Kresta in the Afternoon

Yesterday we celebrated Pentecost - the Birthday of the Church. We discuss the power of the Holy Spirit with Peter Herbeck.

A recent article published by the AP claims the American Church is “taking a step back in time” as Generations of post-Vatican II Catholics are “giving way to religious conservatives.” We look at what the authors get right – and wrong – with Stephen White

Years of research continues to show us that more and more young people are leaving the Church as they enter adulthood, largely because they don’t like or trust “organized religion.” But a survey last year showed another disturbing trend – even among “affiliated” Catholic teenagers, nearly half say they have “little or no trust in organized religion.” Joel Stepanek joins us with more and also looks at the beginning of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimages.

Our culture is feeling the effects of men who have lost sight of their vocation as fathers. Deacon Joe Grote joins us with little daily reflections to help us understand the meaning of fatherhood and the role fathers play in our lives.

In an interview with “60 Minutes” airing this Sunday, Pope Francis takes aim at his “conservative critics” in the United States, reportedly saying a conservative is someone who “clings to something and does not want to see beyond that.” Shannon Mullen takes a look at this and other Church news.

A federal appeals court ruled this week that parents in Maryland have no right to be informed when their children are being instructed with LGBTQ materials or to opt their children out of that instruction.

We wrap up the Easter season this weekend with Pentecost Sunday. Peggy Stanton joins us for our weekly discussion to connect the Sunday Gospel reading with the Catechism.

Who would have ever thought a football player’s commencement speech at a small Catholic college would go viral? Yet that’s what’s happening with Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker after his speech at Benedictine College. We talk about it with Paul Kengor.

Over the past decade Rome has been marked with sharp, and often unwarranted, criticism of the Church in the United States and American Catholic life. But very few of the critics have taken the time to talk, systematically, with a wide range of U.S. Catholics to understand their concerns. Francis Maier has had those conversations. He joins us.

Once a year in Tanzania, on its world-forgotten islands, unvisited mountainsides, and in jungles and brush with man-eating animals, the Sisters of Mary enter some of the most dangerous villages in Africa to recruit their incoming class. Kevin Wells joins us with the story.