Church Life Today

You can’t take a souvenir from Hell into Heaven; likewise, you can’t fit the realities of Heaven into Hell. That is Gospel truth for C. S. Lewis, especially as he imagines the separation between Heaven and Hell, vice and virtue, corrupt loves and the fullness of joy in his brief, brilliant eschatological novel, The Great Divorce. 

As we make the turn from Lent and Passion Week to the glory of Easter, Josh McManaway returns to the program to share a conversation with Leonard DeLorenzo about a book they both love.

Follow-up Resources:

• Learn more about The Inklings Project, a new intercollegiate initiative that invites people to pursue meaning and joy by entering the world of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the other Inklings at inklingsproject.org.
• “Giving Up Descartes for Lent,” by Josh McManaway, essay in Church Life Journal
• The Chronicles of Transformation: A Spiritual Journey with C. S. Lewis, edited by Leonard J. DeLorenzo (Ignatius Press, 2022)
  
  This episode is sponsored by the NCEA: Find out more about NCEA Rise at www.ncearise.org

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Because of Christ, the spiritual life is practical, and the practical life is spiritual. The Incarnation guarantees that. In this special episode, Leonard DeLorenzo shares some of the fruits of his newly published work, In Search of a Full Life: A Practical and Spiritual Guide. This book is especially well suited for young adults, perhaps upon Confirmation or graduation from high school or college. It also bears promise for those who are unsure about their spiritual life, who are seeking direction and bearings. It is also useful for not-so-young-anymore-adults, who are either involved in mentoring younger people, or who are looking for new bearings or fresh perspectives for their own lives.

Follow-up Resources:

In Search of a Full Life: A Practical and Spiritual Guide (OSV 2024) by Leonard DeLorenzo

This episode is sponsored by Saint Meinrad Seminary.
Register for the Saint Meinrad Summer Chant Workshop and find other workshops, concerts, and programs at the Institute for Sacred Music by scrolling down under “Events” at www.saintmeinrad.edu/ism.

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Suffering is universal. But how do we understand suffering? Does it have meaning? Can it have meaning? And most of all, what is the meaning of suffering in Christian life? Questions like these inform the work of my guest today, Dr. Mark Giszczak, author of the new book Suffering: What Every Catholic Should Know. Dr. Giszczak is Professor of Sacred Scripture at the Augustine Institute Graduate School of Theology, where he teaches a course on the Theology of Suffering that gave rise to this new book. In our discussion today we will talk about whether and how God suffers, how Christians might suffer well, obstacles to suffering well, and the importance of confronting rather than perpetually running from death.

Follow-up Resources:

• Suffering: What Every Catholic Should Know, by Mark Gisczak
• Salvici Doloris, Apostolic Letter by John Paul II
• “The Mystery of Love and the Redemption of Suffering,” by Lorenzo Albacete, essay in Church Life Journal

This episode is sponsored by Saint Meinrad Seminary: Register for the Saint Meinrad Summer Chant Workshop and find other workshops, concerts, and programs at the Institute for Sacred Music by scrolling down under “Events” at www.saintmeinrad.edu/ism.

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

It is really peculiar that Pontius Pilate’s name appears in the creed. Aside from Jesus and Mary, no other historical figures are mentioned. How did he make it into the creed? That is a question that Josh McManaway helps us to figure out.

This is the second episode of several where Josh joins us to discuss the creed. He is currently working on a book on the Apostles’ Creed to help seminarians, priests, catechists, and other interested Catholics to growi in understanding and wonder about the theology and history of the creed we profess.

Follow-up Resources:

●  “The Depth of the Creed, with Josh McManaway,” podcast episode via Church Life Today

This episode is sponsored by the National Catholic Educational Association 2024 Convention. To learn more visit https://ncea.org/NCEA2024 

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

We profess belief in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with such regularity that we likely fail to contemplate the profundity of what we declare. Josh McManaway of the McGrath Institute for Church Life is working on a book to spark new wonder and open up new depths for us about the Apostles’ Creed. In helping us learn the theology and history of our creed, Josh hopes to aid priests enrich their preaching just as other interested Christians come to a stronger and more lively understanding of the faith we profess. 

This is the first episode of several where Josh will join us to discuss the creed. In this episode, we talk about the creed in general and then spend a good bit of time breaking open the first part of the creed: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.” 

Follow-up Resources:

●      “Giving up Descartes for Lent,” essay in Church Life Journal by Josh McManaway

●      “Introduction to the New Testament,” online course by Josh McManaway (next session starts February 26, 2024)

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Black Catholics and Catholic Social Teaching, with Deacon James Summers

Why do so many Black Catholics leave the Church and why do so few new members enter the Church? This is the twofold question that Deacon James Summers along with his wife Wendy and others sought to understand when they were appointed to the Black Catholic Advisory Board for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. The answer redounds to his own experience as a Black Catholic in the Church, and to his approach to and appreciation for Catholic Social Teaching. Today Deacon James talks with me about the Lord’s call to seek to understand, empathize with, and actively love one another.

 Follow-up Resources:

 “The Ark and the Dove, with Edward Herrera,” podcast episode via Church Life Today

“The Embodied Holiness of Sr. Thea Bowman, with Kayla August,” podcast episode via Church Life Today
“Black Live and the Preferential Option for the Poor,” by John Cavadini, essay at Church Life Journal
"Hope Stories with Black Catholics with Sr. Josephine Garrett, CSFN" An OSV Original Podcast

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Born from a vision to fuse rapid scientific and technological advancement with the wisdom of the Catholic faith, Catholic Institute of Technology forms scientists, engineers and mathematicians who are dedicated to upholding the Catholic faith. This brand new university will welcome students for the first time in Fall 2024 to its campus in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.

 This university is the first-ever Catholic institution created exclusively for research advancements in the fields of the sciences, engineering, technology and mathematics, and is pursuing the elite title of an R1 school. The initial vision for CatholicTech was first conceptualized in the minds of Alexis and Bill Haughey, the husband-and-wife team whose own experience drove them to desire a new paradigm in academia where Catholic ethics thrive. Bill is an accomplished entrepreneur, and Alexis’ background is in academic research with an emphasis on technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. They join us today, along with my colleague Brett Robinson, who is co-hosting this episode with me.

Follow-up Resources:

• Learn more about Catholic Institute of Technology
• “How the Sciences Train You for Faith, Part 1, with Sofia Carozza,” podcast episode via Church Life Today
• “How the Sciences Train You for Faith, Part 2, with Sofia Carozza,” podcast episode via Church Life Today

This episode is sponsored by the U.S. bishops' 9 Days for Life Novena
Join the U.S. bishops’ pro-life novena from January 16 through January 24
www.9daysforlife.com

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

The question at Christmas is not about whether God will act for us. The babe born of Mary is the answer: God has given everything. The question is really about us. Will we receive Christ?

 This is a most magnificent reversal, and a most perilous one. He in whom all things are created––in whom we live and move and have our being––is given into our hands. The Host has become the guest, and we, who depend on God for all things, are called upon to become His host.

 Christmas is not only a time of great consolation, but the beginning of the great decision. God is all in: do we accept Him? Everything depends on our answer.

 In this special episode of our show, I will lead us through a series of reflections upon the mysteries of Christmas. These reflections were initially part of an article I wrote for Our Sunday Visitor, who is also, as you know, our podcasting partner here at Church Life Today. I don’t have a guest in studio with me today; instead, I hope that, together, we can welcome the Word of God as our guest, pondering the depth, beauty, and even the risk of God coming among us, in the flesh.

Follow-up Resources:

• “The Joy of Christmas (and the danger),” article at Our Sunday Visitor by Leonard DeLorenzo
• “What it means to wait for the Lord,” article at Our Sunday Visitor by Leonard DeLorenzo
• “How the O Antiphons direct our gaze toward the coming of our Savior,” article at Our Sunday Visitor by Leonard DeLorenzo
• “The Three Wisemen,” podcast episode at Church Life Journal
• Into the Heart of the Father: Learning from and Giving Yourself through Christ in Prayer (Word Among Us, 2021), by Leonard DeLorenzo
• Model of Faith: Reflecting on the Litany of Saint Joseph (Our Sunday Visitor, 2022), by Leonard DeLorenzo
• A God Who Questions (Our Sunday Visitor, 2019), by Leonard DeLorenzo

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Sometimes you have to leave what’s familiar to discover what is most beautiful, most profound, and most meaningful precisely in your ordinary life. A pilgrimage is one of the best means for doing just that: departing from what you know in order to return anew. But pilgrimage is not just any kind of trip or travel, it is instead an intentional journey made to encounter Christ, or rather, to allow him to encounter you. Being open to that encounter can be hard work, it takes time and preparation and a willingness of spirit. Christ is always a courteous guest––he may confront you but he never forces his way into your life or into your heart. He waits for you to welcome him in. To be formed well for pilgrimage means, among other things, learning how to welcome Christ when he comes to you, learning how to seek him more willing, and learning how to love him who always loves you first.

 My guest today has dedicated herself to the ministry of helping form people for pilgrimages, which means that she is committed to helping others encounter Christ well. Joan Watson is Pilgrim Formation Manager for Verso Ministries, a Catholic pilgrimage company that specializes in not just the logistics of pilgrimage travel but also the spiritual and communal formation that makes encounters with Christ more meaningful and lasting. Joan came to Verso Ministries after years of serving the Church in catechetical and other formation ministries, as well as engaging in her own work as a speaker and writer who focuses on raising up saints in ordinary time. She joins me today to talk about the spirituality of pilgrimage, the forms of formation, and the transition from the extraordinary experiences abroad to enriching everyday life back home.

  Follow-up Resources:

●     Learn more about Verso Ministries at versoministries.com

●     Listen to Joan Watson’s pilgrimage podcast, “In Via”, at https://versoministries.com/in-via/

●     “By Sea and By Air: The Journey of the Gospel,” essay by Leonard DeLorenzo about pilgrimage in Church Life Journal

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

What is the belief of ordinary Catholics around the Eucharist? That is a harder question to answer that it might at first seem. You could put forward two options and ask a respondent if they believe this or that. But it is not easy to phrase those options correctly, nor is it easy to ensure that your respondent understands what you are trying to ask. Belief in the Eucharist is not easy, and neither is asking about it.

A new study commissioned by the McGrath Institute for Church Life and conducted by CARA at Georgetown University attempts to get closer to the real Eucharistic beliefs of ordinary Catholics. More precision was put into the questions and possible answers, an opportunity was given for open-ended responses, and sustained reflection on all the responses yielded some more textured findings than previous national studies produced. Today, I talk with my colleague, Dr. Tim O’Malley, about this new study, its findings and their significance for renewing Eucharistic belief in the Church. Tim published an article on this study in the Church Life Journal under the title“The Theological Foundations of Eucharistic Beliefs: A New National Study.”

Follow-up Resources:

 ●     “Eucharist Beliefs: A National Survey of Adult Catholics,” study by CARA at Georgetown University, commissioned by the McGrath Institute for Church Life

●     “The Theological Foundations of Eucharistic Beliefs: A New National Study”, article in Church Life Journal by Timothy O’Malley

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.