In the past eight-hundred years, it is possible that no other theologian has shaped our understanding of God, man, and the Church more than St. Thomas Aquinas. While many people are familiar with his most famous work, the Summa Theologiae, fewer know of his important role as a biblical theologian. Michael Dauphinais joins us.

Further Reading

Book: Thomas Aquinas, Biblical Theologian

Guest Info

Michael Dauphinais, Ph.D., is co-director of the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal. He chairs the Theology department at Ave Maria University and is the coauthor of Thomas Aquinas, Biblical theologian

Today’s reading from the Second book of Samuel contains a scene of immense Biblical weight. King David sits in silence, pondering over the fact that he rests within a house of cedar, while the Ark of the Covenant remains beneath cloth. And God makes a promise to him that expands towards Israel’s entire future. That same God shows faithfulness to us as well. Marcus has more.

Speaking this week about continued immigration crackdowns, Tim Walz stated “Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody’s gonna write that children’s story about Minnesota.”

The comparison confuses genocide with governance, racial annihilation with civil law, and totalitarian extermination with constitutional enforcement, thereby trivializing one of the gravest crimes in human history while offering zero serious illumination of the present controversy.

Marcus has more.

Further Reading

Tim Walz and Anne Frank: Restoring Moral Clarity to the Immigration Debate

This week students are celebrating Catholic Schools Week. In an era where our society has forgotten truth, the need for truth-based education has never been greater. Dan Guernsey joins us.

Further Reading

The Remedy for “Canceling” and Division: Catholic Education

There Is No AI Shortcut to Real Education

Leo XIV’s Vision of Catholic Education

National Association of Private and Independent Catholic Schools

Guest Info

Dan Guernsey, Ed.D., is a Senior Fellow at The Cardinal Newman Society and Director of Ave Maria University’s Master of Education in Catholic Educational Leadership Program. He is also Executive Director of the National Association of Private and Independent Catholic Schools.

A report in the Wall Street Journal finds that Chinese billionaires are taking advantage of US Surrogacy laws to father dozens of children. We look at the problems at hand with Jennifer Roback Morse.

Further Reading

Surrogacy Gone Wild Treats Babies Like Orders to Be Filled

Ruth Institute

Guest Info

Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., is founder and president of the Ruth Institute, which helps the victims of the Sexual Revolution recover from their experiences and become advocates for positive change.

On January 24 we celebrate the Feast of St Francis de Sales. In his Treatise on the Love of God, he writes that “Nothing so much presses men’s heart as love.” We talk with David Bonagura about finding perfect love in Jesus.

Further Reading

St. Francis de Sales: Love for a loveless age

David’s website

Guest Info

David G. Bonagura, Jr. is the author, most recently, of 100 Tough Questions for Catholics: Common Obstacles to Faith Today, and the translator of and the translator of Jerome’s Tears: Letters to Friends in Mourning. An adjunct professor at St. Joseph’s Seminary and Catholic International University, he serves as the religion editor of The University Bookman, a review of books founded in 1960 by Russell Kirk. Visit him online at his personal website.

Pope Leo has made it clear that addressing the risks of AI is a key component of his papacy, and his message for the Vatican’s 2026 World Day of Social Communications highlights this. William Schmitt joins us to talk about it.

Further Reading

World Communications Day Message Outlines AI’s Risks for Humans

Pope Leo: Digital Innovation Cannot Be at the Expense of Human Dignity

Guest Info

Bill Schmitt is a Catholic communicator. Visit his Substack blog at Phronesis in Pieces.

On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops entered the death camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau. What they saw defied description or imagination. This date now stands as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In the decades since the liberation of Auschwitz, the horror has faced a new enemy - an enemy that seeks to deny it ever happened. Marcus discusses how Holocaust denial has persisted and how it abuses history.

After Vladimir Lenin’s death, his body was placed in a mausoleum in Red Square – preserved as a saint of the new faith of Marxism. He envisioned a society without God – but this society created its own gods, with disastrous results. Marcus has more.

George Orwell has been dead for more than 75 years, but his influence has never been greater. His political influence is arguably more significant than any commentator alive today. We discuss his impact and his views on religion with John Rodden.

Further Reading

Animal Farm at 80

Why Orwell Still Matters

Book: Scenes from an Afterlife: The Legacy of George Orwell

Guest Info

John Rodden has taught at the University of Virginia and the University of Texas at Austin. His books include The Cambridge Introduction to George Orwell, The Politics of Literary Reputation: The Making and Claiming of “St. George” Orwell, and Becoming George Orwell.