The Catholic Culture Podcast
In-depth discussions of all things Catholic - theology, art, history and more - featuring Thomas Mirus with a variety of notable guests. A production of CatholicCulture.org.
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Leo XIII on what marriage owes to the Church
01/02/2026
Leo XIII on what marriage owes to the Church
Thomas Mirus discusses Leo XIII's 1880 encyclical Arcanum, on Christian marriage. This was “the first formal and synoptic teaching on marriage since the Council of Trent” – a gap of four centuries. Arcanum is focused on what the Church has done to uplift and protect marriage throughout history. Leo argues at length that the state has no right to usurp the Church’s governance of marriage. LINKS Thomas's article on Arcanum Pope Leo XIII, Arcanum Audiobook of Pius XI's Casti Connubii DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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Edgelords, Profanity, & Taming the Tongue w/ Matthew Schmitz
12/16/2025
Edgelords, Profanity, & Taming the Tongue w/ Matthew Schmitz
For the past century or more, the left has put a high value on moral provocation, deliberately transgressing what they see as society's hypocritical or puritanical moral norms, whether in religion, sexuality, or public decorum in general. Now the right, too, is getting in on the fun, performatively violating the speech norms held sacred by liberals - which is sometimes good, but sometimes itself violates traditional morality, not just leftist ideology. Matthew Schmitz joins the podcast to discuss his First Things article "Taming the Tongue", about the psychology of edginess, the problem with widespread profanity, and the need for restraint in speech. Links "Taming the Tongue" Against the Grain podcast Compact Magazine DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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Christian Poetry Around the Globe w/ Burl Horniachek
12/12/2025
Christian Poetry Around the Globe w/ Burl Horniachek
To Heaven’s Rim is a new anthology of great Christian poetry translated from non-English languages, from the first 18 centuries of the Faith. Editor Burl Horniachek joins to discuss and read samples from poets from a variety of traditions, like St. Jacob of Serug (Syriac), St. Romanus the Melodist (Greek), an anonymous medieval Irish monk, the criminal Francois Villon (French), Michelangelo’s friend Vittoria Colonna (Italian), and the Chinese Jesuit/painter/poet Wu Li. To Heaven’s Rim: The Kingdom Poets Book of World Christian Poetry: Beginnings to 1800, in English Translation DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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The Most Dangerous Man in England: Newman and the Laity - Paul Shrimpton
11/21/2025
The Most Dangerous Man in England: Newman and the Laity - Paul Shrimpton
Paul Shrimpton assisted in the process of making St. John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church. He joins the podcast to discuss his involvement in the process, and his new book from Word on Fire Academic, "The Most Dangerous Man in England": Newman and the Laity. During his lifetime, Newman was a controversial figure within the Catholic Church in large part due to his views on the laity and his advocacy for their role in running Catholic schools. Shrimpton's book gives us a picture of Newman's view of the laity not only through his ideas, but through his practical endeavors in the world of education, his pastoral activity, and his deep and abiding friendships with many laypeople. "The Most Dangerous Man in England": Newman and the Laity SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to make this show possible!
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Should mothers work outside the home? w/ Margaret H. McCarthy
11/14/2025
Should mothers work outside the home? w/ Margaret H. McCarthy
Should mothers work outside the home? If you want an answer more solid than groundless internet opinion or conveniently vague appeals to personal discernment, this is the podcast for you. Margaret McCarthy joins the Catholic Culture Podcast to discuss her essay on why anti-sex-discrimination law’s treatment of the sexes as abstract interchangeable units hurts real women, real men, and real children (and real workplaces!). Then we dive into the neglected teachings of John Paul II and earlier popes on the objectively different relationships that men and women have to the home and to work outside the home. Margaret Harper McCarthy is associate professor of theological anthropology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage & Family, at the Catholic University of America. She is the editor of Humanum: Issues in Family, Culture, and Science, serves on the editorial board of the English edition of Communio: International Catholic Review, is a member of the Academy of Catholic Theology, and is a consultant to the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine. 00:00 Introduction 2:30 Anti-discrimination law discriminates against real women, children, men, and workplaces 34:30 Sex difference: division of labor and customs 1:03:43 Catholic teaching on working mothers 1:33:08 Contraception and public life vs. the real feminine genius Links Margaret H. McCarthy, “The Case for (Just) Sex Discrimination” Thomas’s article citing John Paul II and earlier popes on working mothers Humanum Review Some other articles mentioned: Helen Andrews, “Lean Out” Maria Baer, “Maybe Women Can Have It All—But Can Their Kids?” Matthew Mehan, “Wanted: Men of Purpose” Magisterial texts mentioned: Rerum Novarum, Divini Illius Magistri, Quadragesimo Anno, Laborem Exercens, Familiaris Consortio Pope Pius XII’s addresses to married couples, Dear Newlyweds Ratzinger/CDF, “On the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World” DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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Triumph of the Heart director faced glorious trials making great Catholic art - w/ Anthony D'Ambrosio
10/22/2025
Triumph of the Heart director faced glorious trials making great Catholic art - w/ Anthony D'Ambrosio
An episode from Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast, too good not to share for Catholic Culture Podcast listeners! Anthony D’Ambrosio directed, wrote, and produced the outstanding new film Triumph of the Heart about St. Maximilian Kolbe. In this inspiring interview, he discusses the difficult path he and his team charted to produce this independent film with a low budget, high artistic standards, and deep Catholic spirituality. Film is an expensive medium. Since a high budget requires one to calculate mainstream appeal in order to make one’s money back, a low budget can leave more room for artistic and spiritual integrity. Though the production faced many hardships, it was buoyed up by the hope that the project could break a new path for other Catholic filmmakers to follow. Triumph of the Heart is available to screen at your parish, and will start streaming on its official website November 1. Links Show Triumph of the Heart at your parish Our review of Triumph of the Heart SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to keep this podcast going: Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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Highlights: America's medieval roots; Rock band with 3 Orthodox priests; Are heist movies moral?
10/16/2025
Highlights: America's medieval roots; Rock band with 3 Orthodox priests; Are heist movies moral?
Highlight clips from two episodes of the Catholic Culture Podcast and one episode of Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast – links to full episodes below. 83 The American Founding’s Medieval Roots – Robert Reilly 85 Three-Fifths of Our Band Got Ordained - Luxury Are Heist Films Moral? The Lavender Hill Mob SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: newsletters DONATE to make this show possible!
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20 Years of Catholic Arts Revival - Dappled Things
10/02/2025
20 Years of Catholic Arts Revival - Dappled Things
Dappled Things: The Quarterly of Ideas, Art, and Faith is celebrating its 20th anniversary. In its 20 years it has contributed to the beginning of a Catholic literary revival, nurturing the talents of many Catholic writers and visual artists. In recent years especially, many exciting new initiatives, presses, and magazines have branched off from Dappled Things. Bernardo Aparicio Garcia (founder and publisher) and Rhonda Ortiz (editor-in-chief) join the podcast to discuss Dappled Things’s mission and various topics to do with Catholic fiction. Links Dappled Things See the winners of the Sacred Heart Art Competition “The Off Season” by Ennis James Sheehan Rhonda Ortiz DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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Leo XIII Against Modern Liberties
09/18/2025
Leo XIII Against Modern Liberties
One of the most important encyclicals we need to rediscover is Pope Leo XIII's Libertas (1888), on the true nature of human liberty. This encyclical explains what true liberty consists of, followed by a lengthy exposition of the Church's condemnation of liberalism, in the Enlightenment/classical sense rather than today's narrower use of the word. Most people who call themselves conservative now would, in certain ways, fall into the category of liberalism as defined by Leo. Prophetically warning of the evil consequences of political liberalism, Leo also takes aim at various false liberties in which modern people take such pride: freedom of speech, writing, thought, and worship. In each of these instances, liberals fail to recognize that freedom is not the right to do and say what one wants, but to do justice and to speak truth. As starting as Leo's teaching may be to modern Catholics, his fundamental principle is the one that Pope St. John Paul II enunciated when he said that "freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." Pope Leo XIII: "Man, by a necessity of his nature, is wholly subject to the most faithful and ever-enduring power of God; and that, as a consequence, any liberty, except that which consists in submission to God and in subjection to His will, is unintelligible. To deny the existence of this authority in God, or to refuse to submit to it, means to act, not as a free man, but as one who treasonably abuses his liberty; and in such a disposition of mind the chief and deadly vice of liberalism essentially consists. Thomas's article on Libertas: Pope Leo XIII, Libertas DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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The Church and the Jews: Recovering Tradition, w/ Gideon Lazar
09/04/2025
The Church and the Jews: Recovering Tradition, w/ Gideon Lazar
A number of doctrinal ruptures occurred in Catholic life after Vatican II – not in the sense that the Church’s magisterium contradicted its previous teachings, but that the vast majority of Catholics, even conservative ones, tend to get these topics wrong. One of the worst examples is how the Church’s traditional teaching on the Jewish people has been forgotten, with many people under the false impression that Vatican II changed Catholic teaching. Gideon Lazar, theologian and Jewish convert to Catholicism, joins the podcast to discuss some widely misunderstood and controversial points about the relationship between the Church and the Jews. (The views Gideon expresses in this interview are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the St. Basil Institute, where he is institute coordinator.) Links Part 1 of Thomas’s four-part essay, “The Church and the Jews: Beyond the Platitudes” Gideon Lazar on Substack (a good article to start with) Gideon on X DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
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Sister of heroic Vietnamese Cardinal imprisoned by Communists tells his story
08/06/2025
Sister of heroic Vietnamese Cardinal imprisoned by Communists tells his story
Elisabeth Nguyen Thi Thu Hong joins the podcast to tell the inspiring story of her older brother, Venerable Francis-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, the heroic Vietnamese Cardinal who was imprisoned by the Communists for 13 years, 8 of those in solitary confinement. Thuan was descended from a line of Vietnamese martyrs, and his uncle was the devout Catholic President and Prime Minister of Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, who himself was something of a martyr. Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan: Man of Joy and Hope DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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R.I.P. Jane Greer (1953-2025)
07/29/2025
R.I.P. Jane Greer (1953-2025)
My other interview with Jane:
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200 - Moral Questions about NFP w/ Eamonn Clark
07/21/2025
200 - Moral Questions about NFP w/ Eamonn Clark
Get free PDF of New Questions, Old Answers: Catholic Morals and Natural Family Planning Article on the marital debt The way Natural Family Planning is commonly taught does not adequately reflect the Church’s perennial teachings on the purpose of marital relations, on sexual asceticism, and the good of continence. To be sure, critics of NFP are wrong when they say it is the same as contraception. The Church has deemed it legitimate to use under certain circumstances. Yet its typical presentation in marriage prep programs and by popular Catholic speakers has ended up, in practice, encouraging couples toward habitual venial sin. Discussions of NFP often end up in confusion because they fail to distinguish two separate moral issues: that of avoiding marital relations during fertile periods, and that of engaging in them specifically during infertile periods. As to the first issue, the Church has said we need sufficient reason to deliberately avoid procreating for a long period of time. But the second issue involves a moral doctrine that is virtually never heard of today: that there are particular ends which must be intended in any act of marital relations, and in particular, that it is a venial sin for married couples to have relations purely for pleasure (solam voluptatem, in Pope Innocent XI’s phrase). The latter is the teaching of all Fathers and Doctors of the Church without exception. Given this moral doctrine, and given the Church’s (and St. Paul’s) traditional encouragement of asceticism within marriage, the question arises: may married couples engage in recreational relations specifically while trying to avoid conception? Answering this question involves questions about the intrinsic ends of sexual intercourse, questions about what “purely for pleasure” even means, etc. The stakes of the question are low in the sense that this would generally be a matter of venial sin, but high in the sense that it bears on our understanding of the very purpose of marriage and sex, and because habitual, deliberate venial sin is incompatible with a marriage’s growth in holiness. Moral theologian Eamonn Clark joins the podcast to discuss his groundbreaking book (the first on this topic since the 1940s), New Questions, Old Answers: Catholic Morals and Natural Family Planning. His conclusions occupy a middle ground between the extremely strict position of some great Catholic authorities of the past, and the laxity and sensualism presented by some well-regarded and well-meaning popular speakers today. This discussion will be spiritually and perhaps emotionally challenging to many listeners, but I urge you to listen with an open heart, because even if you end up disagreeing with some of the specific conclusions, you will come away better informed about Church teaching, and equipped to consider for yourself how you can seek greater holiness in marriage. In particular, I highly recommend Eamonn’s book to anyone who is involved in running marriage preparation programs. Eamonn Clark is a licensed moral theologian of the Catholic Church – he has an STB and STL from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, where he is currently a lay doctoral student researching the social teaching of Pope Pius XI. DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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Pope Leo XIII on the restoration of Christian philosophy
07/08/2025
Pope Leo XIII on the restoration of Christian philosophy
This is the first in a series of episodes (accompanied by articles) surveying the most important encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII. His third encyclical, Aeterni Patris (1879), on the restoration of Christian philosophy, famously called for a revival of the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas. Links Thomas’s article on Aeterni Patris, “Leo XIII and the restoration of Christian philosophy” Pope Leo XIII, Aeterni Patris The Great Encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII: Volume Two – The Spiritual Letters Russell Hittinger, On the Dignity of Society: Catholic Social Teaching and Natural Law SUBSCRIBE to the Catholic Culture Podcast DONATE to make this show possible!
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198 - The Music of St. Hildegard of Bingen - Margot Fassler
06/30/2025
198 - The Music of St. Hildegard of Bingen - Margot Fassler
St. Hildegard of Bingen, 12th-century abbess, mystic, polymath, and Doctor of the Church, is best known to non-Catholics for something else – her music. We have more pieces of music by Hildegard than by any other medieval composer whose name we know. Her chants are beautiful, otherworldly, virtuosic and ahead of their time. Some of them were written for her morality play, the Ordo virtutum, which is also the first of its kind. Musicologist Margot Fassler joins the podcast to discuss what makes St. Hildegard’s music so special. This episode is a crossover with Way of the Fathers, where Dr. Jim Papandrea has done two episodes introducing St. Hildegard’s life and writings. Make sure to listen to those for more context about St. Hildegard. Links Way of the Fathers episodes on St. Hildegard’s life and works: St. Hildegard’s letter to the Prelates of Mainz Margot Fassler, Cosmos, Liturgy, and the Arts in the Twelfth Century: Hildegard’s Illuminated Scivias All music used with permission from Benjamin Bagby & Sequentia, who have recorded her complete works. The specific pieces in this episode can be found on the albums Ordo Virtutum, Symphoniae, and Voice of the Blood. DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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197 - Same-Sex Attraction and Conversion w/ Andrew Comiskey & Marco Casanova
06/10/2025
197 - Same-Sex Attraction and Conversion w/ Andrew Comiskey & Marco Casanova
We all know the secular world opposes the very idea of a person with same-sex attraction seeking any kind of therapy or spiritual counsel that might enable them to reach a state of healthy relations with the opposite sex. But what’s odd is that many Catholics seem to have bought into this. Many assume that if someone is not currently attracted to the opposite sex, this is a static, lifelong condition and therefore they must be called to celibacy. But this view involves multiple misunderstandings – of the SSA experience, of anthropology, of the power of God’s grace, and of the good of celibacy itself. Today’s guests know otherwise because they both have a background with same-sex attraction, and yet are each now married with children. Andrew Comiskey and Marco Casanova run Desert Stream and Living Waters Ministries, which for decades have offered help to Christians seeking healing from sexual disorders (including but not limited to SSA). This conversation offers solid, spiritually and psychologically sound, experience-based answers to some disputed questions about how the Church should be pastoring those with same-sex attraction. It's not about “conversion therapy”. It’s about conversion in the Catholic sense – one day at a time. --Can we really put a ceiling on God’s ability to heal us psychologically? --Does any attempt at such healing amount to the secular bugbear of “conversion therapy”? --What does life look like for a person with a “gay” past who is now married to the opposite sex? --Is it legitimate for Christians to embrace a gay identity as long as they don’t act out sexually? --Is there such a thing as a chaste same-sex romantic relationship? Links Thomas Mirus, “Your sexual pathology doesn’t make you special” Andrew Comiskey, Rediscovering Our Lost Fullness: A Guide to Sexual Integration Desert Stream Ministries Desert Stream on YouTube DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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196 - Theology of Hiking - Fr. John Nepil
05/27/2025
196 - Theology of Hiking - Fr. John Nepil
Fr. John Nepil, priest and mountaineer, joins the podcast to discuss his book To Heights and Unto Depths: Letters from the Colorado Trail. Topics discussed include: The modern view of "nature" vs. God's creation A morally responsible approach to risk-taking The modern origins of hiking as a secular activity "Wilderness" vs. "garden" - Catholic attitudes toward the wild places To Heights and Unto Depths DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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195 - The Most Influential Theology Book Nobody Reads - Philipp Rosemann
04/24/2025
195 - The Most Influential Theology Book Nobody Reads - Philipp Rosemann
The standard textbook of theology in medieval universities was the Sentences by Peter Lombard (1095-1160), bishop of Paris. This collection systematically arranged the theological judgments of Scripture and the Church Fathers on various topics. For almost four centuries, those seeking higher credentials in theology had to study, teach, and comment on Lombard’s Sentences. It was formative for the likes of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure. Over time, the genre of commentaries on the Sentences became its own vehicle for new developments in theology. The Sentences was not replaced by Aquinas’s Summa as a standard textbook until the 16th century. Philosopher Philipp Rosemann has written two books on the Sentences and its significance for the development of theology. The first, (2004), is about Lombard and his book. The second, (2007), is about the commentary tradition on the Sentences. Rosemann gives fascinating insights into the development as theology as a systematic science, which had profound ramifications for Catholic spiritual life and the history of the West. DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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194 - The Church’s Hour of Testing – Fr. Donald Haggerty
04/10/2025
194 - The Church’s Hour of Testing – Fr. Donald Haggerty
A great spiritual master of our time, Fr. Donald Haggerty, joins the podcast to discuss his important new book, The Hour of Testing: Spiritual Depth and Insight in a Time of Ecclesial Uncertainty. He offers profound reflections on the ongoing, and perhaps future, crisis within the Church, with an eye to arousing an appetite for the greater spiritual intensity God desires his faithful to live out in this time. It is essential that we see that our Lord Himself is reliving His Passion in His Mystical Body, when the Church suffers betrayal and humiliation at a high institutional level. It is also essential that we see the high stakes in the great loss of souls in this time, so that we may be spurred to a deeper and more sacrificial prayer life. Fr. Haggerty offers spiritual sobriety and counsels for holiness that should not be missed. Buy The Hour of Testing DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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193 - On René Girard -Trevor Cribben Merrill
03/28/2025
193 - On René Girard -Trevor Cribben Merrill
Mimetic desire, scapegoating: if you've been hearing these terms thrown around lately, it's because the French Catholic philosopher René Girard (1923-2015) is having a renaissance, with powerful people like J.D. Vance and Peter Thiel citing his influence on their thought. Trevor Cribben Merrill, producer of the new documentary Things Hidden: The Life and Legacy of René Girard, joins the podcast to discuss Girard's principal ideas, and reflect on aspects of his thought which seem difficult to reconcile with Catholic doctrine. Watch Things Hidden SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to make this show possible!
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192 - Latin learning and classical Christian education w/ Ryan Hammill
03/11/2025
192 - Latin learning and classical Christian education w/ Ryan Hammill
Ryan Hammill of the Ancient Language Institute joins Thomas for a practical discussion about how to learn Latin, as well as the central place of the classical languages (Latin and Greek) in classical Christian education, and the various schools of thought in today’s classical Christian education movement. Links Thomas’s article about learning Latin Ancient Language Institute New Humanists Podcast Jonathan Roberts, “Classical Schools Are Not Really Classical” Micah Meadowcroft, “Classical Education’s Aristocracy of Anyone” DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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191 - How the Church Invented Musical Notation - Christopher Page
02/21/2025
191 - How the Church Invented Musical Notation - Christopher Page
The Christian West and Its Singers: The First Thousand Years, by the great English musicologist Christopher Page, covers the development of Christian liturgical music from its origins as an elaboration of the role of the lector to its flourishing in the monastic and cathedral singing schools of France, as Roman chant was spread across Europe. One of the most important developments was the gradual development of a system of notation in the late first millennium, culminating in Guido d'Arezzo's invention of the musical staff which allowed singers to learn melodies they had never heard before. Guido was motivated by the desire to reform monastic singing and enable monks to fulfil their duties more easily. This went along with a the development of music theory far beyond anything that could be found in the classical sources. Christopher Page, The Christian West and Its Singers Gothic Voices ensemble Christopher Page playing Renaissance guitar DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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190 - Fulton Sheen, Convert Maker - Cheryl C.D. Hughes
02/11/2025
190 - Fulton Sheen, Convert Maker - Cheryl C.D. Hughes
A new biography of Ven. Fulton Sheen gives special attention to his high-profile converts, but reveals many other interesting facets of his life as well. Author Cheryl Hughes joins to discuss Sheen’s at times shockingly direct evangelization methods, his outstanding television presence, his lifelong struggle with vanity and ambition, and the mistreatment he suffered from his rival, Cardinal Spellman. Links Cheryl C.D. Hughes, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: Convert Maker Thomas’s review of Cheryl’s biography of St. Katharine Drexel DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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189 - St. Boethius, Stoicism and Neoplatonism - Thomas Ward
01/22/2025
189 - St. Boethius, Stoicism and Neoplatonism - Thomas Ward
St. Anicius Manlius Severius Boethius's book The Consolation of Philosophy, which he wrote in prison while awaiting martyrdom around the year 524, is one of the single most influential works for medieval philosophy and theology. But Boethius also owed much to the pagan philosophy that came before him. Thomas Ward has just written a commentary on Boethius's dialogue for Word on Fire, entitled After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher. Topics discussed include: Boethius's debt to Stoic ethics and how he critiques the Stoic view of happiness The influence of neo-Platonist philosophy on Boethius Questions about the account of deification given by Lady Philosophy - is it more Platonist than Christian? Boethius's brilliant arguments about how God's way of knowing differs from ours Links Thomas Ward, After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher Way of the Fathers episode on Boethius DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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188 - Christians against AI art - Susannah Black Roberts
01/10/2025
188 - Christians against AI art - Susannah Black Roberts
There is increasing speculation and concern about the role of AI in the future of the arts. Surprisingly, many Christians are already embracing the use of AI to produce images of the saints. In this episode, Thomas and Susannah Black Roberts make the argument for why AI art is a contradiction in terms. It is analogous to pornography in that it scratches the itch to “create” without actually achieving the object of the desire in question. We should not use technology to replace the human specialties: “God won’t accept worship that we outsource.” Plus, the danger of demonic influence through AI should not be overlooked. Susannah Black Roberts is a senior editor of Plough and has written for publications including First Things, Fare Forward, Front Porch Republic, Mere Orthodoxy, and The American Conservative. Links Susannah’s thread on Twitter Plough Quarterly PloughCast 66: The Technology of Demons w/ Paul Kingsnorth David Schaengold, "Computers Can't Do Math" Robert Cotton, “Augustine, AI, and the Demon Heuristic” The Anchored Argosy DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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187 - The Roman Rite, ad orientem worship, and liturgical tradition - Fr. Uwe Michael Lang
12/16/2024
187 - The Roman Rite, ad orientem worship, and liturgical tradition - Fr. Uwe Michael Lang
Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, a liturgical historian and priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in London, is the author of the new book A Short History of the Roman Mass, from Ignatius Press. Topics discussed in this episode include: The origins of the Roman Rite and development of the Roman Eucharistic Prayer Problems with liturgical antiquarianism (trying to revive practices allegedly from the early Church in preference to what has been handed down continuously) The value of ad orientem worship Our current predicament of being cut off from the past/tradition Links Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, A Short History of the Roman Mass Pope Pius XII against liturgical antiquarianism (par. 61-64) DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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186 - Is there ever enough of Mary? w/ Fr. Charles Anthony Mary, F.I.
12/06/2024
186 - Is there ever enough of Mary? w/ Fr. Charles Anthony Mary, F.I.
DONATE to make this show possible! De Maria numquam satis: Of Mary never enough. This saying of St. Bernard is echoed by many other saints. St. Anselm, for instance, says that it is impossible to determine the limits of God’s grace in elevating Mary’s human nature. St. Alphonsus says that if there is anything good we can say about Mary, not contrary to the teaching of the Church and having some legitimate theological basis, then we ought to say it. But some Catholics, to say nothing of Protestants, would object to this kind of Mariology. Are these mere overflows of sentimental piety, or can they be sustained as a rational approach to theology? Fr. Charles Anthony Mary, a Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate, joins the podcast to argue for why “Marian Maximalism” is a sound theological position. The Franciscan tradition has always been particularly strong on our Lady: St. Francis, St. Bonaventure, Bl. John Duns Scotus, St. Maximilian Kolbe… Fr. Charles makes the case for “Mary-Maxing”, explains some of the doctrinal and ecumenical stakes involved, and takes us through the Franciscan tradition, culminating in the cutting-edge (and controversial) Mariology of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe. Links Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, The Theologian of Auschwitz: St. Maximilian M. Kolbe on the Immaculate Conception in the Life of the Church Video of Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner and Mother Angelica, “Blessed Virgin Mary: Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate” SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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185 - The Stigmatists - Paul Kengor
10/16/2024
185 - The Stigmatists - Paul Kengor
In his new book, The Stigmatists: Their Gifts, Their Revelations, Their Warnings, Paul Kengor gives a historical overview of the phenomenon of the stigmata, focusing especially on one thing many stigmatists have in common: they receive visions, often prophetic ones. The book devotes individual chapters to seven canonized or beatified stigmatists: St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Siena, Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich, St. Pius of Pietrelcina, St. Faustina, Bl. Elena Aiello, and St. Gemma Galgani. Kengor joins the podcast to discuss the skepticism and attacks many stigmatists (such as Padre Pio) faced from within the Church, the prophecies of Bl. Elena Aiello about Mussolini's fate, whether St. Francis was the first stigmatist in history, and what we ordinary Catholics can learn from the visions and experiences of the stigmatists. Links Paul Kengor, The Stigmatists: Their Gifts, Their Revelations, Their Warnings DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter:
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Highlights: making the Church less worldly, a Catholic movie from 1903, music and conversion
10/07/2024
Highlights: making the Church less worldly, a Catholic movie from 1903, music and conversion
A collection of highlight clips from past episodes. 82 A Habitual Counterculture - Brandon McGinley 68 What I Learned from Making Music with Mark Christopher Brandt Vie et Passion du Christ SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to make this show possible!
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184 - Ghosts of memory, myths, and contemporary Catholic poets w/ Ryan Wilson
09/20/2024
184 - Ghosts of memory, myths, and contemporary Catholic poets w/ Ryan Wilson
Catholic poet Ryan Wilson rejoins the podcast to read poems from his latest collection, In Ghostlight, which deals with themes of memory in a "haunted" world, encounters with realities beyond us, and reinterpreting ancient myths (Orpheus as a hair metal singer!). He also introduces four Catholic poets from his new anthology co-edited with April Lindner, Contemporary Catholic Poets. Links Ryan Wilson, In Ghostlight: Poems Contemporary Catholic Poets: An Anthology, ed. Ryan Wilson and April Lindner SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to make this show possible!
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