Podcasts about mcgrath institute

Arising from the McGrath Institute for Church Life, the Sullivan Undergraduate Saints Fellowship forms Notre Dame students as leaders in the study and spirituality of the saints. We launched this fellowship in 2025 with an inaugural cohort of 12 students selected from a pool of many, many applicants. As part of their fellowship, our saints fellows completed a course this past semester (with yours truly) on praying with the saints. Next year they will become leaders of other undergraduate students, as they form groups of students who pray together and serve together in a manner common to a saint each fellow selects. But in between the course they complete and the year of leadership they undertake, the whole cohort of 12 fellows, along with me and a chaplain, make a pilgrimage to immerse ourselves in the cultures that gave rise to particular saints––cultures which, in turn, these saints renewed and enriched. This year's pilgrimage was to France, specifically: Paris, Chartres, Lisieux, LeMans, Tours, and Lourdes. Today, two of our Sullivan Undergraduate Saints Fellows join me to talk about the meaning and significance of this pilgrimage with the saints. Macy Vance is a rising junior and Kate Apelian is a rising senior at Notre Dame, but really I should let them introduce themselves.Follow-up Resources:Learn more about the Sullivan Undergraduate Saints FellowshipCheck out the wildly popular “Saturdays with the Saints” lecture series“Pilgrimage and the Urgent Question of Faith,” by Leonard J. DeLorenzo, essay in the Church Life Journal“A pilgrimage of sacred art,” by Leonard J. DeLorenzo, article in Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly“Saints who flew, with Carlos Eire,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Encountering Christ on Pilgrimage, with Joan Watson,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Saints, for Real, with Meg Hunter-Kilmer,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“The Theology of the Saints, with Katie Cavadini and Leonard DeLorenzo,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Episode Topic: The Feminine Genius and Catholic History“The Feminine Genius & Catholic History,” presented by Bronwen McShea, took place at the McGrath Institute for Church Life conference True Genius: The Mission of Women in Church and Culture at the University of Notre Dame in March 2025, developed by Abigail Favale, Ph.D., Professor of the Practice, Theology & Literature, at the McGrath Institute for Church Life.Featured Speakers:Bronwen McShea, Loyola University ChicagoRead this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: https://go.nd.edu/3efa90.This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled True Genius: The Mission of Women in Church and Culture. Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career. Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu. Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

Father Dave welcomes back Timothy O'Malley to discuss how we can better relate to Mary as our Blessed Mother. O'Malley is associate director at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, and the author of the new book “A Fierce and Tender Love: 7 Meditations on Mary, Mother of God.”

Hi everyone. For today's episode I do not have a guest joining me; instead, I am just going to share with you directly. You see, my dad died a few weeks ago and just last week we celebrated his funeral Mass. I've written a few books over the years and I dedicated one of those books to my dad, who raised me. That book is about fostering communion with our beloved dead. The beloved dead now include my dad. So what I wanted to do today is share with you a portion of the book in remembrance of my dad, specifically the book's brief epilogue where I highlight five pastoral priorities for this communal task of fostering communion with the dead. These are priorities for those of us who mourn, for those who accompany – or should accompany – those who mourn, for families, for parishes. The book's is title Our Faithful Departed: Where They Are and Why It Matters, published by Ave Maria Press in 2022. After I share the epilogue with its five priorities with you, I then read my dad's obituary, which I wrote. Follow-up ResourcesOur Faithful Departed: Where They Are and Why It Matters, by Leonard J. DeLorenzoOur Faithful Departed Discussion Guide, a free resource for parishes, schools, families and friends.“Heaven in the Midst of Death, with Laura Kelly Fanucci,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Life is changed but something ended, with Stephanie DePrez,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Life in Death in Life, with Robert Cording,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Praying for the Dead, with John Cavadini,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

What can Christians on the right and left continue to learn about the experience and discipleship of trans people and those with gender incongruence?Today we'll be looking into some of the tough questions of transgender anthropology and pastoral care. But instead of debating directly over the questions (Should we use preferred pronouns? What is just legislation? How do we talk to kids? To affirm, or not to affirm?), we concentrate on how to care for people.Our two guests today, while not in substantial theological disagreement about trans topics, bring to their different experiences, approaches, and relationships lots of much-needed nuance, and some timely new questions, to a conversation grounded in traditional Christian theology.Can we question aspects of trans-anthropology as needed, or question current rhetoric or practices, but in the cause of charity, honesty, and human flourishing rather than against it? How do the right and left get caught in echo chambers here? How do we affirm the flawed gifts of the human body, while engaging its most painful experiences? How can we learn better to love and trust people?Our guests today are Dr. Abigail Favale and Pieter Valk. Abby is a writer and professor in the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. She has an academic background in gender studies and feminist literary criticism, and now writes and teaches on topics related to women and gender from a Catholic perspective. Her latest book is The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory. Pieter is a sought-after author and speaker on discernment, vocational singleness, and LGBT+ topics. Pieter is also the Founder and Director ofEquip, the leading coaching and training solution for theologically-traditional churches aspiring to be places where LGBT+ people thrive according to God's wisdom. He is also a teacher and diaconate explorer in the Anglican Church in North America.Pieter's Christianity Today article with stats from the Us Versus Us reportAbby's websitePieter's websiteRegister for a Living Church conferenceGive to support this podcastMentioned in this episode:Click here to learn more about the Transforming Leaders Program

In our previous episode of Church Life Today, I was joined by Professor Christie Kleinmann of Belmont University, who talked with me about her fascinating and truly original course on Strategic Public Relations for the Inklings (specifically, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Dorothy Sayers). This is a follow up to that previous excellent episode where things get even better because today I am joined by three of Professor Kleinmann's undergraduate students.Ryleigh Green is a senior at Belmont University who was part of the C. S. Lewis group in Professor Kleinmann's class.Jed Mangrum is a sophomore at Belmont who was part of the Tolkien group.And Adriana Alosno is a junior at Belmont who was part of the Dorothy Sayers group.I've done a lot of podcast episodes over the years, and this one is one of my favorites. Enjoy.Follow-up Resources:Learn more about The Inklings Project. Interested in applying as a fellow for 2026–26? Check out the call for applications here (due July 1, 2025). Check out the Dorothy Sayers Instagram account from the Sayers group in Prof. Kleinmann's course.Check out the C. S. Lewis Instagram account from the Lewis group in Prof. Kleinmann's course.Check out the J. R. R. Tolkien Instagram account from the Tolkien group in Prof. Kleinmann's course.Find syllabi from Inklings Project fellows in our free syllabus repository.Read and subscribe to the “Inklings Quarterly.”Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Episode Topic: The Church's Vision for WomenThirty years ago, in both Evangelium Vitae and his Letter to Women, Pope John Paul II issued a clear call for the genius of women to be “more fully expressed in the life of society as a whole, as well as in the life of the Church” (Letter to Women 10). Throughout his papacy, in fact, he emphasized women's “prophetic character,” calling on them to be “witnesses” and “sentinels” — guardians of the sacred gift of life and the order of love (Mulieris Dignitatem 29; Homily at Lourdes 2004). “The Church's Vision for Women,” presented by Angela Franks, took place at the McGrath Institute for Church Life conference True Genius: The Mission of Women in Church and Culture at the University of Notre Dame in March 2025, developed by Abigail Favale, Ph.D., Professor of the Practice, Theology & Literature, at the McGrath Institute for Church Life.Featured Speakers:Abigail Favale, professor, University of Notre DameAngela Franks, St. John's Seminary, BostonRead this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: https://go.nd.edu/f9588d.This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled True Genius: The Mission of Women in Church and Culture. Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career. Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu. Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

“Habemus Papam.” We have a pope. We have a papa. We have a father.  The announcement of a new pope is a startlingly joyous and even spellbinding moment, when not just the faithful but also many who seemingly have no interest in the Church stop and cheer together. What is being proclaimed? What is the significance of the pope for the Church and, through the Church, for the world? What are we all struck by when the announcement echoes through the arms of St. Peter's square to every corner of the world?John Cavadini joins me today to talk about the announcement of the election of Pope Leo XIV. We hope this conversation offers you something a little different than what the typical news commentary on this historic occasion offers. Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

This week on Respect Life Radio, hosts Emma Ramirez and Jennifer Torres welcome Sr. Mary Grace and Sr. Veritas of the Sisters of Life—a contemplative and active Roman Catholic community of women religious. In addition to the traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Sisters of Life take a unique fourth vow: to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life. Founded in 1991 by Cardinal John O'Connor in New York, their mission includes serving women vulnerable to abortion, offering them the support and resources needed to choose life for themselves and their children. The Sisters also lead weekend retreats, evangelization efforts, outreach to college students, and post-abortion healing ministries centered on the mercy and healing of Jesus Christ. In today's episode, Emma, Jennifer, Sr. Mary Grace, and Sr. Veritas discuss Into Life, a 12-part video series produced by the McGrath Institute for Church Life. Inspired by the Sisters' work with pregnant women, the series explores how to deeply listen to others, recognize the beauty of each individual, and accompany others into God's life and freedom. Learn more at https://intolifeseries.com.

Welcome back to A History of Christian Theology! This week, Chad talks with Dr. Abigail Favale about her book "The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory" with Ignatius Press. Dr. Favale's book came out in 2022 and has received excellent reviews, and while the topic is not one we often discuss on the podcast, Chad thought it would make for an interesting conversation, and he was absolutely right! Dr. Favale currently works at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, where she is a professor and writer. Her topics of interest revolve around matters of women and gender from a Catholic Perspective. In today's episode, she and Chad discuss the philosophy and theology of gender and different ways we approach it. Thanks to Dr. Favale for taking the time to join us! We hope you enjoy!Buy "The Genesis of Gender"Subscribe to our Patreontwitter: @theologyxianFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ahistoryofchristiantheology

Have you ever thought about becoming a brand expert for C. S. Lewis or J. R. R. Tolkien? On the one hand, these seem like authors who need no introduction. On the other hand, how many people today really know the work of these towering 20th Century authors, beyond what made its way onto the silver screen? And what about one of the authors closely associated with them – Dorothy Sayers – who is far from well known in the general public but whose work is of similar creative and literary quality with her more famous friends and interlocutors?Maybe you haven't ever thought about launching a public relations campaign for one of these authors for the sake of a modern audience of young adults, but my guest today has. She is Christie Kleinmann, Professor of Public Relations at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Professor Kleinmann is one of a dozen fellows in our second annual cohort of the Inklings Project, run out of the McGrath Institute for Church Life. Along with the other eleven fellows who come from colleges and universities across the United States and in four foreign countries, Professor Kleinmann developed and offered a new course this spring that draws the work of the Inklings into her own area of expertise: strategic public relations. The students in her course were divided into three semester-long groups, which each took as their “clients” one of these three Inklings: Lewis, Tolkien, and Sayers. Today, Professor Kleinmann joins me to talk about the project of her course, the relevance of the Inklings, and the creativity of her students.This is the first of a two-episode set. The second episode will feature three of Professor Kleinmann's students, one from each of the three Inklings groups. Follow-up Resources:Learn more about The Inklings Project. Interested in applying as a fellow for 2026–26? Check out the call for applications here (due July 1, 2025). Check out the Dorothy Sayers Instagram account from the Sayers group in Prof. Kleinmann's course.Check out the C. S. Lewis Instagram account from the Lewis group in Prof. Kleinmann's course.Check out the J. R. R. Tolkien Instagram account from the Tolkien group in Prof. Kleinmann's course.Find syllabi from Inklings Project fellows in our free syllabus repository.Read and subscribe to the “Inklings Quarterly.” Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

When we say the name “God”, have we assumed too quickly that we know what we mean? We use that word quite regularly, without much strain or prolonged consideration, as if the meaning of the word were self-evident. But what if you had to explain – indeed, translate – the word “God” into a language that had no such concept? That would force you, I think, to really reckon with what you mean and what you assume when you use that word: the name, “God”. That is not merely an intellectual exercise; that was in fact the experience of the 16th and 17th Century Jesuit missionary, Matteo Ricci. His primary mission was to China, where he strove to bring and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who often had not only a different language but also a different imaginary landscape than that which European Christians were accustomed to.In our episode today, the eminent scholar of the Sino-Western Exchange, Professor Anthony Clark, talks with me about Matteo Ricci, evangelization, inculturation, and the legacy of dialogue. Anthony Clark is Professor of Chinese History at Whitworth University, where he also holds the Edward B. Lindaman Endowed Chair, and he directs the Oxford Lewis-Tolkien Program, the Rome History and Culture Program, the area of Asian Studies, and the Study in China Program. He joins me today, in studio, while visiting Notre Dame to deliver a lecture titled “In the Footsteps of Dialogue: China and the Legacy of Matteo Ricci.” Follow-up Resources:Find out more about Professor Anthony Clark at his website: https://anthonyeclark.squarespace.com/China's Saints: Catholic Martyrdom During the Qing (1644–1911), by Anthony Clark“China's Religious Awakening after Mao,” by Ian Johnson, article in Church Life Journal“Religion in China, with Ian Johnson,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

By his wounds. His wounds are the source of healing. Our wounds are the wounds that are healed by his wounds. Our wounds may even become the source of healing for others because we have been healed by his wounds. What an unimaginable mystery. Wounds heal. Healing from wounds. Have we considered the magnificence or the near-unbelievability of this reality?Let's put that question another way: “By what means may I understand and experience Christ's wounds not just in juridical terms, as the providential means by which God chose to ‘take away' sin, but as the living source of a remedy by which sin is cured and humanity's wounds, my wounds, are healed?” By what means may I understand and experience that? Indeed, that is the central question in the book my guest today has authored. The book is Healing Wounds, and the author is Bishop Erik Varden, a Cistercian monk who is bishop of Trondheim, Norway.In addition to Healing Wounds, Bishop Varden is author of other works like Chastity: Reconciliation of the Senses and The Shattering of Loneliness: On Christian Remembrance. Bishop Varden joins me today in studio during a longer teaching and lecturing visit to the University of Notre Dame.Follow-up Resources:Healing Wounds, by Bishop Erik VardenChastity: Reconciliation of the Senses, by Bishop Erik VardenThe Shattering of Loneliness: On Christian Remembrance, by Bishop Erik VardenChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

As parent-centric and state-centric visions of education do battle in American politics and academia, it is easy to lose sight of the fundamentals that underlie this conflict. In this episode, our host is joined by Dr. Moschella, fellow of the Austin Institute and champion of parental rights. Aiming at the center of this divisive topic, they discuss how parents' responsibility for childrens' development necessitates that parents, and not the state, retain ultimate authority over their education and formation. As Dr. Moschella makes clear in her research, the case for parental rights has both moral and empirical grounding. Melissa Moschella is Professor of the Practice in Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame's McGrath Institute for Church Life. Her work spans the fields of ethics, political philosophy, and law, and her areas of special expertise include natural law theory, biomedical ethics, and the family. For those interested in learning more, the paper discussed is "Natural Law, Parental Rights, and the Defense of "Liberal" Limits on Government: An Analysis of the Mortara Case and its Contemporary Parallels," published in the Notre Dame Law Review: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol98/iss4/5/ She is also the author of several books, including: To Whom Do Children Belong? Parental Rights, Civic Education and Children's Autonomy https://www.amazon.com/Whom-Children-Belong-Education-Childrens/dp/1316605000#:~:text=Rigorously%20argued%20yet%20broadly%20accessible,in%20line%20with%20their%20values Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law: Principles for Human Flourishing https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268209261/ethics-politics-and-natural-law/

How should Catholics think about UFOs? How can the Church respond to evolving scientific discoveries? What are the boundaries for Catholic belief?These are the kinds of questions at the heart of a new documentary short film produced by The McGrath Institute for Church Life. "Edge of Belief: UFOs, Technology & The Catholic Imagination," explores the outer limits of belief.Today, the film's producer, who is also my friend and colleague, Professor Brett Robinson, joins me to talk about this project: its aims, its audience, and its intrigue. Follow-up Resources:"Edge of Belief: UFOs, Technology & The Catholic Imagination," “The Next Wave of Artificial Intelligence and Our Humanity, with Stephanie DePrez,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“A Very Short Introduction to the History of Catholic Debates about the Multiverse and Extraterrestrial Intelligence,” by Paul Thigpen, article at Church Life Journal“What Can Catholic Theology Say about Extraterrestrials,” by Chris Baglow, article at Church Life JournalChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Gloria Purvis is an author, commentator, public scholar, and the host and executive producer of The Gloria Purvis Podcast. Through her media presence, she has been a strong Catholic voice for life issues, religious liberty, and racial justice. She was Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic of the Year for 2020.She presented a powerful video series entitled Racism, Human Dignity and The Catholic Church through the Word on Fire Institute. She was part of a groundbreaking, exclusive interview with Pope Francis with a delegation from America Media.Most recently, she delivered one of the keynote speeches at the historic National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is the Inaugural Pastoral Fellow at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame University and recently received Honorary Doctorates in Humane Letters from the University of Portland in Oregon and Salve Regina University in Rhode Island. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Catholic Charities USA. We talked today about our Christian responsibility not only to avoid acting unjustly, but also to actively oppose injustice.Listen to an extra segment on our Patreon page.

 The McGrath Institute for Church Life, together with the John S. and Virginia Marten Program in Homiletics and Liturgics, is hosting a homily contest on preaching the Blessed Virgin Mary. We invite ordained Catholic bishops, priests, and deacons to submit a five-to-seven-minute homily (in either English or Spanish) for one of three Marian solemnities: the Annunciation (March 25), the Assumption (August 15), or the Immaculate Conception (December 8).Winning homilies will draw on a homiletic methodology that brings together careful treatment of Scripture (including the lectionary and the various propers of the Mass of the day) with a spiritual exegesis that unveils the meaning of the Marian feast for the lives of the faithful today. We have more information about this competition and means for submitting homilies in our show notes for this episode. Today on the show, Msgr. Michael Heintz of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and Notre Dame's Department of Theology joins me to talk about the craft of preaching, the importance of Mary in the life of the Church, and renewing the sacramental imagination of the faithful.  Follow-up Resources: Announcing the Preaching Mary Homiletic Competition. Submissions should be emailed to ndcl@nd.edu no later than March 25, 2025. The Marten Program at the University of Notre Dame.Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness, by Richard B. Hays (mentioned in the episode)“On the Formation of Future Priest, with Msgr. Michael Heintz,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Dr. Thérèse Scarpelli Cory is the Director of the Jacques Maritain Center and its associated History of Philosophy Forum. Her work is on medieval theories of mind, cognition, and personhood, with special focus on the thought of Thomas Aquinas and his thirteenth-century interlocutors.She is the John and Jean Oesterle Associate Professor of Thomistic Studies at the University of Notre Dame and is a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas.Today we're talking about a piece she published in January of 2024 in the Church Life Journal from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame entitled Migrants and the Unborn: A Culture of Life Versus a Culture of Deterrence.

Dr. Thérèse Scarpelli Cory is the Director of the Jacques Maritain Center and its associated History of Philosophy Forum. Her work is on medieval theories of mind, cognition, and personhood, with special focus on the thought of Thomas Aquinas and his thirteenth-century interlocutors. She is the John and Jean Oesterle Associate Professor of Thomistic Studies at the University of Notre Dame and is a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Today we're talking about a piece she published in January of 2024 in the Church Life Journal from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame entitled Migrants and the Unborn: A Culture of Life Versus a Culture of Deterrence.

Thirty years ago, in both Evangelium Vitae and his Letter to Women, John Paul II issued a clear call for the genius of women to be “more fully expressed in the life of society as a whole, as well as in the life of the Church” (Letter to Women10). Throughout his papacy, in fact, JPII emphasized women's “prophetic character,” calling on them to be “witnesses” and “sentinels” — guardians of the sacred gift of life and the order of love (Mulieris Dignitatem 29; Homily at Lourdes2004).This vision for women, clarified and proclaimed in the late twentieth century especially, has yet to be fully realized. Catholics in contemporary America face distorted narratives about women from both poles of our divided culture. By revisiting and extending John Paul II's thought we come upon the opportunity to offer a positive countervision to, on the one hand, the growing anti-feminism in some Catholic circles and, on the other hand, the widely-held perception that the Church is anti-woman.The McGrath Institute for Church Life is hosting a conference that aims to help develop that positive countervision.“True Genius: The Mission of Women in Church and Culture” will take place March 26 to March 28, 2025, on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. It boasts a stellar roster of speakers, including Helen Alvare, Sr. Ann Astell, Erika Bachiochi, Angela Franks, Sarah Denny Lorio, Sr. Theresa Alethia Noble, Leah Libresco Sargeant, and my guest today, Abigail Favale. Abigail and I are colleagues in the McGrath Institute, and she is the conference convener and orgranizer.Registration for the “True Genius” conference is now open, and we have links to more conference information and registration available in our show notes. Show Notes:“True Genius: The Mission of Women in Church and Culture” conference information and registration “Can the Feminine Speak?” by Abigail Favale, article in Church Life Journal “Hildegard of Bingen's Vital Contribution to the Concept of Woman,” by Abigail Favale, article in Church Life Journal“No Woman Is Only Woman: Distilling the Feminine Genius from Stereotypes,” interview with Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble on The Catholic WomanChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

You can't take a souvenir from Hell into Heaven; likewise, you can't fit the realities of Heaven into Hell. That is Gospel truth for C. S. Lewis, especially as he imagines the separation between Heaven and Hell, vice and virtue, corrupt loves and the fullness of joy in his brief, brilliant eschatological novel, The Great Divorce. As we make the turn from Lent and Passion Week to the glory of Easter, Josh McManaway returns to the program to share a conversation with Leonard DeLorenzo about a book they both love.Follow-up Resources:Learn more about The Inklings Project, a new intercollegiate initiative that invites people to pursue meaning and joy by entering the world of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the other Inklings at inklingsproject.org.“Giving Up Descartes for Lent,” by Josh McManaway, essay in Church Life JournalThe Chronicles of Transformation: A Spiritual Journey with C. S. Lewis, edited by Leonard J. DeLorenzo (Ignatius Press, 2022)Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

In this second episode of the Searching for the Self in an Age of Simulation series, Stephen G. Adubato, host of Cracks in Postmodernity, joins Abigail Favale, professor at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, and Katherine Dee, internet subculture chronicler, to discuss the body positivity movement.  What lies beneath the surface of the Body Positivity movement? How do societal standards shape our perceptions of beauty, and why are eating disorders so prevalent? Join Abigail Favale and Katherine Dee for an in-depth discussion on the origins and impact of eating disorders and the cultural forces that define beauty. Thanks to Interintellect for hosting our salon! https://interintellect.com/

In this second episode of the Searching for the Self in an Age of Simulation series, Stephen G. Adubato, host of Cracks in Postmodernity, joins Abigail Favale, professor at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, and Katherine Dee, internet subculture chronicler, to discuss the body positivity movement.  What lies beneath the surface of the Body Positivity movement? How do societal standards shape our perceptions of beauty, and why are eating disorders so prevalent? Join Abigail Favale and Katherine Dee for an in-depth discussion on the origins and impact of eating disorders and the cultural forces that define beauty. Thanks to Interintellect for hosting our salon! https://interintellect.com/

“The Gospel is not some vague palliative, it's a man raised from the dead.” The Pro-Life Movement has, for several decades now, remembered the dead, principally those children lost to abortion, with a hope for a new culture of life raised from those tragedies. And yet the story of the Pro-Life Movement is primarily told by its enemies, who regularly reduce the movement to caricatures and sound-bites, leveling into a collection angry objections and hostile tactics. The story of the pro-life movement––both its past and its present unfolding into the future––has not really been told as a coherent and full narrative. And so my guest today and his collaborators have set out to chronicle America in the age of abortion and emphasize the response of the pro-life movement as an unparalleled model for social and political resistance. It is a work that seeks to reckon with our dead in obedience to the man raised from the dead. Praise Her in the Gates – Dispatches for a Pro-Life Nation is a longform (multi-episode, multi-season) audio journal released on January 22, 2025. Its creator, the artist Brian Kennedy, joins me today to talk about the original work and what it offers to us, whether we count ourselves as members of the pro-life movement or not. It is a work arising from the Catholic imagination, with which things otherwise neglected or forgotten are perceived, revered, mourned, and praised.Follow-up Resources:Lydwine Substack, home of Praise Her in the Gates (first episodes released January 25, 2025)“The Ghost Outside,” essay by Brian Kennedy“Vandals at the Golden Gate, Part One,” essay by Brian Kennedy“How Americans Understand Abortion, Part 1, with Tricia Bruce,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“How Americans Understand Abortion, Part 2, with Tricia Bruce,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Mary O'Callaghan on Disability Selective Abortions,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Agentic AI is a term that will be new to many people. If we were to think of artificial intelligence in waves, the first wave was about making predictions and the second wave was about generating content. This third wave, known as Agentic AI, is far more sophisticated. It is about AI agents performing complex tasks and making decisions. That might sound like the beginning of a dystopian novel or an apocalyptic film, but in reality it has much more to do with how we engage in the consumer marketplace or with service providers, or really just about how we go through our day-to-day lives doing our day-to-day tasks.Our episode today is the beginning of a conversation about what is taking place with the increasing integration of AI into our society and, in light of this, what is important for our own human and interpersonal development. My guest is my longtime friend who has been on our podcast before, Stephanie DePrez. For the past several years, Stephanie has been working for a company investing heavily in Agentic AI, while also continuing to pursue her career in opera and comedy in Germany. She reached out to me after listening to our recent episodes on the encyclical Dilexit Nos, which is of course all about the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to talk about what the growth in Agentic AI means for our humanity. Follow-up Resources:“Dilexit Nos – Part 1, a conversation with Joshua McManaway and Melissa Moschella,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Dilexit Nos – Part 2, a conversation with Abigail Favale and Brett Robinson,” podcast episode via Church Life Today “In Search of a Full Life: A Spiritual and Practical Guide,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Life is changed but something ended, with Stephanie DePrez,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayFind out more about Stephanie DePrez's work in opera, comedy, voice coaching, and writing at stephaniedeprez.com. “What is Man that AI Is Mindful of Him?”, by Jeffrey Bishop, essay via Church Life Journal Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

When people hear about the undergraduate theology program at the University of Notre Dame they are genuinely astonished. They had no idea that that many students were choosing to study theology. Each year, the number of students grows. What is going on? Why are students so interested? What does this tell us about evangelization, and hope for the Church, in the Church?My guest today is my friend and colleague, Professor Anthony Pagliarini, who is the director of the undergraduate theology program at Notre Dame. In this capacity, not only does he teach hundreds of students annually in the classroom, he also meets with, learns from, and advises all the students who declare theology majors or minors at Notre Dame. He'll help us learn about what is going on in Notre Dame's theology program and why it is happening.Follow-up Resources:Notre Dame Theology Department website“What happened to these Catholic college students after they took a required theology course,” article in Aleteia by Leonard DeLorenzo“Encouraging students to ‘Take a Second Look' at Notre Dame,” about a new initiative with Notre Dame theology to re-propose the Catholic faithChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

For years now, modern-day sexual ethics has held that “anything goes” when it comes to sex—as long as everyone says yes, and does so enthusiastically. So why, even when consent has been ascertained, are so many sexual experiences filled with frustration and disappointment, even shame? The truth is that the rules that make up today's consent-only sexual code may actually be the cause of the sexual malaise—not the solution. In Rethinking Sex, reporter Christine Emba shows how consent is a good ethical floor but a terrible ceiling. She spells out the cultural, historical, and psychological forces that have warped the idea of sex, what is permitted, and what is considered “safe.”  Reaching back to the wisdom of thinkers like Thomas Aquinas and Andrea Dworkin, and drawing from sociological studies, interviews with college students, and poignant examples from her own life, Emba calls for a more humane philosophy, one that starts with consent but accounts for the very real emotional, mental, social, and spiritual implications of sex. With a target audience that clearly includes sexually active young adults, Emba tries to help us imagine what it means to will the good of others and thereby discover greater affirmation and fulfillment.Follow-up Resources:Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, by Christine Emba“In Search of a Full Life: A Practical and Spiritual Guide,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Nationwide Study on Faith and Relationships, with J.P. DeGance,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Letter to a Young Catholic: How to have sex,” article by Leonard J. DeLorenzo in Our Sunday Visitor“The End of Friendship, with Jennifer Senior,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

State and federal laws in a wide variety of settings tend to support gender transition in children. This has given rise to religious liberty and parental rights lawsuits. Conflicts include parental objections to gender ideology in public school curricula, secret gender transitions in public schools, state conversion therapy bans, denials of parental custody, foster care, and adoption, and gender transition treatment in the healthcare context. This panel will explore the intersection of the transgender legal movement, religious freedom, and parental rights.Featuring:Prof. Ira Lupu, F. Elwood and Eleanor Davis Professor Emeritus of Law, The George Washington University Law SchoolHon. Jason Miyares, Attorney General, VirginiaProf. Melissa Moschella, Professor of the Practice, Philosophy, McGrath Institute, University of Notre DameProf. Steve Sanders, Associate Dean and Professor of Law, Indiana University Maurer School of LawModerator: Hon. Kyle Duncan, Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

Flying is impossible. Well, not strictly impossible, because we fly in airplanes and hot air balloons, but you know what I mean: human beings can't fly. It's impossible. Except here's the thing: a good number of people –– hundreds, maybe thousands –– have sworn, upon penalty of damnation, that they have witnessed people flying, or at least levitating. People like Teresa of Avila and Joseph of Cupertino. About saints like these, a nearly overwhelming number of testimonies say the same thing over and over: “they flew”. If flying is impossible, then the history of saints who flew is a history of the impossible. And that is the book my guest wrote. The book is They Flew: A History of the Impossible. The author and my guest is the esteemed scholar Dr. Carlos Eire, the T. L. Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University. In addition to They Flew, Professor Eire is the author of several other important and award-winning books, including Waiting for Snow in Havana, which won the National Book Award, War Against Idols, A Very Brief History of Eternity, and Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450–1560. Professor Eire joined us at the University of Notre Dame to deliver a lecture in our Saturdays with the Saintsseries, and a link to the recording of that lecture is included in this episode's show notes.Follow-up Resources:They Flew: A History of the Impossible, by Carlos Eire“The Trouble with Levitation and Bilocation,” by Carlos Eire, journal article in Church Life JournalChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Notre Dame professors Abigail Favale and Brett Robinson join me today to talk about Pope Francis's new encyclical, Dilexit Nos: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ. This is the second of two conversations on the encyclical that we are featuring on Church Life Today, each with faculty colleagues of mine from the McGrath Institute for Church Life. In this episode, we will talk about poetry and symbolism, artificial intelligence and algorithms, the importance of memory, the human person as a living union, and more. Abigail Favale is Professor of the Practice at Notre Dame, where her academic expertise brings her to the intersection of theology, literature, and women's studies. Brett Robinson is Associate Director of Outreach and Associate Professor of the Practice in the McGrath Institute for Church Life. He leads a number of initiatives in our institute, especially ones related to Catholic media studies.Follow-up Resources:Dilexit Nos: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus ChristPart 1 of the conversation on the new encyclical, with Melissa Moschella and Joshua McManaway, podcast episode via Church Life Today“The Sacred Heart of the New Encyclical,” by Leonard DeLorenzo, essay in Church Life Journal “Some Human Beings Carry Remnants of Other Human Beings in Their Bodies,” by Kristin Collier, essay in Church Life JournalOn the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by the Sisters of CarmelChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

In this episode, Madeline chats with Dan Kuebler, a professor of biology at the Franciscan University and the vice president of the Society of Catholic Scientists. During their conversation, they discuss his undergrad at Catholic University of America, the importance of great mentors, how he discovered he loved teaching, PhD at Berkley, how he came into his faith at University of California at Berkley, getting to know the church through her documents, how science and faith keep each other from going off the rails, the importance of exploring your interests, and so much more!During the course of their conversation, they make many references which you can explore. Some of these references include the Society of Catholic Scientists, Fide et Ratio; the Church Life Journal of the McGrath Institute; and episodes 5, 6, 16, and 65 of this podcast. You can also check out some of Dan's work by listening to the Purposeful Lab podcast.Feel free to like, subscribe, and share the episode! Follow us on Instagram! @sbltfpodcastDon't forget to go out there, and be a light to this world!

Notre Dame professors Melissa Moschella and Joshua McManaway join me today to talk about Pope Francis's new encyclical, Dilexit Nos: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ. The encyclical is a call to renew our devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and, thereby, to become more fully, more completely, more authentically human, especially in our love for God and love of neighbor. This conversation is the first of two that we will host on our show with my faculty colleagues in the McGrath Institute for Church Life, each of whom has a distinct area of expertise.Melissa Moschella is the newest member of our McGrath Institute for Church Life faculty, where she is Professor of the Practice. She is a philosopher whose work spans the fields of ethics, political philosophy, and law, as well as natural law theory, biomedical ethics, and the family. Josh McManaway has joined me on several episodes before. He is Assistant Professor of the Practice in the McGrath Institute for Church Life, where he is also the program director of the Savoring the Mystery preaching program, and academic director of the “Take a Second Look” initiative, which helps young adults rediscover the beauty and riches of Catholicism. A theologian, Josh is an expert on the Early Church and is currently finishing up a book on the Apostles' Creed.Follow-up Resources:Dilexit Nos: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ"The Sacred Heart of the New Encyclical," by Leonard DeLorenzo, essay in Church Life Journal “Praying into the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with Fr. Joe Laramie,” podcast episode via Church Life today Five-part series on the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Leonard DeLorenzo, via Our Sunday VisitorPart 1: “Contemplating the Mysteries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus”Part 2: “Five Ways to Foster Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus”Part 3: “How to Conform to the Love of Jesus”Part 4: “Meet the Saints Devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus”Part 5: “What Is Behind the Theology of the Sacred Heart?”“Are Jansenists Among Us?” by Sean Blanchard, essay in Church Life JournalChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.louiseperry.co.ukI'll be re-releasing six episodes from the early days of the podcast over the course of my maternity leave. This month, my archived interview is with Dr Abigail Favale, a writer and professor in the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. She has an academic background in feminist literary criticism, and now writes and teaches…

In her 1936 book, The Secret of Childhood, Maria Montessori writes that “We must wake up to the great reality that children have a psychic life whose delicate manifestations escape notice and whose pattern of activity can be unconsciously disrupted by adults.” The approach to education that Montessori established sought to remove such unnecessary disruptions while cultivating a fruitful environment wherein children could discover the world, grow toward the maturation of their God-given capacities, and experience the wonder and responsibility of real freedom. Montessori schools have since been established all across the United States and indeed across the world, including here in my own hometown of South Bend, Indiana. The conversation on our episode today will focus on one such school, St. Joseph Montessori, which is in fact a Catholic Montessori school for children ages 2.5 to 6. My guest is Dr. Elizabeth Capdevielle, who is a board member of St. Joseph Montessori, and who, as a trained Montessori educator, will help us learn more about the Montessori approach, the anthropological underpinnings of this education, and the correspondence of Montessori education to a Catholic vision of the world and the human person.In addition to serving on the board at St. Joseph Montessori, Beth is an assistant teaching professor at the University of Notre Dame, where she teaches in the University Writing Program. Follow-up Resources:St. Joseph Montessori, South Bend, IN“Joy and Parenting,” by Claire Fyrvquist, Co-founder of St. Joseph Montessori, journal article in Church Life JournalThe Secret of Childhood, by Maria MontessoriThe Absorbent Mind: A Classic Education and Child Development for Educators and Parents, by Maria Montessori“Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, with Mary Mirrione,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayThe episode is sponsored by Saints Mary's Press, smp.org/bibles. Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

The Vigil Project is a nonprofit Catholic apostolate and collective of musical artists dedicated to leading people to an encounter with God through music. Their work stretches from the liturgy to everyday life, from Sunday worship and Feast Days to Tuesday afternoons waiting in a carpool line. Their goal is to offer and support excellence and reverence in music in all of these moments. The Vigil Project has ten albums available, they create communities for Catholic musicians, and they offer retreats and courses for musicians and music leaders. Today the Vigil Project's Director of Mission Advancement joins me to talk about the work of their apostolate and the people they serve. Andrew Goldstein is himself a Catholic musician who, for ten years, served as a church music director. Before coming to the Vigil Project, he co-founded Seattle's critically acclaimed chamber music series, Emerald City Music. He has also led chamber music festivals, and worked to guide orchestras and opera houses.After our conversation today, stick around till the very end of this episode so you can hear one of the devotional songs that Andrew shared with us from The Vigil Project, one which appears on their album “True Presence.” Follow-up Resources:Visit The Vigil Project online at thevigilproject.com.The Vigil Project's monthly newsletter is available at thevigilproject.com/subscribeLearn about the Catholic Musician Community at catholicmusician.org.The song at the end of this episode comes from the album, “True Presence.” Stream that album on any service, here. Their full catalog of music is available at thevigilproject.com/listenLearn more about the Catholic Musician Retreat at thevigilproject.com/catholic-musician-retreatLearn more about the Meaning of Music film project at thevigilproject.com/meaningofmusicChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

College students really love The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. Both Josh McManaway and I have taught this book in undergraduate courses, with great success. Josh has used this book in a theology course on “Conversion,” and I have used it in a course on “The Catholic Imagination.” Since Josh and I really enjoyed creating an episode earlier this year about C. S. Lewis's The Great Divorce, we wanted to create this episode about another book we both love, and our students love, too. So here's our discussion on The End of the Affair.Follow-up Resources:“C.S. Lewis's ‘The Great Divorce': a discussion with Josh McManaway,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Quantity and the Politics of Prayer,” by Chase Padusniak, essay via Church Life Journal (dealing, in part, with The End of the Affair)The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition), which Josh and Lenny cite in this episode.Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Purpose and meaning, healing and growth, community and fellowship—these values have traditionally been found in church. Though they are leaving the pews in droves, young adults are still seeking these spiritual benefits. Based on five years of qualitative and quantitative research,Defiant Hope, Active Love offers practical recommendations for making faith communities more hospitable to the next generation. The editor of the book and lead researcher in the project joins me today to talk about his team's findings and where to go from here.Jeff Keuss is a professor of Christian ministry, theology, and culture at Seattle Pacific University, where he also previously served as director of the University Scholars Honors Program and associate dean of graduate studies for the seminary. Follow-up Resources:Defiant Hope, Active Love: What Young Adults Are Seeking in Places of Work, Faith, and Community, edited by Jeff KeussPivot NW Research, where you can find more about the study, the book, and additional resources.“In Search of a Full Life: A Practical and Spiritual Guide,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Rethinking Work, with Paul Blaschko,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Becoming the Adult in the Room, with Sarah Pelrine,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Nationwide Study on Faith and Relationship, with J.P. De Gance,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Noah Bradon, the Director of Marketing at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and the founder of Cross the Tiber, to talk about his conversion journey, his experience in evangelization, and what the work from his Master's Degree in Theology and Communication says about how we can be Catholic, online, in today's virtual landscape. It's a fascinating conversation about evangelizing online without losing our minds, about how to best use our witness, and what drives (and detracts) from sharing the faith in a virtual setting and with a culture that's so heavily influenced by the online space. To see more from Noah visit the McGrath Institute for Church Life and check out his outreach to Catholic converts on the journey at Cross the Tiber.Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com. Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on  episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.Please consider financially supporting this show! For more information visit the Patreon page.  All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.Thank you to those already supporting the show!This show is brought to you in a special way by our Patron Co-Producers. Thanks to Eli and Tom, Kelvin and Susan, Stephen, Victor and Susanne, Phil, Noah, Nicole, Michelle, Jordan, Jon, James, Gina, and Eyram.Support the Show.Find and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:Instagram: @cordialcatholicTwitter: @cordialcatholicYouTube: /thecordialcatholicFacebook: The Cordial CatholicTikTok: @cordialcatholic

Wouldn't it be fascinating if the most current social science research discovered not some new and unheard-of things but rather ancient and even biblical truths? The nonprofit organization Communio is reporting that this is indeed what is happening. Through their Nationwide Study on Faith and Relationships, they have found that family structure is the most important indicator for the religious commitment of those raised in that home. Alongside that, of course, we regularly find people who do better in school, who are more successful in work, who are healthier, and who can manage relationships better on their own. It is as if we humans were created for stable, committed relationships and called to procreate from this marital commitment.J.P. De Gance, the founder and president of Communio, joins me today to discuss the work he and his team have been doing and how their work can help equip churches to evangelize through healthy relationships and marriage. J.P. is also the co-author of the book, Endgame: The Church's Strategic Move to Save Faith and Family in America. You can find out more about J.P. and Communio at their website, communio.org. Follow-up Resources:Nationwide Study on Faith and Relationship from CommunioEndgame: The Church's Strategic Move to Save Faith and Family in America by John Van Epp and J.P. De Gance.“The State of the Family in America, with Brad Wilcox,” podcast episode via Church Life Today Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

“The call to parenting will never be an easy one. To have your heart walk around outside your body means that your heart will be bumped and bruised along the way. It is not a vocation to be pursued in isolation. What parents need is a network of support, a village.” So begins the epilogue of Holly Taylor Coolman's new book, Parenting: The Complex and Beautiful Vocation of Raising Children. What she presents in her wise, practical, and spiritually enriching work is a vision for cherishing children as a gift and guest. To do this, we must learn how to depend on and draw life from others, while creating a community where we share in the responsibility for one another's wellbeing. Holly joins me today to talk about this call to parenting, the ongoing discernment necessary for responding to that call, and the challenges and blessings of raising children and caring for other peoples' children in today's day and age. Follow-up Resources:Parenting: The Complex and Beautiful Vocation of Raising Children, by Holly Taylor Coolman.“The Church's Call to Foster Care, with Holly Taylor Coolman,” podcast episode via Church Life Today.“Amid Plagues: The Church's Call to Foster Care and More,” by Holly Taylor Coolman, article in Church Life Journal.“The Invention of Parenting,” by Holly Taylor Coolman, article in Church Life Journal.Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

In this special episode, we share nine practical tips for how to prioritize faith when you go off to college. This is different than just trying to “keep your faith,” which is itself possibly a losing proposition. Rather than trying to “keep” something you are afraid of losing, focus on stretching, enriching, and building on what you already have, just like you stretch, enrich, and build on what you learned in high school classes when you go into college classes. While this episode is directed specifically to young adults who may be going off to college (either for the first time or returning for a new year), it is also beneficial for young adults who are doing something other than college, or for not-so-young-adults who live in the world in other ways.Follow-up Resources:“Nine Ways to Kickstart Your Faith in College,” by Leonard DeLorenzo. This is the essay on which this episode is built, which also includes interviews with college students and alums.In Search of a Full Life: A Spiritual and Practical Guide, by Leonard DeLorenzo. “Forming an Intentional College Culture, with Joe Wurtz,” podcast episode via Church Life Today.“Becoming the Adult in the Room, with Sarah Pelrine,” podcast episode via Church Life Today.Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these other things will be given to you besides.” When the Lord speaks to his disciples about anxieties, about busyness, about the hustle and bustle of the world, he does not lead them to abandon everything and run away; rather, he leads them to put the first thing first, and allow everything to come into the proper place thereafter. The life of integration, of wholeness, indeed of true holiness is rooted in putting God first and giving Him the authority to form you, guide you, and send you on mission. The monastic tradition has long offered pathways to this ordered, harmonious, rightly prioritized life, building communities where God is pursued first and in all things, while work and play and rest and learning and daily needs are organized with this first and truly necessary thing. But for those of us who do not enter monastic life, who live in the midst of the world with worldly anxieties and busyness and the hustle and bustle, we might think ourselves cut off from that wisdom.Enter my guest today: John Cannon. He knows his way around the world, but he was significantly and definitively formed in a Carmelite monastery, where he was a monk for seven years. His mission now is to bring the order and harmony of the monastery, the fruits of that integrated life lived for and with the Lord, into the world. In particular, he serves and works with Catholic CEOs, founders, and investors to help them grow their ventures and their faith. He also launched Monk Mindset, which offers all of us, regardless of our jobs or stations in life, the opportunity to incorporate the simplicity, order, and harmony of the monastic life into our everyday lives.Follow-up Resources:Learn about SENT Ventures, which helps you lead your business with the collective wisdom of a faith-aligned community.Find information about the SENT Summit 2024, which will take place September 3–6, 2024, in Dallas-Fort Worth.Visit Monk Mindset, where you can sign up for a weekly newsletter, find a guide for building your daily and weekly schedule in alignment with monastic wisdom, and begin to seek greater order, harmony, and simplicity.“Monastic Life and Human Ecology, with Abbot Austin Murphy, OSB,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“You Gotta Confront Who You Are!” by Travis Lacy, article in Church Life JournalChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Haley Stewart interviews Dr. Abigail Favale, a professor in the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and the author of The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory. In this episode we discuss how to communicate the sacramentality of the body to young children in a culture that's confused about gender and embodiment. We also talk about the importance of good stories in sharing better narratives of femininity and masculinity, what the Barbie movie may have gotten right, and Dr. Favale's brand new book for children: Here I Am.  Order your copy of Here I Am from the Word on Fire Bookstore and learn more about the children's literature available from Word on Fire Votive. Stay up-to-date with the latest episodes of the The Votive Podcast biweekly on WordonFire.org or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Do you enjoy this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member to support the production of the Votive Podcast and other initiatives from Word on Fire. Our ministry depends on the support of listeners like you! Become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit” (John 15:5).Disciples are Christ's branches. We grow from him. His life courses through us. The fruit we bear is the sign of his love.As the Eucharistic Revival in the United States reaches its culmination this summer, we at Notre Dame are marking the occasion in a special way, with the performance of an original, three-act musical called “Behold God's Love.” The first of the three acts is “The Roots”, which draw us into the Book of Exodus, where we encounter the Passover and the Manna in the Desert. The second act is “The Vine,” which focuses on the Last Supper and Jesus' meal ministry. And the third act is “The Branches,” where we join the early Christian community at Corinth to receive the Eucharistic teaching and gift.Today, the creator and composer of this new musical joins me to talk about what we can expect and how we will benefit, in our faith and reverence, from enjoying this work of art. Carolyn Pirtle is Program Director of the Center for Liturgy, here in the McGrath Institute for Church Life. She and her cast are preparing this musical now, which will be performed twice on July 6, 2024, both at 1pm and at 7pm in the O'Laughlin Auditorium at Saint Mary's College. It is a free but ticketed event, and you can get your tickets before they run out at the link in our show notes.Follow-up Resources:Find more information about and tickets for “Behold God's Love” “Eucharistic Beliefs among Adult Catholics, with Tim O'Malley,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Preparing for First Communion, Part 2: The Passover and the Last Supper,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“Rekindling Eucharistic Amazement, with Jem Sullivan,” podcast episode via Church Life Today“The Passion, with J.J. Wright,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayThis episode is sponsored by Catholic Charities USA.  Help Catholic Charities serve your neighbors in need. Join us at www.WeAreThere.USChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

The Lord gives us what we cannot make or do for ourselves. Our first task in life is to receive. And from what we receive, we are to be changed. The mystery of the Eucharist abides in that exchange: receiving, becoming.In a new book titled Eucharist: The Real Presence of Christ, my longtime friend Tania Geist presents twelve substantive Eucharistic reflections that help small groups discover, discuss, prepare for, and respond to the gift and mission of the Eucharist. Our conversation today will touch on the meaning of the Eucharist, the gift of peace, God sustaining us with simplicity and joy, and the movement from possessiveness to gratitude.About today's guest: Tania M. Geist has worked as an editor and writer of Catholic books, newspapers, journals, and other media. Her reflections in these pages have been especially shaped by her time studying theology and philosophy at Blackfriars of Oxford University; her years translating and editing Pope Benedict XVI's preaching for L'Osservatore Romano newspaper inside Vatican City, and the decade during which her young family was part of the community at the University of Notre Dame. There, she received a master's degree in systematic theology and served as an editor for Church Life Journal.Geist currently resides in Providence, Rhode Island, with her scripture-scholar husband and their four spunky young children. As a small business owner, she runs Book Pocket, LLC, which provides editorial and audio event services.Follow-up Resources:“The Folly of Mine” by Tania Geist, article in the Church Life Journal“Matter Matters: One the Need for a Pastoral Theology of Radical Particularity” by Tania Geist, article in the Church Life Journal“Motherhood and the Paschal Mystery” by Tania Geist, article in the Church Life Journal“Eucharist Beliefs Among Adult Catholics, with Tim O'Malley,” podcast episode on Church Life Today“Augustine on the Eucharist, with Elizabeth Klein,” podcast episode on Church Life TodayChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Jessica Bross helps people find their stories, craft their stories, and tell their stories. In fact, she usually writes out other people's stories in their own voice. Jessica ghostwrites memoirs. She listens to people, she listens more, she helps them find the desire that shapes a story or theme in their lives, then she writes that story for them and with them, creating a memoir that contains that story for themselves and others. You could say that she is in the business of helping people grasp and communicate the meaning, uniqueness, and importance of their own lives' stories. Jessica is the founder and owner of Cider Spoons Stories, an Austin-based company that specializes in ghostwriting, editing, teaching, and coaching. Today Jessica joins me to talk about the memoir writing process, the impact it has on the memoirist, her skill and responsibilities as the ghostwriter, and the effect deep listening can have for all of us. Follow-up Resources:Cider Spoons Stories online at ciderspoonstories.com.Follow Jessica Bross on LinkedInChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

It's hard—and getting harder—to discern the proper relationship between our Catholic faith and American political life. Perhaps it is time to reset the framework for how we engage politics as Catholics, even by broadening our understanding of our duty to public life beyond merely politics. In his new book, Citizens Yet Strangers, Kenneth Craycraft challenges Catholics to move away from individual liberal impulses of American political identity. He seeks to set out a vision for how we orient our moral and civic lives based on the dignity of the human person, through the practices of solidarity and subsidiarity, and toward a true and worthy vision of the common good.Kenneth Craycraft is the James J. Gardner Family Chair of Moral Theology at Mount St. Mary's Seminary & School of Theology, the seminary for the Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati. He writes a monthly syndicated column for OSV News, a weekly column for Our Sunday Visitor (“Grace is Everywhere”), and monthly columns for The Catholic Telegraph and the U.K.-based Catholic Herald. Dr. Craycraft is also the author of The American Myth of Religious Freedom. He is a licensed attorney in Ohio, who holds a Ph.D. in theology from Boston College and a J.D. from Duke University School of Law.Follow-up Resources:Citizens Yet Stranger: Living Authentically Catholic in a Divided America (OSV, 2024), by Kenneth Craycraft“‘Say my name': Self-Deception, Transparency, and Redemption in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, with Ken Craycraft,” podcast episode via Church Life TodayChurch Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Christopher T. Baglow is the director of the Science and Religion Initiative in the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, where he also serves as Professor of the Practice in the theology department. He is the author of the textbook Faith, Science, & Reason: Theology on the Cutting Edge (2nd ed., Midwest Theological Forum, 2019) and his work has been featured by the Word on Fire Institute and in That Man is You, Crux, Notre Dame Magazine and Church Life Journal. He is a consultant for the USCCB Committee on Catechesis and Evangelization, and his thirty-two year career in Catholic education has spanned high school, undergraduate, graduate, and seminary teaching. Baglow earned a bachelor's degree from Franciscan University of Steubenville, a master's degree from the University of Dallas, and a doctorate from Duquesne University. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Catholic Scientists. He is best known for his work helping Catholic educators integrate faith and science in their classrooms, most notably for creating and directing the Steno Learning Program in Faith and Science (named for Blessed Nicholas Steno) and the Integrating Faith and Science at Catholic High Schools Nationwide project. Baglow was one of four people to receive an Expanded Reason Award for Teaching in 2018 from the University of Francisco de Vitoria and the Vatican–Joseph Ratzinger Foundation. He lives with his family in the South Bend, Indiana, area.

Today, we're excited to share with you a talk that Bishop Barron recently gave at the University of Notre Dame titled “What Makes a University Catholic?” The talk was cosponsored by the Notre Dame Student Government, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, the McGrath Institute for Church Life, and Campus Ministry. Enjoy! NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a patron and get some great perks for helping, like free books, bonus content, and more. Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners…like you! So be part of this mission, and join us today!