Respect Life Radio

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.

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."