Respect Life Radio

David Deavel: A Catholic critique of socialism (Part 1 of 2)

“In almost every socialist system, you're going to end up with one group of people who are in the government, who are running things on behalf of the people...and they're going to end up having the power and the money for themselves,” said David Deavel, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and the editor of Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture.

Young people attracted to socialism “may think of it simply as part of that welfare state ideal and they've been taught, 'Everything works better in Sweden' or something like that,” said Deavel. “And what they don't understand is that those Nordic countries actually did have fairly socialist arrangements in the 1970s. But what they led to was absolute stagnation. So many of them had to open up their economies in order to keep up their large welfare state.”

The “Catholic social tradition has largely been open to market economies within a strong juridical framework and with the caveat that, look they can go bad if the culture around them goes bad. Why is that? John Paul II said in Centesimus Annas — his 1991 encyclical — that one of the things that's needed for poor people is that they can enter into the circle of exchange."

Deavel continued, "And when you enter into that circle of exchange, profit's going to be a part of that. But in order to succeed in it, you have to be meeting people's needs, both your consumers, as well as the people who are investing, and working for you, as well. And when you have that balance, I think people are not as attracted to these sort of wild-eyed socialist ideals, when they see that no, this can actually work. But the trick is, of course, having a good legal and political framework, as well as — most importantly — having a culture in which the right things are valued..."

This is Part 1 of a two-part podcast. Listen to Part 2 at this link. 

Fr. Gary Selin: The existence and purpose of angels

"Every Sunday, when we pray the Creed, we profess our faith in things visible and invisible," said Fr. Gary Selin, who is a Formation Advisor, as well as an Assistant Professor, at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. "The invisible refers primarily to the angels, that God created both material things and the spirit world..."

See also this Denver Catholic article from 2012, "Angels: the invisible heroes among us," in which Fr. Selin is interviewed.

Sister Joseph Marie: Caring for the elderly as for Jesus Christ

“Today we serve the elderly in over 30 countries around the world and count on a diverse network of collaborators to help us fulfill our mission,” said Sister Joseph Marie, vocations director of the Little Sisters of the Poor Mullen Home for the Aged in Denver. “As it says in our mission statement: We offer the neediest elderly of every race and religion a home where they will be welcomed as Christ, cared for as a family, and accompanied with dignity until God calls them home to Himself.”

 

Leila Miller: Made This Way (Part 2 of 2)

"I had a mom who sent me a picture of her high-school daughter, who picked up the book in their kitchen, and sat down and read it straight through in two days and said, 'Mom, this is exactly what's going on in my school,'" said Leila Miller, co-author of "Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today's Tough Moral Issues," in Part 2 of this two-part interview on Respect Life Radio. Listen to Part 1 here.

The book addresses hot-button issues, including: 

• Sex Outside of Marriage
• Same-Sex "Marriage"
• Divorce
• Contraception
• Abortion
• Reproductive Technologies
• Modesty
• Pornography
• Transgenderism
• Homosexuality

The Respect Life Office of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver also provides presentations at your parish, school or community group. This can be an introduction to the overall goal of the book — helping kids get to heaven — as well as giving you resources to address specific topics at age appropriate levels. Submit your request at respectlifedenver.org/madethisway

Leila Miller: Made This Way (Part 1 of 2)

"...Catholic parents, and Christian parents, are just pretty much petrified as to what they're watching happen in the culture and...you feel like you're just free-falling. You don't know what to do..." said Leila Miller, co-author of "Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today's Tough Moral Issues," in Part 1 of a two-part interview on Respect Life Radio. Listen to Part 2 here.

The book addresses hot-button issues, including: 

• Sex Outside of Marriage
• Same-Sex "Marriage"
• Divorce
• Contraception
• Abortion
• Reproductive Technologies
• Modesty
• Pornography
• Transgenderism
• Homosexuality

The Respect Life Office of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Denver also provides presentations at your parish, school or community group. This can be an introduction to the overall goal of the book — helping kids get to heaven — as well as giving you resources to address specific topics at age appropriate levels. Submit your request at respectlifedenver.org/madethisway

Maddie Haas: The unplanned blessing of a new life

Maddie Haas of Colorado was a teenage freshman at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln when she found out she was unexpectedly pregnant. "For being so pro-life, the thought of abortion came into my head...for probably one minute," recalled Maddie. "It definitely came into my head [that] I could do this and no one in my family would even have to know that I was ever even pregnant."

"...Nothing can really prepare you, no matter how pro-life you are, or how Catholic you are, if you get in that moment."

An ultrasound revealed Maddie was nearly 20 weeks pregnant. "At that point, my question went from, 'Do I tell my parents?' to 'How do I tell them?'"

In this Respect Life Radio interview, Maddie Haas and her mother, Val, discuss the struggles and joys of the past six years and the gift of Maddie's daughter, Ellie Grace, now five years old. 

See also this Denver Catholic story from 2014, "Pro-life teen tested by reality of own pregnancy."

Ed and Eddie Reinhardt: You're OK, Kid!

"There's two stories involved here," said Ed Reinhardt Sr., referring to his son Eddie's traumatic brain injury in a 1984 college football game — and to "my relationship with my own father and then how it strangely, mysteriously, providentially connects with Ed's accident."

The Reinhardts are inspirational public speakers, addressing "the good that can come out of tragedy" and "the importance of the influence of parents in the family." Their story is told in the 2004 book, "You're OK, Kid!"

Emily Zinos: A charitable response to the transgender movement (Part 2 of 2)

"That's why changing the culture right now is so important," said Emily Zinos, a mother of seven who leads Ask Me First Minnesota. "We have to remember our doctors, our endocrinologists, our surgeons, don't live in a bubble, right? They're living in a culture where these ideas are becoming popular. They're having more and more parents come in to ask questions or to make demands of them for these types of medical interventions. So the importance of speaking out isn't just about our public schools. But speaking out with our neighbors and our friends means that we're changing the culture one person at a time."

Click here for Part 1 of the Respect Life Radio interview with Emily Zinos.

Emily Zinos: A charitable response to the transgender movement (Part 1 of 2)

"I work with Ask Me First Minnesota, which essentially advocates for common-sense recognition of biological sex in law, policy and culture. We focus especially on the negative impacts that gender identity laws have on women and girls," said Emily Zinos, a mother of seven. "My own interest in this issue stems from something that happened at my children's school. So, we had our children enrolled in a public charter school here in Minnesota. And, in 2015, we got an email that blindsided us — from the principal of the grade school."

 

Click here for Part 2 of the Respect Life Radio interview with Emily Zinos.

 

 

Sen. Williams: Repeal the death penalty in Colorado

"For us, as a Catholic community and a Christian community, there's forgiveness out there, too. People need to have an opportunity to rehabilitate if they've made a mistake. And that happens every day," said Colorado state Sen. Angela Williams of Denver, a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 19-182 to repeal the death penalty, under consideration at the state legislature. "But to put someone to death to try to solve our social issues is inhumane and I don't think that's our decision to make. The state of Colorado hasn't used the death penalty since 1997."