Catholic cultural commentary
Paul Shrimpton assisted in the process of making St. John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church. He joins the podcast to discuss his involvement in the process, and his new book from Word on Fire Academic, "The Most Dangerous Man in England": Newman and the Laity.
During his lifetime, Newman was a controversial figure within the Catholic Church in large part due to his views on the laity and his advocacy for their role in running Catholic schools. Shrimpton's book gives us a picture of Newman's view of the laity not only through his ideas, but through his practical endeavors in the world of education, his pastoral activity, and his deep and abiding friendships with many laypeople.
"The Most Dangerous Man in England": Newman and the Laity https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/the-most-dangerous-man-in-england
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Should mothers work outside the home? If you want an answer more solid than groundless internet opinion or conveniently vague appeals to personal discernment, this is the podcast for you.
Margaret McCarthy joins the Catholic Culture Podcast to discuss her essay on why anti-sex-discrimination law's treatment of the sexes as abstract interchangeable units hurts real women, real men, and real children (and real workplaces!). Then we dive into the neglected teachings of John Paul II and earlier popes on the objectively different relationships that men and women have to the home and to work outside the home.
Margaret Harper McCarthy is associate professor of theological anthropology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage & Family, at the Catholic University of America. She is the editor of Humanum: Issues in Family, Culture, and Science, serves on the editorial board of the English edition of Communio: International Catholic Review, is a member of the Academy of Catholic Theology, and is a consultant to the USCCB's Committee on Doctrine.
00:00 Introduction
2:30 Anti-discrimination law discriminates against real women, children, men, and workplaces
34:30 Sex difference: division of labor and customs
1:03:43 Catholic teaching on working mothers
1:33:08 Contraception and public life vs. the real feminine genius
Links
Margaret H. McCarthy, "The Case for (Just) Sex Discrimination" https://newpolity.com/blog/sex-discrimination
Thomas's article citing John Paul II and earlier popes on working mothers https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/why-young-catholics-are-rejecting-feminism-pt-2/
Humanum Review https://humanumreview.com/
Some other articles mentioned:
Helen Andrews, "Lean Out" https://americanmind.org/features/rule-not-by-lies/lean-out/
Maria Baer, "Maybe Women Can Have It All—But Can Their Kids?" https://ifstudies.org/blog/maybe-women-can-have-it-all-but-can-their-kids
Matthew Mehan, "Wanted: Men of Purpose" https://americanmind.org/features/restoring-single-sex-education-at-vmi-and-beyond/wanted-men-of-purpose/
Magisterial texts mentioned:
Rerum Novarum, Divini Illius Magistri, Quadragesimo Anno, Laborem Exercens, Familiaris Consortio
Pope Pius XII's addresses to married couples, Dear Newlyweds https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=12716
Ratzinger/CDF, "On the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World" https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040731_collaboration_en.html
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An episode from Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast, too good not to share for Catholic Culture Podcast listeners!
Anthony D'Ambrosio directed, wrote, and produced the outstanding new film Triumph of the Heart about St. Maximilian Kolbe. In this inspiring interview, he discusses the difficult path he and his team charted to produce this independent film with a low budget, high artistic standards, and deep Catholic spirituality.
Film is an expensive medium. Since a high budget requires one to calculate mainstream appeal in order to make one's money back, a low budget can leave more room for artistic and spiritual integrity. Though the production faced many hardships, it was buoyed up by the hope that the project could break a new path for other Catholic filmmakers to follow.
Triumph of the Heart is available to screen at your parish, and will start streaming on its official website November 1.
Links
Show Triumph of the Heart at your parish https://www.triumphoftheheart.com/
Our review of Triumph of the Heart https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/triumph-heart-is-film-worthy-its-subject-st-maximilian-kolbe/
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Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Highlight clips from two episodes of the Catholic Culture Podcast and one episode of Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast – links to full episodes below.
83 The American Founding's Medieval Roots – Robert Reilly https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-83-american-foundings-medieval-roots-robert-reilly/
85 Three-Fifths of Our Band Got Ordained - Luxury https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/85-three-fifths-our-band-got-ordained-luxury/
Are Heist Films Moral? The Lavender Hill Mob https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/lavender-hill-mob-1951/
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Dappled Things: The Quarterly of Ideas, Art, and Faith is celebrating its 20th anniversary. In its 20 years it has contributed to the beginning of a Catholic literary revival, nurturing the talents of many Catholic writers and visual artists. In recent years especially, many exciting new initiatives, presses, and magazines have branched off from Dappled Things. Bernardo Aparicio Garcia (founder and publisher) and Rhonda Ortiz (editor-in-chief) join the podcast to discuss Dappled Things's mission and various topics to do with Catholic fiction.
Links
Dappled Things https://www.dappledthings.org/
See the winners of the Sacred Heart Art Competition https://www.dappledthings.org/deep-down-things/winners-of-the-sacred-heart-art-competition
"The Off Season" by Ennis James Sheehan https://www.dappledthings.org/fiction/the-off-season
Rhonda Ortiz https://rhondaortiz.com/
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One of the most important encyclicals we need to rediscover is Pope Leo XIII's Libertas (1888), on the true nature of human liberty. This encyclical explains what true liberty consists of, followed by a lengthy exposition of the Church's condemnation of liberalism, in the Enlightenment/classical sense rather than today's narrower use of the word. Most people who call themselves conservative now would, in certain ways, fall into the category of liberalism as defined by Leo.
Prophetically warning of the evil consequences of political liberalism, Leo also takes aim at various false liberties in which modern people take such pride: freedom of speech, writing, thought, and worship. In each of these instances, liberals fail to recognize that freedom is not the right to do and say what one wants, but to do justice and to speak truth. As starting as Leo's teaching may be to modern Catholics, his fundamental principle is the one that Pope St. John Paul II enunciated when he said that "freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought."
Pope Leo XIII: "Man, by a necessity of his nature, is wholly subject to the most faithful and ever-enduring power of God; and that, as a consequence, any liberty, except that which consists in submission to God and in subjection to His will, is unintelligible. To deny the existence of this authority in God, or to refuse to submit to it, means to act, not as a free man, but as one who treasonably abuses his liberty; and in such a disposition of mind the chief and deadly vice of liberalism essentially consists.
Thomas's article on Libertas: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/leo-xiiis-condemnation-liberalism/
Pope Leo XIII, Libertas https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=4885
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A number of doctrinal ruptures occurred in Catholic life after Vatican II – not in the sense that the Church's magisterium contradicted its previous teachings, but that the vast majority of Catholics, even conservative ones, tend to get these topics wrong. One of the worst examples is how the Church's traditional teaching on the Jewish people has been forgotten, with many people under the false impression that Vatican II changed Catholic teaching.
Gideon Lazar, theologian and Jewish convert to Catholicism, joins the podcast to discuss some widely misunderstood and controversial points about the relationship between the Church and the Jews.
(The views Gideon expresses in this interview are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the St. Basil Institute, where he is institute coordinator.)
Links
Part 1 of Thomas's four-part essay, "The Church and the Jews: Beyond the Platitudes" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/church-and-jews-1-beyond-platitudes/
Gideon Lazar on Substack (a good article to start with) https://gideonlazar.substack.com/p/rex-iudaeorum-st-john-the-evangelist
Gideon on X https://x.com/ByzCat
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Elisabeth Nguyen Thi Thu Hong joins the podcast to tell the inspiring story of her older brother, Venerable Francis-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, the heroic Vietnamese Cardinal who was imprisoned by the Communists for 13 years, 8 of those in solitary confinement. Thuan was descended from a line of Vietnamese martyrs, and his uncle was the devout Catholic President and Prime Minister of Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, who himself was something of a martyr.
Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan: Man of Joy and Hope https://ignatius.com/cardinal-nguyen-van-thuan-cfntp/
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My other interview with Jane: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/147-world-is-falling-away-jane-greer/
Get free PDF of New Questions, Old Answers: Catholic Morals and Natural Family Planning https://profide.io/nfp/
Article on the marital debt https://christianrenaissancemovement.com/2023/02/23/thoughts-on-the-marital-debt/
The way Natural Family Planning is commonly taught does not adequately reflect the Church's perennial teachings on the purpose of marital relations, on sexual asceticism, and the good of continence. To be sure, critics of NFP are wrong when they say it is the same as contraception. The Church has deemed it legitimate to use under certain circumstances. Yet its typical presentation in marriage prep programs and by popular Catholic speakers has ended up, in practice, encouraging couples toward habitual venial sin.
Discussions of NFP often end up in confusion because they fail to distinguish two separate moral issues: that of avoiding marital relations during fertile periods, and that of engaging in them specifically during infertile periods. As to the first issue, the Church has said we need sufficient reason to deliberately avoid procreating for a long period of time. But the second issue involves a moral doctrine that is virtually never heard of today: that there are particular ends which must be intended in any act of marital relations, and in particular, that it is a venial sin for married couples to have relations purely for pleasure (solam voluptatem, in Pope Innocent XI's phrase). The latter is the teaching of all Fathers and Doctors of the Church without exception.
Given this moral doctrine, and given the Church's (and St. Paul's) traditional encouragement of asceticism within marriage, the question arises: may married couples engage in recreational relations specifically while trying to avoid conception? Answering this question involves questions about the intrinsic ends of sexual intercourse, questions about what "purely for pleasure" even means, etc.
The stakes of the question are low in the sense that this would generally be a matter of venial sin, but high in the sense that it bears on our understanding of the very purpose of marriage and sex, and because habitual, deliberate venial sin is incompatible with a marriage's growth in holiness.
Moral theologian Eamonn Clark joins the podcast to discuss his groundbreaking book (the first on this topic since the 1940s), New Questions, Old Answers: Catholic Morals and Natural Family Planning. His conclusions occupy a middle ground between the extremely strict position of some great Catholic authorities of the past, and the laxity and sensualism presented by some well-regarded and well-meaning popular speakers today.
This discussion will be spiritually and perhaps emotionally challenging to many listeners, but I urge you to listen with an open heart, because even if you end up disagreeing with some of the specific conclusions, you will come away better informed about Church teaching, and equipped to consider for yourself how you can seek greater holiness in marriage. In particular, I highly recommend Eamonn's book to anyone who is involved in running marriage preparation programs.
Eamonn Clark is a licensed moral theologian of the Catholic Church – he has an STB and STL from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, where he is currently a lay doctoral student researching the social teaching of Pope Pius XI.
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This is the first in a series of episodes (accompanied by articles) surveying the most important encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII. His third encyclical, Aeterni Patris (1879), on the restoration of Christian philosophy, famously called for a revival of the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Links
Thomas's article on Aeterni Patris, "Leo XIII and the restoration of Christian philosophy" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/leo-xiii-on-restoration-christian-philosophy/
Pope Leo XIII, Aeterni Patris https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_04081879_aeterni-patris.html
The Great Encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII: Volume Two – The Spiritual Letters https://clunymedia.com/products/the-great-encyclicals-of-pope-leo-xiii-volume-two-the-spiritual-letters
Russell Hittinger, On the Dignity of Society: Catholic Social Teaching and Natural Law https://www.cuapress.org/9780813238234/on-the-dignity-of-society/
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St. Hildegard of Bingen, 12th-century abbess, mystic, polymath, and Doctor of the Church, is best known to non-Catholics for something else – her music. We have more pieces of music by Hildegard than by any other medieval composer whose name we know. Her chants are beautiful, otherworldly, virtuosic and ahead of their time. Some of them were written for her morality play, the Ordo virtutum, which is also the first of its kind. Musicologist Margot Fassler joins the podcast to discuss what makes St. Hildegard's music so special.
This episode is a crossover with Way of the Fathers, where Dr. Jim Papandrea has done two episodes introducing St. Hildegard's life and writings. Make sure to listen to those for more context about St. Hildegard.
Links
Way of the Fathers episodes on St. Hildegard's life and works:
https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/512-st-hildegard-bingen-multimedia-visionary/
https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/513-st-hildegard-bingen-teutonic-prophetess/
St. Hildegard's letter to the Prelates of Mainz https://digfir-published.macmillanusa.com/mckay11eepages/mckay11eepages_ch9_4.html
Margot Fassler, Cosmos, Liturgy, and the Arts in the Twelfth Century: Hildegard's Illuminated Scivias https://www.pennpress.org/9781512823073/cosmos-liturgy-and-the-arts-in-the-twelfth-century/
All music used with permission from Benjamin Bagby & Sequentia, who have recorded her complete works. The specific pieces in this episode can be found on the albums Ordo Virtutum, Symphoniae, and Voice of the Blood. https://www.sequentia.org/projects/hildegard.html
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We all know the secular world opposes the very idea of a person with same-sex attraction seeking any kind of therapy or spiritual counsel that might enable them to reach a state of healthy relations with the opposite sex. But what's odd is that many Catholics seem to have bought into this. Many assume that if someone is not currently attracted to the opposite sex, this is a static, lifelong condition and therefore they must be called to celibacy. But this view involves multiple misunderstandings – of the SSA experience, of anthropology, of the power of God's grace, and of the good of celibacy itself.
Today's guests know otherwise because they both have a background with same-sex attraction, and yet are each now married with children. Andrew Comiskey and Marco Casanova run Desert Stream and Living Waters Ministries, which for decades have offered help to Christians seeking healing from sexual disorders (including but not limited to SSA). This conversation offers solid, spiritually and psychologically sound, experience-based answers to some disputed questions about how the Church should be pastoring those with same-sex attraction.
It's not about "conversion therapy". It's about conversion in the Catholic sense – one day at a time.
--Can we really put a ceiling on God's ability to heal us psychologically?
--Does any attempt at such healing amount to the secular bugbear of "conversion therapy"?
--What does life look like for a person with a "gay" past who is now married to the opposite sex?
--Is it legitimate for Christians to embrace a gay identity as long as they don't act out sexually?
--Is there such a thing as a chaste same-sex romantic relationship?
Links
Thomas Mirus, "Your sexual pathology doesn't make you special" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/your-sexual-pathology-doesnt-make-you-special/
Andrew Comiskey, Rediscovering Our Lost Fullness: A Guide to Sexual Integration https://sophiainstitute.com/product/rediscovering-our-lost-fullness/
Desert Stream Ministries http://www.desertstream.org/
Desert Stream on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJVUJQREephvIkJWlTuwXBg
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Fr. John Nepil, priest and mountaineer, joins the podcast to discuss his book To Heights and Unto Depths: Letters from the Colorado Trail. Topics discussed include:
To Heights and Unto Depths https://ignatius.com/to-heights-and-unto-depths-thudp/
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The standard textbook of theology in medieval universities was the Sentences by Peter Lombard (1095-1160), bishop of Paris. This collection systematically arranged the theological judgments of Scripture and the Church Fathers on various topics. For almost four centuries, those seeking higher credentials in theology had to study, teach, and comment on Lombard's Sentences. It was formative for the likes of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure. Over time, the genre of commentaries on the Sentences became its own vehicle for new developments in theology. The Sentences was not replaced by Aquinas's Summa as a standard textbook until the 16th century.
Philosopher Philipp Rosemann has written two books on the Sentences and its significance for the development of theology. The first, Peter Lombard (2004), is about Lombard and his book. The second, The Story of a Great Medieval Book: Peter Lombard's "Sentences" (2007), is about the commentary tradition on the Sentences. Rosemann gives fascinating insights into the development as theology as a systematic science, which had profound ramifications for Catholic spiritual life and the history of the West.
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A great spiritual master of our time, Fr. Donald Haggerty, joins the podcast to discuss his important new book, The Hour of Testing: Spiritual Depth and Insight in a Time of Ecclesial Uncertainty. He offers profound reflections on the ongoing, and perhaps future, crisis within the Church, with an eye to arousing an appetite for the greater spiritual intensity God desires his faithful to live out in this time.
It is essential that we see that our Lord Himself is reliving His Passion in His Mystical Body, when the Church suffers betrayal and humiliation at a high institutional level. It is also essential that we see the high stakes in the great loss of souls in this time, so that we may be spurred to a deeper and more sacrificial prayer life. Fr. Haggerty offers spiritual sobriety and counsels for holiness that should not be missed.
Buy The Hour of Testing https://ignatius.com/the-hour-of-testing-htp/
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Mimetic desire, scapegoating: if you've been hearing these terms thrown around lately, it's because the French Catholic philosopher René Girard (1923-2015) is having a renaissance, with powerful people like J.D. Vance and Peter Thiel citing his influence on their thought. Trevor Cribben Merrill, producer of the new documentary Things Hidden: The Life and Legacy of René Girard, joins the podcast to discuss Girard's principal ideas, and reflect on aspects of his thought which seem difficult to reconcile with Catholic doctrine.
Watch Things Hidden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-vB1HaBsog
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Ryan Hammill of the Ancient Language Institute joins Thomas for a practical discussion about how to learn Latin, as well as the central place of the classical languages (Latin and Greek) in classical Christian education, and the various schools of thought in today's classical Christian education movement.
Links
Thomas's article about learning Latin https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/dreamt-learning-latin-heres-how-youll-finally-do-it/
Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/
New Humanists Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-humanists/id1570296135
Jonathan Roberts, "Classical Schools Are Not Really Classical" https://ancientlanguage.com/classical-schools-not-classical/
Micah Meadowcroft, "Classical Education's Aristocracy of Anyone" https://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/classical-educations-aristocracy-of-anyone
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The Christian West and Its Singers: The First Thousand Years, by the great English musicologist Christopher Page, covers the development of Christian liturgical music from its origins as an elaboration of the role of the lector to its flourishing in the monastic and cathedral singing schools of France, as Roman chant was spread across Europe. One of the most important developments was the gradual development of a system of notation in the late first millennium, culminating in Guido d'Arezzo's invention of the musical staff which allowed singers to learn melodies they had never heard before. Guido was motivated by the desire to reform monastic singing and enable monks to fulfil their duties more easily. This went along with a the development of music theory far beyond anything that could be found in the classical sources.
Christopher Page, The Christian West and Its Singers https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300112573/the-christian-west-and-its-singers/
Gothic Voices ensemble https://gothicvoices.co.uk/
Christopher Page playing Renaissance guitar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KW34ucTnhI&ab_channel=GreshamCollege
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A new biography of Ven. Fulton Sheen gives special attention to his high-profile converts, but reveals many other interesting facets of his life as well. Author Cheryl Hughes joins to discuss Sheen's at times shockingly direct evangelization methods, his outstanding television presence, his lifelong struggle with vanity and ambition, and the mistreatment he suffered from his rival, Cardinal Spellman.
Links
Cheryl C.D. Hughes, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: Convert Maker https://ignatius.com/archbishop-fulton-j-sheen-afsp/
Thomas's review of Cheryl's biography of St. Katharine Drexel https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/st-katharine-drexel-shows-how-spiritual-poverty-and-submission-to-providence-go-hand-in-hand/
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St. Anicius Manlius Severius Boethius's book The Consolation of Philosophy, which he wrote in prison while awaiting martyrdom around the year 524, is one of the single most influential works for medieval philosophy and theology. But Boethius also owed much to the pagan philosophy that came before him. Thomas Ward has just written a commentary on Boethius's dialogue for Word on Fire, entitled After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher.
Topics discussed include:
Links
Thomas Ward, After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/after-stoicism?srsltid=AfmBOopBRfuMW6DMx_iUEH9u2gjSswySJAZ__JrdTznAIpZ3Ptj9mDMJ
Way of the Fathers episode on Boethius https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/st-boethius-church-father-and-medieval-scholar/
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There is increasing speculation and concern about the role of AI in the future of the arts. Surprisingly, many Christians are already embracing the use of AI to produce images of the saints. In this episode, Thomas and Susannah Black Roberts make the argument for why AI art is a contradiction in terms. It is analogous to pornography in that it scratches the itch to "create" without actually achieving the object of the desire in question. We should not use technology to replace the human specialties: "God won't accept worship that we outsource." Plus, the danger of demonic influence through AI should not be overlooked.
Susannah Black Roberts is a senior editor of Plough and has written for publications including First Things, Fare Forward, Front Porch Republic, Mere Orthodoxy, and The American Conservative.
Links
Susannah's thread on Twitter https://x.com/suzania/status/1866516737057083862
Plough Quarterly https://www.plough.com/
PloughCast 66: The Technology of Demons w/ Paul Kingsnorth https://www.plough.com/en/topics/life/technology/the-technology-of-demons
David Schaengold, "Computers Can't Do Math" https://www.plough.com/en/topics/life/technology/computers-cant-do-math
Robert Cotton, "Augustine, AI, and the Demon Heuristic" https://mereorthodoxy.com/augustine-ai-and-the-demon-heuristic
The Anchored Argosy https://argosy.substack.com/
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Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, a liturgical historian and priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in London, is the author of the new book A Short History of the Roman Mass, from Ignatius Press.
Topics discussed in this episode include:
Links
Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, A Short History of the Roman Mass https://ignatius.com/a-short-history-of-the-roman-mass-shrmp/
Pope Pius XII against liturgical antiquarianism (par. 61-64) https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20111947_mediator-dei.html
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De Maria numquam satis: Of Mary never enough. This saying of St. Bernard is echoed by many other saints. St. Anselm, for instance, says that it is impossible to determine the limits of God's grace in elevating Mary's human nature. St. Alphonsus says that if there is anything good we can say about Mary, not contrary to the teaching of the Church and having some legitimate theological basis, then we ought to say it. But some Catholics, to say nothing of Protestants, would object to this kind of Mariology. Are these mere overflows of sentimental piety, or can they be sustained as a rational approach to theology?
Fr. Charles Anthony Mary, a Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate, joins the podcast to argue for why "Marian Maximalism" is a sound theological position. The Franciscan tradition has always been particularly strong on our Lady: St. Francis, St. Bonaventure, Bl. John Duns Scotus, St. Maximilian Kolbe… Fr. Charles makes the case for "Mary-Maxing", explains some of the doctrinal and ecumenical stakes involved, and takes us through the Franciscan tradition, culminating in the cutting-edge (and controversial) Mariology of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe.
Links
Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, The Theologian of Auschwitz: St. Maximilian M. Kolbe on the Immaculate Conception in the Life of the Church https://www.lectiopublishing.com/books.php?b=16
Video of Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner and Mother Angelica, "Blessed Virgin Mary: Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-p2D8Mfrqg
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In his new book, The Stigmatists: Their Gifts, Their Revelations, Their Warnings, Paul Kengor gives a historical overview of the phenomenon of the stigmata, focusing especially on one thing many stigmatists have in common: they receive visions, often prophetic ones.
The book devotes individual chapters to seven canonized or beatified stigmatists: St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Siena, Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich, St. Pius of Pietrelcina, St. Faustina, Bl. Elena Aiello, and St. Gemma Galgani.
Kengor joins the podcast to discuss the skepticism and attacks many stigmatists (such as Padre Pio) faced from within the Church, the prophecies of Bl. Elena Aiello about Mussolini's fate, whether St. Francis was the first stigmatist in history, and what we ordinary Catholics can learn from the visions and experiences of the stigmatists.
Links
Paul Kengor, The Stigmatists: Their Gifts, Their Revelations, Their Warnings https://tanbooks.com/products/books/the-stigmatists-their-gifts-their-revelations-their-warnings/
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A collection of highlight clips from past episodes.
82 A Habitual Counterculture - Brandon McGinley https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-82-habitual-counterculture-brandon-mcginley/
68 What I Learned from Making Music with Mark Christopher Brandt https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-68-what-i-learned-from-making-music-with-mark-christopher-brandt/
Vie et Passion du Christ https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/vie-et-passion-du-christ-1903/
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Catholic poet Ryan Wilson rejoins the podcast to read poems from his latest collection, In Ghostlight, which deals with themes of memory in a "haunted" world, encounters with realities beyond us, and reinterpreting ancient myths (Orpheus as a hair metal singer!). He also introduces four Catholic poets from his new anthology co-edited with April Lindner, Contemporary Catholic Poets.
Links
Ryan Wilson, In Ghostlight: Poems https://lsupress.org/9780807181478/in-ghostlight/
Contemporary Catholic Poets: An Anthology, ed. Ryan Wilson and April Lindner https://paracletepress.com/collections/coming-soon/products/contemporary-catholic-poetry
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James Majewski plays guest host in this episode, asking Thomas about his recent essay critiquing the well-known Christian film distributor Angel Studios (associated with The Chosen, Sound of Freedom, and Cabrini).
Articles and podcasts mentioned:
"Angel Studios: Questioning the hype" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/angel-studios-hype/
"Cabrini secularizes a saint" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/cabrini-secularizes-saint/
"Cabrini and the denial that Christ is for everyone" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/cabrini-and-denial-that-christ-is-for-everyone/
Thomas's article on Padre Pio in Dappled Things https://www.dappledthings.org/deep-down-things/about-that-padre-pio-film
Pope Pius XII on the Ideal Film, Pt. 2 https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-pius-xii-on-ideal-film-pt-2-church-teaching-on-cinema/
New Catholic Culture columnist Peter Wolfgang https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/authors.cfm?authorid=56
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Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) was one of the greatest sacred composers of the 20th century, best known for his Requiem and his motet "Ubi caritas". His lush and tranquil choral and organ works combine a deep familiarity with Gregorian chant with the style of impressionism, imbued with a sense of prayer as he was a devout Catholic.
Organist and choirmaster Christopher Berry, who studied organ under Duruflé's widow, Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, joins the podcast to discuss Maurice Duruflé in his historical context as someone who, from childhood, was schooled in the Church's ancient chant tradition, and as an adult applied Pope St. Pius X's instructions for sacred music which were so influential on that generation. Schooled at the Paris conservatory, Duruflé received rigorous training in improvisation, which was the core skill for French organists at that time. His approach to improvising on chant and hymn melodies can still be heard in Catholic churches today.
Links
Catholic Institute of Sacred Music https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Music heard in this episode:
Excerpts from the Requiem—courtesy of Voices of Ascension https://www.amazon.com/Durufle-Album-Requiem-Messe-Jubilo/dp/B0000006ZS
(See their upcoming performance season at www.VoicesofAscension.org)
Prélude et fugue sur le nom d'Alain op. 7 - played by Marie-Madeleine Duruflé
Excerpt from Choral varié sur le Veni Creator op.4 - played by Maurice Duruflé himself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SBCDScgqsQ
Ubi caritas - by Choir of St. John's Elora
Tantum ergo - by St. John's College Choir
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A collection of highlight clips from past episodes.
77 Gene Wolfe, Catholic Sci-Fi Legend—Sandra Miesel, Fr. Brendon Laroche
Ben-Hur w/ Elizabeth Lev (Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast)
https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ben-hur-1959-w-elizabeth-lev/
80 Bring Out Your Dead - Scott Hahn
https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-80-bring-out-your-dead-scott-hahn/
81 Love Like a Conflagration - Jane Greer
https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-81-love-like-conflagration-jane-greer/
126 How Charlie Parker Changed My Life
https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/126-how-charlie-parker-changed-my-life/
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In his new book published by Word on Fire, Beauty & Imitation: A Philosophical Reflection on the Arts, philosopher and novelist Daniel McInerny argues for a recovery of the Aristotelian understanding of art as fundamentally imitative or mimetic. More boldly, he claims that this imitation is narrative and moral in nature, even in art forms that are not typically considered storytelling arts.
In this episode Daniel introduces this theory of mimesis, after which there is a robust back-and-forth between Daniel and Thomas on whether moral narrative is really the primary purpose of arts like painting and music.
Links
Beauty & Imitation: A Philosophical Reflection on the Arts https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/beauty-and-imitation
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Poet & philosopher James Matthew Wilson rejoins the show to read poems from his new collection, Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds, published by Word on Fire; and to discuss the tradition of English poetry, especially with regard to meter.
Don't miss the title poem, a verse setting of a passage from Aquinas's Summa Theologiae!
Links
Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/saint-thomas-and-the-forbidden-birds
The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age of Unmaking https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p82/The_Fortunes_of_Poetry_in_an_Age_of_Unmaking%2C_by_James_Matthew_Wilson.html
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On June 29 and 30, in South Bend, Indiana, there will be a major and even unprecedented event in the history of American Catholic art: a new, full-length classical ballet production with a new story, new music, new sets and costumes, and nationally known dancers - with a cast of about fifty. This fairytale ballet, titled Raffaella, was commissioned by Duncan and Ruth Stroik in honor of their daughter Raffaella Maria Stroik, a dancer with the St. Louis Ballet who passed away tragically in 2018 at the age of 23.
In the first segment, Thomas Mirus interviews impresario Duncan Stroik about the ballet as a whole and the process of putting together such a huge production. In the second, he interviews composer Michael Kurek and choreographer Claire Kretzschmar about the collaboration between music and dance, and the difference between classical and modern ballet.
Links
Tickets for Raffaella https://raffaellaballet.org/
See rehearsal footage on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/raffaella.ballet/
Michael Kurek https://michaelkurek.com/
Claire Kretzschmar at Ballet Hartford https://www.ballethartford.com/
Duncan Stroik https://www.stroik.com/
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A new book presenting material from Flannery O'Connor's unfinished third novel shows the great Catholic writer pushing beyond her established fictional territory. Jessica Hooten Wilson returns to the podcast to discuss her book, Flannery O'Connor's Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress.
Please consider donating to Catholic Culture's May fundraising campaign so this show can continue! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Links
Flannery O'Connor's Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/542827
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Jan Dismas Zelenka was a Bohemian Catholic baroque composer who has at times been called "The Catholic Bach" because his best compositions are on par with those of J.S. Bach, who indeed knew and esteemed Zelenka. This episode covers Zelenka's career at the Catholic court chapel in Dresden with its grand liturgies inspired by Habsburg piety and Jesuit aspirations to evangelize the Protestants of Saxony.
Please consider donating to Catholic Culture's May fundraising campaign so this show can continue! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Links
Janice Stockigt, Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745): A Bohemian Musician at the Court of Dresden https://archive.org/details/jandismaszelenka00stoc/
Music heard in this episode:
The first movements of the trio sonatas in F major and C minor, ZWV 181/5 and 181/6, found on the album Zelenka: Trio Sonatas Nos. 1-6, performed by Ensemble Zefiro https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8121143--zelenka-trio-sonatas-nos-1-6
Nisi Dominus, ZWV 92, performed by Ensemble Inegal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-3cOwmrorI
Miserere in C minor, ZWV 57, performed by Il Fondamento/Paul Dombrecht https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAi_2B3QvAA
Missa votiva, ZWV 18, performed by Collegium 1704/Václav Luks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCL2CWQaH4A
Litaniae Lauretanae "salus infirmorum", ZWV 152, performed by Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks/Neue Hofkapelle München/Peter Dijkstra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPRhMBJm6xs
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One of the most brilliant philosophers working today, D.C. Schindler, returns to the Catholic Culture Podcast to discuss his latest book, God and the City: An Essay in Political Metaphysics. In it, he draws an analogy between metaphysics as the most comprehensive science in the theoretical order and politics as the most comprehensive science in the practical order. Examining how in metaphysics, God is necessarily involved, yet without being the direct object of that science, Schindler argues that the same is true of the relationship between God and politics. Just as it is in God that the individual person "lives and moves and has its being", even before revelation and grace enter the picture, God is both the highest good of human community, and intimately present within it.
Links
God and the City: An Essay in Political Metaphysics https://www.amazon.com/God-City-D-C-Schindler/dp/1587313286
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Today's guest is a man with two names and two careers. For decades he has been a distinguished poet and translator under the name of A.M. Juster. This is an acronym for his Christian name, Michael J. Astrue, who for many years was a lawyer, biotech executive, and public servant, most notably serving as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration from 2007 to 2013. During this time, his political enemies tried to dig up dirt on him – but all they could find was that he wrote poetry on the side!
Juster has published multiple books of his original poems, most recently Wonder & Wrath in 2020. His work as a translator includes volumes of Petrarch, Horace, Tibullus, and the Latin verse riddles of the Anglo-Saxon bishop St. Aldhelm. Upcoming projects include another volume of Petrarch poems, a children's book about a female juvenile manatee called Girlatee, and an anthology of poems about the legendary phoenix, from Ovid to Shakespeare.
In this episode Juster discusses his two careers, his interest in translating early Latin Christian poetry, St. Aldhelm's riddles, and his own original poetry.
Links
A.M. Juster on Twitter https://twitter.com/amjuster
Saint Aldhelm's Riddles https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/saint-aldhelms-riddles-aldhelm-juster/
Wonder & Wrath https://www.pauldrybooks.com/products/wonder-and-wrath
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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
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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:
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/
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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&
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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/
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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:
Buy Jerome's Tears https://sophiainstitute.com/product/jeromes-tears/
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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:
Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHG6YPPG?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
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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
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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
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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:
Tolkien's Faith: A Spiritual Biography https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/tolkiens-faith
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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/
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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
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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
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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:
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
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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/
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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/
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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/
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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/
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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:
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/
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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:
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/
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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/
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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:
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:
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:
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:
Links
Watch this interview on YouTube https://youtu.be/7LnWSNQKfqc
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
Joshua Hren returns to discuss his debut novel, Infinite Regress.
"In the years since his graduation from St. Marquis University, Blake Yourrick has fled his family and Milwaukee, rotating from job to dead-end job—working the Bakken oilfields in Dakota and even signing on as the night caretaker of a rural abbey graveyard. Deep in student debt and estranged from his misanthropic, alcoholic father, Blake is haunted by the memory of his mother's death—and by his relationship with his college mentor, a defrocked priest named Theo Hape, who is known for his adventurous theological ideas as well as for the uncanny, seductive power he wields over his students. When Hape, learning of his former charge's desperate straits, proposes a perverse exchange of services, Blake finds himself tempted to test the professor's radical theories in real life. What follows is a metaphysical duel reminiscent of the novels of Dostoevsky and Bernanos, pitting a modern-day anti-Christ against a reckless but resilient young man and his well-meaning, dysfunctional kin." (Publisher's description)
The book is particularly timely in its philosophical themes, as it touches on the subject of metaphysical deconstruction used as cover for sexual grooming in the world of education.
Thomas and Joshua discuss the novel's defrocked Jesuit villain, the protagonists' escape from a philosophy which makes good dependent on evil and so eliminates the boundaries between the two, the book's themes of monetary and metaphysical debt, its comic tone, and Hren's unusual associative prose style.
Links
Joshua Hren, Infinite Regress https://www.angelicopress.org/infinite-regress-joshua-hren
Wiseblood Books https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/
Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of St. Thomas 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
Historian Árpád von Klimó joins the podcast to give an introduction to József Cardinal Mindszenty (1892-1975), prince primate of Hungary. Mindszenty was not only the face of Hungarian resistance to fascism and communism, but ultimately a symbol Catholic resistance to communism worldwide. From 1948 to 1956 he was in a communist prison, from 1956 to 1971 he was isolated from the world as a refuge in the U.S. Legation in Hungary. He then spent the last 4 years of his life in exile from his country and in increasing tension with the Vatican's more conciliatory approach to diplomacy with Soviet nations.
Links
Victim of History: Cardinal Mindszenty, a Biography https://www.cuapress.org/9780813234991/victim-of-history/
Árpád von Klimó https://history.catholic.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/von-klimo-arpad/index.html
D. C. Schindler's book The Politics of the Real: The Church between Liberalism and Integralism is one of the richest entries in the ongoing Catholic debate over liberalism, political authority, the common good, and the relation between Church and State.
Schindler offers subtle, convincing arguments as to why liberalism is "the political form of evil", specifically consisting of a rejection of the Christian form - specifically, the Jewish-Greek-Roman synthesis embodied in the Catholic Church.
Liberalism creates a situation like that described by comedian Stephen Wright: "Last night somebody broke into my apartment and replaced everything with exact duplicates." It adopts aspects of the Western tradition but only on radically different grounds, with a fragmented vision of reality. Even when liberalism claims to make room for religious tradition, it does so only by reconceiving religion as a mere object of individual choice - that is, precisely as non-traditional.
But Schindler goes beyond criticizing liberalism, offering a profound and beautiful ontology of the social order and a somewhat different model of the relation between Church and State from the one proposed by Catholic integralists.
Schindler joins the podcast to discuss the book, including topics such as:
Links
The Politics of the Real https://newpolity.com/new-polity-press-titles/the-politics-of-the-real
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
In a wide-ranging and erudite interview, poet and translator Ryan Wilson joins the podcast to discuss how the poet makes use of the classical virtue of xenia or hospitality, what poets can learn from the work of translation, the "romantic turn" (inner vision) and the "classical turn" (communication/craft) in poetry, the great Latin poet Horace, and more. Ryan performs, in his dynamic style, classic poems by Horace and others, as well as his own poems.
Ryan Wilson is an adjunct professor of English at the Catholic University of America, editor of the journal Literary Matters, and a visiting professor of poetry in the MFA program at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He is the author of three books: The Stranger World, a collection of original poems; How to Think Like a Poet; and Proteus Bound: Selected Translations, 2008-2020. Forthcoming are his anthology of contemporary Catholic poetry from Paraclete Press (spring 2023), and another book of original poems, The Ghostlight.
Timestamps
0:00 - Proteus Bound
13:09 - Hospitality as fundamental principle of community, thought, and poetry
28:05 - The romantic turn and the classical turn
46:22 - Ryan Wilson, "Xenia"
53:39 - Proteus, Hermes, and Orpheus as figures of the poet
1:03:35 - Translation as training for the poet
1:17:47 - The Latin poetry of Horace
2:07:55 - Charles Baudelaire, "The Voice"
2:20:00 - How Ryan relates as a Catholic to classical literature
2:27:10 - Ryan Wilson, "Philoctetes"
Links
Proteus Bound: Selected Translations, 2008-2020 https://www.cuapress.org/9781736656129/proteus-bound/
How to Think Like a Poet https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p97/How_to_Think_Like_a_Poet%2C_by_Ryan_Wilson.html
The Stranger World http://www.measurepress.com/measure/index.php/catalog/books/stranger-world/
Literary Matters https://www.literarymatters.org/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
"The justification of art is the internal combustion it ignites in the hearts of men and not its shallow, externalized, public manifestations. The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but is, rather, the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity." - Glenn Gould
One of the greatest classical pianists of the 20th century, Glenn Gould, shocked the world at age thirty-one when he announced his permanent retirement from public performance. Denouncing the concert hall as a relative of the Roman Colosseum and audiences as a "force of evil", for the sake of his artistic integrity and personal sanity he committed the rest of his musical life to recording in the studio.
Gould's brilliant and sometimes provocative performances of classical masterworks are well known, especially his unequaled recordings of Bach. But he was also a prolific, articulate, and no less provocative critic. In essays like "The Prospects of Recording", he laid out his philosophy of performance, of the relation between technology and music.
He described his own experimentation with unconventional recording techniques, and made bold and often accurate predictions about how recording technology would change how the average person would relate to music. And he outright rejected many of the stagnant conventions of contemporary classical performance.
In this episode, Thomas discusses Gould's fascinating (and often entertaining) views on music and technology, and plays a number of his recordings. If you've never heard Gould play, you're missing out. If you have, you'll find this episode all the more interesting.
Pieces played in this episode (all performed by Glenn Gould):
J. S. Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Prelude and Fugue no. 3 in C-sharp major, Fugue no. 20 in A major, Prelude no. 21 in B-flat major
Bach, Two- and Three-Part Inventions: Invention no. 12 in A major, Sinfonia no. 5 in E-flat major, Sinfonia no. 9 in F minor
Brahms, Intermezzo No. 2 in A major, op. 118
Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, IV. Allegro, piano transcription by Franz Liszt
Thomas Mirus's 2011 essay "Glenn Gould in the Studio" https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YJhWSaNsTdS30F0veUe1XAsL-In-0S-k/view?usp=sharing
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 51 and 53-55 of the Catholic Culture Podcast.
Links (in order of clips)
The Hundredfold - Anthony Esolen https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-55-hundredfold-anthony-esolen/
Bringing Melody Back to Pop Music - The Duskwhales https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-51-bringing-melody-back-to-pop-music-duskwhales/
God Made Us for Order and Surprise - John-Mark Miravalle https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-53-god-made-us-for-order-and-surprise-john-mark-miravalle/
Fostering Responsible Elites - Jonah Bennett https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-54-fostering-responsible-elites-jonah-bennett/
One of the best contemporary natural law philosophers, J. Budszizewski, joins the show to discuss his new book, How (and How Not) to Be Happy, spiritual warfare in the classroom, and his journey from "macho nihilism" to faith.
Topics include:
Links
How (and How Not) To Be Happy https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/How-and-How-Not-to-Be-Happy/J-Budziszewski/9781684511075
Underground Thomist website http://www.undergroundthomist.org
Join Online Great Books with 25% off your first three months via this link https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
Other recommended books by J. Budszizewski:
What We Can't Not Know: A Guide https://www.amazon.com/What-We-Cant-Not-Know/dp/1586174819
The Meaning of Sex https://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Sex-J-Budziszewski/dp/1610170997
CatholicCulture.org is in the middle of its Easter 2022 fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered us a $60,000 matching challenge grant. If you donate between now and Pentecost Sunday, your donation will be doubled! Please help us keep our apostolate going. If you use this link your donation will be earmarked for podcast production: http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
In Holy Week of 1962, Bishop Karol Wojtyla gave a retreat to a group of Polish artists. The text of that retreat has now been published in English, along with commentary, by the Theology of the Body Institute, in a book titled God Is Beauty: A Retreat on the Gospel and Art.
Christopher West, president of the TOB Institute, joins Thomas Mirus to discuss the retreat and how it fits together with St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body. Themes include:
Thomas also discusses his experience of attending the ballet and how it is challenging him to see the body in a new way.
Links
Listeners can purchase God Is Beauty paperback at the TOB Institute store for 20% off the cover price (no limit). Use code: CULTURE https://shop.corproject.com/collections/books/products/god-is-beauty-a-retreat-on-the-gospel-art
Upcoming retreat weekend, May 13-15 https://www.revealedexperience.com
Episode with ballet dancer Claire Kretzschmar https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/109-catholic-in-nyc-ballet-claire-kretzschmar
Dony MacManus https://donymacmanus.com/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Thomas Mirus reads his article "Fatima Today: In Defense of Private Revelation".
The first part of this article is a reminder of the essential importance of Fatima in our time. The second, and longer, part corrects a misunderstanding of private revelation held by many—namely that whatever falls into this category can make no claim on our mind or conscience, and that it is a matter of indifference whether we pay heed to it.
Links
Thomas V. Mirus, "Fatima Today: In Defense of Private Revelation" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/fatima-today-in-defense-private-revelation/
Deacon Bob Ellis, "Our role in the defeat of the global Communist revolution" https://www.bluearmy.com/our-role-in-the-defeat-of-the-global-communist-revolution/
The First Saturday Devotion https://www.bluearmy.com/first-saturday-devotion/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Katy Carl, author of the excellent new novel As Earth Without Water and editor-in-chief of the Catholic arts journal Dappled Things, joins the show to discuss the novel and the state of the Catholic literary scene.
The publisher's description of As Earth Without Water:
When Dylan Fielding, celebrated contemporary visual artist, becomes Br. Thomas Augustine, novice at Our Lady of the Pines monastery, he finds delight not only in the shock his choice causes everyone around him but—to his own surprise—in the rhythms of the life itself. Shortly before he solidifies a lifelong commitment to the community, a traumatic encounter with an abusive priest plunges Thomas Augustine into terror and doubt. Reeling and uncertain, he reaches out to his friend, rival, and former lover, Angele Solomon, with hopes that she can help him to speak the difficult truth. As she attempts to advocate for her friend, Angele must ask how the scars left by their common past—as well as newer harms—can ever be healed or transcended. The wider inquiries demanded next will transfigure how both of them picture a range of human and divine things: time and memory; art and agency; trust and responsibility; and what it might mean to know real freedom.
Links
As Earth Without Water https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p115/katy-carl-as-earth-without-water.html
Dappled Things https://www.dappledthings.org/
Catholic Imagination Conference 2022 https://udallas.edu/centers/cowan/cic/index.php
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Today's guest is Chase Faucheux, translator of a recent biography of Pope St. Gregory the Great. Topics include:
Links
Sigrid Grabner, In the Eye of the Storm: A Biography of Gregory the Great https://ignatius.com/in-the-eye-of-the-storm-iesp/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This is a significantly truncated version of the original episode. Listen to the full episode here: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/126-how-charlie-parker-changed-my-life/
Thomas Mirus goes solo in this episode to talk about how his relationship to music was completely transformed in his late teens, by exposure to the music of alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. Before he had used music to stimulate an emotional response, but soon he found himself listening for the sake of musical beauty itself, regardless of emotions or lack thereof. This quickly opened up a whole world of contemplation (musical and otherwise).
After discussing this deeper way of listening to music, Thomas explains how to follow the musical form of a jazz performance, and introduces the music of Charlie Parker and the new form of jazz he pioneered in the 1940s and early 50s, known as bebop.
If you want to listen more extensively to the jazz artists heard in this episode, check out these albums (no links because these things are always going in and out of print in different compilations):
Charlie Parker, listen to the complete Savoy and Dial master takes in whatever compilation you can find
Bud Powell, Jazz Giant
Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street
Sonny Rollins Plus Four
Music heard in this episode:
Blind Lemon Jefferson, "Rising High Water Blues" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsFNi0ZVzj4
Charlie Parker, "Perhaps" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LOOvq1sJvw
Charlie Parker, "Blues for Alice" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7USMqAH8qk
Charlie Parker, "Parker's Mood" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wa7El-k3jQ
Charlie Parker, "Anthropology" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HkFBT4h190
Bud Powell, "So Sorry Please" from Jazz Giant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-IoDXFWr1c&list=PL9C4lRUjCkCt_oXThX81D3LhhRIUXVDqb&index=6
Clifford Brown and Max Roach, "Gertrude's Bounce" from At Basin Street https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ7TdrmmDkc&list=PLUJ7V33M1wR3yDePSuvG8W1LmV3uuPg-S&index=8
Sonny Rollins, "Pent-Up House" from Plus Four https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INeqyCTvm4s&list=OLAK5uy_k6jR4wR5XEIyRL95Ov95VXhkYkAKQZIfw
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Art historian Elizabeth Lev joins the show to discuss her new book, The Silent Knight: A History of St. Joseph as Depicted in Art.
The book offers not only a history of sixteen centuries of art featuring St. Joseph, but also an account of the development of devotion to St. Joseph over the past two thousand years -from the old man sitting overlooked in the corner of early Nativity scenes to the glorious Patron of the Univeral Church.
Links
Watch on YouTube to see the artworks discussed: https://youtu.be/LiPgnGAcu-s
Elizabeth Lev, The Silent Knight https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/the-silent-knight
Episode with Elizabeth on the history of St. Anthony Abbot in art https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/90-temptation-st-anthony-elizabeth-lev/
Episode with Elizabeth on the film Ben-Hur https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ben-hur-1959-w-elizabeth-lev/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
For two decades, Maggie Gallagher was a leading voice writing about the importance of permanent, monogamous marriage to society. At first, that included pointing out the problems with divorce, feminism and single parenthood. Then as same-sex marriage became the predominant issue, Gallagher became the public face of the movement against it.
A few years after the Supreme Court made gay marriage legal across the 50 states, Gallagher switched gears when Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco asked her to be Executive Director of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship, which he founded in 2013. She says that to avoid despair, we have to build beautiful things.
In this interview Maggie discusses:
Links
Benedict XVI Institute on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4a0pooErfPoWck0xc7WHGg
Maggie Gallagher, Enemies of Eros https://www.amazon.com/Enemies-Eros-Revolution-Killing-Marriage/dp/0929387007
Maggie Gallagher and Linda Waite, The Case for Marriage https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/184776/the-case-for-marriage-by-linda-j-waite-and-maggie-gallagher/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Carl Hostetter, editor of a new volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's unpublished notes, The Nature of Middle-earth, joins the show.
Carl discusses:
Links
Carl Hostetter, The Nature of Middle-earth https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-nature-of-middle-earth-jrr-tolkien
Interview with Jonathan McIntosh about The Flame Imperishable https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-40-tolkien-and-aquinas-jonathan-s-mcintosh/
Other resources recommended:
J.R.R. Tolkien, Morgoth's Ring, vol. 10 of The History of Middle-earth, ed. Christopher Tolkien
Jonathan McIntosh, The Flame Imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the Metaphysics of Faërie
Tom Shippey, The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology
Verlyn Flieger, Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World
Corey Olsen's seminars on The Nature of Middle-earth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duNayhMrrJ8&list=PLasMbZ4s5vIXZtwVbmyh6sTE56uiI_t0C
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
T.C. Merrill's debut novel, Minor Indignities, is an evocative portrayal of the vanity of undergraduate life at an Ivy League university. Its protagonist, a freshman consumed with what others think of him intellectually, socially and sexually, only makes a fool of himself the more he strains to impress. The novel ultimately becomes a richness of embarrassments whose final catastrophe illustrates the saying of St. Bernard: "Humiliation is the way to humility."
Merrill joins the show to talk about his novel, his essay "The Situation of the Catholic Novelist", Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, how a fiction writer should approach depicting sexuality, the relation between art and emotion, and René Girard.
Watch interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xH1Fm6C9i7E
Links
Minor Indignities https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p103/minor-indignities-by-trevor-cribben-merrill.html
"The Situation of the Catholic Novelist" https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p116/The-Situation-of-the-Catholic-Novelist.html
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Originally published as episode 59 on December 21, 2019, this popular episode is being rerun in a slightly improved version.
This is a love letter to the great English Christmas carols, from "There Is No Rose" to "The Boar's Head".
Did you know that not just any Christmas song is a carol? The true carol, in all its earthy splendor, is a distinctive product of the Catholic middle ages. Yet our forefathers didn't limit caroling to Christmas: they wrote carols for every season of the year covering the entire story of our Redemption, not to mention secular topics at times.
This episode explores the origin of carols in England, their cultural meaning, and how they were suppressed by the Puritans and were revived in modern times. And of course, you'll hear a lot of great music throughout, ranging from historically informed performance to modern arrangements!
Links
Erik Routley, The English Carol https://www.amazon.com/English-Carol-Erik-Routley/dp/0837169895
Andrew Gant, The Carols of Christmas https://www.amazon.com/Carols-Christmas-Celebration-Surprising-Favorite/dp/0718031520
All music in this episode used with permission from the recording artist and/or label.
Agincourt Carol, Alamire https://www.amazon.com/Deo-Gracias-Anglia-Alamire/dp/B008L1GZUO
Nowell sing we both all and some, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2
Gabriel From Heaven's King, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2
A Virgin Most Pure, Stairwell Carolers https://www.stairwellcarollers.com/en/o-magnum-mysterium/
Coventry Carol, Harry Christophers and the Sixteen, available on the CORO record label at https://thesixteenshop.com/
Bedfordshire May Carol, Shirley Collins https://mainlynorfolk.info/shirley.collins/records/withinsound.html
Remember O Thou Man, The King's Singers https://www.amazon.com/Remember-O-Thou-Man/dp/B073JZN754
Wassail (Gloucestershire Wassail, arr. Vaughan Williams), Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland4
Green Growth the Holly, Early Music New York—Frederick Renz, Director https://www.earlymusicny.org/a-renaissance-christmas
My Dancing Day, Robert Shaw Chorale https://www.amazon.com/Songs-Angels-Christmas-Hymns-Carols/dp/B000003D0G
Drive the Cold Winter Away, Owain Phyfe and the New World Renaissance Band https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/nwrb
In the Bleak Midwinter, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2
Lullay My Liking (Holst), HSVPA Madrigal Singers (Houston, TX) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw81DCQ3HhI
A Hymn to the Virgin (Britten), VOCES8 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077GC4QVT/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp
There is no rose, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2
Thanks to all, but especially to Ross W. Duffin for his generosity with Quire Cleveland's back catalogue!
Also recommended:
A Waverly Consort Christmas: From East Anglia to Appalachia https://www.amazon.com/Waverly-Consort-Christmas-Anglia-Appalachia/dp/B000002SRK
Other non-famous carols mentioned: Seven Virgins (The Leaves of Life); This Endris Night; Tempus adest floridum (Good King Wenceslas); Kingsfold (I heard the voice of Jesus say); The Cherry Tree Carol; Masters In This Hall; The Golden Carol; Snow in the Street; New Prince, New Pomp
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Mary Lou Williams: one of the outstanding jazz pianists of all time, composer, Catholic convert, visionary, performer of works of mercy.
Because Williams's career lasted and her style adapted through many changes in jazz from the swing era to the early 1970s, and because she mentored two of jazz's most influential figures (Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk), this episode is an opportunity not only to dive into her life and music, but to learn a little about jazz history more generally.
Deanna Witkowski, herself a jazz pianist and Catholic convert, has written a new biography of Williams, Mary Lou Williams: Music for the Soul, and performs Williams's compositions on her forthcoming album, Force of Nature.
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/B31PwFU-FrY
Links
Buy Deanna's book and album: https://www.deannawitkowski.com/store
Musical tracks heard in this episode:
Mary Lou Williams: "Waltz Boogie", "Walkin' and Swingin'", "Night Life", "Holy Ghost" (composed by Larry Gales), "Autumn Leaves" (composed by Joseph Kosma), "Aries", "Taurus", "Virgo", "Anima Christi", "St. Martin de Porres".
Excerpts from Bud Powell, "Cherokee" (composed by Ray Noble); Thelonious Monk "Monk's Dream"; Elmo Hope, "Eejah".
Deanna Witkowski, "Intermission", composed by Mary Lou Williams and Milton Suggs, used with permission. From Deanna Witkowski's album Force of Nature.
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 45 and 47-49 of the Catholic Culture Podcast.
Episode 45—Libertarianism vs. Natural Law on Private Property https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-45-libertarianism-vs-natural-law-on-private-property/
Episode 47—Our Lady's Habit: Wearing and Loving the Brown Scapular—Fr. Justin Cinnante, O.Carm. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-47-our-ladys-habit-wearing-and-loving-brown-scapular-fr-justin-cinnante-ocarm/
Episode 48—Authority and Submission as Gift in Christian Marriage—Mary Stanford https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-48-authority-and-submission-as-gift-in-christian-marriage-mary-stanford/
Episode 49—A Catholic Composer in Queen Elizabeth's Court, Pt. I—Kerry McCarthy https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-49-catholic-composer-in-queen-elizabeths-court-pt-i-kerry-mccarthy/
Unlikely as it may sound, Catholic fiction has a certain amount of mainstream appeal in Japanese literature. Sono Ayako, one of Japan's most famous novelists, wrote a novel about St. Maximilian Kolbe called Miracles, which has just been translated into English.
Miracles is a semiautobiographical account of the author's personal investigation into the miracles approved by the Vatican for Kolbe's canonization. Her ambivalence towards her Catholic faith is challenged as she traces Kolbe's steps from his childhood to his self-sacrifice in Auschwitz, with his time in Japan standing in between as the ascetic crucible which made him a saint.
Ayako writes: "Before he died, this priest flung a tough question like a red-hot iron rod at the dried-up soul of modern Man. The question was, 'what does it mean for us to love one another?'"
Translator Kevin Doak joins the show to discuss Miracles, Catholic fiction in Japan (which extends far beyond Endo's Silence), and…Endo's Silence.
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ne9Yz5lC7qI
Links
Miracles https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p114/miracles-sono-ayako.html
Kevin Doak, "Beyond Endo: The Hidden Renaissance of Japanese Catholic Novelists" https://benedictinstitute.org/2019/07/beyond-endo/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Etienne Gilson's Metamorphoses of the City of God traces the quest of philosophers for a universal human society, as it gradually degraded from the heavenly city of which Augustine wrote to modern-day secular humanist globalism. It began with well-intentioned medieval thinkers who were overconfident in the capability of natural reason to unite the whole world in the Catholic faith - but this led gradually to a turning away from the rationally irreducible Christian mysteries and the person of Jesus Christ.
Writing in 1952 as the European Union was beginning to emerge, Gilson also offered a critical assessment of various attempts to define Europe.
Peter Redpath, co-founder of the International Etienne Gilson Society, joins the podcast to discuss this newly translated work.
Links
The Metamorphoses of the City of God https://www.cuapress.org/9780813233253/the-metamorphoses-of-the-city-of-god/
Aquinas School of Leadership https://www.aquinasschoolofleadership.com/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Mark Christopher Brandt returns to the show to discuss his latest album, Joy, which is based on the structure of the Rosary. It features the family choir of Mark and his three daughters, accompanied by Mark on piano.
Mark began composing this music in the mid-1990s, not knowing who would sing it, when only his first daughter had been born. On the eve of the new millenium, he decided to take a hiatus from his career as a jazz pianist in order to focus on his family and his spiritual life. In 2021, by the most marvelous and unexpected Providence, Mark's selfless fidelity to God and family has been rewarded a hundredfold in making an album with his children!
In addition to the album itself (pieces of which you will hear in the episode), topics discussed include:
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qjJz41Kdv60
Links
Buy CD copy of Joy (with free book of rosary meditations) and learn more about Mark https://markchristopherbrandt.com/
Buy Joy on Qobuz (CD-quality digital purchase) https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/joy-mark-christopher-brandt/l26w0ostksrca
Buy Joy on Amazon Music https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09J1Z534K/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp
Buy Joy on Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/album/joy/1589547700
Thomas and Mark talk about working together on his album The Butterfly https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-68-what-i-learned-from-making-music-with-mark-christopher-brandt/
This is a crossover episode in which Thomas joins forces with Scott Hambrick and Karl Schudt from the Online Great Books Podcast, to discuss the classic essay Art and Scholasticism by Jacques Maritain.
This episode covers beauty as a transcendental and its role in the fine arts, and intuition as the way we experience artistic beauty. The beauty of a work does not depend on the emotional effects it produces, nor can it be proven by analysis. We experience beauty intellectually, but by intuition rather than by thought.
The hosts also digress into arguments over photography as a fine art, Glenn Gould, and craft beers.
Links
Pt. 1 of this discussion https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/116-maritains-art-and-scholasticism-pt-1/
Buy Art and Scholasticism https://clunymedia.com/products/art-and-scholasticism
Read Art and Scholasticism for free online (inferior translation) https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/art.htm
Learn more about Online Great Books https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-27-always-wanted-to-study-great-books-heres-how-youll-actually-follow-through-scott-hambrick/
Join Online Great Books with 25% off your first three months via this link https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This is a crossover episode in which Thomas joins forces with Scott Hambrick and Karl Schudt from the Online Great Books Podcast, to discuss the classic essay Art and Scholasticism by Jacques Maritain.
Maritain argues for an objective view of both art and the artist, bringing an orderly, scholastic, Thomistic approach to understanding aesthetics. Mirus says, "Maritain gets art better than any other philosopher who came before him in the Western Tradition."
For Maritain, art is "a virtue of the practical intellect that aims at making." The virtue or habitus of art, Maritain writes, is not simply an "interior growth of spontaneous life", but has an intellectual character and involves cultivation and practice.
The trio also talks about how fine arts and practical arts have been cloven off. How can we hold them both in esteem without denigrating the other?
Scott says, "If we really know what art is then we will be more connected to honest work— that will be a refuge from this intellectual confusion, this metaphysical disgustingness, around us."
Links
Buy Art and Scholasticism https://clunymedia.com/products/art-and-scholasticism
Read Art and Scholasticism for free online (inferior translation) https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/art.htm
Learn more about Online Great Books https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-27-always-wanted-to-study-great-books-heres-how-youll-actually-follow-through-scott-hambrick/
Join Online Great Books with 25% off your first three months via this link https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, recently issued "A Catechesis on the Human Person and Gender Ideology". The document takes a strong unequivocal stance against transgender ideology, down to practical specifics like telling the faithful we must not use transgender names and pronouns. Beyond that, it excels in showing how the Church's whole anthropology and theology are at stake in the transgender issue.
Today's guest, Fr. Stephen Schultz, was one of the Bishop's advisers in drafting the document. Fr. Schultz is the director of the EnCourage apostolate in the Diocese of Arlington, and chaplain at St. Paul VI Catholic High School.
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Sf83zKx3XeI
Links
"A Catechesis on the Human Person and Gender Ideology" https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=12554
EnCourage https://couragerc.org/encourage/
David Crawford and Michael Hanby, "The Abolition of Man and Woman" https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-abolition-of-man-and-woman-11593017500
Acedia episode mentioned https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-18-acedia-forgotten-capital-sin-rj-snell/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Writer Matthew Mehan returns to the show to discuss his new children's book co-authored with painter John Folley, The Handsome Little Cygnet. This lovely tale about a family of swans in Central Park is a much simpler book than their previous outing, but introduces children to the idea of accepting one's God-given nature. That is no small matter in a world which tantalizes the young with offers of a more exciting new identity just around the corner. But we need to know what we are in order to properly shape who we will become.
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oxAQpGxduCw
Links
The Handsome Little Cygnet https://tanbooks.com/kids/elementary-school/the-handsome-little-cygnet/
Previous episode with Mehan: Teaching Children Self-Knowledge through the Liberal Arts https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-43-teaching-children-self-knowledge-through-liberal-arts-matthew-mehan/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
In this outtake from episode 113, Thomas asks writer and editor Joshua Hren whether the turn to realism in modern fiction, a historical anomaly, is also a problem from a religious and philosophical point of view.
Episode 113, Can a Novelist "Create" a Saint? https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/113-can-novelist-create-saint-joshua-hren/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
In his new book How to Read (and Write) Like a Catholic, fiction writer and editor Joshua Hren lays out an approach to Catholic literature that spans all the way from St. John Henry Newman called "a record of man in rebellion" to the other end of the continuum, which is a representation of the Beatific Vision. Topics discussed include:
Joshua Hren is the founder and editor of Wiseblood Books as well as, with James Matthew Wilson, founder of a new creative writing MFA program at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, which is also discussed in the episode.
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ump3CRZ6GRY
Links
How to Read (and Write) Like a Catholic https://tanbooks.com/liberal-arts/literature-and-theology/how-to-read-and-write-like-a-catholic/
Wiseblood Books https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/
Listen to Newman's sermon "The Danger of Accomplishments" at Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/st-john-henry-newman-danger-accomplishments/
Read "The Danger of Accomplishments" https://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume2/sermon30.html
Previous interview with Joshua Hren, "The Flannery-Haunted World" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-70-reviving-catholic-literary-tradition-joshua-hren-john-emmet-clarke/
Follow this link to join the Online Great Books VIP waiting list and get 25% off your first 3 months: https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Thomas Mirus apologizes for and retracts some things he said in Episode 106 of the Catholic Culture Podcast, a discussion of the morality of COVID vaccines.
"Now in these dread latter days of the old violent beloved U.S.A. and of the Christ-forgetting Christ-haunted death-dealing Western world I came to myself in a grove of young pines and the question came to me: has it happened at last?"
So wonders Dr. Tom More, a descendant of the great English martyr, in the first sentence of Walker Percy's third novel, Love in the Ruins: The Adventures of a Bad Catholic at Time near the End of the World.
Written in 1971, this prophetic work presents a world startlingly like our own. Today's guest, literary scholar Jessica Hooten Wilson, joins the show to give a general introduction to Percy and discuss aspects of what is for many his most beloved novel, Love in the Ruins, which she describes as a "panoramic satire" indicating that modernity's "lost sense of self makes it impossible to live the good life".
Topics include:
Links
Walker Percy, Love in the Ruins https://www.amazon.com/Love-Ruins-Walker-Percy/dp/0312243111
Jessica Hooten Wilson https://jessicahootenwilson.com/
JHW, Reading Walker Percy's Novels https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Walker-Percys-Novels-Jessica/dp/0807168777
JHW, Walker Percy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the Search for Influence https://www.amazon.com/Dostoevsky-Influence-Literature-Religion-Postsecular/dp/0814213499
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This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Today we discuss one of the greatest Arthurian tales, told by one of the most virtuosic poets in the history of English, an anonymous priest of the 14th century. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tells us a lot about courtesy, original sin, and grace, all bound up in an enormously entertaining story about a giant, decapitation-surviving green knight.
Poet and critic Anthony Esolen joins the show to discuss the poem, its Middle English dialect, and the tradition of alliterative verse.
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8YKmYkklcuU
Links
Marie Boroff's translation of the complete works of the Gawain-poet https://www.amazon.com/Gawain-Poet-Complete-Cleanness-Erkenwald/dp/0393912353
Simon Armitage's facing-page translation including the original Middle English https://www.amazon.com/Gawain-Green-Knight-Verse-Translation/dp/0393334155
Dana Gioia essay, "Accentual Verse" https://danagioia.com/essays/writing-and-reading/accentual-verse/
Magdalen College, where Esolen teaches, still has spaces open in its 2021 freshman class! https://magdalen.edu/
Anthony Esolen, The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord https://www.ignatius.com/The-Hundredfold-P3358.aspx
Esolen on his poem The Hundredfold https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-55-hundredfold-anthony-esolen/
Esolen discusses Stagecoach on Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/stagecoach-1939/
Follow this link to join the Online Great Books VIP waiting list and get 25% off your first 3 months: https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
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 38-41 and 44 of the Catholic Culture Podcast.
38 - Garrigou-Lagrange, The Sacred Monster of Thomism - Matthew Minerd https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-38-sacred-monster-matthew-k-minerd/
39 - Composing Liturgical Music That's Noble, Accessible...and Sacred - Paul Jernberg https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-39-composing-liturgical-music-thats-noble-accessible-and-sacred-paul-jernberg/
40 - Tolkien and Aquinas - Jonathan McIntosh https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-40-tolkien-and-aquinas-jonathan-s-mcintosh/
41 - The Neo-Colonial West Is Forcing Abortion on Africa - Obianuju Ekeocha https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-41-neo-colonial-west-is-forcing-abortion-on-africa-obianuju-ekeocha/
44 - Catholics Need Poetry. But Do We Want It? - Dana Gioia https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-44-catholics-need-poetry-but-do-we-want-it-dana-gioia/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
In this interview originally from Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast, Thomas Mirus and James Majewski interview Sixtine Leon-Dufour, writer of the new Lourdes documentary, one of the best religious films in recent years. She discusses:
-Her background caring for the sick at Lourdes
-How she convinced the Lourdes authorities to give secular filmmakers unprecedented shooting access to this holy place
-How a documentary about a Marian pilgrimage got the support of a large French secular film studio and became a big success
-Depicting the wide range of people at Lourdes
-How the filmmakers found sick people who would let them film intimate and painful parts of their life
-The role of the writer of a documentary
-Why people come to Lourdes even if they are not hoping for a miracle
Watch this interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Bywww0alMqw
Links
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast www.catholicculture.org/criteria
Watch our review of Lourdes: https://youtu.be/hEsxNbajQ_s
Check here to find out where Lourdes is playing (including upcoming virtual screenings): https://www.distribfilmsus.com/portfolio/lourdes/
Want to bring LOURDES to your town? Contact Distrib Films (in Brooklyn). The contact is François Scippa- Kohn, who can be reached by email at fsk@distribfilms.com. www.distribfilmsus.com
Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tGC8lQOZuw
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Noelle Mering joins the show to discuss her new book Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology.
Topics discussed include:
Proof that ideology is what really matters to the woke, more than membership in a victim group
How Frankfurt School thinkers, who combined neo-Marxism with neo-Freudianism, influenced the training of American schoolteachers
The feedback loop between immorality, ensuing misery, and bad ideas
Why today's progressivism is driven to destroy innocence
Fundamental differences between woke ideology and Christianity
Self-knowledge and self-accusation, antidotes to the woke worldview
Links
Buy Awake, Not Woke https://tanbooks.com/contemporary-issues/social-issues/awake-not-woke-a-christian-response-to-the-cult-of-progressive-ideology/
Noelle Mering https://www.noellemering.com/
Theology of Home https://theologyofhome.com/
Claire Kretzschmar, a dancer and soloist with the New York City Ballet, joins the show to discuss her path to becoming a professional dancer, the challenges and joys of being a Catholic in the ballet world, and the spiritual value of dance. She also discusses a beautiful dance film which she choreographed for the NYC Ballet this year, and the Catholic arts community she founded in New York City, of which Thomas is a part.
In the YouTube version of this interview, Claire's full dance film is shown at the 20:46 mark (used with permission of NYC Ballet). https://youtu.be/4jWhhAbS6pM
Links
Claire's dance film, "Rachmaninoff Suite" https://www.nycballet.com/discover/stories/from-the-nyci-marthas-vineyard-fall-2020/
New York Times profile of Claire, "Rehearse, Ice Feet, Repeat: The Life of a New York City Ballet Corps Dancer" https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/arts/dance/rehearse-ice-feet-repeat-the-life-of-a-new-york-city-ballet-corps-dancer.html
Follow Claire on Instagram to keep up with her dance performances in NY and NC https://www.instagram.com/ckretz92/
Arthouse 2B - Catholic arts events in NYC https://www.instagram.com/arthouse2b/
Litany - ethical, modest Catholic fashion https://www.litanynyc.com/
This episode was filmed by Chris Amodio. https://www.amodiodop.com/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Thomas is joined by Catholic filmmaker Nathan Douglas to discuss Walker Percy's first novel, The Moviegoer. They examine the malaise-ridden protagonist Binx Bolling's "search" for meaning, which he ultimately finds through responsibility: not the responsibility urged by respectable "values", but that urged by love.
They also look at how Binx searches for a deeper connection with reality through his moviegoing habits. Percy has some interesting descriptions of his characters finding moments of transcendent beauty in film, given that this novel was written just before the notion of "cinephilia" developed by French critics made its way to the United States.
Watch episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yvW59H3tAHw
Links
Nathan Douglas's short films www.nwdouglas.com
Nathan's film writing www.vocationofcinema.substack.com
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast www.catholicculture.org/criteria
Follow this link to join the Online Great Books VIP waiting list and get 25% off your first 3 months: https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This episode features clips from episodes 34-37 of the Catholic Culture Podcast, including some personal stories from Thomas.
Links
The Memoirs of St. Peter w/ Michael Pakaluk https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-34-memoirs-st-peter-michael-pakaluk/
Moral Blindness and Abortion w/ Abby Johnson https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-35-moral-blindness-and-abortion-abby-johnson/
Bridges to Hell or Heaven: "Toxic Femininity" and the Spirit of Anti-Mary w/ Carrie Gress https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-36-bridges-to-hell-or-heaven-toxic-femininity-and-spirit-anti-mary-carrie-gress/
Sculpting Two Benedicts w/ Jago https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-37-sculpting-two-benedicts-jago/
Join Online Great Books via this referral link https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This is a discussion of an interesting little book from 1967 that has re-entered the discourse, Prayer as a Political Problem by Jean Danielou, SJ, recently reprinted by Cluny Media. In this book which seems confoundingly ahead of its time, before its time, and (irksomely) of its time, Danielou insists that prayer forms a constitutive part of the temporal common good. Governments, therefore, have a responsibility to create conditions making it easy for the common people to conduct a spiritual life. Danielou's claim that religion and prayer are necessary even for the temporal good of civilizations is timely, and his reflections on the dangers of technological civilization are prescient. The book is not without its troublesome aspects, though, most notably Danielou's peculiar sociological definition of religion. Brandon McGinley, who has dealt with this subject matter in his own books, joins the show to discuss Danielou's work.
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/95hjrIHO-aY
Links
Jean Danielou, Prayer as a Political Problem https://clunymedia.com/products/prayer-as-a-political-problem
Previous episode with Brandon McGinley on his book The Prodigal Church https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-82-habitual-counterculture-brandon-mcginley/
Brandon McGinley and Scott Hahn, It Is Right and Just https://stpaulcenter.com/product/it-is-right-and-just-why-the-future-of-civilization-depends-on-true-religion/
Other things mentioned:
Jacques Maritain, The Primacy of the Spiritual https://clunymedia.com/products/the-primacy-of-the-spiritual?_pos=7&_sid=66d0aa627&_ss=r
The Lord of Spirits podcast episode on the Nephilim, "A Land of Giants" https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/lordofspirits/land_of_giants
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Michael Pakaluk and Jay Richards join host Thomas V. Mirus for a discussion of the moral issues involved with the production and testing of vaccines using illicitly-obtained fetal cell lines, and the reasons for freedom of conscience for those who do not wish to take them.
Links
Read a full transcript of this discussion: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=12522
Thomas Mirus's apology and retractions https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/apology-and-retractions-about-vaccine-episode/
Church documents discussed:
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dignitas Personae (relevant paragraphs are 34-35) https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html
CDF, Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 Vaccines (2020) https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html
The Pontifical Academy for Life's 2005 statement on vaccines, emphasizing freedom of conscience https://www.immunize.org/talking-about-vaccines/vaticandocument.htm
Commentary discussed:
"To Awaken Conscience" https://mailchi.mp/7742dd12483f/statement-of-conscience-to-awaken-conscience
Michael Pakaluk, "Why I Signed 'To Awaken Conscience'" https://www.crisismagazine.com/2021/why-i-signed-to-awaken-conscience
Jose Trasancos, "The Cell Lines Used for COVID-19 Vaccines Came from Carefully Planned Abortions, Not Miscarriages" https://stream.org/the-cell-lines-used-for-covid-19-vaccines-came-from-carefully-planned-abortions-not-miscarriages/
Bishops Schneider, Strickland, et al, "COVID Vaccines: 'The Ends Cannot Justify the Means'" https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/covid-vaccines-the-ends-cannot-justify-the-means
Ethics & Public Policy Center, "Statement from Pro-Life Catholic Scholars on the Moral Acceptability of Receiving COVID-19 Vaccines" https://eppc.org/news/statement-from-pro-life-catholic-scholars-on-the-moral-acceptability-of-receiving-covid-19-vaccines/
Roberto de Mattei, On the Moral Liceity of the Vaccination https://libri.edizionifiducia.it/on-the-moral-liceity-of-the-vaccination/
Richards, Briggs, and Axe; The Price of Panic: How the Tyranny of Experts Turned a Pandemic into a Catastrophe https://www.regnery.com/9781684511419/the-price-of-panic/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Catholic Culture's own Phil Lawler has written a new book addressing what he sees as flaws in the response of Catholic leaders and laity to the pandemic and advocating a different approach - Contagious Faith: Why the Church Must Spread Hope, Not Fear, in a Pandemic.
Topics covered in this interview include:
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aFxgWqp1J80
Links
Phil Lawler, Contagious Faith https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/contagious-faith
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Michael Pakaluk joins the show to discuss his new translation and commentary on St. John's gospel, making the case that this loftiest of gospels echoes the voice of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the evangelist's adopted mother) in subtle but profound ways.
Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/G0PDD5Qyfh0
Links
Mary's Voice in the Gospel According to John https://www.regnery.com/9781684511198/marys-voice-in-the-gospel-according-to-john/
Episode 34 on Michael Pakaluk's translation of Mark's Gospel https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-34-memoirs-st-peter-michael-pakaluk/
Donate to support the show: www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This episode features highlight clips from episodes 26-30 of the Catholic Culture Podcast.
Links
Online Great Books opens a new enrollment period approximately once a month. Get in there using discount code "catholicculture" for 25% off your first three months! Or use this referral link: https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth exhibition book https://www.amazon.com/Tolkien-Maker-Middle-earth-Catherine-McIlwaine/dp/1851244859/
29 - Catholic Feminism: Should We? - Abigail Rine Favale https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-29-catholic-feminism-should-we-abigail-rine-favale/
28 - An Introduction to Maritain's Poetic Philosophy - Samuel Hazo https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-28-introduction-to-maritains-poetic-philosophy-samuel-hazo/
26 - The Arts, Contemplation and Virtue - Basil Cole, OP https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-26-arts-contemplation-and-virtue-basil-cole-op/
27 - Always Wanted to Study the Great Books? Here's How You'll Actually Follow Through - Scott Hambrick https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-27-always-wanted-to-study-great-books-heres-how-youll-actually-follow-through-scott-hambrick/
30 - What Tolkien's Visual Art Tells Us About His Creative Mind - John McQuillen, Holly Ordway https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-30-what-tolkiens-visual-art-tells-us-about-his-creative-mind-john-mcquillen-and-holly-ordway/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Did you know there's a hotel in NYC named after Pope Leo XIII? The Leo House was founded in the 1880s as a boarding house for German Catholic immigrants, at the behest of the Holy Father, and is still operating today as a Catholic hotel providing charitable hospitality at a discount.
In this episode you'll learn from the Leo House's chairman and president, Michael Coneys, about the hotel's fascinating history. The story involves Pope Leo's special care for the Catholic Church in Germany as it was struggling under Protestant Prussian rule; as well as the St. Raphael Society, which helped political dissidents to escape Nazi Germany. It also involves a very providential visit from Mother Teresa! But this is also a very contemporary story story of one of many Catholic nonprofits struggling to survive the past year's lockdowns.
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8888Qu0oonc
Links
Learn more: https://leohousenyc.com/
Donate to the Leo House: https://leohousenyc.com/donate/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Poet-philosopher James Matthew Wilson returns to the show to read poems from his new collection, The Strangeness of the Good, including his "Quarantine Notebook" series, and to discuss the decay and renewal of Catholic intellectual life.
Topics discussed include:
The present narrowing of Catholic intellectual life in conservative/traditional circles
His ideal approach to reciting poetry
What needs to be done to build on the work in Catholic aesthetics done by figures like Maritain, Hildebrand, and Gilson
Watch this interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ip02uvHlvck
Note: This interview was recorded before James Matthew Wilson announced his appointment as founding director of a new MFA in Creative Writing, at the University of St. Thomas, Houston (in collaboration with multiple past Catholic Culture Podcast guests, particularly Joshua Hren of Wiseblood Books). Learn about the program here: https://www.stthom.edu/public/index.asp?AQ_Action=getPageByURL&AQ_URL=/Academics/School-of-Arts-and-Sciences/Division-of-Liberal-Studies/Graduate/Master-of-Fine-Arts-in-Creative-Writing/Index.aqf
Links
The Strangeness of the Good https://www.amazon.com/Strangeness-Good-Including-Quarantine-Notebook/dp/1621386325/
All interviews with James Matthew Wilson https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-tePYzIXOsQ2OgM0Bh-Nq1LUpYF2877q
J.R.R. Tolkien is commonly perceived as a reactionary who totally rejected the modern world, and whose literary influences began and ended with the Middle Ages. Holly Ordway's new book, Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages, debunks that view of Tolkien's life and work.
Ordway begins with an invaluable critique of the sources of this misconception, especially the official biography written by Humphrey Carpenter, who admitted his own bias and desire to portray Tolkien as an uptight fuddy-duddy.
She then proceeds to examine the works of modern literature we know Tolkien read, gleaning insights about how he may have been influenced either by acceptance or rejection of what he found in those works. In this interview we focus on Tolkien's reading of the father of modern fantasy, William Morris, the adventure writer H. Rider Haggard, the now-unknown religious romance John Inglesant, and even literary modernists like James Joyce and Roy Campbell, and realists like Sinclair Lewis.
Watch this conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0_J46A7QhhQ
Links
Tolkien's Modern Reading https://store.wordonfire.org/products/tmr
Daphne Castell interview with Tolkien https://fantasticmetropolis.com/i/tolkien
Diana Glyer's books on the Inklings:
The Company They Keep https://www.amazon.com/Company-They-Keep-Tolkien-Community/dp/0873389913
Bandersnatch https://www.amazon.com/Bandersnatch-Tolkien-Creative-Collaboration-Inklings/dp/1606352768
Some of the many books enjoyed by Tolkien mentioned in this episode:
William Morris, The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains
H. Rider Haggard, She
Joseph Henry Shorthouse, John Inglesant
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Andrew Lang's fairy tale collections
Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit books
E.A. Wyke-Smith, The Marvellous Land of Snergs
John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps and the other Richard Hannay books
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
We celebrate our 100th episode with the return of a favorite Catholic Culture Podcast guest, former Pennsylvania Poet Laureate Samuel Hazo. At 92, Sam is still writing books, most recently a new collection of poems and a novel, published by Wiseblood Books.
In this episode Sam reads and discusses poems from his new collection, The Next Time We Saw Paris, a recurring theme of which is how each experience in time passes away, yet in passing away it becomes a singular whole which remains present as such in memory.
He discusses his founding of the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, which hosted public readings by many of the greatest contemporary poets, including W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, and Czeslaw Milosz. Other topics include the importance of hearing poetry read aloud, the development of Sam's poetic voice into something very like natural speech, and the hidden power of women.
Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mg4Ao-eTIwI
Links
The Next Time We Saw Paris https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p108/The-Next-Time-We-Saw-Paris.html
If Nobody Calls, I'm Not Home https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p98/If_Nobody_Calls%2C_I%27m_Not_Home%3A_The_Open_Letters_of_Bim_Nakely%2C_by_Samuel_Hazo.html
Sam Hazo's website https://www.samhazopoet.com
Catholic Culture Podcast interview with Hazo on Maritain https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-28-introduction-to-maritains-poetic-philosophy-samuel-hazo/
The Daily Poem podcast https://shows.acast.com/the-daily-poem
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
To celebrate the approach of Episode 100 of the Catholic Culture Podcast, here is the interview that started it all. Originally published on August 4, 2017, this interview turned out so well that we decided to launch a whole series of interviews on Catholic arts and culture. The podcast launched several months later, on May 1, 2018.
Catholic composer and pianist Mark Christopher Brandt joined Thomas Mirus to discuss his classical album and suite The Nightingale, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Emperor and the Nightingale". The discussion was a double delight as it covered not only the album itself, but also an extended exploration of the spiritual themes of Andersen's classic fairy tale, especially what it conveys about the true meaning of freedom.
Mark has been a guest on the Catholic Culture Podcast twice since this first interview. (Since then, too, Thomas has played on Mark's classical album The Butterfly, along with Katherine Colburn, the cellist whose skills are so highly praised in the Nightingale interview.)
All music used with permission from Mark Christopher Brandt and Lionheart Music East.
Links
Read: Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale "The Nightingale" http://hca.gilead.org.il/nighting.html
Mark Christopher Brandt's The Nightingale:
Score: The Nightingale sheet music https://markchristopherbrandt.com/the-nightingale-scores-and-parts-store.html
The artists:
More: Round Trip: The Making of an Artist documentary https://markchristopherbrandt.com/round-trip-the-making-of-an-artist-dvd---store.html
Mark's appearances on the Catholic Culture Podcast:
33 - Structure and Freedom in Music and in Christ https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-33-structure-and-freedom-in-music-and-in-christ-mark-christopher-brandt/
68 - What I Learned From Making Music with Mark Christopher Brandt https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-68-what-i-learned-from-making-music-with-mark-christopher-brandt/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This Ash Wednesday, following a note from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, many American parishes did not distribute ashes in the customary way of smudging a cross on the forehead and saying one of two possible formulas to each recipient. Instead, as an ostensible anti-COVID precaution, they sprinkled ashes on the top of the head and said the formula once to the whole congregation.
Today's guest, Gail Finke, wrote a thought-provoking article, not so much on the appropriateness of changing the usual practice this year because of the pandemic, but on an attitude so often taken in discussing Ash Wednesday every year.
There is a certain spiritual elitism which regards concern for the external rite, including the rare opportunity to explicitly witness to the faith in a public way, as the province of those of little or superficial faith, or even of the vain. If someone objects to a seemingly unnecessary change, he is said to be overly concerned with the inessential. Yet the experience of the past several decades has shown us definitively that the elimination of "inessential" devotions has had catastrophic effects on the faith of Catholics.
External expressions of devotion are important. The little things which set Catholics apart are important. Constant change and disorientation are not good for the people of God. The assumption that those who object to it must have little faith is arrogant. The indifference to the reality that the large number who do have weak faith will easily fall away when denied the rites of the Church—"you don't need to go to Mass, just make a spiritual communion"—is callous and legalistic.
Links
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LYkXheSxHXs
Gail Finke, "Are We Going to Throw Out Ash Wednesday Too?" https://www.crisismagazine.com/2021/are-we-going-to-throw-out-ash-wednesday-too
Thomas Humphries, "The Case of the Great Pandemic Liturgical Flip-Flop" https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-case-of-the-great-pandemic-liturgical-flip-flop/
Driving Home the Faith radio show produced by Gail www.sacredheartradio.com
Ep. 84, Disobey Lockdown Now w/ Douglas Farrow and Andrew Busch https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/84-disobey-lockdown-now-douglas-farrow-andrew-busch/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Famous for his chanted performances of Beowulf in the original Old English, Benjamin Bagby is the closest thing you'll find today to an Anglo-Saxon bard. Bagby joins the show to describe how he reconstructed Beowulf as a sung tale, giving a demonstration of his Anglo-Saxon harp which is modeled on harps found in burial sites from over a millennium ago. He also discusses the recordings of the complete works of St. Hildegard of Bingen made by his ensemble, Sequentia.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BatWN05pP1I
Catholic geneticist Daniel Toma is the author of Vestige of Eden, Image of Eternity: Common Experience, the Hierarchy of Being, and Modern Science. He joins the podcast to discuss what natural science, including the fossil record, can teach us about the hierarchy of being and the liturgical structure of all creation, with deified man as rational head of the physical cosmos bringing all material creation into union with God.
Links
Daniel Toma, Vestige of Eden, Image of Eternity https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/vestige-of-eden-image-of-eternity-toma/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4Uv7MvEHixg
The Hillbilly Thomists, a bluegrass group entirely composed of Dominican friars, have just released their second album, Living for the Other Side. Percussionist Fr. Joseph Hagan, who happens to be a priest at Thomas's parish, joins the show to talk about the new album, the connections between bluegrass and the Apocalypse, and music as an expression of the Dominican mission of preaching.
All songs used with permission.
Links
https://www.hillbillythomists.com/
Music video, "Our Help Is in the Name of the Lord" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKDG9DF7mhA
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zkfJ-gSMdUg
Today's Catholic culture is marked by a profound and settled religious indifferentism. Among many Catholics, to say what the Church has always taught—that Jesus Christ is the one way to salvation—is considered offensive, or at best, rash. In certain countries, the bishops' conferences have practically made a policy against seeking converts from other religions (or lack thereof). Catholics, ruled by fear of human respect and compromised by their own private sins, are finding more and more reasons not to proclaim Christ's moral teachings as well.
Ralph Martin, whose new book A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward is a comprehensive spiritual diagnosis of our present situation, joins the show to discuss the many factors contributing to religious indifferentism. These include theological doubts about whether anyone really goes to hell (thanks, Balthasar), the therapeutic culture which has lost any sense of sin and justice, the focus on legalistic analysis of culpability rather than the need to change, and fear of human respect.
Links
A Church in Crisis https://stpaulcenter.com/product/a-church-in-crisis-pathways-forward/
Jeff Mirus's review of A Church in Crisis https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/mapping-crisis-ralph-martins-blockbuster-book/
Renewal Ministries https://www.renewalministries.net/
The Fulfillment of All Desire https://stpaulcenter.com/product/the-fulfillment-of-all-desire/
Newman sermon, "Christian Reverence" on Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/st-john-henry-newman-christian-reverence/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3Czyd0XSEso
The alarmists were right: ideas that were only a few years ago complacently dismissed as the perennial agitation of a few campus loonies are now pervasive in the corporate world, mass media and pop culture.
Critical race theory, transgender ideology, the obsessive search for oppressive power relations in every aspect of life and every feature of language, the demand for all to be activists, shutting down of dissenting speech as violence: common sense or the gift of a solid Catholic formation will suffice for most who reject these ideologies.
But some will want a more rigorous critique or a deeper understanding of the philosophical roots of radical leftist activism. To that end, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay have written Cynical Theories, a very helpful primer on the development of modern activism from 1960s postmodernist philosophy.
In this episode, Thomas and political philosopher Darel Paul discuss the book, which tracks how postcolonial theory, queer theory, women's/gender studies, critical race theory, and other activist fields have instantiated or adapted the following central principles and themes of postmodernism:
Postmodern principles:
Postmodern themes: The blurring of boundaries, the power of language, cultural relativism, loss of the individual and the universal
The episode concludes with a critique of Pluckrose and Lindsay's prescription of a return to Enlightenment liberalism as a corrective to postmodernism.
Contents
[1:41] Reasons for discussing Cynical Theories
[4:36] Evidence of postmodernist activist movements reaching the mainstream
[10:58] What the book contributes to the discourse on woke ideology
[15:00] Similarities and differences between postmodernism and Marxism
[26:25] The core postmodern principles and themes
[38:53] Policing speech as a tool of power rather than a rational means of communicating truth
[47:58] The proliferation of postmodern principles into a number of activist fields
[49:47] Defining one's identity in terms of suffering and oppression
[55:07] Tension between postmodern rejection of categories and the need to have categories to critique power relations; the emergence of queer theory; deliberate incoherence as liberation
[1:01:06] Conundrum for LGBTQ activists: gain "normal" status or destroy idea of normality?
[1:06:40] Gender theory vs. critical race theory on categories
[1:18:50] Postmodernism as a class ideology?
[1:24:17] The postcolonial critique of science; epistemic relativism
[1:27:30] Critique of Pluckrose and Lindsay's advocacy of a return to Enlightenment liberalism
[1:32:51] Liberalism as an inherently negative and deconstructive philosophy
[1:40:04] Postmodernism as an extension and/or consequence of liberalism
[2:04:33] How to communicate truth to someone who believes language is merely power?
Links
Pluckrose and Lindsay, Cynical Theories https://www.amazon.com/Cynical-Theories-Scholarship-Everything-Identity_and/dp/1634312023
Darel Paul, "Against Racialism" https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/10/against-racialism
Darel Paul, "Listening at the Great Awokening" https://areomagazine.com/2019/04/17/listening-at-the-great-awokening/
Darel Paul, "The Global Community Is a Fantasy" https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-global-community-is-a-fantasy/
Darel Paul, From Tolerance to Equality https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481306959/from-tolerance-to-equality/
Ep. 61 on liberalism as an anti-culture with James Matthew Wilson https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-61-liberal-anti-culture-vs-western-vision-soul-pt-i-james-matthew-wilson/
Ep. 18 on the vice of acedia manifested in our refusal to accept our given nature https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-18-acedia-forgotten-capital-sin-rj-snell/
Christmas episodes:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) film discussion w/ Patrick Coffin https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/its-wonderful-life-1946-w-patrick-coffin/
CCP 59 – The Glorious English Carol https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-59-glorious-english-carol/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
All music by Thomas Tallis used with permission of the artists and labels listed below.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/i-oMO9qqzKA
As a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, Thomas Tallis (1505-1585) composed sacred music for four successive English monarchs, starting with Henry VIII and ending with Elizabeth. Those were turbulent times in England, especially for a church musician.
Those were turbulent times in England, especially for a church musician. Like his colleague (and probable pupil) William Byrd, Tallis was able to adapt his compositional style to meet the constantly shifting ideological demands of the regimes under which he served. Unlike the combative Byrd, who in his later years removed himself from court life and made a point of his loyalty to Rome, Tallis may have simply gone with the flow. We don't know for sure, because there is very little information about his life.
Here to tell us what we do know is singer and scholar Kerry McCarthy, author of a concise new book on Tallis's life and music in Oxford University Press's Master Musicians Series (which also includes her book on Byrd previously discussed on this podcast). She enthusiastically discusses his music, his times, the foundation of polyphony in plainchant which was obliterated by the Reformation, the various compositional techniques of the time, and the nature of the medieval modes with which these composers worked.
Links
Kerry McCarthy, Tallis https://global.oup.com/academic/product/tallis-9780190635213
Hear Kerry sing with Capella Romana in a groundbreaking recreation of the acoustics of a sixth-century Byzantine cathedral! Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia: Medieval Byzantine Chant https://cappellaromana.org/product/lost-voices-of-hagia-sophia-medieval-byzantine-chant/
Kerry McCarthy discusses Byrd on this podcast:
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music heard in this episode
Thomas Tallis:
"If ye love me" performed by The Gesualdo Six, c/o Hyperion https://www.amazon.com/English-Motets-Gesualdo-Six/dp/B078X98G4B/
Video from their YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/yHe2FDlHHa8
"Lesson Two Parts in One" performed by Matthieu Latreille https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EsptIeArHI
"Miserere nostri" (Tallis/Byrd), "In jejunio et fletu" performed by Alamire, c/o Obsidian https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004H4OHXG/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp
"Puer natus est nobis: Agnus Dei", "Psalm Tunes from Archbishop Parker's Psalter", "Spem in alium" performed by Chapelle Du Roi, from their Complete Works of Tallis c/o Signum Records UK https://signumrecords.com
Chapelle's Du Roi's Complete Works of Tallis available affordably in the US here https://www.amazon.com/Tallis-Complete-Chapelle-Du-Roi/dp/B005JWXA1K/
Ralph Vaughan Williams: "Fantasia on a Theme from Thomas Tallis" performed by Academy of Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields, dir. Neville Mariner https://www.amazon.com/Williams-Greensleeves-Tallis-Neville-Marriner/dp/B000004CVM/
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Z5jrU3JYnv0
In his Five Great Odes, the great French Catholic poet Paul Claudel (1868-1955) offers a cosmic vision in which man, in his contemplative and poetic capacity, stands as mediator between God and all creation.
Man, in the image of God and even more in the headship of Christ, names all creatures, unites them in his heart, speaks for them and offers them back to God as unified whole of which man himself is a part: "I extend my hands to left and to right/so that by me not one gap should exist in the perfect circle of your creations."
Poet James Matthew Wilson compares Claudel's cosmic and Catholic vision to that of Tolkien, and startlingly, to one of Tolkien's characters: "Claudel's Odes show him to be a new Tom Bombadil, who moves through the world without irony because he has already transcended the jaded and impoverished vision typical of the modern age and entered with joy into an experience of the universal and the eternal."
This is an interview with Jonathan Geltner, translator of a new English edition of Claudel's Odes.
Links
Five Great Odes https://www.angelicopress.org/five-great-odes
Episode mentioned: "Structure and Freedom" with Mark Christopher Brandt https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-33-structure-and-freedom-in-music-and-in-christ-mark-christopher-brandt/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/H1_78eLjaB8
The trials of St. Anthony the Great (251-356 AD), as described in St. Athanasius's Life and the medieval Golden Legend, have been a favorite subject of Western artists since the Middle Ages. Anthony, a desert monk, was frequently assaulted by Satan, who when he could not win by normal temptations, sent his demons in the form of wild beasts, beautiful women, soldiers and even monks to torment and distract the Desert Father.
Artists have long been fascinated with these episodes, finding in them an opportunity for the most outlandish feats of imagination. In this episode, Catholic art historian Elizabeth Lev traces the development of this artistic subject from the Middle Ages on, with special attention to the phantasmagorical work of Hieronymous Bosch. From Bosch we proceed through the intervening centuries to the modern era, where this theme was taken up again but perhaps not in the most edifying spirit.
In this podcast (the YouTube version of which includes images of the paintings), the first 40 minutes or so are spent introducing the story of St. Anthony and examining some early medieval depictions as well as later ones which focus heavily on his traditional attributes. Then we take off with the increasingly complex depictions of Anthony's demonic trials, starting with Bosch, examine various early modern variations, and conclude with the nightmarish (yet spiritually distinct) visions of Max Ernst and Salvador Dali.
Links
Zip file with all paintings shown in video https://www.catholicculture.org/images/commentary/anthonypaintings.zip
Elizabeth Lev, How Catholic Art Saved the Faith https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/how-catholic-art-saved-the-faith
Our audiobook of St. Athanasius's Life of St. Anthony https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/st-athanasius-life-st-anthony-full/
St. Anthony's life and legacy as one of the Church Fathers https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/anthony-desert-solitary-celebrity/
Elizabeth Lev https://www.elizabeth-lev.com
Koin - Catholic event planning app http://www.meetkoin.com
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Freedom, Humanis Dignitatae, begins by noting that its discussion of religious liberty "has to do with immunity from coercion in civil society" and so "leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ." This episode is about discovering what that traditional doctrine was and is.
Our main source will be Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Immortale Dei, which is available in audiobook form on CatholicCulture.org. Thomas Pink guides us through a close reading of this document (with supplementary material from Libertas and Longuinqua). Here, and in the magisterium of other 19th-century Popes, we find a number of teachings on Church and State that have gone largely unmentioned since the Council, and which are sadly forgotten or even rejected by the majority of self-described conservative Catholics.
The core point is that the State, like the Church, receives its authority from God. Therefore the State has a duty of obedience to God, obedience which cannot be arbitrarily limited to what can be known by reason, excluding revelation. So, Leo says, the State has duties to profess, protect and foster religion, and not just any religion, but the true Faith:
"The Church, indeed, deems it unlawful to place the various forms of divine worship on the same footing as the true religion, but does not, on that account, condemn those rulers who, for the sake of securing some great good or of hindering some great evil, allow patiently custom or usage to be a kind of sanction for each kind of religion having its place in the State."
Other points discussed are these: Leo's analogy comparing the relationship between Church and State to the harmony between soul and body. The evil consequences of the State's indifference toward God and true religion. The authority of the Church to coerce the baptized in fulfilling their religious duties, and to have the State act as its agent (all the while remembering that the State has no authority of its own to regulate the supernatural good of religion). Leo's condemnation of freedom of speech and opinion as commonly understood.
It is clear that a docile and orthodox reading of Vatican II cannot lead us to dismiss prior teachings on Church and State. Yet this works both ways: Church teaching is is a unity, so when discussing these older teachings, we must also ask what is the nature Vatican II's teaching on religious liberty and how all of these teachings can be understood in light of one another. The key lies in the limited scope of Dignitatis Humanae, which from the outset intends only to address religious coercion by the State, and leaves the duties of the State towards religion untouched in both senses of the word.
Though the Church's teaching on religious liberty is much further from the ideals of the American Founding than many careless readers of Dignitatis Humanae have assumed, American Catholics can and must love their country. Therefore we close with Pope Leo's friendly and encouraging words to the Church in America.
Contents
[3:09] The historical and theological context of Immortale Dei
[7:52] True and false liberty
[10:38] The two powers of Church and State; their directive and coercive functions
[18:40] The State's duty to profess, protect and foster the one true religion
[24:06] Reasons for toleration of other religions; coercion of the baptized
[34:15] Leo's analogy of Church and State with soul and body
[43:36] Separate sovereignties of Church and State interact; State can act as the "secular arm"
[49:41] Obligations twd. religion of the State properly speaking, not just rulers as individuals
[55:23] Consequences of the State neglecting God and religion
[1:03:00] Dignitatis Humanae: drafting, intended scope, legacy, compatibility with tradition
[1:20:50] Papal condemnations of freedom of speech and opinion
[1:31:30] The Church's move away from coercing baptized heretics
[1:36:33] The importance of docility in accepting difficult teachings
[1:41:49] Need for a synthesis of the whole magisterium on Church, State and religious liberty
Links
Audiobook of Immortale Dei https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-leo-xiii-immortale-dei-on-christian-constitution-states/
Text of Immortale Dei (On the Christian Constitution of States) https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4916
Libertas (On the Nature of Human Liberty) https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=4885
Longuinqua (On Catholicism in the United States) http://catholic.net/op/articles/286/cat/1198/longuinqua.html
Thomas Pink on Twitter https://twitter.com/thomaspink1
Thomas Pink, "Conscience and Coercion" https://www.firstthings.com/article/2012/08/conscience-and-coercion
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
In addition to being the host of Catholic Culture's Way of the Fathers podcast and the author of dozens of books on the early Church, Mike Aquilina is a poet who has written songs performed by the likes of Dion, Paul Simon, and Bruce Springsteen.
Mike joins the show to discuss his collaboration with legendary singer Dion, early Christian beliefs about Mary, and other topics in early Church history. You'll hear songs from Dion's new album Blues with Friends, and readings from Mike's new poetry collection The Invention of Zero.
All songs and music videos used with permission from Dion.
Contents
[3:31] Mike's prolific 2020 in books, poetry and music
[5:49] Working with Dion on his album Blues with Friends
[9:28] "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)" by Dion
[17:40] Dion's influence on the greats of rock'n'roll
[20:12] "Told You Once in August" by Dion
[29:55] Early Jewish and pagan attacks on Mary
[34:16] What we can learn from apocryphal texts
[38:52] Evidence for early belief in Mary's Assumption
[45:31] "New York is My Home" by Dion and Paul Simon
[53:16] What was the agape meal and why did it disappear after the early years of Christianity?
[58:51] Mike reads poems from The Invention of Zero
[1:04:06] Making the Way of the Fathers podcast
[1:08:36] "Hymn to Him" by Dion
[1:14:31] Dion's return to Catholicism via St. Augustine
Links
Mike's recent projects:
Dion, Blues With Friends https://www.amazon.com/Blues-Friends-Dion/dp/B086XCX576
Dion, New York Is My Home https://www.amazon.com/New-York-My-Home-Dion/dp/B017WK8NX6
History's Queen https://www.avemariapress.com/products/historys-queen
The Invention of Zero https://catholicbooksdirect.com/product/the-invention-of-zero-an-accumulation-of-poems/
Work Play Love https://paracletepress.com/products/work-play-love
The Holy Mass (Sayings of the Fathers of the Church) https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-holy-mass-aquilina-weinandy/
Way of the Fathers podcast https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/category/way-fathers/
Dion https://diondimucci.com/music/
Mike Aquilina https://fathersofthechurch.com/
Podcasts mentioned:
Patrick Coffin interview with Dion https://www.patrickcoffin.media/music-legend-hits-well-timed-homer/
Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/
Crisis: Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church https://catholicproject.catholic.edu/podcast/
Books on the Assumption mentioned by Mike:
Stephen Shoemaker, The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Traditions-Dormition-Assumption-Christian/dp/0199210748
Richard Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses https://www.amazon.com/Fate-Dead-Apocalypses-Supplements-Testamentum/dp/1589832884
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8zPXC9KscGs
The debate over Christopher Columbus's legacy tends to go back and forth from cartoonish demonization to glossing over the man's real faults. Robert Royal, in his book Columbus and the Crisis of the West, does neither of those things, instead giving a nuanced picture of Columbus's motives, worldview, faults and achievements.
The book goes beyond Columbus himself, however, examining the overall significance of the encounters between cultures that occurred in the Age of Exploration, how we do history, and how the West idealizes and instrumentalizes native peoples for its own purposes of self-hatred.
Columbus was neither a genocidal maniac nor a saint; while he did not "discover" America, he did discover the world—as much for Native Americans as for Europeans.
Contents
[2:42] Reason for a new edition
[7:11] The evolution of Columbus's legacy before recent decades
[13:16] Columbus's motives: God, glory and gold, and their misrepresentation
[16:25] A breakdown of Columbus' unprecedented achievements
[20:56] Did Columbus discover America?
[25:38] Relations with the natives on Columbus's first visit to America
[33:26] Did Columbus intend to be a conqueror? His failures as a governor
[41:25] Columbus did not establish the Atlantic slave trade; slavery in every culture
[45:40] No institutional structure by which Columbus could fight abuse of natives
[49:17] Spain's role in the development of international law and universal human rights
[53:38] How we celebrate complicated historical figures
Links
Columbus and the Crisis of the West https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/columbus-and-the-crisis-of-the-west
Free Columbus Day seminar with Robert Royal, Christopher Check and Wilfred McClay https://engage.thomasmorecollege.edu/rediscovering-columbus43042020
The Catholic Thing https://www.thecatholicthing.org/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ve9oqQpCrI
Jeremy McLellan is a Catholic stand-up comedian who, strangely, is huge is Pakistan. He joins the show to discuss the woke takeover of comedy, the nihilistic dogmas of many comedians, the relationship between comedy and suffering, and the ethics of the word "retarded". Thomas describes his past experience doing open mics and Jeremy gives him some pointers.
Contents
[1:07] "Do CHILDREN Belong in Church?"
[3:24] The woke takeover of comedy; contrarianism and nihilism; comedy and truth
[11:18] The dogma of comedians: anything goes to get a laugh
[17:35] Jeremy and Thomas compare notes on open mics
[24:08] The comic must draw the audience into his world
[27:26] Jeremy's conversion to Catholicism and relationship with his large Muslim audience
[36:03] The best joke Jeremy has ever heard
[40:17] The ethics of the word 'retarded'
[48:13] Comedy and trauma; processing pain through humor
[51:42] The dangers of identifying with our sins and pathologies
Links
Jeremy McLellan's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/underthefigtree
Online Great Books opens a new enrollment period on October 13th. Join the waiting list via this referral link to get 25% off your first three months! https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
Episode 27 with Online Great Books' Scott Hambrick https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-27-always-wanted-to-study-great-books-heres-how-youll-actually-follow-through-scott-hambrick/
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 is now in video! Subscribe to our YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwqvyZyc2bpzI-kOYhwrkw
While the Catholic Church has condemned Marxism, Communism and socialism from their beginning, an alarming number of those calling themselves Catholic display a sympathy for these ideas: think of America magazine's 2019 essay on "The Catholic Case of Communism". Even some orthodox Catholic intellectuals seem to think we should mine the writings of Marx for whatever truth might be contained among the rubbish.
Aside from the fact that Marx's philosophy represents a war on being itself (in his words, "the ruthless criticism of all that exists"), making it rather difficult to find untainted morsels of truth in his writings, there are other reasons to steer clear. If philosophy is truly the pursuit of wisdom, we should care about the personal lives of philosophers. Marx was a deeply vicious man. He displayed complete contempt for his fellow man, was a virulent racist, despised God and religion, and was an utter hypocrite when it came to money, constantly sponging off his family and acquaintances.
Beyond all that, there is the distinct sense of something demonic in Marx's personal life. Those who knew him most intimately consistently described him in demonic terms: His son wrote to him as "my dear devil", his father suggested that he was "governed by a demon", and Engels referred to him as a "monster of ten thousand devils".
Marx himself was obsessed with the Devil, writing poems and plays about characters who make pacts with Satan and are resigned to their own damnation. He even told his children an ongoing bedtime story about a man who sold his soul to the devil. (Marx's two daughters would die in suicide pacts with their husbands, who were atheistic revolutionaries like their father-in-law.)
In this episode, Paul Kengor, author of The Devil and Karl Marx, discusses this (exhaustively footnoted) evidence of the demonic in Marx's life. What inspired this man with so much hatred that he called for the "ruthless criticism of all that exists", beginning with religion?
Contents
[3:03] The scope of The Devil and Karl Marx
[10:36] A picture of Marx from those closest to him
[15:23] Marx's lifelong "ruthless criticism of all that exists", beginning with religion
[26:33] Satanic themes in Marx's early literary output
[30:57] Suicide pacts in Marx's literature and in his children's lives
[37:56] Walter Duranty and Aleister Crowley
[41:55] Marx's personal behavior around money, family, and friends
[47:41] The error of separating philosophy from personal life
[52:29] "Just a phase"?: Why Marx's youthful writings are relevant to his later work
[55:18] The pedants' denial that Marxism is present in contemporary movements
Links
Paul Kengor, The Devil and Karl Marx https://www.tanbooks.com/the-devil-and-karl-marx.html
Online Great Books opens a new enrollment period on October 13th. Join the waiting list via this referral link to get 25% off your first three months! https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
Episode 27 with Online Great Books' Scott Hambrick https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-27-always-wanted-to-study-great-books-heres-how-youll-actually-follow-through-scott-hambrick/
Support the show! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
There are many strange stories in rock history. But Luxury is surely the only band in which three out of five members ended up becoming Orthodox priests.
Combining a hard-edged instrumental texture with sweet, melodious vocals and literary lyrics, Luxury has continued to record and perform sporadically since their beginning in the mid-1990s Christian punk scene. They have retained a loyal following and their latest album, Trophies, was released last year to much acclaim.
Fr. David Lee Bozeman—singer, songwriter and guitarist—joins the show to tell the band's story, discuss the relationship between liturgy and modern culture, and comment on his lyrics, which deal with themes like ordination, marriage real and counterfeit, the scourge of pornography, and the sanctification of the body.
Contents
[2:36] "The Majesty of the Flesh"
[9:39] The complicated sanctity of the Christian body; deification/theosis
[14:58] Fr. David's songwriting process
[15:53] The story of Luxury, three of its members' path from Protestantism to sacramental faith
[25:06] "Courage, Courage", a song about Fr. David's ordination
[35:48] "To Conquer and Destroy"
[39:29] The band's early influences and Fr. David's reference points from the 80s and 90s
[44:19] Fr. David's experience of the Christian rock scene
[46:27] Orthodoxy and modern culture: liturgy is brought into secular life, not vice versa
[52:02] "The War on Women" and the hold of pornography on the modern world
[1:02:00] The compact experience of T.S. Eliot's poetry and its influence on Fr. David's lyrics
[1:05:46] "Museums in Decline"
[1:11:58] "Trophies" and the Orthodox understanding of marriage and second marriages
[1:20:35] Provocation in Luxury's early lyrics
[1:23:16] "Queer Logic", a lament over the Supreme Court's decision on gay marriage
[1:27:37] "Perpetua Simone"
All music in this episode used with permission from Luxury and Lee Bozeman.
"The War on Women", "Museums in Decline", "Trophies", "Courage, Courage" from Luxury, Trophies. https://luxury.bandcamp.com/album/trophies
"To Conquer and Destroy", "Perpetua Simone" from Luxury, Luxury. https://luxury.bandcamp.com/album/luxury
"The Majesty of the Flesh" from Lee Bozeman, The Majesty of the Flesh. https://leebozeman.bandcamp.com/album/the-majesty-of-the-flesh
"Queer Logic" from Lee Bozeman, Queer Logic. https://leebozeman.bandcamp.com/album/queer-logic
Links
Lee Bozeman http://www.leebozeman.com/
Lee Bozeman on Bandcamp https://leebozeman.bandcamp.com/
Luxury on Bandcamp https://luxury.bandcamp.com/
Luxury on Twitter https://twitter.com/thebandLuxury
Luxury on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LuxuryBand
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Catholic theologian Douglas Farrow and Lutheran political scholar Andrew Busch join the show to discuss their recent essays on the coronavirus lockdown, and assess the reasons and prospects for civil disobedience.
In "The Health-First Heresy," Farrow examines the responses of Catholic and other Christian leaders to the state's orders to cease corporate worship. Whatever concessions the Church may make to the state as to the circumstances under which worship is held, she may not simply suspend her proper activities indefinitely until the state gives the word.
In "The Limits of Expertise," Busch assesses where "following the experts" (which ones? in what fields?) has gotten us so far and points out the dangers of pretending to replace statesmanship with expertise.
Contents
[8:30] The "health-first heresy"; the priority of the soul over the body
[17:29] Making prudential judgments vs. suspending corporate worship indefinitely; how much can the Church concede to the state in matters of worship?
[23:37] We have to realize the world is run by people who have contempt for religious worship
[32:09] Areas of overlap between Church and state authority
[40:08] The modern desire to be in complete control surpasses the desire to avoid suffering
[42:58] Religious leaders need to plan for the next pretext to shut down worship
[49:56] Listen to—Which scientists? In what fields?
[56:30] The track record of the experts
[58:56] The legal fallout of accepting lockdowns
[62:47] Shifting the goalposts from "flattening the curve" to eliminating all cases
[1:04:13] Rule by experts is incompatible with the consent of the governed
[1:07:47] Other motives behind lockdown
[1:10:29] Why coordinated civil disobedience needs to begin NOW—no waiting for a vaccine
[1:21:06] Striking a balance between resisting irrational fear and taking appropriate precautions
Links
Douglas Farrow, "The Health-First Heresy" https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/08/07/the-health-first-heresy/
Andrew Busch, "The Limits of Expertise" https://americanmind.org/essays/the-limits-of-expertise/
Douglas Farrow at Catholic World Report https://www.catholicworldreport.com/author/farrow-douglas/
Andrew Busch at The American Mind https://americanmind.org/author/andrew-busch/ and Claremont Review of Books https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/author/andrew-e-busch/
Episode 56 on Yves Simon's General Theory of Authority https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-56-vindicating-authority-aquinas-guilbeau-op/
Episode 27 with Online Great Books' Scott Hambrick https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-27-always-wanted-to-study-great-books-heres-how-youll-actually-follow-through-scott-hambrick/
Online Great Books opens a new enrollment period on October 13th. Join the waiting list via this referral link to get 25% off your first three months! https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
While the left continues crudely to paint America's founding as a mere expression of white supremacy, certain thinkers on the right have been making their own attack on American principles. They argue that America's founding principles are fundamentally a product of an Enlightenment liberalism incompatible with natural law and faith. They find in the Constitution seeds of moral relativism, leading inevitably to Obergefell and gender ideology.
To this position Robert Reilly's new book America on Trial: A Defense of the Founding is a powerful rejoinder, arguing that the Founding's roots lie a few millennia further back than the Enlightenment.
With superb scholarship, he examines the whole history of Western culture up to the Founding, beginning with the Greeks, Hebrews and early Christians, proceeding through the Middle Ages to the Protestant Revolt and the debate over the divine right of kings. It becomes clear that the American Founding was part of a millennium-long debate over the question of which is supreme, reason or will.
This interview focuses primarily on the original explication of several important American constitutional principles in medieval ecclesiastical and secular law. At the end, Thomas poses some tough questions about the compatibility of the First Amendment with the teachings of Leo XIII about Church-state relations and free speech in Immortale Dei.
This is a listener-supported show! To help produce more episodes, please go to http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio.
Contents
[2:09] The stakes of the debate over America's founding
[10:38] Christianity diminished the role of the state…
[17:15] …while granting legitimacy to the state within its own secular sphere
[22:38] The two swords; separation of temporal and spiritual authority
[25:36] The king must respect the ancient customs of the land
[29:02] Developments in canon law: consent of the governed, the right to representation
[39:08] The Coronation Charter and the Magna Carta, right to revolution
[42:56] Natural and divine law trump human positive law, both secular and ecclesiastical
[46:14] The importance of England's role in the formation of the American colonies
[48:57] Political implications of the debate over God's Intellect vs. pure arbitrary Will
[53:43] How consent works: the basis of a democratic majority and minority
[57:54] The dependence of a democratic republic on the virtue of its people
[1:06:15] Revolution against US govt. justified during slavery and today? Role of prudence
[1:13:40] Does the Constitution conflict with Catholic teaching on Church and state?
[1:28:34] Is Constitutional freedom of speech correct from a Catholic POV?
[1:36:47] Modern-day barbarism: the re-tribalization of Man with identity politics
[1:39:39] Does the Constitution mandate free speech on the state level?
Links
Robert Reilly, America on Trial: A Defense of the Founding https://www.ignatius.com/America-on-Trial-P3479.aspx
Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei (On the Christian Constitution of States) https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4916
Pope Leo XIII, Longuinqua (On Catholicism in the United States) http://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_06011895_longinqua.html
Phil Lawler's review of America on Trial https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/answer-to-catholic-critics-american-founding/
David Upham's critique of America on Trial https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/07/03/how-americanism-put-baby-in-the-corner/
Book mentioned: The Ancient City by Fustel de Coulanges https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-City-Religion-Institutions-Greece/dp/0801823048
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This episode revisits some great moments from past Catholic Culture Podcast episodes:
18 - Acedia, the Forgotten Capital Sin - R.J. Snell https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-18-acedia-forgotten-capital-sin-rj-snell/
19 - Understanding the Church's Abuse Crisis - Fr. Roger Landry https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-19-understanding-churchs-abuse-crisis-fr-roger-landry/
21 - Gosnell, the Abortion Story No One Wanted Told - Ann McElhinney https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-21-gosnell-abortion-story-no-one-wanted-told-ann-mcelhinney/
22 - Newman's Idea of a University https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-22-newmans-idea-university-paul-shrimpton/
23 - How the Laity Must Respond to the Abuse Crisis - Fr. Roger Landry https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-23-how-laity-must-respond-to-abuse-crisis-fr-roger-landry/
24 - Talking A Capella with VOCES8's Barnaby Smith https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-24-talking-capella-with-voces8s-barnaby-smith/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
In this episode originally from Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast, Thomas asks attorney and scholar Louis Karlin whether Robert Bolt's play and film A Man for All Seasons accurately depict St. Thomas More's views on the rights of conscience, and his motives for martyrdom.
More's involvement in the prosecution of heretics is also examined: even if More was a martyr of conscience, is it accurate to call him a champion of religious freedom? One thing is certain: the portrayal by Hilary Mantel and others of More as a torturer of heretics is false.
Links
The Center for Thomas More Studies https://thomasmorestudies.org/
Lecture by Richard Rex critiquing the historical fiction of Hilary Mantel, "More the villain and Cromwell the hero?" https://ionainstitute.ie/thomas-more-thomas-cromwell-and-wolf-hall/
William Marshner, "Dignitatis Humanae and Traditional Teaching on Church and State" https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=8778
Thomas Pink, "Conscience and Coercion" https://www.firstthings.com/article/2012/08/conscience-and-coercion
Louis W. Karlin and David R. Oakley, Inside the Mind of Thomas More: The Witness of His Writings https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Mind-Thomas-More-Writings/dp/1594173133
Karlin, Wegemer and Kelly, Thomas More's Trial by Jury: A Procedural Legal Review with a Collection of Documents https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Mores-Trial-Jury-Procedural/dp/1843838737/
Stephen Smith (ed.), For All Seasons: Selected Letters of Thomas More https://www.amazon.com/All-Seasons-Selected-Letters-Thomas/dp/1594171637
Wegemer and Smith (ed.), The Essential Works of Thomas More https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Works-Thomas-More/dp/0300223374/
St. Thomas More, The Sadness of Christ https://www.amazon.com/Sadness-Christ-Thomas-More/dp/1849020558
The Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More, Vol. 14, De Tristitia Christi https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Works-Thomas-Tristitia-Christi/dp/0300017936
Other podcasts on St. Thomas More
Criteria film discussion https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/man-for-all-seasons-1966/
Audiobook of More's Dialogue on Conscience https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/st-thomas-more-dialogue-on-conscience/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission.
Something a little different: this is the audio from a video on the DeClue's Views YouTube channel, which I am republishing here because I want to give these men a wider audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeQenCC8iQo
Description:
In a recent video,Taylor Marshall presented what he considers to be errors in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. This video by Richard DeClue and Chris Plance serves as a rebuttal. It starts by highlighting general problems with Marshall's approach and the spiritual dangers it entails. It then goes through each of Marshall's "errors," offering corrective interpretations in light of the documents themselves and other magisterial texts.
Time Stamps to Parts of this Video:
0:00:04 Opening Prayer
0:00:55 Introduction to Chris Plance
0:02:28 Introduction to Richard DeClue
0:03:19 Brief Description of Taylor Marshall's Video
0:03:54 Chris Plance on Why We Need to Respond to TM's Video
0:10:55 Richard DeClue on Why We Need to Respond to TM's Video
0:13:43 Taylor's Opening Remarks about Dialogue with Traditionalists
0:15:13 Richard and Chris on the Traditional Latin Mass and Traditional Catholicism
0:18:18 The Need to Avoid Strawmen and the Importance of Accurately Presenting Material
0:23:30 The Charge that the Council was "So Long Ago" and "We're Still Debating It"
0:28:19 The Issue of Whether the Council is Binding If It Didn't Proclaim New Dogmas/Anathemas
0:41:30 The Church Before and After Vatican II is the Same Church
0:42:40 The Infamous Schillebeecx Quote and the Need to Avoid a "Soap Opera Approach"
0:50:06 Lumen Gentium #8: Subsistit In (Subsists In)
1:00:29 Lumen Gentium #14 On the Catholic Church as Necessary for Salvation
1:02:19 Additional Point about Subsists In (Lumen Gentium #8)
1:03:59 Lumen Gentium #16: Do Muslims Worship God?
1:21:23 Lumen Gentium #16-17: A Preparation for the Gospel and Deceit By the Evil One
1:27:50 Nostra Aetate: Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions
1:46:30 Dignitatis Humanae: Declaration on Religious Freedom
1:56:25 Unitatis Redintegratio: Decree on Ecumenism vs False Ecumenism
2:00:30 Sacrosanctum Concilium: Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
2:03:57 Closing Remarks
2:17:23 Closing Prayer
To Support Chris Plance, go to his Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/CatholicLA
To Support Richard DeClue, go to his Donor Box page: https://donorbox.org/sapientia-nullif...
To read Richard's blog, click here: https://declubac.wixsite.com/sapienti...
For the Documents of Vatican II, go to the Vatican Website: http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_co...
Edward Feser's Blog Post: http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2015/...
For Massimo Introvigne's Article on Ratzinger and Religious Freedom: https://www.cesnur.org/2011/dan-mi.html
The Catholic Church in America has largely lost its distinctive flavor and with it, its ability either to retain the faithful or to evangelize the infidel. The problem precedes Vatican II: in the Tridentine 1950s, many Catholics, eager for mainstream respectability, had already adopted a bourgeois spirituality.
In his first book, The Prodigal Church: Restoring Catholic Tradition in an Age of Deception, Brandon McGinley calls for Catholics to return to the essence of the faith, rather than to a previous era of Catholic "success", and so find creative ways to restore a robust and evangelical Catholic culture in the unknown years to come.
Contents
[2:03] Fr. Ratzinger's famous quote about a smaller and more spiritual Church
[8:30] Catholicism an embodied faith
[12:32] Incompatibility between American and Catholic principles?
[19:10] American Catholicism in the 1950s—incipient worldiness
[27:15] The importance of small habits in living out the reality of faith and Christ's passion
[33:04] Spiritual corrosion caused by immoderate anger towards the hierarchy
[39:44] Remembering the Church Triumphant
[43:05] "Third places" and the importance of the parish as a community space
[51:05] The need for community among nuclear families
[55:05] Catholic hospitality and vulnerability
[1:00:04] Why we shouldn't separate "moral" from "social" teaching
Links
The Prodigal Church https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/the-prodigal-church
Brandon McGinley https://brandonmcginley.com/
Brandon McGinley on Twitter https://twitter.com/brandonmcg
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
From 1981 to 1993, Jane Greer edited Plains Poetry Journal, publishing poets who were reviving the traditional tools of "rhyme, meter, alliteration, assonance, painstaking attention to diction" which had been abandoned in favor of free verse. (These poets included names you will be familiar with from the Catholic scene today, such as Anthony Esolen and Mike Aquilina.) Then, as they say, life happened, and Greer didn't write a single poem for almost thirty years.
But God's ways are unpredictable. After three decades of silence, Greer was suddenly struck with a poem while sitting in a New Orleans café. This began a steady stream of output resulting in her new collection, Love Like a Conflagration (which also includes the poems from her only previous book).
Greer's poetry is musical, fiery and accessible, and has received high praise from many of today's foremost Catholic poets, including past podcast guests Samuel Hazo, James Matthew Wilson, Anthony Esolen and Mike Aquilina. Hazo writes: "There is not a poem in this remarkable book that will leave you unchanged or be forgotten … Each of these poems is as permanently current as it is consummate. [Greer] puts on the page the passion long absent from American poetry. I've never read a book as poetically and beautifully frank as this."
Contents
[2:57] Style and intended audience of Jane's work
[3:53] The introductory poem to Love Like a Conflagration, "Micha-el"
[9:00] Structure of the collection
[12:22] "Her Green Desire"
[16:19] Jane's 30-year hiatus from poetry and providential return
[23:13] "At the Cafe Pontalba", Jane's first poem after 30 years of silence
[25:27] Jane's beginnings as a self-taught poet and early influences
[30:30] "Because God Wanted It", a poem about unmerited grace
[34:28] The relationship between Jane's spiritual life and her poetry
[38:12] Dealing with lust in "Song of the Passerby" and "Pastoral"
[45:08] Jane's work founding and editing Plains Poetry Journal
[50:27] "Bourbon, Neat" and pure play with language
[55:34] The immersive musicality and force of Jane's poetry
[57:50] "Feminist Androgyne"
[1:03:15] "The Haunting"
[1:05:09] "Twice Betrayed", a poem in Lazarus' voice
[1:10:49] "In the Pool at the Bourbon Orleans"
Links
Read "Micha-el" https://isi.org/modern-age/micha-el/
Love Like a Conflagration https://lambingpress.com/product/love-like-a-conflagration/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Modernity treats the human body pretty much as a machine for the production of pleasure. It is tuned up, fueled, and oiled for peak performance, and then when it is no longer of use, it is burnt and disposed of in a maximally efficient manner.
Paradoxically, the denial of a soul which persists after bodily death has led us to deny the body itself as fundamental to human identity. The allegedly soulless modern has less hope of resurrection than the Saducees ever did. We somehow fear death more yet never engage with the reality of death.
Scott Hahn joins the show to talk about how the incarnation, death and resurrection of the Son of God changed how our civilization viewed the body, death and the afterlife. Unfortunately, even Catholics today treat dead bodies in a way that does not convey this reality. Yet how we approach death & burial has the potential to show the Catholic difference and evangelize our culture.
Contents
[1:24] The present confrontation (or lack thereof) with mortality and death
[4:28] Modern Gnostic attitudes towards the body
[7:21] The ancient pagan sense of reverence for dead bodies vs. that of the Hebrews
[15:08] The duality in Jewish treatment of corpses
[23:48] Shift to early Christian attitudes
[29:12] Rediscovering a healthy, balanced and hopeful view of the human body
[31:41] What does it mean that we will have "spiritual bodies" after the resurrection?
[47:07] Catholic beliefs about the consequences of failing to properly bury the dead
[53:50] Revival of cremation by French revolutionaries, Masons, Communists and neo-pagans as a deliberate attack on the Church
[59:51] The relevance of sacramentals and relics to the question of cremation
[1:05:05] Inordinate fear of death during the present pandemic; reasons for hope
Links
Hope to Die: The Christian Meaning of Death and the Resurrection of the Body https://stpaulcenter.com/product/hope-to-die-the-christian-meaning-of-death-and-the-resurrection-of-the-body/
"In all things, charity (even pandemics)" https://www.lincolndiocese.org/news/diocesan-news/13928-in-all-things-charity-even-pandemics
Scott Hahn http://www.scotthahn.com/
Emily Stimpson Chapman https://thecatholictable.com/about-emily-stimpson/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This is the second half of an interview with G.C. Dilsaver on his book The Three Marks of Manhood: How to be Priest, Prophet and King of Your Family. Dr. Dilsaver discusses how the Christian husband and father must wield three staves: the scepter of authority, the crosier of co-episcopacy, and the cross of redemption.
This last is most important, as the Christian patriarch's mandate is to lead in self-abnegation so that he may decrease and Christ may increase. The measure of his success is not in providing materially for his family but in teaching them by example to love God above all else and to suffer well for His sake.
Contents
The Scepter of Authority
[3:30] Exercising one's authority delegated by God is a duty in obedience and humility—but that means authority is not based on superiority in intelligence, goodness, etc.
[7:06] Humiliation in the exercise of authority
[10:06] Why modern men run away from their authority
[14:10] Christian patriarchy as the greatest bastion against the overreaching State
The Crosier of Co-Episcopacy
[18:10] A father is his family's spiritual leader and representative/intercessor before God
[21:08] The need for an intense prayer life to be a truly engaged and militant Catholic man
[23:49] The cloistered home—not to escape the world, but to enter the depth of reality
[26:45] The father too must be devoted to the home
[28:15] The prophetic role; practical ways of being the priest of the domestic church
The Cross of Redemption
[36:07] Rebirth in Christ through the experience of weakness and failure
[37:58] Danger of father seeing himself mainly as material provider, not teaching family to suffer well
[45:15] Critique of "suburban secular Christianity", the problem with "coping" with reality
[49:12] Familial asceticism: poverty, chastity and obedience in the home
[57:51] Setting an example in obedience to the Church and, at times, defiance of the State
[1:02:38] How the Cross transforms and fulfills romantic love
Links
The Three Marks of Manhood https://www.tanbooks.com/three-marks-of-manhood-how-to-be-priest-prophet-and-king-of-your-family-2.html
Psychomoralitics website http://www.souldeepscience.com/
Psychomoralitics book https://www.amazon.com/Psychomoralitics-Soul-Deep-Alternative-Failed-Professions/dp/099936071X
Celebrating God-Given Gender https://www.amazon.com/Celebrating-God-Given-Gender-Masculinity-Femininity/dp/0999360701
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
There is a great need for Catholics to acknowledge the timeless Biblical and Magisterial teachings about the headship of fathers over their families. Yet St. Paul's simultaneous call for husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the Church - that is, to the point of death - is sometimes treated as an addendum when in fact it is the very essence of Christian patriarchy.
In his 2010 book The Three Marks of Manhood: How to Be Priest, Prophet, and King of Your Family, the "father of Christian psychology" G.C. Dilsaver upholds the natural and supernatural basis of male headship while describing how it must be purified of pagan, dominating and selfish elements. The path to true Christian manhood is through the crucible of humiliation. Against the notion of the rigidly masculine and "active" man, Dilsaver also insists that receptivity is the basic condition of the creature regardless of sex—hence the maxim of Catholic mysticism that the soul is feminine in relation to Christ.
This is the first part of a two-part interview.
Contents
[2:48] Christian patriarchy is about devotion to the feminine as something sacred
[4:29] Self-sacrificial love as the essence of headship
[10:25] The need to purify male headship in an exclusively Christian spirit rather than returning to a historical model from past Christian civilization which retained pagan elements
[13:35] Inseparability of the hierarchy and sacramentality of marriage
[17:37] Magnanimity—greatness of soul, greatness of cause, tempered with humility
[21:43] Receptivity, not fatherhood, intrinsic to all creatures; the soul is feminine in relation to Christ; woman as pure distillation of creatureliness
[28:32] Men need to learn from the specifically feminine aspects of Mary's greatness
[33:02] The problem with stoicism and machismo
[37:37] The scepter of self-discipline and the insufficiency of acquired virtue; necessity of humiliation and love in the present moment
[44:40] Initiation of young men vs. young women
[50:33] Dangers of getting married young just to get married, without self-knowledge
Links
The Three Marks of Manhood https://www.tanbooks.com/three-marks-of-manhood-how-to-be-priest-prophet-and-king-of-your-family-2.html
Psychomoralitics website http://www.souldeepscience.com/
Psychomoralitics book https://www.amazon.com/Psychomoralitics-Soul-Deep-Alternative-Failed-Professions/dp/099936071X
Celebrating God-Given Gender https://www.amazon.com/Celebrating-God-Given-Gender-Masculinity-Femininity/dp/0999360701
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
After much popular demand, Thomas pays tribute to legendary Catholic sci-fi writer Gene Wolfe, who passed away last year. Though not known to the general public, Wolfe is a sci-fi author's sci-fi author—a number of his contemporaries considered him not only the best in the genre, but in American fiction at the time (Ursula Le Guin said "Wolfe is our Melville"). Among today's writers, one of his biggest fans is Neil Gaiman.
One critic described Wolfe's magnum opus, The Book of the New Sun, as "a Star Wars–style space opera penned by G. K. Chesterton in the throes of a religious conversion."
Wolfe also held the patent on the machine that makes Pringles. That's his face on the can.
In this episode, Fr. Brendon Laroche comments on Wolfe's works, while Wolfe's friend, Catholic historian and sci-fi expert Sandra Miesel, shares personal reminiscences.
Contents
[2:48] Why Fr. Brendon likes Gene Wolfe
[4:14] Cryptic yet entertaining, evocations of memory, comparisons to Bradbury and Chesterton
[13:23] Wolfe's status in the world of sci-fi and speculative fiction
[16:50] Sci-fi treatments of medieval characters, discussion of "Under Hill"
[22:57] The nature and possibilities of "genre" fiction
[32:03] Sandra Miesel's involvement in the sci-fi world, friendship with Gene Wolfe
[35:21] Wolfe's unique and strange mind, wide reading and vocabulary, writing Sandra into his magnum opus
[38:01] Wolfe's conversion to Catholicism and devotion to his wife, Catholics in the sci-fi world
[40:04] Wolfe's magnum opus as Augustinian confession; the spiritual function of fantasy
[46:00] Premise and themes of The Book of the New Sun
[52:26] Sacramentality and treatment of symbols [spoilers here]
[1:02:38] Sandra's work as a master costumer, its influence on Wolfe's invention of Severian
[1:06:11] Sandra on Catholicism in Wolfe's writings, his esotericism
[1:10:05] Wolfe's subtle allusions and puzzles
[1:20:44] Wolfe's treatment of sexuality; torture and illicit pleasure as two sides of the same coin
[1:27:58] Opening paragraph of "The Fifth Head of Cerberus"
[1:30:52] Colorful anecdotes about Wolfe and other sci-fi legends; reflections on how the scene has changed
Links
Recommended starting point: The Best of Gene Wolfe https://www.amazon.com/Best-Gene-Wolfe-Definitive-Retrospective/dp/076532136X
The Book of the New Sun in two volumes:
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Claw-First-Half-Book/dp/0312890176/
https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Citadel-Second-Half-Book/dp/0312890184/
Read the short story "Under Hill" http://www.infinitematrix.net/stories/shorts/under_hill.html
Wolfe's essay on Tolkien, "The Best Introduction to the Mountains" http://www.scifiwright.com/2011/05/gene-wolfe-on-jrr-tolkien-the-best-introduction-to-the-mountains/
Tolkien's letter to Gene Wolfe http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Letter_to_Gene_Wolfe#:~:text=On%207%20November%201966%2C%20J.R.R.,the%20footnote%20is%20in%20script.
Interview with Wolfe dealing with his Catholicism https://www.gwern.net/docs/fiction/1992-jordan.pdf
Sandra Miesel's "A Conversation with Catholic SF Writers" https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2009/08/10/a-conversation-with-catholic-sf-writers/
Two different (non-Catholic) podcasts which are quite helpful in exploring Wolfe's many and varied works: The Gene Wolfe Literary Podcast (https://www.claytemplemedia.com/the-gene-wolfe-literary-podcast) and Alzabo Soup (https://alzabosoup.libsyn.com/).
Follow-up comments from Sandra Miesel: "A recent book to learn how the field operated in the Good Old Days is ASTOUNDING by Alec Nevla Lee.
My novel was DREAMRIDER, later expanded as SHAMAN published by Baen Books in paperback (1989). I co-edited with Paul Kerry an academic book, LIGHT BEYOND ALL SHADOW on religion in JRR Tolkien's works. I co-edited with David Drake two anthologies about sf writers influenced by Kipling, HEADS TO THE STORM and A SEPARATE STAR. I edited or packaged books by Poul Anderson, Gordon R. Dickson, and Andre Norton.
And how did I forget to mention my most successful publication, THE DA VINCI HOAX coauthored with Carl Olson?"
Some other novels mentioned:
By Gene Wolfe: Latro (series), The Urth of the New Sun, The Book of the Long Sun (series)
Poul Anderson, The High Crusade
James Blish, A Case of Conscience
Frank Herbert, Dune
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie plays Jesus in The Chosen, the first multi-season TV series about the life of our Lord. He joins the podcast to discuss his approach to playing the God-Man, the spiritual impact of the series, its groundbreaking approach to funding and distribution—and his devotion to the Divine Mercy.
Contents
[1:10] The unique production, financing and distribution of The Chosen
[10:01] Filming locations and research for the first season of the show
[13:48] How Jonathan was cast, his preparation process
[23:00] Story behind Jonathan's connection to the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy
[32:23] Portraying the mundane physical actions of Jesus
[38:27] Humor in The Chosen and depicting Jesus' sense of fun
[41:40] Portraying Jesus' relationship with His Father
[49:20] The show's use of flashbacks and Scriptural typology
[56:52] The cast's religious diversity; the spiritual impact on the show on its makers and viewers
[1:00:40] The forthcoming second season and growth of VidAngel Studios
[1:03:55] Jonathan's work as an illustrator and his ideas for future pursuits
Links
The Chosen app:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-chosen/id1473663873
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vidangel.thechosen&hl=en_US
Follow Jonathan Roumie here:
https://www.facebook.com/JonathanRoumieOfficial/
https://www.instagram.com/jonathanroumieofficial/
https://www.jonathanroumie.com/
VidAngel Studios https://studios.vidangel.com/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
It has become fashionable in traditionalist circles to blame all problems in modern theology on the so-called nouvelle théologie, including a range of thinkers such as Henri de Lubac, Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Hans Küng and Josef Ratzinger. But this is based on a number of misconceptions: about the nature of the nouvelle théologie itself, and about the views held by some of these theologians.
Nouvelle théologie is not a unified movement in which everyone held the same views. Some of the "new theologians" were radicals and modernists who wanted the Church to bow to the modern world. Some were orthodox men who wanted to revitalize theology by a return to the sources: the Fathers, Scripture, and St. Thomas (in his own words, not as filtered through the commentators). Others were harder to pin down.
A broad-brush approach to the nouvelle théologie has resulted in injustices, perhaps as much to theology itself as to some good Churchmen whose reputations have been tarnished. Even Ratzinger has been dubbed a modernist by a certain trigger-happy trad celebrity. It's time for an intervention, and theologian Richard DeClue is here to bring some sobriety.
Links
DeClue's Views https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq3P-y0YV1V6owHdCRw4I3A
Richard DeClue's blog, Sapientia Nulliformis https://declubac.wixsite.com/sapientianulliformis
Episode 38: The Sacred Monster, on Garrigou-Lagrange https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-38-sacred-monster-matthew-k-minerd/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Modern education treats the child as a blank slate, a malleable object to be formed according to the will of whoever has power over educational policy. Classical Christian education treats the child as a person made in the image of God, a mystery to be held in awe, and tends to the flowering of his already-given nature by leading him to wisdom and virtue.
Andrew Kern, founder of the CiRCE Institute (Center for Independent Research on Classical Education), is one of the best guests Thomas has ever interviewed. In this episode he leads us through the profound basics of classical Christian education—offering a radically different view of the human person and of reality itself from that which predominates today.
Contents
[5:31] What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?
[10:31] What is a classical education? It is simply a list of great books one must study?
[15:58] Teaching "subjects" vs. the seven liberal arts
[21:18] Using music to illustrate a number of ideas about classical education
[28:20] The need for the art of rhetoric in a sophisticated political system like ours
[31:04] The generative power of form
[37:35] Respecting the "Holy of Holies" within the child—an image of God and a mystery
[42:38] Each of the seven liberal arts has a form and skill, tending to wisdom and virtue
[55:14] How mastering the liberal arts glorifies God
[59:35] Classical education has no 'method'
[1:09:39] The seven stages of a lesson
[1:15:13] Services offered by the CiRCE Institute
[1:23:09] How would a classical school teach "practical" skills like finance?
[1:30:19] Practical concerns of parents hoping to educate their children classically
Links
Ask Andrew your own questions, live—Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 ET in May https://www.circeinstitute.org/ask-andrew-live
Older Ask Andrew podcast feed https://www.circeinstitute.org/podcasts/ask-andrew
CiRCE Institute https://www.circeinstitute.org/
Books recommended by Andrew:
The best book on classical Christian education: Norms and Nobility by David Hicks https://classicalconversationsbooks.com/products/3s032
CiRCE's upcoming book edited by David Kern, including essays by past Catholic Culture Podcast guests James Matthew Wilson and Anthony Esolen (and a poem by past guest Dana Gioia): 30 Poems to Memorize (Before It's Too Late) https://www.circeinstitute.org/30poems
C.S. Lewis, The Discarded Image https://www.amazon.com/Discarded-Image-Introduction-Renaissance-Literature/dp/1107604702
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
St. John Henry Newman was involved in several art forms throughout his life. In literature, he was perhaps the greatest English prose writer of his time, and a highly skilled poet. In music, he was an accomplished amateur violinist, taught music to the boys at his school in Littlemore, and oversaw liturgical music as the head of an Oratorian community. In architecture, he commissioned a number of church buildings and was involved in controversies over the role of the Gothic in contemporary English Catholic church architecture.
Though Newman never wrote a book on the topic of beauty, comments on beauty and the arts are sprinkled throughout his writings, sometimes in surprising contexts. In Unearthly Beauty: The Aesthetic of St. John Henry Newman, Fr. Guy Nicholls of the Birmingham Oratory draws these comments together for an overview of the role of beauty in Newman's life and thought. For Newman, the true purpose of earthly beauty is to draw us beyond itself to the higher and more real beauty of God.
Contents
[4:02] Synthesizing Newman's various comments on beauty into a coherent whole
[4:57] Unearthly vs. earthly beauty, and the dangers of the latter according to Newman
[10:49] Real vs unreal
[14:46] A danger of art: severing noble sentiments from action
[20:43] The problem with making morality a matter of good taste
[23:18] How people were struck by Newman's personal beauty
[31:00] Two formative experiences of beauty which Newman connected with Paradise: his sister Mary's holiness, and the Sicilian landscape
[39:09] Newman's involvement with and views on church architecture
[46:36] Newman the amateur musician; his views on the power of music
[57:45] The importance of primitive music and art vs. "scientific" music and realistic art, especially in liturgy
[1:03:43] The importance of music in the Rule of the Oratory; St. Philip Neri's practice of using entertainments to "allure" people to God
[1:06:55] Difference between devotional and liturgical music; Newman's use of popular song and chant
[1:12:58] Music in the Little Oratory under Newman; adapting to the needs of the local community (esp. the poor)
[1:19:25] The origins of the musical genre "oratorio" with St. Philip's Oratory and other oratories of the time
[1:23:13] Comparison and contrast between the experience of conscience and that of beauty
Links
Unearthly Beauty: The Aesthetic of St. John Henry Newman http://www.gracewing.co.uk/page190.html
Fr. Guy Nicholls https://www.bfriars.ox.ac.uk/people/rev-fr-guy-nicholls-cong-orat/
Newman's sermon on "The Danger of Accomplishments": http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume2/sermon30.html
Image of Newman University Church in Dublin, founded by Newman for the Catholic University of Ireland and designed by John Hungerford Pollen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newman_University_Church#/media/File:Newman_University_Church_Interior,_Dublin,_Ireland_-_Diliff.jpg
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
A look back through the Catholic Culture Podcast archive. This episode contains highlights from:
Ep. 11 - Music and Morals - Basil Cole, O.P. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-11-music-and-morals-fr-basil-cole-op/
Ep. 14 - Priest & Actor - George Drance, S.J. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-14-priest-actor-george-drance-sj/
Ep. 15 - Online Education with the Tolkien Professor - Corey Olsen https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-15-online-education-with-tolkien-professor-corey-olsen/
Ep. 16 - Extremly Specific Middle-Earth Q&A with the Tolkien Professor - Corey Olsen https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-16-extremely-specific-middle-earth-qa-with-tolkien-professor-corey-olsen/
Ep. 17 - A Civics Lesson for Catholics - Bob Marshall https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-17-civics-lesson-for-catholics-bob-marshall/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Stabat Mater, a medieval hymn that was long used as the sequence for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is now commonly sung between each Station of the Cross. This prayer, in which we ask Our Lady to help us experience the same sorrow and love with which she participated in her Son's Passion, has been set to music by many great composers.
This episode explores the most famous and influential setting of Stabat Mater, completed by the 26-year-old Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) as he was dying of tuberculosis. An interview with leading Pergolesi scholar Francesco Cotticelli is combined with excerpts from the piece as recorded by La Nuova Musica (used with permission).
Contents
[2:11] The Stabat Mater text in the context of liturgy and Marian devotion
[6:30] Pergolesi's bio and career
[9:30] Aria from L'Olimpiade (used with permission from Lyubov Petrova)
[17:37] Deathbed composition of the Stabat Mater
[18:52] Pergolesi's place and innovations in sacred music of the time
[23:07] First movement, Stabat Mater dolorosa
[35:04] Second movement, Cuius animan gementem
[40:32] Pergolesi's approach to text-setting: alternating between contemplation and action
[43:20] Sixth movement, Vidit suum dulcem natum
[50:35] Seventh movement, Eia, Mater, fons amoris
[56:45] Musical characteristics of the baroque and galant styles
[58:27] Ninth movement, Sancta mater, istud agas
[1:11:44] Popular settings of the Stabat Mater before Pergolesi
[1:12:49] Twelfth movement, Quando corpus morietur
[1:17:20] The somber ending to the piece: hope amidst sorrow
[1:20:30] Contemporary and later criticism of the piece for being too theatrical
[1:23:11] Other interesting settings of the Stabat Mater
Links
Recording by La Nuova Musica (featured in this episode) http://www.harmoniamundi.com/#!/albums/2239
Also recommended: Recording by Concerto Italiano https://www.amazon.com/Pergolesi-Scarlatti-Stabat-Mater-Alessandrini/dp/B00CMSP1HU/
Website devoted to settings of the Stabat Mater https://www.stabatmater.info/
The text https://www.stabatmater.info/english-translation/
Lyubov Petrova sings Aristea's aria from Pergolesi's opera L'Olimpiade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_SsVAXMMqo
La Nuova Musica http://lanuovamusica.co.uk/
Lyubov Petrova https://imgartists.com/roster/29757/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Timothy and David Gordon join the show to discuss their new book Rules for Retrogrades: Forty Tactics to Defeat the Radical Left. It's a reverse-Alinskyan playbook for conservatives and Christians who are sick of being outmaneuvered at every turn by the forces seeking the destruction of the Christian faith and the natural foundations of the social order.
The Gordon brothers want us to stop falling for the left's tactics, which take advantage of the timidity, and false humility of today's conservative Christians, and start turning the radicals' own tactics against them as much as possible within the bounds of Christian morality.
https://www.tanbooks.com/rules-for-retrogrades-forty-tactics-to-defeat-the-radical-left.html
Contents
[1:21] Remarks on the beginning of a dialogue
[6:11] Egalitarianism as the beating heart of radical leftism
[9:17] What is a retrograde?
[12:45] "No truth is 'off-limits'": Don't censor your thoughts for fear of consequences or optics
[21:05] Admission of sin's wickedness a prerequisite for mercy
[23:01] "Always be on offense": why a defensive position leads to failure; it should fall to those who advocate wickedness to be on the defensive
[28:21] "Risus est bellum": The best response to an absurd or evil claim could be laughter or rebuke rather than dignifying it with an argument
[30:38] Virtue-signaling Christians who try to curry favor with the left by throwing retrogrades under the bus; mod-cons vs. militant mods
[33:32] Ways that leftist conditioning affects even staunch conservatives
[37:50] "Be coarse but never crass"—have "thick skin and a weak stomach"; how the hierarchy of virtues gives us moral perspective in politics (civility is relatively low on the virtue totem pole)
[45:23] The degree to which Alinsky's tactics may be used against the left; the rules of swordsmanship vs. the ends for which you fight
[50:57] Why prayer was not discussed in Rules for Retrogrades
[55:38] "For radicals, the issue is never the real issue": ex., pushing maternity leave is a pretext to normalize being a working mother
[59:46] The importance of the order in which the rules were arranged
[1:01:34] "The root of cultural decay is feminism: end feminism to end radicalism"
[1:07:00] Follow-up comments by Thomas on the importance of prayer
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This episode features two young Catholic publishers who are doing cutting-edge work to preserve and carry forward the Catholic literary legacy, building on the accomplishments of the great Catholic writers of the 20th century in particular.
The first guest is Joshua Hren, founder and Editor-in-Chief of Wiseblood Books. Wiseblood's focus is on cultivating and publishing new works that maintain a high standard of literary quality and Catholic vision: featuring up-and-coming writers alongside established successes like Dana Gioia, Samuel Hazo, James Matthew Wilson, and Michael O'Brien.
Besides introducing us to the Wiseblood catalogue, Joshua talks about his own fiction and non-fiction writing and his calling as an editor. He and Thomas discuss issues in Catholic fiction such the danger of a narrow preoccupation with modern neuroses, and flaunting the secular taboo of "cultural appropriation" (e.g., the idea that white authors cannot write black characters).
The second guest is John Emmet Clarke, Editor-in-Chief of Cluny Media. This family business is preserving and reintroducing forgotten Catholic classics of the 20th century, bringing to the surface the submerged lineage of many of our favorite authors—republishing crucial writers like François Mauriac, Charles Peguy, and Romano Guardini.
A recurring theme in both interviews is the influence of Flannery O'Connor. Wiseblood Books is, of course, named after her first novel, though that doesn't stop Thomas and Joshua from throwing some slight, friendly shade at her dominance over the discussion of 20th-century Catholic "literary" fiction. Meanwhile, John Emmet Clarke says that if she described the South she portrayed as "Christ-haunted", the Cluny catalogue could be said to be "Flannery-O'Connor-haunted" in a reverse sense, as they publish many authors who influenced her.
Contents
Joshua Hren
[4:11] The upcoming Colosseum Summer Institute, a workshop for poets and fiction writers given by Josh Hren and James Matthew Wilson
[9:25] The necessity of "cultural appropriation" in fiction
[12:59] The mission of Wiseblood Books: "Wide-eyed for continuities of beauty and truth"
[15:55] Using short-form publications to generate interest in the Catholic literary heritage
[18:10] Dana Gioia's crucial support and encouragement
[21:48] Michael O'Brien's writings for Wiseblood about the Apocalypse and sexual abuse
[24:59] Wiseblood's newest novel: Samuel Hazo's If Nobody Calls, I'm Not Home
[27:20] Wiseblood's residency program bringing promising works-in-progress to fruition
[32:22] Apologia for the role of a fiction editor
[42:43] Joshua's conversion and marriage story
[50:41] Joshua's fiction writing: Stream-of-consciousness, poetic prose, people under pressure
[1:05:30] Examining "Christ-haunted fiction" in his How to Read and Write Like a Catholic
[1:13:43] The dominance of Flannery O'Connor in our awareness of 20th-c. Catholic fiction and the need to rediscover other great writers like J.F. Powers
[1:18:24] Is there a narrowness to O'Connor's focus on uniquely modern neuroses? Contrasts with Tolkien and Manzoni
John Emmet Clarke
[1:26:18] The mission of Cluny Media: promoting the 20th-century Catholic literary tradition
[1:29:46] The process of republishing out-of-print works
[1:32:39] Showing the hidden lineage of well-known Catholic authors; Mauriac's fiction; writers who influenced O'Connor; Fulton Sheen
[1:41:10] Scholarly works of Ven. Sheen
[1:42:21] New works published by Cluny
[1:44:09] Cluny's connections to the Dominican Order
[1:46:18] A family business; looking to the past for directions for the future
[1:49:06] Cluny's distribution partnerships with parishes
Links
Cluny has made a discount offer available to Catholic Culture Podcast listeners. To receive the discount code, sign up to their mailing list at this link and include "Catholic Culture Podcast" in the Affiliation tab of the form. http://eepurl.com/gNrNq1
All of Wiseblood's offerings are discounted if purchased directly from their website: http://www.wisebloodbooks.com
Colosseum Summer Institute https://www.colosseuminstitute.com/summer-institute.html
Wiseblood Books mentioned in this episode:
Ryan Wilson, How to Think Like a Poet https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p97/How_to_Think_Like_a_Poet%2C_by_Ryan_Wilson.html
Dana Gioia, The Catholic Writer Today and Other Essays https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/c4/Wiseblood_Essays_.html
James Matthew Wilson, The River of the Immaculate Conception https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p96/The_River_of_the_Immaculate_Conception.html
Michael D. O'Brien (contributor), Abuse of Sexuality in the Catholic Church https://www.divineprovidencepress.com/store/p10/Abuse_of_Sexuality_in_the_Catholic_Church_%28Shipping_Included%29.html
Michael D. O'Brien, The Apocalypse: Warning, Hope & Consolation https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p93/The_Apocalypse%3A_Warning%2C_Hope%2C_%26_Consolation.html
Samuel Hazo, If Nobody Calls, I'm Not Home: The Open Letters of Bim Nakely https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p98/IF_NOBODY_CALLS%2C_I%27M_NOT_HOME%3A_THE_OPEN_LETTERS_OF_BIM_NAKELY%2C_by_Samuel_Hazo.html
Writings by Joshua Hren mentioned in this episode:
"The First Commandment of Fiction" https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/03/the-first-commandment-of-fiction
"A Crisis of Curiositas" https://www.crisismagazine.com/2019/a-crisis-of-curiositas
Joshua Hren has two forthcoming books: In the Wine Press, his second collection of short stories, from Angelico Press, and How to Read and Write Like a Catholic, from TAN Books. His previously published books are:
This Our Exile: Short Stories https://angelicopress.org/product/this-our-exile/
Middle-Earth and the Return to the Common Good: J.R.R. Tolkien and Political Philosophy https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K81KLQ5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
Cluny Media books mentioned:
Lyra Martyrum: The Poetry of the English Martyrs, 1503-1681 https://www.clunymedia.com/product/lyra-martyrum/
François Mauriac https://www.clunymedia.com/?s=mauriac
Caroline Gordon, The Malefactors https://www.clunymedia.com/product/the-malefactors/
Fulton Sheen https://www.clunymedia.com/?s=sheen
Augustine Di Nioia, O.P., Grace in Season https://www.clunymedia.com/product/grace-in-season/
Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., Philosophizing in Faith https://www.clunymedia.com/product/philosophizing-in-faith/
Humbert Clerissac, O.P., The Mystery of the Church https://www.clunymedia.com/product/the-mystery-of-the-church/
Past podcast interviews mentioned:
James Matthew Wilson https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-57-river-immaculate-conception-james-matthew-wilson/
Poetry of the English Martyrs https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-69-poetry-english-martyrs-benedict-whalen/
Matthew Minerd on Garrigou-Lagrange https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-38-sacred-monster-matthew-k-minerd/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
A look back through the Catholic Culture Podcast archive. This episode contains highlights from:
Ep. 1 - A Working Actor's Working Faith - Tony Mockus, Sr. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-1-working-actors-working-faith/
Ep. 2 - The Largest Civil Disobedience Movement in American History - Bill Cotter, Phil Lawler https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-2-largest-civil-disobedience-movement-in-us-history/
Ep. 3 - Native American Catholicism and the New Evangelization - Peter Jesserer Smith https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-3-native-american-catholicism-new-evangelization/
Ep. 4 - The Marian Option - Carrie Gress https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-4-marian-option-carrie-gress/
Ep. 5 - Hospital Dreams - Chris Baker https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-5-hospital-dreams-chris-baker/
Ep. 9 - How to Start an Institutional Apostolate, Pt. 1 - Jeff Mirus https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-9-how-to-start-institutional-apostolate-part-1-jeff-mirus/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
In 1581, a young Englishman named Henry Walpole attended the execution of the Jesuit Edmund Campion. As Campion was hung, drawn and quartered, Walpole stood close enough to be spattered with his holy blood. Though Campion's fame in England was already great, Walpole would amplify it further with a splendid, lengthy poem, which became enormously popular among English Catholics—so popular that the man who printed the book had his ears cut off as punishment.
In his poem Walpole wrote:
We cannot fear a mortal torment, we,
This martyr's blood hath moistened all our hearts,
Whose parted quarters when we chance to see
We learn to play the constant Christian's parts.
This was more than wordplay: Two years after Campion's death, Walpole became a priest, and was himself hung for the faith in 1595.
St. Henry Walpole was not the only martyr who wrote poems. The 16th and 17th centuries produced a number of men whose courageous faith was accompanied by prodigious learning and literary talent. St. Thomas More wrote poems while languishing in the Tower of London. Another Jesuit martyr, St. Robert Southwell, powerfully influenced the later movement of "metaphysical poetry", including the greatest Protestant poets of succeeding centuries—such as George Herbert and John Donne.
The poetry of the English martyrs has been collected in an anthology called Lyra Martyrum. Benedict Whalen, the editor of the second edition, joins Thomas to discuss these authors, with Catholic Culture Audiobooks' James T. Majewski performing several of their works.
Contents
[2:08] The historical/literary/educational circumstances that gave us a period of martyr-poets
[7:23] Their influence as poets in the succeeding centuries
[10:26] St. Robert Southwell's Prefatory Epistle on the purpose of poetry
[12:58] All the poets in the first edition of the anthology have since been beatified or canonized
[14:29] The martyrdoms of the Jesuit Saints Edmund Campion and Henry Walpole
[17:43] St. Henry Walpole, "Upon the Martyrdom of M. Edmund Campion"
[30:23] The tradition of meditating on the Four Last Things
[33:08] St. Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, "Meditation upon Heaven"
[37:43] St. Thomas More's early poems written for courtly occasions
[40:11] More's poems written in the Tower of London: "Lewis the Lost Lover" and "Davy the Dicer"
[44:17] The theme of Fortune in medieval and Renaissance philosophy and poetry
[47:12] The influence of Latin classics on English verse
[49:16] More's influence on English prose
[51:29] The life and work of St. Robert Southwell
[54:36] St. Robert Southwell, "The Burning Babe"
[59:39] "A Child My Choice"
[1:05:27] Southwell's conceptual and sonic density: excerpts from "The Nativity of Christ" and "Look Home"
[1:09:13] "I Die Alive"
[1:12:52] "Mary Magdalen's Complaint at Christ's Death"
[1:16:30] The remarkable story of St. Robert Southwell's martyrdom
[1:26:10] The appendix of this edition of Lyra Martyrum
Links
Lyra Martyrum https://www.clunymedia.com/product/lyra-martyrum/
Benedict Whalen https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/benedict-whalen/
Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://www.catholicculture.org/audiobooks
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Thomas recently had the privilege of playing piano on the latest album by Catholic composer Mark Christopher Brandt. The Butterfly consists of a suite for string quartet and piano, plus two solo piano pieces. The suite, which uses the butterfly's transformation as an allegory of conversion, was described by the Catholic poet Dana Gioia as "fresh, inventive and alive".
In this episode you will hear the beautiful Butterfly suite in full, followed by a no less beautiful conversation in which Thomas shares what he learned from Mark during this project, and Mark (as always) shares much wisdom about music and the Christian life, peppered with examples from his journey in both.
Central to the conversation about music is the continuum of artists throughout history, and the deeper continuum for Christian artists: that our work transcends history because our first audience is the heavenly court, regardless of what welcome our art finds in this world.
Contents
[2:51] Accompanying text to The Butterfly
[4:38] The Butterfly suite
[21:09] Why Mark wanted another pianist (Thomas) to play on this project
[23:22] Granting the string players more room for individual creativity than is usual in the classical world
[28:06] What Mark taught Thomas in the studio: making a mistake is not a sin
[36:54] Benefits of documenting the results of one's practice in order to move forward
[41:59] The timeline of the album, spanning decades of Mark's journey as a composer
[47:09] The historical 'continuum' of music and being a part of its progress
[52:38] Mark's counsel for those beginning to study composition
[1:02:41] Contemporary pop has lost its connection to what came before it
[1:07:17] Christians who are joyful are misunderstood as being naive
[1:12:52] When Mark first became aware of how following Jesus was transforming him
Links
Purchase The Butterfly:
Physical copies https://markchristopherbrandt.com/the-butterfly---store.html
iTunes https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-butterfly/1488059624
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Mark-Christopher-Brandt/dp/B081K8Y1C7
Purchase the score and/or parts https://markchristopherbrandt.com/the-butterfly-scores-and-parts.html
Previous interviews with Mark:
Episode 33: Structure and Freedom in Music and in Christ https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-33-structure-and-freedom-in-music-and-in-christ-mark-christopher-brandt/
The Nightingale https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-0-nightingale-mark-christopher-brandt/
Other Resources
Mark's website https://www.markchristopherbrandt.com/
Manassas String Quartet https://www.manassasquartet.com/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
After growing up immersed in feminism and a dissident parish that left her deeply unhappy, Melody Lyons found truth and healing in the fullness of Christ's teaching on man and woman. Yet after decades of no longer considering herself a feminist, she started describing herself as a "Catholic feminist" in order to find common ground with secular women.
Melody has recently realized that this strategy is counterproductive. What's worse, today's "Catholic feminism", ostensibly designed to be compatible with the faith, is starting to look eerily similar the dissident old guard she grew up with.
Melody joins the show to discuss her conversion, the deviant spirituality of feminism, and the renewed popularity of dissidents from decades past among young, female Catholic "influencers".
She also explains how she found freedom in Pope St. John Paul II's writings on women, and how his scant rhetorical references to "true feminism" have been misinterpreted to justify the creation of a movement more rooted in secular thinking than in Christ.
Melody's core message: The Gospel is sufficient.
Contents
[1:08] Melody's background and her work as a mother, blogger and speaker
[2:11] The context out of which her blog post, 'Why I am No Longer a Catholic Feminist', arose
[8:14] Melody's upbringing in a divorced, feminist household and dissident church
[9:53] Feminism is not only political, it is inevitably spiritual
[17:02] War of all against all vs. the claimed goal of equality
[21:04] Melody's conversion to real Catholicism through her husband and St. John Paul II
[29:23] Catholic feminists' attempt to co-opt the pro-life movement
[35:24] The dangers of certain social media influencers
[38:25] The failed attempt to find common ground between Catholic and secular feminists
[41:58] The gradual subordination of faith to worldly thinking after Catholic feminism is adopted
[44:30] Melody's response to the belief that feminism is necessary in our historical context
[48:53] The bullying nature of feminism and its pressure on men
[50:36] How men can positively influence the women in their lives
[55:44] The response to Melody's post
Links
Melody Lyons, "Why I am No Longer A Catholic Feminist" https://www.theessentialmother.com/blog-2/why-i-am-not-a-catholic-feminist
Melody Lyons on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theessentialmother/
Melody Lyons on Twitter https://twitter.com/TheEssentialM
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This is a tribute to Christopher Tolkien, who passed away on Jan. 16, 2020. Without Christopher's decades of dedicated scholarship, most notably his editing and publication of The Silmarillion, our knowledge of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world and very real genius would be considerably disadvantaged. Tolkien scholar John Garth, author of the acclaimed biography Tolkien and the Great War, joins the show to discuss a father-son collaboration unique in literary history.
Contents
[5:36] How Christopher Tolkien helped John in working on his book
[13:40] The significance of the chronology of the composition of J.R.R. Tolkien's works
[16:31] J.R.R. Tolkien's lifelong work on The Silmarillion and the editorial problems posed by the different drafts left at his death
[23:37] Christopher's childhood involvement with his father's writing
[29:19] The input Christopher had on the chapters of The Lord of the Rings written during WWII
[34:40] Christopher's return from the war and his involvement with The Inklings
[37:01] The initial response to The Silmarillion; impetus to edit History of Middle-Earth series
[43:17] J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis's forays into science fiction
[47:47] What we learn from Tolkien's early drafts presented in The History of Middle-Earth
[55:15] Christopher's academic career, separate from his father's writing
[58:00] The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and The Fall of Gondolin
[1:00:19] John and Thomas's favorite posthumous publication from Tolkien, The Children of Húrin
[1:03:10] Tolkien's exploration of his own creativity and flaws through his characters
[1:06:01] Two recommendations for informed Tolkien fans looking to go deeper
Links
John Garth's obituary of Christopher Tolkien https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/20/christopher-tolkien-obituary
John Garth's website http://www.johngarth.co.uk/
John Garth, Tolkien and the Great War https://www.amazon.com/Tolkien-Great-War-John-Garth/dp/0007119534
John Garth, Tolkien at Exeter College http://www.johngarth.co.uk/php/tolkien_at_exeter_college.php
If you haven't read it yet, The Silmarillion https://www.amazon.com/Silmarillion-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0544338014/
John's recommendations for "advanced" Tolkien study:
The Monsters and the Critics and other Essays https://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Critics-Essays-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/026110263X
The Fall of Gondolin https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Gondolin-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/1328613046
Online Great Books discount link https://www.onlinegreatbooks.com/culture
Episode 27: interview with OGB founder Scott Hambrick https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-27-always-wanted-to-study-great-books-heres-how-youll-actually-follow-through-scott-hambrick/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Modernity elevated pure, abstract reasoning as the only way to know about reality. Reason having disenchanted everything else, modernity then became disenchanted with reason. The ascendancy of reason over superstitious myths was viewed by the postmodernists as just another myth to be exposed.
The postmodernists were right to see that the dictates of reason were not wholly separate from our lives, self-images and desires, but were colored by the stories we tell about ourselves. But they were wrong to conclude that reason is therefore inherently suspect.
That's because human life really is imbued with an intelligible, narrative form, and we are capable of telling true stories about ourselves that reflect the actual story-form of our lives and history as a whole. Reason can function as a gloss on the story of creation. The mistake was thinking that it could ever be sealed off in a laboratory to begin with.
It's time to go back to seeing our lives and history itself as the intelligible stories they really are: to set mythos alongside logos as an essential way of apprehending truth—and then to go beyond both as words dissolve in silent contemplation of the One who told the story before it began.
This is the conclusion of a three-part interview with poet-philosopher James Matthew Wilson about his book The Vision of the Soul: Truth, Goodness and Beauty in the Western Tradition.
Contents
[2:52] Recovering the role of storytelling in the perception of truth; the modern attempt to isolate reason from narrative
[12:33] How Plato used stories not just as examples but to advance his argument and get at a comprehensive truth that reason reaches only partially and inefficiently
[20:55] Story as the form and meaning of a human life
[24:47] Modern abandonment of story as a means to truth; logos is crippled without mythos
[30:42] Descartes' reduction of reason to a tool for the gaining of mastery over the world
[33:45] The Jordan Peterson-Campbell-Jung archetypal approach as a "poor man's metaphysics"
[38:29] Logos as a gloss on mythos
[41:45] Postmodernist suspicion of reason as conditioned by narrative
[44:05] The highest form of the intellectual life is silent prayer, not scholarship or analysis
[49:10] Philosophy as a way of life; the invention of the "intellectual" as a noun
[53:10] Practical takeaways: pray, ponder and play
Links
The Vision of the Soul https://www.amazon.com/Vision-Soul Goodness-Western-Tradition/dp/0813229286
James Matthew Wilson https://www.jamesmatthewwilson.com/
JMW Twitter https://twitter.com/JMWSPT
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
It's Podcast Week here at CatholicCulture.org, as we want to make more people aware of our audio offerings, particularly the two new podcasts we launched last October: Catholic Culture Audiobooks and Way of the Fathers with Mike Aquilina.
Both of these shows have broken new ground in Catholic podcasting, which has so far largely stayed in the realm of talk shows rather than scripted programming. As more and more people in the United States and globally adopt podcasts as a source of entertainment and education, it's important that Christ be there to meet them.
In this episode Thomas invites our other podcasters, voice actor James T. Majewski (Catholic Culture Audiobooks) and author Mike Aquilina (Way of the Fathers), to talk about how they make their shows and the effect reading and studying the Church Fathers has had on them personally.
If you are a lector at Mass, you will find James's comments on how he approaches reading the writings of the Saints inspiring and helpful.
Contents
[2:15] James's training in philosophy and acting as preparation for narrating the Fathers
[7:00] How Mike meandered into a career writing about the Fathers
[9:27] The original idea for audiobooks and podcasts at The Catholic Culture
[15:33] How Mike distills scholarship into an accessible and edifying presentation of early Church history
[21:20] The accessibility and affordability of creating a good-sounding podcast
[24:16] James's process for preparing nuanced readings of the Fathers at a rapid pace
[33:03] Mike's and James's recourse to the intercession of the holy authors they study
[37:38] St. John Henry Newman and the early Fathers as masters of media
[42:40] The mastery of the Fathers' work and its relevance today
[45:55] The spiritual effects of narrating the writings of saints
Links
Support CatholicCulture.org's podcasting efforts https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/category/audiobooks/
Way of the Fathers https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/category/way-fathers/
James T. Majewski https://www.jamestmajewski.com/
Mike Aquilina https://fathersofthechurch.com/
Episode 12 interview with Mike https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-12-career-in-poetry-prose-mike-aquilina/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
It is in the nature of Being to reveal itself to us, and in the natural realm this is done preeminently through beauty.
Aquinas mentions radiance, clarity and proportion as beauty's three criteria. Proportion is arguably the most important in showing forth Being, as beauty reveals the plenitude of relations among all things: the relation of the parts of a thing, of the parts to the whole which surpasses them, of the whole object to all other things, and to its Maker.
This is part two of a three-part interview with poet and philosopher James Matthew Wilson about his book The Vision of the Soul.
[3:10] The nihilistic disenchanting force of rationalism and its infiltration of Catholic thought
[10:47] Beauty as a transcendental property of Being, and the "synthesis of all the transcendentals"
[18:50] Theodor Adorno on reason and beauty
[22:53] Aquinas's tripartite formulation of beauty (radiance, clarity, proportion) illuminates the older definition of beauty as the splendor of form; an argument for proportion as most important
[30:13] The pitfalls of Maritain's focus on radiance and clarity over proportion
[35:31] The modernist experiment to find out the degree to which beauty could eschew a pleasant surface and still remain beautiful
[40:29] Modernism as a movement for metaphysical realism in art
Links
James Matthew Wilson: https://www.jamesmatthewwilson.com/
JMW Twitter: https://twitter.com/JMWSPT
The Vision of the Soul: https://www.amazon.com/Vision-Soul Goodness-Western-Tradition/dp/0813229286
A few of the artworks mentioned by James:
The Dying Gaul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_Gaul
Seamus Heaney's poem inspired by The Dying Gaul https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57044/the-grauballe-man
Laocoön and His Sons https://mymodernmet.com/laocoon-and-his-sons-statue/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
We've all heard the complaints about Catholic dating. Catholics have trouble with the concept of "casual dating" because they (rightly) see dating as oriented toward marriage but (wrongly) put all that weight on a single date. Some are perpetually "discerning" without ever really going anywhere. Women feel like if they don't find a spouse during their four years at a Catholic college, they've missed their chance.
Some problems we share with the rest of the world: Men won't ask women out because they're timid or tranquilized by video games and porn. Women often feel they have to put on a persona, whether of a Jane Austen character or a "fierce" feminist (YAAAAS, SLAY QUEEN!).
Matchmaker Emily Zanotti, known as the "Catholic Yenta", joins the show to discuss these and other pathologies of Catholic dating, and explains how she went from helping her friends find their spouses to handpicking matches for people across the country.
Also interviewed is Eric Niehaus, creator of a soon-to-be-launched events app called Koin, which will allow Catholics to find and plan activities and events with other Catholics in their area. In a world in which Catholics often feel socially isolated, Koin aims to help us foster real-life community.
Pt. 1: Emily Zanotti (Catholic Yenta)
[2:55] How Emily found herself in the role of Catholic matchmaker
[5:32] Why a matchmaker is in demand; problems with dating sites
[6:47] How the matchmaking process works and Emily's role in follow-up
[9:31] What information is useful to Emily in matching people; prayer as the basis of the process
[12:23] Success rate so far, future expansion
[15:03] What Emily has learned talking to Jewish and Hindu matchmakers
[18:39] Common issues and complaints from the Catholic dating scene
[23:34] "Perpetual discernment" and unrealistic expectations in the Catholic dating pool
[28:35] Risk, security and the Disney princess syndrome
[30:29] Male timidity and sloth exacerbated by video games, porn, and feminism
[34:58] Why some women think they need to put on a persona when dating
Pt. 2: Eric Niehaus (Koin)
[42:20] The meaning of the name Koin and the need for a specifically Catholic events app
[44:45] Planned growth of the platform, city by city
[46:36] Challenges of getting a new social platform off the ground
[48:47] Cultivating community both in pre-existing organizations and parishes and in the wider geographical area
[50:51] How Koin aims to partner with and compliment parishes
[54:06] Extending participation beyond the young adult bracket; the benefits of spending time with people who aren't your age
[57:52] Overcoming social stratification among Catholics
Links
Catholic Yenta form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdHOdPqLqQi5weQVnMqCWOZpBXUVxNKYD3Isgkf5oRsX63Kqw/viewform
Emily Zanotti on Twitter https://twitter.com/emzanotti
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
The devastation rationalism has wrought on modernity has yet to be calculated, because it is the air we breathe, often regardless of our professed beliefs.
To take politics as an example: the modern left, disenchanted with the Enlightenment narrative of reason's supremacy, has, rather than restoring reason to its proper subordinate place in our vision of reality, instead become skeptical of all claims to truth. Lacking a foundation in truth, "critical thinking," that shriveled scrap of reason enshrined by academics, has not kept them from believing any absurdity one could name. Meanwhile, establishment conservatism has for decades shown little awareness or interest in what is beyond immediate political utility—rendering its occasional victories at the ballot box empty of much power to conserve.
Nonetheless, a certain artistic-cultural vitality has typically been associated with liberalism. Only recently, when liberals have taken on the role of censorious schoolmarm, has the right begun to appear more creatively daring in its challenge of the status quo. But this association of creativity with subversion of society's dominant structures is itself a bequest of the liberal "tradition", whose increasing banality should warn those on the right that there is only so much mileage one can get out of exposing corruption and hypocrisy.
It may be surprising to learn that conservatism began as a literary and aesthetic movement rather than a political one. This is the starting point for a contemporary classic of philosophy, James Matthew Wilson's The Vision of the Soul: Truth, Goodness and Beauty in the Western Tradition. The conservatives, starting with Edmund Burke in his critique of the French Revolution, defended the old order on the basis of its beauty. Wilson follows them in claiming that Beauty is central to the soul's (and the West's) vision of reality.
This is the first of three episodes exploring themes from The Vision of the Soul. In this episode, after giving an account of the roots of liberalism and conservatism, and showing the emptiness of liberal "freedom", "equality", and "critical thinking", Wilson lays out what he considers the six central insights of the Western (Christian Platonist) tradition, culminating in the contemplation of Being as our greatest excellence and happiness.
[1:14] The core message and themes of The Vision of the Soul
[3:36] Liberalism as anti-culture
[8:15] Liberal freedom and equality are negative and contradictory principles
[11:13] The self-perpetuating struggle against phantoms of inequality
[14:15] The emptiness of contemporary conservatism exemplified by the second Bush administration; recovering conservatism's roots as a literary movement
[18:53] Edmund Burke's critique of the French Revolution and utilitarian rationalism
[24:16] Modern intellectuals since Hobbes have wanted to make reality less interesting and wonderful than it seems
[29:13] Problems with rationalism and critical thinking as they are commonly understood
[32:16] The six fundamental insights of the Western tradition; Christian Platonism
[37:15] Beauty's oldest and deepest definition: veritatis splendor, the splendor of truth
[41:05] The most excellent form of human life: contemplation of Being, realized in happiness/salvation as an end with no further ends beyond it
[46:44] The difference between intellect and reason in relation to truth
Links
James Matthew Wilson https://www.jamesmatthewwilson.com/
The Vision of the Soul https://www.amazon.com/Vision-Soul-Goodness-Western-Tradition/dp/0813229286
James Matthew Wilson on Twitter https://twitter.com/JMWSPT
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Princeton University recently hosted and funded a very Catholic event as part of its annual Being Human Festival. It was a several-hour program dedicated to representations of St. Cecilia in poetry, painting and music, exploring how a conversation between these art forms can stir us to wonder and the contemplation of the Divine. The day's events included singing the Salve Regina and a dinner in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast it was.
In the first part of this episode, Thomas and co-host James Majewski lead a roundtable discussion in which event organizer Joe Perez-Benzo, painter Andrew de Sa, and singer Emily de Sa look back at the event and its humanizing/evangelizing effects on participants. Joe explains how he was able to have an explicitly Catholic event funded by an Ivy League university, and offers suggestions as to how other Catholics can replicate this success wherever God has placed them.
In part two, Andrew de Sa and poet James Matthew Wilson have fun reflecting on an unexpected occurrence in which one of Andrew's paintings inspired a poem by James, which in turn inspired Andrew's painting of St. Cecilia (unveiled at the Princeton event). The artists only became aware of this mutual inspiration after the fact.
Part I
Part II
Photos and video:
Time lapse of Andrew de Sa painting his Flight into Egypt mural: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGRiLg2dTvc
That painting inspired these lines in James Matthew Wilson's "Hasten To Aid Thy Fallen People":
But every rising strain must strain indeed
To lend the form to what in truth is light,
And manifest peace as if it's a deed
And give transcendence some arc of a flight.
The purity of every saint
Will be daubed on with sloppy paint,
And what no thought may comprehend or say
Must be taught in the staging of a play.
Those lines inspired Andrew de Sa's painting of St. Cecelia, unveiled at the Princeton event:
Joe Perez-Benzo helps tourgoers enter into the mystery of the Incarnation as James Majewski looks on:
Emily de Sa and Ruth Swope perform Holst's Four Songs for Voice and Violin in the beautiful Princeton University Art Museum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYhryVUVlFI
Final panel with Joe Perez-Benzo, Emily de Sa and Andrew de Sa:
Links
Poetry which inspired Andrew de Sa's St. Cecilia painting: http://studiodesa.com/book
Andrew and Emily de Sa's website: http://studiodesa.com/
Andrew de Sa on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajdesa/
James Matthew Wilson's website: https://www.jamesmatthewwilson.com/
Being Human Festival: https://beinghumanfestival.org/
John Dryden, Alexander's Feast: http://jacklynch.net/Texts/alexander.html
Carl Schmitt Foundation: https://carlschmitt.org/
James Matthew Wilson, The River of the Immaculate Conception: https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p96/The_River_of_the_Immaculate_Conception.html
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This is a love letter to the great English Christmas carols, from "There Is No Rose" to "The Boar's Head".
Did you know that not just any Christmas song is a carol? The true carol, in all its earthy splendor, is a distinctive product of the Catholic middle ages. Yet our forefathers didn't limit caroling to Christmas: they wrote carols for every season of the year covering the entire story of our Redemption, not to mention secular topics at times.
This episode explores the origin of carols in England, their cultural meaning, and how they were suppressed by the Puritans and were revived in modern times. And of course, you'll hear a lot of great music throughout, ranging from historically informed performance to modern arrangements!
Links
Erik Routley, The English Carol https://www.amazon.com/English-Carol-Erik-Routley/dp/0837169895
Andrew Gant, The Carols of Christmas https://www.amazon.com/Carols-Christmas-Celebration-Surprising-Favorite/dp/0718031520
All music in this episode used with permission from the recording artist and/or label.
Agincourt Carol, Alamire https://www.amazon.com/Deo-Gracias-Anglia-Alamire/dp/B008L1GZUO
Nowell sing we both all and some, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2
Gabriel From Heaven's King, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2
A Virgin Most Pure, Stairwell Carolers https://www.stairwellcarollers.com/en/o-magnum-mysterium/
Coventry Carol, Harry Christophers and the Sixteen, available on the CORO record label at https://thesixteenshop.com/
Bedfordshire May Carol, Shirley Collins https://mainlynorfolk.info/shirley.collins/records/withinsound.html
Remember O Thou Man, The King's Singers https://www.amazon.com/Remember-O-Thou-Man/dp/B073JZN754
Wassail (Gloucestershire Wassail, arr. Vaughan Williams), Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland4
Green Growth the Holly, Early Music New York—Frederick Renz, Director https://www.earlymusicny.org/a-renaissance-christmas
My Dancing Day, Robert Shaw Chorale https://www.amazon.com/Songs-Angels-Christmas-Hymns-Carols/dp/B000003D0G
Drive the Cold Winter Away, Owain Phyfe and the New World Renaissance Band https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/nwrb
In the Bleak Midwinter, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2
Lullay My Liking (Holst), HSVPA Madrigal Singers (Houston, TX) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw81DCQ3HhI
A Hymn to the Virgin (Britten), VOCES8 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077GC4QVT/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp
There is no rose, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2
Thanks to all, but especially to Ross W. Duffin for his generosity with Quire Cleveland's back catalogue!
Also recommended:
A Waverly Consort Christmas: From East Anglia to Appalachia https://www.amazon.com/Waverly-Consort-Christmas-Anglia-Appalachia/dp/B000002SRK
Other non-famous carols mentioned: Seven Virgins (The Leaves of Life); This Endris Night; Tempus adest floridum (Good King Wenceslas); Kingsfold (I heard the voice of Jesus say); The Cherry Tree Carol; Masters In This Hall; The Golden Carol; Snow in the Street; New Prince, New Pomp
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Terrence Malick's stunning new film, A Hidden Life, is about Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer who was martyred for refusing to swear loyalty to Hitler. James Majewski joins Thomas to discuss the film. He reads excerpts from Bl. Franz's letters and prison writings, to see how well Malick's portrayal lives up to the real-life saint. The letters of Franz and his wife Franziska their deep devotional life, and testify to how much Franz's heroism owed to the sacraments and the support of some good priests who we do not see in the film.
Links
A Hidden Life trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJXmdY4lVR0
Franz Jägerstätter: Letters and Writings from Prison, ed. Erna Putz, is published by Orbis Books, a press that publishes a fair amount of heretical and dissenting material. The letters are well worth reading but we encourage you to buy a used copy rather than supporting that publisher.
If you enjoyed this discussion, check out James and Thomas's other show, Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast. http://catholicculture.org/criteria
To hear James read more writings of the saints, check out Catholic Culture Audiobooks. https://www.catholicculture.org/audiobooks
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
James Matthew Wilson's new cycle of poems, The River of the Immaculate Conception, is a reflection on the history of the Catholic faith in the Americas, from Juan Diego to Elizabeth Ann Seton. Its title is the name given to the Mississippi River by the missionary Fr. Marquette. James reads four of the seven poems, explains their relation to the recent Mass of the Americas which inspired them, and discusses the challenges and delights of poetic form.
Links
Buy The River of the Immaculate Conception at Wiseblood Books https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p96/The_River_of_the_Immaculate_Conception.html
Watch the Mass of the Americas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFoj3viHXnk
JMW's website: https://www.jamesmatthewwilson.com/
JMW's recommended resources for aspiring poets:
Colosseum Summer Institute https://www.colosseuminstitute.com/summer-institute.html
James Matthew Wilson, The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age of Unmaking https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p82/The_Fortunes_of_Poetry_in_an_Age_of_Unmaking.html
William Baer, Writing Metrical Poetry: Contemporary Lessons for Mastering Traditional Forms https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Metrical-Poetry-Contemporary-Traditional/dp/1582974152
Timothy Steele, All the Fun's in How You Say a Thing: An Explanation of Meter and Versification https://www.amazon.com/All-Funs-How-Thing-Versification/dp/0821412604
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Modernity has attempted to do away with authority. It does this not most commonly by advocating anarchy. Rather, it justifies its own established powers in terms of a fictive self-rule, and purports to replace the arbitrary dictates of power--and much of what makes us human--with scientific rationality.
But authority is necessary to human life, and not just as a medicine for weakness and evil. It arises from and serves what is noblest in us. The French Catholic philosopher Yves R. Simon made this case in A General Theory of Authority. With the help of Dominican friar Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, Thomas dives into this most enlightening book.
Links
https://twitter.com/FrAquinasOP
Yves R. Simon, A General Theory of Authority https://www.amazon.com/General-Theory-Authority-Yves-Simon/dp/0268010048
Charles De Koninck, On the Primacy of the Common Good: Against the Personalists https://emmilco.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/de-koninck-common-good.pdf
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Having honed his skills translating Dante, Tasso and Lucretius, well-known Catholic cultural commentator Anthony Esolen has now published his first book of original poetry. The book-length poem The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord is centered around twelve dramatic monologues set during and shortly after the time of Christ, complemented and illuminated by dozens of lyric poems and hymns.
Links
Buy The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord https://www.ignatius.com/The-Hundredfold-P3358.aspx
Books recommended by Anthony Esolen:
Understanding Poetry by Cleanth Brooks https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Poetry-Cleanth-Brooks/dp/0030769809
Doorways to Poetry by Louis Untermeyer https://www.amazon.com/Doorways-Poetry-Louis-Untermeyer/dp/B000856E98
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
The Western liberal democratic order is in crisis. If it collapses or significantly wanes in power, what will replace it? A long period of chaos and massive human suffering? Regressive authoritarianism? Or, reading the signs of the times, could we arrive at a synthesis which learns from liberalism's mistakes while preserving its best features?
Today's guest is Jonah Bennett, editor-in-chief of a fascinating new online magazine called Palladium which is devoted to constructing what could be called the post-liberal synthesis. Palladium Magazine seeks to foster the perspective of a responsible elite, with high-quality, non-ideological coverage of everything from geopolitics to video-game addiction to the crisis in Ivy League institutions.
Links
Transcript of this podcast https://medium.com/@thejonahbennett/responsible-elites-podcast-transcript-7fb270681280
A few Palladium articles:
"Towards The Post-Liberal Synthesis", Jonah Bennett https://palladiummag.com/2018/09/29/towards-the-post-liberal-synthesis/
"The Real Problem At Yale Is Not Free Speech", Natalia Dashan https://palladiummag.com/2019/08/05/the-real-problem-at-yale-is-not-free-speech/
"My Time On A Terror Trial Jury", Wolf Tivy https://palladiummag.com/2019/09/05/my-time-on-a-terror-trial-jury/
"The American Dream Is Alive In China," Jean Fan https://palladiummag.com/2019/10/11/the-american-dream-is-alive-in-china/
"The New Authoritarian Hungary That Isn't", Will Collins https://palladiummag.com/2019/05/06/the-new-authoritarian-hungary-that-isnt/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
John-Mark Miravalle is the author of a rather good popular introduction to the topic beauty, Beauty: What It Is and Why It Matters. He and Thomas converse on our moral obligation to delight in beauty, why we are moved by the combination of order and surprise, and the proper way to delight in the beauty of the human body. John-Mark closes the discussion with a moving reflection on the relationship between Mary and the Holy Spirit.
Links
Beauty: What It Is and Why It Matters https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/beauty
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
In the new off-Broadway play Heroes of the Fourth Turning, playwright Will Arbery (son of two Wyoming Catholic College professors) offers a nuanced, accurate portrayal of the way conservatives talk to each other when progressives aren't around. The characters are instantly recognizable to anyone who has spent time among well-educated Catholic conservatives. The play has attracted positive attention from both secular and Catholic media.
Is Heroes a zoological exhibit for progressives to gape at, or something deeper? Is it ultimately more unsettling to a perceptive Catholic viewer, for whom Arbery's troubled characters might function as an indictment of a Catholic conservatism that can be focused more on ideas and temporal concerns than on the reality of Christ?
And if so, does the play itself recognize the nature of the problem? That is, does it deal substantively with its characters' Catholicism, or, like some of those characters, does it merely use certain Catholic ideas in the service of temporal political debates? Having seen Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Thomas Mirus and James Majewski discuss.
Links
Heroes of the Fourth Turning https://www.playwrightshorizons.org/shows/plays/heroes-fourth-turning/
C. C. Pecknold's review: https://catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2019/10/01/an-extraordinary-play-that-challenges-progressives-and-conservatives-alike/
Rod Dreher's commentary: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher-tags/heroes-of-the-fourth-turning/
Theme music: "Franciscan Eyes", written and performed by Thomas Mirus.
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Indie rock trio The Duskwhales formed almost 10 years ago at a small Catholic high school in Virginia. Over that decade, four albums and three EPs, they have forged a distinctly melodic sound in contrast to today's joyless pop milieu. Their vocal harmonies hearken back to The Beatles and The Beach Boys, while their organ-heavy instrumentation (no bass player in their live shows) sets them apart from contemporary rock bands. In this 10-year career retrospective they discuss their musical output so far, the importance of their friendship and faith to their survival and continual artistic growth as a band, the loss of melody and retro clones in modern pop music, and more. You'll hear clips from their eclectic discography, including their new EP, Take It Back.
The Duskwhales are Seth Flynn (vocals, guitar), Brian Majewski (keyboards, vocals), and Chris Baker (drums, vocals). All music used with permission.
Links
Buy The Duskwhales' music https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Follow them https://www.facebook.com/TheDuskwhales/
Episode 5 on The Duskwhales' EP Hospital Dreams https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=5
Interview with The Duskwhales' Sorrowful Mysteries https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1473
Dr. Kurt Poterack on melody https://www.getprinciples.com/a-people-without-melody/ and rhythm in popular music https://www.getprinciples.com/the-rhythm-of-popular-music/ and McCartney's "Yesterday" https://kpoterackblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/yesterday/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
One of England's greatest composers, William Byrd is a fascinating and complicated figure of Catholic musical history. A musician in the Royal Chapel of Queen Elizabeth, he associated with the highest ranks of the Anglican establishment while writing music on the side for secret Catholic masses.
In part two of this interview, singer and scholar Kerry McCarthy discusses the high level of amateur musicianship in Byrd's England, his attitude towards music as revealed in his writings, his approach to text-setting and relationship with contemporary poets, and Renaissance rhythm. An overview is given of more of the genres Byrd worked in, from keyboard and consort music to motets and Mass propers.
In this episode you will hear the following pieces by Byrd (all used with kind permission from the groups named):
Fantasia in A minor for keyboard, performed by Olga Pashchenko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DiebzF-UJ4
In nomine #5 for consort, performed by The Rose Consort of Viols on Byrd: Consort and Keyboard Music, Songs and Anthems https://www.amazon.com/Byrd-Consort-Keyboard-Music-Anthems/dp/B0000013UP
Tristitia et anxietas, performed by Gallicantus on The Word Unspoken https://music.apple.com/us/album/word-unspoken-sacred-music/533746884?app=itunes&ls=1
Ave verum corpus, performed by Ensemble ZENE on Via Dolorosa https://www.highresaudio.com/en/album/view/pd88hj/ensemble-zene-bruno-kele-baujard-purcell-byrd-scarlatti-lotti-allegri-via-dolorosa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioBgfmzRLUE
Links
Part I of this interview https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=49
Kerry McCarthy, Byrd https://global.oup.com/academic/product/byrd-9780195388756?cc=us&lang=en&
Olga Pashchenko https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfXOSSr0MB_fvePKrSfCQug
The Rose Consort of Viols https://www.alisoncrum.myzen.co.uk/roseconsortweb/index.htm
Gallicantus http://www.gallicantus.com/
Ensemble ZENE https://www.ensemblezene.com/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
One of England's greatest composers, William Byrd is a fascinating and complicated figure of Catholic musical history. A musician in the Royal Chapel of Queen Elizabeth, he associated with the highest ranks of the Anglican establishment while writing music on the side for secret Catholic masses. In this first of two episodes on Byrd, singer and scholar Kerry McCarthy sets Byrd in the context of the musical and religious upheavals of post-Reformation England. She discusses how he navigated English court circles as well as his secret Catholic activities, including his three masses.
In this episode you will hear the following pieces by Byrd (all used with kind permission from the groups named):
Fantasia #2 for consort, performed by The Rose Consort of Viols on Byrd: Consort and Keyboard Music, Songs and Anthems https://www.amazon.com/Voces8-Tapestry-BRUCKNER-BYRD-MONTEVERDI/dp/B006UTDFE8
Rejoice Unto the Lord, performed by The Rose Consort of Viols with Tessa Bonner on the same album
Agnus Dei from the Mass for four voices, performed by VOCES8 on A Choral Tapestry https://www.amazon.com/Voces8-Tapestry-BRUCKNER-BYRD-MONTEVERDI/dp/B006UTDFE8
Agnus Dei from the Mass for five voices (Gesualdo Six) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWFjvqNHgEY
Links
Kerry McCarthy, Byrd https://global.oup.com/academic/product/byrd-9780195388756?cc=us&lang=en&
Interview with Barnaby Smith of VOCES8 https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=24
VOCES8 http://www.voces8.com/
The Gesualdo Six https://www.thegesualdosix.co.uk/
The Rose Consort of Viols https://www.alisoncrum.myzen.co.uk/roseconsortweb/index.htm
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
"Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands."
These words of St. Paul in Ephesians 5 have been a continual source of discomfort to modern Catholics, and most priests would rather explain this teaching away or avoid discussing it altogether. For the faithful Catholic, however, treating Scripture and Church teaching as something embarrassing is not an option, nor is relativizing and redefining it into oblivion. Ephesians 5 is the crucial source for how marriage, so badly damaged by the Fall, has been redeemed and supernaturalized in the Cross of Christ.
In this episode, Mary Stanford explains how we can understand and even come to love this teaching which so repels our egalitarian age. She brings to the table her study of Pope St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body and the thought of Edith Stein, as well as decades of experience as a wife and mother.
Links
Mary Stanford's article "The Dynamic of the Gift: Authority and Submission in Christian Marriage" https://www.hprweb.com/2013/01/the-dynamic-of-the-gift-authority-and-submission-in-christian-marriage/
Some of the teaching sources mentioned in this episode:
1 Cor 11:3, Ephesians 5, Colossians 3:18-19, Timothy 2 and 3, Titus 2:5, 1 Peter 3:1-7
Pope Leo XIII, Arcanum divinae sapientiae, 1880 https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=4858&repos=1&subrepos=0&searchid=1947264
Pope Pius XI, Casti connubii, 1930 https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=3370&repos=1&subrepos=0&searchid=1947266
Pope St. John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=3381&repos=1&subrepos=0&searchid=1947268
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Many Catholics have worn the Brown Scapular at some point in their lives. Some of those people stopped wearing it for one reason or another. Others have continued to wear it but perhaps don't appreciate its true depth as a sign of consecration to Mary. Even less known is the fact that the Scapular is a miniature version of the Carmelite habit (which is itself Our Lady's habit); those who wear it are part of the Carmelite family, right back to the Prophet Elijah!
In this show Fr. Justin Cinnante, a Carmelite friar, explains the Marian and Carmelite origins and dimensions of the Scapular as well as the promises associated with it. Whether you wear the Scapular, used to but don't anymore, or have never been enrolled in it, this episode will give you many reasons to love the Garment of Grace.
Links
Buy a Brown Scapular https://www.sistersofcarmel.com/brown-scapulars-brown-scapular-of-our-lady-of-mount-carmel/
Fr. Justin on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/fatherjustinocarm/
Emma and Cecilia Black grew up in a large family that sang together constantly. Now these two sisters from Grand Rapids, Michigan, have made an album of folk songs for children. They want people to know that any family can start singing together, without special training or equipment.
Here Emma and Cecilia, who record under the name Roundabout, discuss the ethos of folk music, which is about participation rather than consumption. They amusingly disabuse us of the notion that folk music is always squeaky-clean and wholesome. Finally, they touch on the problems with commercial children's music, in contrast to their album, Singsong Pennywhistle, which is engaging and accessible without being musically and lyrically dumbed-down.
All songs used with permission from Roundabout.
Links
https://www.roundaboutfolk.com
Buy Singsong Pennywhistle https://www.roundaboutfolk.com/music
Folk music resources https://www.roundaboutfolk.com/why-folk
Thomas discusses his libertarian past, explains why he abandoned that political philosophy, and summarizes an article on the topic by the Catholic philosopher Edward Feser. Feser, himself an ex-libertarian who has written books on Hayek, Nozick and Locke, argues that the libertarian view of self-ownership and private property rights cannot be reconciled with classical natural law theory, and lays out a proper natural law theory of private property rights and taxation.
Links
Feser's collected writings on why he stopped being a libertarian http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-road-from-libertarianism.html
Feser on Hayek https://www.claremont.org/crb/article/hayeks-tragic-capitalism/
Episode 7: Inflation Is a Sin—Guido Hülsmann https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=7
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Dana Gioia is one of the greatest Catholic poets working today. In this interview he discusses how Catholic attitudes toward the arts have changed in recent generations, and the revival of interest in poetry in the culture as a whole. Dana reads a few of his poems, discusses how Catholicism has made his poetry "simpler, more emotionally direct, and more unabashedly musical," and even gives poets some tips on collaboration with musicians and composers. Dana and Thomas wrap up by discussing the role of the critic and highlighting a modern Catholic poet Dana thinks should be better known.
Links
The Catholic Writer Today and Other Essays https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/c4/Wiseblood_Essays_.html
99 Poems, New and Selected https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/99-poems
Dana Gioia's website www.danagioia.com
Dana reads his poems on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dDuuRPo6HXxn69LMLrwyw
Jazz pianist Helen Sung and Dana Gioia discuss their album Sung With Words https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZWhKguBJGg
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals (M5) is a book of poems intended as an introduction to the liberal arts for children, helping them to grow in self-knowledge, virtue, and the art of charitable rhetoric. It is written in the ancient form of the beast fable, with each of Matthew Mehan's twenty-six alphabetical poems accompanied by a beautiful oil painting by John Folley. In this interview Matthew discusses the book, the role of poetry in aesthetic, moral and spiritual education, and related topics such as the lost social art of memorizing and reciting poems.
Links
Sample and buy M5 https://www.mythicalmammals.com/
Online Great Books referral link (25% off first three months – use code catholicculture) https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
Episode 27 with OGB founder Scott Hambrick https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=27
Learn more about OGB https://onlinegreatbooks.com/
Stephen Auth is a highly successful investment manager on Wall Street. In his spare time, he hails down strangers on the streets of Manhattan and convinces them to go to confession.
Links
Steve Auth, The Missionary of Wall Street: From Managing Money to Saving Souls on the Streets of New York https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/missionary-of-wall-street
Western governments and NGOs are pushing the Sexual Revolution on Africa, using strings-attached development aid. Of all the funds from Western nations going to "development" in Africa, the majority are for population control. Obianuju Ekeocha is raising awareness about this form of neo-colonialism in which rich Westerners force their anti-culture on African peoples, because for them a better Africa is one with fewer Africans. One organization, Marie Stopes International, is even performing abortions in countries where they are illegal.
Links
Watch Strings Attached https://www.amazon.com/Strings-Attached-Obianuju-Ekeocha/dp/B07N5DSSN7
Target Africa: Ideological Neo-Colonialism in the Twenty-First Century https://www.ignatius.com/Target-Africa-P2384.aspx
Culture of Life Africa http://cultureoflifeafrica.com/
Connect the Dots With Obianuju https://www.youtube.com/user/COLAfrica
Tolkien is well known to have been concerned with the internal consistency of his fictional world, from geography to history to language. But he was also concerned with another sort of consistency: metaphysical consistency, not only within the work but between his work and reality (because he did not see the storyteller's task as providing an alternative to reality but an extension of it). Scholars have debated the nature of Tolkien's metaphysics; Jonathan S. McIntosh contends that the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas provides the most fruitful metaphysical lens with which to examine Middle-Earth.
Links
The Flame Imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the Metaphysics of Faërie https://angelicopress.org/product/the-flame-imperishable/
Jonathan's Flame Imperishable blog https://jonathansmcintosh.wordpress.com/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Paul Jernberg is a composer of sacred music and director of the Magnificat Institute, which offers education in the patrimony of Catholic liturgical music. He tells Thomas about his career, including an interesting digression about gospel music and its relation to Catholic liturgy, the criterion of "noble accessibility" in liturgical music, and what Roman Catholic composers can learn from the ancient Eastern chant traditions.
This episode contains selections from Jernberg's Mass of St. Philip Neri, used with permission. If you would like to hear more episodes with music throughout, please send Thomas feedback at podcast@catholicculture.org.
Links
Purchase the Mass of St. Philip Neri album http://www.pauljernberg.com/preview
Magificat Institute of Sacred Music https://magnificatinstitute.org/
Paul Jernberg, "The Logos of Sacred Music" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/articles.cfm?id=535
Jernberg on David Clayton's Way of Beauty Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5xpu6Ldr-A
The name of Garrigou-Lagrange has long been a byword for a fusty, rigid Thomism of days gone by, allegedly more concerned with centuries of accretions built up by scholastic commentators than with the original teaching of the Angelic Doctor himself. Only in traditionalist circles was his name still spoken with respect.
But recent years have seen a wider reevaluation of this French Dominican priest and theologian, and a new translation of his work The Sense of Mystery: Clarity and Obscurity in the Intellectual Life shows that Garrigou has been unfairly dismissed as a purveyor of airless theology.
The translator of this work, Matthew K. Minerd, joins the podcast to discuss Fr. Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange's legacy and some of the book's central themes. These include mystery from on high and from below (not only spirit but also matter is mysterious), the importance of common sense for philosophy, the different senses in which we use the word "to be", the supernaturality of faith, and the eminence of the Deity beyond any of His attributes insofar as we know and name them by reason.
Through all these topics it becomes abundantly clear that only by preserving the distinction between natural and supernatural can theology remain itself.
Links
Buy The Sense of Mystery: Clarity and Obscurity in the Intellectual Life http://www.emmausacademic.com/publications/2018/5/18/sense-of-mystery
An excellent article on chastity by Matthew https://www.hprweb.com/2017/10/on-the-lowly-yet-vital-importance-of-chastity/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
The young Italian sculptor Jago is best known to Catholics for his marble bust of Pope Benedict XVI, which the Pope himself awarded with a pontifical medal. Upon Benedict's resignation, Jago radically reworked the piece into its current form, Habemus Hominem. In this episode Jago discusses the meaning of marble, how he had to teach himself because his art professors opposed studying the great masters of the past, and his innovative use of social media as a new, decentralized form of patronage.
Links
Jago on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jago.artist
Video of Jago transforming his bust of Pope Benedict https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqVwRookYJ0
Article on Habemus Hominem https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/02/21/shirtless-statue-pope-benedict-causes-art-sensation-rome/
One of the core things that has gone wrong with our culture in the past several decades is the denigration of every virtue associated with the perfect woman, Mary. Gentleness, humility, (true) beauty and especially motherhood: these are all antithetical to the radical feminism that is now thoroughly mainstream. If modern women are rejecting the very model of womanhood, it's no wonder the data tells us they're miserable. What they have embraced instead is described by Carrie Gress as the spirit of anti-Mary.
Carrie's new book, The Anti-Mary Exposed: Rescuing the Culture from Toxic Femininity, details how Satan has used women's malcontent as an entry point to completely devastate them and the culture they were meant to create and nurture. She dispels the illusion of the sisterhood, as early radical feminism was filled with backstabbing, mental illness, and unhappy women who hated not only men but each other. She argues that the misbehavior of so many women today is a defense mechanism due to the lack of unconditional love from their parents. Finally, she points women to Mary and her virtues as a way of finding contentment in the unconditional love of God the Father, and of rediscovering the feminine beauty that will be crucial to healing our culture's wounds.
Links
The Anti-Mary Exposed: Rescuing the Culture from Toxic Femininity https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/the-anti-mary-exposed.html
Episode 4 – The Marian Option – Carrie Gress https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=4
Carrie Gress http://www.carriegress.com/
Theology of Home (used to be Helena Daily) https://theologyofhome.com/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Abby Johnson was the youngest clinic director in Planned Parenthood history. After witnessing an abortion on ultrasound, she quit, became a Catholic, and founded And Then There Were None, an organization which has helped over 500 workers leave the abortion industry. We discuss the new film Unplanned, based on her memoir by the same name, and delve into the vicious cycle of moral blindness which enabled her to work in the abortion business.
Links
Unplanned movie https://www.unplannedfilm.com/
Unplanned book http://www.unplannedthebook.com/
Abby's Twitter https://twitter.com/abbyjohnson
And Then There Were None https://abortionworker.com/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Michael Pakaluk has written a new translation and commentary of Mark's Gospel. Mark was relating very recent events, with details only an eyewitness (most likely Peter) would have mentioned. This earliest Gospel set the standard for what words and deeds of Christ would be included by the other evangelists, and reflected on by Christians until the end of the age. If these are indeed the memoirs of St. Peter "as told to" St. Mark, then, as Pakaluk says, all of the Gospels bear the mark of the Petrine ministry.
Links
The Memoirs of St. Peter https://www.regnery.com/books/the-memoirs-of-st-peter/
Michael Pakaluk at Catholic U https://business.catholic.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/pakaluk-michael/index.html
The quest for freedom in structure is fundamental to Catholic spiritual life (particularly during this season of Lent). It's also fundamental to musical improvisation. How can you be free and spontaneous without giving way to anarchy and sin, which lead to death? How can you be organized and disciplined without succumbing to the living death of rigidity? How can you make new music in the moment, with no predetermined composition, that nonetheless has order and beauty? And how can you do all this without taking yourself too seriously? Only the Holy Spirit makes these things possible.
My friend Mark Christopher Brandt—improvising pianist, composer and spiritual writer—has spent his life pursuing these paradoxes in the confluence of life as a musician and life in Christ. We discuss his ongoing series of fully improvised albums, most recently the DVD Structure and Freedom, as well as his books of meditations for the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary.
Links
Mark's website http://www.markchristopherbrandt.com
Structure and Freedom DVD https://markchristopherbrandt.com/structure-and-freedom-dvd.html
Sunflowers and Roses (soundtrack album to Structure and Freedom) https://markchristopherbrandt.com/sunflowers-and-roses-album.html
Mark's spiritual books https://markchristopherbrandt.com/spiritual-books.html
2017 interview about Mark's album The Nightingale https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-0-nightingale-mark-christopher-brandt/
For many people who have never been to Spain, their only image of the country may be the strange spires of Barcelona's La Sagrada Familia, designed by Antoni Gaudí. It is certainly the best-known building in Spain, despite still not being finished—and construction began in 1882! Indeed, Gaudí knew the building would not be completed in his lifetime, but was at peace with this, saying, "My client is not in a hurry." He was an ascetic with a deep devotion to the Holy Family, and there is an ongoing cause for his beatification with which my guest is involved.
Links
Images of Gaudí's works https://www.pinterest.com/ukiahyaya/antoni-gaudi/?lp=true
Association for the Beatification of Antoni Gaudí
The Association's book on Gaudí and the beatification effort http://www.gaudibeatificatio.com/files/docs/GAUDI-BOOK.pdf
You may or may not know that I have a background in jazz piano (I wrote and performed the intro and outro music for this show, for example). In this album I introduce you to about ten of my very favorite jazz albums. This is an experimental solo episode, but don't worry, we'll be back to interviews next week.
Links
The main list:
Charlie Parker, "Parker's Mood" (1948) (listen to this original version, not the overdubbed version from Clint Eastwood's depressing film Bird!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wa7El-k3jQ
Best of the Savoy and Dial Master Takes (I mentioned the complete set in the episode but this is more approachable): https://www.amazon.com/Best-Complete-Savoy-Studio-Recordings/dp/B000067FUO/
"Koko": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okrNwE6GI70
Erroll Garner, The Complete Concert by the Sea (1958): https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Concert-Sea-Erroll-Garner/dp/B00ZJ5QXDO/
"I'll Remember April": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_aILGaLqyc
Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto (1964): https://www.amazon.com/Getz-Gilberto-Stan/dp/B0000047CX/
"Desafinado": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So718wk426c
Wes Montgomery and the Wynton Kelly Trio, Smokin' at the Half Note (1965): https://www.amazon.com/Smokin-At-Half-Note-Remastered/dp/B0006VXF4G/
"Unit 7": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D12_468jvNk
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (1959): https://www.amazon.com/Kind-Blue-Miles-Davis/dp/B000002ADT/
"Blue in Green": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veDgWww1hIQ
Bill Evans's liner notes: https://www.sfjazz.org/onthecorner/bill-evans-kind-blue-liner-notes/
Bill Evans, Alone (1968): https://www.amazon.com/Alone-VME-Bill-Evans/dp/B00006C79A/
"Here's That Rainy Day": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMa2VaV3Voo
Miles Davis, Nefertiti (1968): https://www.amazon.com/Nefertiti-Miles-Davis/dp/B003O5MODY/
"Nefertiti": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHBIfBex7Ig
Herbie Hancock, Speak Like a Child (1968): https://www.amazon.com/Speak-Like-Child-Herbie-Hancock/dp/B0007LLQ3W/
"Speak Like a Child": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTNLWi-xAkE
Chick Corea, Friends (1978): https://www.amazon.com/Friends-CHICK-COREA/dp/B01LVWGSGJ
"Waltz for Dave": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNdowVQ9nxE
Other albums mentioned:
Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Bird and Diz (1950): https://www.amazon.com/Bird-Diz-Charlie-Parker/dp/B009R50YU0/
"Bloomdido": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MCGweQ8Oso
Elis Regina and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Elis & Tom (1974): https://www.amazon.com/Elis-Antonio-Carlos-Jobim-Regina/dp/B0017YWG2S
"Aguas de Março": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1tOV7y94DY
Miles Davis, Miles Smiles (1967): https://www.amazon.com/Miles-Smiles-Davis/dp/B016QE48TM/
"Footprints": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62p-CXrYmf4
Herbie Hancock et al., Tribute to Miles (1992): https://www.amazon.com/Tribute-Miles-Various-Artists/dp/B000002MG7/
"Elegy": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_DJJyJ5Ogg
Chick Corea, Three Quartets (1981): https://www.amazon.com/Three-Quartets-Chick-Corea/dp/B000003OZE/
"Quartet No. 2, Pt. 2: Tribute to John Coltrane": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQx96DsZXxA
While Tolkien's brilliance as a world-builder and storyteller is well-established, fewer people are aware of just how unique (and obsessive) his creative process was, or that he was a gifted visual artist. That is changing thanks to an unprecedented exhibition of Tolkien's personal items, manuscripts and artworks, Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth, currently on display at the Morgan Library in Manhattan.
John McQuillen, Assistant Curator at the Morgan Library, and Holly Ordway, author of the upcoming study Tolkien's Modern Sources, join me to discuss the exhibition, which sheds light on Tolkien's use of visual art to help him solidify his literary vision, the role his stories and artworks played in his family life, and (perhaps surprising to many who view Tolkien as a conservative fuddy-duddy) his willingness to draw on an eclectic range of sources, including distinctly modern ones, to enhance his creative expression.
Links
Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth at the Morgan (view selected images from the exhibition) https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/tolkien
The exhibition book, Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth by Catherine McIlwaine https://www.amazon.com/Tolkien-Maker-Middle-earth-Catherine-McIlwaine/dp/1851244859
Holly Ordway http://www.hollyordway.com/
Sheen Center for Thought & Culture https://www.sheencenter.org/
Past Tolkien-related episodes
Episode 15: Online Education with The Tolkien Professor—Corey Olsen https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=15
Episode 16: Extremely Specific Middle-earth Q&A with The Tolkien Professor—Corey Olsen https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=16
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Today there is more pressure than ever before on both women and men to embrace feminism. In her outstanding memoir, Into the Deep, Abigail Rine Favale gives a resonant account of her journey from an evangelical childhood to a Christian feminism which inevitably gave way to the secular, postmodern variety. This ideology gradually gutted her faith—a process interrupted by childbirth and a sudden and unexpected conversion to Catholicism.
We discuss the feasibility of Catholic feminism, the danger of interpreting Scripture and doctrine through a predetermined ideological hermeneutic, facile uses of the word "equality", the totalizing nature of all ideology, the role of intuition in the spiritual life, and more.
Links
Buy Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion using discount code "DEEP" for 40% off https://wipfandstock.com/into-the-deep.html
Recent articles by Abigail Rine Favale
"Confessions of a Feminist Heretic" http://churchlife.nd.edu/2019/01/11/confessions-of-a-feminist-heretic/
"Sex and Symbol" http://churchlife.nd.edu/2018/06/19/sex-and-symbol/
"Hildegard of Bingen's Vital Contribution to the Concept of Woman" http://churchlife.nd.edu/2018/12/11/hildegard-of-bingens-vital-contribution-to-the-concept-of-woman/
Other articles
Dawn Eden, "Eve of Deconstruction: Feminism and John Paul II" https://www.catholicity.com/commentary/eden/03324.html
Thomas V. Mirus, "Should women be meek and mild like Mary?" https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1594
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
This episode is not to be missed! There is an ongoing and much-needed revival of Jacques Maritain's philosophy of art. Accomplished poet Samuel Hazo makes a most valuable contribution to that revival with The World Within the World: Maritain and the Poet. He wrote the book 60 years ago, with a preface by Maritain himself (the only book about him to receive that honor), but it was only recently published.
In this conversation, we go over some of the most important points in Maritain's thought on poetry; Dr. Hazo provides many an illuminating anecdote and off-the-cuff recitation of poems by himself and others to concretize ideas that might, to the non-artist, seem esoteric.
Links
Dr. Hazo's most recent books:
The World Within the World: Maritain and the Poet https://www.amazon.com/World-within-Word-Maritain-Poet/dp/0996930574/
When Not Yet Is Now (upcoming poetry collection) https://www.amazon.com/When-Not-Yet-Samuel-Hazo/dp/0999513451/
The Pittsburgh That Stays Within You, Fifth Edition https://www.amazon.com/Pittsburgh-That-Stays-Within-You-ebook/dp/B077MNLR42/
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Many people want to study the great books of the western world in a group setting, but are unable to study at a Great Books college like St. John's, and it's not easy to find people willing to commit to read and meet to discuss the books regularly. I was in that club until I found a new company called Online Great Books. It provides both the books and the people to discuss them with via video conferencing software, all on a schedule that normal, busy folks can keep up with. I want to let people in on the fun I've been having, so I invited OGB founder Scott Hambrick to join me on the show.
OGB's latest enrollment period began on January 28th (the day before this podcast came out) and will stay open for about seven days. Get in there using discount code "catholicculture" for 25% off your first three months!
Links
Join Online Great Books via this referral link https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/
Learn more about OGB https://onlinegreatbooks.com/
Mortimer Adler's list of the Great Books of the Western World http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/gbww.html
Online Great Books Podcast https://onlinegreatbooks.com/onlinegreatbooks-podcast/
The Underground History of American Education https://www.amazon.com/Underground-History-American-Education-Investigation/dp/0945700040/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Today's reading: C.S. Lewis, "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State" http://liberty-tree.ca/research/willing_slaves_of_the_welfare_state
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Fr. Basil Cole returns to discuss what he has been teaching the student brothers at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., in a course on the arts, contemplation and virtue.
Links
Episode 11: Music and Morals—Fr. Basil Cole, O.P. https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=11
Fr. Basil's dissertation, The Moral and Psychological Effects of Music: A Theological Appraisal https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=11968
Fr. Basil's articles at Catholic Culture https://www.catholicculture.org/search/resultslist.cfm?requesttype=docbrowseauth&resourcetype=1&catlabel=author&catid=85
Readings mentioned:
Jacques Maritain, Art and Scholasticism https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/art.htm
Josef Pieper, Only the Lover Sings https://www.ignatius.com/Only-the-Lover-Sings-P1873.aspx
Pope St. John Paul II, Letter to Artists https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=988&repos=1&subrepos=0&searchid=1905529
Pope Benedict XVI, Address to Artists https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=9187&repos=1&subrepos=0&searchid=1905530
Pope St. Paul VI, Address to Artists http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/speeches/1965/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19651208_epilogo-concilio-artisti.html
Francis J. Kovach, Philosophy of Beauty https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Beauty-Frances-J-Kovach/dp/0806113634
Phil Lawler, Jeff Mirus, and Thomas Mirus discuss selections from their article rounding up their favorite books and other media of 2018.
Links
Article: The best books we read in 2018 https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1591
VOCES8 is a critically acclaimed a capella octet from the UK, focusing on medieval and Renaissance works as well as their own arrangements of modern pop tunes. This episode is an interview with the group's artistic director and countertenor, Barnaby Smith. We discuss the group's history and educational outreach, the creative challenges of chamber singing, and a few of the sacred works the group has recorded over the past decade.
The following recordings are included in this episode with permission from VOCES8 (links are to lyrics):
William Byrd (1538-1623), Vigilate from A Choral Tapestry, 2011 http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Vigilate_(William_Byrd)
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), Corpus Christi Carol from Eventide, 2013 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Christi_Carol#Lyrics
Anonymous French, Angelus ad Virginem from Equinox, 2018 http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/BVM/AngelusAdVirg.html
Links
Cluny Media, a new Catholic publisher https://clunymedia.com
VOCES8 http://www.voces8.com
VOCES8 music store http://www.voces8.com/shop
VCM Foundation https://vcm.foundation/
Good article on William Byrd's Catholicism https://www.firstthings.com/article/2014/03/a-double-life
Fr. Roger Landry returns to the show to talk about what the laity can do to address the abuse crisis. Along the way we discuss the concerns that might make even good bishops hesitant to remove bad priests, the spiritual tactics laity and priests alike must use to purify and heal the Church, the folly of choosing to be scandalized, and how to stay informed without losing one's interior peace.
Previous episode with Fr. Roger on the abuse crisis: https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=19
Links
https://twitter.com/FrRogerLandry
Fr. Roger Landry, Plan of Life: Habits to Help You Grow Closer to God https://amzn.to/2RGVW80
Fr. Roger Landry's National Catholic Register articles about the abuse crisis:
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/fatherlandry/anchors-in-the-storm
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/fatherlandry/spiritual-paternity-anger-lying-and-vulnerable-adults
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/fatherlandry/what-to-do-about-corruption-in-the-church
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Bl. John Henry Newman was, among many other things, a lifelong teacher. Not only did he found the Catholic University of Ireland and England's first Catholic public school, he was a highly influential philosopher of education. In his collection of addresses titled The Idea of a University, Newman set forth his conception of liberal education, defending the essential place of theology among the university subjects and arguing against the growing utilitarian tendency to see education as nothing more than professional training. Paul Shrimpton, teacher at Magdalen College School in Oxford and author of The Making of Men, brings together the theory and practice of Newman the educator.
Books mentioned:
John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University:
Read http://www.newmanreader.org/works/idea/
Purchase https://www.clunymedia.com/product/the-idea-of-a-university/https://amzn.to/2REdkJB
John Henry Newman's historical sketches relating to education: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/historical/volume2/index.html
http://www.newmanreader.org/works/historical/volume3/index.html
Paul Shrimpton, The Making of Men: The Idea and reality of Newman's university in Oxford and Dublin https://amzn.to/2Dsx28h
Ian Ker, John Henry Newman: A Biography https://amzn.to/2D5Xzau
The new feature film Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer, about the investigation, trial and conviction of abortionist Kermit Gosnell, has defied opposition from the film industry and the press alike to become an artistic and financial success, even briefly making it into the top ten in box office results. Writer Ann McElhinney discusses the film, her research process (including the disturbing experience of interviewing Gosnell himself), and the numerous obstacles the filmmakers faced in telling a story nobody wanted to see the light of day.
At the beginning of the episode, Thomas also discusses the recent film about Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince (the Gosnell interview starts 10 minutes in).
Links
The film: http://www.gosnellmovie.com
The book: https://amzn.to/2Rt20A5
The American Catholic painter Carl Schmitt (1889-1989) made fascinating innovations in the use of color. He wrote extensively on the artist's vocation, arguing for seeking holiness through practicing one's art rather than the other way around, and advocating the three virtues of poverty, humility and purity as a necessity for all artists to follow. He inspired artists in other media, like Hilaire Belloc and Hart Crane. He did all this while raising ten children. Andrew de Sa, the Creative Director at the Carl Schmitt Foundation, educates us about this artist who was content to paint in obscurity for God.
Links
Carl Schmitt Foundation https://carlschmitt.org/
Upcoming CSF Events https://carlschmitt.org/upcoming-events/
Andrew de Sa http://andrewdesaart.com/
Arlington Catholic Herald article about Andrew and the Foundation https://www.catholicherald.com/News/Local_News/Catholic_creators_to_share_methods/
The faithful have many questions about the ecclesiastical sexual abuse crisis: What did Church authorities do right in responding to the previous wave of scandals, and what did they fail to do? How could Theodore McCarrick, a serial abuser surrounded by rumors, rise to become one of the most powerful hierarchs in the Church? What is the connection between doctrinal infidelity and sexual infidelity by priests? How do priests living double lives justify remaining in the priesthood? Finally, how much truth is there to the claim that priestly sexual abuse is the result of clericalism?
Links
Fr. Roger Landry, Plan of Life: Habits to Help You Grow Closer to God https://amzn.to/2RGVW80
Fr. Roger Landry's National Catholic Register articles about the abuse crisis:
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/fatherlandry/anchors-in-the-storm
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/fatherlandry/spiritual-paternity-anger-lying-and-vulnerable-adults
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/fatherlandry/what-to-do-about-corruption-in-the-church
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Once included among the capital sins, acedia has been identified with both sloth and sadness. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, defined it both as "disgust with activity" and "sadness about spiritual good." Today's guest, RJ Snell, argues that acedia is the chief spiritual malady of our age, underlying the malaise, nihilism and despair so prevalent in the modern West.
Links
R.J. Snell, Acedia and Its Discontents: Metaphysical Boredom in the Empire of Desire https://amzn.to/2xTTBhQ
Thomas's 2015 review of Snell, Acedia and Its Discontents https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1307
Thomas's 2015 review of Nault, The Noonday Devil https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1283
Forthcoming book: R.J. Snell and Robert P. George, Mind, Heart & Soul: Intellectuals and the Path to Rome https://amzn.to/2zO9Uhk
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Many Catholics have become cynical about the possibility of changing the political landscape, but perhaps we've given up before we've really tried. It's not just about electing the right congressmen and nominating the right justices, it's about keeping them accountable.
In this episode, former Virginia delegate Bob Marshall shares practical insights drawn from his encyclopedic knowledge of the American political tradition and from his own achievements in politics: for example, he was behind the Hyde Amendment which stopped abortion funding via Medicaid. He reminds us that "To render to Caesar, you have to know the structure of Caesar's world."
Did you know that Congress has the Constitutional authority to decide what kinds of cases the Supreme Court may hear? What about the possibility of amending appropriations bills to render SCOTUS decisions like Obergefell unenforceable? Have you given real consideration to the fact that local politics is the foundation for everything else? If not, you'll want to listen to this episode.
Links
Robert G. Marshall, Reclaiming the Republic: How Christians and Other Conservatives Can Win Back America https://amzn.to/2xSQxlg
Jeff Mirus's review of Reclaiming the Republic https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1565
Bob Marshall's recent articles for The Federalist https://thefederalist.com/author/robertgmarshall/
Msgr. John Sanders, the priest who played with Duke Ellington https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1575
Timestamps
2:41 Bob Marshall's political career and recent defeat
6:01 Why Bob wrote Reclaiming the Republic; natural law in the American founding
9:25 Catholics ought not withdraw from politics: Biblical precedents
13:25 Judicial branch is not the final authority on what is Constitutional; Congress's authority to decide what cases the Supreme Court can hear
23:32 The importance of educating your representatives
26:47 Bob's role in passing the Hyde Amendment; importance of the power of the purse
34:13 Appropriations bills can be used to keep bad Supreme Court decisions from being enforced
36:22 Our representatives avoid voting on the record so we can't hold them accountable
39:24 How to get your representative to go on the record
41:03 The oath of office—you can't fulfill it if you don't read the bills you vote on!
44:15 Anti-commandeering laws, by which states can refuse to enforce federal laws
48:47 Why you should vote in primary elections
50:41 "All politics is local": issues that affect people's daily lives
53:18 The importance of the precinct; door-to-door campaigning tips
57:45 The role of corporations in promoting immoral policies
In part two of my interview with Corey "The Tolkien Professor" Olsen, we discuss several extremely specific questions about Middle-earth, including: What is "magic" in The Lord of the Rings? Whogiddy-what is Tom Bombadil exactly? Do the good consequences of Eowyn's disobedience to Theoden justify her actions? Are orcs—possessing free will but seemingly evil by nature—metaphysically coherent?
Links
Signum University https://signumuniversity.org/
Mythgard Institute (Signum's free programs for the public) https://mythgard.org/
The Tolkien Professor Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tolkien-professor/id320513707?mt=2
Corey Olsen's website https://tolkienprofessor.com/
Timestamps
Corey Olsen
2:06 The ambiguity of "magic" as used by different beings and races in The Lord of the Rings
12:13 Is Tom Bombadil God or a Christ-figure? What does it mean that "he is," and that he is "the Master"? Is Tom a Maia? West vs. east and resurrection in the barrow-wight episode
35:04 Does Eowyn's fulfillment of prophecy in slaying the Witch-King justify her abandonment of her duties to stay behind and rule/protect her people in the King's absence? Simplistic feminist misinterpretations of Eowyn; Rohan's vs. Gondor's cultural values
44:26 Eowyn's despair vs. Sam's; different kinds of hope; Sam's attitude towards his duty and the sense in which he lacks hope
59:38 More on Eowyn, Rohan's debased cultural values
1:07:02 How Tolkien developed in his concept of flat vs. round Middle-earth
1:09:17 Are orcs evil by nature? How can that be if they have free will?
1:15:22 What is the basis of the differences/superiorities/inferiorities among the races of Middle-earth, and how is it different from real-world racist theories?
1:26:16 This week's reading: J.R.R. Tolkien, "On Fairy-Stories" https://amzn.to/2Cgo9Pm
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Corey Olsen, aka The Tolkien Professor, started out putting his college lectures out in podcast form, and ended up founding an online master's program devoted to the study of imaginative literature: Signum University. We discuss Signum, the state approval process, the current advantages and prospects of online education, some differences between Tolkien and Lewis, and reading Tolkien with children.
Links
Signum University https://signumuniversity.org/
Mythgard Institute (Signum's free programs for the public) https://mythgard.org/
The Tolkien Professor Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tolkien-professor/id320513707?mt=2
Corey Olsen's website https://tolkienprofessor.com/
Timestamps
Corey Olsen
2:38 Signum University approved by the New Hampshire Higher Education Commission
3:02 Scope of studies at Signum University: definition of imaginative literature; Tolkien at the center
5:54 A fundamental difference between Tolkien and Lewis
15:23 The process of getting an educational program approved by a state board
22:46 Corey's motivations to podcast: desire to communicate with more than a tiny academic audience, unfulfilled demand from people who want to study Tolkien seriously
28:43 Making online education more than just an efficient correspondence course: real-time interaction and community
33:14 Online education as an affordable alternative to bilking students and exploiting faculty
40:00 Signum's free programs for the public at the Mythgard Institute
47:04 How old should your kid be to read The Lord of the Rings?
52:38 Moralizing Tolkien vs. Lewis: how they lend themselves to different ways of reading with children
56:17 This week's reading: J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 250 https://amzn.to/2PLXhcs
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
What's it like to be both a priest and a professional actor? George Drance, S.J. is the artist in residence at Fordham University, where he teaches acting, a resident artist in La Mama's Great Jones Repertory Company, and the artistic director of Magis Theatre Company. We discuss his religious and artistic vocation, how people in the theater world feel about working with a priest, how to take custody of your career and choose your roles with integrity, Catholic vs. worldly ideas of success, and more.
Links
George Drance, S.J. Fordham faculty page https://www.fordham.edu/info/25064/theatre_full-time_faculty/10013/george_drance_sj/1
Magis Theatre Company http://www.magistheatre.org
Timestamps
George Drance, S.J.
1:52 Being both a Jesuit priest and a working actor
6:50 How Fr. George seeks God in his work
8:11 Working in experimental theater with Great Jones Repertory and La MaMa; the legacy of Ellen Stewart
14:25 Navigating the theater world socially as a priest; how theater people respond to Fr. George's priesthood
18:59 Dealing with the pressure to take compromising roles; taking custody of your career as a young actor
29:44 The advantage of having a personal practice as an actor
33:34 There's no shame in having a day job; rejecting worldly conceptions of success
35:51 The fascinating career of dramatist-priest Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681); his Life Is a Dream
42:27 Magis Theatre Company: actor training and reviving forgotten classics
48:02 Adaptation of The Odyssey for high school students
50:15 Magis's upcoming show, Miracle in Rwanda, based on Left to Tell by Imaculée Ilibagiza
53:50 This week's reading: Bl. John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University
The critical theorists and social justice warriors are trying to do to medieval studies what they've done to other disciplines, and if you don't get on board, you're a white supremacist. Over the past two years or so, the mob has targeted University of Chicago professor Rachel Fulton Brown, calling her a fascist, trying to intimidate her department into censuring her, and banning her from conference sessions. She joins me to discuss her ordeal, why even tenured professors are willing to stand up for unpopular truths, and the stakes of the battle for medieval studies.
Links
Rachel Fulton Brown's academic homepage http://home.uchicago.edu/~rfulton/
Milo Yiannopoulos's essay "Why the Battle for Medieval Studies Matters to America" (profanity warning) https://www.dangerous.com/45111/middle-rages/
Rachel's fascinating Professional Self-Portrait http://home.uchicago.edu/~rfulton/Professional%20Self%20Portrait.pdf
Mary and the Art of Prayer: The Hours of the Virgin in Medieval Christian Life and Thought:
Purchase https://amzn.to/2MPrGFf
Read Chapter 2 https://issuu.com/columbiaup/docs/mary_and_the_art_of_prayer_ave_mari
Timestamps
2:56 Rachel Fulton Brown
3:41 The initial blog post that made Rachel's colleagues angry
10:15 Rachel's friendship with Milo Yiannopoulos
15:19 The progressive witch hunt within medieval studies
28:25 The letter 1,500 academics signed attempting to get her department to censure her
34:40 Rachel's defenders in academia
36:49 Why even tenured academics fear the mob
41:23 Critical theorists coming from English literature into medieval studies
45:27 What will be lost if medieval studies is taken over by progressives: the study of Christianity
51:02 This week's reading: Bl. John Henry Newman
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Mike Aquilina has been a highly successful freelance writer for over three decades. He is best known for his popular books on the Fathers of the Church, but he is also a poet and has co-written songs with the well-known blues singer Dion. We chat about the process of collaboration (whether as a ghostwriter or a song lyricist), the trajectory of poetry over the past century, and more.
Links
Mike Aquilina's website https://fathersofthechurch.com/
"New York Is My Home" (a song Mike co-wrote performed by Dion and Paul Simon) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpsVSLUOCGA
A History of the Church in 100 Objects by Mike & Grace Aquilina https://catholicbooksdirect.com/product/a-history-of-the-church-in-100-objects/
The Fathers of the Church, 3rd Edition by Mike Aquilina https://catholicbooksdirect.com/product/the-fathers-of-the-church-3rd-edition/
"Hindu Traditions of St. Thomas" at Mike's blog https://fathersofthechurch.com/2007/05/21/hindu-traditions-of-st-thomas/
"Birdhouse in Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhjSzjoU7OQ
Timestamps
Mike Aquilina
2:29 St. Thomas Aquinas's Eucharistic hymns
5:27 Being a lyricist collaborating with a musician (Dion)
7:05 The fun of ghostwriting
9:18 Prose influences
11:18 Mike's eclectic career path
13:27 The modern idea of the artist; poetry in the past century
31:39 Life as a full-time freelance writer
32:46 Mike's work on patristics
35:18 Distilling the scholarship of experts for a popular audience
38:09 More on Mike's collaboration with Dion
40:24 Having his lyrics sung by Paul Simon
41:31 Chatting about favorite musicians and lyricists
50:18 "Thomas Christians" in India and early Korean Catholicism
53:52 This week's readings: Clement of Alexandria
Are music and morals connected? If so, what is the nature of that connection? Are certain musical sounds morally bad or good in themselves, or are they neutral? Could the influence of music on morality be of an indirect kind? Is there such a thing as a virtuous way of listening to music? Can music prepare us for the spiritual life? Do you have to be a good person to make beautiful music? I discuss these questions and more with theologian Fr. Basil Cole, O.P., an amateur jazz pianist who wrote his dissertation on the moral effects of music (not to be confused with another Fr. Basil who has also commented on the same subject!).
Links
Basil Cole, O.P. bio https://www.dominicanajournal.org/preacher-professor-and-author-extraordinaire/
Read Fr. Basil's dissertation https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=11968
Fr. Basil articles at CC https://www.catholicculture.org/search/resultslist.cfm?requesttype=docbrowseauth&resourcetype=1&catlabel=author&catid=85
Excellent article on the Rosary by Fr. Basil https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=9226
Jeff Mirus's review of Music and Morals https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=510
Jeff Mirus's review of The Hidden Enemies of the Priesthood https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/articles.cfm?id=253
Jeff Mirus's review of Christian Totality https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=842
Further recommended reading (not mentioned in episode):
Elisabeth-Paule Labat, O.S.B., The Song That I Am: On the Mystery of Music https://amzn.to/2LemFYY
Timestamps
3:16 Fr. Basil Cole interview
4:05 Fr. Basil's musical background
10:01 Refuting the claim that certain musical sounds are intrinsically morally bad or good
12:20 Common misapplication of Plato's theory of music
18:28 Does music imitate or express emotions?
20:05 Why certain personalities might feel threatened by musical creativity; the necessity of risk in art and the spiritual life
25:31 Why the philosophers have not understood music: it goes beyond reason and concepts
31:32 How good music teaches us to "rejoice rightly"
37:34 Music as school of contemplation
44:34 Beauty and morality: an indirect relationship; can music promote morality through happiness?
48:31 Temperance in listening to music
51:17 Is mediocre music morally degrading?
55:08 Using music to foster false identity and narcissistic sentimentality vs. true self-knowledge through contemplation
59:16 The vice of curiositas in music: music streaming tempts us to superficial musical gluttony
1:01:05 Curiositas: Over-analysis and musical snobbery
1:03:28 What Frank Serpico can teach us about music and integrity
1:06:38 Do you have to be a good person to make beautiful music?
1:10:50 What virtues does an artist need?
1:13:02 How to begin listening to music more deeply
1:15:47 This week's excerpt: Sirach 32:5
This episode is for anyone who believes he is called to found a Catholic apostolate, or anyone who is overseeing one already. In this second part of a two-part interview, CatholicCulture.org founder Jeff Mirus shares more lessons from his decades of experience founding several Catholic organizations.
In the mid-80s he left Christendom College to start a publishing company. Then circumstances forced him to transition away from full-time apostolic work which, though painful at the time, providentially set the stage for him to return on more sustainable terms, leading to the present online apostolate.
Links
Part 1 of the Jeff Mirus interview https://www.catholicculture.org/podcast/index.cfm?id=9
Books mentioned
Fr. William Most, The Consciousness of Christ
Read online: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/most/getwork.cfm?worknum=215
Buy used: https://amzn.to/2N3Kgsy
The Fr. William Most Collection https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/most/
Timothy T. O'Donnell, Heart of the Redeemer https://amzn.to/2zpGrMC
Warren H. Carroll, The Guillotine and the Cross https://amzn.to/2uiShSL
Jeffrey Mirus, Reasons for Hope https://amzn.to/2L0oaXs
Jeffrey Mirus, The Divine Courtship https://amzn.to/2zzsdsL
Dennis Larkin, A Walk to Rome https://amzn.to/2MXqkri
Review of St. Katharine Drexel biography https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1266
Show Notes:
Jeff Mirus interview
3:51
1:20 Summary of Part 1
3:50 Jeff leaves Christendom College to start a publishing company, Trinity Communications
5:54 Why Jeff doesn't like looking backwards
8:49 Getting Trinity off the ground using Christendom's mailing list
10:45 Jeff's two books, Reasons for Hope and The Divine Courtship
11:34 Efficiency of running a small company without a board of trustees and political battles
12:50 Some of the best books Jeff published: Carroll's The Guillotine and the Cross, Fr. Most's The Consciousness of Christ, Larkin's A Walk to Rome, O'Donnell's Heart of the Redeemer
15:37 Failure of Trinity as a publisher in 1991, Jeff's realization that he could not do apostolic work full-time
16:34 Jeff learns to program, begins computer consulting and online apostolate, Catholic Resource Network, work for EWTN
19:35 CatholicCulture.org's predecessor, PetersNet, begins in 1996—funded by computer consulting business
21:24 Trinity does all the programing for Phil Lawler's Catholic World News, then a separate company
23:16 Importance of making it so Jeff could be removed by other board members if he ever went against the Church
24:27 Why God forced Jeff away from full-time apostolic work in order to put him in a position where he could both support his family and serve the Church without overworking himself
25:33 Programming analogy: Elegant solutions to problems vs. using "brute force"; importance of standing back from problems and learning to delegate and work with a team
30:12 Differences between PetersNet and CatholicCulture.org
32:31 Ethos distinguishing CatholicCulture.org from other faithful Catholic websites when it started in 2003
35:56 Trinity buys Catholic World News in 2006; transition from funding via for-profit company to email-solicited donations just in time for 2008 financial crisis and dissolution of Trinity Consulting
43:19 CatholicCulture.org's reciprocal model of support; depending on Divine Providence rather than being an institution that exists to perpetuate itself
48:03 Future of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org: transitioning away from Jeff's leadership
50:01 Final advice for those doing apostolic work: "Unless the LORD builds the house, he labors in vain who builds it." (Psalm 127)
51:59 This week's excerpt: St. Katharine Drexel
This episode is for anyone who believes he is called to found a Catholic apostolate, or anyone who is overseeing one already. You may know Jeff Mirus as the founder of CatholicCulture.org, bu the has launched several other successful Catholic institutions as well.
In this first part of a two-part interview he discusses how, as a young man witnessing a grave crisis in the Church, he set out to become a Catholic apologist. In the first few years of his career, he founded the interdisciplinary academic journal Faith & Reason and co-founded Christendom College. These experiences taught him valuable lessons about the situational, practical and personal problems of running an institutional Catholic apostolate.
Links:
Sigrid Undset, Catherine of Siena https://amzn.to/2uauGE3
St. Augustine, Confessions https://amzn.to/2u3pIc6
Faith & Reason Archives https://media.christendom.edu/faith-reason/
Christendom College https://www.christendom.edu/
Timestamps:
Jeff Mirus Interview
02:46 Jeff's Catholic upbringing, early sense of calling to apologetics
7:32 College and first experiences engaging with and debating secular culture
10:38 The crisis in the Church, realization that a prescriptive approach to the faith will eventually fail without prayer and interior life
14:11 Desire to attain academic credentials in order not to be silenced by the cult of expertise
17:18 Funny encounters with the 60s revolution at Rutgers
24:11 Studying history at Princeton; professor who wanted to explain away medieval mysticism
28:32 Formative reading during grad school: Sigrid Undset's Catherine of Siena, St. Augustine's Confessions, Christopher Dawson, Dominican defenders of the papacy
31:59 The beginnings of lay apostolates in the late 60s and early 70s as clergy became increasingly unfaithful
36:58 Jeff founds academic journal Faith & Reason in 1975
38:57 Situational problem in the Church and practical problem of funding an academic journal
43:33 The importance of keeping faith with your audience
46:04 First encounter with Warren H. Carroll, leading to the founding of Christendom College in 1977; the state of Catholic colleges in the U.S. in the mid-70s
52:33 Practical problem: Making sure the Catholic mission is not compromised based on who exercises control of the corporate entity (in this case, dealing with the problem of an independent college board)
58:51 Dealing with disagreements between good people with dogmatic personalities
1:02:22 Early discussions at Christendom about student life and what the campus culture should look like
1:08:00 Jeff's responsibilities at Christendom 1977-83: member of both boards, Director of Academic Affairs, teaching apologetics, history, and various other subjects at short notice when another professor was missing, editing Faith & Reason, running Christendom Press, building up mailing list
1:11:23 Financial crisis at Christendom which required Jeff to be a full-time fundraiser for two years and precipitated a personal crisis
1:13:57 Personal problem: reliance on Holy Spirit rather than seeing oneself as a Catholic "machine" that can be put into higher gear at will
1:16:20 Beginning family Rosary as a way of putting family first and increasing discernment
1:22:47 Departure from Christendom College; decision to found a publisher called Trinity Communications
1:26:34 This week's excerpt: Noam Chomsky
Abriana Chilelli had to drive her children past a lewd strip club advertisement every day on their way home from school in downtown Denver. But instead of taking a fatalistic attitude and a detour, or worse, just accepting it, she got in touch with a city councilman and within days, the pornographic image was gone. We discuss her story and the lessons she learned about how we can still accomplish positive change in our communities, and the importance of teaching children the true meaning of their bodies.
Links
Abriana Chilelli https://twitter.com/AbrianaChilelli
Book mentioned in interview: Good Pictures, Bad Pictures https://goo.gl/XHNJzn
Book reviewed: A Bad Catholic's Essays on What's Wrong with the World by Marc Barnes https://amzn.to/2MZhQkl
Sample essay https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/08/make-hell-hot-again
Marc Barnes's website https://bad-catholic.com/
1979 Wise Blood film adaptation https://amzn.to/2yJjd3N
Timestamps
00:48 Book review: A Bad Catholic's Essays on What's Wrong with the World by Marc Barnes
7:59 John Huston's film adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood
9:46 Abriana Chilelli interview
10:50 The lewd advertisement on Abriana's commute home from her children's school
15:07 Her attempts to get it taken down, and final success with help from a city councilman
19:54 What she learned: Don't assume nothing can be done; the problem of Catholic fatalism and the need to be in the public square and build relationships
22:00 Thomas's frustration at lewd public service ads on the NYC subway
24:36 #MeToo and America's reckoning with the consumption of women's bodies
26:06 Tact and truth: communicating your complaint in a way that accomplishes something
30:53 Abriana's work as curriculum director for Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Denver; how to teach children about the meaning of their bodies
34:20 How pornography influences gender ideology
36:03 This week's excerpt: Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia, Ch. 4, p. 151 https://goo.gl/yLgtwU
It would not occur to most of us to imagine that monetary has a moral component. Catholic prelates are as silent about matters like fiat money, central banking and inflation and as are the secular ethicists. But the production of currency is not just a matter for the technocrats, and the Catholic tradition once had something to say on the topic. Economist Guido Hülsmann has combined the moral-economic analysis of the scholastics, particularly the 14th-century bishop Nicholas Oresme (who wrote that debauching the currency is worse than either usury or prostitution), with the insights of the Austrian school of economics in order to formulate an authentically Christian Ethics of Money Production for the modern age.
Links:
Guido Hülsmann's website http://www.guidohulsmann.com/
Jörg Guido Hülsmann, The Ethics of Money Production: Buy https://amzn.to/2lifyQT or read for free https://mises.org/library/ethics-money-production
Thomas's series of articles on Prof. Hülsmann's book https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/articles.cfm?id=694
Read Nicholas Oresme's De Moneta for free https://mises.org/library/de-moneta-nicholas-oresme-and-english-mint-documents
Timestamps:
3:13 Interview with Guido Hülsmann
Part 1: Money and Banking
3:51 Silence of Catholic social teaching on money production; using scholastic tradition, esp. Nicole Oresme, as a source
5:38 What is the "Austrian school" of economics and why would the Catholic mind find it compelling?
10:58 Competing definitions of money: commodity or sign?
14:54 Origin and evolution of banking; from simple money warehousing to fractional reserve
21:00 Varying origins of fractional reserve banking in Europe
25:10 Absence of legal and contractual clarity throughout the history of fractional reserve banking; attempts by states to keep banks from going bankrupt leading to the creation of central banks
Part 2: Inflation and Its Consequences
34:53 Three unprecedented modern developments: the abandonment of precious metals, the imposition of fiat money, constant inflation
40:19 The first economist was a scholastic: Bishop Oresme on inflation and the debasement of coinage
48:56 Render to Caesar: does all money belong to the government? Oresme says governments may not alter previously existing moneys without the consent of the entire community
50:54 Inflation worse than usury and prostitution according to Oresme; deceptive practices by governments
54:01 Similar economic consequences of debasement of coinage and modern inflation: Enrichment of earliest recipients of new money at the expense of latest recipients
57:54 A uniquely modern recurrence: the business cycle as a result of fractional reserve banking
1:00:43 Central banks incentivizing commercial banks to irresponsible behavior leading to the 2008 financial crisis
1:08:26 Cultural consequences of inflation: a debt-based economy, borrowing and investment prioritized over saving, materialism and short-term thinking
1:12:45 This week's excerpts: Aristotle, Jean-Baptiste Say, Etienne Gilson
The Dominicans have just celebrated the 150-year jubilee of their ministry on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Fr. John Maria Devaney, O.P., host of the Order's Word to Life program on Sirius XM, takes me through the history of the Dominicans in NYC (which involves quite a bit of history of the city itself). From Rose Hawthorne to Andy Warhol, it is a fascinating and grace-filled legacy.
Links
Word to Life, Fr. John's Sirius XM radio show https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/word-to-life/id1416667926
Dominican Friars Province of St. Joseph https://opeast.org/category/word-to-life/
The St. John Paul II Society https://www.stjohnpaul.org/
The Angelic Warfare Confraternity http://www.angelicwarfareconfraternity.org/
Book mentioned by Fr. John, Pioneer Priests and Makeshift Altars: A History of Catholicism in the Thirteen Colonies by Fr. Charles Connor https://amzn.to/2Mk6Iyo
Timestamps
2:17 Father John's background and call to the priesthood
4:34 Parish missions: the beginnings of Dominican ministry in Manhattan in 1867; Catholic demographics in New York at the time
14:57 The second church of St. Vincent Ferrer that was built after the arrival of more Irish immigrants; Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs start a school
17:20 The English sisters who served poor immigrants and started the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill
21:07 Aside on Bishop John Hughes, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Dominican friars out West
26:38 The first two bishops of New York were Dominican
28:47 The gilded age of New York: opening the Priory of St. Vincent Ferrer and the Mission Church of St. Catherine of Siena
35:07 The story of Rose Hawthorne and her founding of a community of Dominican sisters to care for poor cancer sufferers (the "Hawthorne Dominicans")
41:54 Rose's cause for canonization and its importance in combatting assisted suicide; her connection to Sloan-Kettering and Dominican hospital work in NYC more generally
47:48 The vital role of Dominican nuns and sisters
49:44 The current St. Vincent Ferrer church built in Gothic style by the great architect Bertram Goodhue
52:02 The stained-glass Aristotle window; his importance to the Dominicans
56:15 Developments in the neighborhood since the 1950s
57:39 Andy Warhol's attendance of St. Vincent Ferrer
1:01:28 Catholicism in the public sphere and art circles in the mid-20th century
1:03:42 The Dominican mission of influencing NYC as a cultural hub today; the Dominican contribution to Catholicism in the US is devotional life
1:09:55 The Our Lady of Fatima statue at St. Vincent Ferrer which was sculpted by Fr. McGlynn under the direction of Sister Lucia, the piece of St. John Paul II's bloodstained cassock from when he was shot
1:14:48 The importance of the rosary to Dominicans and all Catholics
1:18:56 How Fr. Matthew Carroll got the sisters to wear their habits again
1:27:36 This week's excerpt: Pope St. John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope
One of the most creative rock bands around today is Virginia-based indie rock trio The Duskwhales. Drummer/singer Chris Baker joins me to talk about their new EP, Hospital Dreams, a set of melancholic, folky acoustic songs he wrote while battling cancer. In this episode I also discuss the Metropolitan Museum of Art's controversial Heavenly Bodies exhibit, and give a couple of movie recommendations.
Links
Listen to and purchase Hospital Dreams on Bandcamp https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/album/hospital-dreams
My interview with The Duskwhales about their 2017 album Sorrowful Mysteries https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1473
Follow The Duskwhales on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheDuskwhales/
Timestamps
1:32 Heavenly Bodies exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Movie recommendations
12:34 Babette's Feast
15:28 A Quiet Place
19:41 Chris Baker interview (songs used with permission)
20:39 Song: "Hospital Dreams" by The Duskwhales
24:32 The story behind Hospital Dreams: Chris's cancer
27:41 Writing songs as a way of occupying time during chemo
28:42 Song discussion: "Hospital Dreams"
29:57 You can't spell the word "chemotherapy" without "mother": Mary in "
All Her Wonder" and "Turn White"
32:20 The band's first time self-recording
33:56 Plans for a trilogy of albums
35:20 Keyboardist Brian Majewski's departure and return
36:10 Hospital Dreams cover art
37:23 Chris's ill-fated but diverting Twitter campaign
38:09 The Duskwhales' future
39:02 Music Chris is currently listening to; influences on Hospital Dreams
44:25 Weekly excerpt: Hans Urs von Balthasar
There is an easy, short, perfect and sure way to save our failing Western civilization that is often overlooked in the endless slew of books and articles penned by Catholic intellectuals: Turn to Mary. Carrie Gress's book The Marian Option: God's Solution to a Civilization in Crisis reminds us that in crisis after overwhelming civilizational crisis, Mary has saved the day when her children had the humility and simplicity to beg her for help. Our age is no different.
In this episode, Carrie and I discuss The Marian Option, as well as her latest book, Marian Consecration for Children, the importance of women in the church, and the pernicious attempts by "Catholic feminists" to remake Mary in the image of Beyonce.
Come, Holy Spirit! Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!
Links:
The Marian Option https://amzn.to/2IIYvSd
Marian Consecration for Children https://amzn.to/2KHydju
Carrie's blog, My Favorite Catholic Things https://myfavoritecatholicthings.com/
Helena Daily https://www.helenadaily.com/
Books on Marian consecration for adults:
St. Louis de Montfort: True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin https://amzn.to/2IEn4zB
Preparation for Total Consecration According to St. Louis de Montfort, Fr. Hugh Gillespie, S.M.M. https://amzn.to/2Lgqom1
33 Days to Morning Glory, Fr. Michael E. Gaitley, M.I.C. https://amzn.to/2KKnZ1Q
Other books mentioned:
The World's First Love, Ven. Fulton J. Sheen https://amzn.to/2IDocU9
Jesus and His Mother, Fr. Andre Feuillet (out of print) https://amzn.to/2s17cQA
Ultimate Makeover: The Transforming Power of Motherhood, Carrie Gress https://amzn.to/2KJ7LGh
Timestamps:
Carrie Gress interview
2:55 Carrie's book panned by wacky individual
4:15 Origin of The Marian Option—nothing wrong with Benedict, but Mary is more powerful, central and directly relevant to contemporary challenges
9:17 The big picture of Mary's influence on world history; Mary's influence on the Battle of New Orleans
10:12 Little-known intercontinental links between Marian events; example: Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Reconquista, the conversation of Mexico and the Battle of Lepanto
15:26 Why the Marian Option is not just an option
17:15 How cultures flourish under Mary
18:41 Why Catholic intellectuals look to their own pet projects to save the West and not to Mary; hang-ups about private revelation; the limits of argumentation
26:01 Carrie's new book, Marian Consecration for Children; giving children a sense of their mission here and now
37:01 The influence of women on culture
40:15 The importance of women, feminine spirituality and the Church as feminine vs. modern "feminization" of the Church
47:10 The attempts by "Catholic feminists" to make their own Mary
53:54 "Equal" is not a useful word
55:09 Women are demonstrably unhappier under today's model of womanhood
57:30 Sts. John Paul II and Edith Stein on feminism
1:00:59 The dangers of trying to create Catholic versions of ideologies
1:02:48 Carrie's new content aggregate site for Catholic women, Helena Daily
1:07:00 Books on Marian consecration for adults
1:10:24 This week's excerpt: Ven. Fulton J. Sheen
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
The history of Catholicism in the native American nations is little known, but is rife with lessons for lay spirituality, inculturation, and the New Evangelization. Today's guest, journalist Peter Jesserer Smith, shares some of the holy treasures of American history, such as Joseph Chiwatenhwa and Marie Aonetta, the Huron "power couple" of evangelization, and the martyrs (numbering over a thousand) of the La Florida missions.
Links
Homily of Pope St. John Paul II at the Martyrs' Shrine (Huronia) on Saturday, 15 September 1984 https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/1984/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19840915_santuario-huronia.html
Friends of God: The Early Native Huron Church in Canada, by Bruce Henry (tells the story of Joseph Chiwatenhwa and Marie Aonetta) http://www.wyandot.org/friendsofgod.htm
Eustace Ahasistari, Catholic Huron warrior, as described by Jesuit missionaries https://books.google.com/books?id=xqRBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA252&lpg=PA252&dq=Eustace+Ahasistari&source=bl&ots=7ifewQvpp4&sig=1sIn-WpAEKEBgaaEQOhwVvJDkfk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjehPf5ku_aAhWMnOAKHU7dDzYQ6AEIMDAD#v=onepage&q=Eustace%20Ahasistari&f=false
Articles by Peter Jesserer Smith
America's first paths of holiness: Lives of indigenous saints and martyrs https://angelusnews.com/content/america-s-first-paths-of-holiness-lives-of-indigenous-saints-and-martyrs
Hundreds of Martyrs Sow the Seeds of Faith in the United States http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/north-american-martyrs-sow-the-seeds-of-faith-in-the-new-world
St. Kateri Tekakwitha: Our Saint for All Seasons http://www.angelusnews.com/articles/st-kateri-tekakwitha-our-saint-for-all-seasons
A holy marriage gave the Church a community of native saints, and St. Kateri Tekakwitha http://www.angelusnews.com/articles/a-holy-marriage-gave-the-church-a-community-of-native-saints-and-st-kateri-tekakwitha
St. Kateri and the Four Holy Martyrs from Kahnawake http://www.angelusnews.com/articles/st-kateri-and-the-four-holy-martyrs-from-kahnawake
A proven path to holiness: Mentoring a saint https://angelusnews.com/content/a-proven-path-to-holiness-mentoring-a-saint
Cause Opens for Nicholas Black Elk, Holy Man of the Lakota http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/cause-opens-for-nicholas-black-elk-holy-man-of-the-lakota
Timestamps:
Peter Jesserer Smith interview
3:25 Why is native American Catholic history and culture important for the New Evangelization?
6:37 St. John Paul II's 1984 address at the Martyr's Shrine in Huronia
7:35 What were the missionaries impressed with in native American cultures? What aspects of native cultures resonated with the Gospel? In the Great Lakes region: family-based societies, devotion to the Creator
11:29 The lay missionary power couple of the Huron: Joseph Chiwatenhwa (a convert of St. Jean de Brebeuf) and his wife Marie Aonetta
13:51 Native American societies were set up almost more like the United States than like Europe, so the old European model of "convert the king and the people will follow" was and is obsolete
16:16 More on Joseph and Marie. Women have a lot of authority in Native societies in this region, so Marie's active involvement in evangelization is essential
20:35 Hostility from some natives because Jesuits inadvertently brought disease, leading to Chiwatenhwa's martyrdom
32:02 Joseph Chiwatenhwa was the first lay parish administrator in Canada; Native converts' devotion to the Eucharist, the Liturgy of the Hours, and the Rosary
34:18 Not everything in Huron culture was compatible with the Catholic faith. What would it have meant to be a Huron warrior who was also a Christian? Example: Eustace Ahasistari
40:00 Funny—well, it's interesting—it's not hilarious—story about Eustace Ahasistari's and St. Isaac Jogue's very different responses to torture
44:35 Reasons why these native Catholics have not been canonized; their continuing relevance
47:30 Ritual adoption and how it helped transmit the Gospel between tribes and nations—all the way to St. Kateri Tekakwitha; the importance of preserving the languages which spread the faith
52:38 The hundreds of martyrs of the La Florida missions
59:04 The lead martyr, Antonio Cuipa
1:11:18 The lessons of inculturation in native American nations are increasingly relevant at a time when more and more American Catholic thinkers are questioning the foundations of our country and proposing various alternatives
1:12:14 This week's excerpt: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Operation Rescue is the largest civil disobedience movement in American history. It even dwarfs the civil rights movement, with over fifty thousand people having been arrested between 1988 and 1992 for nonviolently blockading abortion clinics. Yet most people, even most Catholics, don't know the story. On the rare occasions when it has been covered by the media, it has been falsely and laughably portrayed as violent and extremist.
Today's episode is something of an oral history of Operation Rescue, told by Bill Cotter, head of OR Boston, who spent 19 months in prison for his involvement with the protests. You'll also hear from CatholicCulture.org's own Phil Lawler, who provided the public face of OR Boston while Bill was in jail, and also wrote a book about the movement in 1992.
Links
Phil Lawler's book, Operation Rescue: A Challenge to the Nation's Conscience https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Rescue-Challenge-Nations-Conscience/dp/0879735066
Operation Rescue Boston http://orboston.org/
Operation Rescue national website http://www.operationrescue.org/
Footage of police brutality against Rescuers during the "Summer of Mercy", in which tens of thousands of pro-lifers flocked to Wichita and thousands were arrested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSPto_gQ5CU
Footage of L.A. police breaking a Rescuer's arm with nunchucks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6H-8_VE6Oc
Timestamps:
Bill Cotter interview
3:00 Description of a rescue
6:49 Tactics to delay police from dragging people away
10:13 Factors that kept Operation Rescue from continuing to operate as a mass movement blockading abortion clinics after its heyday in the late 80s and early 90s: court injunctions, most people unwilling to go to jail for longer than a weekend
12:07 Most of the people involved were not activist types and the rescues were not demonstrations. They had a specific concrete goal: on that day, at that time, in that place, to prevent babies from being killed
14:31 According to Phil Lawler's book Operation Rescue, in between 1988 and 1992 over 50,000 Rescuers had been arrested—about six times as many arrests as during the entire civil rights movement! So why don't more people know about OR? (Need I have asked?)
17:00 Lack of support and even hostility from some Catholic clergy today towards pro-life movement
18:19 Police brutality against Rescuers in West Hartford, CT and elsewhere
22:22 Bill spent 19 months in jail
27:15 Mixed response to OR in Boston
29:19 The genesis of OR; the early days; getting more and more attention
34:06 Bill's participation in Rescues outside Boston; Rescues accompanying St. JPII's visit to the US in 1987; the Summer of Mercy in Wichita
37:39 What is OR doing today?
39:54 Is it true that the young people are becoming more pro-life?
42:05 Learning about Operation Rescue is a challenge to our complacency and desensitization to the continued toleration of abortion. Why shouldn't I be in jail right now?
47:51 Importance of prayer
49:28 How people can learn more and get involved with OR
50:31 Current signs of hope for the pro-life movement; eschatological hope
Phil Lawler interview
55:12 How Phil got involved with Operation Rescue
56:35 His first impression of OR people
57:52 Phil was the public face of OR Boston while Bill Cotter was in jail
58:47 Being arrested
59:55 Phil's interactions with the media on behalf of OR, personal experience of media bias
1:02:00 How the archdiocese of Boston treated OR
1:04:07 The media and others routinely accused OR of violence; Ted Kennedy made a speech saying OR had "a policy of firebombing and even murder"(!!!)
1:04:59 The optimism of the pro-life movement at this time
1:07:52 The draconian penalties judges imposed on the protesters
1:10:24 Why do so few Catholics know about OR?
1:11:02 Couldn't the Rescuers have called the bluff on these long prison sentences and brought the whole thing to a standstill? Phil gives his own personal answer
1:13:27 Joan Andrews, the Dorothy Day of the modern pro-life movement; today's Red Rose Rescues
1:15:20 This week's excerpt: Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est
Tony Mockus, Sr. has been Catholic his entire life, and an actor for almost as long. He has worked with countless great performers including Henry Fonda, Elizabeth Montgomery, Robert De Niro and Kevin Costner. In this interview he discusses his seven decades on the stage and screen, the life-changing experience of being wounded in Korea, the role of the Holy Spirit in artistic performance, and his love of St. Anthony.
Tony Mockus, Sr. on IMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0595166/ (note that some of Tony's roles have been mistakenly logged on his son's page https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0595165/)
Timestamps:
Tony Mockus, Sr. interview
4:54 How Tony prepared to play St. Paul in the Truth & Life Dramatized Audio Bible
7:24 Spiritual wake-up call: wounded by a mine in Korea
13:30 The Holy Spirit at work in an actor's performance
23:14 Life with St. Anthony
26:39 Tony's early years in Cicero, Illinois; digression into the decline of the variety show and the nature of Northern Virginia culture
31:25 A Jesuit priest at Tony's high school forces him to try acting, with great success
36:44 Tony and Thomas both played the lead role in The Man Who Came to Dinner as high school seniors, several decades apart, but Tony's production also included a teenaged Bob Newhart
39:00 Tony's first professional acting jobs as a teen
43:22 The spiritual influence of Tony's mother and grandmother
46:12 Traveling in the show Mr. Roberts, with castmates like Henry Fonda; Tony's formation from his Jesuit education and mother and grandmother allowed him to discern what to embrace and what to avoid in the traveling show business lifestyle
48:50 A brief move to New York, then back to Chicago where he starts to work as a leading man and gets married
53:19 Evangelical work for radio with the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago
56:52 Keeping one's moral integrity in choosing roles
59:17 Tony starts working in film and television
62:17 The fun of playing the bad guy
63:07 The Untouchables (1987): Working for director Brian De Palma; funny story about Robert De Niro
1:11:29 Two great actresses Tony worked with; generosity and professionalism on set
1:15:15 A funny David Mamet story; politics in theatre
1:20:12 Retirement
1:21:32 Acting with his son, Tony Mockus, Jr.; advice to young Catholics who want to be actors
1:25:08 This week's excerpts: J. R. R. Tolkien, Jacques Maritain
