Respect Life Radio

Rachel Hoover: Battling for better relationships

"When I started to interview people about the challenges their facing in dating other Catholics, there were no shortage of takers who wanted to talk about this problem...I heard from people of different ages, different parts of the country who are all experiencing challenges meeting a fellow single Catholic that they might want to date, someone who is actually faithful to Church teaching, faithful to chastity, but also someone who would be pleasant to spend time with and carry on a good conversation," said Rachel Hoover, critic and essayist for several Catholic publications and author of several articles on the vocation of marriage. She holds a BA from Christendom College and lives in Nashville, TN. "People are struggling to meet each other in the first place and if they do meet each other, they're struggling with the relationship skills that are necessary to build a good dating relationship that could lead to marriage." Deacon Geoff and Rachel discuss this crisis of being able to form relationships and build faithful Catholic families.

The articles discussed in this podcast are available at OSVNews.com.

Charles Fraune: The rise of the occult

There are ten primary sources of the occult - ranging from witchcraft and satanism to astrology and yoga - and they used to be hidden, shunned and dangerous. "But now the occult feels very comfortable showing its face, revealing what it is so it's multiplying and taking on new forms," says Charles D. Fraune, author of Slaying Dragons: What Exorcists See & What We Should Know. "It's insinuating itself within all of these self-help movements."

Fraune is the founder of the Slaying Dragons Apostolate and Slaying Dragons Press and is dedicated to writing, research, and other work on the topic of spiritual warfare. Charles was the founding Theology teacher of Christ the King Catholic High School in Huntersville, NC and was a Theology teacher there for ten years. He has a Master of Arts in Theology from the Christendom College Graduate School, as well as an Advanced Apostolic Catechetical Diploma. "Christianity has collapsed in the United States and really throughout the world. There are pockets of deep devotion, which is really remarkable and shows you the power of the Holy Spirit...but the rest of the world has given up on God and deified themselves...and that's where the occult really sneaks in."

Bill Donohue: Ruling class killing the American dream

"Everybody wants the American Dream," asserts Bill Donohue, President & CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. "But when the ruling class is working against the upward mobility ladder, particularly for African Americans, we have a serious problem." Bill is the author of ten books and thousands of articles. In his latest book, War on Virtue: How the Ruling Class is Killing the American Dream, Bill explains how there "are three virtues in every successful person. You have to have a sense of self discipline or self control. You must accept personal responsibility and you have to have grit - perseverance."  In this podcast, he discusses how elites are working against people as they work their way up to capture the American Dream. 

 

Learn more about Bill Donohue at Catholic League https://www.catholicleague.org

David Closson: Speaking God’s truth about life issues

"There are basic fundamental issues like the life of the unborn human that deserves full respect," reflects David Closson, Director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council. Closson researches and writes on life, human sexuality, religious liberty, and related issues from a biblical worldview. David is the author of FRC's Biblical Worldview Series, which seeks to help Christians and Christian leaders apply the teachings of the Bible to difficult moral questions. "As Christians we need to use whatever sphere of influence the Lord has given us to speak the truth about these issues," he reminds Respect Life listeners. "God has a very clear perspective on many of these issues."

Learn more about David Closson at the FRC website: https://www.frc.org/david-closson

Dr. Ian Murphy: The road to self-awareness

"How's it working for you?" asks Dr. Ian Murphy, former lead pastor at a Baptist church in Texas who made the stirring decision to enter the Catholic Church. "People are hungry. They're hungry for healing that's sustainable, that works. That comes from turning inward. It comes from repentance." In his new book, The Road to Self-Awareness, a Therapy Book for Christians, Dr. Murphy explains how people are wounded by the fall, by evil, by other people's sins and their own. "People are hurting and want to heal. They're hungry for growth and healing but then pride rears up and screams, 'but I want to be as the Almighty. I want to play God.' They're broken and they cry out for healing. There's a way out of that circle and it comes from taking that turn inward."

Learn more about Dr. Murphy at his website DrIanMurphy.com.

Father Brian Mullady: Freedom through His truth

"We're actually becoming more free as we understand more about what the truth is ... through Christ's teaching," said Father Mullady, Dominican Catholic Priest, Professor, Scholar and author of eight books. "People who commit sin, enslave themselves to a certain point of view and they're not free even though they interpret freedom as license." In his new book, A Primer on Fundamental Moral Philosophy, Father Mullady explains what a well-formed conscience looks like and underscores that following one's conscience isn't enough without guidance from God and His Church. Chaos follows for individuals and the society around us. 

Learn more about Father Mullady at his website https://fatherbrian.weebly.com/ 

Dr. Thomas Williams: Alarming persecution of faith

Christians are being persecuted at an alarming rate across the world. Churches are being burned and Catholic communities have been driven underground, but most major news outlets aren’t covering the deteriorating situation. “These things are happening, but we are often unaware of how pervasive the issue is,” said Dr. Thomas D. Williams, a 2018 Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for Ethics and Culture at Notre Dame University who has written extensively about theology, philosophy, ethics and spirituality. In his new book, The Coming Christian Persecution, Dr. Williams explains how the post-Christian West has abdicated their position to protect Christians and has become part of the problem, rather than the solution.

 

Learn more about Dr. Williams at his website, thomasdwilliams.com.

R. Jared Staudt: In silence, find the peace you’re seeking

“Cultivating this disposition of being able to enter into silence and to sit with the Lord can be absolutely central for growing in the spiritual life,” said R. Jared Staudt, Ph.D. “It's necessary to be very deliberate, to put up a fence...I want to really have peace of mind, I want to have peace of soul. I want my family to have peace in the home. So, we are going to foster that and protect it and guard it from these outside influences. So, that's the phone and any other devices...[to say] we're going to have a time when all these devices are turned off. And, as a family, we're going to foster silence. Not just me, individually, but I'm going to help my kids to develop this. We're going to get it out of the bedroom so my wife and I can actually see each other, talk to each other, grow in our relationship. Because there's a lot of couples — you see these stereotypical images, but it's true — of a couple sitting next to each other and they're both just on their devices.”

See Staudt's article, "Learn to do nothing" at the Denver Catholic, which also appeared as “Learning to do nothing: the art of sacred silence” in The Catholic World Report. Staudt is director of content for Exodus 90 and an author, most recently of “How the Eucharist Can Save Civilization" (TAN Books). Learn more at his website, Building Catholic Culture.

Rachel Hoover: Why young Catholics are not marrying — and how to help

"What I've seen among the circles that I run in — and the survey, as well — is that a lot of young Catholics are looking to date and marry someone who is within the same camp or division inside the Church, as they are," said Rachel Hoover in this Respect Life Radio interview. "So, they're not just looking for fellow Catholics, they're looking for the right type of Catholic, so to speak, the type of Catholic that they are. Obviously, this is very limiting. There are already a relatively small number of faithful Catholics in the world; if you're shrinking your dating pool even further from that — to just the subset of Catholicism that you want to be in — and then thinking about things like the right age; do they find me attractive, at all; do they live in the same area or are they on the same dating website?  You go through all those filters, so to speak, and you'll end up with almost no one left.”

Hoover, a writer based in Nashville, wrote a two-part article for The Catholic World Report: “Why aren’t young Catholics marrying?” and “How to help Catholics get married.”  

The first article references Hoover's "anonymous survey of 300 self-identified practicing Catholics ages 18-39, asking them about obstacles they faced to marriage" and cites four primary reasons: dysfunctional discernment; Catholic "camps" within the Church; parent and mentor influence; and the difficulty in knowing how to go on dates. The second article takes on each of those challenges and proposes solutions.

Fr. Jeffrey Kirby: An easier way to read the Bible

“The Bible is intimidating and overwhelming until we know it,” said Fr. Jeffrey Kirby, STD, author of “Understanding the Bible: A Catholic Guide to Applying God's Word to Your Life Today” (Our Sunday Visitor). “The Bible is actually a library...of 73 books. Once we learn just a few basic things, suddenly it becomes very approachable, very comfortable. And then we start reading it, we realize this is actually really helping me. God's speaking to me. I know of His presence, I feel more loved, I feel more strengthened. I can do now what He's calling me to do. Once we take those first initial steps, we might ourselves be surprised at suddenly how easy the Bible is to read. And surprised, perhaps, by how much it really helps us in our lives today.”

Learn more about Fr. Kirby at his website, frkirby.com, and follow him @FatherKirby on Twitter. Listen to a previous Respect Life Radio interview with him, “How the Brown Scapular can deepen your life in Jesus Christ.”