Fr. Peter Stravinskas: How to really pursue a Eucharistic Revival

Jesus Christ is present "body, blood, soul and divinity" in the Eucharist, "so why the lack of belief in that truth? And I suggest that it's because of the way we regard and handle — and manhandle — the Eucharist, so that the signs and symbols of the liturgy are not reinforcing the doctrine," said Fr. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., who wrote an article for The Catholic Thing, titled "What's Really Needed for a 'Eucharistic Revival.'"

In his article, Fr. Stravinskas cited a number of reasons for that lack of belief in the Real Presence, including the "Loss of Latin" and "Removal of the altar rails" and "Communion in the hand."

"In all of this talk about the Eucharistic Revival coming from the Bishops' Conference, none of these issues — not one of them — is addressed," said Fr. Stravinskas in the Respect Life Radio interview.

Fr. Stravinskas is a founder of the Priestly Society of Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman and president of the Catholic Education Foundation.

Greg Baylor: How a proposed marriage law targets religious liberty

Dr. Kevin Vost: Taking care of your body for health and holiness

Citing the body as a temple of the Holy Spirit, "It is a call to properly care for our bodies," said Dr. Kevin Vost, Psy.D., a professor and author whose many books include, "You Are That Temple! A Catholic Guide to Health and Holiness" (Sophia Institute Press). "We're not talking about just the capacity that you can run miles or lift some huge weight, but just that we're properly maintaining our bodies, trying to minimize the chances of getting any diseases that are going to slow us down. So that we're hopefully going to feel good and have energy and be able to use our bodies to serve our families and to serve other people."

Learn more at his website, drvost.com.

Maggie Green: Praying for your kids to return to the faith

"No one wants to be a member of this club. You just wake up and find out that you've got a card. But what I have found is there's a tremendous fellowship. I know of a couple of parishes where they've formed, quite literally, a St. Monica Club, and they started with reading the book and then they meet...to pray for their families and to have fellowship and to help each other bear the burden," said Maggie Green, the pen name of the author of "The Saint Monica Club: How to Hope, Wait, and Pray for Your Fallen-Away Loved Ones" (Sophia Institute Press).

"The number one thing you can do for whoever it is that you long to have united with Christ — is bring that person in your prayers, to the Blessed Mother," said Green later in the interview. "She knows exactly how you feel. She has heard that cry over and over again. Think of all the rosaries that have been said to her, on behalf of someone who loves someone else who does not know her son."

She recently published an article, "I Still Have Hope That Christ Will Bring My Kids Back to the Faith," on Catholic Exchange.

David Closson: Biblical principles to engage an arrogant culture

"The idea of us trying to impose our sense of right and wrong — especially on something that's so clear [as pro-life] and to tell God we know better — my goodness that is the height of arrogance. But we do live in an arrogant culture that thinks we know better than God," said David Closson, director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council. "In the dialogue and conversations around this particular issue, you see that coming out, unfortunately."

Download a booklet, "Biblical principles for pro-life engagement," from the FRC website. Hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with Closson, "Amid all the confusion, what is your worldview?" Follow him @DavidClosson on Twitter.

Fr. Jeffrey Kirby: How the Brown Scapular can deepen your life in Jesus Christ

"The scapular literally sitting on our body reminds us that we are consecrated to Jesus Christ, through Our Lady; that we follow a different path; we carry His yoke, the scapular almost even looks like a symbolic yoke that we wear on our shoulders," said Fr. Jeffrey Kirby, STD, a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, S.C., and the author of books, including "A Journey to Mount Carmel: A Nine-Day Preparation for Investiture in the Brown Scapular of Our Lady" (Sophia Institute Press). "So every day, that scapular is a reminder that I'm going to talk about Jesus Christ. I'm going to follow His way and remain faithful to Him. I'm going to love Him and speak about Him and speak about moral truth and talk about prayer. I will not let myself be silenced."

Learn more about Fr. Kirby at his website, frkirby.com, and follow him @FatherKirby on Twitter.

Charles Nemeth: Understanding the rules of true happiness

For Aristotle and Aquinas, happiness is "a state of contentment, an ability not to get into the highs or the lows but to be right in the mean of the highs and the lows — which means that you're balanced about these things, so your balance of your own intellect and your own will and you're capable of not getting distressed or too depressed or too happy about any particular thing," said Charles P. Nemeth, Ph.D., author of "Finding Happiness in a Complex World: Rules from Aristotle and Aquinas" (Sophia Institute Press). Nemeth is a professor and program director of criminal justice at Franciscan University and the director of its Center for Criminal Justice, Law and Ethics.  

Adam Blai: Avoiding the demonic by honoring God

"Most of these extraordinary cases come from violating the First Commandment and that means turning to a spirit other than God for comfort, information or power. So, if you're not playing around with other spirits than God, you're not usually going to end up in trouble. Now, if you start getting close to being in trouble, confession and the Mass — for the Catholic who has access to those sacraments — is going to resolve more than 90 percent of the situations," said Adam Blai, author of "The Exorcism Files: True Stories of Demonic Possession" (Sophia Institute Press).

Blai works in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and is an expert on "religious demonology and exorcism." Learn more at his website, "Religious Demonology." 

Kristen Van Uden: How atheism developed and took root

"This book really shows us that atheism and communism were not natural disasters that were just bound to happen, but rather they were ideological revolutions that were carefully calculated," said Kristen Van Uden, referring to "The Gods of Atheism," a 1971 book by Fr. Vincent Miceli, S.J., recently republished by Sophia Institute Press.

Van Uden is the author spokesperson at Sophia Institute Press and also "studies the persecution of Catholics under communist regimes," a subject on which she is writing a book. Van Uden is editor of, and a writer for, Catholic Exchange, including the recent article, "How to Make an Atheist," which revisits Fr. Miceli's book.

Fr. Timothy Gallagher: How Rule Five from St. Ignatius can help save your spiritual life

Don't make any changes to your intended spiritual practice — such as going to confession, or attending daily Mass or making a planned retreat or reading Scripture — “when you're in the discouragement of spiritual desolation. That's [St. Ignatius of Loyola's Discernment of Spirits] classic Rule Five. I wish everybody in the Church knew that rule. I can't tell you how grateful in my own life I am for that rule; how many bad decisions I have not made because of Rule Five. People love it,” said Fr. Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V., author of "When You Struggle in the Spiritual Life: An Ignatian Path to Freedom" (Sophia Institute Press) and other books. Follow him at FrTimothyGallagher.org.

Hear previous Respect Life Radio interviews with Fr. Gallagher: Understanding “Discernment of Spirits in Marriage” and “Overcoming spiritual discouragement in a time of pandemic."