Kresta in the Afternoon

Last month, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg stated that Church teaching related to homosexuality “is false,” because the “sociological-scientific foundation of this teaching is no longer correct.” Peter Herbeck joins us as we continue our look at this story.

Dr. Bella Dodd, the famous one-time Communist lawyer who reverted to the Catholic Faith of her youth, has been the subject of much discussion over the past few decades. She is said to have planted more than 1000 men into the Catholic seminary system to destroy the Church from within. But a talk she gave in 1961 that has recently resurfaced sheds some new light on the story. We take a look with Kevin Symonds.

As Christians, we are confident that we will see the face of Jesus after our death. But what does that look like? If, as St. Paul says, flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, how can our bodies enter Heaven? We talk with Jim Papandrea.

The 2022 Winter Olympics in China have started off with comparatively poor TV ratings in the US, including a record low for the Opening Ceremony. One of the reasons is people boycotting the Games, largely due to China’s genocide of the Uyghur Muslims and other minorities. Reggie Littlejohn has more.

A plenary meeting of the German Catholic Church’s “Synodal Way” ended on Saturday with votes in favor of draft texts calling for same-sex blessings and changes to the Catechism on homosexuality. It’s a sign of just how successful the “gay rights” movement has become—and we need to appreciate just what this means for the understanding of and the very practice of the Christian religion. Monica Miller has more.

The number of churchgoers has steadily dropped in the US for decades, but the pandemic and its associated lockdowns accelerated that fall. The Barna Group now estimates that in-person church attendance is between 30% and 50% lower than it was before the pandemic. What can we do about it? We talk with Doug Keck.

Last month Pope Francis called for a day of prayer for peace in Ukraine – and it’s not the first time a pope has spoken in support of the people who were being threatened by Russia. In December 1945, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical addressed to the people of Eastern Europe and Ukraine, who were being persecuted by Stalin’s communists. Paul Kengor tells the story.

It's been 11 days and the Truck Protest is continuing in Ottawa. Yesterday a judge granted a 10-day injunction that forbids people from sounding horns in the downtown area, and police have begun confiscating fuel from the protestors. Joe Warmington gives us the latest.

Throughout American history, tragedies have brought the nation together. When President Kennedy was assassinated, Americans didn’t see it as the death of a Democrat – they mourned the death of their president. After the 9/11 attacks, Americans came together to pray. But in the face of the Coronavirus tragedy, many Americans resorted to blame-casting and name-calling. What changed? Al discusses.

It's easy to forget how far Catholic have come in the US; we were never the cultural majority and for a large part of American history, Catholics have faced harsh anti-Catholicism. What was like for Catholics in the South during the years leading up to the Civil War? How did they handle life in a society in which slavery was so ingrained? We talk with Adam Tate.