The Vatican has issued a decree declaring that the SSPX bishops consecrated yesterday are excommunicated and the group is officially in schism. Furthermore, Catholic clergy and lay faithful are not to adhere to the SSPX’s schism under penalty of excommunication. Matthew Bunson has more.

Further Reading

Vatican Formally Notifies SSPX Bishops of Excommunication

The SSPX Again Says No to the Catholic Church

What Is the SSPX? A Look at the Traditionalist Catholic Group in Schism With the Church

Does the First Amendment guarantee us the right to be free from religion in the public square? Does it guarantee religious individuals and institutions the right to be exempt from otherwise valid laws that burden their religious beliefs and practices? Dr. Vincent Phillip Muñoz joins us with a look at our “first freedom” in light of the thought of America’s founding fathers.

Further Reading

Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original Meanings of the First Amendment Religion Clauses

Great Americans: ‘We’re Going to Take Back the Airplane’

Guest Info

Dr. Vincent Phillip Muñoz is the Tocqueville Professor of Political Science, Concurrent Professor of Law, and the Founding Director of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government at the University of Notre Dame. He writes and teaches across the fields of constitutional law, American politics, and political philosophy with a focus on religious liberty and the American Founding. His most recent book is Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original Meanings of the First Amendment Religion Clauses.

America’s 250th birthday has arrived, albeit in a time that is somewhat chaotic. Many have talked about what our Founding Fathers would say about the state of our nation – but what about our authors? Cassandra Nelson believes that Mark Twain would feel right at home. She joins us with a look at “Huck Finn’s America.”

Further Reading

A Singular Dream: Huck Finn’s America Turns 250

Cassandra’s website

Guest Info

Cassandra Nelson is a fellow in literature at the Lumen Center in Madison, Wisconsin, and an associate fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. She is the author of A Theology of Fiction and Who’s Afraid of the Still Small Voice?: Essays on Teaching, Learning, and Faith.

On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife telling her the colonies had passed a resolution declaring their independence. The letter opens a window into Adam’s convictions and his vision for the nation. Marcus shares some thoughts.

Further Reading

Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams (1776)

Most people remember Winston Churchill as a British hero of World War II who encouraged his fellow citizens to stand firm against the Nazi threat, but he was also a great political thinker who thought deeply about the meaning of freedom in the modern world. We look at his thought with Michael Lucchese.

Further Reading

On America: How to Understand the Legacy of 1776

Guest Info

Michael Lucchese is the founder of Pipe Creek Consulting, an associate editor of Law & Liberty, and an editor of a new collection of Russell Kirk’s writings entitled “On America: How to Understand the Legacy of 1776”

Today the SSPX went through with their illicit episcopal consecrations. Despite this troubling development, the Church has endured far greater crises over her 2000-year history. Marcus has more.

The Supreme Court has closed its books on a consequential term that delivered significant wins for parental rights and free speech, disappointed prisoners seeking to remedy offenses against their religious liberty, redrew the boundaries of executive power and closed with developments that serve as reminders of how much work remains. Andrea Piciotti-Bayer has a roundup.

Further Reading

Supreme Court Delivers Victories for Parental Rights, Women’s Sports and Free Speech

Guest Info

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is a legal analyst for EWTN News. She also directs the Conscience Project. Follow her on Twitter @bayerpicciotti and visit conscience-project.org.

A man―especially a father―is called to defend, protect, and foster what is noble and good. Indeed, it is for this he was created, not only spiritually, but physically. Bravery is written into his very being. Men can only be truly happy when they have laid down their lives for the Kingdom of God. But despite society’s promotion of health and fitness, modern life has all but quenched man’s heroic spirit, smothering it with distractions. We talk about man’s call to heroism with Doug Barry.

Further Reading

First Line of Defense: The Catholic Man’s Call to Heroism

Doug’s website

Guest Info

Doug Barry, devoted husband and father of five children, has been the host of two popular series on EWTN television, Life on the Rock and Battle Ready. He currently is a co-host of the podcast U. S. Grace Force. For over 30 years he has traveled both nationally and internationally to speak about and defend the Catholic faith.

Fulton Sheen is the greatest preacher in history on the topic of Adoration and the importance of spending time with the King of Kings. We celebrate his legacy with Monsignor Roger Landry.

Further Reading

American Eucharistic Witnesses: The Venerable Fulton Sheen and the Most Holy Eucharist

Daily Holy Hour and Archbishop Fulton J Sheen

Guest Info

Monsignor Roger J. Landry, a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, is National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States. He is also a Papal Missionary of Mercy, Chaplain to the New York Chapter of the Leonine Forum, and a Member of the Board of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Martyrs in Auriesville, New York. During the National Eucharistic Revival of the Church in the United States, he served as a National Eucharistic Preacher and helped lead the Seton Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage from New Haven, CT, to Indianapolis.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus casts demons into a herd of pigs. The pigs are a significant symbol in this story, and it has to do with the Jewish understanding of cleanliness. Marcus has more.