Nearly six months after publicly criticizing Cardinal Blase Cupich’s plan to give a “lifetime achievement” award to a pro-abortion-rights senator, a long-serving lay member of the Catholic Conference of Illinois board of directors is being involuntarily phased out of his role. Matthew Bunson has more on this and other church news.

Further Reading

Lay Leader Who Criticized Cardinal Cupich Phased Out of Catholic Conference Board

Vatican Court Orders Partial Retrial in ‘Trial of the Century’ Finance Case

Pope Leo’s Return to the Papal Apartment Corrects an Anomaly

The Lebanon Sideshow Could Be Worse Than the Iranian Main Event

Is the ‘Revival’ of Faith in Gen Z Real?

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

What does it mean to be a man of faith? The Lord has gifted us with hundreds of saints that exemplify true Catholic masculinity. We look at some of their lives with Paul George.

Further Reading

Holy Grit: A Saintly Guide to Becoming a Man of Virtue

Paul’s website

Guest Info

Although no direct words of Joseph’s are recorded in Scripture, it is from Joseph’s own lips that the name of Jesus is first announced publicly among the people of Israel. The fatherhood of Joseph, though not natural fatherhood, is an imitation of the fatherhood of God. Stephen White joins us with more.

Further Reading

Fatherhood and St. Joseph

Guest Info

Stephen P. White is executive director of The Catholic Project at The Catholic University of America and a fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

On March 19th, 1859, Charles Grenoad's Faust received its premiere at the Théâtre Le Cric in Paris. It tells the story of a man who makes a pact with a demon; his soul in exchange for unlimited worldly knowledge and pleasure. It’s the mirror opposite of the “Terror of Demons,” St. Joseph, who we celebrate today. Marcus has more.

There is an assumption commonly shared on both sides of the theistic and atheistic debate that is a major obstacle to dialogue – the misconception that all theists believe in “basically the same thing” and that all atheists believe (or don’t believe) in “basically the same thing.” What do the terms actually tell us? Pat Flynn joins us.

Further Reading

Not All Theists, Not All Atheists

The Best Argument for God

Pat’s website

Guest Info

Pat Flynn is a writer, philosopher, podcaster, and speaker living in Wisconsin with his wife, five children, and St. Bernard. He hosts Philosophy for the People and The Pat Flynn Show.

Paul R. Ehrlich, the biologist and author whose “Population Bomb” book sparked a hysteria about overpopulation, died last week. His philosophy is part of a greater movement that manifests itself in various ways that devalue the human person. In many countries today, we see nearly all children with genetic deficiencies aborted in the womb. As today is Trisomy-18 Awareness Day, Marcus ties it all together.

Critical Theory has become firmly entrenched among modern political and social thinkers. The greatest challenge we have as Christians in confronting this philosophy is the social sins of the past and CT’s seductive promise to eradicate all injustice by destroying hierarchies of dependency. Michel Therrien has more.

Further Reading

Critical Theory and the Politics of Divine Love, Part 1

Critical Theory and the Politics of Divine Love, Part 2

Wounded Witness: Reclaiming the Church’s Unity in a Time of Crisis

Guest Info

Michel Therrien is President of The Preambula Group. He is host of The Wise Guys podcast and author of The Catholic Faith Explained (Sophia Institute Press, 2020) and Wounded Witness: Reclaiming the Church’s Unity in a Time of Crisis(Three Keys Publishing, 2023).

Studies are showing that gratitude is on the decline in the developed world. We have lost our sense that good things come from something beyond ourselves. Marcus discusses the effects of gratitude on society.

Further Reading

The Death of Gratitude in the American Classroom

The University of Sussex has published a “toolkit” to enable political and legal action to grant “rights” to trees. This is consistent with the radical environmentalist activism seen in many universities, such as Harvard Law, which is now teaching “nature rights” principles and strategies to students. Wes Smith has more.

Further Reading

University Pushes ‘Tree Rights’

Humanize Podcast

Culture of Death: The Age of Do Harm Medicine

Follow Wes on X

Guest Info

Wes Smith is the Chair and Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism. He’s also the host of the Humanize Podcast. He’s the author of 13 books including “Culture of Death: The age of Do-Harm Medicine.” Follow him on Twitter @thewesleyjsmith and check out his articles at National Review, First Things and more.

For Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, raising daughters in today’s culture has reinforced a lesson that no policy document can capture: Girls flourish when they are known, loved and accompanied by the people closest to them. No school counselor, no government agency and no ideology can replace the presence of an attentive and loving parent. She joins us.

Further Reading

Parental Rights Are a Cornerstone of American Law

Follow Andrea on X

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.