Kresta in the Afternoon

The US has announced a Diplomatic Boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. This means that athletes will still compete in the Games, but no US officials will be there. Will this send an effective message? How might China respond? Benedict Rogers joins us.

Books have the power to awake our imaginations, open our eyes and shape how we view the world. Is there a book that you read – at any time in your life – that has had a lasting impact on you? How did it change you? Give us a call at 877-573-7825.

Over the past two weeks, you might have seen headlines about a group called “New Ways Ministry” and the Vatican’s synod on synodality — first praise that the group’s video was included among synod resources, then controversy when a link to the video was taken off a synod website, then an apology from a Vatican official at the center of the controversy. What’s been going on? We talk with Matthew Bunson.

It's common for athletes to mention their faith after a big victory. In many ways, sports and our lives as Christians can go hand-in-hand. Al shares some examples.

Fr. Jean Ikanga was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and after his ordination he came to the US to pursue a medical degree. The work he has done to help the people of his homeland inspired Deacon Joe Hulway to follow in his footsteps. Deacon Joe joins us today.

After nearly two months in captivity, the rest of the Christian Aid Missionaries have been freed. From the beginning, they responded to this chaotic evil with the love of Christ. Al takes a close look at this story and other places we are seeing order made out of chaos.

On December 6, Catholics in Crookston, Minnesota braved a blizzard to attend the installation Mass for new Bishop Andrew Cozzens. He replaces Bishop Michael Hoeppner, who resigned after a Vos estis lux mundi investigation found he had severely mishandled allegations brought to him by Ron Vasek. For Ron, Cozzens’ installation is the sign of many good things to come. He joins us.

As Britain began to emerge from lockdowns earlier this year, Guardian columnist John Harris began to wonder whether it had all been for nothing. As a man of no religious faith, he lamented that he lacked “even the flimsiest of narratives to project on to what has happened, nor any real vocabulary with which to talk about the profundities of life and death.” Al looks at his comments and discusses.

Advent is quickly slipping by, but it’s not too late to take advantage of this time of preparation to meet our Lord. Marcus Peter has teamed up with Ave Maria Radio to release a series of video reflections to help us through this season. He joins us.

Even before the pandemic, it was easy to browse through the news headlines and find yourself asking “where is God?” Most of us have probably experienced this time of spiritual dryness, sometimes called the Dark Night of the Soul. St. John of the Cross explored this in a poem of the same name. His feast was yesterday, and today we talk about it with Dr. John Love.