There is an irony to Memorial Day. Many Americans see it as a three-day weekend that “unofficially” kicks off summer and some stores seem to think it’s simply another cheap excuse to host sales on furniture and televisions. The phrase “Memorial Day” simply doesn’t do the day justice. Marcus has more.

What is happening to the world? Why does it seem like everyone has gone insane? Why are so many things that seemingly everyone believed the day before yesterday suddenly held to be retrograde, hateful, or even criminal? And why are things that everyone seemed to view as lunacy the day before yesterday suddenly taught or even required? J. Budziszewski says it’s time we declared a pandemic of lunacy – and he has an antidote. He joins us.

Further Reading

Book: Pandemic of Lunacy: How to Think Clearly When Everyone Around You Seems Crazy

J.’s website

Guest Info

J. Budziszewski is a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. Internationally recognized for his work on natural law, self-deception, happiness, and ultimate purpose, he is widely read on the unraveling and possible restoration of our common culture. Among his twenty previous books are What We Can’t Not Know, How to Stay Christian in College, How and How Not to Be Happy, On the Meaning of Sex, The Line Through the Heart, The Revenge of Conscience, and a series of line-by-line commentaries on Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae. Married for more than five decades, a teacher for more than four, Budziszewski has two grown children and a clutch of grandchildren. His website, The Underground Thomist, is at undergroundthomist.org. Professor Budziszewski lives in Austin, Texas

On May 23, 1945, Heinrich Himmler – the mastermind behind the Holocaust and one of the top men in Nazi Germany – swallowed a cyanide pill rather than face justice for his crimes against humanity. His life is a cautionary example of what happens when a man casts aside the divine and enthrones himself. Conversely, Auschwitz Commandant Rudolf Höss felt remorse at the end of his life and asked for a priest to hear his confession. Marcus compares their lives.

There are different readings for the Pentecost Vigil and Sunday Masses this weekend, but they all come together to illuminate the Feast of Pentecost. We unpack the readings with Rob Corzine.

Guest Info

Robert Corzine is Vice President of Academic Programs for the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.

Near the end of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus instructs His apostles to not leave Jerusalem “until you are clothed with the power on high.” That is the event we celebrate this weekend. Adam van Wart joins us to talk about how the Apostles were changed by the Spirit.

Guest Info

Dr. Adam Van Wart is an Associate Professor of Catholic Theology at Ave Maria University

The entire Easter and Lenten season presupposes that we are on a journey culminating with this moment – the Feast of Pentecost. We cannot underestimate the power of the Resurrection – but the Easter season culminates with Pentecost because it is an historical event that continues in the life of the Church to this very day. Peter Herbeck has more.

Guest Info

Peter Herbeck is the Executive Vice President and Director of Missions for Renewal Ministries.

As by a New Pentecost

It’s a commonly touted line that Pentecost is the Birthday of the Church. But there’s no real root for that sentiment in the Church documents or the Scriptures. So where does it come from? And when is the Church’s birthday? The answer lies is understanding the nature and purpose of the Church’s existence. Marcus has more.

Reading the documents from the recent Synod on Synodality, you may find yourself wondering who the intended audience is. They certainly don’t seem to be written to the “people in the pew.” The jargon is so thick that the only possible audience could be other bureaucrats. Dr. Randall Smith joins us.

Further Reading

Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power in the Church

Truth Isn’t a Focus Group

Guest Info

Randall B. Smith holds the J. Michael Miller Endowed Chair of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. His books include Bonaventure’s Journey of the Soul into God: Background and Commentary (Cambridge University Press, 2024), From Here to Eternity: Reflections on Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection of the Body (Emmaus Press, 2022), Aquinas, Bonaventure, and the Scholastic Culture of Medieval Paris: Preaching, Prologues, and Biblical Commentary (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Reading the Sermons of Thomas Aquinas: A Beginner’s Guide (Emmaus Press, 2016). His next book, Mapping Bonaventure’s Itinerarium: Context and Commentary, is due out from Emmaus Press this summer.

The USCCB will consecrate the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June, as America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary. We talk more about this and other Church news with Matthew Bunson.

Further Reading

US Bishops Plan Sacred Heart Consecration, Issue Agenda for June Meeting

Nearly 500,000 already signed up for main events of pope’s visit to Spain

U.S. bishops publish letter of solidarity with Church in Mali following violent attacks

Leo XIV laments that after receiving confirmation, many young people ‘disappear from the parish’

Pope Leo Explains Why Vatican II’s Reform Did Not Change Only ‘the Rites’ of the Liturgy

Guest Info

Matthew Bunson is Vice President and Editorial Director of EWTN News and a Senior Fellow at St Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He’s the author or co-author of more than 50 books including the first English-language biography of Pope Francis and The Encyclopedia of Catholic History. Follow him on twitter at MattBunson. Register Radio airs Saturdays at 4 pm and Sundays at 11 am on Ave Maria Radio

Since his 2018 book The Coddling of the American Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has been documenting the harms that well-meaning movements such as “safe spaces” have had on our society, especially our youth. Ironically, his commencement address at NYU this spring sparked the very reaction he has been trying to fight – students treated their emotional discomfort with his ideas as the equivalent of a physical threat, asking if he was the “safest” option. Their response proved his point. Marcus has some thoughts.

Further Reading

Booing Of Jonathan Haidt Shows How Bad The Left’s Coddling-Induced Intolerance Has Become

Book: The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

Book: The Anxious Generation