“Planned Parenthood's mission is deny science, exploit people and make profits,” said Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council, which recently published the 2021 edition of “The Real Planned Parenthood: Leading the Culture of Death.”
“Planned Parenthood took the lives of 354,871 unborn children in 2019, the most in any given year. It is also the second largest provider of hormone therapy to those who identify as transgender/have gender dysphoria,” according to a key-point summary in the report.
“They say that they're about 'Care, no matter what,'” said Szoch in this Respect Life Radio interview. “But they don't actually care that the teenagers that they're giving these cross-sex hormones to will have lasting side effects. Some of them may actually experience sterilization as a result of these cross-sex hormones.”
"By turning away from sin, we have the opportunity to become happy. That's why the saints are so important. You realize, when you read their lives, that they were virtuous and they were happy. When people live lives of sins, they're not happy. They live...the life of an addict who needs another fix from their sins and they don't find the happiness that they're looking for, " said Father Thomas Morrow, author of "Overcoming Sinful Thoughts: How to Realign Your Thinking and Defeat Harmful Ideas" (Sophia Institute Press) and other books. Follow him at Catholic Faith Alive!
Critical Race Theory “is the idea that we can only see the world through a racial lens: America is systemically racist. And we must disrupt and, frankly, overturn systems of governing authority in the United States," said Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman Fellow in Education at The Heritage Foundation. He is the co-author, with Mike Gonzalez, of "Critical Race Theory, the New Intolerance, and its Grip on America," published by The Heritage Foundation. Follow @JM_Butcher on Twitter.
"Whether we're accused of being overly political or not, we have to take a stand for the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage and religious liberty, because all three of them are under assault in this culture today," said Fr. Edward Meeks, the founding pastor of Christ the King Church in Towson, Md. "And if we don't stand up and say: this far and no more, then we will wake up one day with all of them gone..."
His homilies, published on his YouTube channel, include "Politics is Not Our Religion" from January 2021. "Staring into the Abyss" from October 2020 has more than 2.4 million views. Fr. Meeks discussed his path into the Catholic Church on an episode of EWTN's "Journey Home."
The Blessed Virgin Mary is "the perfect disciple. She is God's masterpiece. To imitate Mary is to imitate Christ. There's no contradiction," said Fr. Quan Tran, parochial vicar at St. Bonaventure Parish in Huntington Beach, Calif., and a former deputy district attorney. He is the author of "The Imitation of Mary: Keys to Growth in Virtue and Grace" (Sophia Institute Press) and leads FullnessOfGrace.org.
“We've had a serious problem with Catholic public officials who are incoherent in their Catholicism for a very long time,” said George Weigel, the Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies at the Ethics & Public Policy Center, the author of books including The Next Pope, and of the recent First Things article, “President Biden and a Catholic inflection point.”
“This is a bit different. President Biden is the most visible Catholic in the country. He's the most important Catholic public official in the world. And he is actively advancing and facilitating policies that deny the truth of that first principle of Catholic social doctrine: the inalienable dignity and value of every human life.”
“There's a danger that now these Catholics in high-profile prominent positions — now even the president — can mislead Catholics, so that's a problem of scandal,” said Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, who also expressed concern about "further division in the Church..."
Responding to comments by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic who represents San Francisco in Congress, Archbishop Cordileone issued a statement in January that "on the question of the equal dignity of human life in the womb, she also speaks in direct contradiction to a fundamental human right that Catholic teaching has consistently championed for 2,000 years."
In this Respect Life Radio interview, Archbishop Cordileone also discusses the efforts of FreeTheMass.com, which seeks to "end unfair restrictions on worship and to protect our churches and religious liberties," according to the website.
A "spouse is not going to try to be your spiritual director in a formal sense, but is someone who can walk with you, with whom you can talk about the burdens — and it makes all the difference," said Fr. Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V., author of "Discernment of Spirits in Marriage: Ignatian Wisdom for Husbands and Wives" and many other books. Follow him at FrTimothyGallagher.org. He was previously on Respect Life Radio to discuss "Overcoming spiritual discouragement in a time of pandemic."
"It's astonishing to me the levels of fear that have utterly collapsed us into this — whatever the government says, I'll do — and even in the Church: whatever the government says, we must follow. The priestly robes have been replaced by the lab coats. Ultimately, we're in trouble. The main bugaboo is fear. How many times did Jesus say, 'Do not be afraid,'" said Monsignor Charles Pope, a parish pastor in Washington, D.C., a writer and speaker.
He recently wrote a two-part reflection for the National Catholic Register, "5 Hard Truths We’ve Come to See With 2020 Vision" and "5 More Hard Truths We’ve Come to See with 2020 Vision." Follow him at msgrpope.com.
I was just "glued to my screen, a slave to my screen in many ways. And it scared me. I didn't think that I was the type of kid who would get wrapped up in something as crazy as this. I really wanted to wrestle with the question of what is digital balance for me and then I quickly realized this isn't just me, this is other kids, as well. So what is digital balance for our generation?" said Jack Brustkern, founder and CEO of Detachnow.com and author of "Acquired Connection: Forming Upright Digital Habits With & For Your Kids." He was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in 2020.
"The issue is never going away until the courts and the legislatures respect all human life," said Steven H. Aden, chief legal officer and general counsel at Americans United for Life. "You can't duck and cover. You have to be engaged. It's either going to be in the Supreme Court, in the Congress — or, if Lord willing, Roe (v. Wade) is overturned — the issue will be returned to the states and to the people, where it belongs, instead of in the hands of nine people wearing black robes. When it goes back to the states, that's ideal for us, because that is where the pro-life movement is really at its strength." Follow him @StevenHAdenAUL on Twitter.
"We're seeing overreach from government that George Orwell never imagined, that the Soviet Union never attained," said Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant newspaper and Remnant TV. "So I'm really concerned that if we don't start waking up right now — and by we, I especially mean Americans because we do have more freedom, I think, than our friends in Europe have, especially under the European Union, which was also sort of a test case for this Great Reset — if we don't wake up, I'm concerned that they will, to answer your question, end up having the ability to pull this off." Follow @Michael_J_Matt on Twitter.
"China is the number one threat in the world," said Reggie Littlejohn, founder and president of Women's Rights Without Frontiers. "Pray for the people of China because they are languishing under the boot of this totalitarian government. And pray that all that is hidden in darkness will be brought to light concerning all the ways that the Chinese government has infiltrated internationally, not just the United States, but all over the world."
Part 1 of the interview with her, linked here, dealt with the horrendous human rights violations in China and what can be done. Follow Littlejohn @ReggieLittlejhn on Twitter.
Women's Rights Without Frontiers is "an international coalition to expose and oppose forced abortion, gendercide and sexual slavery in China." On this first part of a two-part interview, Reggie Littlejohn, the founder and president of the organization, describes the horrendous human rights violations in China and what can be done. Follow her @ReggieLittlejhn on Twitter.
Part 2 of the interview with her, linked here, dealt with the infiltration by China of the U.S. Follow Littlejohn @ReggieLittlejhn on Twitter.
"...Behind these protests, behind these people screaming in the street, is a deep suffering that has been brought on by a crisis of paternity. This is not only about literal fatherlessness — although when 40 percent of kids are being raised without a dad at home, it's certainly partly about that. But in the article I try to make the connection to other forms of the father, beginning with the Father in heaven," said Mary Eberstadt, senior fellow at the Faith & Reason Institute, author of many books and of the recent article, "The Fury of the Fatherless" in First Things. Follow her at https://maryeberstadt.com.
President-elect Joe Biden "certainly has no interest in following the Church's teaching on anything. Even to the extent that it might coincide — some of his positions — with Catholic Church teaching, it's not informed by Church teaching, it's informed rather by [the] Democratic Party platform," said Ken Craycraft, author of the recent First Things article, "What Christians can expect from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris."
Craycraft, an attorney, was recently named the James J. Gardner Family Chair of Moral Theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology in Cincinnati. Follow him @kcraycraft on Twitter.
"It is a time where a lot of people are asking hard questions about the papacy. At the same time, people are asking ordinary Catholics, 'Well, why are you still Catholic?' I think it's a really good question to ask. And I think it's a question that [as] Catholics, we should embrace that opportunity to really share: why are we Catholic and what does the papacy have to do with that?" said Joe Heschmeyer, author of the recent book, "Pope Peter: Defending the Church's Most Distinctive Doctrine in a Time of Crisis" (Catholic Answers Press) and an instructor with the Holy Family School of Faith.
“An exorcism at its very core is a prayer. It's a prayer directed to God, who is asked to bring relief into the life of the person. In extreme cases, it's a command given to a demon, commanding it to depart based on the power of the authority of Jesus Christ. But again, it's all about bringing healing into the life of people who are suffering," said Fr. Vincent P. Lampert, a priest in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, an exorcist, and author of the recent book, "Exorcism: The Battle Against Satan and His Demons" (Emmaus Road Publishing).
The biggest crisis in the world “is alienation from God, rebellion against God, it's not believing in Jesus Christ, it's not accepting the offer of mercy and salvation that God's offering to the human race. The primary mission of the Church is not to improve the world. We should absolutely apply the social teaching of the Church, out of charity in all these different areas. But the primary purpose of the Church is to lift up Jesus Christ and call all people, everywhere, to believe in Him and repent," said Ralph Martin, president of Renewal Ministries and author of books, including the recent "A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward" (Emmaus Road Publishing).
"Gradually, it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts," wrote Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Russian dissident, author and Nobel Prize winner, who died in 2008.
In this episode of Respect Life Radio, the life and legacy of Solzhenitsyn is recounted by David Deavel, Ph.D., co-editor of the recently released book, "Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West" (Notre Dame Press) and editor of "Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture."
Deavel was previously a guest on Respect Life Radio in a two-part series on "A Catholic critique of socialism." Part 1 is at this link and Part 2 is at this link.
"There's a whole lot of envy going on and we're seeing symbols of envy," said Anne Hendershott, professor of sociology at Franciscan University, director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life and author of the recent book, "The Politics of Envy," published by Sophia Institute Press. Follow her @AnneHendershott on Twitter.
"People have to vote for life. There's no question about that. Life is the preeminent issue," said Michael Warsaw, chairman and CEO of Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), the world's largest religious media network, and publisher of the National Catholic Register. "That is part of the vision, and the difference in vision, between the two parties and their candidates. And that is what we need to be voting for when we cast our ballot."
Warsaw wrote a recent column in the National Catholic Register titled, "Voting for a Vision, Not a Person."
"How is my relationship doing with my loved ones and what can I do to help each and every single person in my family experience the love of God, the affirmation and the encouragement? And are there any living within my home who are not experiencing true liberation in Jesus Christ — or are they bound up in something, whether it's pornography or other things...," said Kathleen Beckman, author of A Family Guide to Spiritual Warfare: Strategies for Deliverance and Healing.
Beckman is a "Catholic evangelist, best-selling author, writer, speaker, radio host, and Ignatian retreat director," according to her website, kathleenbeckman.com.
"The Spider Who Saved Christmas" speaks to children as a "thrill ride of a story but to adults, it tells a very different tale about family and love and sacrifice," said Raymond Arroyo, author of the new book about the legend, which is the number one bestseller in Catholicism on Amazon.com.
Arroyo is "an internationally known, award-winning journalist, producer, and New York Times Bestselling author," according to his website, as well as managing editor of EWTN News and anchor of The World Over. Follow him on Twitter @RaymondArroyo.
Late-term abortion is "not what the normal OB/GYN would do," said Kathi Aultman, M.D., a former abortionist. "Even when the mother's life is in danger, you wouldn't do a late-term abortion. You would do a C-section or an induction and deliver the baby. And you would try to take care of the baby the best you can. Even if the baby has fetal anomalies, you would deliver the baby and take care of it. You wouldn't try to do a late-term abortion. It actually takes two to three days to be able to do a late-term abortion anyway...Why would you do something like that unless your ultimate goal is the death of the child?"
Aultman is a "retired Board-Certified OB/Gyn and is currently an Associate Scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute." Among her writings is, "Why I Am No Longer An Abortionist."
Earlier in the interview on Respect Life Radio, she said, "I suddenly saw myself as a mass murderer. I understand how the Nazis could do what they did. Because I was doing it. It all came down to whether or not you feel a group is human or not. They didn't feel the Jews and the Russians and the others were human. And I didn't feel fetuses were human. So I didn't have any remorse — at the time. I didn't feel guilty — at the time. It wasn't until then when I realized what I had been doing. And that's when I became prolife."
Proposition 115 on the Nov. 3 ballot would end late-term abortion in Colorado, with an exception for the life of the mother. For more on Prop. 115, go to RespectLifeDenver.org and also see YesProp115.com. For an archive of past episodes of Respect Life Radio, go to RespectLifeRadio.com.
"The deliberate infiltration of churches in the United States — I hope people can kind of sweat it through the awful stuff on Marx and Lenin and Engels (in the book) — and get to that because that takes us really to where we are right now," said Paul Kengor, professor of political science at Grove City College and author of books, including "The Devil and Karl Marx: Communism's Long March of Death, Deception, and Infiltration," recently published by TAN Books.
Listen also to a previous Respect Life Radio interview with Kengor, "Understanding the Marxist moment in America 2020."
"The overturning of Roe vs. Wade would not — in itself, overnight — change the law of abortion in this country," said Matthew J. Franck, an author and Associate Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, and Lecturer in Politics, at Princeton University. "It would return to the people the right to make the laws concerning abortion in this country. It will wind up being made very differently in different states. It'll be different in Colorado, and New Jersey...in Florida and New York, in Arizona and Illinois." Follow him @MatthewJFranck on Twitter.
Proposition 115 on the Nov. 3 ballot would end late-term abortion in Colorado, with an exception for the life of the mother. For more on Prop. 115, go to RespectLifeDenver.org and also see #YesOn115. For an archive of past episodes of Respect Life Radio, go to RespectLifeRadio.com.
Learn "how to vote as a faithful Catholic, but really how to vote as a faithful citizen who is based, and rooted, in the moral foundations of our Church," said Deacon Geoff Bennett, the host of Respect Life Radio. "It is critical that we get involved in the political process. We are not just observers; we need to be participants. We're not going to call on one political party or the other. But look, what they stand for should dictate who we should vote for. Everybody should defend life, from conception through natural death. Those are kind of non-negotiables. And we're going to talk about why this is so important."
For more background, see "Colorado Catholic Conference, as well as information on Colorado ballot initiatives, including Prop. 115 to end late-term abortion, which all four Colorado bishops endorsed in this letter.
"The life issue supersedes politics, it's really ethical, moral, spiritual, human," said Sister Dierdre Byrne, who gave galvanizing pro-life remarks at the Republican National Convention in August. "My intention was not to be a political speaker up there on the podium, but someone who is just representing the Catholic Church and its response, and relationship, to the life issues..."
Sr. Byrne, highlighted by the National Catholic Register as "Surgeon, Soldier, Sister, Servant," belongs to the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
"Make no mistake, this is organized violence. These are not protestors that got out of hand. Or people that may even be connected with the civil rights protests in this country. This is an organized campaign of violence," said James Jay Carafano of The Heritage Foundation, who recently published an opinion on Fox News, titled, "Rioting in US cities – 5 reasons why violent radicals feel emboldened."
Follow Carafano on Twitter @JJCarafano.
"I was conceived when my birth mother was abducted at knifepoint by a serial rapist," said Rebecca Kiessling, born in 1969. "I absolutely would have been aborted if it had been legal. I owe my birth to the law which protected me."
Kiessling is an international pro-life speaker who has "helped pregnant rape victims all around the world to choose life for their children," according to her website, RebeccaKiessling.com. "She’s also an attorney, wife, and mother of 5 (two oldest are adopted,) lost 2 additional babies to miscarriage, and her 33 day old adopted daughter Cassie, who was born with special needs."
Subsequent to the recording of this interview, and prior to publication, her sons Caleb and Kyler died of drug overdose. "I ask that you keep Rebecca and her family in your prayers," said Deacon Geoff Bennett, host of Respect Life Radio.
"Up until the day before your baby is born you can get an abortion for any reason?" is the question that motivates Nicole Hunt, whose daughter — now 11 years old — was born prematurely at 27 weeks, survived and thrived. "At that point, you have two bodies that can live apart from each other, with medical help. It's about the human right of both the mother and the child."
Hunt leads HelpMomSaveBaby.com, which is advocating for Proposition 115 at the Nov. 3 ballot in Colorado, which would prohibit abortion after 22 weeks, with an exception for the life of the mother. More than 40 states restrict abortion at a particular time of the pregnancy; Colorado does not.
"We need 100 percent involvement. We need 100 percent engagement," said Hunt, a wife, mother of four, an attorney and crisis pregnancy volunteer. "The truth is restricting late-term abortion is absolutely nonpartisan. And people are getting out to vote this year; they're going to vote for president. We need to be out there advocating with our friends, with our colleagues, with our acquaintances. We need to be having this conversation."
Find out more at HelpMomSaveBaby.com, and follow the campaign on Twitter @HelpMomSaveBaby and from the #YesOn115 hashtag. To book media interviews of Hunt, contact The Kairos Company.
"We exist because abortion is a human rights violation, it is not a mere theological debate," said Kelsey Hazzard, president and founder of Secular Pro-Life. "The abortion lobby, for a very long time, has tried to silo abortion by characterizing it as just a religious issue, just a theological difference of opinion. When what we're really talking about is violence, lethal violence, against a flesh-and-blood human being. And you don't have to be religious to recognize that."
The interview with Hazzard begins at 10:50 of the podcast, preceded by a commentary by show host Deacon Geoff Bennett on Proposition 115, the late-term abortion ban that will be on the Nov. 3 Colorado ballot. For more on that, go to RespectLifeDenver.org.
"Our role is to systematically eliminate the root causes that drive women to abortion, through education and advocacy," said Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life since 1994. "Our flagship program has predominantly been on college campuses." See also their resource website, WomenDeserveBetter.com.
In light of Proposition 115, a November ballot initiative in Colorado that would ban late-term abortion, Respect Life Radio is "presenting a diversity of interviews and opinions that you are unlikely to hear in the mainstream media," said show host Deacon Geoff Bennett. For more on the ballot initiative, go to RespectLifeDenver.org.
In the parable of the Prodigal Son, "I think about the triumphant return, not the living in the pigsty," said Brandon McGinley, speaker and author of books, including "The Prodigal Church: Restoring Catholic Tradition in an Age of Deception," just published. Follow him on Twitter @brandonmcg.
"If we don't know what to do, desolation can really wreak havoc in our lives," said Fr. Ed Broom, OMV, whose recent article on Catholic Exchange described, "10 Bible Verses that Fight Discouragement."
Fr. Broom was previously on Respect Life Radio, discussing "How to resist the attacks of the devil."
"People have forgotten that bullies are cowards," said Prof. Robert George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and author of books and of articles, including "Solzhenitsyn's Prophecy."
"We need outspokenness. It's the power of the word, not the force of arms, that will win this battle. But if people are too afraid, too frightened, too intimidated, too bullied to speak out against the bully — to stand up and defy the bully when the bully says, 'Oh, you're not allowed to say that,' or the bully says, 'Oh, you must say this, you must give me your loyalty oath' — until somebody stands up, until we gather ourselves and stand up to the bullies, this bullying is going to continue. But the minute that we do stand up, the bully will be revealed to be what all bullies are...a coward. And then we will begin to restore our civilization and our country."
Follow George on Twitter @McCormickProf.
"The sin of the world is much more than just the naughty things I've done," said Fr. Dwight Longenecker, a Catholic parish priest in South Carolina, as well as a writer, speaker and author of "Immortal Combat: Confronting the Heart of Darkness" among other books. "The sin of the world is a deeply-woven net of deception and lies and deceitfulness written right into our genetic code, almost, right into the way we're wired — as individuals and as a society."
Fr. Longenecker was previously on Respect Life Radio in a podcast titled, "Build on the rock of the Catholic faith."
"We have our highest court completely unhinged from reality," said C.C. Pecknold, Ph.D., a professor at The Catholic University of America, referring to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bostock vs. Clayton County. "Bostock unhinges just the very nature of the person as sexually differentiated. It's a kind of sad, in a way not surprising, conclusion to a long series of decisions."
Also interviewed on this episode of Respect Life Radio is Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation and author of books including, "When Harry Became Sally" and "Truth Overruled."
Anderson refers to the Supreme Court imposing "a misguided sexual and gender ideology on the country" and that, "Unfortunately, the Supreme Court can do a lot of damage when judges just impose their personal belief, their personal policy preferences, their views — on contested questions on the American people."
Follow Pecknold @ccpecknold and Anderson @RyanTAnd on Twitter.
Karl Marx "said so many things that, unfortunately, resonate with these radical elements today," said Paul Kengor, professor of political science at Grove City College in Grove City, Pa., and an author of numerous books including "Dupes" and "A Pope and a President."
"One of them at the close of the Communist Manifesto is, 'the Communists [everywhere] support every revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things.'"
Kengor's commentary, "Riots, Pandemic and Astronauts: How 2020 Is Like 1969 All Over Again," was recently published in the National Catholic Register.
"You can be a Democrat and you can be pro-life," said U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Illinois, an eight-term Congressman. "About one out of every three Democratic voters in the country say that they are pro-life. I think it's very important for the pro-life movement to not just be a one-party movement, that there are not just Republicans, but there are Democrats who are pro-life."
In March, Lipinski lost his Democratic primary to challenger Marie Newman. She had the "support of EMILY’s List, a national group that supports pro-abortion rights Democratic women," according to the Chicago Tribune.
"I know there's going to be a lot of national attention paid" to Initiative 120, said Lipinski, when asked about the late-term abortion ban that will be on the Colorado ballot in November. "Hopefully we can all get the message out there of what the truth is and that the voters of Colorado stand up strongly and say that life needs to be protected. There's no way that you can deny that, after 22 weeks, we know that child can survive outside the womb. So, even if you don't believe that life begins at conception, you have to understand that that is a viable life outside the womb, at that age."
Lipinski also referred to his 2019 commencement address at Ave Maria University, an adaptation of which was recently published by Public Discourse, titled, "Carrying Jesus into the Public Square."
"One of the first successful direct democracy campaigns that pro-lifers did actually took place in Colorado. In 1984, Colorado voters approved Initiative 3 that prevents taxpayer funding of elective abortions in the state Medicaid program," said Michael J. New, Ph.D., who is "a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science and Social Research at The Catholic University of America, as well as an Associate Scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute," according to the Lozier website.
New wrote a recently article on National Review Online, titled, "An important pro-life opportunity in Colorado," referring to Initiative 120, the late-term abortion ban proposed for the November 2020 ballot in Colorado.
"I did know that if I continued to just look at the cross and pray to Jesus and kind of fundamentally get my feet back on the ground — and using the Holy Bible, and the Bible only for my references and my truth — that I would be led to where I was supposed to be," said Kendra Clark. She is interviewed by Deacon Geoff Bennett, the host of Respect Life Radio, who introduces her as "a wife, a mother of four and convert to the Catholic faith after spending 40 years in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints..."
Clark also told her story in 2018 on the TV program, "The Journey Home," hosted by Marcus Grodi. Clark helps others and provided her email as kendraclark15@gmail.com.
"What I like about this issue is that it is bipartisan," said Krista Kafer. "When it comes to late-term abortion...a good three-quarters of Americans who say: Why do we have this? Why would you abort a child that can survive outside the womb?"
Kafer is a proponent of Initiative 120 that would put a late-term abortion ban on the Nov. 3, 2020, ballot in Colorado. Follow her on Twitter @KristaKafer.
The map at https://respectlifedenver.org/sign120map shows sites where and when registered Colorado voters can sign Initiative 120, with signatures being turned in the last week of May to the Colorado Secretary of State by Due Date Too Late. The language of the ballot initiative is available at this link.
Kafer, a weekly columnist for The Denver Post, wrote in favor of the ballot initiative in October 2019. More recently, she has been a paid communications person for the Initiative 120 effort.
Gallup polling nationwide from the mid-1970s consistently shows a majority of Americans support restrictions on abortion, with only 25 percent polled in 2019 agreeing that abortion should be legal under any circumstances.
Of a previous sample of 40,000 verified Initiative 120 petition signatures, Due Date Too Late had reported that 12.5% were Democrats, 26.3% were unaffiliated and 61.2% were Republicans.
"Help end late-term abortion in Colorado. If you haven't signed Initiative 120 yet, please go to RespectLifeDenver.org and click on the Initiative 120 link. Once you click on that link, provide your contact information, and we will contact you to let you know how you can sign the petition — and where you can sign the petition. We ask that you help us end late-term abortion in Colorado. Signature collection will start May 15 and run through May 29," said Deacon Geoff Bennett, host of Respect Life Radio.
To help lead a signature drive in May, contact Barbara Glesener at 303-995-8810 about petition pick-up, drop-off, training and signing.
The decline of marriage among the younger generation is a "natural byproduct of a culture that says let's put God on the shelf, let's remake Him in our image, if we allow Him to come around," said Dr. Ray Guarendi, "a Catholic father of ten adopted children, a clinical psychologist, author, professional speaker, and national radio and television host," as described on his website, drray.com. He is the author of many books, including the recently published, "Raising Upright Kids in an Upside-Down World: Defying the Anti-Parent Culture."
As a parent, "you do need to be fearless, you cannot parent in anxiety," said Guarendi. "You can't do it. You won't be able to make the decisions you need to make because you'll be attacked, assaulted, critiqued as a Neanderthal throwback, out of touch, your kids are going to get resentful, they're going to rebel, they're going to hate you, etc."
The Acton Institute is "focused on the intersection of morality, theology, economics, human freedom. It's really the question of the relationship between liberty and the truth of who human beings are," said Fr. Robert A. Sirico, president of the Acton Institute, based in Grand Rapids, Mich. "The organization itself isn't a Catholic organization, as such, it's an ecumenical effort to understand moral responsibility in the market economy."
Fr. Sirico discusses how considerations of science and public health, the market economy, and faith intersect in the approach to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Exorcists all over the world are seeing "the same thing. Demons are acting the same way, people are getting into trouble in the same way. And people are being healed, and being pulled out of possession and obsession and oppression, in the same way," said Charles D. Fraune, author of Slaying Dragons: What Exorcists See & What We Should Know. "We should not fear the devil at all. Actually, if we do fear the devil, he's winning..."
For more about Fraune and his book, go to TheSlayingDragonsBook.com.
"A call came to me from the Lord to step into this," said Debbie Perry-Smith of S.A.F.E. Rockies, the Strategic Alliance to Fight Exploitation, which works with organizations combatting human trafficking and sexual exploitation in the Rocky Mountain region. "We actually have more illicit massage parlors in the state than we do Starbucks."
"I've put together a personal feed of about 500 blogs and wire services," said Kevin Knight, editor, webmaster and founder of NewAdvent.org, a must-read website that presents Catholic news and commentary worldwide, as well as hosting The Catholic Encyclopedia and historic Church content. "I rely a lot on submissions by readers, as well. Some people really have a good eye for what's out there. I like to find quirky stories, too. It's fun to do that because, really, it's bringing all of this in, seeing it with the eyes of Christ and subjecting everything to Christ. That's the idea, and to have fun while doing it."
In these crazy times, "We could really use a model of a man, and a head of a family, and a protector of the good, the true and the beautiful. So I thought 'St. Joseph is perfect,'" said Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, author of "Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father." "So that's the intention behind it, to bring some clarity to the confusion of our times."
The book, available in print or e-book download, guides readers — either as individuals or in a group — through a 33-day consecration to St. Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and earthly father to Our Savior Jesus Christ.
The phrase, "Now is the time for consecration to St. Joseph!" is from an endorsement of the book from Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers.
Calloway's conversion story, "No Turning Back," (available as a book, CD or DVD) describes his journey from "drugs, crime, and the Japanese Mafia, to the mercy of God" and his ordination as a Catholic priest in 2003.
"We started a series of conversations, which will be online, with our speakers" on InspireWord.com, said Joe Condit, whose Catholic Speakers Organization represent 400 Catholic speakers and others. "We are going to bring you into the living room," via social media platforms, of speakers offering "words of inspiration during these hard times, these challenging times, where folks' lives have been turned upside down due to this coronavirus."
St. Ignatius of Loyola presents our spiritual life as a "combat zone. We are in constant battle between the devil, the flesh and the world," said Fr. Ed Broom, OMV, the author of a recent article on Catholic Exchange, titled "Five Ways to Resist the Devil's Attacks."
"A lot of what the Church teaches about public affairs is really the common stock of Christian wisdom, so the sanctity of life is something that obviously we share with Evangelicals and thoughtful Christians of all stripes," said Rusty Reno, editor of First Things. "Catholicism, at least in the modern era, has really been characterized by — in this sense it shares with Judaism — a very strong concern about the common good. That's a distinctive mark of a Catholic political outlook."
Deacon Geoff Bennett, host of Respect Life Radio, asked Reno, "So are practicing Catholics who are running for office, or are already elected to office, are they obliged to believe everything the Church teaches on faith and morals?"
Listen to Reno's answer and the rest of the interview on Respect Life Radio.
Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, "there's a certain sense of just human helplessness" and also "anxiety, how long is this going to last, where is it going to go, will it affect anyone close to me? Those are just very natural reactions and they're very clearly in the air," said Fr. Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V, author of Overcoming Spiritual Discouragement: The Wisdom and Spiritual Power of Venerable Bruno Lanteri, and many other books.
"As the transgender movement has really increased, what you're seeing is a lot of lawsuits percolating through the lower courts" and spreading throughout the "workplace, our houses of worship, our schools," said Nicole Russell, based in Texas, who writes for The Daily Signal and other publications. "It's gotten to where no place is untouched..."
"It's always about God," said Terese Piccola. "It's not about us. It's about what He does through us — for ourselves and for others." Listen to Part 1 and Part 2 of the Respect Life Radio interview.
Her story was recently recounted by the National Catholic Register in a blog post titled, "Wife and Mother of Four Describes Experience of Possession, Exorcism." You can follow her @terese_little on Twitter.
"I don't know why, as time went on, God allowed me to hear and witness things more than the average person might during an exorcism," said Terese Piccola. "And through that, was able to have these interactions with saints, too." Listen to Part 1 and Part 3 of the interview.
Her story was recently recounted by the National Catholic Register in a blog post titled, "Wife and Mother of Four Describes Experience of Possession, Exorcism." You can follow her @terese_little on Twitter.
"Go to RespectLifeDenver.org to find out more details about prayer vigils and what we're planning on doing to defend children and protect them from these harmful [Drag Queen Story Hour] shows that are really trying to indoctrinate them," said Deacon Geoff Bennett, the host of Respect Life Radio. "What we have found is that this is actually an organized plan. This isn't something just happening randomly throughout the United States."
Listen to what Deacon Geoff discovered from the American Library Association, and also hear his interview with a father of two young children concerned about Drag Queen Story Hour in his Colorado community.
In addition, Respect Life Denver invites those concerned to attend morning Mass at Nativity of Our Lord in Broomfield on Saturday, Feb. 29, then participate in a public Rosary and prayer vigil in front of the Broomfield Library. The prayer vigil will take place at same time that the library is inviting children to attend a Drag Queen Story Hour that morning.
"Pro-life Democrats have to stand up and say, 'No, we're not going to bend any longer...to this abortion lobby,'" said Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America. "The Democratic Party has to support these candidates. If the abortion lobby comes in and starts attacking a pro-life Democrat, they have to stop it."
Day generated attention in January by asking Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg at a televised town hall in Iowa if he wanted "the support of pro-life Democrats" and if he would support "more moderate platform language in the Democratic Party..." Here's video of his response and links to news coverage.
"I think socialism is the most important issue facing our country right now and I just want to be a part of the fight," said Morgan Zegers, founder of Young Americans Against Socialism. "Knowing about the failures of socialism, I just assumed that nobody would every support that, in an amazing country like the United States of America."
Polling data over the past decade indicates that a declining view of capitalism, among respondents ages 18 to 39 in 2019, puts it roughly equivalent to socialism, according to Gallup.
"Oftentimes what happens when we're abused, or something evil happens to us, if we don't respond in the correct manner, we leave ourselves open to that weakness, and to looking for things outside of the Church," said Terese Piccola. "And that's exactly what happened to me." Listen to Part 2 and Part 3 of the interview.
Her story was recently recounted by the National Catholic Register in a blog post titled, "Wife and Mother of Four Describes Experience of Possession, Exorcism." You can follow her @terese_little on Twitter.
Live Action is "a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the greatest human rights abuse of our time, which is abortion," said Alison Centofante, director of external affairs for LiveAction.org. "We do this through educational videos, through investigative reporting, by sharing the stories of women and girls who have chosen life, and making sure women know about all of their life-affirming options."
Deacon Geoff Bennett, host of Respect Life Radio, also discusses the importance of Initiative 120, an effortto put a late-term abortion ban on the Colorado ballot in November 2020.
"The Fairness for All Act essentially creates all the problems that The Equality Act creates, and then exempts a handful of people from those problems, and then they call that a victory for religious liberty," said Greg Baylor, senior counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom. "I would say it's a victory for religious liberty not to create the problems in the first place."
Baylor is a previous guest on Respect Life Radio, where he discussed The Equality Act , which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in May 2019. The Fairness for All Act is purported compromise legislation, proposed in December by U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah. Follow @GregBaylor on Twitter to see links regarding the Fairness for All Act and other subjects.
"I want to wake the Catholic community up and the pro-life community up...that the playing field upon which all the pro-life issues are determined is in health care," said Louis Brown, executive director of Christ Medicus Foundation, who recently wrote an article titled, "Health Care: The Greatest Pro-Life Political Battle of Our Time."
"The philosophical and theological underpinnings of our health care system is what will determine whether we protect the unborn, pregnant women, the dignity of human life, because so much of that is dealt with in the health care" system, said Brown.
Attempts by some parents to be "attentive to the latest cultural trends and sensibilities" to reach their kids are instead cultivating even more confrontational attitudes and behavior, according to Casey Chalk, a writer for "The American Conservative" and other publications, whose recent article is "Woke Parenting Eats Its Own."
"Their kids are modeling the behavior that they have seen from their parents, who have told them that they should be distrustful of authority, that the traditional stories about American history should be questioned...[as] full of bigotry and prejudice," said Chalk on Respect Life Radio. "The parents are feeding into their children's own sense of victimhood."
"The idea is them — the children — before us, the adults," said Katy Faust, founder of ThemBeforeUs.com and contributor to The Federalist. "Children have very specific rights when it comes to their life, and their right to be known and loved by the two people responsible for their existence. The only way to respect those rights is for adults to conform their lives to the rights of children. What we're seeing in pretty much every area of American life — whether it's in the abortion debate, or issues of divorce or issues of reproductive technologies or cohabitation, is the adults saying: No, this is what I want and this is how I'm going to order my family, regardless of whether or not it respects children's rights."
Ramona Treviño, a former Planned Parenthood manager who has become a vocal pro-life advocate, will be the keynote speaker at the Celebrate Life Rally and March on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020, on the west steps of the state Capitol in Denver, Colo.
Treviño said providing contraception at clinics is a gateway to abortion for Planned Parenthood.
"It's future abortion clients for them: We have to get people to have sex and be promiscuous and live these risky lifestyles so that they can become pregnant," said Treviño on Respect Life Radio. "So if they do become pregnant, then Planned Parenthood becomes [an] authority in their life and someone they can trust. So then they go to Planned Parenthood to receive their abortion. It's just this cycle that they continue to perpetuate..."
"What divorce does is it makes children homeless," said Leila Miller, author of "Primal Loss: The Now-Adult Children of Divorce Speak." "All of a sudden, they go from having a home and an identity — to not. And they have two homes, and they're traveling between homes. Things that the adults would never allow for themselves — you'd never tell an adult, 'Oh, you have to switch homes every few days, and bring all your stuff with you' — but we do this to the kids. And then we allow them to split their identity."
For more from Leila Miller, go to LeilaMiller.net. Also, listen to a prior Respect Life Radio interview (in Part 1 and Part 2) with Miller about the book, "Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today's Tough Moral Issues," co-authored with Trent Horn.
“Kids raised by their own married biological parents are markedly less likely to have teenage pregnancy and they're markedly more likely to do well in school, go to college, graduate from college; less likely to be arrested, incarcerated,” said Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. Wilcox also described the “community story” of families that “ripples out and affects our neighbors, our communities and even our country, of course.”
"The reality is that the government — the taxpayers, people listening to this program — you guys subsidize all the stuff that goes on" in higher education, said Willis Krumholz. "It's not just even hiding anymore how anti-Christian, anti-American, pro-Marxist a lot of the teaching is in higher education. It's a real problem."
Krumholz, a fellow at Defense Priorities, wrote an article for The Federalist, titled, "The Right Needs To Adopt This Revolutionary Higher Ed Reform Plan Now."
"Hong Kong is really the only free place in China," said Helen Raleigh, an author who grew up in Communist China and now lives in Colorado. "People are naturally concerned that should this (extradition) bill pass, Beijing will demand that Hong Kong hand over human rights activists and all the other dissidents. So that's why people took to the streets" in Hong Kong.
Raleigh, who recently wrote an article titled, "China’s ultimate goal is to control American culture, and companies should resist it," also discussed how the National Basketball Association, Apple, Marriott and other U.S. businesses bend to Chinese interests. She also criticized the Vatican's agreement with China on the appointment of bishops, and its effect on the underground Catholic Church there.
Raleigh is a business owner, senior contributor to The Federalist and an immigration policy fellow at the Centennial Institute. Her website is HelenRaleighSpeaks.com and her Twitter handle is @HRaleighspeaks.
Becket "is a non-profit law firm that represents people of all faith backgrounds to defend religious liberty for everyone," said Daniel Blomberg, senior counsel at Becket. "From our perspective, if anyone is being denied their religious liberty by the government, then everyone is losing an important part of what religious liberty is. We represent people from all different faith backgrounds, from Anglican to Zoroastrian and everyone in between.
"I personally have represented Muslims and Protestants and Catholics and Sikhs and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Folks from all different backgrounds. The thing that unites them is that they want to serve their God as best they can. In some way, or for some reason, the government is preventing them from doing that."
Blomberg discussed the ongoing case of the Little Sisters of the Poor fighting against the prior Obama Administration's contraceptive mandate, as well as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship vs. the University of Iowa.
"Harmel Academy of the Trades is a men's Catholic, post-secondary, residential trade school in Grand Rapids, Michigan," said Brian Black, president and co-founder of the new school. "It's open to high school graduates — and young men will enter a program that teaches them a skilled trade, and at the same time, they'll continue to be formed in their humanities education and in their Catholic faith. It's meant to be a college experience but with a trades program training in the mix."
The school, on the Kuyper College campus, is named after Leon Harmel, who "was a successful French Catholic industrialist who led a movement to recognize the dignity and rights of industrial workers," according to the Harmel website. The school is encouraging pre-registration interest at this link, in advance of its admissions process for its first class in the fall of 2020.
"The need for well-formed young men working in the trades is very high," said Black. "The timing is good. But really what we're doing is fleshing out a new mission for the Church."
The establishment of Our Lady of Victory High School was "something that was really grass roots, driven by the desire of parents to give their children a fuller education," said R. Jared Staudt, Ph.D., president of the Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Victory High School. Staudt is also the Director of Formation at the Archdiocese of Denver.
"We are at the St. Louis school building in Englewood," said Staudt. "We have 20 students, so we actually maxed out for our first year here."
Staudt noted the classical school's emphasis on reading the Great Books and Socratic dialogue, as well as experiential learning, such as the freshman class taking a three-day backpacking trip.
"We really want to emphasize this kind-of hands-on experience of Catholic education, and Catholic culture, more generally. We emphasize spiritual formation, service and the fine arts very heavily," said Staudt of the high school, which is affiliated with the growing Chesterton Schools Network.
"We speak of the trivium and the quadrivium in classical education," said Staudt. "The trivium is just grammar, logic, rhetoric, that is, being able to read a text well and understand it; logic, to be able to think about it, comprehend it, to discern what's true, what's false; and then rhetoric, to be able to talk about it, to be able to write well, to speak effectively. The quadrivium is then applying this logic to the universe. You begin with arithmetic, geometry, extending this into space. Also, music, looking at the mathematical qualities of beauty. And then, astronomy, which is basically the foundation of the sciences, the application of math to the universe."
Respect Life Denver presented "Made This Way: Authentic Femininity and Masculinity | Transcending the established norms of our culture" at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church in Broomfield, Colo., on Oct. 23, 2019.
Speaking at the event were Deacon Geoff Bennett, vice president of Parish & Community Relations at Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver, as well as the host of Respect Life Radio; Lynn Grandon, program director of the Respect Life Office; and Senite Sahlezghi, LPC, program director of Marisol Health in Lafayette, Colo.
While planning to launch a brewery, "a major hurdle was thrown in my way and I lost my eyesight" in 2016, recalled Tom Martinez about his remarkable journey and the creation of Blind Faith Brewing. "When we talk about walking by faith, and not by sight, it's the willingness to take what comes, because you are going to have struggles in life. And sometimes they're unexplainable and you don't know why." Read more about Martinez in this 2018 article in the Denver Catholic.
Hear dozens of previous interviews by Respect Life Radio host Deacon Geoff Bennett by going to RespectLifeRadio.com, with podcasts available on Podbean and Apple Podcasts. Respect Life Radio also airs every week on the Catholic Radio Network in Denver.
"Leftists who run our nation’s public schools love to hide behind the skirts of the APA when it comes to crazy Sex Ed," wrote Cathy Ruse, referring to the American Psychological Association. She also noted, "Children are being used as lab rats in a social experiment."
Ruse, senior fellow and director of human dignity at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., explains on Respect Life Radio the damage being done to kids in schools.
"The lesson plan for 12-year-olds in California forces teachers — this is Sex Ed — to use the term 'partners' because the mandate says that terms like boyfriend and girlfriend are discriminatory because some 12-year-olds may be non-monogamous. God forbid we speak of spouse or husband or wife, that's long gone," said Ruse. "...You have to use the plural 'partners' because we may have non-monogamous, polyamorous relationships from these young teens. It's stomach-churning, really."
"We believe that the people in Colorado are going to become informed about what's happening in our state with the late-term abortions — up to birth, for any reason — and vote to end this practice," said Keri Ebel in regard to Proposition 120, which needs 124,632 valid petition signatures by March 4, 2020, to go on the Colorado ballot in November 2020.
The initiative would prohibit abortions after 22 weeks in Colorado.
"People don't know that Colorado was the first state to decriminalize abortion, said John Ebel, referring to the 1967 law. "So we feel like this is a perfect battleground. We're going to start turning this around. And this is the time to do it."
John and Keri Ebel are part of the Coalition for Women and Children, which is promoting the initiative through the website "DueDateTooLate.com." The urgent need is for people to gather petition signatures, with a training process available to those who sign up on the website.
Respect Life Denver, the office of Catholic Charities that also produces Respect Life Radio, is helping recruit volunteers to gather petition signatures. If interested, send an email to life@ccdenver.org.
Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila, in a recent Denver Catholic column titled "Coloradans have a chance to rescue the unborn," wrote, "I urge all Catholics to get involved in this effort!"
"We underestimate how rapidly our world is changing, how rapidly technology is just washing over us like a tsunami, and science and mobility. There are so many things buzzing in our world, and unless our faith is grounded firmly, we're likely to get swept away," said Fr. Dwight Longenecker, a Catholic priest, speaker and author. Longenecker is pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Greenville, S.C. His blog and other content can be found at DwightLongenecker.com
Longenecker referred to the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus Christ contrasts building a house on rock or on sand (MT 7:24-27) and also says to Peter, "...upon this rock I will build my church." (MT 16:18)
"Very clearly, it seems to me, that Jesus is saying: hey, build your house on the rock, Peter's the rock. And the Catholic faith for the last 2,000 years is that rock of stability on which to build," said Longenecker. "If we don't actually build on a secure foundation, then when the storms come, that house will fall flat."
How to address, with truth and Christian charity, the many aspects of transgenderism? That was the subject of "Made This Way: Male and Female," a special event presented by Respect Life Denver on Sept. 10, 2019, at St. Thomas More Catholic Parish in Centennial, Colo.
Nearly 500 people attended the event to hear Dr. Patrick Lappert, an Alabama-based plastic surgeon and also a deacon in the Catholic Church; and to hear Emily Zinos, a Minnesota-based Catholic mom who compiled the "Parent Resource Guide: Responding to the Transgender Issue," which can be downloaded at genderresourceguide.com.
The event was co-sponsored by the Denver Guild of the Catholic Medical Association, Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver, and the Centennial Institute. The edited audio of the event includes extended remarks from Zinos and Lappert, as well as questions to both of them, submitted by the audience.
Video of the event is cross-posted at https://vimeo.com/366542026
"It is categorically impossible to change your gender," said Walt Heyer, a biological male who had gender reassignment surgery in 1983 and later detransitioned. "It becomes sort of...an elaborate Halloween costume with surgery and hormones."
Heyer, an author whose website is SexChangeRegret.com, described the current transgender push on children as "medical malpractice, it's child abuse, it's experimental medicine" that will reveal itself in the years ahead. "They're all gonna go, 'Gee whiz. Why did we put this in schools? What were we doing?'"
Heyer traced his own gender confusion to his grandmother cross-dressing him as a four-year-old boy in the 1940s. She "affirmed me and told me how told me how cute I looked, is how that event planted the seed of confusion," said Heyer, who said that led him to be a target of sexual abuse by an uncle.
Read more of Heyer's story in a USA Today opinion piece.
"They really did give us everything: freedom; freedom for our faith, everything," said Deacon Jim Doyle, referring to military veterans, including his father, who are honored at the Colorado Freedom Memorial in Aurora, Colo. There will be a special Mass there on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019, at an event titled, "In God We Trust."
"Anybody that knows a vet should invite them to this, and especially a vet that has really turned sour on his faith," said Doyle. "Those are the folks that we want. For some reason, they've had a bad experience in the war and they're thinking that God doesn't love them anymore. So we want those women and men back."
According to a description of the event, "'The Colorado Freedom Memorial in partnership with the Archdiocese of Denver will host 'In God We Trust,' a calling to all veterans to be reunited with Christ at a Special Outdoor Mass, followed by a reception where veterans can connect with others who have served and others who can help us on the journey back to faith."
"Bishop Jorge Rodriguez, Auxiliary Bishop of Denver, will be the celebrant. Please bring a chair or blanket. Complimentary lunch will immediately follow. If you have additional questions, please contact Deacon Donohoe or Amy Vigil at deacon.donohoe@archden.org or amy.vigil@archden.org.'"
Also interviewed on this episode of Respect Life Radio is Rick Crandall, morning show host on 1430 AM, who has a longstanding commitment to honoring veterans and is the president of the Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation.
"Every year, EWTN celebrates its anniversary in a different city across the country and this year EWTN has picked Denver," said Elena Rodriguez, the U.S. Northwest Regional Marketing Manager for EWTN, the Global Catholic Network.
The free EWTN Family Celebration will be at Magness Arena on the campus of the University of Denver, beginning at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21. There will be presentations, in both English and Spanish, throughout the day by prominent Catholic speakers, with a Mass at 5 p.m.
"There is something for every age," said Rodriguez, who encouraged attendees, including families with children, to register in advance for the free event at ewtn.com/familycelebration.
Teen STAR helps youth understand "their fertility, their biomarkers and themselves through the self-discovery of their bodies and who they are" in the eyes of God, said Deacon Santiago Molina, executive director of Teen STAR, an educational program available in more than 46 countries.
"We like to call it...Theology of the Body, starting with the body," said Molina. "We know that kids in (7th to 10th grades) are still not quite in that age of abstract thinking. They're mostly concrete thinkers. So you give them the concrete facts of the biology of their bodies, allow them to experience the signs that their bodies give them for understanding who they are."
Teen STAR, taught separately to boys and girls for at least the first seven units, proceeds from anatomy and physiology to educate youth on the spirituality and meaning of the body, including Humanae Vitae and St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body, said Molina.
Teen STAR (Sexuality Teaching in the context of Adult Responsibility) was founded in 1980 by Sister Hanna Klaus, M.D., a Medical Missions Sister and OB/GYN.
Feminism, understood in the culture as “being pro-woman,” is really a “deadly combination of Marxism and the occult” with a focus on abortion, said Carrie Gress, Ph.D., author of the recent book, “The Anti-Mary Exposed: Rescuing the Culture from Toxic Femininity.”
Gress, editor of the online magazine Theology of Home, also describes the fallout from the roots of Protestantism, which “threw out Our Lady and they threw out religious orders for women, [which] kind of left women in this position where they don't have any way to understand how they can reach God and be in proper relationship with God.
“And that's where it comes back to, even these ideas of virginity and motherhood. Those are what are being attacked, very specifically. Which is no surprise: we call Our Lady the Virgin Mother. I think it underscores, too, just the importance of these two different ways that we know ourselves within a relationship with God the Father. And that's really what [feminism is] trying to destroy. If you can destroy motherhood, if you can destroy virginity...not only are you just destroying women, but you're destroying the family and the whole culture kind of falls like dominoes after that.”
Thane Bellomo, MBA - Organizational Development Innovator, Author, Speaker, Bass Player
Gun violence is a result of taking God, Family & Community out of society. Thane says the vast majority of people can barley count on one hand the number of people whose life would be altered by their passing. Suicide rates and drug abuse are up in our society and that is not because of guns. You can read Thane’s article at The Federalist.
We talk about reproductive technology and the Churches teaching. One easy litmus test to determine whether a procedure is morally acceptable is if it replaces the martial act it is morally wrong and if it assists the marital act it is morally acceptable.
John lets us know that bioethical challenges don’t go away they seem to become more numerous. He also says People are paying 20 to 30k for woman to go through ones attempt at Invitro Fertilization (IVF)
A number of eggs are fertilized creating embryos only to have the best ones picked out while destroying the remaining fertilized embryos. It is a form of eugenics.
Children are good and innocent – They can suffer profoundly based on the decision of their parents. So before going down the road which can lead to many difficult emotional situations with the children later in life there is hope for those suffering with fertility issues. John provides a place to go to get help and have the fertility issue examined.
Find out about the oppression of all faiths in China with a particular focus on the Uighurs (pronounced Weegers). Reeducation facilities, forced labor, torcher & brain washing.
Also learn how China spies not only on their own people but on people of other nations.
Learn about vaccines and what parents should know when it comes to protecting their child with vaccines and potentially from them.
If you have questions about fetal cell vaccines or the possible link to autism you need to listen to this podcast.
Patrick and his staff do extensive research on the over 200 Catholic colleges in the U.S. to help parents identify the 10% of those colleges that are faithful to the teachings of the Church (Newman Guide). Our children are leaving the faith at an alarming rate and most studies show that the college years are the greatest threat to our children’s faith. Patrick says there is something about living on these campuses where you have 4 yrs. of thoroughly Catholic Christian culture. Our kids my never have that opportunity again to be in such a faithful environment. If you are a parent or grandparent of school age children you must listen to this podcast.
Dr. Berger tells us that the avg age of those starting to use marijuana is 8-12 yrs. old and getting younger. He says that 17% of adolescence who start using marijuana will become addicted to harder drugs. Some of the symptoms of marijuana use are; sudden mood swings, falling asleep at improper times, short term memory issues, glassy eyes and strange friends appearing and that is just to name a few. Listen to find out about the other dangers of this drug that our politicians are ignoring.
Liberty McArtor a freelance writer out of Texas talk about how these 180 and many other CEO’s are supporting abortion and don’t care about women’s empowerment.
She says there is a fertility crisis in the United States and many women aren’t having as many children as they would like. The CEO’s message to women is we want to hire more of you but we need to have abortions so women can make it at our companies and have a chance to move up in the organization. Liberty says “Our society doesn’t value family”.
Mark Sanders is an addiction counselor at St. Raphael’s and he explains how pornography is addictive and that it can rewire the brain. According to Mark the average age of a child’s first exposure to pornography is 10 to 12 years old.
"The Equality Act is certainly a broadside frontal assault on religious freedom, and specifically, those who hold what are becoming the so-called 'wrong views' about controversial issues like the morality of homosexual behavior, about the definition of marriage, about the distinction between the sexes," said Greg Baylor, senior counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom. "It would impose a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) nondiscrimination obligation in a whole host of settings. We're talking about businesses, places of public accommodation in their relationships with customers."
Baylor listed other groups that would be affected by the proposed Equality Act: employers, landlords, public schools, private schools, recipients of federal financial assistance, higher education, and many religious social service agencies.
Rebecca Dussault, a 2006 Winter Olympian in cross-country skiing and a world champion winter triathlete, warns that, "We are wading into some really dangerous waters” in allowing transgender participation in female sporting events.
“We as a people need to consider the consequences right now before the whole can of worms is opened,” said Dussault in an interview on Respect Life Radio, a weekly radio show based in Denver. “I am all for all people getting to express themselves through sport. But I am for fairness.”
Dussault, a wife and mother of six, has been described as a “multi-sport momma” for her achievements in cross-country skiing, winter triathlons and other sports. An Idaho resident, she coaches women to be “healthy, happy and holy” moms through FitCatholicMom.com.
Dussault's Catholic faith, her experience in international sporting competitions and a concern for the well-being of female athletes were evident in the 27-minute Respect Life Radio interview with host Deacon Geoff Bennett.
The interview with Rebecca Dussault is through the Catholic Speakers Organization. To book a speaker, go to CatholicSpeakers.com.
"We take babies that never make it home from the hospital into our care and reverently place [them] in a Rite of Committal...about once a month," said John Miller, outreach coordinator for Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services of northern Colorado, which includes Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery in Wheat Ridge. "It's open to people of all faiths."
See this link for more on Precious Lives Burial and reach John Miller at 303-715-2083 or via email at john.miller@archden.org.
"I did abortions the first two years of my residency," said Dr. John Bruchalski, who is the founder of who is the founder of pro-life Tepeyac OB/GYN and Divine Mercy Care in Virginia. "I terminated Down Syndrome. I terminated really sick babies. I terminated babies with no kidneys. And these are all quote-unquote 'incompatible with life.' But you never get rid of the disease by getting rid of the people with the disease..."
"...When you love the child in the womb of its mother, as long as the good Lord provides, you can...parse those diseases into livable, lovable and treatable."
Read his amazing conversion story at this link and see the videos of his appearance at the 2015 Gospel of Life Conference in Denver in Part 1 and Part 2.
“The great miracle of the last century is that, for most of the world, developing market economies have allowed them to actually enter that “circle of exchange” [as St. John Paul II said] and so we have at this point in history...the smallest percentage of people in the world living in dire poverty. That to me is a much more important question than if somebody else has more stuff than I do,” said David Deavel, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and the editor of Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture.
This is Part 2 of a two-part podcast. Listen to Part 1 at this link.
“In almost every socialist system, you're going to end up with one group of people who are in the government, who are running things on behalf of the people...and they're going to end up having the power and the money for themselves,” said David Deavel, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and the editor of Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture.
Young people attracted to socialism “may think of it simply as part of that welfare state ideal and they've been taught, 'Everything works better in Sweden' or something like that,” said Deavel. “And what they don't understand is that those Nordic countries actually did have fairly socialist arrangements in the 1970s. But what they led to was absolute stagnation. So many of them had to open up their economies in order to keep up their large welfare state.”
The “Catholic social tradition has largely been open to market economies within a strong juridical framework and with the caveat that, look they can go bad if the culture around them goes bad. Why is that? John Paul II said in Centesimus Annas — his 1991 encyclical — that one of the things that's needed for poor people is that they can enter into the circle of exchange."
Deavel continued, "And when you enter into that circle of exchange, profit's going to be a part of that. But in order to succeed in it, you have to be meeting people's needs, both your consumers, as well as the people who are investing, and working for you, as well. And when you have that balance, I think people are not as attracted to these sort of wild-eyed socialist ideals, when they see that no, this can actually work. But the trick is, of course, having a good legal and political framework, as well as — most importantly — having a culture in which the right things are valued..."
This is Part 1 of a two-part podcast. Listen to Part 2 at this link.
"Every Sunday, when we pray the Creed, we profess our faith in things visible and invisible," said Fr. Gary Selin, who is a Formation Advisor, as well as an Assistant Professor, at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. "The invisible refers primarily to the angels, that God created both material things and the spirit world..."
See also this Denver Catholic article from 2012, "Angels: the invisible heroes among us," in which Fr. Selin is interviewed.
“Today we serve the elderly in over 30 countries around the world and count on a diverse network of collaborators to help us fulfill our mission,” said Sister Joseph Marie, vocations director of the Little Sisters of the Poor Mullen Home for the Aged in Denver. “As it says in our mission statement: We offer the neediest elderly of every race and religion a home where they will be welcomed as Christ, cared for as a family, and accompanied with dignity until God calls them home to Himself.”
"I had a mom who sent me a picture of her high-school daughter, who picked up the book in their kitchen, and sat down and read it straight through in two days and said, 'Mom, this is exactly what's going on in my school,'" said Leila Miller, co-author of "Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today's Tough Moral Issues," in Part 2 of this two-part interview on Respect Life Radio. Listen to Part 1 here.
The book addresses hot-button issues, including:
- Sex Outside of Marriage
- Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Divorce
- Contraception
- Abortion
- Reproductive Technologies
- Modesty
- Pornography
- Transgenderism
- Homosexuality
The Respect Life Office of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver also provides presentations at your parish, school or community group. This can be an introduction to the overall goal of the book — helping kids get to heaven — as well as giving you resources to address specific topics at age appropriate levels. Submit your request at respectlifedenver.org/madethisway
"...Catholic parents, and Christian parents, are just pretty much petrified as to what they're watching happen in the culture and...you feel like you're just free-falling. You don't know what to do..." said Leila Miller, co-author of "Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today's Tough Moral Issues," in Part 1 of a two-part interview on Respect Life Radio. Listen to Part 2 here.
The book addresses hot-button issues, including:
- Sex Outside of Marriage
- Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Divorce
- Contraception
- Abortion
- Reproductive Technologies
- Modesty
- Pornography
- Transgenderism
- Homosexuality
The Respect Life Office of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver also provides presentations at your parish, school or community group. This can be an introduction to the overall goal of the book — helping kids get to heaven — as well as giving you resources to address specific topics at age appropriate levels. Submit your request at respectlifedenver.org/madethisway
Maddie Haas of Colorado was a teenage freshman at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln when she found out she was unexpectedly pregnant. "For being so pro-life, the thought of abortion came into my head...for probably one minute," recalled Maddie. "It definitely came into my head [that] I could do this and no one in my family would even have to know that I was ever even pregnant."
"...Nothing can really prepare you, no matter how pro-life you are, or how Catholic you are, if you get in that moment."
An ultrasound revealed Maddie was nearly 20 weeks pregnant. "At that point, my question went from, 'Do I tell my parents?' to 'How do I tell them?'"
In this Respect Life Radio interview, Maddie Haas and her mother, Val, discuss the struggles and joys of the past six years and the gift of Maddie's daughter, Ellie Grace, now five years old.
See also this Denver Catholic story from 2014, "Pro-life teen tested by reality of own pregnancy."
"There's two stories involved here," said Ed Reinhardt Sr., referring to his son Eddie's traumatic brain injury in a 1984 college football game — and to "my relationship with my own father and then how it strangely, mysteriously, providentially connects with Ed's accident."
The Reinhardts are inspirational public speakers, addressing "the good that can come out of tragedy" and "the importance of the influence of parents in the family." Their story is told in the 2004 book, "You're OK, Kid!"
"That's why changing the culture right now is so important," said Emily Zinos, a mother of seven who leads Ask Me First Minnesota. "We have to remember our doctors, our endocrinologists, our surgeons, don't live in a bubble, right? They're living in a culture where these ideas are becoming popular. They're having more and more parents come in to ask questions or to make demands of them for these types of medical interventions. So the importance of speaking out isn't just about our public schools. But speaking out with our neighbors and our friends means that we're changing the culture one person at a time."
Click here for Part 1 of the Respect Life Radio interview with Emily Zinos.
"I work with Ask Me First Minnesota, which essentially advocates for common-sense recognition of biological sex in law, policy and culture. We focus especially on the negative impacts that gender identity laws have on women and girls," said Emily Zinos, a mother of seven. "My own interest in this issue stems from something that happened at my children's school. So, we had our children enrolled in a public charter school here in Minnesota. And, in 2015, we got an email that blindsided us — from the principal of the grade school." Click here for Part 2 of the Respect Life Radio interview with Emily Zinos.
"For us, as a Catholic community and a Christian community, there's forgiveness out there, too. People need to have an opportunity to rehabilitate if they've made a mistake. And that happens every day," said Colorado state Sen. Angela Williams of Denver, a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 19-182 to repeal the death penalty, under consideration at the state legislature. "But to put someone to death to try to solve our social issues is inhumane and I don't think that's our decision to make. The state of Colorado hasn't used the death penalty since 1997."
“Our main mission is to provide dignified care to women and families," said — Senite Sahlezghi, Marisol Health Program Director in Lafayette, Colo. "The heart of the Marisol Health mission really is to meet that woman who is unexpectedly pregnant — and be able to provide her a wraparound supportive services network [with] dignified and qualified medical care, so that she may choose life and know that she is supported...”
In the second part from the Celebrate Life Rally and March, hear the McGarrity family, who are raising four children with Down syndrome in addition to four "typical" children; Elías Moo, the Superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Denver; and event MC David Bereit, the co-founder of 40 Days for Life, who closed the rally with a prophetic story about Abraham Lincoln. The annual Celebrate Life Rally and March was held Jan. 12, 2019, beginning on the west steps of the Colorado state Capitol in Denver. (Part 2 of 2 parts.) For more on Celebrate Life, go to RespectLifeDenver.org.
The annual Celebrate Life Rally and March was held Jan. 12, 2019, beginning on the west steps of the Colorado state Capitol in Denver. David Bereit, the co-founder and former president of 40 Days for Life, was the emcee, introducing the Most Rev. Samuel J. Aquila, Archbishop of Denver. Other speakers included Deacon Geoff Bennett of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver and Elizabeth Felix of Students for Life of America. (Part 1 of 2 parts.) For more on Celebrate Life, go to RespectLifeDenver.org.
Kinship is "a relative raising a relative's child," said Carrie Savage, manager of Kinship and Senior Services at Catholic Charities of Denver. "We most commonly see grandparents raising grandchildren, but we also have aunts and uncles, cousins (raising children). And they don't have to be blood-related. We can call them a psychological kin and they have a special relationship with the child; maybe a godparent would be an example of that. But most commonly, grandparents." For more, see the Kinship Caregiver Program at Catholic Charities, as well as Senior Care Services.
"At the foundation, the reason priests are celibate is because Jesus Christ himself was celibate," said Fr. Gary Selin, author of Priestly Celibacy: Theological Foundations. "He's the reason, he's the cause, he is the very foundation of the New Testament priesthood." Fr. Selin is a Formation Advisor, as well as an Assistant Professor, at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. For more, see the National Catholic Register interview with Fr. Selin, "Why the Church Guards Celibacy as a 'Brilliant Jewel.'"
“We offer spiritual direction to people throughout the Archdiocese of Denver and beyond, as well,” said Fr. Greg Cleveland, O.M.V., of The Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality in Denver. “We offer that service to people looking for that one-on-one guidance, helping deepen their relationship with The Lord. We also train people to become spiritual directors.” Go here for more on The Lanteri Center.
“Prayer, with the Rosary, was a big part of our family,” said Sam Perry, discussing his mission to widely share that devotion, including distribution of tens of thousands of Rosaries and prayer books over the years, as well as initiating Prayer in the Square on the first Saturday of each month at locations across Colorado's Front Range. Perry also discussed the traveling statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which can be booked at schools and parishes in the Archdiocese of Denver. For more on Sam and Becky Perry, read this 2013 story.
"This really is the largest civil rights movement of our time," said Lynn Grandon, program director of the Respect Life Office at Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver. Across the nation each January, "people join together by the hundreds of thousands to remember the tragedy of the Roe v. Wade decision and what it's done to our nation. Some people may not be aware that the numbers are above 60 million of the children that we've lost [from abortion] since January of 1973. So people gather and march peacefully all across the United States."
Grandon described the upcoming Celebrate Life Rally and March, to take place starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019, on the west steps of the state Capitol in Denver. Details are available at respectlifedenver.org.
“Every two years, we will have a recruitment year at the St. Francis School of Theology for Deacons,” said Deacon Robert Hoffman, associate director. “We are in the recruitment year. For the entire year, once a month we will have discernment retreats for men who feel they have the call to be a deacon.”
Here is a link to the application process as well as registration for discernment retreats in the Archdiocese of Denver, which are to be held on Dec. 1, 2018; as well as Jan. 12 (bilingual), Feb. 9, March 9 and April 6, 2019.
“We are accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals,” said Cheryl Martinez-Gloria, Esq., Director of Immigration Services at Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver. “We offer advice, assistance and representation to the indigent and low-income of Colorado — those with valid legal claims to status under our immigration laws. Our main office is located in Denver. We do have satellite offices in Glenwood Springs, Frisco, Greeley and Fort Morgan. In general, our practice covers family visa processing, deportation defense, citizenship and community education.”
For more details, go to http://ccdenver.org/immigration-services or call 303-742-7491.
In the devastating fallout from suicide, not much attention is given to "the family members, the friends that are left behind. I think it's a topic that is rarely discussed and rarely addressed," said Cheryl, a guest on Respect Life Radio. In recollecting the responses of friends — following the suicide of her husband — she described five different approaches: Shame, Blame, Fame, Same and Aim. This is Part two of a two-part program on the subject of suicide. The first episode featured therapist Elizabeth Higbie, LCSW, of St. Raphael Counseling. [If your or someone you know is experiencing a life-threatening emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. For Colorado Crisis Services, call 1-844-493-8255.]
"We know that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States," said Elizabeth Higbie, LCSW, a therapist with St. Raphael Counseling, a ministry of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver. Higbie discussed risk factors that may include mental illness, depression, a family history of suicide, isolation, a history of abuse in childhood, unwillingness to seek help as well as barriers to treatment. Higbie also discussed potential warning signs of suicidal behavior and wrote an article on the subject, available here.
[If your or someone you know is experiencing a life-threatening emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. For Colorado Crisis Services, call 1-844-493-8255.]
Michael Barber, Ph.D., associate professor of scripture and theology at the Augustine Institute, spoke at the Gospel of Life Conference 2018: Prophecies and Consequences of Humanae Vitae. The conference on Oct. 20, 2018, was presented by the Respect Life Office of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver. For details, go to https://gospeloflifeco.org.
Emily Stimpson Chapman, Catholic writer and author, spoke at the Gospel of Life Conference 2018: Prophecies and Consequences of Humanae Vitae. The conference on Oct. 20, 2018, was presented by the Respect Life Office of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver. For details, go to https://gospeloflifeco.org.
Dr. Marguerite Duane, co-founder and executive director of the Fertility Appreciation Collaborative to Teach the Science (FACTS), spoke at the Gospel of Life Conference 2018: Prophecies and Consequences of Humanae Vitae. The conference on Oct. 20, 2018, was presented by the Respect Life Office of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver. For details, go to https://gospeloflifeco.org.
Michaelann Martin, co-founder and president of Made for More, Inc., spoke at the Gospel of Life Conference 2018: Prophecies and Consequences of Humanae Vitae. The conference on Oct. 20, 2018, was presented by the Respect Life Office of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver. For details, go to https://gospeloflifeco.org.
Deacon Patrick Lappert, M.D., spoke at the Gospel of Life Conference 2018: Prophecies and Consequences of Humanae Vitae. The conference on Oct. 20, 2018, was presented by the Respect Life Office of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver. For details, go to https://gospeloflifeco.org.
"Pray for our bishops that they would have courage. They need courage, even the good ones, they need courage is what they need; courage to do what needs to be done," said Fr. Doug Grandon in this second of a two-part interview by Deacon Geoff Bennett on Respect Life Radio.
"This is a worldwide problem with men who have disordered sexual preferences and we didn't screen them out. We are now — since the Dallas Charter, we are doing a good job here — but men who fail to live up to what the Church teaches and the Church that hasn't policed them," said Fr. Doug Grandon in this first of a two-part interview by Deacon Geoff Bennett on Respect Life Radio.
Deacon Ernest Martinez, a Denver police officer, describes the launch of the RISE ministry to help victims of rape that are facilitated by alcohol and drugs. RISE stands for: Recognize, Intervene, Speak Up and Empower. "The recognition is that alcohol and drugs are the most commonly used method to facilitate sexual assault...," said Deacon Martinez. "We want to bring the awareness piece, from a faith-based perspective, to take what's currently out there and broaden it and preach the Gospel throughout the entire process and accompany — not only just victims — but try to be proactive on it."
The Gospel of Life Conference 2018 will feature "amazing speakers that will target some of the really incredible and interesting issues and topics related to" the encyclical Humanae Vitae "and what has happened in our society since its publication" in 1968 by Pope Paul VI, said Lynn Grandon, program director of the Office of Respect Life at Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver. For a full line-up of speakers, and to register for the conference on Oct. 20, 2018, go to gospeloflifeco.org.
Offering age-appropriate presentations, the Respect Life Office helps educate young people to understand the meaning of "authentic love," according to Lynn Grandon, program director of the Office of Respect Life at Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver. The office also presents and promotes public events throughout the year, including 40 Days for Life in the spring and fall, Prayer in the Square at various locations every first Saturday, the annual Day of Remembrance for aborted children, the annual Gospel of Life conference on Oct. 20, 2018, and the annual Celebrate Life rally on Jan. 12, 2019. For more, go to RespectLifeDenver.org.
The Catholic Foundation of Northern Colorado is "a stand-alone entity that inspires and facilitiates charitable giving for the long-term benefit of our donors and the Church, with the ultimate goal of building up the kingdom of God," said Deacon Steve Stemper, the president and CEO of the foundation, which in "2017 issued over 500 grants to over 200 organizations, totalling nearly $11 million."
"Everything that we do is rooted in us as Catholics and rooted in Christ," said Sara Alkayali, principal of Frassati Catholic Academy in Thornton. Colo., which opened in the 2017-18 school year. "The most important reason to send your child to a Catholic school is because you're formed in the faith. You're there where Christ is put central."
Elías Moo, Superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Denver, describes his vision for affirming and renewing the mission of Catholic schools. Moo's parents saw Catholic education — for him and his siblings — as a way to be "truly liberated to be able to experience a formation that would allow us to be free to love God, to serve God, to serve the church."
Enabling behaviors and boundary issues are a big challenge for families when a member is struggling with addiction, according to Mark Sanders of St. Raphael Counseling, speaking on Respect Life Radio, hosted by Deacon Geoff Bennett. "I love the fact that I can utilize faith in the practice that I do at St. Raphael's," said Sanders. "I have always had the sense that addictions really talk about the sense of a God-shaped hole in us."
Jenny Kraska, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, discusses ways to be effective in advocating for Catholic public policy positions at the Colorado state legislature. Go to http://http://cocatholicconference.org for more. Kraska was interviewed by Deacon Geoff Bennett of Catholic Charities.
Deacon Alan Rastrelli, M.D., discusses end-of-life care and related issues in this episode of Respect Life Radio, hosted by Deacon Geoff Bennett of Catholic Charities.
"A desire to be cared for, a desire to be heard," is how Bella Natural Women's Care and Family Wellness attracted 5,000 patients in less than four years, according to Dede Chism, co-founder and executive director, interviewed by Deacon Geoff Bennett in this episode of Respect Life Radio. Bella follows the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services," yet half of its patients are not Catholic, according to Chism, who explains the life-affirming mission of Bella, reproductive health care for women, as well as the abortion-pill reversal procedure.
Bishop Jorge Rodríguez, Ph.D., describes his life growing up in Mexico, his calling to the priesthood, and his surprise at being named the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Denver in 2016. "The most important thing we have in the Church — besides Jesus, the blessed Eucharist — is the people we serve," he said in this Respect Life Radio interview.
“...A lot of our work is serving women who are pregnant, and women who have suffered after the sorrow of abortion," said Sister Maris Stella of the Sisters of Life in Denver. "And we've always wanted to serve college women better — knowing that women at that age, so many of them, are faced with choices — and so much of what is presented to them by the culture is so beneath their dignity. And so we wanted to stand there and be there with them.”
Sister Maris Stella describes the life-changing work of the Sisters of Life in this clip from Respect Life Radio. The show, hosted by Deacon Geoff Bennett of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver, is coming soon to Catholic Radio 1060 AM — KRCN. Go to RespectLifeRadio.com for more.