Evangelization & Culture Podcast

Operators. Manipulators. Cynical. Corrupt. Sadly, these are caustic terms forever used to describe politicians. But, in truth, are politicians entirely bad? Submerged in the incorrigible human condition, are they beyond all hope of authenticity, redemption, or goodness? Join Professor Charles Duffy of Providence College and me as we explore the complicated life of Irish machine politician Frank Skeffington in The Last Hurrah, one of the greatest political novels of the twentieth century, on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of The Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

"When you read Shakespeare," Justice Antonin Scalia's high school English teacher thundered, "Shakespeare's not on trial, you are." What are we to do about college students purportedly incapable of reading, much less finishing, great novels? We are to double down and put in front of them what Matthew Arnold called, "the best which has been thought and said." Join Professor Jennifer Frey and me on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast as we discuss the virtue and necessity of reading classic literature and encouraging its meaningful consumption among the young. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of The Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Imagine you had ninety minutes to sit with an eminent philosopher who is also a devout Catholic and ask the most vexing questions about our faith. What would you ask? Does science disprove God? Are faith and reason opposed? Why isn't God's existence obvious? Does any evil disprove God's existence? These questions and many more inform Dr. Christopher Kaczor's excellent book, Is Belief Believable? Join Christopher Kaczor and me on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast as we explore the questions that lurk in the back of our minds but can be approached through sound philosophy and intelligent theology. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What goes into the making of a saint? How does it feel to listen to testimonies, investigate miracles, and explore the lives of Mother Teresa and Padre Pio, Pier Giorgio Frassati and Fr. Damien of Molokai? What are the inner workings of the Holy See that usher some from servant of God to venerable to blessed to saint? Join Msgr. Robert Sarno, a key player in the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and me as he reveals the fascinating and wondrous way that a person becomes a canonized saint on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Few phenomena have ushered in a greater sea change in mass communication and human relations than social media. What at once allows us to connect with family, meet new friends, and engage with (not simply observe) the world around us can also create enormous tensions, foster disinformation, and cultivate loneliness. Is social media a blessing or a curse? And how can Catholics tap into its evangelizing power without losing their own souls? Join Bishop Robert Barron, Fr. Steve Grunow, and me as we explore the promise and peril of social media on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Where does the notion of "free speech" come from? Why does it matter? How have powers attempted to suppress free speech and how have individuals sought to abuse it? Even more, where does "freedom of speech" fit into the life of the Catholic Church? Join Professor Adam Tomkins and me on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast for a riveting conversation about ideological times and his captivating book On the Law of Speaking Freely. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when we forget that behind the gorgeous redbud tree, the mesmerizing sunrise, and the exquisite infant child cradled in our arms is an ineffable God who loved them all into existence? We miss the sacramental in our lives and chase after honor, power, pleasure, and wealth, which are false infinites and sorry substitutes for God. Join Dr. Christopher West and me as we explore his book Eating the Sunrise, an examination of our hunger for beauty and the God who alone will satisfy it on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

G. K. Chesterton asserted, "We have all forgotten our names. We have all forgotten what we really are." Is this true? In an age of identity politics and identity confusion, are we defined solely by race or sex, nationality or disability? Or are we something infinitely more? Join Fr. Gregory Pine and me as we explore our truest nature and our greatest selves in his new book, Your Eucharistic Identity, on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

We are all familiar with Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, featuring Ebenezer Scrooge and Marley's Ghost, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. And yet, even so, every year, millions eagerly read the story, watch the film, or attend the play. Why does a 182-year-old English ghost story still captivate us today? In what way are we ourselves haunted by the temptation to selfishness in a world hungry for kindness and generosity? Join Professor Dwight Lindley and me as we explore the soaring heights and the profound depths found in A Christmas Carol on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Why do most believe that religion is the root of most modern violence while secularism is our dispassionate protector? In Broken Altars: Secularist Violence in Modern History, we discover that Combative Secularism and Eliminationist Secularism have made brutal and furious attempts to marginalize, weaken, and destroy religious faith. Join Dr. Tod Worner and Professor Thomas Albert Howard on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast as they explore the dark history of political secularism and the ways in which religion, time and again, has been an unwitting victim and not an untrammeled aggressor. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

If there is one struggle in life, it is with the unknown. In an age of self-assertion and technological wonder, we strive to obliterate the uncertain, eradicate the imperfect, and master the mysterious. And yet, these goals are impossible. Should we fear the unknown or embrace it? Is mystery threatening, or is it wondrous? Join Dr. Tod Worner and Professor-Poet Robert Cording as they explore these questions addressed in his phenomenal book, Finding the World's Fullness, on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

With Catholic college students losing their faith in devastating numbers, what is the Catholic Church to do? Enjoin the brightest, faith-filled, and articulate college students to help us bring them back. Caroline Kurt is a devout Catholic, a college senior, and a keen writer/editor for Hillsdale College's paper, The Collegian. She and a dozen premier college students are the vanguard of writers for Evangelization & Culture Online's The College Beat. Join us on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast as we discuss the faith life of the modern college student and the means by which we can bring a generation flagging in faith back into the arms of Christ. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

When Fr. Nate Wills raised doubts about his qualifications to serve as the University of Notre Dame's football team chaplain, Fr. Pete McCormick assured him, "We don't need you to call plays. We just need you to point [people] to Jesus." Join me and Fr. Nate Wills on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast as we explore his book, Pray Like a Champion Today, a rich unfolding of lessons learned from and imparted to the extraordinary Notre Dame football team and the greater university community. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "Angels are appointed to the guardianship of men, that they may take them by the hand and guide them to eternal life, encourage them to good works, and protect them against the assaults of the demons." As we grow in our faith, shouldn't we do the same for others? Through his Instagram pages Marian Militia and Monk Mindset, George Jacobson is taking people by the hand. Join me and George Jacobson on The Evangelization & Culture Podcast as we explore how, in an age of uncertainty, one Catholic college student is lighting the fires of faith in others. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Sir William Osler, the godfather of internal medicine and a gifted professor once observed, "No bubble is so iridescent or floats longer than that blown by the successful teacher." Alasdair MacIntyre was one of the most consequential moral philosophers of the twentieth century and a keen professor at the University of Notre Dame. What did MacIntyre believe and how did he teach? Join me and Catholic philosopher Dr. Christopher Kaczor as we explore the impact Alasdair MacIntyre had on his students (like Dr. Kaczor) and the world of philosophy on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Novelist and short story writer Flannery O'Connor once insisted, "You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate." In her short stories, Katy Carl weaves tales of despair and hope, brokenness and healing, and all being captured in the glory and grit of the human condition. Many ask, "Where have the good writers gone?" Read Katy and you'll find one of them. Join me and Katy Carl, author of Fragile Objects, her first short story collection, on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

"Every human person seeks peace, spiritual peace within oneself and with others, and material peace through a social life of friendship, charity, and genuine justice. What is at the heart of this aspiration? What indeed is peace?" Join me and Fr. Thomas Joseph White as we discuss his new book Contemplation and the Cross on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Millions of pages have been written seeking to answer one vexing question: How did Adolf Hitler happen? Was the Führer of the Third Reich an accident of history or a fearsome warning of what the future may hold? Join me and Timothy Ryback as we explore the cunning and the luck, the designs and the accidents that brought Hitler to power in Ryback's captivating book, Takeover: Hitler's Final Rise to Power on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

The modern world tells us that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." And yet, the Catholic Church deems beauty a transcendental. Is beauty something predictable, ephemeral, and a simple matter of taste? Or is beauty surprising, enduring, and objectively indisputable? Join me and Bishop Robert Barron as we explore the burning question, "What is beauty?" on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In his iconic Templeton lecture, Soviet dissident and Nobel Prize-winning author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn summarized the horrors of the twentieth century's Communist experiment, saying, "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened." Join me and Ignat Solzhenitsyn as we explore his father's heroic words and exquisite diagnosis of man's plight without God in his book, We Have Ceased to See the Purpose: Essential Speeches of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In his autobiographical book, Derek Ruth explains, "During my time in heaven, Jesus gave me a choice, but I had no idea what the choice would entail. I believed I would come back to earth and continue living like I had been for the first twelve years of my life. I had no idea the trials and tribulations I would face in order to regain my life. And it has not been easy, but I would make the sale choice. I would choose this life." Join me and Derek Ruth, with the help of his father Royce and his mother Jennifer, as we discuss The Eight-Minute Flight on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In his essay, "How the Great Truth Dawned," Professor Gary Saul Morson muses, "Why is it, Solzhenitsyn asks, that Macbeth, Iago, and other Shakespearean evildoers stopped short at a dozen corpses, while Lenin and Stalin did in millions? The answer is that Macbeth and Iago 'had no ideology.'" Notwithstanding its rabid inhumanity, Professor Daniel Mahoney asserts, ideology always makes a brutal comeback. Join me and Daniel Mahoney as we explore his chilling and informative new book The Persistence of the Ideological Lie: The Totalitarian Impulse Then & Now on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

As Matthew Becklo asserts, "The Catholic faith is full of paradoxes, but its greatest paradox is this: that all of its both/ands unleash this ultimate either/or, and all of its communion compels this unavoidable decision." Are we with Christ or against him? And how do we balance the dynamic tensions (faith or reason, discipline or passion, spirit or flesh) that risk pulling us too far in one direction or another? Join me and Matthew Becklo as we consider his new book, The Way of Heaven & Earth: From Either/Or to the Catholic Both/And, on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when a young man with an entrepreneurial heart and gifted piano-playing hands writes a letter to renowned public intellectual William F. Buckley, Jr. offering to play a concert for him out of gratitude? A lifelong friendship of shared musical appreciation and warm conversation begins. Join me and Lawrence Perelman as we unfold his unique and ennobling relationship with William F. Buckley, Jr. in his book American Impresario on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

How are we to look at the world? Through a brilliant lens of hope, wonder, and gratitude? Or through a shadowy lens of despair, cynicism, and selfishness? The journalist, wit, and Catholic convert G.K. Chesterton is an extraordinary model who mastered the art of a marveling Catholic vision. Join me and Dr. Duncan Reyburn as we explore his excellent book, Seeing Things As They Are: G.K. Chesterton and the Drama of Meaning on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

When you consider the story of Pinocchio, you are flooded with visions of a Disney-fied wooden boy with big blue eyes, a lengthening nose, and a mischievous heart. But reading the original Pinocchio (and its theological underpinnings perceived by Franco Nembrini), you are shocked by the misanthropic boy, his violent experiences, and his perpetually merciful father. Join me, Marcie Stokman, and Colleen Hutt as we revisit the original tale of Pinocchio, re-released by Wiseblood Books/Well-Read Mom, on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Blair Witch Project, and The Exorcist have scared the daylights out of a generation of moviegoers. And even though viewers startle and jump, chill and scream, they keep coming back for more. What is it that makes us crave a good scare? And where is God in the fright of such horror movies? Join me and Fr. Ryan Duns as we seek God in the darkness in his new book, Theology of Horror: The Hidden Depths of Popular Film on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Flannery O'Connor once prayed, "I do not know you God because I am in the way. Please help me to push myself aside." Is there any meaningful relationship in life that can survive without an element of selflessness, dedicated time, and earnest conversation? Why would a meaningful relationship with God be any different? The prophets prayed, the saints prayed, and most of all, Christ himself prayed. But how do we do it? How do we know there is a God on the other end of our entreaties, and how can we understand God's answers? Join me and Bishop Robert Barron as we explore the brilliant yet vexing, humbling yet heartening art of prayer on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when we live our lives through mediating technologies? We take countless pictures but don't look at our kids. We film vacations but are never fully present. We search for answers online but rarely puzzle over the questions. And we distract ourselves from difficult emotions, but we never take on the cross-bearing work of the soul. In the early twentieth century, French Catholic novelist Georges Bernanos worried that such a superficial existence would create little more than "stumps of men." Join me and Christine Rosen as we explore her book The Extinction of Experience on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

We want what other people have. We conjure up rivalries. And we scapegoat our enemies in the process. What on earth are we doing? Join me and Fr. Elias Carr as we unpack philosopher René Girard's mimetic theory and the "scapegoat mechanism" on the Evangelization & Culture Podcast. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What exactly is the "life of the mind"? Is it merely a matter of being bookish, bespectacled, and (*gasp*) potentially boring? Or is the "life of the mind" awash with limitless wonder, captivating wisdom, and life-changing vocation? Join me and St. John's College tutor Dr. Zena Hitz as we dive deeply into the joyful adventure of intellectual formation as told in her award-winning book, Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In his new book, Dr. Carl Trueman writes, "The very rhetoric and concepts of critical theory, the other, intersectionality, and their like have become influential tools of wielding power rather than dismantling it. And so—as Frankfurt School members Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno themselves would no doubt point out—things have become their opposite; the liberator has become the tyrant, the tools of freedom have become the weapons of oppression." Perhaps Goethe's Mephistopheles captures critical theory best when he uttered to Faust, "I am the spirit that negates." Join me and Dr. Carl Trueman as we discuss the philosophy and the danger of critical theory in his new book To Change All Worlds: Critical Theory from Marx to Marcuse. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In the preface to Ryan Wilson and April Limner's anthology, Contemporary Catholic Poetry, Ryan writes, "One of the things human beings are always forgetting is that the world is greater than any individual's idea of it. The world is more complex, more manifold, more mysterious than any mortal mind can fully comprehend, as is the human individual." As Henry David Thoreau once wrote, "I've never met a man who was fully awake." Join me and Ryan Wilson as we discuss contemporary Catholic poetry and poetry's magnificent wake-up call. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

A spirited debate has arisen in the Catholic scientific community: How do we understand intelligent design? Should Catholic scientists subscribe to a "God in the gaps" argument where scientifically inexplicable phenomena provide irrefutable evidence for the hand of God? Or should they understand intelligent design less through a biological lens than a philosophical lens helped by the works of St. Thomas Aquinas? As Catholics, if we believe God is the source and sustenance of creation, is the argument over intelligent design a quibbling quarrel or of seismic importance? Join me as I discuss The Question of Intelligent Design with professors Dan Kuebler and Christopher Baglow. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when a young law student volunteers for a presidential campaign one day, only to find himself assisting with President Nixon's memoirs and penning President Reagan's inaugural address the next? Through these surreal experiences, what did Ken Khachigian learn about his presidents, himself, and the complexity of human nature? Join me and Ken Khachigian as we discuss his gripping memoir, Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Reagan and Nixon. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What happens when a gaggle of talented Dominican priests and brothers, steeped in prayer and study, pick up guitar and banjo, fiddle and washboard? You get crackin' good music for the front porch—music that explores the soaring heights of God and the gritty trudge of man. Join me and Fr. Justin Bolger as we delve into the inspiration for and the music of The Hillbilly Thomists. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Catholicism is the inspiration for soaring architecture, exquisite artwork, and sublime music. But what about poetry? And where should one begin? Eminent poet and Catholic convert Sally Read tells us that, "Poetry is the sister of prayer." Join me and Sally Read as we discuss the extraordinary works of Catholic verse over two millennia in 100 Great Catholic Poems. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In a letter to the Massachusetts militia, John Adams wrote, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." What are the origins of our system of democracy? How is it faring in the modern world? And what becomes of democracy if it is no longer informed by a moral and religious sensibility? Join me and Bishop Barron, as we discuss the gripping perils and hopeful potential of democracy. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

What exactly is liberalism? And what has it become? Having evolved from a hard-earned freedom to be virtuous, to a freedom for unaccountable licentiousness, liberalism—according to Dr. Patrick Deneen—has failed. Join me and Dr. Deneen, author of Why Liberalism Failed and Regime Change, as we discuss what happened to a compelling idea and what we should do next. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In 1978, a Soviet dissident and former Gulag prisoner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn stood before the graduating class of Harvard University and offered the commencement address. But it wasn't the address they expected (or necessarily wanted). In fact, it caused great angst among the contented intellectual classes. Join me and Dr. Gary Saul Morson, eminent professor of Russian literature as we consider the shock and lasting relevance of Solzhenitsyn's Harvard address. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

G.K. Chesterton once observed, "What the world wants, what the world is waiting for, is not Modern Poetry or Classical Poetry or Neo-Classical Poetry—but Good Poetry." Well, have I got some good poetry for you! Join me and award-winning poet James Matthew Wilson as we delve into why poetry matters and unpack excerpts from his new book, Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Contrary to the opinion of many outside of the Catholic Church, Mary is not worshiped—she is loved and venerated. As the earthly Mother of God, Mary prays with us and for us, forever telling us what she told friends at the Wedding at Cana, "Do whatever Jesus tells you." Join me and journalist Alexandra DeSanctis as we explore the strength and beauty of the Mother of God and just why Mary matters. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

Recently, Fr. Stephen Gadberry found an otherwise idyllic Saturday morning upset by a searing engagement with a parishioner in need. Reflecting on the experience later, he mused, "You have a plan and God has a plan and your plan doesn't matter." Join me and Fr. Stephen Gadberry as we discuss life's uncertain paths and the loving God who forever accompanies us. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In the wake of a willful youth and a harrowing brush with death, Tammy Peterson discovered something: she is not in control. Through reluctant surrender and a budding trust, a prayerful companion, and a grandmother's Rosary, Tammy Peterson found her way to the Catholic Church. Join Tod and Tammy Peterson as they explore her winding road and exhilarating entry into the rich graces of the Catholic faith. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

In the ruinous aftermath of the Second World War, the Catholic intellectual tradition found itself at a crossroads. Had the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas, an anchoring point for over half a century, sufficed in responding to the ideological inferno that was World War II? Or was there a need for a Ressourcement—a "return to the sources" of our Catholic faith, including the Church Fathers? Join Tod and Dr. Jason Paone as they delve into the intellectual history of the Ressourcement movement and why Word on Fire believes it is necessary for a New Ressourcement today. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

The word "humanism" was still in its nineteenth century infancy when it was stolen and transformed by Marxists and atheists. But, today, is there a religious humanism that champions human dignity, acknowledges man's response to God's saving grace, and wills the good of the other on their way to God? Join me and Professor Randall Poole as we discuss a Catholic humanism that invigorates the spirit while rebutting empty ideology. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.

"The truth doesn't change according to your ability to stomach it emotionally." So said the ingenious, straight-talking novelist Flannery O'Connor. Who profoundly influenced the faith and fiction of one of the finest (and most shocking) writers of the twentieth century? None other than St. Thomas Aquinas. Join Tod and Fr. Damian Ference as they explore the thought of Flannery O'Connor in his powerful new book, Understanding the Hillbilly Thomist. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the Evangelization & Culture Podcast biweekly on WordOnFire.org, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can get more content like this in the quarterly print journal of the Word on Fire Institute, Evangelization & Culture.