In her long career as a nurse, Janet Richards has often found herself crossing the “River Sorrow.” She joins us with stories of heartbreak and healing to share what she has learned about suffering.

Further Reading

Book: Crossing the River Sorrow: One Nurse’s Story

Guest Info

Janet Richards is an artist, wife, mother, nurse, and volunteer. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Colorado and is the author of Crossing the River Sorrow: One Nurse’s Story

Today marks three historical anniversaries including three of the most significant figures of the last century. On this day, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated, and Winston Churchill was laid to rest. If these three very different men were to meet, what would they say to each other? Marcus imagines a dialogue.

In The American Republic, the American writer Orestes Brownson reflected on the meaning of Loyalty. He declares that Loyalty is the “highest, noblest, and most generous of human virtues, and is the human element of that sublime love or charity which the inspired Apostle tells us is the fulfilment of the law.” Michael Pakaluk joins us.

Further Reading

On Loyalty

Guest Info

Michael Pakaluk, an Aristotle scholar and Ordinarius of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, is Professor of Political Economy in the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America. He lives in Hyattsville, MD with his wife Catherine, also a professor at the Busch School, and their children. His collection of essays, The Shock of Holiness (Ignatius Press) is now available. His book on Christian friendship, The Company We Keep, is now available from Scepter Press. He was a contributor to Natural Law: Five Views, published by Zondervan last May, and his most recent Gospel book came out with Regnery Gateway in March, Be Good Bankers: The Economic Interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel. You may follow him on Substack at Michael Pakaluk.

Nigeria is home to an estimated 35 million Catholics and has one of the highest rates of Mass attendance in the world. Yet despite Catholicism’s rapid growth, Africa’s most populous nation has never had a native canonized saint. That could change with Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, a Nigerian priest known for his holiness, pastoral zeal and asceticism. We get to know him with Matthew Bunson.

Further Reading

Cardinal Arinze Shares Memories of Priest Who Could Become Nigeria’s First Saint

Archbishop Gomez Shows Openness to Immigration Bill to Create Legal Protections

Exiled Venezuelan Warns Tyranny Follows Post-Christian Culture

Leo urges doctrine office to give clear guidance in face of new challenges

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

A German cardinal has declared his participation in the controversial German Synodal Way finished, expressing deep skepticism about plans to establish a permanent synodal conference. Carl Olson joins us

Further Reading

German cardinal: ‘For me the Synodal Way is over’

Guest Info

Carl E. Olson is editor of Catholic World Report and Ignatius Insight. He is the author of Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?, Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”?, co-editor/contributor to Called To Be the Children of God, co-author of The Da Vinci Hoax (Ignatius), and author of the “Catholicism” and “Priest Prophet King” Study Guides for Bishop Robert Barron/Word on Fire. His recent books on Lent and Advent—Praying the Our Father in Lent (2021) and Prepare the Way of the Lord (2021)—are published by Catholic Truth Society. The Most Asked Questions about Faith, Reason, Jesus, and the Bible, co-authored with Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., will be published by Ignatius Press in Spring 2026. He is also a contributor to “Our Sunday Visitor” newspaper, “The Catholic Answer” magazine, “The Imaginative Conservative”, “The Catholic Herald”, “National Catholic Register”, “Chronicles”, and other publications. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @carleolson.

January 30 marks the anniversary of the infamous Bloody Sunday, one of the darkest days in Northern Ireland’s tumultuous history. Friedrich Nietzsche famously declared that we had killed God, but he also feared the implications of a Godless world. Marcus discusses the violent results of taking God out of our culture.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us not to hide our “light” under a bushel basket. The entire passage is deeply rooted in history, as God has long revealed Himself through the light. Marcus discusses more on the Covenants.

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films are back in theaters this month to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring. The trilogy is one of the most critically and financially film series of all time – but would Tolkien have accepted it as a faithful adaption of his novels? Austin Freeman joins us.

Further Reading

Book: Tolkien Dogmatics: Theology through Mythology with the Maker of Middle-earth

Guest Info

Austin M. Freeman is the chair of apologetics at Houston Christian University. He is the author of Tolkien Dogmatics (Lexham Press) and editor of Tolkien among the Theologians (Walking Tree Press), Theology, Fantasy, & Imagination (Lexington Press), and has published many other works on theology and literature.

The rules of Ignatian discernment provide a structure for people of all vocations, in all stages of life actually, to live the spiritual life with hope, with joy, with fruitfulness. Marcus has some thoughts.

In the shadow of the nation’s capital, a growing number of Washington-area families are quietly rethinking where and how their children learn. From the economically struggling neighborhoods of Anacostia to the affluent suburbs of northern Virginia, families of faith are discovering an alternative to the region’s increasingly polarized debates over curriculum and school governance. Andrea Picciotti-Bayer has the details.

Further Reading

A classical education revival hits the capital region

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.