The Home Front
Leila and Phil Lawler discuss every aspect of the battle on the home front.
Leila and Phil Lawler
Show overview
The Home Front has been publishing since 2024, and across the 2 years since has built a catalogue of 111 episodes. That works out to roughly 90 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 47 min and 53 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Society & Culture show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 5 days ago, with 26 episodes already out so far this year. Published by Leila and Phil Lawler.
From the publisher
Leila and Phil Lawler have been talking to each other about everything for almost 50 years. Join as they discuss every aspect of the battle on the home front. leilamarielawler.substack.com
Latest Episodes
View all 111 episodesFreedom of religion? A statue and the border wall
Bring back taboos; Corporate "Pride" displays are compelled speech
One-step Vatican reform; the non-SSPX crisis
Spanish Bishops challenge Amoris Laetitia; will Pope Tawadros move the Catholic Church away from gay blessings? And wokeness comes for classic mystery novels!
Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo's document on AI
SCOTUS and the abortion pill; Pope Leo and AI
The SSPX and "the State of Necessity"; Daycare's deceptions; a 250th book for all
How to think about the origins of the cosmos
Phil on the US-UK-Vatican "Special Relationship"; Leila: surrogacy is evil and already illegal; bees & books!
Are we still on Flight 93; Measles; Democrats, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and you
President Trump v. Pope Leo; Dumbarton Oaks and Beverley Nichols
How Boston's forced desegregation busing led to nationwide judicial tyranny today; Easter conversion trends analyzed; and more!
Show Notes:Brown v. Board of EducationIs the Constitution Colorblind? by Edward J. Erler, Co-Author, The Founders on Citizenship and ImmigrationMinority Schools and the Politics of Education by Thomas Sowell Judicial Hubris by David Lewis SchaeferPolicy Brief: The Threat of Judicial Tyranny Is Far from Over by Ken CuccinelliAdult conversions soar in dioceses across U.S. (National Catholic Register)Roman Catholic Churches See a Surge of New Converts (New York Times)America’s new Catholics, by the numbers (Brendan Hodge, The Pillar)Catholic Church should focus on getting ‘nones’ back, Bishop Barron saysThe Symbolism of the Christian Temple by Jean Hani (affiliate link) Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free!Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us!How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe
Supreme Court free speech cases you haven't heard of; the death of infamous abortionist, Kermit Gosnell; playing bridge with our grandchildren
Show Notes:NCLA Reaches Historic Settlement, Strikes Major Blow Against Government’s Social Media CensorshipIn Historic Settlement, NCLA Strikes Fatal Blow to State Department’s Censorship Industrial ComplexAmerica’s Most Infamous Serial Baby Killer Kermit Gosnell Dead At 85Sins of omission: The Kermit Gosnell defenses the press dared not mention by Tim Carney (archive version)New York Times obituary for Kermit Gosnell (archive version)Kermit Gosnell Grand Jury ReportYour paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free!Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us!How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe
Interview: Katy Faust on why the "Same Sex Marriage" Obergefell ruling must -- and can -- be overturned
Show Notes:Them Before UsGreater ThanYou think you are just for helping the infertile? Read this:Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free!Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us!How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe
Vatican mistrial analysis; the wrongest man in history; Carrie Gress' Something Wicked review
Show Notes:Vatican appeal court orders review of financial trial investigation (The Pillar)Vatican appeals court declares mistrial in the ‘trial of the century’ against a cardinal (AP)Phil on that New York Times obituary for Paul Erlich The Resourceful Earth: A Response to Global 2000 (edited by Julian Simon and Herman Kahn) (affiliate link)The coming population implosion (Phil Lawler)How does bottle-feeding relate to the extraordinary amplification of Paul Erlich’s Zero Population Growth message? Listen here: Carrie Gress, Something Wicked: Why Feminism Can’t Be Fused with Christianity (affiliate link)Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free!Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us!How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe
La Trappe monastery and the Economy of Salvation; Christian Deaths in Lebanon
Show Notes:Bishop Robert Barron on the potential closing of La TrappeArchived version of “I Regret Having Children”Pope Pius XII on Large FamiliesMassive funeral in Lebanon for the Maronite priest Pierre El-Raii“This is our home”: Christians from southern Lebanon resist evacuating the area after the death of Father Pierre el-RaïLebanese Foreign Minister requests Holy See’s help for Christians in South (Vatican News)Cardinal of Tehran evacuates to RomeWhat a Session looks like at MacMaster-Leahy house (and it’s very much like the concert!)Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil: What to listen for.Lawler Family Book Club - 2026 (here’s our Amazon affiliate link — anything you buy when you open this tab, for 24 hours, sends a little change our way at no cost to you — thank you!)February: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David GrannApril: Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace StegnerJune/July: Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom WolfeAugust: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy TooleOctober: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthyDecember: City of Bells by Elizabeth GoudgeYour paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free!Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us!How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe
Just War in Iran? SCOTUS hands down landmark decision for parental rights; and more!
Show Notes:Exclusive: The Trump-Netanyahu call that changed the Middle East ~ Axios (archived link here).Iran: Is this war just? The questions are clear; the future is not by Phil LawlerU.S. Supreme Court Delivers Historic, Groundbreaking Victory for Parental Rights, Dismantles California’s Secret Gender Transition Regime ~ Thomas More Society Blessed: The martyrs of Compiègne — film by François Lespes with subtitles.Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free!Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us!How about this, if you enjoyed listening to this one episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe
The challenge of the SSPX; The Cristeros and Just War
Show Notes:What if I’m wrong? Phil’s CatholicCulture column on the SSPX imbroglio. “For all these reasons I deeply regret the SSPX plan to proceed with the episcopal ordinations. But what if I’m wrong?”The reckoning the SSPX requires by Phil LawlerCardinal McElroy’s Conscience Trap (Synodality) by Leila Marie LawlerFilm: For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada (2012) The Cristero Counterrevolution and the Battle for the Soul of Mexico Os Justi PressViva Cristo Rey! The Cristeros Versus the Mexican Revolution (This Rock) by Christopher CheckCatholic World News News Feature: Beatification for Cristeros martyrs September 02, 2005Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free!Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us!How about this, if you enjoy listening: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe
Notre Dame University offense (not football!); Marco Rubio's speech; and more!
Show Notes:Bishop Rhoades expresses ‘strong opposition’ to pro-abortion professor’s appointment at Notre Dame (EWTN)Amid criticism by bishops, Notre Dame says pro-abortion professor ‘well prepared’ to lead institute (EWTN)More bishops call for Notre Dame to drop appointment of pro-abortion professor (EWTN)Notre Dame must choose courage. An excellent piece by a Notre Dame undergraduate, Liam Kelly, in the independent campus newspaper, The Observer. “Notre Dame is now at a time for choosing. It must decide whether it will remain resolutely and unapologetically a Catholic university or if it will continue down the slow and lamentable drift of secularization.”Why I’m Done with Notre Dame (Professor Christian Smith in First Things)The Land O’ Lakes Statement Has Caused Devastation For 50 Years (Essay by Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society, from 2017)God and Man at Yale, by William F. Buckley, Jr. (1951) (affiliate link)Josef Pieper, Not Yet the Twilight: An Autobiography 1945-1964 (affiliate link)Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s address to the Munich Security ConferencePope Benedict XVI: The quote about Zionism can be found on pp. 16 and 17.IHRA working definition of antisemitism. (US Dept. of State)Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our podcast for free!Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us!How about this, if you enjoy listening: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe
How to repeal Obergefell; Synodality fatigue; Our favorite history books, military and otherwise!
Show Notes:Them Before Us: Katy FaustGreater ThanIs Germany facing ‘synodal fatigue’? by Luke CoppenSome favorite history books, military and otherwise (if it’s an Amazon link, a small amount goes to us without costing you more — thank you!):Thucydides: The History of the Peloponnesian WarThe Face of Battle by John Keegan (all his books)Shelby Foote: The Civil War (3 volumes)WWI: Barbara Tuchman: The Guns of August; The Sleepwalkers by ChapmanWWII: The Storm of War by Andrew RobertsHistorical fiction:The Killer Angels by Michael ShaaraIn a Dark Wood Wandering by Hella HaasseThe Red Horse by Eugenio CortiAugust 1914 by Aleksandr SolzhenitsynYour paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue our work, but we are happy for you to receive our updates for free!Want to tell a friend? Please do! It’s a great way to help us!How about this, if you enjoyed this episode: Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe