Ave Explores

Christine Valters Paintner is a Catholic author and online abbess at the Abbey for the Arts, a virtual monastery offering classes and resources on contemplative practice and creative expression. She explains how we are called to see ourselves as artists in the world, not because we have marketable talents, but because the Lord is inviting us to create. Paintner explores how God surprises us with art in every form.

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• Ave Explores Art and Architecture

Elizabeth Lev, an art historian, author, tour guide, and college professor living in Rome, shares how art—especially the art of the Church—is the ultimate path to understanding what we believe and helps us see the continuity of the faith throughout history. Lev explains how art ultimately invites us to be drawn into its beauty and to contemplation of the divine.

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• Ave Explores Art and Architecture

Catholic counselor Tommy Tighe shares ways we can help our children cope with the current crisis and how couples and families can continue to thrive with routine, prayer, and facing their feelings of uncertainty together.

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• Ave Explores Art and Architecture

Mike Aquilina, bestselling and award-winning author of A History of the Church in 100 Objects, relates how Catholics are a sacramental people, and objects such as the chains of St. Peter and the dome of the basilica named for him are significant to our understanding of faith. Aquilina also shares how ancient locations central to Christianity’s early development have helped him grow his love for the Lord.

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• Ave Explores Art and Architecture

Scott Weeman, founder of Catholic in Recovery, talks with Katie Prejean McGrady about how to help those who struggle with addictions when they are unable to attend support-group meetings in person and are tempted to fall back into old habits as their routine and structure shift.

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• Catholic in Recovery

Leah Darrow, Catholic author, speaker, and founder of Lux U, invites you to look to the Cross for comfort, inspiration, and solace in the middle of COVID-19. She tells Katie Prejean McGrady that hope is the virtue we need most while facing this pandemic.

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• Ave Explores Mental Health Series

Andrew Petiprin, fellow of popular culture at the Word on Fire Institute, explains how beauty and Catholic art and architecture can lead us to a deeper faith and understanding of the truth. A convert to Catholicism, Petiprin shares his conversion story, highlighting how the way of beauty ultimately led him to Catholicism and a life committed to evangelization through art, music, film, and pop culture.

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• Sign Up for the Art & Architecture Series

How can we more fully enter into the celebration of Triduum and Easter, the holiest days of the Church year? Fr. John Burns, author of Lift Up Your Heart, explains the liturgies for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday and offers ways we can experience these sacred days at home, even with public masses suspended because of COVID-19.

6:47 - Holy Thursday

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• Lift Up Your Heart (Special Edition)

Catholic psychotherapist Roy Petitfils talks with Katie Prejean McGrady about how to help teens find structure and rhythm in the midst of anxiety and uncertainty. As schools shift to online learning, colleges close, and teens and young adults are at home, Petitfils will tell you how to help them process what's happening, live with their anxious feelings, and maintain a sense of normalcy.

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• Ave Explores Mental Health Series

Mary Lenaburg, author of Be Brave in the Scared: How I Learned to Trust God during the Most Difficult Days of My Life, talks with Katie Prejean McGrady about how suffering and joy go hand-in-hand, especially during Lent. With a heart for hospitality, Lenaburg shares how her family joyfully lives life while always celebrating the memory of her daughter Courtney.

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• Be Brave in the Scared