Kresta in the Afternoon

A listener recently wrote to Al asking why Ave Maria Radio is cozy with the US bishops. Al responds.

When John U Bacon played hockey for the Ann Arbor Huron High School River Rats, he never scored a goal. But years later he was asked to coach the team – which at that point hadn’t won a single game in over a year. They were proud to be called the worst team in America – and John turn them into winners. He tells us how.

The US Bishops are meeting in Baltimore this week. Today’s sessions are behind closed doors, off-limits to media, and are expected to address the much-debated Eucharistic Coherence document. We check in with Matthew Bunson, who is there.

Even while he was alive, Dominican friar Albert of Cologne was called Magnus the Great. He was a scientist, theologian, and philosopher; a teacher, preacher, and negotiator; a shrewd shepherd and an unflinching defender of the Faith – and today is his feast. We’ll talk about it with Kevin Vost.

When you hear “Supreme Court” and “Texas” these days, you probably think of the Texas abortion law. But there’s another major decision currently being considered, and it involves the rights of chaplains. A condemned man wants his pastor to lay hands on him and pray aloud during his execution – and the State is saying no. We consider the case with Andrea Picciotti-Bayer.

In the words of CS Lewis, "God is more than a god, not less; Christ is more than Balder, not less. We must not be ashamed of the mystical radiance resting on our theology. We must not be nervous about parallels and 'pagan Christs': they ought to be there it would be a stumbling block if they weren't. We must not, in false spirituality, withhold our imaginative welcome." Some of our most well-known myths come from the Romans and Greeks. What role did these tales play in ancient society and what use do we have for them today? Dr Louis Markos is our guest.

"Defund the Police!" The rally could be heard in cities all over America last summer in the wake of George Floyd's murder. Last week, voters in Minneapolis - arguably the birthplace of the movement - had a chance to make it a reality. And they rejected the motion. What does this mean for the Defund the Police movement? We talk with Peter Kirsanow.

America is in the midst of a major religious flux. And thanks to a new survey by The Pillar, we can have some hard numbers to quantify the change. Some of it isn't surprising - the rise of the nones for example. And some of it is - for example, 21% of Americans who way their religion is nothing in particular still agree that Jesus died for their sins. We take a deep dive into the numbers and what they mean for American religion with Brendan Hodge.

It’s important to keep in mind that mainstream news outlets are not driven by ideology or mission – they are entertainment outlets driven by a need to produce ratings. What does this “news as entertainment” look like? Al discusses.

The Vatican on Tuesday announced that the canonization of Blessed Charles de Foucauld and six others will take place in Rome on May 15, 2022