Andrea Picciotti-Bayer: Civil liberties hinge on religious freedom

"Our civil liberties hinge on our respect for religious freedom," said Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, an attorney focused on civil rights and director of the Conscience Project. "These ideologies demand conformity; they don't allow for dissent. And in that respect, it's very contrary to the American tradition of pluralism and allowing for vibrant debate and disagreement on a range of issues. If you don't allow that, and if people's voices who are inspired by faith are silenced, we've really got a totalitarian situation brewing right now."

Picciotti-Bayer is a legal analyst for EWTN News and columnist for the National Catholic Register, with which the Conscience Project has launched the "Religious Freedom Matters" podcast. Follow her @BayerPicciotti on Twitter.

Fr. Brian Mullady: Receiving and retaining God‘s grace

"For a person to be fully alive, as a human being, grace is absolutely necessary," said Father Brian Mullady, O.P., author of books, including "Grace Explained: How to Receive — and Retain — God's Most Potent Gift" (Sophia Institute Press). "One of the reasons I wrote the book is because [in] giving parish missions around the country, I found out that most Catholics are clueless now as to what sanctifying grace means for them...The Council of Trent was very clear that said justification by grace means the forgiveness of sins, yes, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior person. So they don't realize they can have a relationship or friendship with the Holy Trinity."

S.K. Baskerville: What it means to be a gentleman

"There's always been over the centuries attempts to infuse the definition of a gentleman with new meaning, and it usually means some kind of ethical and moral meaning that is perceived to be lacking," said S.K. Baskerville, Ph.D., author of "A Gentleman’s Guide to Manners, Sex, and Ruling the World: How to Survive as a Man in the Age of Misandry – and Do So with Grace" (Sophia Institute Press). "Is a gentleman a wealthy man, a high status man, or is a gentleman a man who behaves properly? Those are questions which we need to continuously ask ourselves." Follow him at StephenBaskerville.com. 

James Carafano: Pres. Biden‘s “unmitigated disaster” in Afghanistan

“It's an unmitigated disaster for one reason: because the decision the president made. And all of the decisions the president made; made it harder to get out and more dangerous,” said James Jay Carafano, vice president of The Heritage Foundation's Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy. “And where are we? The answer is: we're in the same place when we started. Our interests in the region haven't changed. It's just now we have endured a lot of misery, an enormous amount of expense; we've gotten people killed. And doing the things that we would need to do to protect America's interests? They're just way, way harder than they were five weeks ago.”

Listen to a previous episode of Carafano on Respect Life Radio: Chaos in the streets is organized violence. Follow him @JJCarafano on Twitter.

Connor Semelsberger: Your tax dollars are funding abortions

A few months into his Administration, not only has Pres. Biden "rerouted money to Planned Parenthood, he's now reverting back to the Obamacare law...and they're going to bill abortion and Obamacare subsidies together, collect them together. And they're not going to let the American public know whether these plans cover abortion or not," said Connor Semelsberger, director of Federal Affairs, Life and Human Dignity at Family Research Council. "It's just important to know that our taxpayer funds are funding abortions through Obamacare."

Analysis by Semelsberger's includes a letter objecting to proposed federal rules, a research paper titled, "America's Direct Deposit to Planned Parenthood" and commentary, "When It Comes to Federal Abortion Funding, Biden Is the All-Time King." Family Research Council and the Charlotte Lozier Institute also have a website, "ObamacareAbortion.com," which provides details on that issue across the country.

Follow the Family Research Council @FRCdc on Twitter.

Meg Kilgannon: Is God calling you to run for school board?

Sister Byrne, MD: Consider alternatives to COVID-19 vaccines

“I've been so busy now writing letters — or helping people to write letters — for religious exemption or for medical exemption, since I kind of have both avenues to go with, because there are a lot of people who don't want to get vaccinated with COVID-19 for medical reasons, and many of which for the spiritual or moral reason," said Sister Deirdre Byrne, who is also a medical doctor.

She was recently featured in a LifeSiteNews article, headlined, "'We have lost all common sense and as a result we are losing our religious freedom,’ Sister Dede Byrne warns." She makes reference in this Respect Life Radio interview to Dr. Peter McCullough, who was featured in a separate LifeSiteNews article, headlined, "Dr. Peter McCullough’s 5 most important truths about COVID-19."

Sr. Byrne, highlighted by the National Catholic Register in recent years as "Surgeon, Soldier, Sister, Servant," belongs to the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Listen to a 2020 interview with her on Respect Life Radio, titled, "Catholics, hear Sister Dede Byrne on life, then vote your well-formed conscience."

Dr. Ray Guarendi: Listening to Jesus, the master psychologist

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less," said Dr. Ray Guarendi, explaining that doing so would help people become "more settled, they'd be more at peace, they'd be much closer to joy and contentment. They wouldn't be at the mercy of whatever happens, whatever words happen to come their way."

Guarendi is "a Catholic father of ten adopted children, a clinical psychologist, author, professional speaker, and national radio and television host," according to his website, DrRay.com. He is the author of books, including the recently published, "Jesus, the Master Psychologist: Listen to Him" (EWTN Publishing).

Follow him on Facebook and listen to his previous appearance on Respect Life Radio: On what it takes to be married and raise "upright kids."

Christine Wohar: Pursuing holiness with Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

“The universal call to holiness that we're all supposed to respond to, I find it doable, attractive and fun thanks to the example of Blessed Pier Giorgio,” said Christine M. Wohar, executive director of Frassati USA and author of the forthcoming "Finding Frassati: And Following His Path to Holiness" (EWTN Publishing).

Blessed Frassati died at age 24 in Italy in 1925 and was beatified in 1990 by Pope St. John Paul II. Follow @FrassatiUSA on Twitter.

Eric Sammons: Pope Francis and the Latin Mass conflict

This week's episode is a lively conversation with Eric Sammons, Editor-in-Chief of Crisis Magazine and author of Deadly Indifference. Deacon Geoff and Eric discuss Pope Francis and his new restrictions on the Latin Mass.