This week on the podcast: Host Chris Altieri goes to the vault and brings back a conversation with Fr. Brian Reedy SJ, who talks about the science of space exploration and explores the possible implications of finding extra-terrestrial life.

In this edition of the podcast, Leticia Ochoa Adams talks about her experience of systemic racism, Sam Rocha gets a grilling over "Black Lives Matter" - the rallying cry, not the organization - and the Catholic Herald's William Cash shares the highlights of his recently concluded pilgrimage to Canterbury.

In this edition of the podcast: Gretchen Crowe of Our Sunday Visitor, Bo Bonner of the Uncommon Good podcast, and Sam Rocha of the University of British Columbia join me for three very different conversations on how Catholics can contribute to conversations about race and racism.

In this edition of the podcast: a conversation with Timothy P. O’Malley of Notre Dame University’s McGrath Institute. We talk about marriage – what it is and isn’t, how it works (and doesn’t) and how – to borrow an expression from Stanley Cavell – healthy marriages and healthy societies are functions of one another. Also, an update on the promised series on race and racism, and some current comment from host Chris Altieri on the state of the Church.

This week on the podcast, Hannah Brockhaus of the Catholic News Agency joins host Chris Altieri to talk about adjusting to life in Rome, weathering the coronavirus lockdown, experiencing the unrest in the US from an ocean away, and coming to grips with the New Normal in Italy as restrictions on commerce and movement are lifted.

This week on the podcast, Faith Glavey Pawl of The University of St Thomas and David Franks of Massachusetts Citizens for Life and the Abigail Adams Institute join host Chris Altieri to discuss America in the grip of crisis after a Minneapolis policeman killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man they suspected of having tried to pay a grocery store bill with a counterfeit $20 note.

This week on the podcast, Fr John Paul Walker OP explores the life and legacy of soon-to-be Blessed Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus. Christopher Wells of Vatican News talks about several of the other fascinating figures, whose sainthood causes advanced on Wednesday. The Rome Bureau Chief for Crux, Ines San Martin, fills us in on what's doing in her native Argentina, and discusses the insights her temporary "outside in" view of Rome has given her.

This week on the programme, sociologist-theologian Stephen Bullivant talks about his new book - an unflinching look at the state of the Church also finds rays of hope and fertile ground for the seeds of renewal - Catholicism in the Time of Coronavirus. Then, Carl E. Olson talks about how to talk about the health emergency and how to conduct public discourse - even controversy - in light of the faith.

This week on the programme, we speak with farmer-theologian Larry Chapp about his search for an authentic life in pursuit of the Evangelical Counsels in the way of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, and take a closer look - with the help of Anna Mitchell Egan of the Son Rise Morning Show in Cincinnati, Ohio - at an unsettling story out of her archdiocese that raises serious questions about the commitment of Church leaders at the highest levels of governance to responsibility, accountability, and transparency in combating clerical abuse and coverup. Listeners be aware, therefore, that this episode deals with disturbing issues.

This week on the podcast, host Chris Altieri talks Church reform with journalistic giant John L Allen Jr of Crux and stalwart voice for good governance Prof Adam J DeVille of the University of St Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana.