Kresta in the Afternoon

A stunning report in France found that for than 216,000 people were abused by French clerics between 1950 and 2020. Al looks at what we know about the report, how it compares to the crisis in the US, and how the laity can respond

In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Following this commandment is the foundation of becoming a missionary disciple. Fr John Bartunek joins us looking at what it truly means to be in Christ and how you can equip yourself to love God and neighbor as a missionary disciple.

In the United States, more than 16 million adults are diagnosed with some form of depression every year. And those are only the ones who seek help. According to one study by Harvard Medical School, only 1 in 5 depressed adults pursue treatment for depression. That means, in any given year, there could be as many as 80 million people in the U.S. who are experiencing some form of depression with 64 million receiving no treatment whatsoever. Many of those who struggle are people of Faith. Does this affect how they seek treatment? We take a look with Dr Greg Popcak.

A clichéd view of the scriptures portrays the God of the New Testament as loving and forgiving, and the God of the Old Testament as jealous, petty and vengeful. But in the Old Testament we find the word “mercy” roughly 250 times, making it the fourth most-used noun in the Old Testament. God’s Mercy and justice are intimately woven into both testaments. We’ll take a look with Fr Daniel Moloney.

What is Christian conversion? What leads a soul to return to God, reject sin and accept God’s Divine Mercy? And is there a “second conversion” that happens after the original decision to repent? We’ll look at the phenomenon of Christian conversion with Fr. Donald Haggerty.

Last month theologians, bishops, priests and laity gathered in Budapest for the international Eucharistic congress. Among them was Mary Healy, who spoke on living a Eucharistic life. The experience of receiving communion at Mass should make us “living tabernacles” of God’s presence, bringing him into the world through our lives. Mary joins us.

October is celebrated as Down Syndrome Awareness month. In some European countries, nearly 100% of unborn children diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted and even in the US the rate is around 70%. We’re aware of the chromosomal causes of Down Syndrome thanks to the Venerable Jerome Lejeune, a French scientist who was strongly pro-life. He’s the subject of a new film by Dan Johnson, who sees himself in the story because his son also has Down Syndrome. Dan joins us.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs once observed that his company didn’t “stand a chance of advertising with features and benefits and charts and comparisons. The only chance we have of communicating is with a feeling.” Using this mindset, Jobs even employed apple “evangelists” to spread the word about his products. It’s been 10 years since he died – what do we make of the Gospel of Steve Jobs?

An independent report released today in Paris finds that more than 216,000 children were abused by French priests and other religious between 1960 and 2020. The report estimates that there are around 2900 abusers among France’s clergy and monks, implying an extraordinarily high number of victims per aggressor. We look at the details with JD Flynn.

It’s never been done: One million people, praying the Rosary, every day, for a month. Now it’s going to happen, from October 1 to October 31 – all for the sake of protecting the unborn. EWTN, the Napa Institute, and Relevant Radio are partnering in this initiative; Tim Busch explains more.