Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, PhD, teaches English, Creative Writing, and courses in American Catholic Studies at Fordham University in New York City. She also serves as Associate Director of Fordham's Curran Center for American Catholic Studies. O'Donnell was awarded the New York Encounter Poetry Prize. She has been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Web Prizes, and was a finalist for the Paraclete Poetry Prize, the Foley Poetry Prize and the Mulberry Poet's Award. O'Donnell also writes essays on and reviews of contemporary poetry and literature. She recently published her 11th poetry book Dear Dante (Paraclete Press) and writes regularly for America Magazine. Click here to read this episode's show notes.

(00:00:01) Introduction

(00:02:27) Background

(00:04:05) What is the Catholic Imagination?

(00:08:33) Bruce Springsteen and the Manifestation of the Catholic Imagination

(00:23:32) Catholic Imagination: Darkness, Beauty, and a Sacramental World

(00:34:32) Catholicism and Protestantism

(00:41:24) Poetry and the Catholic Imagination

(00:53:39) Engaging Dante's Legacy

(01:03:16) Poem: 'Dante's Smile'

(01:08:22) Mortality, Merton, and the Afterlife

(01:11:27) Poem: 'The Price of Paradise'

(01:13:40) Conclusion