What are the virtues and why are they vital in the moral life?  Is a virtuous life the only way to hap piness?  Is there a difference between natural and supernatural virtues?  Hear my guests John Tuturice and writer Stephen Beale speak on these questions.

A BTS look at the why of abuses in language: blasphemy, profanity, and vulgarity

What is the reason and purpose for fasting?

We can use Christ cleansing the Temple in the Gospels as a metaphor for the continuous need of the Church to be cleansed as well as the temples of our own hearts.

What is purgatory?

I go beneath the surface with my guest Tom Murphy on the purpose of sacrifice and penance and the challenge of living Lent in an age of self indulgence.

Delve beneath the surface with Paul and guest on how God can be both very far and very close - simultaneously.   Christianity includes the best of Deism and of Pantheism in its understanding of God as being separate and transcendent of His creation, yet closer and more intimate to us than we are to ourselves.

Who is Mary the mother of Jesus, and why does she have such a central role in salvation?  Mary as the new Eve, the new arc of the covenant, the icon of the Church, and the mother of all in the order of grace.

What is beauty?  Is it objective or simply subjective taste?  Where do we find the ultimate standard?

On the day after another New England Patriots superbowl victory (#6), we ponder beneath the surface the meaning of sports and why it impacts us, sometimes so deeply.