Respect Life Radio

Michael Pakaluk: Embracing four deaths that can lead to eternal life

"There are two models of courage: one is absence of fear — and the other is being afraid, but being steadfast in holding your position, even though you are afraid. The Christian notion of...courage, which Our Lord presents, is different from both of those," said Michael Pakaluk, Ph.D., professor of ethics at The Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America. 

He wrote an article for The Catholic Thing, titled "The Four Deaths," in which he recommends reading "The Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ," written by St. Alphonsus Ligouri. See more on Pakulak, including his published books, at this Amazon.com link. 

Katie Tubb: Pres. Biden’s climate policy undermines American energy needs

The intent of Pres. Biden's climate policy "is to get rid of coal, oil and natural gas in the long term. As I said earlier, 79 percent of our energy needs come from those three resources. And 90 percent of our transportation energy needs are met through petroleum. So, the president's climate agenda is in direct opposition to Americans' daily well-being. And yet he's out there making climate the issue, but apparently only one percent of Americans actually care about," said Katie Tubb, research fellow at the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment at The Heritage Foundation, who wrote a recent commentary, "What You Need to Know About Biden’s Climate 'Emergency.'"

Follow The Heritage Foundation @Heritage on Twitter. 

Meg Kilgannon: Combating threats against the innocence of children

“I hope that these colleges that are coming from a Christian worldview are teaching the goodness and the beauty and the truth of Western civilization. And the freedom that you experience when you conform your life to the will of God. These are the kind of people that we want coming out of Christian institutions and going into the public school system; to be a witness of that truth. And it's sorely needed. It's desperately needed. And we see that need when we see the videos on sites like Libs of TikTok, the kind of agenda that some of the teachers are leaving college with,” said Meg Kilgannon, a senior fellow for education studies at Family Research Council.

Kilgannon was recently quoted in an article, "'Center for Grooming Children': CDC Site Steers Minors to Facilitated LGBT Chat Forum," in The Washington Stand, a new FRC online "outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview."

Hear a previous Respect Life Radio interview with Kilgannon, "Is God calling you to run for school board?" Follow Kilgannon @meg_kilgannon on Twitter. 

Lauretta Brown: Catholics who proclaim their faith – then work against it

"In some ways it's sad to see people identifying as Catholics but then pushing these issues — not just as things they think are good — but they talk about the language of rights: a right to contraception, a right to same-sex marriage,” said Lauretta Brown, Washington-based staff writer for the National Catholic Register. “In the years that I've covered politics, though, unfortunately I've gotten quite used to seeing this: people being Catholic, talking about their faith, but turning around and disregarding some central Church teachings.”

See Brown's recent article, “Democrats’ Proposal to Codify Same-Sex Civil Marriage Poses Religious-Freedom Issues, Critics Say" and follow her @LaurettaBrown6 on Twitter.

Derek Rotty: How America lost its foundation on natural law

“We are living in a new age of tyranny...of relativism, the dictatorship of secular modernity,” said Derek Rotty, who wrote a recent column for the National Catholic Register, titled, “Natural Law and Moral Virtues Bring Independence From Tyranny.” “What America has lost is its understanding, and its foundation, on the natural law.”

Rotty, the director of evangelization and discipleship at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Jackson, Tenn., is the author of the 2019 book, “A Life of Conversion: Meeting Christ in the Gospels” (Our Sunday Visitor).

Follow him @derekrotty on Twitter.

Simone Rizkallah: Endow equips women to live out their mission

“We call women together to study important documents of the Catholic Church,” said Simone Rizkallah, director of program growth for Endow. “We help women organize themselves into small group communities, whether that's in their homes or in their parishes. We create study guides to help them study the rich and important documents of the Church.”

Endow, founded in 2003, stands for Educating on the Natural and Dignity of Women. It has “grown into an international apostolate in over 130 dioceses, reaching over 40,000 women all over the world,” according to its website, endowgroups.org.

“I'm getting a lot of moms and women who are seeing what's happening to our young girls and they're desperate: Can you please help us get this started?” said Rizkallah. “It's much more a sense of mission and urgency for what's going on in this culture.”

Follow Endow @endowgroup on Instagram.

Charlie McKinney: How Catholics can find the wisdom for these times

“The most important thing for any Catholic — right now and frankly, at any time in history — is to focus on your spiritual life. That is what's going to give us the wisdom to deal with the culture and all the problems that beset us. It's going to give us the understanding, the knowledge, the counsel and the piety that we need today,” said Charlie McKinney, president of Sophia Institute Press for the past decade. “We really focus on producing books and producing content that helps people to deepen their spiritual life.”

McKinney told his story in 2014 on "The Journey Home" of converting to the Catholic faith from being a Southern Baptist.

Sophia Institute Press, based in Nashua, N.H., publishes books and Crisis Magazine, as well as the Catholic Exchange website and other initiatives. Follow @SophiaPress on Twitter.

GianCarlo Canaparo: Dobbs decision a victory for U.S. democracy

In the recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the abortion issue to the people in each state, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively said, “'We've got to play fair. We need to obey the terms of the Constitution and nobody gets an unfair judicial advantage in these policy fights,'” said GianCarlo Canaparo, senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation. “Dobbs is the most pro-democracy decision the Supreme Court has handed down in several generations.”

Follow Canaparo at The Heritage Foundation, which is @heritage on Twitter.

Dr. Ray Guarendi: How to master anger and frustration

"I realize that 90 percent of what I did that I regret would come from an emotional surge... Emotion doesn't last very long unless you feed it. If I can shut my mouth for...15 seconds and not say what I most had the urge to say, 15 seconds later the emotional surge will be probably cut in half. And then I will be able to control it," said Dr. Ray Guarendi.

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, "Living Calm: Mastering Anger and Frustration" (EWTN Publishing).

Follow him on Facebook and listen to previous appearances on Respect Life Radio: "On what it takes to be married and raise 'upright kids'" and "Listening to Jesus, the master psychologist."

Anthony DeStefano: Creating simple, but deep, books for kids and adults

"I always try to write as simply as possible, whether I'm writing for adults or children. My whole goal of my writing career is to simplify complicated spiritual, theological concepts — without watering down or compromising the faith. It's really easy to simplify things if you want to water them down. The trick is to keep them orthodox and traditional, but at the same time make them easier to understand," said Anthony DeStefano, author of "How the Angels Got Their Wings" (Sophia Institute Press). 

DeStefano, based in New Jersey, "is the bestselling author of over twenty-five Christian books for adults and children," according to his website, anthonydestefano.com.