Kresta in the Afternoon

Raised in a loving home, Claire Culwell always knew she had been adopted and when she reached adulthood she decided to meet her birth mother. And that’s when she got the shock of her life. Claire learned that she was a survivor of a botched abortion. Not only that, she had an unborn twin whose life was terminated that day. And the story doesn’t end there. She joins us.

Fifty years ago, the feminist movement vowed to “Smash the patriarchy.” Today, we can’t even define what a woman is. Only a rediscovery of true womanhood—and motherhood—can pull our society back from the brink. Carrie Gress explains how.

"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." These words of Jesus are directed to the fishermen Simon and Andrew in this Sunday’s Gospel, but they’re really meant for all of us. Would you “Drop your nets” if Jesus called you today? Peggy Stanton joins us.

On Tuesday mornings, a group of men and women meet in Oshkosh, Wisconsin to pray and read Scripture. But there is something different about this Bible study – almost all its attendees are homeless. It’s a ministry that began at Most Blessed Sacrament parish and has expanded into the Day by Day Shelter. Molly Yatso-Butz tells the story.

2023 saw some important victories and defeats for the Pro-Life movement. Most notable was probably the passage of Proposal 1 in Ohio, which was yet another example of voters choosing to support abortion after Dobbs. We review this and other stories with Michael New.

The major biblical archaeology stories of 2023 contain a lot of doom, destruction, and disappointment. They also contain mysteries that may be resolved by future excavations—and perhaps, in one case, the resolution of an ongoing controversy that has dogged New Testament scholars for the past decade. Gordon Govier has more.

For just the second year since his papacy began, Pope Francis did not canonize any new saints in 2023. But there are still plenty of names to know. The pope recognized several new blesseds and announced plans for another canonization early this year. And in the US, bishops advanced the cause of Isaac Hecker and supported plans to name St John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church. Michael O’Neill joins us with more.

2023 was another year of discovery in the scientific community. Much of the discussion focused on the continued rise of AI and the wild popularity of chatbots like ChatGPT. Elsewhere, the UK approved CRISPR treatment for sickle-cell diseases and researchers began “mapping the brain.” Stacy Trasancos joins us with a review.

Last week we received a letter from a listener asking a question that is on many of our minds – what consideration should we give to a candidate’s personal religion and/or virtue before we cast a vote in their support? It’s an important question, and the answer has been debated for centuries of western political thought. Al shares his thoughts.

December 10, 2023 was the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It's a document that would not have been possible without the remarkable consensus of religious leaders from around the world. We talk more with Dan Philpott about the importance of religion to Human Rights today.