The Catholic Culture Podcast

Gregory Roper, a professor of literature at the University of Dallas, joins the podcast to discuss medieval "mystery plays" (also called "miracle plays"). In England these plays, often grouped together in cycles spanning all of salvation history, were performed by town guilds for the festival of Corpus Christi. This tradition, which developed out of the liturgy, could be said to represent the revival of drama in Europe, and was an important influence on the Elizabethan theatre. Shakespeare referenced this tradition a number of times in his plays. The plays, which served a partly didactic purpose, are full of theological typology, but also delightful verse, earthy humor, and a thought-provoking use of anachronism. Links Episode on English carols https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-59-glorious-english-carol/ A.C. Cawley, Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays https://www.amazon.com/Everyman-Medieval-Miracle-Plays-Cawley/dp/046087280X SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Erik Varden, bishop of Trondheim, Norway as well as Trappist monk, joins the podcast to discuss his new book Chastity: Reconciliation of the Senses. Topics discussed include: Recovering the true meaning of the word "chastity" Continence and chastity are not the same thing What the Desert Fathers can teach us about chastity Why we need to meditate on the original vocation of man before the Fall rather than limiting our options to what our sinful nature is capable of Why having a sense of dignity in one's masculinity or femininity helps us to be chaste The importance of friendship between men and women The redirection of eros Links Erik Varden, Chastity: Reconciliation of the Senses https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/chastity-9781399411400/ Élisabeth-Paule Labat, The Song That I Am: On the Mystery of Music, trans. Erik Varden https://litpress.org/Products/MW040P/The-Song-That-I-Am Thomas's 3-part essay inspired by the Labat book https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/mystery-music-part-i/ SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

The renowned English theologian Fr. John Saward makes his podcast debut to discuss his new book on angels, the role of art and beauty in his theological work, and his turn away from the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar after years of studying and translating his works. Fr. Saward's books named in this episode: World Invisible: The Catholic Doctrine of the Angels https://angelicopress.com/products/world-invisible-john-saward The Beauty of Holiness and the Holiness of Beauty: Art, Sanctity and the Truth of Catholicism https://angelicopress.com/products/the-beauty-of-holiness-and-the-holiness-of-beauty Sweet and Blessed Country: The Christian Hope for Heaven https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sweet-and-blessed-country-9780199543663?cc=us&lang=en& SUBSCRIBE to the Catholic Culture Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-catholic-culture-podcast/id1377089807 SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Is Jesus Christ God? Is he a man? Is he both? Spoiler alert: the mainstream Church answered with the both/and, but the factions on the fringes tended to choose one or the other. For our first heresy, we take a look at the Ebionites, and their New Testament-era predecessors, the so-called Judaizers. These concluded that Jesus Christ was a mere human. A human who became a prophet perhaps, but just a human. This is season 4, episode 2 of Way of the Fathers. Subscribe to the podcast here: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/category/way-fathers/

This episode collects highlights from episodes 74-76 of the Catholic Culture Podcast. Links to full episodes: Ep. 74—What Is Classical Christian Education?—Andrew Kern https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-74-what-is-classical-christian-education-andrew-kern/ Ep. 75—Don't Scapegoat the Nouvelle Théologie—Richard DeClue https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-75-dont-scapegoat-nouvelle-thologie-richard-declue/ Ep. 76—Playing Jesus on The Chosen—Jonathan Roumie https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-76-playing-jesus-on-chosen-jonathan-roumie/ SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

A new collection of letters shows the tender side of St. Jerome, as he writes to console various friends on the death of their loved ones. Translator and editor David G. Bonagura, Jr., joins the podcast to discuss Jerome's Tears: Letters to Friends in Mourning. Topics include: Jerome's Christian twist on the "consolatory epistle" genre practiced by many great pagan writers before him The network of holy friends and disciples (like St. Paula) to whom and about whom he writes in these letters Jerome's tactics for helping someone move out of an excessively long mourning period How the death of a loved one is an opportunity to give ourselves more radically to God Jerome's recommendation of continence to married couples beyond their child-bearing years Buy Jerome's Tears https://sophiainstitute.com/product/jeromes-tears/ SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Fr. Bradley Elliott, a professional drummer turned Dominican friar, joins the podcast to discuss his book, The Shape of the Artistic Mind: A Search for the Metaphysical Link Between Art and Morals in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas. Themes include: Man's capacity to participate in God's creative activity and governance of the world How human artistic activity not only imitates but enhance nature The combination of Aristotelian and neo-Platonic streams in St. Thomas's theory of art How Aristotle redeemed the notion of nature from Plato, and Plotinus redeemed the notion of imitation from Plato Comparing the virtue of art to the mortal and speculative virtues Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHG6YPPG?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Daniel McInerny joins the podcast to discuss his novel, The Good Death of Kate Montclair, the modern cult of authenticity, the desire for control that tempts people to euthanasia, and what it truly means to accept your death. Publisher's description for the novel: Kate Montclair is dying. She has arrived at late middle age loveless, childless, and having failed to achieve the career dreams of her youth. Now diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, she sees the next fourteen months of suffering as an intolerable prospect. Kate is desperate—not only for a miracle cure, but for some sense that her life, and life itself, amounts to something more than a catastrophe. When she sees an advertisement for the Washington, DC Death Symposium, Kate investigates and learns that the monthly discussion group is led by none other than the idealistic and inimitable Adele Schraeder, an old friend she has not seen since their teaching days in Rome. On Adele's advice, Kate soon decides to break Virginia law with an assisted suicide. But Adele Schraeder is not the only person Kate reconnects with at the Death Symposium. Also present is Benedict Aquila, another friend from Rome, who has been living in DC while nursing his mother through her final illness. And then there is the strange, mentally ill street woman sitting in the corner, drawing pad in hand. Who is she? She is the Ariadne's thread that will lead Kate on a journey back through the years to her youth, forcing her to come to grips with the love affair she had with a married man and the catastrophe that took his life. Links Daniel McInerny, The Good Death of Kate Montclair https://chrismpress.com/product/the-good-death-of-kate-montclair/ The Comic Muse http://www.danielmcinerny.substack.com SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

6:51 Franciscan Eyes 14:33 Forbearance 15:52 The Mourners 20:19 Spiritual Combat 25:56 Passage Compositions and piano by Thomas Mirus; recorded spring 2018, Brooklyn. Listen to this music on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/CVqC2ZukI9o Download these tracks as lossless .wav files here: https://www.catholicculture.org/multimedia/thomas_mirus_2018.zip DONATE to help CatholicCulture.org continue its mission! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters

Holly Ordway continues to break new ground in Tolkien scholarship with her latest book, Tolkien's Faith: A Spiritual Biography. This work sheds important light on the experience of Catholics like Tolkien and his mother in the hostile Anglican establishment of their time, on the crucial influence of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri on the young Tolkien, and more. Holly returns to the podcast to discuss these and other topics, such as: Should Tolkien be canonized? His practice of his faith in the first world war His struggles with his faith and in his marriage The secret initial in Tolkien's name Was Tolkien a trad? Tolkien's Faith: A Spiritual Biography https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/tolkiens-faith SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Looking back at highlights from past episodes of the Catholic Culture Podcast and Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast. Full episodes below: Catholic Culture Podcast Ep. 65—Reason with Stories, Philosophize with Your Life (Vision of the Soul Pt. III)—James Matthew Wilson https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-64-reason-with-stories-philosophize-with-your-life-vision-soul-pt-iii-james-matthew-wilson/ Ep. 73—St. John Henry Newman's Aesthetics—Fr. Guy Nicholls, Cong. Orat. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-73-st-john-henry-newmans-aesthetics-fr-guy-nicholls-cong-orat/ Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast Robert Bolt's Man for All Seasons: Christian saint or "hero of selfhood"? https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/robert-bolts-man-for-all-seasons-christian-saint-or-hero-selfhood/ Community on the Margins: Stagecoach (1939) w/ Anthony Esolen https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/stagecoach-1939/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

Catholic critics of feminism often start with the assumption that the "first wave" of feminism, led by 19th-century figures such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was basically a good thing and compatible with Catholic teachings; only later in the 1960s and 70s, according to this narrative, was the movement "hijacked" by "radical feminists". The only problem is that when one actually looks closely at feminism in its early form, whether that of Stanton and Anthony or even earlier with Mary Wollstonecraft, one finds obvious continuities with so-called "radical feminism". On the level of ideas, we find Enlightenment individualism, rationalism, and egalitarianism attacking as oppressive the natural institutions of marriage and family and the divinely ordained hierarchies of the Church. On the personal level, feminism was from the beginning the brainchild of traumatized, miserable women who had deeply dysfunctional relationships with the men in their lives - their ideas eagerly championed by men like Percy Shelley, who "liberated" women in order to exploit them. Carrie Gress returns to the show to discuss her book The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us, which tells the stories of feminist pioneers from Wollstonecraft, Stanton, and Shelley to Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. Links Carrie Gress, The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us https://www.regnery.com/9781684514182/the-end-of-woman/ Dawn Eden, "Eve of Deconstruction: Feminism and John Paul II" https://www.catholicity.com/commentary/eden/03324.html DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

St. John of the Cross is not only one of the Church's greatest mystics, but also one of the most important figures in the Spanish poetic tradition. A new book of translations of St. John's poems, brought into English by contemporary bilingual poet Rhina Espaillat, gives us a chance to discover or rediscover this singular spiritual and artistic master. Carla Galdo joins the podcast to discuss Espaillat's translations of St. John of the Cross. Comparing them with earlier translations by Roy Campbell (a friend of Tolkien and Lewis) provides opportunity to highlight various approaches and problems in translating poetry. Carla and Thomas also discuss common misconceptions about the dark night of the soul, and John's use of the classic mystical symbolism of bride and bridegroom representing the relationship between the soul and God. Links The Spring that Feeds the Torrent: Poems by St. John of the Cross, Translated by Rhina P. Espaillat https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p135/The_Spring_that_Feeds_the_Torrent%3A_Poems_by_St._John_of_the_Cross%2C_Translated_by_Rhina_P._Espaillat.html St. John of the Cross: Poems, trans. Roy Campbell https://clunymedia.com/products/poems Musical setting of "El pastorcico" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se0fcCvKqzY Well-Read Mom https://wellreadmom.com Donate at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

Anyone who went through confirmation prep at some point learned the list of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. But most would struggle to define the gifts, especially the ones that sound a bit similar, like wisdom, knowledge, and understanding? The great 17th-century Thomistic commentator John of St. Thomas discoursed on the gifts of the Holy Spirit with not only technical precision, but spiritual insight and fervor. Since John was not available for a podcast interview, he sent one of his Dominican brothers, Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, to explain his insights to us laypeople. Links John of St. Thomas, The Gifts of the Holy Spirit https://clunymedia.com/products/the-gifts-of-the-holy-spirit Other books mentioned: Cajetan Cuddy and Romanus Cessario, O.P., Thomas and the Thomists: The Achievement of Thomas Aquinas and His Interpreters https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506405957/Thomas-and-the-Thomists Romanus Cessario, O.P., The Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church https://tst.bakeracademic.com/p/the-seven-sacraments-of-the-catholic-church-romanus-op-cessario/251501 Luis Martinez, The Sanctifier https://paulinestore.com/sanctifier-rev-3333-116039.html

Today it's taken for granted that we as Christians are called to "engage the culture" in order to evangelize. Often "engaging the culture" means paying an inordinate amount of attention to popular commercial entertainment in order to show unbelievers how hip we are, straining to find a "Christ-figure" in every comic book movie, and making worship music as repetitive, melodically banal, and emotionalistic as possible. Past a certain point, "cultural engagement" begins to seem like a noble-sounding excuse to enjoy mediocrity - and Christians, unfortunately, are as much in love with mediocre entertainment as anyone else. The novel doctrine of "cultural engagement" is just one subject covered in Joshua Gibbs's challenging and entertaining new book, Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul from Mediocrity. Joshua joins Thomas Mirus for a wide-ranging conversation about how we choose to spend our free time and why it matters. Topics include: The dangers of artistic mediocrity The importance of boredom Why streaming has been terrible for music The different kinds of Christian "cultural engagers" Uncommon and common good things and how both are threatened by the mediocre How the "special" apes the holy The meme-ification of art Links Gibbs, Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul from Mediocrity https://circeinstitute.org/product/love-what-lasts/ Gibbs, "Film As a Metaphysical Coup" https://circeinstitute.org/blog/film-metaphysical-coup/ Thomas's favorite episode of Gibbs's podcast, Proverbial https://shows.acast.com/proverbial/episodes/how-to-buy-a-bottle-of-wine www.GibbsClassical.com SUBSCRIBE to the Catholic Culture Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-catholic-culture-podcast/id1377089807 DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

Looking back at highlights from past episodes of the Catholic Culture Podcast and Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast. Full episodes below: CCP Ep. 63—Beauty Revealing Being (Vision of the Soul Pt. II)—James Matthew Wilson https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-63-beauty-revealing-being-vision-soul-pt-2-james-matthew-wilson/ CCP Ep. 69 - The Poetry of the English Martyrs - Benedict Whalen https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-69-poetry-english-martyrs-benedict-whalen/ CCP Ep. 70 - The Flannery-Haunted World - Joshua Hren https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-70-reviving-catholic-literary-tradition-joshua-hren-john-emmet-clarke/ Criteria - Dekalog: One (1988) https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/dekalog-one-1988/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

Distributism, the social-political-economic philosophy advanced by G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc under the influence of Catholic social teaching, offers intriguing ways of rethinking the modern social-political-economic order. But distributists have often been found lacking in serious practical plans to bring about their ideal social order, and in the economic fallacies they commit when critiquing other schools of thought. Distributists and economists have often seemed to be natural enemies. As an economist, Alexander W. Salter is not willing to embrace many distributists' skepticism that there can such a thing as economic science. But he also believes it would be a mistake to neglect the powerful social vision of Chesterton and Belloc on account of their shortcomings in economic theory. He joins the podcast to discuss his new book, The Political Economy of Distributism, in which he argues that a combination of distributist social philosophy and modern price theory can help us to achieve the much-discussed goal of "common good capitalism". The Political Economy of Distributism: Property, Liberty, and the Common Good https://www.cuapress.org/9780813236810/the-political-economy-of-distributism/ DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

Kimberly Begg joins the podcast to discuss her new book, Unbreakable: Saints Who Inspired Saints to Moral Courage. The book tells the story of four saints - St. Joan of Arc, St. José Luis Sánchez del Río, Bl. Jerzy Popiełuszko, and St. Teresa of Calcutta - and for each of those saints, includes the stories of the saints who influenced him or her. The book is intended in particular to convince parents of the importance of making the lives of the saints a part of family life, so that children will be inspired by those who came before, just as Joan was by St. Catherine of Alexandria, or as José was by Bl. Anacleto González Flores. Links https://tanbooks.com/products/books/unbreakable-saints-who-inspired-saints-to-moral-courage/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. (1844-1889) is one of the poets best loved by Catholics. Immediately accessible in its abundant musical qualities, Hopkins's poetry can still puzzle us with its idiosyncratic syntax, elliptical phrasing, and even invented words. Thus the need for an annotated collection of his poems, which, surprisingly, did not exist until the recent publication (by Word on Fire) of As Kingfishers Catch Fire: Selected and Annotated Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, edited by Holly Ordway. Holly returns to the podcast to give an introduction to Hopkins; she and Thomas discuss four of his poems: "The Windhover", "Carrion Comfort", "Patience", and "As Kingfishers Catch Fire". Links As Kingfishers Catch Fire: Selected and Annotated Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/as-kingfishers-catch-fire Holly Ordway, Tolkien's Faith: A Spiritual Biography https://www.amazon.com/Tolkiens-Faith-Spiritual-Holly-Ordway/dp/1685789919 Expanded edition of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien https://www.amazon.com/Letters-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0358652987/ DONATE to make these shows possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

This episode features highlights from episodes 61 and 67 of the Catholic Culture Podcast, and from an early episode of Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast. Ep. 61—Liberal Anti-Culture vs. the Western Vision of the Soul (Pt I)—James Matthew Wilson https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-61-liberal-anti-culture-vs-western-vision-soul-pt-i-james-matthew-wilson/ Ep. 67—"Why I'm No Longer A Catholic Feminist"—Melody Lyons https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-67-why-im-no-longer-catholic-feminist-melody-lyons/ Robots Don't Matter! 2001: A Space Odyssey https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/2001-space-odyssey-1968/ Donate to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

Jean-Pierre Torrell, O.P.'s definitive scholarly biography of St. Thomas Aquinas has recently received its third edition. Translator Matthew Minerd returns to the Catholic Culture Podcast to discuss what we can learn from Fr. Torrell about the life of St. Thomas and the context in which works like the Summa theologiae were written. This episode is a deep dive into Thomas's vocation in a number of senses – his Benedictine formation and eventual decision to become a Dominican instead, his intellectual formation as a student of St. Albert the Great and eventual Bachelor of the Sentences, and his duties in teaching, writing, disputation and preaching as a Master of the Sacred Pages at the University of Paris and elsewhere. Looking into these things can teach us much about Thomas's spirituality, his working methods, and the intellectual climate of the time. Links Jean-Pierre Torrell, O.P., Saint Thomas Aquinas: Vol. 1, The Person and His Work https://www.cuapress.org/9780813235608/saint-thomas-aquinas/ Matthew Minerd's essay in defense of Garrigou-Lagrange https://www.academia.edu/97075759/Who_Wasnt_the_Sacred_Monster_of_Thomism_Overcoming_Certain_Narratives_about_Fr_Reginald_Garrigou_Lagrage_OP_in_the_Hope_of_Mutual_Honesty_Among_Faithful_Catholics Ep. 38 with Minerd on Garrigou-Lagrange https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-38-sacred-monster-matthew-k-minerd/ Kirwan and Minerd, The Thomistic Response to the Nouvelle Theologie https://www.amazon.com/Story-Great-Medieval-Book-Rethinking/dp/1551117185 Philipp W. Rosemann, The Story of a Great Medieval Book: Peter Lombard's 'Sentences' https://www.amazon.com/Story-Great-Medieval-Book-Rethinking/dp/1551117185 This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

In the last of the YouTube livestreams related to Catholic Culture's May fundraising campaign, Jeff Mirus and Phil Lawler discuss their approach to writing responsible, sober commentary during a time of crisis in the Church: that is, when the news is crazy, how can we talk about it sanely? We're a week into CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered a $50,000 matching grant, so any donation you make by May 24 will double in value! You can donate on our website or PayPal (tax-deductible). Donation links below: http://www.CatholicCulture.org/donate https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=DZRZRJ5723MLA Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of content, including news, articles, podcasts, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

In this livestream, James Majewski and Thomas Mirus we discussed errors artists can fall into in pushing back against a moralistic approach to art found within the Church. Rather than reacting away from rigidity to excessive openness, the mature Catholic artist has to get over himself and be a servant. Also discussed: The relation between order and surprise in beauty, morality and culture. Note: the video begins abruptly in the middle of our introductory fundraising campaign pitch - because of some glitched-out audio, we cut the first 6 minutes or so. We're a week into CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered a $50,000 matching grant, so any donation you make by May 24 will double in value! You can donate on our website or PayPal (tax-deductible). Donation links below: http://www.CatholicCulture.org/donate https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=DZRZRJ5723MLA Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of content, including news, articles, podcasts, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

For those who missed the YouTube livestream Q&A with Mike Aquilina on May 8th, 2023, here is the audio. It was a lively conversation where Mike fielded viewer questions about important cities of the early Church, early evidence for papal primacy, the role of charity in the early Church, Origen, the providential role of easy travel for the spread of the Gospel in the first centuries, and more. We're a week into CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered a $50,000 matching grant, so any donation you make by May 24 will double in value! You can donate on our website or PayPal (tax-deductible). Donation links below: http://www.CatholicCulture.org/donate https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=DZRZRJ5723MLA We'll be doing more YouTube livestreams where viewers will be able to interact, ask questions and prompt discussion via the live chat box. Upcoming livestreams: 5/15, 8pm ET—Thomas Mirus & James Majewski (hosts,Catholic Culture Podcast, Catholic Culture Audiobooks, Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast) 5/22, 8pm ET—Phil Lawler & Jeff Mirus (CatholicCulture.org writers)

Catholic University of America Press recently launched a major new series: the English Critical Edition of the Works of Karol Wojtyła/John Paul II. The first volume of the series was a new translation of Wojtyła's 1969 book Person and Act, along with related essays. In Person and Act Wojtyła set forth the foundation of his blend of phenomenology, Thomism and personalism, a foundation underlying much of his other philosophical and theological writing. The first English translation is generally considered to be quite inaccurate, and, crucially, removed the Latin terms by which Wojtyła refers to the Thomistic and scholastic tradition, leading to a false impression that Wojtyła was much more of a pure phenomenologist and less of a Thomist than he really was. Thus the new translation by Gregorz Ignatik is a significant moment for the reception of Wojtyła/John Paul II's thought in the Anglosphere. In this episode, Timothy Flanders joins Thomas Mirus to discuss Person and Act as they attempt to boil down some of the key points of this rather challenging book, to set Wojtyła's philosophy in its intellectual, cultural, and religious context, and showing why his insights about human consciousness, the experience of morality, and the person are important for us as well. Points discussed include: How Wojtyła's use of phenomenology and personalism relates to the traditional Aristo-Thomistic anthropology The importance of phenomenological methods for the "healing of experience" and giving an objective account of the subjective Correcting modern errors about consciousness The concept of the person in relation to the traditional concept of human nature The need to integrate cognition with experience and the danger of the "emotionalization of consciousness" The centrality of morality to personhood Links The Meaning of Catholic https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaMoKEEA-KKDNgx3icjA36Q Person and Act and Related Essays https://www.cuapress.org/9780813233666/person-and-act-and-related-essays/ Recommended secondary sources: Accessible: Crosby, The Personalism of John Paul II https://www.amazon.com/Personalism-John-Paul-II/dp/1939773148 Jablonska, A Pope for All Seasons https://www.amazon.com/Pope-All-Seasons-Testimonies-Inspired/dp/1621388840 Less accessible: Buttiglione, Karol Wojtyla: The Thought of the Man Who Became Pope John Paul II https://www.amazon.com/Karol-Wojtyla-Thoughtof-Became-Thought-ebook/dp/B002BWPTOW Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II https://www.amazon.com/Witness-Hope-Biography-Pope-John/dp/0062996010/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

We'll be doing YouTube livestreams on the next 3 Monday evenings, as part of CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. In these freewheeling conversations, you'll have the opportunity to ask questions and prompt discussion in the live chat box! 5/8, 8pm ET - Mike Aquilina (host, Way of the Fathers podcast) 5/15, 8pm ET - Thomas Mirus & James Majewski (hosts,Catholic Culture Podcast, Catholic Culture Audiobooks, Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast) 5/22, 8pm ET - Phil Lawler & Jeff Mirus (CatholicCulture.org writers) You can use this link to connect to the Mike Aquilina livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNXvhOJuLZ8 The links to the other two livestreams will go up on the Catholic Culture YouTube channel a few days before each one.

This episode features highlight clips from episodes 50, 58, 60, and 66 of the Catholic Culture Podcast. 50: A Catholic Composer in Queen Elizabeth's Court, Pt. II – Kerry McCarthy https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-50a-catholic-composer-in-queen-elizabeths-court-pt-iikerry-mccarthy/ 58: A Hidden Life Film Review w/ James Majewski https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-58-hidden-life-film-review-w-james-majewski/ 60: Princeton Hosts Event Dedicated to St. Cecilia https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-60-princeton-funds-catholic/ 66: Christopher Tolkien, 1924-2020 – John Garth https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-66-christopher-tolkien-1924-2020-john-garth/ Donate to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

It's time for a big-picture look at Church history! Timothy S. Flanders joins the podcast to discuss his book City of God vs. City of Man: The Battles of the Church from Antiquity to the Present. The book is a synthesis of the approaches of St. Augustine and Christopher Dawson, whom Timothy calls the two greatest Catholic historians. Themes discussed include: The Hebrew (Old Testament) view of history The need for alliance between the "strict" and "moderate" parties of Catholic orthodoxy Ethnic pluralism in Christendom The Grand Coalition of the Status Quo The ideology of Roma and its role in the Eastern schism The love of money as a key factor in the breakdown of Christendom Links City of God vs. City of Man: The Battles of the Church from Antiquity to the Present https://www.amazon.com/City-God-vs-Man-Antiquity/dp/0578317346/ The Meaning of Catholic https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaMoKEEA-KKDNgx3icjA36Q Please consider donating at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

Marly Youmans joins the podcast to talk about her new verse tale, Seren of the Wildwood, the story's relation to the biblical giants or Nephilim, and the difference between myth and faerie. Publisher's description of Seren of the Wildwood (Wiseblood Books): Seren is born on the brink of Wildwood, realm of shadowy fey who listen and laugh–who sometimes bless and sometimes curse. As she grows into young womanhood, shaped by a familial tragedy tied to her conception, she is lured from home by a whispering mystery in Wildwood, where the supernatural roams freely through time and space. In riddling, often dangerous forests and mountains marked by fallen powers and holy women, oracles, hermits, and giants, Seren finds both violence and balm on a path arrowing toward transformation. Links Seren of the Wildwood https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p128/Seren-of-the-Wildwood-by-Youmans.html Marly Youmans https://thepalaceat2.blogspot.com/ Lord of Spirits episode mentioned https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/lordofspirits/land_of_giants?fbclid=IwAR1thosaICBidKK6XPl8v6wbQlIkqcC8B426WnW5T2VnnCubSRyMPuYFq6g This show is listener-funded. Please consider donating! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

It's universally acknowledged that music effects our emotions. But does it actually make sense to talk about music "expressing", emotions in any intrinsic sense (that is, can music itself be happy or sad)? And even if it does, should we treat emotional expression as the essential purpose of music, or the criterion by which we judge musical beauty? If music doesn't literally contain emotions, how does it still manage to affect our feelings so powerfully? And what is music expressing, imitating or reflecting, if not emotions? If we want to understand the nature and purpose of music, much less its relation to our moral and spiritual lives, we have to give some answer to these questions. Thomas Mirus, drawing on the thought of the 19th-century music critic Eduard Hanslick and psychologist Edmund Gurney, argues against the conventional view that music is essentially a vehicle for emotion. This podcast is listener-funded. DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

For decades, Steve and Evelyn Auth have been giving tours of NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art. When Steve (who last appeared on this show talking about his book The Missionary of Wall Street) had a reversion to his Catholic faith 20 years ago, that tour soon enough became a Catholic tour of the Met. Since there is now so much demand for that tour that they can't give it to everyone, they have written its essence in their new book, Pilgrimage to the Museum: Man's Search for God. Steve joins the show to talk about his spiritual approach to art history, viewing works in light of the underlying search, or at least grappling, with God that is manifested by every true artist. But he also talks about what makes the Met special (it's one of the most encyclopedic museums in the world if you want to learn about all of art history), and offers tips for how to get the most out of your visit to any art museum. Pilgrimage to the Museum https://sophiainstitute.com/product/a-pilgrimage-to-the-museum/ DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

Jane Clark Scharl discusses her play Sonnez les Matines, in which a young Ignatius of Loyola, Jean Calvin, and Francois Rabelais, together in 1520s Paris, find themselves implicated in a murder. Publisher's description (from Wiseblood Books): One Mardi Gras night in 1520s Paris, college students Jean Calvin (founder of Calvinism and autocratic ruler of Geneva), Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Counter-Reformation Catholic religious order, the Jesuits), and their bawdy friend Francois Rabelais (the humanist novelist) find themselves mixed up in a gruesome murder—and any one of them might be guilty. The ensuing investigation sparks a battle of wits and weapons, plunging them into questions of justice and mercy, grace and sin, innocence, guilt, love, and contempt. Before the bells ring in the start of Lent, they must confront the darkest parts of their souls and find the courage to pursue truth in a world that seems intent on obscuring it. Sonnez Les Matines imagines what might have happened if these three brilliant, volatile men had to put their convictions to the test while navigating a brutal crime and their own involvement in it. When left to his own devices, each character speaks in his own verse form, giving the play the feeling of a fierce sparring match between masters. Calvin's blank verse toys with despair as he wrestles with doubts about the goodness of God and the possibility of freedom; Ignatius commands situations in clipped iambic tetrameter, revealing his background as a disciplined soldier, while his passion for order shows through in frequent alliteration; and Rabelais dances around with iambic rhyming couplets, cracking profane, bawdy jokes that unexpectedly become profound meditations on the mysteries of God, creation, and grace. Links Tickets for March 8th performance of the play in NYC https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sonnez-les-matines-march-8th-tickets-554768656987 Buy the text of the play https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p127/Sonnez_Les_Matines%2C_a_Verse_Play_by_J.C._Scharl.html "The Dream of the Rood: A New Translation" by Tessa Carman and J.C. Scharl https://thelampmagazine.com/blog/the-dream-of-the-rood-a-new-translation Jane's website https://jcscharl.com/ DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

One might assume abortion has always been a hot-button topic in American politics since the Supreme Court ruling legalizing it in 1973. But that is not the case. The US pro-life movement was so non-robust for many years that by 1987, abortion was not even one of the top 10 issues for American voters. Then suddenly, in ABC's 1988 election exit poll, abortion had shot to the number one issue for voters. What made abortion into a political litmus test so suddenly? Operation Rescue was what happened. Little remembered now, OR was, believe it or not, the largest civil disobedience in American history. Between 1987 and 1994, about 75,000 pro-life activists were arrested for peacefully interfering with abortion clinic operations - that's ten times more people arrested than in the entire civil rights movement. And though Operation Rescue quickly fizzled out in 1994 because of the Clinton administration's FACE Act (recently used to prosecute Mark Houck), it gave the pro-life movement the jump-start it needed to get us to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Arguably, were it not for Operation Rescue, the U.S. would be much like Europe, with even anti-abortion conservatives more or less accepting it as the "law of the land", and little political will to fight it. It is a great honor, then, to have the founder of Operation Rescue on the Catholic Culture Podcast. Randall Terry, who ran OR for its first few years and was arrested 50 times for his pro-life activism, is producing a documentary series, Dragonslayers, which will tell the history of OR using many hours of amazing footage that exists from the time. He is currently raising funds so that the series can be made. Randall joins the show to talk about OR and its decisive role in the history of the pro-life movement, the need for direct action in the pro-life cause today, and the political tools that will be indispensable for ending abortion in all 50 states - which he calls Randall's Rules for Righteous Revolution. Links Donate to support the documentary production and find pro-life training resources at www.RandallTerry.com Ep. 2 of the Catholic Culture Podcast - "The Largest Civil Disobedience Movement in U.S. History", with Bill Cotter and Phil Lawler https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-2-largest-civil-disobedience-movement-in-us-history DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

Author and music critic Robert Reilly joins the podcast to discuss one of the greatest operas ever composed, Francis Poulenc's 1957 Dialogues des Carmélites, which host Thomas Mirus recently saw at the Metropolitan Opera. Based on the true story of sixteen Carmelite nuns who were martyred in the French Revolution (famously singing the Salve Regina as they went to the guillotine), the opera is an adaptation of Georges Bernanos's play, which in turn was adapted from Gertrud von le Fort's novella Song at the Scaffold. With outstanding spiritual realism, Dialogues dramatizes the inner struggle of a soul. Its examination of the complex blend of motives for pursuing a religious vocation, the fear of death, and the transference of grace, is all the more moving when combined with Poulenc's gorgeous music. In addition to this opera, Reilly introduces us to some other great music by this Catholic composer. One of the more popular 20th-c. operas - Georges Bernanos screenplay/stage play, based on Gertrud von le Fort Song at the Scaffold Links Robert Reilly, Surprised by Beauty: A Listener's Guide to the Recovery of Modern Music https://www.amazon.com/Surprised-Beauty-Listeners-Recovery-Modern/dp/1586179055 Surprised by Beauty website with music reviews and album recommendations https://surprisedbybeautyorg.wordpress.com Poulenc recordings heard in this episode: Mass No. 2 in G Major, RIAS Kammerchor, conducted by Marcus Creed Dialogues des Carmélites, Dervaux, Duval, Crespin Videos shown: Metropolitan Opera 1987 performance of finale from Dialogues des Carmelites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbRpYJsqhpE Metropolitan Opera 2019 excerpts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehyz-CH4QHI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wchkYKj5n8A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqtgq-SkpRA DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

What's behind the increasing popularity of drag queens and drag shows in America? Why is half the audience of RuPaul's Drag Race now composed of young liberal women? How has the drag subculture, originally intended as a frivolous and self-consciously artificial deconstruction of masculinity, paradoxically become one of progressivism's most potent symbols of earnest and authentic self-expression? Darel Paul, professor of political science at Williams College, joins the podcast to discuss his recent First Things essay "Drag Queens". Attempting to answer the questions above, he brings forth insights about the relation between the LGBT movement, "wokeness" and America's largely female-driven therapeutic culture. Links Darel Paul, "Drag Queens" https://www.firstthings.com/article/2023/02/drag-queens Darel Paul, "Under the Rainbow Banner" https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/06/under-the-rainbow-banner Darel Paul, From Tolerance to Equality: How Elites Brought America to Same-Sex Marriage https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481306959/from-tolerance-to-equality/ Psychologist Dr. William Coulson on how he led many religious sisters away from their vocations https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/we-overcame-their-traditions-we-overcame-their-faith-11916 James L. Nolan Jr., The Therapeutic State: Justifying Government at Century's End https://nyupress.org/9780814757918/the-therapeutic-state/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Denis McNamara and Christopher Carstens, co-authors of the new book Solemnities: Celebrating a Tapestry of Divine Beauty, join the podcast to talk about the upcoming solemnities of Christmas; Mary, Mother of God; and Epiphany. The book (co-authored with Alexis Kutarna) covers the Church's 17 solemnities. For each, there is a discussion of its theological and spiritual significance, a reproduction and analysis of a great artwork related to the solemnity, and tips on how to observe the solemnity more deeply, from spiritual practices to festive traditions. Links Solemnities: Celebrating a Tapestry of Divine Beauty https://ascensionpress.com/products/solemnities-celebrating-a-tapestry-of-divine-beauty Artworks discussed in this episode: The Mystic Nativity by Sandro Botticelli https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/mystic-nativity/ggGzbkPRgnpQCA?hl=en&avm=2 Madonna in the Church by Jan van Eyck https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-madonna-in-the-church-jan-van-eyck/OgFrmfnJd3r8zw?hl=en Adoration of the Magi by Domenico Ghirlandaio https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Adoration_of_the_Magi_Spedale_degli_Innocenti.jpg Follow McNamara's ongoing video series discussing sacred art here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfoPO00IYAk&list=PLX5nsucORH80kKvq579X_PWTtduPNiqE4

Blessed John Duns Scotus (1265-1308), the Franciscan friar known as the "Subtle Doctor", is one of the most important theologians and philosophers of the Middle Ages, yet over the centuries he has fallen into disrepute, or at least neglect, by comparison with the "Angelic Doctor", St. Thomas Aquinas. Interest in Scotus has revived somewhat in part due to his beatification by Pope St. John Paul II, who called him the "defender of the Immaculate Conception" and "minstrel of the Incarnation". Indeed, Scotus's greatest legacy is his argument for Mary's having been conceived without original sin, a controversial position at the time, yet vindicated centuries later when this was proclaimed a dogma by Pope Bl. Pius IX. This is good enough reason to get to know Scotus, even if he ultimately takes a back seat to Aquinas. Thomas Ward, author of Ordered by Love: An Introduction to John Duns Scotus, joins the podcast to discuss aspects of Scotus's thought, and his context in the early history of the Franciscan order. Thomas Ward, Ordered by Love https://angelicopress.org/ordered-by-love-thomas-ward This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Christopher V. Mirus, your host's older brother, is a philosophy professor at the University of Dallas, and author of the new book Being Is Better Than Not Being: The Metaphysics of Goodness and Beauty in Aristotle. In this episode he discusses being a philosopher in the Aristotelian tradition, compares Aristotle's intellectual and pedagogical approach with Plato's, and touches on some themes from his book. How does Aristotle identify goodness with the ability to be contemplated – even in the sphere of ethics? What is the relation between friendship and contemplation? How can we call "beautiful" things as different as a morally virtuous human action, the parts of animals, the orbits of the heavenly spheres, and God Himself? What does Aristotle mean when he says that being is better than not being? Links There is a 30% discount on Being Is Better than Nonbeing: The Metaphysics of Goodness and Beauty in Aristotle until December 24th, 2022, as part of the American Catholic Philosophical Association's annual conference. To get the discount, order from the CUA Press website using discount code "ACPA22". https://www.cuapress.org/9780813235462/being-is-better-than-not-being/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Catholic poet Jane Greer joins the podcast to read from her third collection, The World As We Know It Is Falling Away. She discusses the spiritual challenges that came with the great success of her previous book, Love Like a Conflagration, connecting to a major theme of her new book: fallen man's thwarted desire to exceed divinely ordained limits to earthly delights, in the face of death and apocalypse – along with the real beauty of the gifts God has given us to enjoy in this life. Links The World As We Know It Is Falling Away https://lambingpress.com/product/the-world-as-we-know-it-is-falling-away-new-poems-by-jane-greer/ Ep. 81 – Love Like a Conflagration https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-81-love-like-conflagration-jane-greer/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

This episode contains clips of highlights from episodes 33, 56, and 57 of the Catholic Culture Podcast. Links 33: Structure and Freedom in Music and in Christ – Mark Christopher Brandt https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-33-structure-and-freedom-in-music-and-in-christ-mark-christopher-brandt/ 56: Vindicating Authority – Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-56-vindicating-authority-aquinas-guilbeau-op/ 57: River of the Immaculate Conception – James Matthew Wilson https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-57-river-immaculate-conception-james-matthew-wilson/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Though prayer, fasting, and public presence, 40 Days for Life has been very successful in reducing abortions, closing down abortion clinics, and even saving the souls of women who intend abortion and abortion industry workers. Co-founder Shawn Carney joins the podcast to discuss their work and the current situation post-Roe. Topics include: A 40 Days for Life success story in Manassas, VA Political propaganda against pregnancy centers Government crackdowns on pro-lifers in the US and UK Why there wasn't rioting in the streets when Roe was overturned Abortion as a crisis of the human heart Why activism not rooted in contemplation fails Links 40 Days for Life https://www.40daysforlife.com Shawn Carney, What to Say When: The Complete New Guide to Discussing Abortion https://www.40daysforlife.com/en/whattosaywhen Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard, The Soul of the Apostolate https://tanbooks.com/products/books/spiritual-warfare/virtue-vice/the-soul-of-the-apostolate This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

The Catholic Culture Podcast Network sponsored a poetry reading session at the fourth biennial Catholic Imagination Conference, hosted by the University of Dallas. Thomas Mirus moderated this session on Sept. 30, 2022, introducing poets Paul Mariani, Frederick Turner, and James Matthew Wilson. Paul Mariani, University Professor Emeritus at Boston College, is the author of twenty-two books, including biographies of William Carlos Williams, John Berryman, Robert Lowell, Hart Crane, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Wallace Stevens. He has published nine volumes of poetry, most recently All that Will be New, from Slant. He has also written two memoirs, Thirty Days and The Mystery of It All: The Vocation of Poetry in the Twilight of Modernism. His awards include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEA and NEH. He is the recipient of the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry and the Flannery O'Connor Lifetime Achievement Award. His poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines, including Image, Poetry, Presence, The Agni Review, First Things, The New England Review, The Hudson Review, Tri-Quarterly, The Massachusetts Review, and The New Criterion. Frederick Turner, Founders Professor of Arts and Humanities (emeritus) at the University of Texas at Dallas, was educated at Oxford University. A poet, critic, translator, philosopher, and former editor of The Kenyon Review, he has authored over 40 books, including The Culture of Hope, Genesis: An Epic Poem, Shakespeare's Twenty-First Century Economics, Natural Religion, and most recently Latter Days, with Colosseum Books. He has co-published several volumes of Hungarian and German poetry in translation, including Goethe's Faust, Part One. He has been nominated internationally over 40 times for the Nobel Prize for Literature and translated into over a dozen languages. James Matthew Wilson is Cullen Foundation Chair of English Literature and Founding Director of the MFA program in Creative Writing at the University of Saint Thomas, in Houston. He serves also as Poet-in-Residence of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship, as Editor of Colosseum Books, and Poetry Editor of Modern Age magazine. He is the author of twelve books, including The Strangeness of the Good. His work has won the Hiett Prize, the Parnassus Prize, the Lionel Basney Award (twice), and the Catholic Media Book Award for Poetry.

St. Paul's admonition for wives to submit to their husbands as the Church submits to Christ (Ephesians 5) is one of the most uncomfortable teachings for modern Catholics. But it's not just obedience in marriage that moderns find objectionable–and it's not just liberals who can't stomach it. Across the political and religious spectrum, even among self-described traditionalists, we find all kinds of excuses to avoid obedience. Deeply embedded in the post-Enlightenment consciousness is the equation of authority with tyranny and obedience with slavery. Come to think of it, Scripture tells us that the issue of authority and obedience is fundamental to mankind's rupture with God throughout all history, beginning with the rebellion of Adam and Eve. Satan tricked Eve into thinking God's command was a trick to keep her down rather than a gift of love. Adam went along, choosing to please his wife rather than God, in a perversion of his God-given inclination toward union through gift. Ever since, both men and women have had a suspicious and guarded stance toward God's authority rather than a submissive and receptive one, while ironically dominating and manipulating others in the very way they feared God was doing to them. The primordial reality of authority as gift and obedience as receptivity, which Christ came to restore in nuptial union with His Church, is central to theologian Mary Stanford's new book, The Obedience Paradox: Finding True Freedom in Marriage. Drawing on Scripture, the theology of the body, and the whole Magisterial tradition of the Church on marital obedience, Stanford offers not just a defense of the traditional teaching, but a profound illumination of how both wives and husbands can find true freedom in submitting to God's design for what Pope Pius XI called "the order of love" in marriage, which is both mutual and asymmetrical. Stanford's presentation will be liberating particularly for those open-hearted Catholics who, while wishing to be faithful to Church teaching, fear that reiterating this particular point of the Scriptural and Magisterial doctrine on marriage will just create an opportunity for domination and abuse. Yet not only wives, and not only married couples, but all Catholics can learn from how obedience is lived in marriage, and see that obedient receptivity is at the core of what it means to be a human person. Links Mary Stanford, The Obedience Paradox: Finding True Freedom in Marriage https://www.osvcatholicbookstore.com/product/the-obedience-paradox-finding-true-freedom-in-marriage Pope Pius XI on marriage: Casti connubii https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19301231_casti-connubii.html This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

"Architecture is the built form of ideas, and church architecture is the built form of theology." Denis McNamara joins the show to give a crash course in the underlying principles of Catholic church architecture, and make the case for classical architecture as the method that should be used by today's sacred architects. McNamara is an Associate Professor and Executive Director of the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College, architectural consultant, and author of multiple books on architecture. Topics include: The Biblical vision of church architecture The church building as part of the liturgical rite The church building as a "sacrament" of the glorified, mystical Body of Christ and vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem The importance of the Temple How liturgical art conveys glorified realities How classical architecture makes visible nature's invisible forces The difference between liturgical and devotional images Links Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Church-Architecture-Spirit-Liturgy/dp/1595250271 How to Read Churches https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Churches-ecclesiastical-architecture/dp/1408128365 The Liturgy Guys https://www.liturgyguys.com Benedictine College's Center for Beauty and Culture https://www.benedictine.edu/academics/centers/beauty-culture/index This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Abigail Favale returns to the show to discuss her new book, The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory. Topics include: Understanding "lived experience" in light of theology and anthropology Learning from people with gender dysphoria who have transitioned and detransitioned The spike in transgender identity among teenagers "What about intersex people?" How potency and actuality can help us to understand sex difference Manhood and womanhood as symbols of theological realities Abigail Favale, The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory https://ignatius.com/the-genesis-of-gender-ggp/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Catholic philosopher Edward Feser joins the podcast to discuss his new book, All One in Christ: A Catholic Critique of Racism and Critical Race Theory. But before getting to that, he and Thomas discuss their similar paths away from libertarianism, and their shared appreciation for the music of Thelonious Monk. Timestamps 1:50 Libertarianism 14:57 Jazz 38:24 Critical race theory Links All One in Christ: A Catholic Critique of Racism and Critical Race Theory https://ignatius.com/all-one-in-christ-aocp Ep. 45, on Feser's critique of the libertarian theory of property rights https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-45-libertarianism-vs-natural-law-on-private-property Collection of Feser's blog posts on libertarianism http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-road-from-libertarianism.html Feser, "The Metaphysics of Monk" https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2010/08/metaphysics-of-monk.html This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Joshua Hren, author of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, editor-in-chief of Wiseblood Books, and co-founder of a new Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, returns to the podcast to discuss his recent essay, Contemplative Realism: A Theological-Aesthetical Manifesto: As ever, but especially in our present age of raging post-truth unreality, we ought to heed Pope Benedict XVI's summons to "ask rather more carefully what 'the real' actually is." So-called "realism," when relegated to material tangibilities, can blind us—instead of binding us—to things as they are. "Are we not interested in the cosmos anymore?" Benedict asks. "Are we today really hopelessly huddled in our own little circle? Is it not important, precisely today, to pray with the whole of creation?" If this preeminent mind of our time is not wrong, and "the man who puts to one side the reality of God is a realist only in appearance," then we ought to ask with unflinching intensity and openness: what is real? Like liturgy, literature asks this question with a range of forms that answer it very differently. At times, both art and worship seem to devolve into the manners and mood of self-referential and inconsequential play, gestures without meaning, or "bank notes" (says Benedict) "without funds to cover them." These too-closed circles of communication wall off transcendence. In living cruciform liturgy—on the contrary—"the congregation does not offer its own thoughts or poetry but is taken out of itself and given the privilege of sharing in the cosmic song of praise of the cherubim and seraphim." In living contemplative literature something analogous happens: we suffer and praise with the whole of creation; the prose cultivates a grateful disposition, prompting us to yearn for a vision of the whole. But this manifesto on behalf of a "contemplative realism" makes no claims to create, ex nihilo, a new aesthetical species. Nor does it advance this rough school of literary fish as some preeminent or sole "way forward" for fiction in our time. Rather, it seeks to articulate a literary approach that exists already in diffuse books as well as in the potencies of living artists. It seeks to gather and galvanize those souls. More than anything, it yearns to quicken a contemplative realist disposition among as many comers as possible—literary chops or no. For, in a very bad way (to borrow from Josef Pieper), "man's ability to see is in decline." (Publisher's description) Links Read a short version of the manifesto https://benedictinstitute.org/manifesto/ Buy the full version of Contemplative Realism https://www.amazon.com/Contemplative-Realism-Theological-Aesthetical-Joshua-Hren/dp/1951319567 Wiseblood Books https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/ MFA program in creative writing at UST https://www.stthom.edu/Academics/School-of-Arts-and-Sciences/Division-of-Liberal-Studies/Graduate/Master-of-Fine-Arts-in-Creative-Writing/Index.aqf?Aquifer_Source_URL=%2FMFA&PNF_Check=1 This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

In a recent video on the Pints with Aquinas channel, Gregory Pine, O.P. voiced his concern that mass entertainment, particularly music and movies, is often an obstacle to achieving the heavenly end of contemplation for which we are made. What is noteworthy is that unlike the typical Catholic commentary on pop culture, Fr. Pine does not focus so much on the moral content of music and movies as how their very form affects us bodily, psychologically and spiritually. In this discussion inspired by Fr. Pine's points, host Thomas Mirus and filmmaker Nathan Douglas specify some elements of music and film which are obstacles to the contemplative life, but also suggest how, rather than simply eschewing music and movies, we can engage with better art in a deeper way which serves the contemplative end of man. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 6:31 Fr. Pine video recap 11:08 Risks of treating media as "junk food" rather than demanding better media 14:44 Cultivating openness to more artistic films 17:31 Discursive reasoning is not the highest mode of contemplation 20:26 Music is the most simply contemplative art form 22:58 The relation of film to reality 25:13 Advertising and glossiness in modern cinema 29:38 Problem with putting Catholic content into Hollywood forms 31:28 A film's editing rhythm can hinder contemplation 38:24 Learning intuitively to tell hackwork from good craft 42:15 Rhythmic excitement doesn't equal mediocrity 46:23 Conclusion of film discussion 48:02 Applying Augustine's theory of evil as privation to art 49:34 The necessity of both lower and higher forms of music 55:46 In what sense should Catholics "engage with pop culture"? 59:33 Pop music dominated by computers, focused on lyrics, lack of melody 1:07:53 The personal element in art 1:12:08 Music, the senses, and contemplation beyond words 1:18:22 Music's stimulation of the body 1:22:45 Using music to indulge emotions 1:27:09 Can music be "immoral"? 1:32:06 Mistaking slow for good in film 1:34:11 Educating the faithful for artistic depth 1:43:50 Can sense images serve the spiritual life? 1:49:18 What music communicates about reality 1:56:20 There's no formula for beauty 2:01:08 Simple receptivity to God's beauty 2:03:54 Recommended resources Resources: Fr. Gregory Pine, "I stopped listening to music." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVh4rHubNOc Elizabeth-Paule Labat, The Song That I Am: On the Mystery of Music https://litpress.org/Products/MW040P/The-Song-That-I-Am Etienne Gilson, The Arts of the Beautiful https://www.amazon.com/Arts-Beautiful-Scholarly-Etienne-Gilson/dp/1564782506 Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/category/criteria CCP #126: How Charlie Parker's Music Changed My Life https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/126-how-charlie-parker-changed-my-life CCP #28: An Introduction to Maritain's Poetic Philosophy w/ Samuel Hazo https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-28-introduction-to-maritains-poetic-philosophy-samuel-hazo Nathan Douglas, The Vocation of Cinema https://vocationofcinema.substack.com Fr. Pine's lecture on literature referenced by Nathan https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/literature-as-philosophy-fr-gregory-pine-op This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Catholic sculptor Christopher Alles joins the podcast for an introduction to the art of sculpture, especially in its formal qualities. Alles mostly does commission work for the Church, and the theoretical points in this conversation are illuminated by references to some of his recent works, including a work-in-progress Pieta and his monumental sculpture of St. Joseph, Patron of a Happy Death. Topics include: Collaboration with patrons in commissioned work The iconographic tradition in sculpture vs painting Drawing as the root of both sculpting and painting The challenges of modeling form based on anatomy without being enslaved to literal accuracy The decorative and the illustrative aspects of visual art Links Watch this interview on YouTube https://youtu.be/7LnWSNQKfqc http://christopheralles.com https://www.instagram.com/christtalles Thomas Mirus, "'A Peering' at the Sheen Center" https://newcriterion.com/blogs/dispatch/a-peering-at-the-sheen-center

Poet, translator and cultural critic Anthony Esolen joins the podcast to discuss his book, In the Beginning Was the Word: An Annotated Reading of the Prologue of John. 'In this extended meditation, Anthony Esolen looks, phrase by phrase, at the majestic Prologue to the Gospel of John, which with good reason he calls "the most influential paragraph in the history of man." He unfolds its theological richness by showing how the Apostle John has in mind, not only what he saw Jesus do and heard him say, but also the whole witness of Scripture before the time of Jesus, and the way the young Church proclaimed him. A unique feature of this remarkable work is how Esolen "hears" (and we with him) the Hebrew/Aramaic underlying John's Greek (which was not his mother tongue), echoing those languages in such a way that, all at once, what we thought could never be more profoundly expressed bursts forth in a renewed poetic splendor that brings into ever keener relief the whole panorama of the theology of the God-Man. Esolen's decades-long immersion in Christian poetry and Scripture uniquely positions him as a guide to the astonishing and life-changing "poem" of the Prologue. He says it best: "My hope is not only to illuminate what John wishes us to hear, but to show that, when it comes to this poetry, John is not the originator; he is, rather, the beloved disciple who caught the habit from the Lord Himself."' (Publisher's description) Links Anthony Esolen, In the Beginning Was the Word https://www.angelicopress.org/in-the-beginning-was-the-word-anthony-esolen Esolen's new newsletter, Word & Song https://anthonyesolen.substack.com This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio