Respect Life Radio

Anthony DeStefano: Transforming yourself from head to soul

"If you really want people to stop making excuses and help them to do things right for a change and get back on track and do something radical like change their lives for the better, then you have to be a straight shooter. You've got to use tough love. I think that as long as they know that you're really, really trying to help them and maybe even on some level you love them, they yearn for tough talk. They want hear from people who have certitude," said Andrew DeStefano, returning guest and author of the new book 30 Days to Your New Life: A Guide to Transforming Yourself from Head to Soul. "One of the chapters is to get off your pity party and stop complaining. We all have to complain once in a while, but there comes a time when you really want turn things around and complaining paralyzes us and stops us from taking any productive action."

To learn more about DeStafano's other books, both for adults and children, visit anthonydestafano.com. 

Danielle Heckenkamp: His Glory, not ours

"There really isn't a middle ground. The world makes us think you can have it all. But, you can't ...and ultimately, what you want to have is God. You have to pick a side and, if you pick the side of truth and love, you can help yourself and help others," said Danielle Heckenkamp, wife, mother of six and author of many articles related to motherhood, modernity and Catholicism. "We need to help children understand what talents God gave them and what he wants them to do with those talents. And, ultimately, those talents need to lead you and other souls to heaven. By focusing on all talents, all of which are graces from God, we need to find what he wants us to do with them for His glory, not for our glory. 

Read more pieces from Danielle at Catholic Mom, OnePeterFIve, and Catholic Exchange. 

David Bonagura: The promise of the cross

"Living out the faith and passing it on is more an action of something that is caught rather than taught," says David G. Bonagura, Jr., an adjunct professor of classical languages at St. Joseph's Seminary, New York, and adjunct professor of theology at Catholic Distance University. In his new article in the Catholic World Report: "Can Catholicism be passed along without Catholic Culture?" Bonagura argues that faith needs to be cultivated by more than "simply" going to Mass. It needs to be passed along through tradition and action. "Fast forward to today when we don't have those things. It's much more difficult for faith to take root because there's nothing supporting the supernatural element." Bonagura continues, "What did Christ promise us? He didn't promise us roses and victories in this life. He promised us the cross. The cross is the means to the Resurrection and fighting things like this difficult culture - that's part of the cross. It's not easy to do but it's how our Lord chooses to sanctify us. That's His means of crucifying us to the world so that we can share in the glory of Easter. There's no Easter without Good Friday, as unpleasant as Good Friday may be, nevertheless, we have to do it. That's what He asks. Just like He did it. We do it in imitation of Him."

Learn more about Bonagura's writings and work at https://www.davidgbonagurajr.com

Gil Bailie: Revival through religious tradition

"(In my new book) I analyze the crisis of the self, that as our Christian patrimony has been lost, many of our contemporaries have become slavishly obedient to political or ideological or sexual doctrines which make the parting of the Red Sea or the Resurrection of Christ seem perfectly logical by comparison," said Gil Bailie, Founder of the Cornerstone Forum and author of the forthcoming book, The Apocalypse of the Sovereign Self: Recovering the Christian Mystery of Personhood, (2023). "We're in a civilizational crisis because our culture depends entirely on the health and vitality of our Christian patrimony and today Western Civilization is hanging by a thread." Bailie continues, "I'm not an optimist by any means but I am hopeful and I do have confidence in the power of our religious tradition to revive and begin the reconstitution of our culture."

Find other works by Gil Bailie at https://cornerstoneforum.org/gil-bailie/

Sarah Parshall Perry: Busting the woke wall

"We have to ask questions. You've got to make a nuisance of yourself. You've got to start with your kids. That's the only way we can take this back," said Sarah Parshall Perry, Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Reflecting on the situation facing parents now she reflects, "This is not a game any of us can afford to sit out. We've got to do our homework. You've got to ask questions of your elected representative, of your school board, of your local and state and federal politicians. This is a time to be as active as possible." 

Parshall Perry continues, "We still trust that corporations, medical providers, educators and politicians might still have our best interest at mind and we're learning, painfully, that's not the case and so it's time for us to be the advocate top to bottom."

Follow Parshall Perry on twitter @sarahpperry and at the Heritage Foundation at heritage.org.

Jake Denton: the impact of artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hot topic of conversation across the globe right now but who is standing up to make sure that it's in the best interests of humans? In this week's Respect Life Radio, Deacon Geoff tackles the topic.

"Think about artificial intelligence (AI) as social media on steroids - 10 times the impact that social media had on our society is what AI does. It will truly redefine the way that we live. There is nothing we can do at this point to go away from AI. It's arrived and it's here and we have to do everything we can to make sure it's in service of us and it doesn't do things that are against the best human interest for us," posits Jake Denton, Research Associate in the Tech Policy Center at the Heritage Foundation. "Ultimately, our regulators need to understand that and they need to be proactive. The question really becomes - who is going to be willing to do something about it?" 

Follow The Heritage Foundation https://www.heritage.org for more information about the future of AI and big tech and follow Jake directly on Twitter at @RealJDenton

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski: The beauty and mystery of marriage

"The living of the Divine Law, the living of the mystery of the marriage requires grace and requires God's help. It's not something that humans can do on their own," said Peter A. Kwasniewski, who holds a BA in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College and an MA and PhD in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America. After teaching at the International Theological Institute in Austria, he joined the founding team of Wyoming Catholic College. Today, he is a full-time writer and public speaker whose work is seen at websites and in periodicals such as New Liturgical Movement, OnePeterFive, Rorate Caeli, Catholic Family News, and Latin Mass Magazine. "One of the insights that John Paul II helped us see was that through the sexual act, they are giving themselves in a symbolic way to other people. When they give themselves to multiple people, they're shattering themselves. Frankly, there is no successful relationship that doesn't require a certain amount of self-sacrifice. We need to work on another's behalf and sometimes that hurts."

 

Visit his websites at www.peterkwasniewski.com and www.cantabodomino.com.

 

Dr. Kwasniewski also runs a publishing house, Os Justi Press (www.osjustipress.com).

Mary Rice Hasson: Contraception and the growing damage

"There is a connection between some of the things we're seeing in the culture today and contraception because that's where a lot of confusion set in. As a culture, we shifted our priorities. Sex became about personal pleasure and no longer about relationships and marriage and welcoming children," said Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., the Kate O’Beirne Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. She directs the Catholic Women’s Forum, a network of Catholic professional women and scholars, and co-founded the Person and Identity Project, a new initiative that equips parents and faith-based institutions to counter gender ideology and promote the truth of the human person. "That attitude has really permeated so much of our culture in ways that are tremendously damaging to children."

More information about Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., can be found at  https://catholicwomensforum.org/staff/mary-rice-hasson/

Dr. Alex Lessard - Renewal of Catholic education

"We let the biggest educational system in the world shrink from 1965 to just the last couple of years, when the attendance at Catholic Schools has started to turn back up. But, in essence, it's been a shrinkage of 75% since 1965 on a percentage basis of Catholics," said Dr. Alex Lessard, author of the recent article "Catholic Education in the 21st Century. "In California, as an example, only one out of 13 Catholic students is in a Catholic school -  that speaks to complacency and the desire to fit in." Alex Lessard studied theology as an undergraduate at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and took his doctorate in systematic theology at Boston College. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Institute for Catholic School Leadership at Saint Paul Seminary | University of St. Thomas, teaching the History, Philosophy & Mission of the Catholic School. "The good news is that a renewal of Catholic education has been underway for the past half-century in the homeschool and classical education movements."

To read Dr. Lessard's most recent article, click here: https://catholicexchange.com/catholic-education-in-the-21st-century/ and to follow what he's doing - including upcoming conferences - go to: https://adeodatus.com

Jerome German: Celibacy to the rescue

"We are finding our identity is our sexual choices rather than finding our identity in our Creator," said Jerome German, who wrote a column for Catholic Stand, titled "Celibacy to the Rescue."

"You cannot have a just world without sexual purity," said German in this Respect Life Radio interview. "The same virtues that are required for living the life of a celibate are required for living a Christian marriage. You need to have personal purity if you're going to be faithful to your spouse; if you're going to place your spouse's well-being above your sexual needs, for example, as is often required in marriage."

On Catholic Stand, German is identified, in part, as "a retired manufacturing engineer, husband, father of eleven, and grandfather of a multitude." He also writes for Crisis Magazine.