Before the “polarization” and the “fractured republic” reality made it impossible to ignore our present condition, Jean Bethke Elshtain was sounding the alarm in the 1990s. She wrote that “If we have lost the sturdiness and patience to sustain our society over the long haul, then our democracy, as a social world and a culture, is in trouble.” Today we are all familiar with this behavior she describes, as for many, America has become “de-Americanized” in recent generations, but Luma Simms thinks there is a remnant that is ready to renew and rebuild. She joins us.

Further Reading

Re-Americanizing America: The Bond of Creed and Covenant

Re-Americanizing America: The American Heritage with Subcultures

Guest Info

Luma Simms is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Mrs. Simms is writer and thinker on American culture, religion, politics, political theology, immigration and immigration-adjacent issues. Her primary focus has been the critique of modern America through an immigrant lens.

Social media has once again managed to do what nearly every modern invention eventually does – it has turned an ancient human reality into a channel for public validation. In this case, it’s grief. “Grief Tok” has become a prominent subject on Tiktok, with influencers sharing stories of unimaginable loss with their followers. Marcus takes a closer look.

Further Reading

No One Understood Her Grief, So She Took It Online

In a May 20 settlement that should send shockwaves through every child welfare agency still clinging to gender ideology mandates, the state’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families agreed to a permanent injunction barring officials from denying or restricting foster care licenses based on applicants’ religious beliefs about marriage, gender, or sexual relationships. Andrea Picciotti-Bayer has more

Further Reading

Clinging To Gender Ideology Mandates Is A Losing Strategy

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.

It’s been a little over a year since Pope Leo’s papacy began. Gregory Grimes shares his impressions of what Leo has done and said so far.

Further Reading

The Spirit of St. Augustine: Reflecting on the Major Themes of Pope Leo’s First Year

Guest Info

Gregory Grimes is Associate Instructor in Fundamental and Systematic theology at Villanova University.

Whatever else they’re thinking about, every college president in the U.S. has one common concern right now — the coming demographic cliff. In 2024, the U.S. recorded a birth rate of 1.6 births per woman, the lowest rate on record, well below the population replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman. Children born in 2007 will head to college next fall. Then, fewer and fewer students will apply and attend college, simply because there are fewer and fewer students in high school. Jack Figge joins us with more.

Further Reading

‘Never going out of style’ — How Catholic colleges aim to navigate the demographic cliff

Guest Info

Jack Figge is a young Catholic journalist pursuing an MBA at Benedictine College, with a BA in political science and theology

In today’s First Reading, Paul writes to Timothy from the edge of death with the authority of an apostle. His life has already been placed upon the altar of Jesus Christ. Every line of his letter is the voice of a prisoner who knows what the Gospel demands of us. Marcus unpacks today’s readings.

Several viral videos this spring showed college commencement speakers praising the potential of AI, only to be showered by a chorus of boos from graduates concerned about their job prospects. What is the role of education in a world increasingly governed by AI? Dr Dan Guernsey joins us.

Guest Info

Dr. Daniel Guernsey is senior fellow at the Cardinal Newman Society and associate professor of education at Ave Maria University

As Catholics, we are called to use the resources God has given us in a morally responsible way. We talk about it with James Peregoy.

Ave Maria Mutual Funds

Guest Info

James Peregoy is co-manager of the Ave Maria Bond Fund and the Ave Maria Undiscovered Fund, and a research analyst responsible for fixed income research and trading functions. He is also responsible for the equity trading functions of the mutual funds. Before joining Schwartz Investment Counsel, Inc. he worked as a consultant at Plante Moran. James holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance and Statistics from Grand Valley State University. He has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Most people think of parenting as a set of techniques that we use on kids make them behave. But St. John Bosco encourages us to instead approach parenting as a mentoring and discipleship relationship we have with our children. Dr. Greg Popcak has more.

Guest Info

Dr. Greg Popcak is the founder of CatholicCounselors.com Together with his wife Lisa, he’s the author of over 20 popular books, and the host of More2Life, heard each day at 10am E on EWTN radio. Greg and Lisa are also the founders of the CatholicHOM app that provides couples and parents with the coaching and resources they need to build strong domestic churches.

Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico has become a rising star in the progressive Christian movement. His pastor rejects the use of male pronouns for God, calls the Annunciation mythological, and rejects the apostle Paul as a homophobic jerk. Talarico claims that the Angel Gabriel asking Mary to be the mother of Christ is a defense of abortion rights. Marcus looks at the line of Protestant thinking that led to such a position.

Further Reading

Are Texans Ready for Talarico’s Kind of Christianity?

A Secular Age