Kresta in the Afternoon

Why did it take Archbishop Cordileone so long to bar Nancy Pelosi from the Eucharist? For what purpose did he do it? And how has the mainstream press responded? Al discusses.

Have you ever wondered how to make sense of it all? Starting this summer, the Acts XXIX program Rescue Project Live will propose a narrative through which the deepest cry of the heart is answered. It kicks off June 18 in Columbus, OH. Mary Guilfoyle and Albert Faraj join us.

In a letter to the faithful released today, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not to be admitted to Communion in his diocese until she publicly repudiates her support for abortion. Al discuses.

Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh knew they were putting their lives on the line. Islamic laws in Iran forbade them from sharing their Christian beliefs, but in three years, they’d covertly put New Testaments into the hands of twenty thousand of their countrymen and started two secret house churches. In 2009 they were caught, arrested and sentenced to death. They share their story.

On the night of March 26, 1996, monks of the Catholic Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance were kidnapped during the Algerian Civil War. They were murdered on May 21 of that year. John Kiser tells their story.

In 1995 about 80% of Latin America self-identified as Catholic. By 2018, the number had fallen below 60%. Why is the Church losing Latin America? Al discusses.

Michelle Paine was raised in a devout Christian home, and outside of the Christmas season she didn’t give Mary much thought. That began to change when she spent a year studying Art History in Italy, where Marian imagery was everywhere. She shares how encountering Mary through art helped her find her way to the Church.

Primaries have now been held in several states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania – two states that were pivotal in the last two Presidential elections. Donald Trump has endorsed candidates in several races, and their success or failure could be a telling indicator of his ongoing influence in Republican politics. We get analysis from Paul Kengor.

A recent column in the Wall Street Journal explores the idea of “superpowers,” the modern-day technologies that allow us to do things our ancestors never even dreamed of. But when we use these “superpowers” we lose something else; a sense of the beauty and the sacred that the author refers to as “Flow.” For Catholics, this “Flow” would be Grace. Peggy Stanton joins us with more.

Zac Kriegman spent six years working in Data science at Thomson Reuters, one of the world’s largest news organizations. His job was to study numbers and stats and figure out what they really meant. When he turned his focus to race and police brutality, he came across a shocking realization – the data was being used incorrectly in our national conversation, with disastrous effects. But when he tried to share his findings, he was chastised by management and eventually fired. He shares his story.